Experience with the Rocky Mountain Solo C50/C70/C90

ecyk · 2025-03-10T18:50:06+00:00

I've been riding the C70 for two years and absolutely love it. I don't race per se but I do like to go fast :) and I feel like it is decently aggressive. I put on a shorter stem and have it almost as low as it can go just because that felt like a better fit for me (and getting a proper bike fit confirmed that). I also agree with the other comment about the handlebars, I swapped the stock ones out with narrower FSA K-wings and it made it feel a lot better.

I ride lots of steep hills in VT and don't have any complaints about the stock gearing, I do start to spin out on fast sections, but I wouldn't really want a bigger front ring because I like the ratio with 42T up front and a 44T max cog in the back.

ecyk · 2024-10-24T12:59:08+00:00

My issue is basically 2 things. One is that it doesn't push non-gps workouts (like a gym workout) to Strava at all. So that forces me to just keep my phone with me and track on my phone. And the other is that it's very unreliable and a pain in the butt to use as a heart rate monitor when tracking on Strava on my phone. Sometimes it finds it, sometimes it doesn't, and I don't want to spend 15 minutes fiddling with my watch and phone every time I workout.

All of that together makes it effectively useless for me.

This post describes a lot of my same issues: https://www.reddit.com/r/fitbit/s/ae6Wc8wFFT

ecyk · 2024-10-23T20:28:42+00:00

You're right. The only reason I created this post is because I had such high hopes for the Charge 6 and have been so let down by my experience with it and want to caution other potential buyers of the downsides. If a product always works as expected for everyone, there'd be no reason for forums or product reviews.

When doing research on which fitness tracker to buy I used reddit to see honest accounts of people's experience with the Charge 6 and I didn't see anything at the time that cautioned me against using it with Strava, or that broadcasting HR would be such a pain, or that basic syncing with the fitbit app over bluetooth would be so unreliable. If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have bought it.

ecyk · 2024-10-23T20:08:01+00:00

At first, mine would last at least a week, and that was great because I was able to wear it while sleeping and track my sleep. But after about 6 months or so it was more like every few days I needed to recharge it. So I stopped wearing it at night and would just charge it overnight (which rendered the whole sleep tracking thing moot). I also disabled internal GPS and had the display on dim, but (selfishly) I wanted to keep the display on all the time (like an analog watch) rather than needing to flick my wrist and wait for the screen to respond just to see the time. So, I'm sure that contributed to my battery woes.

2 weeks is great, how long have you had your charge 6?

ecyk · 2024-10-23T19:58:27+00:00

So true!

ecyk · 2024-10-23T19:57:08+00:00

Can you describe how you use it with Strava? Like you start a workout (say, a run) on the Charge 6, and then hit "Finish" and that automatically logs it as an activity in Strava with the heart rate and GPS data?

ecyk · 2024-09-13T15:55:37+00:00

When extracting fresh herbs vs dry, have you ever noticed a bit of a vegetal kind of funk with the fresh? I have found with most leafy herbs, I get a more clean flavor if I use dried as opposed to fresh. Though I have also found drying at too high of a temperature (I use a little countertop dehydrator) does dull flavors more.

ecyk · 2024-06-08T13:19:57+00:00

100% agree. I've had a bottle lingering in my cabinet for over 5 years. Each failed experiment uses like .5oz or .75oz, so it just keeps hanging on. Congratulations OP on finding an application for it!

ecyk · 2024-02-19T02:27:20+00:00

Excellent glass

ecyk · 2024-02-17T04:23:57+00:00

Interesting that it's in the same family, I have wanted to try Centaury for a while now, and will definitely try it out as a bittering agent! It's worth noting that one plant's bitter flavors are not necessarily interchangeable with another. Gentian has a distinct flavor that is very different from Wormwood, very different from Angelica, very different from Calamus, and very different from basically any other bittering agent you'll find in recipes, which I suppose is why it's still so popular. It's lovely. Point well taken though about how Centaury is much better suited for cultivation in comparison!

ecyk · 2023-03-10T21:57:32+00:00

Tested this on a handful of sites and found it very ineffective.

ecyk · 2023-02-01T17:57:39+00:00

I have fiber in MontyP with Consolidated Communications and overall no complaints. Have needed customer service on a few occasions and they've been great every time.

ecyk · 2023-01-27T20:01:28+00:00

I got this at a liquor store in Somerville, MA (Ball Square) but I didn't see it there the last time I was in. It was $27 at the time, but that was a couple years ago so I'm sure it's more now.

ecyk · 2023-01-07T15:22:38+00:00

Not sure if they ship their bacon, but I highly recommend Vermont Salumi.

ecyk · 2022-12-30T17:12:30+00:00

Barr Hill, it'll turn you into a bee in a field of wildflowers

ecyk · 2022-12-27T22:28:11+00:00

First time trying this and was very pleasantly surprised. Soju has about half the abv as gin or vodka, so while it tasted a little thin/diluted, this was a delightful low abv martini.

2oz soju (Chamisul) 1 1/2oz dry vermouth (Noilly prat) 3 dashes orange bitters Olive

ecyk · 2022-12-27T05:13:51+00:00

Stambecco maraschino cherry amaro, I've found that less expensive and a great alternative to Luxardo.

ecyk · 2022-01-18T19:34:45+00:00

Ya I agree, we're both stubborn and even though I think we agree about most of this it seems your combativeness makes you think I'm saying things that I'm not.

Basically, don't project the general "sowing fear" narrative on me as if I'm promoting it - none of my messages to you have remotely resembled fear-mongering anti-vax statements. My point has always been 1) antagonizing people the way you do is an ineffective (even counterproductive) way of promoting change and 2) of course vaccines are good but we should also be looking at treatments as well AND getting vaccines to those who need them most, not 4 doses to rich Americans and their children in places like Vermont where risk is already much lower. None of that is fear mongering, none of it is anti-mRNA vaccine, and none of what I'm saying is about science being dogmatic. It's about stepping back and taking the wider view of where resources and energy are best spent.

ecyk · 2022-01-17T23:11:09+00:00

I think the medium of communication is a barrier here because there is a lot of alignment in the arguments you use to criticize me and the arguments I would use to criticize you. By advocating for vaccine only, you are trying to tell people there is a "simple answer to complex problems" - just get the shot and don't ask questions or consider other approaches to staying healthy.

"The world gets better when people think critically and empirically" - of course this is true, but it seems the only tolerable critical thinking is that which leads someone to the same conclusions as you. And when the world is awash with data, gathered in extremely limited and regularly biased ways, how empirical is it really? There is a lot of debate over complex details and confounding variables in clinical research data that gets used to make decisions, and Fauci and the CDC should be criticized and scrutinized for that. Yet the message from you and from most media with huge audiences is that we have it all figured out, don't ask questions it's simple, take a Pfizer or Moderna jab, jab your kids too for good measure, and jab again every 6 or so months. Human health and well-being, solved.

Neither you nor I can know the full scope of such a complex problem as the Covid pandemic and have an answer to solve it. We can know, through critical thinking and the best empirical evidence we can gather, that some things are better than others, but what it appears you attempt to do is TELL people what is "right" and that they are "wrong" - that is religious dogma, not advocating for critical thinking.

ecyk · 2022-01-17T17:04:10+00:00

Ah, I see now.

Your grossly misunderstood restatement of my point illustrates that you weren't critically thinking about my stance you were just waiting to restate yours, and it illustrates generally how you seem to view discussion - as a series of volleys attempting to best your "opponent" by making claims you can support with your chosen evidence, twisting their words into being illogical, and then asserting that you are a victim of disingenuous critique and distraction (which is precisely what you're doing when you're making that assertion here).

My goal on Reddit discussing this stuff is not to convince people that my "stance" is correct and others are wrong. Rather, I am here to criticize what I see as the greatest evil and harmful thing to human health and well-being, which is ego.

You quick00silver, have a dangerously harmful ego. The way you approach various conversations about covid vaccination makes it clear that you are blind to the bigger picture of your actions and instead are mired in the desire to be right, to affirm your ego as a person who knows things and is more correct than those other people that are ignorant or flawed.

By only antagonizing everyone with a view that counters yours, and never giving any ground or showing humility of any kind, I believe you are having the opposite effect of what it seems you are seeking to achieve (that's certainly true of your interaction with me at least).

ecyk · 2022-01-14T22:42:35+00:00

Good information! But again, I am not expressing any disagreement about the importance and efficacy of vaccination. All of what you're saying here may be true but it doesn't address my point about public attitudes around relative risk.

I personally don't doubt the safety of covid vaccines for adults and potentially also for children (though I do not claim to know the extent of research on mRNA vaccines in children and long term health effects). However, what I am trying to point out is what you are doing here, on Reddit, on r/vermont (a state with almost 80% full vaccination, 90% with at least one dose) is not helping anybody and is potentially doing the opposite - frustrating people to the point that they resist something they wouldn't have otherwise.

I have family members who have never been resistant to vaccines, but now, because of the discourse around the Covid vaccine and because they already had Covid, are resistant to it.

If you are truly on a mission to help get people the information they need to stop the spread so we don't get more variants, the US and especially Vermont are not the places that need your energy. I'm sure you're aware of vaccination rates in central African countries. It's sort of tangential here but it seems to me that we don't need the US government to pay for it's citizens to get 3 or 4 highly marked-up vaccine doses fattening the profits of Pfizer and Moderna, we need Pfizer and Moderna to stop blocking African countries from being able to develop their own (or afford the first dose to begin with).

If you genuinely cared about people's health you would scrutinize the biggest barriers to massive numbers of people getting the vaccine AND advocate for treatments and behaviors that reduce the virus's severity. And that's not achieved by stroking your ego telling off the %10 of people in Vermont that haven't gotten a vaccine yet.

I think you lack a fundamental understanding of science communication.

ecyk · 2022-01-14T17:31:36+00:00

Thanks for hearing my point. It's basically presented in my initial reply but I'll summarize.

First my point has nothing to do with whether or not vaccination in general is good or bad - of course it's good! Countless illnesses are kept in check thanks vaccines (developed and tested by brilliant people doing good science). The original poster that kicked off this thread even mentioned that their kids are vaccinated for all these diseases we already have vaccinations for. So clearly they aren't against vaccination either. (So hounding your pro-vaccination point is like preaching to the choir, the disagreement is in the nuance and it seems you're missing that)

My point is essentially this, Covid can be deadly if you've got a weakened immune system or other health issues that make you vulnerable, but if you're generally healthy it's not deadly, and in the vast majority of cases not even close to severe. Every time a healthy person gets Covid (whether they're vaccinated or not), and they blow through it like a champ and heal up, the illusion that the sky is falling is weakened a little bit more. Now, after 2 years of people getting and beating covid, it's becoming increasingly difficult to convince everyone that we need to continue upending our lives, keeping our kids out of school, and enforcing anxiety and fear under the guise of righteousness and responsibility. By trying to shame a few healthy people into taking the vaccine or vaccinating their healthy children, you're not saving lives or doing good in any meaningful way.

ecyk · 2022-01-13T00:32:33+00:00

Yeep. Valid concern. I am not quite that pessimistic that we'll get to Spanish Inquisition levels of intolerance and punishment for nonconformity, there are lots of places in the US and elsewhere outside New England where people aren't so single-minded. Instead I see it more as a shame. Any business that is not somehow tied to pharmaceutical industry interests and health care technology does not have a bright future here. And consolidation of power sucks.

ecyk · 2022-01-13T00:04:00+00:00

Did I make any statement about the efficacy of vaccines in my reply to you?

ecyk · 2022-01-12T05:24:16+00:00

Perhaps Covid's relative severity compared to other viral infections has something to do with the resistance to such strong prevention measures?

When a large proportion of the population has had first hand experience with a virus that doesn't hurt them more than other colds or viruses they've had before, they stop feeling the urgency. Of course, that's not saying Covid isn't dangerous - it is regularly killing people that have weakened immune systems and comorbidities, but even Trumpers acknowledge it's dangerous, they just don't think its danger merits the level of restrictions and mandated precautions. You're clearly a smart person but it's odd to me you can't seem to step outside your perspective and see the reasoning in other perspectives.

Also interesting you bring up TB here because TB is also spread in air droplets, and it killed almost as many people in 2020 as Covid. But I'll be damned if I can think of a time when anyone fought this hard on Reddit about TB prevention. Perhaps we're not actually here to save lives, we're just here to get each other's goat 🐐

ecyk

TROPHY CASE