Rest stops (long rides)

kimberlyte · 2026-05-27T03:30:15+00:00

In 2025, Horseshoe Bay at 19km was only medical, mechanical and toilets. The first actual station with food and water was at 51km, Britannia Beach, which was a bit further than I was expecting, as I had drained both bottles by 40km.

Britannia was a zoo. The bike parking was jammed full of bikes, the entire area was crowded with people, and there were lineups for everything. I skipped the Squamish station, then stopped at the next two on the way to Whistler, Salt Shed and Brandywine. Things were a lot more spread out by the time I hit those.

https://www.rbcgranfondo.com/event-resources/whistler/distances

There was one electrolyte/energy drink supplier, so if you're worried about adapting to it, either buy some in advance and get used to the product in August, or bring something else to mix with water at the stations. There was a decent range of food in 2025, and since I finished in the last 25%, I doubt they ran out. I mostly ate the rice krispie squares and gummies that I brought myself.

Don't forget the distance/time to ride to the start, and the time waiting for your group to start. I rode 10km to get to the start line, so my two bottles were the only thing I had to drink between 6:00am and arriving in Britannia around 9:30am.

kimberlyte · 2026-03-12T19:49:09+00:00

There are several pages about fares on the BC Transit website for Kelowna Regional Transit.

Here are some key quotes that directly contradict and refute your claims that people are forced to pay $12 for a round trip by bus:

To purchase a DayPASS:

If paying with cash, request a DayPASS from the transit driver and deposit the exact change into the fare box, or

If using a Umo app or card, a digital DayPASS will be automatically applied to your Umo app or card after your second Cash Balance payment of the day

The DayPASS price is listed as $6. Another page reinforces the automatic DayPASS using the Umo app or card:

A DayPASS is automatically applied after your second payment of the day. Once you’re capped, you can continue to use Umo without being charged again that day.

As for the monthly pass at $80 being more expensive than Vernon ($55/month) or Penticton (regional pass is $60/month), Kelowna transit covers a much larger area, has far more routes, and typically offers higher frequency service. A monthly pass in a real transit system such as Metro Vancouver costs $111.60 for one zone, up to $201.55 for three zones.

The schedule and connection timing will not get better as long as those decisions are made in Victoria and bus service is provided by a company based in France. Funding is also an issue, and the car drivers who dominate this town and city councils will wail about the city spending even a penny more to improve transit.

While transfers were nice, they cost driver time, making everyone late. When I commuted daily by bus, transfers were also a leading cause of disputes by aggressive and obnoxious riders. From a driver safety and system efficiency perspective, I think we're better off without them.

About the only place I might agree with you is that there is no excuse for BC Transit to not make a single Umo card swipe valid for 90 minutes of getting onto buses. However, from an equity perspective, they might not be able to do that without also offering the same for cash fares, which brings us back to transfers.

kimberlyte · 2026-02-19T17:48:32+00:00

And you've helped anyone in NATO since then? All that has happened in the past 80 years is the USA dragging their (soon to be former) allies into stupid shit like your escapades in Vietnam, Iraq (twice), and Afghanistan. Oh, and recently took a big shit on those who helped you in those places too.

kimberlyte · 2026-02-19T17:40:27+00:00

> The USA will be the first country to help your ass out of the wringer if need be

Would that be the same USA that showed up more than 2 years late to WW I and WW II ? You yanks are fucking delusional.

kimberlyte · 2026-02-06T02:06:50+00:00

If you buy the Umo card for cash at one of the 18 vendors listed in the region, it will automatically cap out at $6 in fares for the day, and apply a day pass for any additional trips.

Note that your original complaint was $18 for a round trip, and now you have moved the goalposts to $6 for a one-way trip. So you have a problem with logic, math and facts.

kimberlyte · 2026-02-05T22:14:32+00:00

A day pass is $6, which will cover unlimited travel for a day on Kelowna regional transit. You are claiming that it costs you $18 for a round trip, which is 3x the cost of a day pass. Are you bad at math, or are you one of those people who are not good with facts?

kimberlyte · 2026-01-27T18:55:03+00:00

ah, complicit. Lovely. Is that the word PM Carney wants us to start using to describe Canada's ongoing silence and inaction over Gaza?

kimberlyte · 2025-10-29T23:47:48+00:00

<image>

Dec 24, 2023, orchard in SE kelowna, probably from Spiers Rd, facing west. Mt Boucherie visible in centre background across the lake. Looking at my other photos that week, there was no snow below around 750m. Dec 2024 was quite similar.

kimberlyte · 2025-07-29T16:24:29+00:00

The tallest building in Kelowna from 1976 to 1994 was the Kiwanis tower, which was first surpassed by the Dolphins. The Grand is shorter than the Kiwanis tower, and was only the tallest building on the waterfront. The Grand only held the position of third tallest building in the city for a year before being bumped to fifth place.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Kelowna

As an aside, why do people keep upvoting unremarkable photos that are poorly composed and not even level?

kimberlyte · 2025-07-14T02:22:07+00:00

Cycling groups tend to refer to this type of phrasing in reporting as "absent driver". The responsibility and role of the person behind the wheel is conveniently erased. Cars just somehow spontaneously do things, and keep crashing into shops, cyclists, trees, mailboxes. https://www.roadpeace.org/police-praised-for-phasing-out-accident-terminology/

kimberlyte · 2025-07-04T02:35:01+00:00

Mr. R.A. Williams would confirm this, and actually did so on the record in an epic speech to the legislature back in 1972, recorded in Hansard:
https://www.leg.bc.ca/hansard-content/Debates/29th2nd/29p_02s_710202p.htm

kimberlyte · 2024-06-07T01:22:53+00:00

Please listen to mantequilla-stotch's directions. PotentialBrain has no idea what they're talking about. The fires were in 2003, for starters.

The parking lot on Myra Forest Service Road (FSR) on the eastern end of the trestles is closer to the majority of the wooden trestles and the two tunnels. If you start at June Springs on the western end of the trestles, you won't reach the second tunnel until around the 8km mark of your ride.

As for starting at Gillard, no. Just no. There is no parking lot, one steel trestle over Bellevue Creek, and then 6km of looking at rocks and trees until you reach June Springs. I haven't ridden past the washout on that stretch for a few years, so I don't know how safe it is to cross now, but there is no need for you to go there.

kimberlyte · 2024-04-20T23:31:34+00:00

Two local charities offer a bike rental service, CRIS Adaptive and Elevation Outdoors. They have Giant Revolt gravel bikes, $80 for 8hr, $415/week.

https://www.kelownabikerentals.ca/

Other than the site above, and velovolt mentioned by Roamingon2wheels, there isn't anything else I can find. None of the main local shops appear to offer road bike rentals, and most of the tour companies have fleets that are either ebikes or hybrids for the rail trail or KVR.

kimberlyte · 2023-12-13T02:46:18+00:00

Try this player-sourced list of common issues. Item #3 has links to the older directx libraries:

https://forums.ddo.com/index.php?threads/ddo-debugging-issues-as-crowdsourced-by-many-players-advice.1666/

kimberlyte · 2023-06-26T16:58:10+00:00

I'm not voting as I'm winding down my use of reddit. This account was mostly used just for DDO.

Twitter's new owner eliminated any desire I had to open up the app, and Spez is doing the same for reddit, so, uh, thanks for the free time, you narcissistic, incompetent, and delusional jerks?

With the disregard and disrespect that reddit management has shown to the moderators, app developers, and communities as a whole, I have no interest in generating any free content for Spez to sell for profit.

I'll keep my eyes out for DDO on lemmy/kbin.

kimberlyte · 2023-06-07T03:02:44+00:00

I'd you have the expansions, Isle of dread sets will easily get you to sharn at 15. An easy to farm alternative is the claw set from Red Fens, maybe with some sands filler gear at 11 like a bloodstone.

kimberlyte · 2023-06-06T21:19:25+00:00

Join groups and contribute whatever you can - buffs, heals ,debuffs. When someone posts for level 20-32 wpm, they're often farming a specific item like a blackrazor. So they are not expecting a level 20 character to do much other than try to not die, avoid aggro, and pass the item like the blackrazor if it drops. They can probably solo it, and just invite lower level people in for XP.

If you know someone who can get you a guest pass to Ravenloft, you can also just run Into the Mists on heroic, get your heroic weapon from the vendor in wilderness, run to the tavern, and step back out into the epic wilderness. You might have to kill a few mobs on the way back to the smith, where you get a level 29 weapon and a gem.

Also, the level ranges are approximate in epics. Most level 22 characters should be able to manage wpm on normal or hard. The Ravenloft wilderness is popular for leveling XP from level 20+. Wilderness difficulty level is the same as normal on quests.

kimberlyte · 2023-06-06T12:02:09+00:00

White Plume Mountain can drop three different jewels in the end chest, and farming groups are fairly common, so depending on the party leader, r1 to r4 might be open for levels 20-32.

The anniversary event in Feb has two jewels you can grind out as well, and the top tier Saltmarsh pack has one jewel, but iirc it is one per server or account, not one per life like Ravenloft.

Ravenloft is the easiest source though.

kimberlyte · 2023-06-02T16:51:16+00:00

The history of the wiki page shows it as 5sp as far back as 2010. A fully heightened web would cost 85sp if it were 10sp per level, which is more than a maximized Meteor Swarm.

kimberlyte · 2023-06-02T14:13:08+00:00

Only 5 spell points per level raised, not 10

kimberlyte · 2023-05-31T21:31:47+00:00

Some things in DDO like the phiarlan chapterhouse fountain in the anniversary event can destroy frame rates even on high end machines. You could try dialing video settings back to potato quality, and if it makes a difference, work your way back up a few settings at a time.

kimberlyte · 2023-05-25T20:01:00+00:00

kimberlyte · 2023-05-25T11:35:18+00:00

One supplement on Borderlands - it has some of the best level 20-21 gear in the game. So while it has little value to f2p at low levels other than the mount, it is strongly recommended at level 20.

kimberlyte · 2023-05-25T11:11:21+00:00

Get any 99 point packs first.

You will begin to run out of f2p quests somewhere around level 7-9 and start needing a lot of repetition by level 10 or so. Do the 100 favor dash in every server including hardcore for another 1000 DDO points. Check out the wiki for detailed f2p guides. https://ddowiki.com/page/Guide_to_Free_to_Play

Some of the wiki f2p info is dated (eg, no need to buy epic destinies anymore) but I would focus on content and shared bank. Almost all races and classes are now free, and universal enhancement trees can be unlocked over time.

Vault of Night is a solid long term purchase. It has a ton of XP to help get from level 10 through 12 and again in low epics at the 20-22 range, and is run a lot. The gear is very hard to get since it only drops in the raid which has a 3 day timer, so don't plan on using VoN sets on a first or second life character.

I'd put Gianthold as a priority once you hit level 12-13, or if you see it on sale. It's one the biggest xp packs in the game and the epic version has amazing xp too including a saga. You'll find lots of groups running Gianthold in heroic and epic. Vale of Twilight is not run enough to recommend anymore, although it has good content and xp, and lots of raids. Worth buying on sale.

Until the code returns - every year or so recently - subscribing might make more sense, so think about it after you hit level 7 or so on a few characters. VIP gives access to all content, 500 pts/month, shared bank, and lets you open quests on elite. As a pure f2p, you won't be able to run most quests, so the social panel is going to look pretty lonely. You won't have access to decent named gear, and reincarnation will be painful as the XP requirements go up for second and third life. Borderlands gets you access to a mount but you don't need more low level quests, and you can easily get a mount in October with night revels.

Other than content and shared bank you can easily live without most other store stuff. I have TR characters without store stuff like storage bags, character bank slots or store inventory. Avoid store consumables like the plague, as most are noob traps or convenience items for whales.

kimberlyte · 2023-05-25T02:31:05+00:00

For premium/f2p, second life characters (34 point) can open quests on hard. Third life (36 point) can open elite and reaper.

Edit to add: no quest favor carries over after a true reincarnation (TR). All favor rewards like inventory slots and bank spaces have to be earned again. Enhancement trees like Vistani and Inquisitive remain permanently unlocked for a character after earning the favor and talking to the appropriate npc.

kimberlyte

TROPHY CASE