The Pinkbike Podcast: Episode 159 - East Coast Jank, Testing Bikes, & Failed Resolutions

Jan 5, 2023
by Mike Levy  
Pinkbike Podcast
Art by Taj Mihelich


After last week's barely-bike-related rambling, episode 159 sees us back to talk about riding resolutions and our excuses for why they mostly didn't pan out. That doesn't stop Kazimer, Henry, Brian, and I from talking ourselves into some new ones for 2023, though, which gives us twelve months to come up with some fresh excuses. We also answer questions about test bikes being too good, Norco's Optic versus Norco's Fluid, and bike sizing.

If you had to come up with a riding resolution for the coming year, what would it be?





THE PINKBIKE PODCAST // EPISODE 159 - EAST COAST JANK, TESTING BIKES, & FAILED RESOLUTIONS
Jan 5th, 2022

We come with excuses.


Featuring a rotating cast of the editorial team and other guests, the Pinkbike podcast is a weekly update on all the latest stories from around the world of mountain biking, as well as some frank discussion about tech, racing, and everything in between.

Subscribe to the podcast via your preferred service (Apple, Spotify, RSS, LibSyn, etc.), or visit the Pinkbike Podcast tag page for the complete list of episodes.

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72 Comments
  • 36 0
 My New Year's resolution is to not immediately scroll to the comment section, oops..
  • 27 0
 Question for future podcasts with the editors. We know bikes are crazy expensive, but if you had $12k USD to spend on as many bikes at retail pricing and they're the only bikes you can ride for the next 3 years, what would your quiver be? 

My guesses are 

Levy: 8k Gravel bike and 4k trail bike 
Kaz: 4k Enduro bike and 8k eBike
Beer: 1k DJ, 5k DH bike, 7k mullet all Mtn
Henry: who the hell is spending 12k on bikes?!?!?! you're all mad, just give me a spire 
Sarah: 5.5k marathon race bike/downcountry bike, 3.5k all mtn, 3k road bike
Tom: 12k slacked out ti hard tail
Christina: 12k Enduro bike to shred sea to sky
Brian: 12k 3D printer to make my own bikes and a sick titanium strider
  • 11 0
 Absolutely nailed it. Terrifying how well you know us.
  • 10 0
 Accurate
  • 19 0
 4k trail bike and 8k of snacks.
  • 1 0
 I think that Henry would get a 12k Transition ebike, with AXS & Flight Attendant, and a 3k slope bike. I know his opinion on ebikes, but he also talked smack about AXS and then his Spire has it. Also... he talked smack about slope bikes, so he is for sure getting one of those too.
  • 14 1
 My resolution is to somehow make my 2022 Evils work for another competitive racing season. It's going to be very challenging without the competitive edge that SRAM UDH provides, but as they say: "It's all about the racer, not the bike."

Wish me luck.
  • 11 2
 At least it's super boost...?
  • 1 0
 @mikelevy: down vote on super boost.
  • 12 0
 I have great recipes for Salad in Jello, I had a whole book at one point, in storage somewhere. I believe it featured such classics and jellied beef loaf, and pork and chicken jellied salad.
  • 10 0
 I hate this.
  • 23 0
 Story time!

Growing up, my parents and grandparents all had these funny shaped glass bowls in their cupboards that they never used. One day when I was about 15, I asked my mom what the bowl was for and why she never used it. She told me they were for jelly salads and they used to be very popular. I thought it sounded fake. Like, jello and vegetables? No way. I was assured it was real. Worse part, unlike the Jello salad in parts of the United States with fruit and stuff meant to be a dessert course, this Canadian version was a salad - main course. To be taken to friends hosues when you're invited to dinner. There at thansgiving. Christmas. Served alongside turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, or stuffing. Awful!

So to Google I went. Right to the images tab. I was horrified. Sickened, in fact. Page after page of semi-liquid terror. The remains of innocent vegetables shredded in suspended animation. Jello salad! The very idea! My mother did not make this all up as a joke. She thought the whole ordeal was terribly entertaining.

So, 15 year old me decided the best thing I could do was to find a recipie for a to-be-served-with-main-course-jelly salad, and whip up a batch for my family to serve at Christmas dinner. So there I was the night before, mixing gelatin powder, hot water, shredded carrots, and another vegetable in a bowl, and firing it into this odd-shaped glass dish.

The worst part? It went out on the table, and there I was, 15 year old me, expecting it to be a great gag and everyone to stare into the slippery, wiggling abomination I made and despair, as I had done. Nope. My grandparents saw it, passed it around, served large portions to themselves, and stated they hadn't had a good jelly salad in years. They were quite pleased.
  • 4 0
 @j-t-g: This is the hard hitting-knowledge I come to Pinkbike to find! I had no idea savory jello salads were a thing. But dammit, Canada, WHY?!?
  • 1 0
 @VtVolk: I don't think it's just a Canada thing. I've heard rumors that these dishes are still served in the midwest.
  • 11 0
 Riding resolution for 2023 will be something like ride more than I did in 2022. I think I rode a bike like 6 times last year so it shouldn't be hard.
  • 6 53
flag sanchofula (Jan 5, 2023 at 7:38) (Below Threshold)
 Six times? That might not be enough to even count. I think you need to ride a minimum of once a week to consider it a sport.
  • 25 2
 @sanchofula: f*ck off with your gatekeeping nonsense!
  • 19 0
 @sanchofula: Running my own new business solo + developing raw land to build a house = no time for fun
  • 6 0
 @pdxkid: Unsarcastically, that sounds like a rad year.
  • 2 0
 @ABhardtail: Definitely challenging and rewarding and some doses of fun, just not bikes in the woods fun. The property has some serious potential for some mtb loops with some fun dh sections. Now I just need the vision and time/energy to develop the trails!
  • 10 0
 New Years Resolution: Stop going into races with shitty pedaling fitness, the wrong setup, and near blind levels of track knowledge and then getting surprised when you don't place that well.
  • 7 1
 I'm the same and it took me two decades to realize that I do all that to self-sabotage for some reason.
  • 4 0
 ...with a massive hangover after a million beersies
  • 2 0
 @threesixtykickflip: the pre planned hangover is a long established racing strategy to alleviate any sort of performance expectations!
  • 1 0
 @TerrapinBen: 100% beer is pretty much a sports performance drink anyway.. full Carbo preload the night before primed for raceday \m/
  • 10 0
 Kaz, If you want a Vermont jank tour come find us at Bicycle Express in Waterbury Vermont. We've got it all- uphill uphills, downhill downhills, and most famously, uphill downhills.
  • 2 0
 Stealing uphill downhills. Better than my go to for the locals “40% descending with 70% climbing.”
  • 3 0
 Waterbury would be a solid day or two for the start of the VT/NH Jank tour. Perry, Cochrans, Bolton, then up to Victory Hill & Burke. Then back down to Northfield, Randolph, Rochester, then down to Thunder & Highland. Then over to North Conway.
  • 11 0
 The resolution is always simple and always the same: More days on more bikes in more places with more people.
  • 7 0
 Having only ever ridden 'East Coast Jank' in PA, VT, and MA, I'd like to ride somewhere non-janky and loamy see what all of the fuss is about. Similarly, having only ever snowboarded on the East Coast, I'd like to get some powder above the treeline on a more serious mountain. Either I'll find out that the decades of riding roots and rocks in the summer and then sliding down ice between trees in the winter have really honed my skills, or... I'm just not that good and having been fooling myself for a long time now.
  • 4 5
 You’ll find you are the slowest of the group and not nearly as sendy.
  • 4 0
 You'll find you'll get bored riding the smooth trails.
  • 10 0
 2023 resolution - more group rides with Henry.
  • 5 0
 I have this idea in the works of a "net-zero miles" goal with cycling. Here's how it works; any time I drive to a trailhead JUST to ride, I burn my "banked" miles. In order to re-bank miles, I need to use my bike to commute for work, groceries, etc. If I am going near a trail area anyways, and I bring my bike with me, that doesn't count against my miles. The goal is to use my hobby of cycling to reduce my total miles driven, as opposed to driving more miles because of cycling.

It's a work-in-progress.....
  • 1 1
 I’m assuming you’re doing this to reduce your emissions but you’ll offset even that with extra food and laundry. Just ride your bike and don’t worry so much
  • 4 0
 @mknott9: lol wrong. I think it's illogical to spend over 300 hours per year on a wheeled machine only to (somehow) drive more as a result.
  • 7 0
 Only a few days into 2023 and I feel JANK will be the most overused word/term of the year.
  • 6 1
 It's kind of a janky word when you really think about it
  • 38 2
 Wait until the new jank-country bikes are released... 15" high bottom brackets, 400mm reach on a large, and a 70-degree head angle.
  • 3 0
 @mikelevy: way too slack.
  • 6 0
 Saw east coast jank and got exited thinking you were finally talking about Nova Scotia riding Frown
  • 2 0
 Wouldnt that be something!!
  • 5 0
 @mikelevy what happened to the Grim Doughnut built by Pivot? Was it ever ridden / tested like v1?
  • 8 0
 Yup, ridden, tested, and filmed. I think it'll come out sometime in early 2023.
  • 4 0
 @mikelevy: Like early April maybe? I’m not falling for that again!
  • 2 0
 @mikekazimer Happy to give you a tour of the new Case whenever you're back in Glastonbury! Its nothing like it was 10-15 years ago, never mind when you last rode it. Old trails are still there but its an absolute maze these days.
  • 1 0
 My new years resolution was to bin off listening to you muppets but then listened to the magic mushroom story and I came back. Ebikes rule! Also the best vehicle for bikes is a volkswagon caddy with a 2ltr turbo tfsi engine in. Fast and keep your bikes safe. So dangerous you can wear your helmet to, during and from the bike park.
  • 2 0
 @mikelevy you all should host an race in the north shore for your mike vs mike. Do some enduro stages and/or some XC laps.

Either way. Make all the racers do all the skinnies on the course as mandatory obstacles.
  • 3 0
 Plan more riding trips in advance. Sometimes work/life kills my motivation to pack up and drive somewhere for the weekend, but I'm always glad when I do.
  • 4 1
 Skimming over the PB awards (especially giving the Innovation award to a motor) was a lame move! We'd love to hear the rationale for that one...
  • 2 1
 It enabled designing an ebike that was nearly identical in form and weight to a normal bike. Thats beyond impressive. Personal preference about ebikes (for the record they aren't for me) doesnt change that
  • 2 0
 @mtmc99: I'm not saying it isn't impressive. I'm saying it isn't a mountain bike innovation, its an ebike innovation.

PB themselves have an emtb filter... and recognize the difference... so it seems very strange to not do a separate award.
  • 3 0
 Bike historians, I’d be forever grateful to learn the little piece of inside joke trivia as to which BC brand stuck with suspension pivot bushings for so long.
  • 3 0
 I don't qualify for that title, but I have a guess and it rhymes with Hockey Fountain
  • 3 0
 can we have autoplay for the podcast this year?
  • 3 0
 love the free flowing chat and the gems from Henry!
  • 2 0
 kaz you should look into trans-new england
  • 5 5
 Levy has a huge west coast chip on his shoulder. I'm sure he would be humbled and surprised if he left his bubble.
  • 21 1
 Nah, I know I'm super blessed to have ridden all over the world over the last 15 years of doing this job, including all over the US, Canada, a load of countries in Europe, a bit in Asia, some in Central America, and I'm sure loads of places that I'm forgetting. I'm currently on the road for two months in the US riding as well, and I'm the most anti-Sea 2 Sky bro who lives in the Sea 2 Sky corridor haha Other riders blow my mind everywhere I go - people are so good!

I love riding bikes everywhere, but I also know where I love doing it the most Smile
  • 4 1
 @mikelevy: Maybe I don't detect the sarcasm. Sometimes I get a feeling that you wonder why anyone would even own or ride an mtb in the east.. You questioned Kazimer on why he would bother traveling there. I know you don't need to take my feelings in to account, but just don't alienate your eastern listeners. Wink

For the record, I'm not in any way implying the east is better than the west for riding, just different.
  • 10 1
 @RMWB: To be fair, I'm made of 97% sarcasm and 3% sugar, and mostly just love to be a dick to Kazimer haha
  • 2 1
 @mikelevy: Did you drop your microphone in the sea? It sounds like it's underwater...
  • 2 0
 @wilkassm: I channeled the Bucket Boys for this one. Not sure why it was so bad, nothing was different. I think we're going to try a different podcast hosting service soon.
  • 1 0
 Michael-the-intern, seriously would love to have you to my home trails, but as soon as Levy and Kaz show up to your home trails, you know they're getting way more traffic, not good... Also anyone thinks Levy is gonna alienate listeners better think again, we're already hooked guys, there's no turning back, be honest with yourself you'd watch Henry wash a bucket for at least 15 minutes uninterrupted
  • 1 0
 I just want to hear about Henry's van. Please tell us about it.
  • 2 3
 Brian : 2 feet of snow in Vancouver, theres no biking.

Meanwhile we were shuttling Seymour during and after the storm
  • 4 0
 You're tougher than me.
  • 2 2
 @brianpark: to be fair it wasnt exactly "biking"
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