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Today on THE ROCK FIGHT (an outdoor podcast that aims for the head) Colin and Justin get caught up on some of the headlines to come out of the outdoor adventure community over the past few weeks.
Today's topics include:
The Park City Ski Patrol Strike! The topic of the moment that needs to be discussed because resort skiing has some brand problems. (06:02)
Are 'Gravel Shoes' coming? Dear lord we hope not. Shoe brands take note: just don't. (20:28)
Two men lose their lives while searching for Sasquatch. Folks, we hate to be the ones to tell you this... but ghosts, Bigfoot, and aliens: all not real. (31:04)
The Parting Shot! Justin takes issues with his own e-bike and Colin pours a little out for South Sound Running. (37:55)
Check out hundreds of wildly cool products by visiting and shopping at Garage Grown Gear!
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Chris DeMakes
00:00:00.080 - 00:00:07.460
Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight.
Colin True
00:00:08.320 - 00:00:25.180
Welcome to the Rock Fight, where we speak our truth, slay sacred cows, and sometimes agree to disagree. This is an outdoor podcast that aims for the head.
I'm Colin True, and joining me today, he's excited about his Rams getting a home game against the Vikings, even though it won't matter. It's Justin Elsman.
Justin Housman
00:00:26.000 - 00:00:31.648
Have we ever actually agreed to disagree on this show? I hate that. God, you know what?
Colin True
00:00:31.784 - 00:00:35.408
Yeah, you've said. I've heard you say, I disagree with that.
Justin Housman
00:00:35.544 - 00:00:39.728
My next parting shot, maybe today will be I hate the phrase agree to disagree.
Colin True
00:00:39.824 - 00:00:40.512
I just hate it.
Justin Housman
00:00:40.536 - 00:00:42.352
I don't know why. I mean, it works.
Colin True
00:00:42.416 - 00:00:43.248
It works so well.
Justin Housman
00:00:43.304 - 00:01:21.042
It means exactly what it does. It like, couldn't be more clear, but just drives me nuts. Yeah, I don't. You know what's weird? I've watched football since I was born, right?
I don't ever remember a time when they had to go, like, the fifth time tiebreaker to be like, who are you gonna play in the play? Like. Like, everyone's just like, oh, yeah, okay. This is just how it works. Like, I. I would be apoplectic if I'm a Seahawks fan, right? Like, what?
Because the team. The Rams. The teams the Rams beat were slightly better than teams that we be like, can we have, like, a playoff game? Baseball doesn't do that.
Baseball would have another playoff game. They do it sometimes. They, like, game. Game. 63. So, like, it's just weird to me that everyone's just, like, cool with it.
Okay, I guess this is what we're doing.
Colin True
00:01:21.146 - 00:01:31.310
All right, well, today we are going to talk about a few headlines come out of the outdoor community. A couple of them while we were on holiday break, if you want, over the last few weeks. But before we got that.
Justin Housman
00:01:31.350 - 00:01:33.950
God, I wish it was a break. I wish it would have been a break.
Colin True
00:01:33.990 - 00:01:39.742
Before we get to that, got a couple housekeeping programming reminders. We want your emails, guys. Oh, yeah, we make the noise.
Justin Housman
00:01:39.806 - 00:01:40.850
Housekeeping.
Colin True
00:01:42.550 - 00:02:21.138
Send your emails to myrockflightgmail.com youm could send us feedback on episodes you get. If you have ideas. If you have we said something that made you mad, especially those emails. We want those emails.
So send your emails myrockflight Gmail.com come back this Friday. That's this Friday to the rock fight and hear my conversation with Matt Powell, the legendary analyst of the sports retail industry.
Matt is coming on the show to offer his 2025 predictions for the outdoor and active space. We had our. And we had our listen to Monday's episode where we had our top five footwear.
We made our list of the top five footwear brands going in the outdoor industry right now. It's a pretty action packed week around here on the old Rock Fight.
Justin Housman
00:02:21.274 - 00:02:25.758
Now, will he be giving predictions about publicly traded outdoor brands if from.
Colin True
00:02:25.814 - 00:02:27.086
No insider trading.
Justin Housman
00:02:27.278 - 00:02:31.022
Damn. Is that inside? It's not insider. He just might know what's up. I guess that's.
Colin True
00:02:31.086 - 00:02:38.366
He might know what's up. You always edit that out. He said we didn't air it. He just said it into a microphone.
Justin Housman
00:02:38.398 - 00:02:38.654
Yeah.
Colin True
00:02:38.702 - 00:02:40.942
And I happen to take that information and make money with it.
Justin Housman
00:02:40.966 - 00:02:50.878
It would actually. You know what we should do? We should do. We should do an episode that's just like who, like invest.
Like if, if you could invest in brands like which ones would you invest in?
Colin True
00:02:50.934 - 00:02:51.534
That's a good idea.
Justin Housman
00:02:51.582 - 00:03:09.382
I mean obviously I don't even know how many very few probably are publicly traded. But like, or at least in pretend that they all giant portfolio of something else.
But like yeah, if you just kind of pretend that each one is publicly traded, who would you invest in? I mean, I guess that's kind of what we did the other day with our relegation system. But anyway, I think it'd be a fun. That'd be a fun one.
Colin True
00:03:09.486 - 00:03:10.730
Talk about the newsletter.
Justin Housman
00:03:11.150 - 00:03:21.246
I do. I put my initials up by three times to remind myself. So folks, you got to subscribe to our newsletter.
The Rock Fight weekly newsletter comes out on Tuesday.
Colin True
00:03:21.438 - 00:03:26.078
Tuesday, yesterday, in the future, right now, in the past when this airs Dean's Talk.
Justin Housman
00:03:26.134 - 00:04:07.578
If you're for our German speakers out there, Tuesday. If not, you still have time to get our original Rock Fight content. This is a real newsletter. It's got real unique original content.
It's not an outdoor link aggregator. It's not a here's what we covered. Well, kind of is. But like this week in the show, there's some real deal stuff you can only find there.
Real writing from legendary luminary outdoor writers like myself, Justin Hausman and other people who will write for us periodically. But anyway, it's a great newsletter. Colin has done a phenomenal job putting that thing together, building up a subscriber list. It looks great.
It's fun to get. It's fun.
I mean like the whole point of everything we're doing on Rock Fight is to be fun and to gather the outdoor community that we don't feel like is gathering in other places. This is a great.
Colin True
00:04:07.634 - 00:04:09.338
And to agree to disagree.
Justin Housman
00:04:09.514 - 00:05:02.550
Yeah. Even if we, we need to find Another phrase. But I don't know, I'm a huge. I, I don't know if you are, Colin.
Obviously you are because you, you make one. But I mean like generally speaking, I'm a giant newsletters.
I mean in a lot of ways I kind of expect that to be, you know, to replace destination URLs in the future where you just get your newsletter once a week from a, from a media source and that's, that's your, that's how you get your content from them. But I, I, I love them. We love putting them together. I'll be writing something for tomorrow's real, real late this night. So that'll be fun.
See how, see how coherent I can be. But anyway, head to Rockfight Co.
You'll get a little pop up as you might expect and you can just click join the mailing list right there to sign up and I'll read the next part too.
If you're new around here, we would also love for you to subscribe and to join the Rock Fight by hitting the follow button on whatever podcast app you are listening to us on and give us a five star rating. Please, please, please, please, please. I think we deserve a five star rating.
Colin True
00:05:02.710 - 00:05:06.550
I do like newsletters, but particularly I like good newsletters.
Justin Housman
00:05:06.710 - 00:05:07.094
Yeah.
Colin True
00:05:07.142 - 00:05:11.302
I mean just because you send an email out that has some stuff in it doesn't mean it's a newsletter.
Justin Housman
00:05:11.366 - 00:05:35.330
I agree with that. I agree with that. That's what I mean. Like, like, yeah, you know, ones that are thoughtfully made.
That's what I mean about, I think you'll probably maybe at some point stop going, you know, stop having a destination URL. You'll just, you'll just go, oh, I love Rock Fight. Right? Like every Tuesday I'm going to get my dose of Rock Fight. And that's fantastic.
Like when I was a defector subscriber and I'm not anymore, like I, I, I kind of stopped going to the website. I just wait for the newsletter to come. So.
Colin True
00:05:35.370 - 00:05:37.362
Yeah. Anyway, Puck has good newsletters too.
Justin Housman
00:05:37.466 - 00:05:38.978
Has great newsletters. Really? Really?
Colin True
00:05:39.034 - 00:05:39.266
Yeah.
Justin Housman
00:05:39.298 - 00:05:41.884
I don't, I very rarely go to the site very for that reason.
Colin True
00:05:41.972 - 00:05:52.748
It's like exactly. I almost never, It's a, actually that's the thing that proves what you're talking about. I almost never go to Puck News.
I just get, I get Matt Balinese newsletter. I'm like, oh, I got everything I need. Or John, all those things.
Justin Housman
00:05:52.804 - 00:05:59.372
And that's the plan, you know, we, we'll get you all hooked on our newsletter and then, oh it's five bucks a month. And you know what? You're gonna. You're gonna have to deal with it, folks.
Colin True
00:05:59.436 - 00:05:59.612
No.
Justin Housman
00:05:59.636 - 00:06:02.320
No. Oh, is that not. Okay. Sorry.
Colin True
00:06:03.140 - 00:06:08.332
All right, let's get into our first story today. And it's our top story. So you know that it's present. We don't know because this is a new feature.
Justin Housman
00:06:08.476 - 00:06:11.000
I guess it's not really breaking news. It's kind of breaking news.
Colin True
00:06:11.870 - 00:06:37.078
Well, our top story today is presented by your hub for ultralight gear garage growing gear. And we're going to tell you a little bit more about that in a second. But the. The lead story today is about the Park City Ski Patrol going on strike.
It's kind of definitely the biggest story that came out over the holiday break, and it's still happening at the Park City Mountain Resort, coinciding with one of the busiest times of the year at any ski resort, the end of December. Park City Ski Patrol went on strike on December 27, looking for higher wages.
Justin Housman
00:06:37.174 - 00:06:39.036
By the way, what's that? That's my wife's birthday.
Colin True
00:06:39.198 - 00:06:41.104
Oh. Tell her I said happy birthday.
Justin Housman
00:06:41.152 - 00:06:41.536
I will.
Colin True
00:06:41.608 - 00:06:44.624
Yeah. Now she. And you know, she's gonna be at.
Justin Housman
00:06:44.632 - 00:06:47.180
The Park City Ski Patrol skiing at Park City, Utah, right now.
Colin True
00:06:48.840 - 00:06:49.968
They're gonna recruit her.
Justin Housman
00:06:50.024 - 00:06:50.736
Yeah.
Colin True
00:06:50.928 - 00:07:12.316
So they're looking for higher wages from the owner of Park City, who is Vail Resorts. Patrollers want Vail to agree to a $2 increase to their base hourly wage.
Data printed in Town Lift, which is a Park City online news site over the weekend, showed that given the season's snowpack in Park City, the mountain should have been at least 50% open. And due to the strike, only of the resort is actually open.
Justin Housman
00:07:12.388 - 00:07:15.900
That's. That's terrain is. Only 18% of the terrain is open. Is that what that means?
Colin True
00:07:15.940 - 00:07:52.824
Correct. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, it's definitely impacting things. Lines get long during the, you know, during this time of year anyway.
They were particularly long. It wasn't. If you're at all in tune with what's happening in the outdoors, you've definitely seen the story and you definitely seen the.
The video footage of how long the lines have gotten. You know, I don't know. I. I don't like to talk about ski stories. I think most of the ski industry is kind of gross.
My opinion is on the record about the role ski resorts play in our community, but it's undenia important ski resort skiing is to the outdoor community and the health of the industry and economy. But I don't know, man. What were your Thoughts about the, the ski patrol going on strike. An old PC.
Justin Housman
00:07:52.952 - 00:07:57.240
My first thought was, holy crap. That's all ski patrollers make. Or at least that's the base pay, I guess.
Colin True
00:07:57.280 - 00:07:59.288
Yeah, 23 bucks.
Justin Housman
00:07:59.384 - 00:08:00.440
They're 21.
Colin True
00:08:00.480 - 00:08:02.920
They're trying to get 21 to 23. Yeah, right.
Justin Housman
00:08:02.960 - 00:08:16.730
I mean, dude, like, I'm not. I. Park City is very affluent. I would, you know, so it's gotta be.
I mean, if I walked across the street right now to my natural food grocery store, I'd make that like checking, you know, like, like checking, you know, as a checker. Like, yeah, is the thing.
Colin True
00:08:16.770 - 00:08:23.130
Like, you double it. Right. Hourly rate. So basically 42k a year to, like live in Park City. Like. Yeah. Good luck. Yeah.
Justin Housman
00:08:23.210 - 00:09:13.912
Unless you have 15 roommates, you know, and, and like. Yeah, I was really surprised about that. But as a dedicated non skier, non downhill skier, I, I mean, I, I'm. God, I don't.
There's no, really no other way to say it. I'm just sickened by how much skiing costs. I'm sickened by all of it. Like Vale icon, whatever. Paying a grand a year.
I mean, I guess it's not that much, whatever beginner, relatively speaking. I don't know. But paying a grand a year to go skiing, and then now you got to wait in lines everywhere.
These companies make a shitload of money, clearly on the backs of like ski patrol. I mean, if I, I don't know, maybe I would think that ski patrollers are really damn important, right? Like, like for your enjoyment at a resort.
I mean, that show that the, the. Forgive me. What is the YouTube channel called? Peak. Whatever.
Colin True
00:09:14.056 - 00:09:16.300
Peak rankings is a huge.
Justin Housman
00:09:16.640 - 00:09:54.884
I've talked to a couple skiers about it since. That's a big, that's a big YouTube channel. But I think it was, Maybe it wasn't.
I don't remember if it was his show or something I read, but they talked a bit about how someone had to like, wait forever for someone to come rescue them after, like tearing ligaments in their leg. And they didn't even show up with a, with a sled.
So, like, I'm assuming ski like a healthy crew of like dedicated, happy ski patrollers is hugely important for your enjoyment on the mountain. So I, I just feel like ski patrols go on strike, you give whatever they want. Like, who else is more important than that?
You know, you can always probably find kids to run the lift, to be lifties or to run the snack bars or whatever. But, like, you got to pay the ski patrollers.
Colin True
00:09:55.012 - 00:09:59.840
I, I wouldn't I would think the 50 should get 21 bucks an hour, you know, like.
Justin Housman
00:10:01.580 - 00:10:03.716
Like, yeah.
Colin True
00:10:03.748 - 00:11:14.274
And I know we're not breaking any news or it's, it's a, it's a common opinion about, you know, the cost of these mountain towns. And it just, I don't know, this is a problem.
The problem, I think, is the ski industry has here and it's like, you know, I can talk about how I like skiing. I don't like skiing. Like, this individual item, it's like your, your product is suffering.
You, you are creating a product ski world that is probably a result of, you know, the epic pass, the icon pass that is becoming you. It's. You're going to lose customers. And the funny thing is there's been a huge boom coming out of COVID Like they say in that video by peak rankings.
They talk about how, you know, basically the two years ago was the most visits ever to Utah ski resorts, and last year was a little bit lower than that, but it was still the second most visits ever. And, you know, you're creating this world where your product is going to suffer and it's not a cheap product.
So people are spending thousands of dollars to come to your result resorts and to go skiing. And you have issues with, you get, you get, you get raked over the coals for parking. It's.
You got to wait in lines even if it's, there's no strike and now you're trying to stay open. I mean, if anything else, you're just like, out of desperation pay these folks because you are just getting killed in the press. Right, too.
Nobody is on your side.
Justin Housman
00:11:14.442 - 00:11:30.994
Like, I, I don't doubt that it costs a fortune to maintain these resorts. I mean, it's snowing less. Making snow costs a lot. The season's probably smaller than it's ever been before. Like, I get all that.
I'm not saying it doesn't cost a fortune, but also it doesn't, it probably wouldn't cost as much if you weren't building these mega resorts where you have 40,000 people on staff and like.
Colin True
00:11:31.082 - 00:11:31.378
Right.
Justin Housman
00:11:31.434 - 00:13:55.240
You know, like, go maybe, maybe take a page from the old days where it was a much smaller experience, you know, but anyway, like, I don't doubt that it costs a lot, but, but like, I guess I just feel like if, if, if you're gonna eventually go down because you can't afford to keep your, your resort up, like, you gotta pay everybody along the way. At least, you know, you do. You have to.
I, I think one of the most interesting things about the, the video they're talking about, the strike is, is if it, if it's, it's kind of making the case once again, the pink rankings, peak rankings video, it's making the case really that it's the explosion of popularity that is driving a lot of this, that like the resort just can't keep up with. They can't. Infrastructure wise, they can't keep up with it. They can't keep up with it hiring wise, all that sort of stuff.
And I don't doubt that's, that's true. And, and frankly, I mean that's, that's, that's a huge part of the reason I don't surf as much anymore.
I mean, watching that, watching that video where you're watching these lines and all the bullshit you have to deal with to like go to get on a lift and all the shit that requires to build one and all these sort of the gates and everything, like, that's one of the reasons that me and so many people I know who love to surf have always kind of been like skiing. I don't want to deal with that. Like, I just go to the beach with a surfboard.
Like, I don't know, one tells me when I can, when I can't, I don't have to pay, like all the sort of stuff.
And it's like, man, you could not make more hurdles in front of someone trying to do something that they love than you, than you can't, than, you know, than skiing does. And so, but that's a reckoning. You're just gonna have to deal with ski world. I mean, like, we're dealing with it, with surfing.
Like my beaches that I used to surf all the time that were empty are crowded as. And it's that, that boom's happened everywhere.
We talk about it with hiking, with biking, with everything, you know, and it's like, okay, we, we broadcast to the world about how awesome all this stuff is to do and this is, this is the result and it's totally fine. Everyone has the right to do it. So what are we going to do about it?
You know, I think things like the Bluebird Resort, which I believe I could be wrong. I believe that went under, right? Like, didn't that didn't work. Awesome idea, you know, like a backcountry only resort, like that kind of thing.
We need to start thinking outside the box. The ski world does anyway for how to serve people that want to ski, that can't. Like, I don't. I love snow sports, love Nordic skiing.
Love, snowshoeing, Love all that sort of stu. I've never learned how to ski, and I'm not really. Other than last year when I made a big deal about how I was going to. I mean, a 90.
The reason I don't care enough to learn is the cost. And, like, I don't. My kids. I don't want my kids, like, falling in love with skiing because it's going to cost so much.
And, like, that's a real big problem. So I don't know what you guys do about at Ski World, but something needs to change. And, you know, I don't know.
Colin True
00:13:55.280 - 00:14:13.372
I don't know what's driving people to ski versus, like, everything you described. You're not wrong. And you're like, well, that's what I mean. Like, you know, so you're like.
It's, you know, the break you particularly like is getting more crowded. It's like, yeah, but there are also lots of other places you can go. Right, Right. You can find.
And maybe it's not the one you want to, but you could find. What's that?
Justin Housman
00:14:13.396 - 00:14:22.476
I just go north. I mean, I was at Point Blaze yesterday, and it was.
There's nobody in the water because there's a couple people got scared by a shark a couple days ago. But there's always somewhere else to go. Yeah. Yeah.
Colin True
00:14:22.508 - 00:15:27.934
Like, my. My wife and daughter and I went mountain biking this weekend.
We went to a really popular area, and it was like, you know, it was annoying because it was popular, but also, there was, like, a thousand other places within 20 minutes a week could have gone mountain biking and had none of that. And with skiing, it's like, you got to go there. It is truly.
And I've joked about this, but it's truly like the amusement park of the outdoor adventure world, because you got to go there. It's expensive. You got to wait in line. You got to deal with all these people.
Now, if you live in a mountain town, that was the best part when I lived in Park City was that, hey, I can pick my spots. Like, oh, there's nobody here. It's this time of year. I'll avoid it during the holidays. It's like, oh, it's a. It's a powder day on a Tuesday.
I can go at lunchtime and no one's going to be around. But if that's not. If you don't live there, you can't do that. And I don't really understand, like, why the. I guess I look at the number of.
Like, Was it the 6.8 million visits they had in Utah over the last couple years. Like, who is going, man, let's all go skiing. Unless you are already a scare. And maybe that's what it is. Maybe it's something.
And I guess they're making the case that it's these icon passes and the epic passes that are allowing all these people to come into unlimited and try it. Yeah, If I were going to plan a ski vacation right now, I would, honestly, I would definitely. I'd find some like, little weird hill in like New York.
Justin Housman
00:15:28.022 - 00:15:29.150
Mount Bohemia.
Colin True
00:15:29.310 - 00:15:42.266
Yeah. What's Mount Bohemia? In Michigan. Right.
Just like, you know, going to go to a place that's hard to get to, that doesn't get crowded, that's going to be all locals and just like have a on mountain experience. I would not go to any one of these places that are on one of these big passes. No way.
Justin Housman
00:15:42.338 - 00:16:44.866
I think one of the problems that skiing has is that it's easy to do and you don't forget how for the most part.
I mean, like, this is, this is a buddy of mine who's a really good snowboarder and a very good surfer who, who's like me, grew up around, you know, central Northern California. And it's just like we're all crusty and mad about the crowds.
And, you know, he's, he made the comparison a few weeks back that like, surfing is becoming like skiing now. Like, so many people have taken a lesson and so many people have like, kind of learned how to do it.
That kind of everybody surfs like a little bit, you know, like, I mean, not everybody obviously, but like, it's not uncommon for people to kind of know how to surf. No, I don't even enough to where they'll like be comfortable enough to like rent a board and go paddle out somewhere.
Whereas that never used to be the case. You were either a hardcore surfer or you were a kid learning. And there was really very little in between. Adult learners weren't really a thing.
Whereas, like with skiing, it's like, like my, like my wife is a good example.
She learned how to ski when she was a kid, never skis, but like, she was in Montana like 10 years ago and like, oh yeah, I'll go ski like Whitefish or whatever. Like, she was with a friend who wanted to ski and like, she hadn't been on skis in 20 years. She was fine.
Colin True
00:16:44.898 - 00:16:46.274
That's interesting. That's a good point.
Justin Housman
00:16:46.362 - 00:17:23.553
So like, everybody can do it. And so it's like, you know, it doesn't It's. It's also isn't like super challenging physically for the most part.
So it's not like, like mountain bike riding. I was thinking about making, you know, mountain bike riding in theory is the same deal.
Most people can ride a bike, but it's hard to ride uphill and it's terrifying when you fall. So I think there's still enough of that keeping people away from mountain biking.
Whereas where mountain biking hasn't gotten so insanely crowded, skiing, it's like, who doesn't like to sit there at the bar at the end of a, you know, have apres beer and watch people come down the hill and yeah, I'll strap some skis on and go do it too. Like, why not? You know? And like that's what's. That's a huge.
Colin True
00:17:23.601 - 00:17:28.865
Oh, there's a romance to it. Yeah. And that's the thing. I don't want to just come off as a hater. I. I genuinely love.
Justin Housman
00:17:29.017 - 00:17:30.593
I wish I knew how to. I wish I knew.
Colin True
00:17:30.641 - 00:17:31.617
It's really fun.
Justin Housman
00:17:31.753 - 00:17:32.433
Epic.
Colin True
00:17:32.561 - 00:17:33.297
But it just.
Justin Housman
00:17:33.353 - 00:17:33.569
The.
Colin True
00:17:33.609 - 00:17:57.122
The things that stack up against you that make it not fun happen happens really quick at some of these places and it's just. And for the cost again if it's. And again, it's like going to amusement park. You know, I went to my.
To Meet the Disney World Disneyland with the kids last year and it was fun. But we. When we paid for the like super like, well, no, I guess there you have to like get the reservation system or whatever.
But we paid the most you could pay to make it as easy as.
Justin Housman
00:17:57.146 - 00:18:02.514
Possible to enjoy the park and stuff. Can you do that with skiing now? Can you pay to skip ahead in the.
Colin True
00:18:02.602 - 00:18:23.672
Well, that's what I'm. It's got to be headed there if it doesn't already. I'm sure there's some resorts that are doing it. I'm just like it have. Make it a reservation system.
It's already dumb expensive.
Like, so if I got to go and spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars to go, I'd rather go and know that like, I can go and get on the mountain quickly and have fun. And if I have to deal with everybody else, no thanks, man. Like, I'm out pay the.
Justin Housman
00:18:23.696 - 00:18:24.856
Pay the ski patrollers park.
Colin True
00:18:24.928 - 00:18:27.500
Well, yeah, I mean ultimately we've. We support the ski patrollers.
Justin Housman
00:18:28.800 - 00:18:29.512
Is that right?
Colin True
00:18:29.616 - 00:18:56.818
It's Vale. I mean they say they're kind of the guy in the pink. The Peak Rings rankings video.
You play it out and it's like, you know, what is it going to mean if you do all these things at all the resorts and how it affects the bottom line, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like sure. But yeah, they, they had like $230 million in profit last year. You're talking about ski patrol.
These, you know, it's not like, you know, well, we have to close that bar. If we don't have a bartender kind of thing, you're a ski patrol. And they're going to get hurt. It's the most important function on the mountain.
Pay them and move on.
Justin Housman
00:18:56.874 - 00:19:03.346
And it's not like these are people who are like notoriously demanding high wages so they can live like a cush lifestyle.
Colin True
00:19:03.378 - 00:19:47.118
Yeah, there's 23 bucks an hour in a town that's like dumb expensive to live in. So. All right, well, we support you here ski patrollers here on the rock fight. And also we support garage growing gear.
Because today's top story presented by Garage growing Gear, your one stop shop for ultralight backpacking gear. Their specialty is small and cottage outdoor brands. Hundreds of wildly cool products to help you lighten up your pack.
And ggg, just put together a list of their top ultralight winter essentials with products like down booties, alpaca base layers made from real alpaca, down booties, insulated pillows, synthetic jackets like the best selling torrid jacket by enlightened you Enlightened equipment. Do you know that brand?
Justin Housman
00:19:47.174 - 00:19:48.110
Of course I do. Yeah.
Colin True
00:19:48.190 - 00:19:48.750
Okay, good.
Justin Housman
00:19:48.790 - 00:19:49.166
All right.
Colin True
00:19:49.238 - 00:19:53.294
Pot koozies. Not puffin drinkware.
Justin Housman
00:19:53.342 - 00:19:53.646
Right.
Colin True
00:19:53.718 - 00:20:01.582
And a whole lot more. Check out the full list in our show notes and discover more incredible brands by heading to garagegrowngear.com when I first.
Justin Housman
00:20:01.606 - 00:20:13.606
Read down booties now it occurs to me that like a kind of an after hike thing you put on your feet when you're chilling at camp. But for a split second I was like, they mean like down socks, like something you would wear like inside your shoes. Like holy smokes.
Colin True
00:20:13.638 - 00:20:15.878
You know someone's tried to make those probably.
Justin Housman
00:20:15.974 - 00:20:18.210
Yeah. Are heated socks a thing yet?
Colin True
00:20:18.670 - 00:20:20.006
Yeah, I gotta think. Yeah.
Justin Housman
00:20:20.038 - 00:20:25.190
Well, they, I mean I have like, I have a pair of heated mittens which I actually really like, but I don't know about heated socks.
Colin True
00:20:25.270 - 00:20:58.290
Gotta have socks, I'm sure.
All right, next up in his recap of running footwear to come out of the running event this past fall for gear junkie journalist Craig Randall mentioned in an article recently that several running footwear brands are attempting to evolve the phrase road to trail to gravel. All right. It's effectively trying to establish a new category of Running shoes like we have for cycling called gravel shoes.
Craig astutely calls out in his blurb about this on Gear Junkie that while he understands the logic, he also finds it cringy, which is maybe the nicest way I could put it. It is cringy. I mean, this is, you know, this is the rock fight.
Justin Housman
00:20:58.330 - 00:20:58.482
Right?
Colin True
00:20:58.506 - 00:20:59.474
We're here to pick fights.
Justin Housman
00:20:59.522 - 00:20:59.682
Right.
Colin True
00:20:59.706 - 00:21:04.610
Well, I'd like to order a preemptive strike against gravel footwear ever becoming a thing.
Justin Housman
00:21:04.650 - 00:21:10.882
This is a. But for you, this is a bugaboo about the name. Right. It's not the idea because, like, you.
Colin True
00:21:10.906 - 00:21:12.258
Can run in anything.
Justin Housman
00:21:12.354 - 00:21:12.626
Yeah.
Colin True
00:21:12.658 - 00:21:20.230
People run in barefoot, like literally barefoot. And they run in massively over boot built shoes on a variety of surfaces.
Justin Housman
00:21:21.930 - 00:21:29.956
The road to trail category is.
Is an issue for you and I'm assuming the name as well, because you feel like it's just sort of jumping on the gravel bike thing and it's like a thing we can market and blah, blah, blah.
Colin True
00:21:30.058 - 00:21:35.344
Yeah, that one improved over time. That gravel bikes really do have a. Have a place.
Justin Housman
00:21:35.432 - 00:21:35.888
Yeah.
Colin True
00:21:35.984 - 00:21:43.568
I mean, there's people who run in all sorts of conditions and all sorts of footwear. We don't need another category. This is just nothing but marketing.
Justin Housman
00:21:43.664 - 00:21:53.456
I do kind of feel a little bit like in the bike world, like, we still kind of go gravel bikes, huh? Like a little bit. I mean, they're huge category.
Colin True
00:21:53.568 - 00:21:56.752
That's a good point. But I can throw some knobby tires on a road bike and be like, I'm fine.
Justin Housman
00:21:56.816 - 00:22:12.046
Yeah. Like, if you were all aware that this was like kind of a marketing push. But it is. You know, I, I had the, I had the.
My first thought was similar to yours, but I guess we can agree to disagree here on this. So I, I mean, I, I run into this all the time.
Colin True
00:22:12.118 - 00:22:13.150
Bring you around on that.
Justin Housman
00:22:13.270 - 00:22:21.470
Right. I. I run into this. Ha. Another pun. All the time. Because I run from my house to the trail. I never drive to the trail. And so.
Colin True
00:22:21.510 - 00:22:21.950
Right.
Justin Housman
00:22:22.070 - 00:23:01.582
Like, I don't love running. It's a mile to the trailer from my.
I don't love running in my nordas because it's like, I don't know how often I can run on the, on the hard pavement before the Vibram starts to wear off, you know, and so I actually have thought a million times, man, it'd be nice to have something that's just like a little bit less aggressive that I don't. I'm not quite worried as much about it gripping and sticking to the pavement. So I, I do kind of get like. And they're overkill. The Nord is.
I love them, but they're kind of overkill for the trails I usually run on around here. For the most part, I can do just fine in my hokas that are not really even meant for the trail. As you say, you can run in anything.
So I do kind of get it. I do. I. I don't have a problem with it because I guess what I'm saying, I don't have a problem with it.
Colin True
00:23:01.686 - 00:23:03.038
I think it's just special.
Justin Housman
00:23:03.174 - 00:23:15.742
It's a niche that kind of makes sense now. Now I agree with you though. You can run in anything. You can run in bedrocks. I would be fine. I could run in my.
I could run on my boots and I would be fine. It would suck, but I could do it and it would probably be in better shape for it, you know?
Colin True
00:23:15.766 - 00:23:18.210
Would you worry about walking on the road in your boots?
Justin Housman
00:23:19.520 - 00:23:22.344
I do kind of. I actually do a little bit. I do.
Colin True
00:23:22.432 - 00:23:22.968
Fair point.
Justin Housman
00:23:23.024 - 00:23:27.740
I do. Because it's like, I know that pavement wears down lugs faster than anything else.
Colin True
00:23:28.640 - 00:23:31.400
I mean, but what are we doing? It's. It's like.
Justin Housman
00:23:31.520 - 00:23:33.096
Yeah, that's what it's for though, right?
Colin True
00:23:33.168 - 00:23:33.784
Think about this.
Justin Housman
00:23:33.872 - 00:23:35.624
It has a use, right? Like, of course.
Colin True
00:23:35.792 - 00:23:37.016
And it's gonna wear out.
Justin Housman
00:23:37.088 - 00:23:37.800
Yeah, no, you're right.
Colin True
00:23:37.840 - 00:23:39.300
It's going to wear out.
Justin Housman
00:23:39.840 - 00:24:34.650
That's actually. You know what's funny? Maybe this is more of a. Of a. Of a sort of a philosophical slash personality test than anything else.
Because like, I like, I get so stressed out about using things because I guess because I grew up like, with not much money and I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop financially or life wise in general that like, you know, I have a huge issue decision to make. Every time we're gonna drive more than 10 miles. Like, which car do we take? Okay. What car do we drive last? Okay, we drove the RAV4. I do this too. Okay.
We should balance the miles out by putting it on my truck. It costs more gas wise, but like it's been sitting for three days, so it'll like I'm doing this crazy calculation for anything I'm using. Right?
Like, right. Ooh, do I need to make this other cup of coffee? Because the burr grinder is really expensive. And if I you. And so like, so I do that.
And so like with boots and stuff are the same thing. Like, I'm like, oh, man, I don't want to walk around on the payment in these things. So I do kind of get It.
But I also don't want to live in a world where you have to. You have like a fucking quiver of running shoes. Like, that's.
Colin True
00:24:34.730 - 00:24:48.026
That's kind of what I'm getting at. I mean, if you're going to. If you.
If you take 13 miles of the trail and you got a, you know, a trail running shoe with a softer durometer of the rubber on the outside of your shoulder, I get it. But if it's like a half mile, just relax. Just run to the trail. It'll be all right.
Justin Housman
00:24:48.178 - 00:24:48.586
Or.
Colin True
00:24:48.658 - 00:25:08.598
Or invest the time not in a new category of shoes that is hyper niche that you can't like. Well, you don't want to go too far on the trail in those now because those are gravel shoes.
Then we need like a butterball turkey like, popper thing that, like, you know, you. Something that we can like. We need an indicator on our shoes of like, this is too much. Too much. You shouldn't run on the road in these anymore.
Justin Housman
00:25:08.694 - 00:25:09.190
Well, I.
Colin True
00:25:09.230 - 00:25:21.660
But it's just. It's too. It. I just feel like this is just too much for the, The. The. The range in which you can use shoes and the.
And the variety of use cases and how much they all overlap. It's like, what. We don't need it. We just don't need this category.
Justin Housman
00:25:21.740 - 00:25:35.132
I also do think that, you know, maybe not necessarily there was a period when gravel bikes first started becoming a thing, and people were kind of experimenting with different bar setups. Like, can you have a flat bar one? And like, the evil made the chamois hagar. Do you remember that bike?
Colin True
00:25:35.276 - 00:25:35.772
No.
Justin Housman
00:25:35.876 - 00:25:49.638
That thing was sick. I always wanted one. Didn't get one. It was drop bar, but it was like, crazy. Like, it was basically a mountain bike with drop bars. And. And like the.
The. This happens in surfing too, where, like, the idea of, like, a quiver killer starts to come up. And that was kind of what a gravel bike was.
Colin True
00:25:49.694 - 00:25:52.278
Sort of. Kind of like it was trying to be. But it's not.
Justin Housman
00:25:52.334 - 00:26:21.302
But it's not. It ends up being a very specialty thing. And so, like, yeah, it's gonna be the same thing with shoes.
It's not like you're gonna buy this and go, well, now I don't need to buy the nordas, and now I don't need to buy the, like, street dedicated hokas. I'll just have these. No, you're not. You're gonna have those for, like, the three trails that are mostly sand and.
Or whatever, sandy kind of, you know, and they're gonna have like your nordas or whatever you run in Solomons for like rocky, gnarly trails and you're gonna have your like. Like Air Pegasus is for running on the road. You're gonna. It's just gonna be another specialty thing. So I don't know.
Colin True
00:26:21.326 - 00:26:33.814
I could play all the time. I have my outsoles and my. The outsoles of my ultras wear out running them almost exclusively. Actually, that exclusively.
I've never run on the road with those shoes. And they wear out super fast on the trail.
Justin Housman
00:26:33.862 - 00:26:47.632
I mean, they're gonna wear out their shoes. I mean, it's like, also, also, you're paying. They're gonna not gonna be cheap.
So it's like you buy a 200 pair of shoes so that your other 200 pair of shoes doesn't wear out. Yeah, that doesn't make any sense. Just buy another 200 pair of shoes when the first ones wear out.
Colin True
00:26:47.736 - 00:27:04.352
I think you made the best point about gravel bikes. You really actually, if you. It's a. It doesn't hold a lot of water for very long. Right.
You're like, you really can look at it and be like, yeah, but do we really. You. You could, you could take a mountain bike or a road bike and make it into a gravel bike. But I kind of get it.
Like, you want to shop a gravel bike. It's already set up the way it's supposed to for gravel. Fine.
Justin Housman
00:27:04.416 - 00:27:14.706
You can, you can also modify them and do stuff with them you can't do with shoes. Right. Like, you can put 650B tires on your gravel bike.
Like, you can, you can add and change things out to make it a little bit more like single track oriented.
Colin True
00:27:14.738 - 00:27:16.834
Or more flat bar, drop bar or whatever.
Justin Housman
00:27:16.882 - 00:27:30.834
Yeah, but there might be some dirt. You know, these shoes are just gonna. Yeah, all right. You talk me around it. Yes, but, but I do. I definitely thought before and I.
To be honest, I haven't looked hard enough. Like, I could probably find a pair of shoes that is like the sweet spot for me already. They probably already exist.
Colin True
00:27:30.962 - 00:27:51.822
I just, I'm getting mad just thinking about the sales reps pitching it to the retailers and then the shop floor kid pitching it to the consumer. Well, what kind of running are you doing? Well, that's actually. If you're running only gravel roads.
Actually, this is the kind of shoe you should look at. It's like, oh, just stop. Just. I had a buddy who ran ultras and like beat up Asics Nimbus. Nimbus gels or whatever. Yeah, like, you know, like I Have.
Justin Housman
00:27:51.846 - 00:28:06.724
Thought before about like the, the trail runner hiking craze and it's like, well, like hiking and running are different. So like you shouldn't be able to hike and trail run in the same shoe. Like I mean you could, but like it's.
Colin True
00:28:06.772 - 00:28:24.740
Well, that was a boy, Tony Post, who started, who got the Vibram five fingers going and then created Topo. Right. Athletic. He was famous for running the Boston Marathon in a pair of Rockports because it was a well constructed shoe. Right. It's kind of like.
And he was fine at the end of it. Like your scarp is you could technically go run a marathon in.
Justin Housman
00:28:24.780 - 00:28:27.220
And probably army dudes do. Don't they run in boots?
Colin True
00:28:27.300 - 00:28:30.798
Sure, yeah. Like military folks. Right?
Justin Housman
00:28:30.854 - 00:28:41.774
You know, it's funny, for a split second there I tried to like, I tried to like see the other side of our. Everything is kind of fine. Like, like stop being so specialized sort of thing. Like our, that's our. That's kind of the rock fight philosophy for it.
Colin True
00:28:41.782 - 00:28:42.478
It's kind of our thing.
Justin Housman
00:28:42.534 - 00:28:45.050
I tried to go away from it, but you brought me right back in.
Colin True
00:28:46.950 - 00:29:26.374
Well, before we talk about our last story today, we gotta, we gotta talk for one more minute about our friends at feelgoods because now's the time that those New Year's fitness resolutions are going to start to Peter, it's only five days in. Yeah, it's a thing. So let's talk about one that will keep you going every month of the year.
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Justin Housman
00:29:26.382 - 00:29:30.822
Know, in my own way. Yeah. In my own way I'd like to think that. Yeah.
Colin True
00:29:30.966 - 00:29:48.890
Now you go to fuelgoods.com you assemble your own feel goods box with items right for you. Shop from established sports nutrition brands like Scratch, Honey, Singer, Goo, Tailwind or Real Food Solution. Or Real Food Solutions. Excuse me.
Like Purely Elizabeth Kodiak or Earnest Eats. I love Purely Elizabeth by the way. I ate a lot of their granola.
Justin Housman
00:29:49.550 - 00:29:51.494
I knew it was not familiar. I couldn't remember what they make.
Colin True
00:29:51.582 - 00:30:26.672
Yeah, it's good.
Or if you like, you can also order one of their pre Assorted sports specific options like the rider or runner box, each curated to try and to give you a diverse assortment of items to try. And you can buy something once or set up a subscription.
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So stop what you're doing and head to feelgoods.com right now. Well, don't stop listening to the podcast. Do it while you're listening to the podcast and then go to feelgoods.com you.
Justin Housman
00:30:26.696 - 00:30:35.824
Know the nice thing about it is like it's, you know, as someone who's constantly stocking my kids like snack cupboard, it's like that for a grown up. It's like I love it when I.
Colin True
00:30:35.832 - 00:30:36.960
Get a new feel goods.
Justin Housman
00:30:37.120 - 00:30:49.900
So exciting. Like it makes your ride a little bit cooler or whatever. Oh, I'm going to try these like energy gummies on this ride or whatever.
It's just nice to have that and it's just so nice to have your own little like adult friendly. I mean kids like it too but you know, well, they'll do a custom.
Colin True
00:30:49.940 - 00:30:58.812
Box for you where you like, they ask you all these questions and they assemble one for you. Yeah. Which is cool. And my, the one I came, it had a couple like, had scratch and some gummies but it had like beef jerky in it and stuff like that.
Justin Housman
00:30:58.836 - 00:31:00.860
It was awesome. I haven't done that. That's cool.
Colin True
00:31:00.940 - 00:31:36.766
Yeah. Our last story today and then we'll do our parting shot. Yeah.
According to Explorers Webs, Lou Bodenheimer, two Portland, Oregon men lost their lives after heading into Washington's Gifford Pinchot National Forest to search for a sasquatch. Now, the two men were 59 and 37. They set out on Christmas Eve and died of exposure due to stormy and cold weather.
They were reported missing at about 1am on the 25th after not returning as planned. And you know, I don't think anyone wants to, it's not, I mean, I guess I, I don't know what time they set out.
I don't know if they were dead by then, but that's when they were reported.
Justin Housman
00:31:36.838 - 00:31:38.238
Yes, good point.
Colin True
00:31:38.374 - 00:32:20.704
Like we don't want to make light of anyone dying and if these guys are pursuing a passion. Right. We don't want to yuck anyone's yum. We'd say that frequently. I think.
I, you know, I Guess I can understand the lengths they'd be willing to go to to see their passion come to a satisfying outcome. So personally, and I'm curious what you're going to say here. I.
More broadly speaking to anyone who may be listening to this, we're coming up on 20 years. Guys, I'm talking to you people in the audience right now. Humans have been carrying around a video camera in their pocket for nearly 20 years.
And I checked today, I googled this. Right now, over 60% of the worldwide population has a smartphone, right?
So if ghost aliens or Bigfoot, any of them were real, we would have undeniable video footage of it by now.
Justin Housman
00:32:20.792 - 00:32:24.512
Okay. Don't you want to. But like, I mean, yes, I do.
Colin True
00:32:24.536 - 00:32:26.976
Want ghosts to be real. I want to.
Justin Housman
00:32:27.048 - 00:32:27.648
Cool. But it.
Colin True
00:32:27.704 - 00:32:40.336
But we get someone runs a red light and clips like a cat, and there's 82,000 people posting about it on blue sky. If Bigfoot was real, we would know by now.
Justin Housman
00:32:40.488 - 00:33:15.366
I just, I just want to be. I want peek into the. Into their heads for a little bit. Like, is the world more magical to them? Like, is. Is there more. Is. Is.
Is it like a more romantic, like, colorful place that. Where you're imagining that there are eight foot tall? Like, I don't even. What do we call them? Sasquatch?
Like a prehistoric sort of human, like world, man. Yeah, like. Like, God, that would be amazing. I wish I thought that. I wish I went to the woods and was like, dude, there could be anything in here.
There could be dragons, there could be Sasquatch, there could be fairies, anything. My kids are like that. I guess they seem to have a really good time.
Colin True
00:33:15.518 - 00:33:19.942
What's your. I guess. I guess the plan is to get a picture of it and then prove to the world that it's real.
Justin Housman
00:33:20.046 - 00:33:28.566
I suppose. I guess. I don't know, maybe one of them. Maybe one of them thought they saw something and they wouldn't let it go.
The friends like, fine, I'll come out with you. You know, I don't know. I. I mean, that's.
Colin True
00:33:28.598 - 00:33:40.800
I mean, I'm with you. I want these things to be real too. Of course you do.
It'd be, it'd be, it would be super fun if all of a sudden think about that story like, you know, this alien thing exists or Bigfoot exists or undeniable, irrefutable evidence of ghosts being real.
Justin Housman
00:33:40.950 - 00:34:04.396
The only. But I mean, I remember I went to Loch Ness once and it was a shitty day. And as a.
I think it probably mostly is there and like, weather wise and, like, it's pretty isolated. It's not like. It's not like a, you know, Lake Tahoe or something. Like, it's pretty isolated. And there were people there.
There were like, some people on the beach just like. And I'm like, what do you really.
Colin True
00:34:04.548 - 00:34:05.532
This is gonna be the time that.
Justin Housman
00:34:05.556 - 00:34:08.752
It just pops up. It just. It's. It's insane to me. There's a really good.
Colin True
00:34:08.836 - 00:34:09.336
There's.
Justin Housman
00:34:09.448 - 00:34:19.368
I forget what it's called. There's a great documentary on Netflix. I think it was Netflix that was.
It was ostensibly about Sasquatch, but it was kind of more about, like, weed farming in Northern California.
Colin True
00:34:19.464 - 00:34:22.120
Oh, yeah, I know what you're talking about. Yeah, yeah.
Justin Housman
00:34:22.200 - 00:34:34.136
They even have, like, the guys on it that, like, stage, the famous shot of the. Of the Bigfoot, like, walking through something. You know, the guy. Yeah, that was my Bigfoot suit.
Like, the guys that did it are on there and it's just like.
Colin True
00:34:34.288 - 00:34:34.872
I don't know.
Justin Housman
00:34:34.896 - 00:34:43.566
I just don't. I've never, ever, ever believed in anything weird like. Like any of that at all. And I will. I want to. But, man, it's that.
Colin True
00:34:43.638 - 00:35:19.754
It's the.
I mean, look how, you know, much we struggle with religion as humans and the dogma of it and not, you know, and just questioning whether, well, maybe it is real. And then combine that with, like, what you observe and you're kind of, you know, formative.
You know, humans in your house, the little children who are just liars. We are. No, no, no. But we just are programmed to lie.
So, like, you combine those things and people are like, oh, yeah, no, I'm going to put on a suit and go walking through the woods and convince people I'm going to put up the tikt. Like, that might be. It might have been a ghost. Let's, you know, like, get. People are going to mislead and. And make you want to believe in this stuff.
Because we do want to believe that it's real.
Justin Housman
00:35:19.842 - 00:35:29.450
I mean, I will say that. That I don't. I don't think that there's any chance they've ever visited here. I do think that there are. Are aliens.
I mean, I think there's probably, like, untold.
Colin True
00:35:29.530 - 00:35:31.386
It's just the odds are in favor of that.
Justin Housman
00:35:31.458 - 00:35:43.446
But I also don't think they've ever, like, come anywhere near Earth. I mean, even like with the Pentagon, like, oh, yeah, there's actual UFOs. Look.
Well, that's obviously the fucking drone or some weird shit or some jamming technology. You haven't learned about yet. Or that you. Is that the.
Colin True
00:35:43.598 - 00:35:46.054
Is it the Fernie paradox or the whole thing where.
Justin Housman
00:35:46.222 - 00:35:48.822
Yeah, like, like, you know, too far.
Colin True
00:35:48.846 - 00:35:50.902
Apart from any actual civilization.
Justin Housman
00:35:50.966 - 00:35:53.334
The Fermi paradox. Actually, I, I could be wrong.
Colin True
00:35:53.382 - 00:35:54.630
Oh, that means we're the only ones.
Justin Housman
00:35:54.710 - 00:36:00.374
Fermi paradox is like if they, if, if they're this many, surely we would have seen them by now. So maybe we are the only ones.
Colin True
00:36:00.502 - 00:36:12.550
Right, Sorry. There's another one. I forget what it's called. Where it's like we, we are too far apart from any other civilization. Whether we all that we.
By the time we would evolve to the point that the technology to reach that we will have killed ourselves.
Justin Housman
00:36:12.630 - 00:36:22.444
Yeah, totally. Which is same for them. Probably the most logical outcome. Or it's just like.
It's just kind of sad, but like you can't really travel faster than light or like wormhole travel will never be possible. Sorry.
Colin True
00:36:22.492 - 00:36:22.652
Right.
Justin Housman
00:36:22.676 - 00:36:26.156
You know, so we're never going to meet them, but they're surely out there, but we're never going to see them.
Colin True
00:36:26.228 - 00:36:31.484
Yeah. So to act like, you know, just go skiing, you know, that's what I mean. Grapple shoes.
Justin Housman
00:36:31.532 - 00:36:39.960
I didn't, like. I heard about the story. I would, you know, I don't know.
It's not like there's a whole bunch of digging in that needs to get done, but it seems cold up there.
Colin True
00:36:40.260 - 00:36:45.388
Oh, I just, I just. I do feel bad. I mean, like, oh, hey, man, let's go do this on Christmas. This will be fun.
Justin Housman
00:36:45.444 - 00:36:45.772
Yeah.
Colin True
00:36:45.836 - 00:36:48.108
The whole thing. And then just. Yeah. Tragic ending for sure. Yeah.
Justin Housman
00:36:48.124 - 00:36:57.920
I didn't even think about the fact that it was actually on Christmas. There's no Sasquatch. I mean, I'll just save everybody the trouble. Now if you're thinking about going out up there to check it out, there isn't one.
There's none.
Colin True
00:36:58.660 - 00:37:03.132
Last, Last thing before we get to the parting shot, you know, did you see Joe Biden signed the Explorer Act?
Justin Housman
00:37:03.156 - 00:37:03.420
I did.
Colin True
00:37:03.460 - 00:37:08.812
You know, I did. How much do you think we played into that happening? Were we significant or really significant?
Justin Housman
00:37:08.916 - 00:37:12.808
Talk to him about it a little bit. You know, I don't know, Joe.
Colin True
00:37:12.904 - 00:37:13.512
Justin.
Justin Housman
00:37:13.576 - 00:37:15.832
Yeah. We go. We go back. We go way back.
Colin True
00:37:16.016 - 00:37:19.340
I just talked to Jessica on the podcast. You need to sign it, Joe.
Justin Housman
00:37:19.840 - 00:37:29.464
I mean, it'd be interesting to see how much of it is potentially going to be unraveled by the Republican administration coming in, but I don't know how much can be. We talked to her about a little.
Colin True
00:37:29.472 - 00:37:33.528
Bit, but I think this one, because this is law. This is like yeah, but I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah.
Justin Housman
00:37:33.544 - 00:37:52.204
It's like, what does that mean anymore? Honestly? Like, what does that mean? Like, you just.
Like, if I went to Yosemite and someone's, like, setting up a drill into, like, oh, we found some oil, I'd be like, well, you can't do that big. Oh, I bet you're right on, you know, here comes the. It's like, okay, well, it's illegal, but sure. You know, I don't even know anymore.
Colin True
00:37:52.252 - 00:37:53.628
It's gonna be an interesting four years.
Justin Housman
00:37:53.684 - 00:37:55.196
It sure is. Yeah.
Colin True
00:37:55.388 - 00:37:57.520
All right, man, it's time for the party shot.
Justin Housman
00:38:00.980 - 00:38:03.676
Who. Who goes first? I don't remember.
Colin True
00:38:03.708 - 00:38:05.884
Who went first last? Did it. Did you go first?
Justin Housman
00:38:06.052 - 00:38:06.940
I think you did.
Colin True
00:38:07.060 - 00:38:07.948
Oh, you go first.
Justin Housman
00:38:08.004 - 00:38:34.158
All right. So I go back and forth on E bikes, on e mountain bikes. I really do. And I think I've finally. God, I'm not gonna get rid of them. I have one now.
I'm gonna. Gonna have it as long as I can. But I'm finally coming around to.
It's not good for me to have it, like, it, like, officially, because it's like, I went for a ride on Saturday. There's no reason for me to take the E bike.
Colin True
00:38:34.174 - 00:38:34.810
None.
Justin Housman
00:38:34.990 - 00:38:52.590
None. But I took it. And, like, I've been feeling out of shape lately. I haven't been doing that much. I haven't running. I haven't been lifting weights.
I haven't really been doing a lot over the last, like, few weeks for lots of reasons. And I'm like, I'm gonna go for a ride. And I'm just, like, I'm about four blocks away before I even realize, like, what the. Why am I on the E bike?
Like, what am I even doing?
Colin True
00:38:53.450 - 00:38:53.970
Think about.
Justin Housman
00:38:54.010 - 00:39:34.300
You took it just like, I knew I. I knew, like, I'm gonna go for a ride. I'm gonna take the E bike. And then I'm like, I'm not doing laps on some. Like, I'm not.
There's no reason for this. The trail I'm gonna ride, I've always ever written. I've always only ridden anal. Why I'm bringing this E bike. And I don't.
I don't know what the parting shot is here because I don't want to get rid of them, but, man, there needs to be more reckoning about what it means. I don't know. But, like, maybe it's just my own parting shot. Maybe. Maybe.
Maybe I just need to make myself a sign that's like, unless you are riding a particular trail that requires it. Do not ride the E bike. It's just, it's a, it's a drug. It's a. It's a. It's a problem. I need, I need help. Help. I need help.
Colin True
00:39:34.760 - 00:39:39.536
Having tested out the. The Churn Orox there and I gotta write about that for the newsletter.
Justin Housman
00:39:39.568 - 00:39:44.180
But the, that's a different situation though. That bike is not for anything other than transportation.
Colin True
00:39:44.520 - 00:39:52.640
Totally. I mean and they, they say you can like go mountain biking on it now. I don't know why you would want to. I don't understand that.
That's kind of my, my review of that as that is.
Justin Housman
00:39:52.760 - 00:39:53.088
But.
Colin True
00:39:53.144 - 00:40:07.416
But being the first time I've really ever spent any time on an E bike and feeling the, you know, putting it in the turbo and it's all pedal assists. But when you put it in the turbo mode and you're going uphill and you're like, oh yeah, I see how if you only ever knew that.
Justin Housman
00:40:07.488 - 00:40:07.784
Yeah.
Colin True
00:40:07.832 - 00:40:09.800
And then you put someone on an analog bike, forget it.
Justin Housman
00:40:09.840 - 00:40:27.530
There's a one, there's a woman up here that is. I think she's like 50 and she set like every fkt e bike wise on all the trails around here. And she learned on an E bike. Like I don't.
That's just how she started. You know, she's not going to analog. Doesn't matter how fit it would make you. I just wish we hadn't gone down that road.
Colin True
00:40:27.830 - 00:40:28.302
Yeah.
Justin Housman
00:40:28.366 - 00:40:37.550
You know, I mean, I like, I'll like I'm gonna work from the library probably for the rest of the day. I'll probably take my E bike to library because it's just transportation. Right. Just down, you know, I could walk.
Colin True
00:40:37.590 - 00:40:48.702
But just wouldn't it be funny that if like the one domino that fell that led to like you know, the human world and in the movie Wall E where although the little cards are all fat in the carts was actually. It was E biking.
Justin Housman
00:40:48.846 - 00:41:24.858
That was actually a funny story to write. I mean it's. It's just something healthy that led to that. There are times when I've been on it and I'm like, this is. There's a if. It's a if.
If it's for a purpose. Like I've got 20 minutes and I know I can sneak this trail in. Great. Or we're going to drive this trail that is such a burly climb.
Like, oh my God, like I have to. It's a hike a bike otherwise. And I don't have all day. Great. You know, Or I want to ride this One technical trail five times in the next two hours.
Great. But like, Saturday is such a great example. There was no reason for me to be on.
My wife went for a ride later that day on her analog bike and I'm just like, what, why, why, why am I doing. You know, And I was like, kind of tired. I got a workout in, I guess.
Colin True
00:41:25.034 - 00:41:29.418
Yeah, you ease it back into it, you know, you had a couple weeks off.
Justin Housman
00:41:29.474 - 00:41:35.466
That's. That's it, though. I don't need to do that. That's the problem. I could have eased back into it by riding slower on my analog bike.
Colin True
00:41:35.658 - 00:41:37.770
All right, well, remember it next time when you go this afternoon.
Justin Housman
00:41:37.850 - 00:41:43.350
I'm still going to ride the E bike. I think that's. I need help.
Colin True
00:41:44.450 - 00:43:22.036
The drug's a good one. Yeah, that is kind of like a drug. Get a little hooked on the juice.
All right, well, today my parting shot is saying happy trails to South Sound Running, which South Sound Running is a small chain of specialty run shops in the south Puget Sound region of Washington.
South Sound opened in 1998 and founders Greg Klein and Joan Marchioro are now retiring and have sold South Sound to a pair of local Fleet Feet owners. As such, South Sound, I say sadly, will be converted to fleet Fleet Feet shops.
No disrespect to Fleet Feet, but I like the personality of the local Nate. Well, they're franchise, but still. I just like the idea of South Sound existing on its own.
But the reason why it's notable for me is my first ever trip as a sales manager was after I was hired by probar and I went to tour accounts in Puget Sound area with the sales agency I had hired in that region. After being picked up at SeaTac, the first shop we went to with South Sound in Tacoma, we met with Greg. I'm pretty sure he ended up placing an order.
I can't really remember, but I do remember that shop and that visit it.
And even though, like I said, Fleet Feet has a great brand and does a wonderful job serving the run community, I'm just a little sad learning the South Sound is going away. But you know, kudos to them. 27 year run looks like they are going out on their own terms. So. But we're going to pour a little out today for South.
South Sound Running. The running community is a little. Little sadder, little less colorful today without South Sound. And it's funny, I.
The amount of stores I visited as a sales manager, I couldn't tell you, but it's like it's your first one right? We're going and going from the airport to that shop. So when I saw they're closing, I'm like, ah, bummer. Getting old.
Justin Housman
00:43:22.108 - 00:43:23.280
Is that what that means?
Colin True
00:43:23.580 - 00:43:26.436
I guess so, yeah. Memories, everything.
Justin Housman
00:43:26.508 - 00:43:30.564
At a certain point, everything reminds me that you're getting old. My next party shot's going to be about getting old.
Colin True
00:43:30.652 - 00:44:01.740
Come back next Monday for. I don't know what we're gonna talk about then, but we'll be talking about something. We'll be talking about something next Wednesday as well.
This is the cadence around here, guys. It never ends. But the Rock Fights a production of Rock Fight llc For Justin Houseman, I'm Colin True. Thanks for listening.
And he's here to take us out. He's not going away. It's Chris D'makes. He's gonna sing the Rock Fight fight song. We'll see you next time, Rock Fighters.
Justin Housman
00:44:01.900 - 00:44:02.640
Peace.
Colin True
00:44:03.220 - 00:44:03.740
Peace.
Chris DeMakes
00:44:03.820 - 00:44:59.710
Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Roc. Welcome to the Rat bike Where we speak our truth. Slay sacred cows and sometimes agree to disagree.
We talk about human powered outdoor activities and big bites about topics that we find interesting like pop culture, music, the latest movie reviews, ideas that aim for the head. This is the way we speak our truth. This is where we speak our truth. Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Welcome to the rock fight.
Rock flight, Rock fight. Welcome to the rock flight. Rock flight. Rock fight. Rock flight. Rock flight, Rock flight. Welcome to the rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight.
Justin Housman
00:45:01.610 - 00:45:04.130
Rock flight, Rock flight, Flight.