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Climate Change Claims French Ski Resort, Congress Gets Graded & Gravel Bikes Get Bouncier

Today on THE ROCK FIGHT (an outdoor podcast that aims for the head) Colin & Justin run through topics and headlines to come out of the outdoor adventure community over the past week or so including a French ski resort that has closed due to climate change, grades for Congress when it comes to National Parks, and Hipcamp's acquisition of BookOutdoors.


Here's the full list of topics with time codes:

  • 4:49 - Congress gets graded on their record when it comes to National Parks

  • 11:51 - Specialized releases new suspension technology for Gravel Bikes

  • 20:19 - Hipcamp acquires Bookoutdoors

  • 25:50 - French ski resort, Alpe du Grande Serre shuts down due to impacts from climate change

  • 34:08 - The Parting Shot


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Episode Transcript

Colin True

00:00:00.280 - 00:00:45.675

Western North Carolina businesses need your financial support now more than ever.


In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene this month, Darby Communications, based in Asheville, North Carolina, is donating its time and ad space here on the Rock Fight to help the other outdoor businesses in western North Carolina get back on their feet.


The outdoor industry is a major contributor to western North Carolina's economy, and Darby Communications is asking people to donate to the Outdoor Business Alliance Hurricane Helene Relief Fund, which supports outdoor industry businesses in their recovery and supports their staff as they rebuild in the wake of the storm's devastation. Now is the time to help the outdoor community.


If you have a few spare bucks to help build back what we lost in western North Carolina, head to outdoorbusinessalliance.org and click donate Today to get started.


Chris DeMakes

00:00:46.255 - 00:00:53.915

Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock Fight. Rock Fight. Rock Fight.


Colin True

00:00:54.935 - 00:01:10.855

Welcome to the Rock Fight, where we speak our truth, slay sacred cows, and sometimes agree to disagree. This is an outdoor podcast today for the Head.


I'm Colin True and joining me today, it's National Candy Day and as kids are worried about their Halloween stash, it's Justin Houseman.


Justin Housman

00:01:11.355 - 00:01:11.995

Today's national Candy.


Colin True

00:01:11.995 - 00:01:12.907

Candy. Candy.


Justin Housman

00:01:13.011 - 00:01:19.815

No. Yeah, I would have thought that would be November 1st, but maybe that's probably something else already.


Colin True

00:01:20.915 - 00:01:22.451

Have you already eaten all your kids candy?


Justin Housman

00:01:22.523 - 00:02:29.025

I'm already tired of it though. What's weird is they went a solid two days without even asking about it. So I think they forgot. They did, but then they remembered yesterday morning.


Yesterday morning my almost 3 year old woke up and got out of bed. She sleeps with us every night.


She just crawls into bed at some point and so she gets up and she leaves the bedroom at 6:30 in the morning and I'm like, is she going to the bathroom? Like, where's she going? You know? And like it's too many footsteps. She's not going to the bathroom. And I'm like, okay, she's going to the kitchen.


And right then I knew what sound I would hear next, which was the sound of one of our dining room table crinkle. No. Getting drug into the kitchen on the ground. And I go in there and I'm like, I spring out of bed because I know what she's doing.


She's going to, trying to, she's going to try to climb on top of the fridge to get the, to get the candy. And so I go, I'm like, harper, what are you doing? She's like, it's candy. No, dude.


But she, she would like wake up the day or two after Halloween and just be. And she'd, like. The first words out of her mouth would be like, her eyes will be closed. Don't eat my candy.


Like, she was dreaming about someone eating her candy.


Colin True

00:02:30.005 - 00:02:51.437

Well, we are today going to talk about some headlines that come out of the outdoor adventure community and industry. But before we get to that, like, we always tell you guys, view housekeeping items, programming reminders.


We need you to pick a little fight with your. Pick a little rock Fight with your podcast app. Toss a little stone at that follow button.


Wherever you're listening to the Rock Fight, follow the show. That's what we need you to do. Just peg it right there. Bam. Now you're following the show. Bam.


Justin Housman

00:02:51.501 - 00:02:54.549

Emeril Lagasse is a follower of Rock Fight.


Colin True

00:02:54.717 - 00:02:55.213

Who?


Justin Housman

00:02:55.309 - 00:02:56.625

Emeril Lagasse.


Colin True

00:02:57.245 - 00:02:58.045

Is he still alive?


Justin Housman

00:02:58.085 - 00:03:02.941

Don't you remember? Bam. That's like. He'd be like putting salt in a pan. Bam.


Colin True

00:03:03.013 - 00:03:03.221

Bam.


Justin Housman

00:03:03.253 - 00:03:06.333

That was his whole thing. And the whole audience would be like, bam. God, it was sad.


Colin True

00:03:06.429 - 00:03:14.509

Talk about a time when you could, like, build a career off of, like, saying bam while throwing salt. Like, that could never happen in, like, 2024. I feel like.


Justin Housman

00:03:14.637 - 00:03:17.423

Well, I don't know. Remember Salt Bay?


Colin True

00:03:17.589 - 00:03:18.935

No, it was Salt bae.


Justin Housman

00:03:20.635 - 00:03:22.091

The meme of the dude that.


Colin True

00:03:22.243 - 00:03:23.619

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.


Justin Housman

00:03:23.707 - 00:03:29.255

He's a restaurant kingdom that I think has already crumbled based on just on doing a weird thing with salt.


Colin True

00:03:29.635 - 00:03:44.597

Well, anyway, Bam, you're following the Rock Fight now. Also, you should. Bam, follow Kieran Beer, our other podcast here on the Rock Fight podcast network.


And Justin, if any of these listeners who are now following us and saying bam along with us, they wanted to reach out, you know, what should they do?


Justin Housman

00:03:44.661 - 00:03:47.781

Call him. For a man who's on three and a half hours of sleep, you're doing great.


Colin True

00:03:47.893 - 00:03:48.301

Thanks, man.


Justin Housman

00:03:48.333 - 00:03:51.357

Colin got home from playing hockey at one in the morning last night, and.


Colin True

00:03:51.421 - 00:03:57.149

And we lost, too, at a shootout. So it wasn't even, like, do shootouts. Yeah, well, if you're tied at the end. At the end, they do. They do a shootout.


Justin Housman

00:03:57.197 - 00:03:58.309

What position do you play?


Colin True

00:03:58.437 - 00:03:59.181

Defense.


Justin Housman

00:03:59.333 - 00:04:21.107

Oh, okay. All right. Anyway, let's. As Vin Scully would say. Now let's get back to this one. So. Yeah, all right. So.


So if you want to email the show, please do@myrockfightmail.com and you can. Okay. Once again, Colin, the Instagram is missing from here. You're lucky I'm remembering.


Colin True

00:04:21.211 - 00:04:22.731

I was just trying to shorten it up a little bit.


Justin Housman

00:04:22.763 - 00:04:28.035

All right, all right, well, you can follow us on Instagram. Too. At what is it? MyRockfight Company Is it Doc?


Colin True

00:04:28.075 - 00:04:30.299

This is Rockfight Company Rock Fight CO. Yep.


Justin Housman

00:04:30.347 - 00:04:49.677

Rock Fight Co. Rock Fight Co. And then please sign up for the newsletter. It's over there at the website rockfight Co.


And you just click right there on Join the mailing list and boom, bam, bam, bam inbox somewhere you'll be doing something on Sunday and you won't be thinking about the Rock Fight at all. Then you'll hear a faint bam somewhere and you'll realize, oh, you know what? I just got the newsletter.


Colin True

00:04:49.821 - 00:05:15.649

Well, we're recording this on Monday, November 4th, and it's going to be released on Wednesday, November 6th. And in between, of course, if you didn't already know, like Justin said, from your emails and your text messages, it's election Day.


And according to our guide, Justin Housman, from the article he published over on nationalparkstraveler.org you can see how each member of the House of Representatives voted when it came to any issue involving national parks. I'm assuming this is from 2024 only, like that latest session.


Justin Housman

00:05:15.817 - 00:05:40.817

Well, yes, it looks like. It looks like I did a bunch. It looks like this organization, a National Parks action fund.


I'm guessing that this is a revamp of their one they did earlier this year. They released a big one in February. And I think they're just reminding you, generally speaking, of like, here's how they voted.


So I don't think, I don't think it necessarily includes everything from this, like, last since, like February. I could be wrong, but I didn't.


Colin True

00:05:40.841 - 00:05:49.417

Think it was funny when I clicked on it. And like the first three was like, I don't know, someone from like Massachusetts, they get an A.


And there was like someone from a Republican from Alabama.


Justin Housman

00:05:49.521 - 00:06:04.099

F. Yeah, it's almost like almost all A and F. There's a few Cs, but it's almost entirely A's and Fs. There's more Fs than A's, as you can sort of imagine.


I think it's like 51. Well, I think it's like 51% or Fs, something like that.


Colin True

00:06:04.217 - 00:06:04.959

Jesus.


Justin Housman

00:06:05.087 - 00:06:51.365

And you can kind of imagine. I mean, it breaks down pretty ideologically.


I mean, it's like if you just look through it, I mean, 99% of the Democrats get A's, but that's how this Congress works. They all vote in blocks. So that's kind of the deal. And so I would imagine that the A votes are probably based on people voting for.


I don't remember when the Great American Outdoors act was proposed, that wasn't this year. But they're generally supportive of any kind of park spending Republicans have. This year, they tried to slash the budget again.


And so they voted to repeal or to cut national parks funding by like 13%. So that's what, that's why they all got Fs. That's a pretty, that's a pretty big chunk.


And the thing that's the most surprising to this is we always hear about how public lands is a really bipartisan.


Colin True

00:06:51.985 - 00:06:53.321

That's exactly what I was saying.


Justin Housman

00:06:53.353 - 00:07:58.655

Right.


Like, and, you know, we're like bending over backwards as members of the outdoor industry, as members of outdoor media to remind people and just share news about the economic value of, of outdoor recreation. And so it's like, even when you put it in financial terms, which you would think Republicans would be sensitive to, it doesn't seem to really matter.


I mean, there's probably, you know, I don't, I'm not an expert on national park funding. Like, there's probably cases to be made for trimming the fat in various places. Like, I wouldn't be surprised.


But just generally speaking, you know, if you are, if you are in favor of more amenities for more national parks, you know, there's a pretty, pretty cut and dry scorecard you can look at. It's at National Parks Action Fund. If you just Google that or just Google Congressional Scorecard. And you can search by your air. If you don't.


I mean, God forbid, if you don't know who your congressperson is, you can search by your zip code and it'll tell you.


Or if there's like, particular places that you really are interested in, you just want to, you know, like, hey, you know, the people that live near Yellowstone, like, how do they, you know, how do, how do those reps vote? You know, and, you know, but again, if there's an R or a D by their name, it's pretty much, you kind of know.


Colin True

00:07:59.475 - 00:08:36.167

I feel like I'd like to know more about the people who got like a C. Like, I'm curious, what were the things. Right?


That's actually interesting because if, okay, take out everything you said about like, the partisan nature of everything. Like, listen, you gotta, you put things under a microscope.


It's like, I'm sure there are people who are hugely concerned about the environment, the climate, the national parks, but maybe they live in a district where it's like, hey, listen, our entire economy is based on fracking. You know what I mean? So, like, they, Right. So if I will. You know, I have to represent the people. Like, I have to figure out how to balance that out.


And maybe they get like a C. Like, I'd kind of think that'd be an interesting thing to look at and that nuance. But yeah, to hear that's like mostly ace and Fs.


It's like, oh, good, you know, good job, everybody.


Justin Housman

00:08:36.231 - 00:08:43.431

That's how Congress works. I know there was at least like one Republican congresswoman from Florida who got a seat. I'm sorry. From Oregon who got a C. I saw.


Colin True

00:08:43.503 - 00:08:45.655

See, that's even weirder, right? That it's in Oregon.


Justin Housman

00:08:45.735 - 00:09:04.677

Yeah. But you can imagine that probably has something to do with Timber. You know, like, she probably allowed, like more, you know, who knows, you know.


And it's also. It's according to National Park Action Fund.


I mean, it's a nonprofit, but they're like a watchdog about making sure national parks are properly funded and have political power that they need and all that kind of stuff so that, you know, they're trustworthy.


Colin True

00:09:04.861 - 00:09:14.797

Well, but that's a good point though, because it is national park centric. You'd think there'd be more sea and above. Because we're talking about. This isn't. This isn't just like climate bills or like BLM stuff, right?


Justin Housman

00:09:14.901 - 00:09:26.513

Yeah, exactly. Where there's like resource extraction at play. I mean, national parks, for the most part.


I mean, I'm pretty sure, like, there's no resource extraction happening. So it's like you. Right. So I think the Fs largely could just come from voting against funding.


Colin True

00:09:26.709 - 00:09:27.257

Interesting.


Justin Housman

00:09:27.321 - 00:10:25.983

Or to degrees, funding. Or maybe, you know, like, national parks still have a backlog of like billions of dollars in terms of maintenance. So it's like, even if you.


Even if you don't think we should spend more money on them, theoretically you should at least be supporting fixing what's. What's currently broken. I mean, I. I find. Have you ever met anybody who's like, anti national park? No.


You know, like, that's the thing is it's a weird, you know, there's. There's gripes to be had within them. You know, I still, I'll never forget going to Grand Teton national park and we must have rented bikes.


We were camping outside of the park, but really close to the park. And my wife, we. Meaning my wife and I, and I think we somehow had bikes. Maybe we were on foot. We must. I don't know.


We were hiking and we get to the point where you can like walk into the entrance and we're like, oh, cool, let's do that. And we get up there and I'm. My entire life, I always was like, there's a vehicle entrance fee.


But as a human being, I sort of assume I have the right to just walk into the national park.


Colin True

00:10:26.039 - 00:10:26.423

Right?


Justin Housman

00:10:26.519 - 00:10:54.027

No, there's a. You know, if you're a pedestrian, it's 20 bucks or whatever. And we were like, are you like. I was so. I was so mad, like, right then I bec.


I became a Republican for, like, the rest of the afternoon. I was just. I was just like, how was it? How. Like, I told I I would jack up vehicle entrance fees. National parks. Like, hell yeah.


But, like, you just to walk in. Are you serious? I got. It was bad getting mad just thinking about it, but I guess that's the case.


I think you have to pay no matter what just to physically enter one.


Colin True

00:10:54.171 - 00:10:54.499

Right?


Justin Housman

00:10:54.547 - 00:11:00.977

So, you know, like, there's a gripe. Right. But, like, that doesn't mean I would vote against, like, national park funding. So, you know, it is a weird.


Colin True

00:11:01.001 - 00:11:10.673

Thing because, you know, there are people who have Fs on that list who are like, you know, got the F, did all the things that are like, you know, standing opposed to national parks. But then like, next summer, like, I'm taking the family Yellowstone.


Justin Housman

00:11:10.729 - 00:11:15.081

Oh, 100%. Or they're going to at least have, like, pictures of them in Yellowstone or something.


Colin True

00:11:15.153 - 00:11:15.765

Right.


Justin Housman

00:11:16.065 - 00:11:49.315

Anyway, but check it out. National park action fund. It's certainly worth, like, looking through it. You can.


Or even if you just Google, like, national parks scorecard or something like that, you'll. You'll see art. Like a lot of local regional news things did little stories on, like, what their representatives got.


So you'll find a ton of stuff like that. But I think it's worth looking into. I mean, if nothing else, you get to see who these people are.


And like, you know, there's a shitload of congress people, so you get to put a name to the face and all that sort of stuff. There's no senators in this one because senators didn't vote on anything that had anything to do national parks.


And I guess in the last year, oddly enough, yeah, to hell often they will be included, but they're not this time.


Colin True

00:11:50.615 - 00:12:49.357

All right, well, the next story we got is. Where did I get this from? Oh, this is from Gear junkie.


Specialized has a new type of suspension that's being featured on their Diverge Str gravel bike. According to a new review on gearjunkie.com, the Diverge Str Looks to cushion the rider, not the wheels.


So it uses a seat tube spring for rear suspension. And then with the stem and handlebars set up to move vertically, that happens due to a cartridge in the head tube.


So the bike lacks anti suspension on the wheels, I guess kind of picture the wheels are stable, but now you're on the frame and the frame is what moves to kind of, you know, absorb the bumps along the way. The author of the article seemed to leave intrigue, but not sold on the. On the concept, you know.


And first of all, I do want to say that, you know, Justin and I are pretty much simpletons in our bicycle preferences. We like things like rigid frames, but even still like understanding that, you know, that's our point. Typical point of view.


How are we feeling about suspension on a gravel bike at all? Before we talk about the Specialized here, what do you think about. About that, Justin?


Justin Housman

00:12:49.461 - 00:12:55.693

I get. I mean, I guess why wouldn't you have it? I mean, if you really are using a gravel bike, do you really need.


Colin True

00:12:55.709 - 00:12:59.437

To level out the little, the tiny little imperfections? I don't know where.


Justin Housman

00:12:59.461 - 00:13:06.909

I don't know about where about you, but like I do see people on single track on gravel bikes around here. Not all the time. I do too, you know, and it's.


Colin True

00:13:06.957 - 00:13:07.821

Lots of gravel brakes.


Justin Housman

00:13:07.893 - 00:13:16.685

Yeah, I wouldn't want to do that. Especially the geometry that bike is forcing you into without having suspension. I mean, I feel like you're.


You're just begging to get thrown over the handlebars.


Colin True

00:13:16.725 - 00:13:17.733

Ride a mountain bike.


Justin Housman

00:13:17.829 - 00:13:21.389

I. That's what I. That. So I'm going to come back to that every single time. Yeah.


Colin True

00:13:21.437 - 00:13:25.637

Put 1.8 on your mountain bike or something like that. You know, go like put skinnies on there.


Justin Housman

00:13:25.701 - 00:13:38.693

My gravel bike has flat bars, you know, so like. Or risers, I guess.


You know, and I always, I always think it's so funny that we, that we tend to pluralize handlebars even though there's just one on the bike. But.


Colin True

00:13:38.829 - 00:13:39.637

Really good point.


Justin Housman

00:13:39.701 - 00:13:40.865

It drives me nuts.


Colin True

00:13:41.245 - 00:13:45.617

But yeah, you want to take it back? You want to change it? Should we start right now? Handlebar, handlebars, we're going to say.


Justin Housman

00:13:45.701 - 00:14:27.505

Yeah, I mean I've ridden, I've ridden a moots that had. I think it had like a tiny suspension fork. I've ridden, I've ridden another bike. Was it a Specialized? It might have been.


It might have even been a diverge. I don't think so though. I don't think I've heard a diverge that had some Kind of. It wasn't like a. It wasn't a true shock or a strut. It was like a.


Just a soft, like a little soft disc that like, absorbed some, you know, somewhere. I think it was on the seat tube. And I've, you know, I've had.


I had a suspension seat tube or suspension seat post on my first electric cargo bike, and then I put one on another bike and I don't remember what it was. And those are awesome. Like, I'm all about suspension seats.


Colin True

00:14:27.545 - 00:14:30.009

Little pounds, like the spring and the seat and the seat tube. Okay.


Justin Housman

00:14:30.057 - 00:14:45.901

Yeah, those are cool. I actually really like that a lot for like a rigid bike or a bike that you don't. That, you know, like, it just.


It, you know, does what you think it's going to do. It softens all the little blows. So, like, I. This bike has that, right? This bike has a little suspension in the seat post. I think that's what it says.


Colin True

00:14:45.933 - 00:14:46.821

Yeah. I'm not sure if it's a suspension.


Justin Housman

00:14:46.853 - 00:15:32.393

So that, to me, that's what I would want. Like, I would want that. I actually think that, like, I'm surprised that isn't a bigger deal just because it makes things.


I would think it's a much simpler thing to make than a full fucking suspension bike or even like a shock and like, linkages and stuff. You just have a little suspension seat post that's pretty great. But that's the thing that's for softening out the bumps.


I mean, a lot of what, like, mountain bike suspension is built to do now is, yes, soften up the bumps, but also to keep the wheels on the ground so you have traction. So, like, there's a. It's not just a comfort thing. So I don't know. I agree with you though, that, like, I would rather just have a mountain bike.


But I get, I guess if you're just super dedicated to gravel, I guess, you know, I. If you're just, I guess if you're super dedicated to drop bars is really, it's. It. There's no other reason to have a bike like this part.


Colin True

00:15:32.449 - 00:15:55.957

Part of it is I kind of came to my.


My gravel bike after getting my rigid mountain bike and kind of feeling like, oh, this is kind of a category that's going to be almost like a throwback cate. You know, it's just like, you know, like, yeah, it's a little bumpy at times.


And yeah, you do see people on single track, but you can kind of get by on this bike. But then immediately, now, of course, now we're just building this stuff in.


I mean, ultimately you're like, you're definitely more mechanically inclined and minded. Are you fascinated by the actual suspension? Should we try one out for gear.


Justin Housman

00:15:55.981 - 00:17:15.023

And beer or this kind of thing? I'm super fascinated to buy it. But yeah, like, I have no doubt that it would be if you rode. I don't know if Diverge still.


If specialist still makes it like a fully rigid diverge, but I have no doubt that if you rode a gravel bike that was fully rigid and then this thing, you'd immediately understand the point. Right? Like, you would get it right away. But that still begs the question of why are you even on a bike like this at all?


I mean, well, that's it for any bike, right? Like, why do you have, like, why do you have full suspension versus a hardtail?


I mean, it just comes down to personal preference, you know, and like, I know special. The divergence had this little weird linkage. If you look, if you Google this bike while you're listening to this, you'll see like a straight.


I don't know if linkage is the right term. Probably not like a little thing, but on the. On the top tube. Between the top tube and the seat post that moves in and out.


And so that's why, I guess, was letting the front part of the triangle flex while you're riding. And they've been doing that for a little while. Um, and people must like it. Cause Diverge sells like hotcakes. So.


But again, it's just like, I just don't. I don't like how you sit on a drop bar bike. Um, I feel like it's pretty limiting.


Uh, obviously this kind of thing, like, kind of gives it a bit more flexibility in terms of where you can ride. But I just personally would never feel comfortable going down anything chunky drop bars, ever. But I see people do it.


I mean, I've seen footage of guys like fucking jumping gravel bikes. Like.


Colin True

00:17:15.079 - 00:17:15.599

Yeah.


Justin Housman

00:17:15.727 - 00:17:20.479

So I don't know. I feel also if you can afford this bike, you can afford to have lots of bikes. So, like, I.


Colin True

00:17:20.527 - 00:17:21.327

Well, that's true.


Justin Housman

00:17:21.431 - 00:17:41.929

Like, but. Well, but that's, to me an argument against it. Like, if it's. If it's a quiver killer, that makes sense.


If it's like you can literally only have, like we always used to do, you just had a bike. Right, Right. But then you'd want.


You'd probably want it to be cheap, you know, but like, if you can afford an $8,000 gravel bike that has suspension, you can Also afford a road bike and a mountain bike, presumably. So.


Colin True

00:17:41.977 - 00:18:18.359

Well, that, that is kind of the category problem, right? Because you have, you know, look, ride what you want.


Like there's people out there who are like, you know, riding recumbent bikes and they've got like the mirrors all over their helmets now. They're having the best time ever. Like, good for you, man. Like, I'm not, you know, no one's gonna yuck your yum. This is great.


But this just does seem like the more like niche you get on the gravel bikes. Like how many people are really looking for that kind of bike?


And to your point, it's like is it just now exists so you can have like, well, I have my. This gravel bike and this gravel bike and this gravel bike versus just I have a gravel bike, you know.


And so, you know, that's, I don't know, like it kind of. Is it, is it even sustainable to like introduce these sort of developments and have it become. Right.


Justin Housman

00:18:18.447 - 00:18:25.959

No, it's not sustainable.


I mean, like, that's the thing is at a certain point, like we're going to be all excited about iterations in like fucking spoke technology or something.


Colin True

00:18:26.007 - 00:18:33.399

Like, I don't mean sustainable environmentally. I mean like sustainable categories. The weight of all these extra bikes.


Justin Housman

00:18:33.567 - 00:19:36.389

Well, so yeah, what was I going to say?


Oh yeah, so, so, so where I live, you know, there's a lot of fire roads that you can ride on and very little single track that you, that you can ride on. And so I have thought about getting a drop bar gravel bike before, but the reason is there aren't that many flat bar gravel bikes.


I mean like my Hudski, my beloved Hudski, that's kind of what it does. That's. That's its idea. It's. It's a quiver killer, right? Like you could take it on single track if you felt like it.


It's like a 90s mountain bike but with a little bit more modern geometry and has riser bars. And so that's what I would use while gravel biking. But there aren't a ton of bikes like that.


So like if you're, if your thing is like, I live here, I want to ride all these fire roads because they're gorgeous, right? Like you're riding through the redwoods, you have ocean views.


I mean it's a spectacular place to ride on the trails like this and you feel like you'd want to go really fast and you'd feel more comfortable with drop bars than you would. And you're not planning on taking it on chunky shit. Then like, then gravel bikes make all the fucking sense in the world. Right.


Because there aren't really that many options for, for like fast, sleek flat bar gravel bikes.


Colin True

00:19:36.517 - 00:19:37.197

Yeah.


Justin Housman

00:19:37.341 - 00:19:57.277

So that's where it makes a lot of sense. So like this bike will sell around here. Cause it gets rut, it gets rutted out in the winter and all that kind of stuff.


And so you want a little bit of cushioning on your gravel bikes. I still though I have no issues with riding my flat bar gravel bike.


So like I'll take that if I'm going to do like a 50 mile ride on gravel around here. I wouldn't. That's. I have that bike. It's that one, you know.


Colin True

00:19:57.301 - 00:20:04.461

But there is, there is some irony in that. You know, the gravel bike kind of came along and everyone's kind of pitching it as like, oh, gravel bikes. A quiver at the Quiver Killer.


Justin Housman

00:20:04.533 - 00:20:05.345

No, no, not.


Colin True

00:20:05.485 - 00:20:08.529

But there's not. There's not enough of the versions that are actually the quiver kill.


Justin Housman

00:20:08.577 - 00:20:14.961

Dude, I guarantee there are people that have three gravel bikes. You know, like this is the gravel bike I ride when it rains. This is the one I ride when it doesn't. This is the one where I ride. This is my 650.


Colin True

00:20:15.024 - 00:20:16.241

I got my 700.


Justin Housman

00:20:16.313 - 00:20:18.925

I got it all. Yeah, yeah, right.


Colin True

00:20:19.465 - 00:20:31.177

All right, well, next up, last week, according to a press release, Hip Camp, the self proclaimed number one app to discover and book campsites. It might be. Actually it was a press release I had self proclaimed. Maybe it really is the number one app to discover.


Justin Housman

00:20:31.281 - 00:20:35.425

I can't imagine anything close to it. So yeah, I'll say it's number one.


Colin True

00:20:35.465 - 00:20:50.325

Okay, final take the number one app. Good job. Hip Camp. They announced the acquisition of Book Outdoors, which is another online booking platform for campgrounds, RV parks and cabins.


You're our resident camping enthusiast here. I mean, have you used both or either of these platforms?


Justin Housman

00:20:50.365 - 00:20:59.869

I've never heard of Book Outdoors until I saw this press release. But I used to use Hip Camp quite a bit.


And that's because of something else I've bitched about on the show a bunch, which is that there's not that much camping in the Bay Area at least.


Colin True

00:20:59.917 - 00:21:05.883

Oh yeah, that's what I was thinking of. There's a dearth of camping options unless you want to get on BLM land.


Justin Housman

00:21:06.069 - 00:21:10.119

Well, yeah. And so for, and if you want to do that around here, that's a three hour drive, so minimum.


Colin True

00:21:10.167 - 00:21:13.567

And in some areas of the country there's no BLM land, dude.


Justin Housman

00:21:13.671 - 00:22:03.060

Good point. I mean, I can't even imagine what it must be like back east.


So, yeah, I've used hip camp and I guess I like, it doesn't have the same issues as airbnb does in terms of like displacing renters or anything like that. But like, I don't use it very often, even though I'm frustrated with camping opportunities. And it's usually because it's usually expensive.


Like the last, really, the last time I used hip camp was probably like, was before my kids were born, so say like six years ago. And it was me and some like my wife and I used to have this adventure couple friends. Like, we would always go backpacking stuff together.


Then we all had kids. We kind of stopped doing it. But like, it was kind of, you know, they were like, let's go camping. They just had their first kid and.


But we couldn't find anywhere to camp around here except through hip camp. And so we rent. We booked a spot for $90 a night each.


Colin True

00:22:03.159 - 00:22:03.605

$90.


Justin Housman

00:22:03.945 - 00:22:17.513

And it was just like, it was like a cool farm, you know, like up in Sonoma county, kind of by the ocean and with like a creek on the property and like some, you know, some pine trees around it. Like a big flat spot. Like it was perfectly pleasant. Yeah, but like $90 just to go.


Colin True

00:22:17.529 - 00:22:19.273

Sleep outside of tents and stuff like that.


Justin Housman

00:22:19.329 - 00:22:36.557

Like, like you, you know, like you had to have four wheel drive to get down to it because it was kind of a weird like road to get down to it from the main part of the property down to where this little glade was. Yeah, you know, they had like a nice little outhouse. They had some like cool swings and stuff like that. It was fin.


Really pretty and we had a good time, but it was just like, wonder if that's changed.


Colin True

00:22:36.581 - 00:22:39.421

I mean, what, five years? Almost six years, you know, I wonder if it's changed.


Justin Housman

00:22:39.493 - 00:23:06.917

I think it's gotten worse. Like I've. I was going to like, again, there's. There, there are places to camp around here, but they book up really far in advance.


And so last year me and a buddy were like, let's go ride bikes in Santa Cruz. We'll camp. No, no, because I mean, Santa Cruz is like, the weather's nice year round. They're all booked.


And so we were, you know, trying to use hipcamp to find spots and it would be like, oh, yeah, I have a cabin behind my house. It's 2:50 a night. I mean, it's. It's honestly like going on airbnb it's not always there.


Colin True

00:23:06.941 - 00:23:10.869

Must be getting these prices. I mean, at some point, like, why are you just get a hotel, you.


Justin Housman

00:23:10.877 - 00:23:21.589

Know, this is also, keep in mind I'm filtering this through a barrier lens. I have no idea what it's like in other places. I'm sure that's good.


I'm sure you can rent, like, spaces on someone's property for 15 bucks a night in lots of other places. I have no doubt. I've thought about it.


Colin True

00:23:21.677 - 00:23:39.425

I thought, let's put it out to the listeners. Anybody out there who's you is a fan of hip camp and it really helps you out. Or if you know about book outdoors and this acquisition makes sense.


Doesn't make sense or whatever. Drop us an email myrockfightmail.com we can talk a little bit more about it. It's a good point.


Maybe this upcoming year we should try and use it a little bit and see what I mean.


Justin Housman

00:23:39.465 - 00:24:46.425

That's the thing you'll find cool shit. I mean, like, that spot was cool. It should have been $20 a night. But there's a lot of cool stuff like that out there.


And I definitely think the idea of a private campground. I mean, private campgrounds are obviously a huge thing, but there used to be a term for this. I forget what we call peer to peer. Right. Peer to peer.


Private campgrounds is a really interesting idea. I mean, I had a Canvas 10 set up in my backyard all last year. I guarantee you.


Like, during, like, when there was the, like the Fairfax Music Festival and stuff, I could have probably booked that out. I could probably book it out a handful of times a year, make a thousand bucks a year. I.


I'm sure I could just in my backyard, you know, and, like, I don't know. I think that's kind of neat.


Um, but at that point, then you are being airbnb, and then you are potentially displacing, like, hotel money and all that kind of stuff. But, like, who you're competing with if you're hip camp campgrounds. And like, around here, there aren't enough and we're not building anymore.


So I think the idea is really cool. Hipcamp started in San Francisco. Like, I've been to their shocking. I've been. Yeah, right. I've been to their, like, headquarters.


They all love camping. They're all very into it, very serious about it. But like, that. I think it's an interesting idea. I just wish where I lived it was cheaper.


Colin True

00:24:48.445 - 00:25:57.043

Halloween may be over, but there are plenty of scary stories out there about some of our industry's longest tenured brands. But hey, retail buyers, do we have a feel good story for you. Shake off those October cobwebs with Royal Robins. Yeah, that's right. Royal Robbins.


If you're like, really? Yeah, really.


Royal Robbins is one of the true OGs of outdoor brands, part of that early group of California climbers who kind of kicked off the modern era right alongside Tompkins and Chouinard of the North Face in Patagonia. So if anyone can step up, they can. I spoke a bit with Royals brand president Eric Burbank recently and they're making moves and planning routes.


They're focused on natural fibers, tight merchandising and a range that knows what it stands for. All stuff that Royal himself would be down with too, I bet.


I'm hoping to have Eric on the rock fight soon so we can dig more into the rise of Royal and I will say I've been wearing one of their new wool pieces. It's pretty damn good, guys. So you can meet the Royal Robins team in Kansas City at Goa.


Connect November 11th to the 14th, stop by their booth, say hi, maybe throw a few rocks. If you do, just tell them the Colin sent you. So according to Yahoo News, French ski resort Alpes du Grand Sar.


Did I pronounce that correctly or more the foreign language guy?


Justin Housman

00:25:57.139 - 00:25:58.975

Absolutely. You did not. But let me look and see.


Colin True

00:25:59.075 - 00:26:05.127

It's a S. I thought I looked it up. S E R R E Ser Sure. Pretty close, right?


Justin Housman

00:26:05.231 - 00:26:07.327

Yeah. Okay, say it again. Give me the whole thing.


Colin True

00:26:07.431 - 00:26:08.999

Alp du Grand Sar.


Justin Housman

00:26:09.047 - 00:26:10.271

It's. It's grand.


Colin True

00:26:10.423 - 00:26:11.199

It's grand.


Justin Housman

00:26:11.287 - 00:26:12.583

Yeah, but pretty good.


Colin True

00:26:12.639 - 00:26:14.343

A lot of grunt sounds in French.


Justin Housman

00:26:14.399 - 00:26:15.835

French is impossible.


Colin True

00:26:16.215 - 00:26:18.007

So that as a ski resort de.


Justin Housman

00:26:18.031 - 00:26:20.607

Grand Z, something like that is probably how it sound.


Colin True

00:26:20.751 - 00:26:36.771

Well, it doesn't really matter because they're closing due to lack of snow and not like this season. Like they couldn't. They no longer get enough snow to operate. According to the this popular resort couldn't afford.


Couldn't afford to transition to a year round destination to cope with its shrinking snow season.


Justin Housman

00:26:36.843 - 00:26:38.683

Get used to it, ski people.


Colin True

00:26:38.819 - 00:27:00.267

Yeah, this is due to our warming world. And to provide another data point that was also in this article, that's a little closer to home.


Climate researchers examined snowfall trends in roughly 2,000 locations in the United States and found that 64% of those locations are now receiving less snow than they did in the early 1970s. It reminded me of that picture you showed me when we were traveling together a couple weeks ago. You flew over Mount Shasta and it was incredible.


Justin Housman

00:27:00.371 - 00:27:01.435

Just bare rock.


Colin True

00:27:01.515 - 00:27:06.863

Yeah, it was amazing. And that's after two winters record snow.


Justin Housman

00:27:06.999 - 00:27:07.807

Snow, yeah.


Colin True

00:27:07.871 - 00:27:08.143

Right.


Justin Housman

00:27:08.199 - 00:27:08.623

Yeah.


Colin True

00:27:08.719 - 00:27:26.047

So I feel like we have a little bit of the ostrich with our heads in the sand situation going on as the snow sports industry continues to grow. And meanwhile our climate situation may be setting us up for a real dose of reality in the very near future.


So your thoughts on losing all our snow and the snow sports world?


Justin Housman

00:27:26.111 - 00:27:52.107

As a tropics enthusiast, I mean, it would be a bummer. I mean, California would lose all of its water. So that's bad. But I do, I don't, I, I don't. I.


This is, this is like so obviously coming, you know, and like, I don't know what to make of it. Like, this is, this is like a slow moving disaster in so many ways. I mean, I don't know a single ski resort that isn't dealing with this.


I've written in the last eight years tons of articles about something similar to this, you know.


Colin True

00:27:52.171 - 00:27:52.571

Yep.


Justin Housman

00:27:52.643 - 00:27:53.915

Especially in the Alps for some.


Colin True

00:27:53.955 - 00:27:56.795

Like the Alps seem to really hit so bad. Yeah, yeah.


Justin Housman

00:27:56.835 - 00:28:47.173

Europe's had rough summers and what you're, I don't know.


Obviously nobody knows what to do, you know, but it's, it is one, the, the thing, like, I'm stammering because I, it's like so much I want to say it's all hitting your brain at this. Well, kind of. It's like, it's like the one. You know, I studied history in college and I have a, I have a graduate degree in it.


And like the one massive takeaway is that nothing is, nothing is permanent. Like absolutely. We all, every, every generation thinks that this is how it, it's going to be, how it's always been and that they've all been wrong.


And you know, everything is fluid. The earth is fluid. Like, I'm not even talking about whether it's manmade or not. Obviously it is, but even if it wasn't, it wouldn't fucking matter.


Like, like even if we had never pumped an iota of carbon into the atmosphere, like the climate will change, it will change. And so it's like 100 years ago.


Colin True

00:28:47.229 - 00:28:54.117

People were still riding horses around to some degree. I mean, it was not that long ago. Think about things quickly have changed in the last hundred years. It's ridiculous.


Justin Housman

00:28:54.251 - 00:29:31.497

So, you know, it's, it.


But we just, the human nature, you just, you, you just sort of get this is how it's, this is how it's going to be, you know, and so like, it's nobody's fault that we built this like giant industry around this sort of, this, this kind of thing.


I mean the, the scary parts are when you read articles that talk about how most of like the Earth's history has been like giant climate fluctuations, like crazy ones. I mean, that's why, you know, it's like obviously read any book on the dinosaurs. You're like, oh yeah, Antarctica used to be the tropics.


I mean like huge changes happen. And it's in the last 10,000 years have been like mind bogglingly stable. Like in the, like for the, in the history of the world.


We've never really seen anything quite like it.


Colin True

00:29:31.641 - 00:29:33.525

This is proof that we're living in a simulation.


Justin Housman

00:29:34.385 - 00:29:53.323

I mean, maybe like somebody designed it that way, but it's also like, oh, everything. Like basically humans didn't change at all for the most part.


I mean we evolved and then like, okay, there's a steady part in climate boom, agriculture is developed and then it just goes. And it's like we just sort of assume that this is how it always is. But guess what?


Colin True

00:29:53.379 - 00:29:54.147

And how it's going to.


Justin Housman

00:29:54.251 - 00:30:43.149

It's almost never been like this. And so, yeah, that's how it's. So anyway, like, I take a long view, I'm not a skier. I don't own a ski resort.


I do not work for anything that necessarily makes money based on skiing, at least not directly, although kind of indirectly.


So it isn't like a huge concern of mine other than, oh, like, climate's changing, you know, like, and it's a little bit of a bummer when I can't if I want to go the snow. And it hasn't snowed yet.


Like, my wife and I last night were like, okay, should we go to our friend's cabin in Tahoe like the week before Thanksgiving, or should go down to Hollister Ranch? Because we have Hollister options for both, right? And it's like, well, I don't know if it'll have snowed yet.


And like, it probably should have, you know what I mean? But like a few years ago, it was January. I went up there to test some snow tires. There was no snow anywhere. So it's like, yeah, anyway, yeah, this.


Colin True

00:30:43.157 - 00:31:03.029

Isn'T, I don't want to fly in here with a. You should know better snow sports industry. What are they supposed to do? Like, they have minimums to hit and they got things to do.


Like, well, I'll keep riding this along until I can't, I suppose, but it does. And then there's obviously the climate work that needs to get done and the legislation needs to pass which to our first story.


Probably not likely to happen anytime soon.


Justin Housman

00:31:03.077 - 00:31:03.437

Nope.


Colin True

00:31:03.501 - 00:31:11.429

But it just, you know, I read this and I just. Then you see like the oh, you know, bookings are up at American ski resorts kind of thing. And I'm like, oh my God.


Justin Housman

00:31:11.517 - 00:31:29.857

Well, I guess a lot of people are learning to ski. I guess like I, you know, like that those are independent, you know, like, here's the thing. Not everybody pays attention to this shit. Right.


So like I would say like, like the majority of people are going to be like, what? It's not snowing as much. What do you mean? They don't know. Like they look at the mountains and there's snow on it. Like it's, you know, and snow.


Colin True

00:31:29.921 - 00:31:31.793

It snowed in Hawaii last week, apparently.


Justin Housman

00:31:31.849 - 00:31:39.953

Did it? Yeah, I've seen snow in Hawaii and it's just like snow anywhere else. Folks, you are not aware that you're in Hawaii.


It's not like it's tropical and then it's snowing. It's.


Colin True

00:31:40.009 - 00:31:41.089

It's a real tall mountain.


Justin Housman

00:31:41.177 - 00:31:42.929

Feels like it should be snowing there and then it does.


Colin True

00:31:42.977 - 00:31:43.473

Right?


Justin Housman

00:31:43.609 - 00:31:55.561

It's a. I be curious like what they tried, right? They obviously, I'm sure they tried mountain biking.


You know, they must not have any good like access to like mountain bike stuff. Cause it feels or there's too much of it around there. Because that's like an obvious slam dunk summertime thing.


Colin True

00:31:55.753 - 00:31:57.321

This is a problem for you though, you know?


Justin Housman

00:31:57.353 - 00:31:59.841

You know, why am I learning how to ski thing.


Colin True

00:31:59.993 - 00:32:04.401

Well, that's, that's a small problem. The big problem is that when there's no more skiing, everyone's going to start surfing.


Justin Housman

00:32:04.513 - 00:32:24.511

Fuck off. That's already happened as far as I'm concerned. I mean it seems like that's already been the case. I mean it's. It's like the thing is like I'm.


It freaks me out because it's like if you live in. Well, you, this affects you too. But I mean if you live in California, like your water comes from snow. Yeah. And so. Oh yeah.


You know that like this year feels.


Colin True

00:32:24.543 - 00:32:25.335

Most of the West.


Justin Housman

00:32:25.415 - 00:32:34.647

This year feels like it's dry and it's been dry and it felt like it was going to be dry and like I'm sure by. I'm sure that by like February we're all going to be like, like watch Saturday night.


Colin True

00:32:34.671 - 00:32:35.335

It rained a little bit.


Justin Housman

00:32:35.375 - 00:32:36.703

It rained here. It rained. Yeah.


Colin True

00:32:36.759 - 00:32:37.239

Yeah.


Justin Housman

00:32:37.367 - 00:32:41.047

But I'm sorry to this I mean, sorry about that. Sorry. Ski resorts.


Colin True

00:32:41.111 - 00:32:41.287

Yeah.


Justin Housman

00:32:41.311 - 00:32:41.583

Sorry.


Colin True

00:32:41.639 - 00:32:43.711

French people in this part of France. That sucks.


Justin Housman

00:32:43.783 - 00:32:47.087

You should have guessed, you know, 80 years ago when you built yourself that.


Colin True

00:32:47.111 - 00:32:48.319

Like, what the hell were you thinking?


Justin Housman

00:32:48.367 - 00:32:50.395

Yeah. How did you not know? Yeah.


Chris DeMakes

00:32:53.255 - 00:33:21.725

We believe in the sock to make you happy. We believe in the sock. All for comfort. We believe in the stock. You don't have to box crystal ball.


We believe in free range toes and having room to roam in fine gauge merino wool is comfortable. Asshole. We believe in made in usa and we believe in doing what we say. We are fit. We sit.


Justin Housman

00:33:21.805 - 00:33:22.365

That's right.


Chris DeMakes

00:33:22.445 - 00:33:29.745

That's right. We are fixed. We sit. That's right. And we believe in stock.


Colin True

00:33:30.155 - 00:33:30.747

Fitz.


Chris DeMakes

00:33:30.811 - 00:33:32.135

Fitz. Fitz.


Justin Housman

00:33:32.555 - 00:33:34.135

We believe in the socks.


Chris DeMakes

00:33:34.475 - 00:33:36.495

Fitz. Fitz. Fitz.


Colin True

00:33:37.155 - 00:34:27.277

That was Fitz Socks coming in hot. Or at least thermo regulated. They're bringing a fresh new sock sound to 2025. If you don't know Fitz, you should.


They're the even smarter merino performance brand with patented technology that does what it says it does. It fits whole foot comfort, baby check fits out on tour from November 11th to the 14th in Kansas City at Goa Connect.


If you don't have an appointment, go by their booth and say hi. Who knows, you may run into Travis and Taylor just hanging out and talking socks. And now back to the show.


Well, good thing we're kind of in a sour mood right now because it's time for the party shot. Who's first? Who's going?


Justin Housman

00:34:27.371 - 00:34:29.369

I feel like you always go first. I can go first.


Colin True

00:34:29.457 - 00:34:32.209

Yeah, you go first. I went for. I definitely went first last time. You go first.


Justin Housman

00:34:32.377 - 00:34:58.717

All right, so I've. I know I've talked about this at least at some point on the show, but.


Well, I've definitely referred to the fact that you can't write single track legally. Marin a bunch, so. But we've had a. We've had a very, like, historic month or so here in Marin County. The. I'm.


I don't think I'm saying this just because I live here. I do think it should count as the birthplace of mountain biking. I mean, it really is like, say what you will about Crested Butte and stuff.


Colin True

00:34:58.841 - 00:35:00.757

Exactly. That's the place I can lake claim.


Justin Housman

00:35:00.861 - 00:39:31.915

They were doing their thing. But, like, all the big innovators came from here. Right. And, like, when they went out to Crested Butte.


Crested Butte, like, where it's like, holy shit. Like, you guys are riding way more advanced bikes than we are. Like, this really is where it started. And you know that the.


So but you can't ride single track here largely because it started here. Nobody knew what to do with it.


And like people got mad and like, you know, the law enforcement people were like well we don't really know what these bikes are. We're just shutting it all down. And that's just how it's been ever sense. Okay. Anyway.


After decades and decades of advocacy, advocacy work and just honestly an aging out of the population. Yeah that's a big one. The governing body of the.


Of the Mount Tamal Pius watershed and Mount Mount Tamalpais is like this 2500 foot peak in Marin that's. You can see it from everywhere. It's like our. It's like our.


You know, I don't know, it's like our focal point where finally relented and they established a pilot program with nine trails that were going to be. I think I don't remember how long the pilot project is supposed to last.


A couple of years and they're going to be open to mountain bikes and they're going to be. We're going to monitor and see what happens. Is it going to be hiker interactions? Are they going to be bad?


Is there going to be any kind of environmental issues? And they took time to like build up the trails.


They took resources away from like other trails that we'd already been building and put them up there like kind of re. You know, make sure they're bike bike friendly. And these are trails that hikers don't. This is a like such a long process. Right.


And so they were like identified trails that hikers don't use that much. These are trails that are hard to get to unless you're on a bike. Like it's a long slog to hike a lot of these trails anyway.


All of that was supposed to open October 3rd. The pilot program was supposed to start October 3rd. It was. We were all just so stoked.


October 2nd a couple local like cons conservation groups filed lawsuits saying that the watershed hadn't done proper ceqa like the proper like environmental like risk assessment thing and. And stopped it. And it's like I'm not going to use her name. Anybody, Anybody. If anybody who.


Who's listening to the show who lives in Fairfax or Marin county will know who I'm talking about. But one of the organizations is spearheaded by this woman whose life is all about preventing people from riding mountain bikes around here.


That's her entire life. Like she. She was on the news recently with her. She's an equestrian in. Right.


Which there's nothing but data Showing how horses up trails way more than bikes ever possibly could. She loves to ride her horses on the trails, but we can't have bikes. And it's her life goal to prevent this from happening.


And she's one of the instigators behind the lawsuit. It's going to cost $500,000 minimum for the watershed to fight these, to fight this. That's. I mean, that's where.


That's where our drinking water comes from. Like, all my water rates go to. For all that sort of stuff.


I'm going to be paying almost, you know, half a million bucks at minimum for this lawsuit when they could, you know, they could have filed suit way before, but they waited till the very end, probably because they. I. I don't know why, other than just make a point just to be jerks about it.


And it was then on November 1, a judge was supposed to kind of rule one way or the other, but he's. He's asked for more time to, like, really to. To fully look at all the evidence. So now nobody knows if it'll ever open again. Again.


It might open, it might not. We don't. We really don't know. And so my parting shot. I don't know how to say this without being a total about it, but just leave us the alone.


Just let us ride our bikes. Like, this is absurd at this point. I mean, it is like, it is so beyond the pale.


Like, every other place in the country has figured out how to have mountain bikers and horses and hikers all in the same place. Everybody here did their homework. The people that, like, opened the pilot project, these are not mountain bikers.


These are like environmentalists and biologists who, like, did all. Did all the research. Like, okay, this should do. Should be fine. Nothing. Like, no. Just no. Absolutely no will.


No willingness to, like, work with us, to talk with us. Nothing. So there was a huge rally yesterday or two days ago up at the top of Mount Tam. And like, outside was there.


I guess they're going to be covering it, but it's just, it's. It's. It's a nightmare. And it's.


It's a black mark on this county, and it's a black mark on people that are like, so, like the def definition of NIMBYs that. Yeah, I mean, it's like, we'll be better off when they've just aged out. Like, I hate to say that, but, like, it's, It's. Can you imagine where.


I mean, the. Also the pilot, like, the studies all show that there's more mountain bikers and hikers at this point up there.


And so it's like, of course, like, just makes me so mad to think about. I don't even what's party shot or just leave us alone. Just let us ride. Just let us ride our bikes.


Colin True

00:39:33.295 - 00:39:37.471

That's a good one. It'll fit. It'll work out. Maybe you might. You might be dead before it happens, but it'll work out.


Justin Housman

00:39:37.503 - 00:39:39.475

Yeah. I mean, I'll just poach in the meantime, I guess.


Colin True

00:39:40.525 - 00:39:42.165

So you're not preventing anything, really.


Justin Housman

00:39:42.245 - 00:39:43.109

Right. Yep.


Colin True

00:39:43.157 - 00:39:52.125

Well, my parting shot is we talked about this, I think, when we were in Montana.


I'm going to take aim at some common words and phrases that people in the outdoor community, including myself, frankly, have driven kind of straight into the ground.


Justin Housman

00:39:52.165 - 00:39:53.205

Send it, Colin. Send it.


Colin True

00:39:53.245 - 00:39:54.225

Right, yeah.


Justin Housman

00:39:54.845 - 00:39:55.985

Parting shot.


Colin True

00:39:56.325 - 00:40:19.381

For the most part, this applies mostly, I think, like our generation. But just because we're old doesn't mean we can't change. Right. And there are many things, many of these that we can complain about. Send.


It is one, but I've chosen three that I feel like we need to pull out the old thesaurus, find a few new words to use in their place. And the first one is Cheers. Okay. This is a very. I feel like 39 to 59, sort of.


Justin Housman

00:40:19.453 - 00:40:22.985

Is that an outdoors? Wait, this is an outdoors. This is just generally speaking.


Colin True

00:40:23.285 - 00:40:33.949

I would say generally speaking, but it is heavily used in the outdoor community. Like, we're gonna sign off. Emails, Cheers. End a phone call. Cheers. Look, British own Cheers. It sounds weird. What did you just say?


Justin Housman

00:40:33.997 - 00:40:41.101

People that are just really big fans of Sam Al and they just. They just want any reference they can to the. To the best TV show that's ever been made.


Colin True

00:40:41.253 - 00:40:57.141

It is the best TV show that's ever made. I feel like if you can work it in, it has to be.


Then there's a way we have to rephrase it so that, you know, it's like Cheers, Parentheses, the NBC sitcom. It's just, it's. Look, I did it. I definitely signed the email saying Cheers. I thought it was, like, fun and very outdoorsy.


Justin Housman

00:40:57.173 - 00:40:57.365

Good.


Colin True

00:40:57.405 - 00:41:07.089

I'm. Well, I'm jealous. But look, I'm also going to throw mate into this. Right. If you're an American. Yeah, right, Right. They don't work for us. Okay, next.


Epic.


Justin Housman

00:41:07.217 - 00:41:11.297

I'm sorry, I say it way too much. God, I need to stop.


Colin True

00:41:11.441 - 00:41:21.729

And it's not totally off the table because when you use it, if it's truly about something epic. Right. Like, if it's your. If you're telling me about your three mile jaunt on your local trail followed by like a good coffee or a beer is epic.


It's not.


Justin Housman

00:41:21.817 - 00:41:26.697

Are tacos. Are tacos ever epic, Colin? Do you think they're freaking amazing? I guess. Yeah. But they're not.


Colin True

00:41:26.761 - 00:41:31.569

Did you get caught, you know, did you once get caught upside down between some boulders? Yeah, that's pretty epic.


Justin Housman

00:41:31.617 - 00:41:32.481

That's epic.


Colin True

00:41:32.673 - 00:41:36.925

Did you get stranded on an island overnight when like you misjudged the tides on a paddling trip?


Justin Housman

00:41:36.965 - 00:41:39.597

Yeah. Epic, but adult is not epic.


Colin True

00:41:39.741 - 00:41:47.565

Right, but your bike ride on your suspension gravel bike is not epic. All right. So no matter what Strava tells you, stop saying it's epic.


Justin Housman

00:41:47.605 - 00:41:49.405

Does Strava have an epic setting?


Colin True

00:41:49.565 - 00:41:59.301

It must. If it doesn't, it will now when this thing gets hits the algorithms. But last thing is fourteeners.


We're banning the use of the phrase fourteeners because no one gives a shit.


Justin Housman

00:41:59.493 - 00:42:03.001

It's not only significant because that just happens to be the tallest mountains we have in America.


Colin True

00:42:03.143 - 00:42:12.373

That's what I'm saying. You're climbing on top of 14,000 foot peak. Holds no value than any other peak. Especially when your trailhead is like at 11,000ft.


Justin Housman

00:42:12.429 - 00:42:12.669

Yeah.


Colin True

00:42:12.717 - 00:42:19.867

Say you hike the fucking mountain. If you want to hike a 14er, go to Puget Sound and go up Mount Rainier and then you have hiked.


Justin Housman

00:42:19.935 - 00:42:21.509

14,000Ft from the bottom to the top.


Colin True

00:42:21.597 - 00:42:28.225

You are at sea level and then you're at 14,000ft. So there's many more. We'll come for send it later on.


Justin Housman

00:42:29.205 - 00:42:31.893

I can't believe send it didn't crack your top three.


Colin True

00:42:31.949 - 00:42:33.345

Do you want to add and send it?


Justin Housman

00:42:34.425 - 00:42:35.537

I have the first time.


Colin True

00:42:35.561 - 00:42:36.545

Are you sending it?


Justin Housman

00:42:36.665 - 00:42:41.801

The first time I heard that I was just like oh, I hate this. I hate this term.


Colin True

00:42:41.873 - 00:42:54.145

I'd like to know the progression of that phrase. I think of it as a climbing. That is. It's like. Yeah, well that makes kind of sense. Like I'm sending this piece. It's like you're sending the cr.


I think there's a way. Again, some of these things are probably understand.


Justin Housman

00:42:54.305 - 00:43:11.195

Who knows why. I mean it's not like a grammar thing. I have no idea how sending it could possibly apply to climbing a rock. But like yeah, whatever. Like I don't care.


But just the. I'm just tired of it. I'm tired of seeing it like an ads for shit. Like I'm not going to send it by drinking your beer, you know, or whatever.


Colin True

00:43:11.855 - 00:43:14.055

Let's go. Is getting Quick, quickly. Let's go.


Justin Housman

00:43:14.135 - 00:43:14.999

It's got to go.


Colin True

00:43:15.087 - 00:43:16.231

It's got to go.


Justin Housman

00:43:16.423 - 00:43:23.835

Nobody said that ever. And now every sporting feat is accompanied by. Let's go, let's go, let's go. When did that start?


Colin True

00:43:24.135 - 00:43:26.823

I think it was Tom Brady is my. Is what?


Justin Housman

00:43:26.839 - 00:43:39.681

I think that the Hertz commercial, though, was actually pretty. When he would do, like, the let's Go with the Hertz commercials. Those are kind of funny. Like last year. I liked those. But I agree with you.


I get so cringey. To me, like little. Like teenage or not even teenagers, like little Leaguers being. Let's go.


Colin True

00:43:39.793 - 00:43:40.505

Let's go.


Justin Housman

00:43:40.625 - 00:43:41.345

Stop it.


Colin True

00:43:41.465 - 00:43:45.609

Just stop. Everybody stop. All right. That's my parting. That's my part. That's my party.


Justin Housman

00:43:45.697 - 00:43:45.945

Stop.


Colin True

00:43:45.985 - 00:43:46.545

That's my party.


Justin Housman

00:43:46.625 - 00:43:49.457

And let us ride mountain bikes. Yeah, Please. That's it.


Colin True

00:43:49.561 - 00:43:50.465

In silence.


Justin Housman

00:43:50.585 - 00:43:53.225

Yes. All right, man.


Colin True

00:43:53.265 - 00:43:55.915

We can wrap it up there. We got anything else?


Justin Housman

00:43:56.415 - 00:43:58.435

Probably, yeah.


Colin True

00:43:58.735 - 00:44:00.555

Give us time. We'll come up with something else.


Justin Housman

00:44:00.935 - 00:44:03.199

Not gonna get into it here, though.


Colin True

00:44:03.367 - 00:44:19.607

The Rock Fight's a production of Rock Fight llc. For Justin Housman, I'm Colin True. Thanks for listening.


And here to take us out, Chris Demaix, who's just wrapping up a tour in New Zealand, I believe, and he's here to sing the Rock Fight fight song. We'll see first time rock fighters from New Zealand. He's calling in.


Justin Housman

00:44:19.711 - 00:44:20.111

Hell yeah.


Colin True

00:44:20.143 - 00:44:21.701

Never misses an episode Krista makes. Thanks.


Justin Housman

00:44:21.773 - 00:44:22.785

Hell yeah, Chris.


Colin True

00:44:23.645 - 00:44:24.749

We'll see you next time.


Chris DeMakes

00:44:24.837 - 00:44:32.357

Rock fight. Rock flight. Rock flight. Rock fight. Rock flight. Rock flight.


Colin True

00:44:32.501 - 00:44:33.213

Here we go.


Chris DeMakes

00:44:33.309 - 00:45:11.875

Welcome to the Rock fight. Where we speak our truth, slay sacred cows and sometimes agree to disagree. We talk about human powered outdoor activities and big bites about time.


Topics that we find interesting like pop culture, music, the latest movie reviews, ideas that aim for the head. This is where we speak our truth. This is where we speak our truth. Rock flight. Rock flight. Rock fight. Welcome to the rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight.


Welcome to the Rock flight. Rock fight. Rock fight.

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