Big shout out to all the trail builders and help out there, everywhere. Enjoyed Home, Oregon and Utah this year. Love you and I don’t even know you

I switch back and forth a bunch. It depends on where I’m riding and what I’m trying to do. If I’m racing, I generally ride clips. If I’m riding in snow, flats. If I’m out in the summer and just riding around, it’s a toss-up. The key to riding with flats is to have good flats and good shoes. If you don’t have shoes that are fairly purpose-built (you can’t just use running shoes), they won’t stick to the pedals at all. But with the right pedal/shoe combo, they’re not *that* far off from clips, and riders can have more confidence doing obstacles (at least till they’re comfortable with the feature — then start trying it with clips.)

I use a pair of Teva The Links (I’m on my second pair now) with a variety of pedals. Replaceable pins and a good-sized platform are key.

Ditto; 20 plus years, old school, “hard tail” pride. Don’t need no stinking full suspension, those are for people who don’t know how to ride. I did skills camps for years ya know, yada, yada yada.

Skip to a few years ago and I get involved with a project with a friend from the fire hall and the “Coastal Crew”. Local “kids” I met years ago when they and my son raced on the High school team.
They went on to become rock stars of the Mtn Bike Lifestyle, Freeride, Rampage scene. Hey why not if you can make a living on/off your bike. [living the dream but they work hard at it]

Now I spend way to much time at http://www.coastgravitypark.ca with the likes of Kyle Norbraten, Brandon Seminuk, Logan Peat, Brendan Howie and the like. Culture shock. Amazing what they can do on a bike! On the brite side I can still kick their ass uphill and if I hammer hard enough on a good day I can beat the shuttle.

Anyway, I digress, As a thank you [and I suspect an effort to stop me bouncing around on my hard tail, riding up the shuttle road decked out in my club lycra, racing the DH crowd looking like a goof trying to get air on the flow trails or getting in the way on the way technical loamer DH trails] they recently they gave me a custom, decked out park special Stump Jumper. A big bike for me with 5 inch’s of terrain eating of travel.

Combine a few lesson’s with Darren and crew at http://www.endlessbiking.com [My "skills" were so outdated], the bike and some time on the parks world class trails and I have actually got 2 wheels in the air. No much and you will never see me on video but it’s got a neat feeling to it. No sound of the tires rolling over the trail.

Of course the jump is easy, it’s the darn landings’ I have had a few spills and you and others will too. There have been some nasty falls at the park. That keeps you humble. I will continue to “ride within my limits”. Still have to work and make a living.

On the brite side, did I mention I can kick their ass going uphill, well except for Brandon,

Play safe my friends, Bob

No comments on the embedded pic so far?

The ohnoelden picture is truly fantastic. Based on the fact that the bike says “Gary Fisher” not “Specialized” or “Ibis” are on the downtube, I’m going to guess it’s 7-10 years old. Certainly deserves a photo credit, and I’m really curious what happened….next

Ten years is a pretty good guess, I think that’s about right. My friend Cori Jones took the photo at the perfect moment: right as my tire folded and the Stans exploded out. I went over the bars and landed on my head and shoulders just to the left of the bush you see at the far right of the photo. – FC

@Wharton_crew
I ride with flats because I have more fun while riding with flats compared to clips. If I raced competitively, I would probably switch to clips, but still use flats occasionally.