Dane had a chance to sit down with Sam Elmes from Rocky Mountain Bikes during the Sedona Mountain Bike Festival to chat about the new Instinct, Rocky’s line-up and a bit about the mountain bike festival.
Rocky Mountain Instinct
https://bikes.com/collections/instinct
Sedona Mountain Bike Festival
https://sedonamtbfestival.com
Listen to Mountain Cog
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Other Podcast Sites
Socials
Instagram
Facebook
Email
mountaincog@gmail.com
Dane had a chance to sit down with Sam Elmes from Rocky Mountain Bikes during the Sedona Mountain Bike Festival to chat about the new Instinct, Rocky’s line-up and a bit about the mountain bike festival.
Rocky Mountain Instinct
https://bikes.com/collections/instinct
Sedona Mountain Bike Festival
https://sedonamtbfestival.com
Listen to Mountain Cog
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Other Podcast Sites
Socials
Instagram
Facebook
Email
mountaincog@gmail.com
All right, all right, all right, Got something a little different today, Got a bonus episode. I'll tell you what happened. Dane had a chance to go out to the Sedona Mountain Bike Fest. I was up snowboarding in Brian Head at the time so I couldn't go with him. But during his trip and his visit to the Sedona Mountain Bike Fest he had a chance to sit down with Sam Elms from Rocky Mountain Bikes.
Josh:Sam is a regional sales rep for Rocky Mountain for our region and in that conversation with Dane they get into a whole bunch of cool topics, starting out with some specifics on the new Rocky Mountain Instinct that Rocky Mountain just announced about a week ago. That's their 140-150 trail bike. It's got a geo refresh and some new tech. They go into some really cool details. Um, so if you're into trail bikes, you're into Rocky. You should give it a listen.
Josh:Uh, additionally, throughout the conversation, um, they also cover, you know, uh, highlights on Rocky's lineup, their total mountain bike lineup. Um, there is some recent and past stories from the Sedona mountain bike fest that are interesting and unique. And then, um, as as as usual, as you would expect, uh in, uh, in an MCP podcast, you're going to get some rabbit holes, and so definitely, uh, they got some, uh, some cool rabbit holes that they went down during the conversation, so, uh, definitely worth giving it a listen. And, uh, kudos to Dane for going out and doing his first podcast on his own. I think he did a great job. If you think so, too, please let them know. If you don't think so, also, please let them know. All we can do is get better. So, anyways, I'm going to cut over to the episode now. I hope you enjoy the conversation between Dane and Sam Elms from Rocky Mountain Bikes out at the Sedona Mountain Bike Festival. Thanks a lot.
Dane:This is Dane with Mountain Cog Podcast and we are at Sedona Fest and we are interviewing Sam Elms with Rocky Mountain Bikes. And now I get to ask you what's your title?
Sam Elmes:My title is I am the sales representative for the Intermountain West region of the US.
Dane:Oh, I'm glad I didn't have to say that I would have messed that up, man. So we should explain what Sedona Fest is. It's a big mountain bike festival in Sedona, arizona, which is beautiful. We do have listeners all over the world. So a little description of Sedona Red rocks, huge mesas and what do you call these? Bluffs, I guess, but just beautiful. It's famous for vortexes.
Sam Elmes:Awesome mountain biking it's amazing, some crystals as well.
Dane:Crystals. Yes, it's very spiritual. It's a small town. There's an interesting thing that I found out is they don't allow chain stores. That's right, yeah, which is kind of cool. So it's all the businesses and restaurants are locally owned. Just a cool place. It's definitely one of the must-sees in Arizona when you visit Arizona. With phenomenal mountain biking. Yes, with the mountain biking. So we rode. You didn't get to ride. Sorry, I didn't invite you. I know you're working, but the guys and I rode Hangover Trail which is famous and nobody died.
Dane:There is some skin still up there that Garland left, so there is some of that. And then, oh, something that people may notice Josh is not here. You know, josh had a family obligation and couldn't make it. He's pretty bummed because I keep sending him awesome pictures but he's not here. So this is my first solo, by the way. So thank you for being my first. You're so welcome.
Sam Elmes:And this is the first podcast I've ever done Is it Nice?
Dane:It's pretty easy. We just talk, it's not a big deal. The more that we can play around, the better, honestly, because if we're too boring and too technical, people just tune out. But I do want to use this because, uh, you are with rocky mountain. Uh, most people that listen to this and maybe know me know that I do love rocky mountain bikes, um, and I love to have that knowledge and so maybe touch on a couple things. We're gonna talk about the brand new instinct that just dropped. Was it tuesday, uh, wednesday, wednesday? Was it Tuesday, wednesday, wednesday? Yes, just dropped Wednesday. So it's a redesign. It's not crazy different, but some notable differences. So the first thing that I noticed looking at the bike is they've got carbon and aluminum options Is the penalty box. The penalty box is the newest thing that I noticed, one I love the name and you guys are Canadian origin right Hockey puns everywhere.
Dane:Yep, hockey puns. Yeah, Is there more that I just didn't get?
Sam Elmes:I mean altitude, the Jumbotron on the Powerplay.
Dane:Oh, no way, I did not get that. That's totally cool. Okay, all right, I like that. Okay, so it's got a penalty box now. So that's a down tube storage device.
Sam Elmes:It looks like you got a little uh stash sack in there. Yeah, so technically it's the penalty box 2.0. We we debuted frame storage on the slayer oh yeah um which, which was the penalty box 1.0. That was more ofa magnetized system um to which penalty box 20, we went to a dual action cam and already you know, if we can improve something we'll do it as quickly as we want.
Dane:So that's like how the lid attaches. Yeah, so was the magnets on the Slayers falling off.
Sam Elmes:I personally haven't had that experience and I've ridden the Slayer quite a bit. I've heard some rumors of other people running into that it was actually. It's a slick system, but I think we found some more security with the Penalty Box 2.0. Okay, that's pretty cool.
Dane:I like it. We just saw the bikes. I'll try and post some pictures on our Facebook page so anybody who's listening to this can check them out.
Sam Elmes:A big thing too is with the Slayer, the water bottle bosses were separate from the lid of Penalty Box 1.0, and we wanted to maximize space for other things, so putting the cage being able to mount the cage on top of Penalty Box 1.0 was a goal, awesome.
Dane:So, and you've got to have a hinge, because if you had a bottle on a magnet one, it would fall right off.
Dane:Yeah that extra weight and that would suck. I don't use bottles. I just started using bottles probably this year. It's a big deal. I walked up to the guys at the trail and I'm like you guys know anything different, something I haven't done for over in 10 years. Nobody could figure it out. And I had a bottle on my bike and and I'm getting a little bit more I ride a hip pack and I have a bunch of stuff plugs for my tires and flat repair and a pump.
Josh:Okay.
Dane:Back to the Instinct. So, carbon and aluminum Does the aluminum have the penalty box? It does not. Okay, so that's notable. All right, same geometry on the aluminums versus the carbon, that's correct. Okay, and then you used to have Ride 9. Yes, now has that changed.
Sam Elmes:It has changed and this has been, you know, evolving over the past few years, especially with our newer Powerplay models going to Ride 4 from Ride 9. The new Instinct goes to Ride 4. And you know, I'll say I guess I think, the biggest reasons. Our nine positions can often come across as overwhelming.
Dane:Yeah, that's what she said.
Sam Elmes:That was very well executed.
Josh:That was quick for me.
Dane:I'm not that quick usually.
Sam Elmes:So okay, back to the bike. The amount of adjustability with Ride 9 is pretty insane Arguably on the market I don't think there's much like that and for how quickly adjustable it can be. But with Ride 4, you still have a wide range, but we're able to go to single-sided hardware, so it's even faster to switch around. How do you get the?
Dane:hole in the other side. Okay, so first and I'm sorry to interrupt because I have to remember stuff, because remember my first time, yeah, so Josh is going to be stuff. Because remember my first time, yeah, so Josh is going to be critiquing this intensively.
Sam Elmes:Right.
Dane:And so first the Ride 9,. What we're talking about is on the link at the back of the shock on the bike is on, the Ride 9s were two squares that are off center and then they have a hole drilled in them. Yeah, and you can pull that hardware apart and rotate them, and what that effectively does is it changes the head tube angle, bottom bracket height and it can even affect the progressive rate of the shock. Yeah, is that correct? That's correct. I sell Rockies, so I should know what I'm talking about, but I do make stuff up.
Sam Elmes:It's a geometry adjustment system and I always like to tell people at demo events such as Sedona Mountain Bike Festival that it's different than a flip chip. I think flip chips, generally speaking, take longer to flip. They're not as accessible as Ride 4 or Ride 9, and Ride 4 has a pretty massive adjustment in its own right.
Dane:Yeah, the website even has different geometry charts, correct?
Sam Elmes:Yeah.
Dane:Which is cool, because then people who really geek out on the numbers can start looking at the head angles when we sell them in the shop.
Dane:It's a huge advantage because number one, when somebody comes into the shop they're looking for a bike they may not get to ride and they're worried that they're going to make a decision, and I feel like a bike should last 10 years.
Dane:Now I know they don't and it's fun to get new stuff, but I feel like it should last 10 years. So when you're weighing that decision, I don't mind somebody who's really taking time to think about it. And what I love about the Rockies adjustment is that you can change it. And so when somebody walks into the shop and they're worried about the head angle of this bike and my old bike and what's it going to do, the Rockies give you a peace of mind that you can really customize that bike to the person, so they may put it in one setting and just stick it there and leave it. Or, like me, when ride park I adjust it and then when I ride trail, I write, I adjust it again, and so that's been one of one of the biggest reasons that I've really loved rocky mountain bikes and so so back to the four versus the uh nine yep, so so it you know, I think we're.
Sam Elmes:We have also reached a state in the industry where angles are kind of stabilizing as far as intended usage.
Dane:You say that, but the new head angle, like on the Element, is pretty crazy. That's right, and people are loving it and it's way slacker than anyone would put on… it's incredible. A couple years ago nobody would have said you have that head angle on a cross-country bike.
Sam Elmes:So within the Ride4 system the element in the neutral location has a 65.5 degree head dupe. Thank you, because I'll never remember that and that is very slack for a 130, 120 downcountry-esque bike.
Dane:We've got cross-country guys riding it and they love it. Like Bryant at the shop said, it's his favorite new bike and he's riding his other bike is a Pivot with live valve. Yeah, so very light, very fast, very speedy bike. And I'm sorry, trader, if you're listening to this, but Bryant likes the Element better. Now we've got to get Bryant on a new bike, so just throwing that out there. But the Element is really making a lot of people smile bike, so just throwing that out there. But, um, the element is really making a lot of people smile and you can race it, but you can. I mean, justin is doing big stuff on the element, like bug springs, which is a pretty aggressive trail, not the best to do it all the time, but it's pretty, pretty versatile bike, so so that was the first one that I saw that went to the four yep, uh, is that right?
Sam Elmes:that was right, and I think our story with element and would. It's also a lighter weight system and we're not talking too many grams, but there's less hardware, um, so it is a lighter system as well yeah, I like the simplification.
Dane:One of the things that I run into is people talk about ride nine. They get a little lost in nine different positions and what they do. We're good at the shop we kind of help them understand. There's basically, if you, if you took a square and put nine holes in it and it's at an angle and you did it diagonal angle, right, that is really adjusting your head angle and bottom bracket height, yeah, and then when you do the opposite angle, it's really those outside adjustments are really doing mostly progression in the shock and how the shock's going to feel. They're doing a little bit, uh. And then the other adjustments are just fine tuning and letting you, letting you really just get with it. I think the four really takes. It takes some of the unnecessary positions.
Sam Elmes:Yeah, you and one of my. You know head tube angle in general, which is a very key part of how a bike rides, is also a very buzzy term. Yeah, and what I love to do at events such as this is people will come up and ask you know what's the head tube angle of that bike, and I'll reply with what would you like it to be? Yeah, I say that in the shop too, believe it or not. So, yeah, and sometimes I can't get it there, but more often than not it can be. Yeah, and that introduces the conversation of Ride 4.
Dane:Yeah, which is? So back to the Instinct. So that's a new bike. We have sold a ton of Instincts In the past. I would say that one of the best features of the instinct is that we could turn an instinct into an altitude, and that is not the case anymore. Correct, okay, so it's a 140, 130 or 150, 140? 150, 140. 150 in the front and 140 in the back. We are doing so much more tech than we normally do, so I'm really wondering how people are going to respond with this. If you hate it, please um, message josh, and if you love it, please message me, uh. So, just so we're clear hate josh, love me, okay, bye, okay, so back to the the bikes. Um, so, uh, you do have a kind of a built-in kind of soup it up mode, is that? Is that something that you can do? You said the 99, so in rocky's um nomenclature, is that the right?
Sam Elmes:way, that's what I would say. Um, so they have a 30 like a rare bike. It's a very rare bike, yeah, um, we've introduced them with their own. Um, paint jobs Okay, exclusive colorways.
Dane:Okay.
Sam Elmes:Um, I think by and large so, and that's going to be available in element altitude and instinct. Okay, and they're going to have RockShox flight attendant suspension.
Dane:Oh, wow, okay.
Sam Elmes:That'll be interesting. Transmission drivetrains, carbon, just about everything.
Dane:Okay, and so they're top, top, top of the line. Yes, and so in the 99, you spec it a little different, aside from just making pimp parts on it.
Sam Elmes:Yeah, so the Instinct C99, it's differentiated both in componentry but also by the fact that it gets bumped up in travel. Okay. So, whereas every other Instinct is 150, 140, the 99 gets a 160 fork. The stock shock size through medium, through extra large, is 210 by 52 and a half, but it'll accept a 210 55.
Josh:And that slightly longer.
Sam Elmes:Shock brings the travel up from 140 to 146 millimeters.
Dane:Nice, so you can. So we used to sell a BC, so you can kind of BC this bike. You can definitely BC this, okay, and we play at the shop. We play with front travel all the time. We have a really rocky terrain so it's really often that people are having pedal strikes and one of the first things that we'll offer them is, aside from the cranks, which is totally doable, I like to add 10 millimeters to the front and I think our terrain in Tucson, where it's really rocky, is really accepting of that and it does really well. So you can kind of do that with this bike and not screw it up. And you've got your ride four to adjust for. Yeah, so your head angles will change, your bottom bracket will change, so you have to accept that, but it makes it a little bit more rowdy.
Sam Elmes:I forget the specific terminology for this type of testing, but whether it's an Element, instinct or Slayer, every bike in the development and testing process is tested and passes said test with an additional 10 mil of travel in the fork than what comes stock.
Dane:Oh cool, oh, that's cool. That's really nice, because I thought I was breaking the law. So, um, which actually I, I think I actually asked you once if I can put a triple fork on my slayer and you said they were, they were compatible. Absolutely, yeah. And now they have a park slayer, which, uh, comes with the triple. We have those in the shop. So, um, so I okay. So I'm going to take a break from the bike, because I love talking about this stuff. However, a lot of people that listen to this podcast don't like I just I want to say something that just happened today and I hope josh listens to this so he can hear it. My wife just texted me, said I just listened to the latest episode and I really enjoyed it, and that stamp of approval is staggering because she does not ride, she doesn't. And so how, on earth, you know, is she listening to a mountain bike podcast and actually enjoying it? Right, you know?
Sam Elmes:hashtag lesson derailer talk.
Dane:Yes, exactly yeah, and so I don't want to go too far from that. So one of the things that I did want to ask you about is what is the weirdest thing out here at the Sedona Fest? Because there are vortexes, there's crystals. We have a fair amount of hippies running around. I've seen, I saw a Turner five spot in use and that's an old bike with 26 inch. I was like really amazed I didn't get a picture cause he went by fast, which was also amazing. So what's the weirdest thing you've seen out here?
Sam Elmes:Oh, where to start? I think the first thing that comes to mind, and this actually happened at my first ever Sedona mountain bike festival that I attended, which I was just told by a coworker of mine that that was seven years ago.
Dane:Jeez, doesn't that hurt. I hate when people say that.
Sam Elmes:Yeah, okay, and given that it was my first, and this is a very well attended event, we were very busy, yeah, yeah, and a lady approaches the booth, and you know greet. A lady approaches the booth and you know greet, and she's staring at the the top of the tent, that where it says rocky mountain and very big um, and you know, waiting for a response like hey, how's it going, what's going on? Yeah, and she's just reading this, the rocky mountain, um tent, for kind of a while, like studying it, yeah, yeah.
Dane:Okay, I'm definitely intrigued because that sounds weird Okay.
Sam Elmes:And then finally she. Then she starts saying Rocky mountain, and I'm like yeah, now I'm creeped out. And then she announces that she's got rocks in her pocket and at this point it's been so busy that I I accept this as, like I'm I'm here, show me these rocks you embraced it, oh yeah, oh, that's awesome, so that's awesome.
Dane:I'm so into this right now, okay what.
Sam Elmes:I forget exactly how it went from there, but but essentially I then got a what you forgot the rest.
Dane:Like I feel, like that should have been the most important part. Like dude, don't cliff ring.
Sam Elmes:Like that's a total— Well, lo and behold, we're talking eight rocks, some crystal-y, some not. Okay, okay, now I see the connection and there was a lecture of the different styles. Okay, and yeah, I apologize for not being able to retain that information, but it was uh, it was definitely a welcome to sedona, arizona moment nice.
Dane:So she was kind of saying you don't know about rocks, I got them in my pocket. Yeah, like I, I know about rocks, buddy, I'm gonna teach you about. Okay, that's awesome, that is a good story, because I'll tell you what I have seen, I mean when. So one of the things that when I come out here that's crazy and I think this is happening is when I walk around I know a lot of people in the industry. Everybody looks the same. They all have the same hats. Uh it's, you'll see a trendiness like right now, kind of like the uh what, uh um super Troopers mustache is popular Like super popular, you know A couple years.
Dane:So I was here last year when it snowed and I want to say last year it was all beards, like lots of beards. So we see these trends in hair, facial hair. Everybody's got the same type of clothes. I'm wearing Patagonia shorts, which I want to shout out to Patagonia, because these shorts are pretty awesome.
Sam Elmes:I have those.
Dane:Elliot is an ambassador for them.
Sam Elmes:He's a friend of mine. You know, elliot, he's awesome Very well.
Dane:He doesn't ride the right bike, but other than that he's pretty awesome.
Sam Elmes:He has owned a Rocky before, has he? Okay, yeah?
Dane:Well, you know what the right bike is, whatever you're on, honestly. So yeah, cool guy. Just met him. We're doing some suspension stuff with him and he's a cool guy. What's his last name?
Sam Elmes:I'm not going to pronounce it right, but it's along the lines of Milner.
Dane:Oh, yes, that's right. Yes, because I have a work order for him. And so, super nice guy, shout out to Elliot. If you do listen to this, he's in a lot of media like you'll see ads and you'll see this guy. He's got big dreadlocks so he's easy to spot, so somebody out there may know who we're talking about let alone his riding style is so smooth is it?
Dane:so I will admit to you right now I'm not like a super fan of anything except things and not people, and so, you know people will be like I'll give you a squirrel. So a little side story I was riding, we were racing and not people. And so, uh, you know people will be like I'll give you a squirrel. Um, so a little side uh story. I was riding, we were racing. So this is back when I raced I don't want to say serious, cause I wasn't that fast, but enough to where I was training and we were doing a Norba.
Dane:So this is this is how long ago. That is Norba downhill and uh, I've came, I rode the lift at big bear that used to be the mecca where you would go, yeah, and they had huge trade show, you know, like in the parking lot, and I'm riding and we have a big team and our team was pretty respectable and uh, I'm coming down the lifts and I wasn't. I think at that time I was semi-pro uh, you definitely I was accolades.
Dane:I was fast then, I'm super slow now, but, uh, you should have seen how much I was fast then. I'm super slow now, but you should have seen how much I was skateboarding on Hangover. But so I'm riding the lifts, I get down and I'm just chumming up with this guy and we have a blast. And I'm like, hey, he's telling me about lines that I didn't know about on the pro course and I'm like, can I follow you? And he's like, yeah, I just want to see where your lines are, cause he's cutting a couple of corners here and there that aren't going to be taken out with the tape. And I'm like I just want to see if they're adding time, you know, or taking away time, and this is pretty Strava. So you know what we used to do. Another side note is we used to take wireless computers because our forks right before you started and then bomb down the mountain and as soon as you stopped I come to a skid, just practically jump off the bike and hit it again to check my time.
Dane:That's. That's some serious technology, but that's what we did, because even the wireless computers wouldn't reach my shiver you know which was a huge fork, you know. So. So anyway, this guy super nice we're hanging out. He's got a sweet bike. I think it was a Mongoose and when I tell you the end of the story you'll get why I'm not. I don't remember which bike it is.
Sam Elmes:Well, for a Mongoose, there's a 50-50 chance. It was an Intense.
Dane:So it was. In fact it was, and we were sponsored by Intense, so we were jabbing about bikes and so we just come bumming down. He showed me a couple lines I was keeping up with him but you could tell he was faster and I get done and we high-five, and then I leave and my teammates are down there and we ran a junior team. Two of the juniors came up with these, the biggest. You know what anime eyes are?
Josh:The big, huge anime eyes, oh yeah.
Dane:And they're like do you know who that was? And I're like that's Eric Carter. I knew you were going to say that name, I couldn't believe it and I didn't. I knew who Eric was. You know, I I had no idea, but I couldn't recognize him in a lineup and I didn't really know. And I just don't pay attention to that stuff. And now I don't remember why we got on that. Oh, because everybody looks the same out here, and that's how I see it. And so have you seen any weirdness besides this?
Sam Elmes:trip. I mean, I think the diversity of mountain bikes that you do see throughout the vendor area is your time traveling amongst every corner, like you've alluded to.
Dane:Yeah, that Turner was easy, 15 years Right.
Sam Elmes:More than that, 20 years old and, and I love that puts everything in perspective, because, you know, I, I think, with my job, I, I basically am riding a different bike. You know, certainly every year, let alone sometimes more within the year, and to see, you know the people, the, the emotional attachment that people have justifiably have to these bikes that are rather archaic is, uh is very admirable I'm opening up my phone, so sam is pausing because I look weird, sorry.
Dane:Uh, we are recording out at the fest, so we have these cool new mics that are letting us record in. We're in. We're at a picnic table at the park, which is cool, right next to where. Oh, I'm sorry so I totally distracted you from what you were saying, but I wanted to say something about Sedona. So we're at right next to the jump park.
Sam Elmes:Yeah, have you hit it In years past, not yet this time, but we? Rocky Mountain is the sponsor of the dual slalom casual racing that's occurring over there.
Dane:Is it? Oh, that's going on right now, so we could go watch that at lunch. I think so Nice, that's awesome. And if I'm driving this it's because I'm trying to do a podcast by myself, yeah, so usually I get to shut up for a while and Josh talks.
Dane:But one thing that I wanted. So usually I get to shut up for a while and Josh talks, so um, but one thing that I wanted. So I do want to talk a little bit more about the bike, so let's insert that here and then we'll talk about. I want to ask you, before we cut this off about your, what you do, you know, cause I find it interesting. You're an outside rep and so just real quick on the bike. No-transcript 29, 27.5. Do we still have those in the small frames?
Sam Elmes:So 27.5 is available in extra small and small. Okay, and small also is available in 29 as well.
Dane:Okay, so you got a little overlap, because that's a big issue it's. You know, I used to think that size mattered in bikes, which I think it does, yeah, and I felt like the smallest people may be better on 29 or 27.5 and the tallest on 29s. I've totally been shut down many times, right, right, right, because I'll have like somebody who's five foot nothing come in and buy a 29 and they go kill it Like on a race course or however they're riding it. And I got a guy who's like six foot riding a 27.5. Totally, and he loves it. He doesn't want a 29.
Sam Elmes:Right so it.
Dane:Ultimately it doesn't matter. So can you run these mullet.
Sam Elmes:The official answer is no.
Dane:Okay, so they're not mullet specced, correct? Could somebody throw on a longer fork and throw a mullet on the rear See? I love that see, I love that. So what? What you guys can't see is his face squinch up in a certain way, which is, yes, by his facial expression, but no, because rocky mountain will say no is that about right 100?
Dane:so, and we do stuff like that all the time. Honestly, when it comes to mullets, I prefer to take a 27.5 and make ita mullet with a 29 front right. Because of our rocky terrain and pedal strikes, I don't rarely recommend going 27.5 in the rear. Some of the guys that do park kind of like it because they're not hitting pedals as much.
Dane:They're doing a lot of jumps and it's pretty smooth, depends on the park you go to. So sunrise and in arizona is so rocky I don't recommend it. But angel fire and big bear you can get away with it. So because they're pretty machine built, you know trails, so okay. So we kind of covered the new instinct and I really wanted to talk about that bike because it's new and is there anything else that rocky has currently. So we got the element that came out last year. Is that right? Is covid messed up?
Sam Elmes:my memory absolutely, yeah, um I think we are technically on the very beginning of the third year of element okay, third year of the element, and then altitude, which is what I ride.
Dane:That one is how many years in?
Sam Elmes:uh, we've got to be. That came out in 2021 20, okay, 2021.
Dane:Because I got the purple one, so I got the first year.
Dane:Yes, and I love that bike. So Justin and I have an argument going on. He bought a new one this year, the Copper, copper and Black Yep, and he my bike is 27 pounds, which is very light. It's stupid light and I don't really know I've got black label wheels on there and I don't really know I've got black label wheels on there. I do run like a meaty trail tire, but nothing super like thick, no DDs, no EXO pluses they're the Aguero, vittoria Agueros, but they're two sixes, nice, and I have carbon bars and carbon cranks and XX1 and I think 1UP dropper I can't remember what's on that bike. So my bike's pretty light at 27 pounds Now, 27, I got to throw out this caveat 27 without pedals and no mud, because after today it probably weighs two pounds heavier because of the mud.
Dane:But Justin, I think think is right at 30 and he's kind of mad at me because he can't figure out why. He's at 30 and I'm like almost three pounds lighter. And when I say 27, you can pretty much guarantee it's 27, something, sure, you know. So I won't, I'll let. I'll let everybody know that I fib a little bit 27, if I, if the bike weighs yeah, if the bike weighs 27.4, I'm going to say 27.
Dane:All day. If it weighs 27.9, I'm going to say 27. But still it's a couple pounds lighter than his, so that one's 21. So we're three years only three years into that, yeah, okay. So it's not long in the tooth, but it is a nice bike. Now, okay, enough about that. So, other than that, we got in Rocky's lineup. We got the Instinct, which is a trail bike. That's going to be the bike that people want for majority of the riding. I would say it's probably their workhorse.
Sam Elmes:Yeah, absolutely. Does that make sense? I mean, we're not afraid to call it the most versatile platform within our full suspension line.
Dane:Yeah, yeah. And then I was talking to Cam and he was showing me he's in Bellingham now. Yeah, and the rides he's doing. So he's probably on an altitude Correct. Okay, yeah, even though it's loamy he's doing steep, steep stuff up there. Yes, so Cam is one of the Rocky guys. He was a demo driver when I met these guys. Now he's outside sales at Bellingham.
Dane:What a dream job, right. So that's pretty awesome. And for those of you who don't know what Bellingham is, it is a kind of the hidden gem. It's like Sedona used to be where. It's like awesome riding just North Shore, kind of like Whistleresque time type in washington top of washington. Is that right?
Sam Elmes:yeah, yeah, up above seattle, super close to the canadian border yeah, and it's just got awesome trails.
Dane:I just salivate when I see them there. I just really want to go there.
Sam Elmes:I haven't been there, they've get the amount of rain that they get is a little overwhelming, but the the pro is that you can ride in the rain and you're not going to wreck anything.
Dane:The videos he was showing were just super steep drop-ins. And then you hit a garden of roots, which I can't ride because I live in Arizona. We don't have roots, what is a root? And rain we don't really know what that is. And then tell me about what you do for Rocky. So you're, you're basically a sales rep outside.
Sam Elmes:Yeah, More than basically. Why don't we start with?
Dane:Well, I mean, like you do like you have a region, like you have a territory to pee on stuff in order to claim it, do they assign it? How does that work?
Sam Elmes:So my sales territory is the area in the country that I cover and this includes it's basically a straight line that's what I joke to people that it's Tucson to Jackson Hole.
Dane:There you go, nice, which is why we don't get to see you very often, that's a lot of area. That's a lot of area.
Sam Elmes:And I reside in Salt Lake City, utah, nice, which generally speaking, is rather central to the territory, especially considering how much nothingness is in southern Utah. Okay, yeah, so I cover Arizona as a state, las Vegas, but not the rest of Nevada. That's weird, yeah.
Dane:That's really weird. So you get to pick the best town, town, and then somebody else has to do all the radiation. Yeah, that's okay. Yep, uh-huh.
Sam Elmes:So um, utah, and then um, it gets even kind of weirder. So Eastern Idaho, but we're talking like the border of Eastern Idaho, so uh, of eastern Idaho, so Pocatello. Idaho Falls Rexburg into Driggs. Okay, driggs Victor, which is like the backside of the Tetons, okay.
Dane:Tell me something I've never heard of Driggs.
Sam Elmes:Yeah.
Dane:I have a visual of what people look like in Driggs. Just tell me what that is, because my visual is pretty bleak.
Sam Elmes:Yeah, I don't want to be condescending here, but hills have eyes, came into my head.
Dane:Okay, all right, that's kind of what was in my eyes.
Sam Elmes:So, that's what was in my head At the same time as Jackson Hole has sort of evolved and become huge that people Driggs is home of Grand targhee resort. Oh yeah, yeah, see now, I've heard of that yeah I haven't heard of driggs, but I've heard of that for sure. It's, no, it's, it's rather wonderful. And and for how busy jackson is and driggs is not far behind at this point, it's uh, it's a little bit slower pace than jackson oh nice.
Dane:So um, like I don't know, do you have to fly everywhere or do you drive? Like how do you do that?
Sam Elmes:Do you?
Dane:just do it once a year. You come by and you just do one trip a year on your car or like driving with the occasional flights here and there.
Sam Elmes:Okay, and Rocky Mountain is definitely amongst the. You know, our distribution is through brick and mortar bike retail. Yeah, and so I partner with Rocky Mountain dealers to make sure that we can both be successful together. Oh, nice, and so that everyone can hashtag love the ride.
Dane:Nice, there you go. Hashtag love the ride, so I hashtag Rocky Mountain all the time. Yeah, I don't think I do love the ride. Like, I have to start practicing. I'm old and so Instagram I'm learning and getting better. At Facebook, I'm pretty competent, although, you know, I can always learn, and I don't know if there's anything else out there. I think there's Twitter, or what Twitter became. I don't really do that.
Sam Elmes:It's scary to think that I know that my MySpace still exists.
Dane:No way Can you go to old MySpaces still, they didn't just fade away. No, is there a server or something From every year it takes?
Sam Elmes:me longer to find, but if I'm motivated enough and we're joking around about MySpace, I can find my MySpace.
Dane:That's crazy. I never did the MySpace. I definitely went on MySpace like once or twice to look up people. Yeah, honestly, I got into Facebook. We're total rabbit hole right now. I got into Facebook when I had my daughter, uh, who's now 12. And so 12 years ago is when I started social media, and that is kind of crazy because I'm kind of obsessed with it now. Not not in a bad way, but um it's, we had an outage. So um, what is the date today? Uh, march 8th, okay, so two days ago.
Dane:I think Facebook went out all over the country for like a couple hours. So a lot of people I posted up afterwards you know it was so quiet, which it was and the responses I got were 50-50. Like yeah, totally, and I didn't notice, but I'll tell you what man, it was kind of shocking how like I was. Like how do I talk to my friends now?
Josh:Right, Isn't that crazy yeah.
Dane:Like I feel like that's super crazy. Like do I have to call them Totally Each one? I can't just blurt something out online and they all see it. I have, to like literally call people.
Dane:It was weird, dude, yeah, and I, you know, I'm old back in the day I used to have phone numbers on a piece of paper in my wallet, so I remember them all, so I could call people you know, and that's how I would get hold of our friends and we would go out and party. You didn't, you didn't post something or message them. You called them and then you had to leave a message, and so then you had to go home after work and listen to your messages to find out what you were doing that night.
Sam Elmes:That's right, that's right.
Dane:It's crazy. Okay, that's the rabbit hole, so so I think we're going to wrap this up. It's a little bit shorter because Josh isn't here and he's the tall one, I'm the short one, so a little bit shorter. So I hope everybody enjoyed this. We're going to try and post this separate than we normally do because it's kind of a bonus episode, and I really thank you for coming, sam, and talking about Rocky Mountain. I hope we got enough out there. Yeah, my pleasure.
Josh:Hey, what's up. This is Josh from the Mountain Cod Podcast. You got questions, comments or feedback. Well, we'd love to hear from you. Shoot us an email. You can send it to mountaincog at gmailcom, digging the show. There's a couple things you could do to help us out. First, you could tell your friends about Mountain Cog, and also it would be great if you'd give us a good rating and review over at Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you listen. We appreciate y'all. Go ride, keep the rubber side down.