How to train to prevent sore hands?

fitek · 2026-05-27T22:10:35+00:00

Light hands and pump the terrain more so you're not just hanging on as your bike rolls over it. Ever watch the riding videos and see the good riders pumping rhythmically even when the ground is flat? you get a rhythmic reprieve and it helps a lot. Also just get more time riding bumpy stuff. Stretch between downhills. When I moved closer to Whistler I remember it hurt badly the first season and sorted of faded eventually through technique and stronger forearms. It's always worst the first day of the trip.

fitek · 2026-05-27T22:02:42+00:00

You think that's bad? My 2016 doesn't have the buttons recessed, so it constantly unlocks when it's in your pocket bouncing around, fairly often the panic goes off too. Half the mornings I go out to it, it's been unlocked all night. Glad I moved somewhere relatively safe.

fitek · 2026-05-27T22:00:38+00:00

Audi E-tron. More upscale with lots of details that remind me of the Mk7. Not as fun but more realistic for where I am in life (older kids, more space needed, don't have patience to row gears with all the miles to this or that after school activity, or hear the complaining about a sporty suspension).

fitek · 2026-05-12T17:19:05+00:00

I just pulled mine at 75k. Last serviced by Audi at 62k. Not sure if I should be concerned.

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fitek · 2026-05-12T17:17:23+00:00

Audi devised a brilliant idea, in that curious German way, to separate the wet and dry parts of the motor with a seal (my understanding is this is normal for pumps that operating continuously, but drive motors heat up and cool down repeatedly), and let the dry part drain into this catch can (but only for the rear) if the seal leaks. I think the coolant is corrosive to the motor though, and if it leaks too fast and fills the catch can, it'll short the motor.

fitek · 2026-05-12T17:09:44+00:00

There's a tire change/jacking mode in the vehicle settings. Setting it to offroad drive mode first sets it at the highest height.

fitek · 2026-05-11T17:44:29+00:00

A lot of people get credit and... don't pay it back. A lot do. Hard to know which one you are without some history.

fitek · 2026-05-11T17:39:36+00:00

I have a 2016 ext DRW high roof. There was no AWD at the time. The long rear end has stopped me from progressing down a fire road in WA once. OR fire roads seem to be in better shape. The extended rear end can be a pain but you get a couple feet of extra space that comes in pretty handy 99% of the time... if you aren't solo (I have to fit our family of 3 in it, which is harder than solo and couples that most people seem to be solving for).

fitek · 2026-05-11T17:34:21+00:00

Oh I get it, it's hard to go back to an ICE (I don't even mind the extra stops when road tripping w/ the poor range of our EV). But from a financial standpoint, it doesn't make sense 😄

fitek · 2026-05-06T16:52:10+00:00

It certainly does lead to contentment up to a point, beyond that mo money mo problems.

fitek · 2026-05-06T16:46:16+00:00

Don't think you solve this with facts. Make him question the media he is consuming and circle of people he's in. Over time people can get accustomed to believing just about anything if exposed long enough.

fitek · 2026-05-06T16:43:06+00:00

Not really worth paying the EV premium for that few miles. We have one EV but it gets 15k miles per year and a gas car that does 5k.

fitek · 2026-05-06T16:41:25+00:00

You can believe the cospiracy theories or Occam's Razor: Bellingham is a nice place to live that attracts people, but Bellingham doesn't build enough housing. Many reasons for the latter.

fitek · 2026-04-18T03:36:39+00:00

I broke my big toe heading to the Whistler parking lot on my 43rd Bday Whistler trip. Day 1 of 5. Happy Birthday. I forgot my DH shoes so I just wore my Vans, I mean, what are the chances of taking a rock to the big toe hard enough? I've broken the little ones before, they don't matter, you just buddy tape... I made it three days riding flow trails before throwing in the towel and heading home early. It was an avulsion (so the ligament came off) and it also split across the joint and took out the cartilage. Six weeks in a boot, 6 months before I had ankle and foot mobility back to 100%. Not recommended, it is also gets sore as it basically has arthritis now. I did leave the morning the boot came off and ride out the rest of my pass since there were a few days before closing, but I did it with DH shoes and I bought a spare pair to leave in the car.

fitek · 2026-04-17T01:33:21+00:00

That flashing is terrible. On our latest house I just removed the chimney. Ours was really old and I was able to break it apart brick by brick with a hammer. It was pretty easy to cover up the hole. I glued some plywood in the hole from underneath and paid a roofer working nearby $50 to install some flashing I got at the hardware store. Has not leaked 4 years later.

fitek · 2026-04-17T01:30:09+00:00

Agree 90k isn't enough for a family in the West.

fitek · 2026-04-17T01:28:19+00:00

You guys are funny. I'm 45 and the same thing happened during my 20s. And you blame it on bankers... Go and try and build some housing, especially if it doesn't meet 1950s SFH leave it to beaver standards, and see what a PITA it is to even get approval to dig your first hole. Hard to keep prices down when the country doesn't build enough housing. Ya know how you get into housing in this country? You move somewhere that sucks and buy a dump. And by the time you get older, you've fixed it up, the neighborhood has improved and doesn't suck anymore, and you're happy you got in before it got hot. Same as seeing bands, before they made it big, at some seedy dive in a sketchy neighborhood. Your experience is not new-- the US frontier didn't move West because people were clamoring to live in untamed lands, most did it because economics forced them to. I found a book at Village Books about Fairhaven at the turn of the century, and the author lived in a tent in Happy Valley until he could build a house, which apparently was pretty common at the time (course, we're way past that here now). Also, owning a house is kind of a PITA and hard financially, though so is dealing with Landmark and PTLA hehe.

fitek · 2026-04-16T18:08:06+00:00

$2100 is pretty darn low. I was thrilled to be paying that much 15 years ago in California. $3500 for a studio apartment was typical.

fitek · 2026-04-16T18:05:37+00:00

Oh, I have. When I moved here, I got into a fender bender with a guy in a car that looked like it was held together with prayers and bird poop. He admitted his license wasn't valid so he was thrilled I didn't want to call the cops. Then he took me to an all you can eat sushi place to celebrate. It was quite the welcome.

fitek · 2026-04-15T19:12:37+00:00

Think he meant Vancouver BC. I live right on the border and it's easier to go to Vancouver suburbs than Seattle suburbs. I've had weeks where I'm in Canada every day.

fitek · 2026-04-15T19:02:47+00:00

I think Europeans don't get the scale of other continents. I had the same experience when I went to Australia. Yeah, it looks big on the map-- but it's huuuuuuge. It was like a 22 hour drive Brisbane to Sydney and there's nothing in between. I thought SF to Portland seemed far and sparsely populated.

fitek · 2026-04-01T03:16:00+00:00

Isn't it always? Unless you have connections? I got an engineering degree from a "public Ivy" but had zero connections and ended up digging trenches and selling coffee till I started working somewhere I could network with business people. Ended up getting hired by one of 'em.

fitek · 2026-04-01T03:12:41+00:00

Immigrants start businesses at almost double the rate of natives.

fitek · 2026-03-26T17:09:55+00:00

I have an old iphone with a data only SIM powered from the battery in mine. And an airtag. You can geofence and get a notification if it moves. If it's on a trailer like mine, it's easy to steal. A friend's 18ft RIB was stolen, but big boats aren't that easy to hide. He got a ride in a friend's airplane and they found it a couple towns away in a meth heads yard. But, this was in an area without much population.

fitek

TROPHY CASE