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Full Spectrum Cycling
Chatting Cycling, Music, RAGBRAI and More With Mike McAbee
Jul 29, 2025
Chatting Cycling, Music, RAGBRAI and More With Mike McAbee
15
30
00:00
34:41
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Transcript
0:00
All right, um, [sighs]. Oh, I see what you're doing up there. I've been trying. [horn honks] [laughs] All righty. Good to go. Okay, great. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:18
Yeah, yeah, hey. Hey, everybody. Ah. Boy, what a day. What a beautiful day in the neighborhood. It is. This is way, like, better than the RAGBRAI weather. Oh my God. [laughs] Probably 'cause we're by the lake, too.
0:30
We're not in a, sitting in a pile of corn. Oh yeah, good stuff. Ooh, I better get my beer. Oh yeah, good idea. Uh, hey, it's Sven, Sven on the road today.
0:38
Uh, we're at Vega's Pub here in Mil- Milwaukee Riverwest neighborhood. This is the site of the Riverwest 24 today, and, uh, there's a lot of activity already with people getting set up and whatnot. Um, and, uh,
0:53
we got Mike McAbee with us today. Hi. He is a, a musician that travels around the Midwest, Southwest, East West, Florida. Where do you go? You go a lot of places.
1:02
Um, I'm in Midwest mostly now, like from about Colorado to Michigan, you know. Um, but I, I, I might go back to Florida someday. It's just not, I don't know. Florida's weird. Yeah.
1:14
And, um, yeah, once in a while the East Coast, so. So you, you rolled into town a little earlier today. Yes. And, uh, you've got a, an Excelsior bicycle. Yeah, it was my grandpa's. He rode it around.
1:26
He ra- had motorcycles, but he rode this bike a- in circles around the outside of his house to keep him in fit every night, and, uh, I don't know how old it is. Really old. I mean, like, like- Yeah... like 1920s old.
1:36
Um- That's, it's interesting, uh, that we, I couldn't really find a bunch of information out, but I'm sure there's people out there that are like, "Yeah, I know exactly what that thing is."
1:43
Yeah, and I've, you know, like I've Googled it numerous times and, uh, I know that they exist, obviously.
1:47
And it was a, it was the motorcycle company, had, Excelsior Motorcycle Company was a bike company first that then built motorcycles. Okay. So, um, I know- And the Excelsior name comes from Excelsior, Minnesota.
1:58
Sota, yes. Okay, right on. Um, which is now a suburb of the Cities. Oh, yeah, that's, uh, that grew up big there since the '20s out, uh, out, uh- Yeah... Twin Cities way, mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah.
2:09
Uh, so yeah, we just did a quick maintenance job, put a new nipple on a spoke, uh, filled the tire with air.
2:14
Now, uh, right after this we're gonna roll around the neighborhood and do a little checking out of the course and- Yeah... maybe see where people are camped.
2:23
There's a, a ton of people that have already set up their houses and/or tents for the event, and we will be- It looks super fun. Yeah. It, it, it's, I mean, if this is, s- I think it started in 2008, so- Oh, really?
2:36
Okay, it's not that old... do the math. What's that, 13 years, 15 years, 17? I'm not good with math. Yeah, 17. At least not simple math. I have to do, like- 17, 16, 17 years... there you go. Yeah.
2:44
I have to do really hard math, otherwise I can't, you know. Simple math, not for me. Right. [laughs] Um, the r- so it's right about a little after 5:00 when we're doing this.
2:53
Mike is going to do a set here at Vega's at about 8:00 or whatever. Mm-hmm. Little later, and, uh, before that we're gonna go catch the start of the event, which is at 7:00 PM.
3:03
Uh, they s- sell out every year, and, uh, there's approximately 2,000 entrants into the race. Not race, it's a ride. It's not a race. Um, but some people do race it anyway.
3:15
And, uh, the reason that you might wanna become an event participant, pay the registration and all that, is so that they count your laps. That's really the main thing.
3:24
Otherwise, as just a resident or a visiting musician, uh, you may go to all the bonus checkpoints, do all the fun stuff without having to pay the entry fee. You just don't get scored. And as many times as I've done this,
3:39
I don't really need to do it anymore and get scored, because we're gonna have fun not getting scored. Oh, here comes a purple people eater. Hey, man. Great, babe. Hey, James.
3:49
We're, uh, we're doing our quick podcast right now. Um, uh, maybe s- you could stick your head in, in the hole back there maybe. I don't know. Uh, but we, we- Stick your head in the hole, James...
3:58
we, we just got rolling a little bit and we're gonna talk, uh, talk to Mike about, uh, biking, and you got some RAGBRAI stories, don't ya? Yeah, I just got off RAGBRAI, like, two days ago.
4:08
Um- Register's annual great bike ride- Ride across Iowa... across Iowa. This is my, I, I don't know how many, I did it, like, 20-something years.
4:17
I didn't do it since C- well, since 2020 I hadn't been on it, but I went back this year. Uh, and, um, and just had other things going on and stuff, and, you know, so whatever.
4:27
Last week of July is always busy, and that's when it always is, so. Yeah. See, yeah. And it, it always coincides with, the Riverwest 24 is always the last full weekend of July. Uh-huh.
4:38
So RAGBRAI would normally end- Uh huh... the weekend that RAGBRAI, or that, uh, Riverwest 24 is. Right. So. There's so many things that go on this week, you know? Yeah, for sure. Um, it's crazy.
4:47
So you got some conditioning in. You got some, you got some miles under your bike. For this, yeah, for this, totally.
4:51
I did, yeah, I did 100 miles of RAGBRAI, so I'm ready for the, uh, whatever the four and a half mile loop of, of, uh- [laughs]... Riverwest 24, so. Oh, you could do, you could do a few loops.
5:00
[laughs] I, I rode my single speed, and then I thought to myself, since I haven't been riding that much, why'd I ride a single speed? I do like gears, but- Yeah... um, we'll be fine. It's, the city's pretty flat.
5:09
There's only one, there's basically one hill. There's some pretty tall speed bumps, man. Yeah, their speed bumps are towering. Yes, they 100% are. Uh, we went over the most notorious speed bump earlier today.
5:18
We took a drive, went to Miss Katie's for some- Uh-huh... uh, food, and the most notorious speed bump is right up the street here, just north. Second-highest point in Wisconsin right here, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
5:28
Tim, Tim Hill's the highest point, in case you didn't know that. No, I knew, I know where Tim's Hill is. [laughs] I do. That's the highest point in Wisconsin. And I grew up by Rib M- Rib Hill, you know, Rib Mountain.
5:35
I grew up by there, so it's like, I think that's the second-highest point. Yeah. Right on. So you are a Wisconsin native- Mm... but an Iowa resident. 10-4. Like, I grew up, uh, by Wausau, Shawano.
5:47
Lived in Stevens Point a long time. I've been living in Iowa now for s- uh, 17, 18 years, I believe. So, um, and- And that's, is that how you got sucked into the RAGBRAI, being an Iowa resident?
5:59
Well, in college my friends would always talk about it, and I always was interested in biking. And I was already biking by myself, like long trips before I ever got a chance to go on RAGBRAI.
6:09
And I was super excited about it. It was not at all what I had pictured once I went on it the first time. I thought it was gonna be this crazy party. I had my buddy drop me off in a pickup truck.
6:17
[laughs] I dropped a hit of acid and started riding. I'm like, "Man, there sure are a lot of kids here." [laughs] So what was the- Yeah. [laughs] What was the first year you did it? '99 I bet- Okay...
6:26
would be the first year. Yeah. That would've been, like, kind of at the end of when I was doing it. Okay, sure, yeah. 'Cause I, I'd done it- Uh-huh...
6:31
I'd done it through, like, the late '80s, early '90s, somewhere in there, when I was an outside rep for a bicycle- Yeah... component company. Oh, yeah, I would feel... If I was you, I'd feel like I had to do it, right?
6:40
I mean, like- Yeah. Well, so the deal- Networking, right? Well, the deal was 16 of my shops bought product every year, so I had to kind of- Yeah, [laughs] right. So- I had to kinda go support them at the end- Ah...
6:48
'cause it, I don't know if they still do it the same way, but all the shops would set up their trailers, and so they could do maintenance or sell their wares or whatever. Right.
6:55
So I would usually work at one or two of 'em for a few hours- Uh-huh... at the end of the day, which was kinda challenging after, like, 40 beers during the day. Yeah, uh-huh.
7:04
Just, it's- I always like to try and work and, uh, drink at the same time. [laughs] So. I said, "Does that ever happen in the music business?" No. It's so, it's, they're so separate. [laughs] It's like night and day.
7:13
[laughs] Um, but yeah, I remember, um, i- it's just, it's weird how, uh, you can get, you know, kinda blotto the night before, and still 6:00 rolls around and the sun's peeking over, and you're ready to go again.
7:23
You're like, "Okay. I guess." Yeah, it's crazy, 'cause you're like, um, yeah, you spend- There's James. Hey, James. How you doing? Good. Love the hat. Good drive in? Oh, yeah, uh-huh.
7:32
Yeah, kinda hectic, c- 'cause I, I had a lot of shit go wrong, but it was fine. I fixed it all. For now. For now I did. [laughs] Yeah. That's a mighty clunker you got there, and, uh- Thanks.
7:41
We'll get a pic- Think it- We'll get a picture of that... didn't have to take that from, uh, what is it again? Oh, RAGBRAI? Oh, yeah. S- Or- Straight from RAGBRAI. No, I didn't ride that on RAGBRAI.
7:49
It's been a dream of mine, though, to take that thing on RAGBRAI someday. [laughs] You'll have to get a picture of the, my bike and- Yeah, I will, for sure. Oh, yeah. Um, I just rode...
7:56
I, I, but I do ride w- I, I'm full bags, you know? Like, full bags, steel frame bike. I used to carry an amp. I think I said this last time I was on this podcast. Used to carry, like, an amp and a speaker and a guitar.
8:06
And then I would, like, I could just plug in and play, but then it was really hectic to get to... I hate being in a hurry on a bike, right? Right. And, like, you're like- Takes all the fun out of it...
8:15
10 miles outside of a town, you gotta start in like 15 minutes, and y- you, there's no way, and you're like- You're pumping... I got all this shit. I got my tent, my amplifier shit.
8:23
It's like, uh, I go- You gotta set up your tent first. Yep. Yeah. 'Cause I just did, I started to set up my hammock at the Bremen community garden. Oh. So. Oh, really? Did you? Okay, okay.
8:32
Not gonna make that, uh, that drunken, dark mistake again. No. That's why my RAGBRAI was short- [laughs]...
8:38
'cause my, I came out of a Casey's General Store, and my tent had, one of my poles had snapped, 'cause it's an old tent.
8:43
[laughs] So to sleep in the thing with, like, just the netting over me, like, like a body bag, basically.
8:49
[laughs] And then shit can bite you anyway, 'cause it'll just bite through the screening, 'cause the screening is so thin. Oh, yeah.
8:54
Laying right on you and your- And I'm like, I'd already had heatstroke that day and shit, and I'm like, "Man, you know, I should maybe just, uh..."
9:00
So as beautiful as it is here today, it's like 75 degrees or something right now. It's beautiful. It was really hot on RAGBRAI this year. It was like 90 some. It was 100 and something real feel, and then windy.
9:10
Like, it was like a... I know people s- like I've said earlier, like, it's like a blow-dryer. It's like a blow-dryer.
9:15
Like, you're standing in the middle of the street, the sun's beating down on you, the wind's blowing at 20 miles an hour in your face, and it's just hot. It doesn't do anything.
9:23
It's not like, "Oh, thank God, there's a breeze." It's like, "Oh, Christ, there's a breeze." It's like, it's, it's- You know? [laughs] It's like dragon's breath right on your face. It is, yeah.
9:30
And like, I, and I still, like, even after the heatstroke, I still went 16 miles the next day, just 'cause I'm like, "Man, I don't wanna, like, go out like this," you know? Right. Just 'cause I don't have a tent.
9:38
Like, I'll do it, you know? But that straight south, it was a straight out south. I was just, oh my God, it was insane.
9:44
So, and then I felt, I felt like I was, I've lost a lot of muscle mass the last couple years, and I felt kinda bad about, like, oh, man, can I even do this anymore?
9:51
But then the, uh, but then I, you know, ran into some other bagger friends of mine, and they were rolling about as fast as I was, and that, that made me feel a little bit better about, like, maybe I'm not as deficient as I think I am- Yeah...
10:00
at this, you know? Or they- So... or they've de- or they've become deficient in the same timeline as you Well, yeah, they're all, they're all like me too, right? Yeah.
10:06
[laughs] I mean, I know we've all slowed down, but at least- Yeah... it, like, it's not like I really slowed down, and they're, and you know, and they're, whatever, so. So- So...
10:13
did you read, uh, Ward and Jackie Budwig's book? No, but they're friends of mine, yeah. Yeah. But I, I'm, feel bad. So they, they wrote a book called The World At 10 Miles an Hour or something- Uh-huh. Yeah...
10:21
to that effect, that said... And it's on Amazon. Uh-huh. And it, it's seriously about- People rode around the world on their bikes... if you- yeah, if you're touring, uh, yeah, that's a, that's a good pace to go.
10:30
About 10 miles an hour. Let me go get a chair. 10, 15. Sure. You know, you can, um, yeah, there's some white, uh, plastic ones right there.
10:36
You can, uh, you can see a lot of the world, but still travel four times as fast as walking, or five times as fast. And, and those guys told me, like...
10:43
Okay, this is a couple from my town, and, and they, uh, they're a great couple, and they, yeah, they biked around the... They told me that they only went, like, what did they say?
10:49
Like, "Well, we will go, like, 50 miles a day." I'm like, "What?" Like- Yeah... I was doing, like, 80 miles a day, 100 miles a day when I'm out there, like, doing trips and shit.
10:57
And I'm like, "And you guys are in, like, eight times better shape than I am, and you're doing, like, 50?" So that's when I decided, I was gonna bike across Kansas, uh, if I, uh, this year. I told you about that. Yeah.
11:07
I figured if I got Kansas done, I would have a third of the United States.
11:10
'Cause I've been from, like, uh, uh, Iowa to Ohio, and some Colorado- Yeah, because last time you were on the show, we talked about your Castalia to Castalia ride. Yeah, uh-huh. Right. So, yeah.
11:19
And then I'm, I'm like, I'm out there playing shows in Kansas. I'm like, man, if I did this 400 miles of Kansas, I could have, like, a third of the country done. That'd be pretty badass. Right.
11:26
And so I get out there, and, like, 20 miles an hour winds in my face. But I, I planned it like they said, you know? 50 miles a day.
11:32
But it still was way too much at, 'cause, um, it's just you had to be down in the bars the entire time, because...
11:39
And then you couldn't, you couldn't, like, go and ride no-handed, because you're going so slow because of the wind- [laughs]... that you just fall over. Yeah. Like, do I wanna do this for five days? Is this, like...
11:47
And then do the math in your head about the whole thing, it's like, is this, is this my life now? Like, doing math and, like, working like hell? That just seems like a stupid vacation, right? Oh. So I, whatever.
11:56
I kinda learned, uh, from that too, with taking the bike trips. Yeah. I don't want to go any more than 40 or 50 miles. Yeah. Uh-huh. And then actually, ideally, probably closer to 30, 40. Probably 30 is the sweet spot.
12:08
Right. Uh-huh. Because not only do you want to enjoy the travel and your bicycle and everything, you, you'd like to enjoy the destination too. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm like, yeah. And yeah, totally.
12:20
And, and yeah, and I noticed, like, I'm, why am I biking by all these cool bars? Because I don't have time. [laughs] Why did you come out here then, you dumbass? Yeah.
12:27
I mean, this is so you could stare at the w- you know-... whatever An opportunity for shots. I, I, I- Exactly, yeah.
12:34
You know, if you wanna go across, uh, Kansas again, I can point you to where the world's second-largest ball of twine is. Oh, uh-huh. I believe that's in- Yeah, I bet you could.
12:41
I know you're K- I know you, you're a- [laughs] I believe that's in- You're a, a- I think it's called Concordia, Kansas... a voyeur, a Kan- Kansan voyeur or something. Yeah. Yeah, something.
12:48
I, I spent quite a few summers doing trips to Kansas to fly model airplanes in the middle of nowhere. Oh, that's right. I forgot about those airplane things. Yeah, yeah.
12:54
But yeah, so there's just interesting stuff like that. Like, we just did this trip to Michigan, um, to, to find- Wow... sand to ride on, which we did. Wow.
13:01
But there's this thing in the middle of nowhere on the shore of Lake Michigan, and I forget exactly what they call it. Oh, sorry. But it's, like, a gravity power plant.
13:12
So they have this huge reservoir, massive reservoir, and it's 150 feet above the lake, and they just have these pipes that, that drain right down into the turbines, which are right on the lake. And they make a- Wow...
13:24
enough power for, like, a million and a half people. Wow. And one of the spots where you could stop and rest at the top of this hill was one of the old turbine blades from the power plant.
13:33
And it had this nice little plaque and things you could read, and you're on top of the hill, and it's nice and, uh, you know, nice and windy, and you got a beer, and you have a beer, and you know. Uh-huh, yeah.
13:42
And you're not worried about going past that. You wanna check it out, 'cause it's like- Right... that's, that's a cool thing. Oh, yeah, uh-huh, that kinda stuff, you know.
13:49
I, I'm sure on your rides out in the middle of nowhere, you've heard the power lines crackling. One of the, one of the guys on the trip was like, "Is that normal?"
13:56
I'm like, "When it's this humid, yeah, those, those three, you know, 150,000 volt or whatever they are lines, they'll hum and sizzle." Oh, yeah, I've heard them hum. I don't know- Yeah, it's like-...
14:04
if I've heard them crackle, but yeah Especially a little extra corn sweat. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just heard a lot of corn, you know, like, um- What, what sound does corn make? Shh.
14:13
[laughs] You know how, you know how corn be. [laughs] Depends on its temperature. So w- and, and I mean- And it was, it was all curled up.
14:20
You know, when it gets really humid out, the corn, um, 'cause I do a small amount of farming, I work for a guy, the corn curls up because it's trying to conserve the moisture in the air when it doesn't rain too long.
14:30
Mm-hmm. So then you can tell when it's really humid and, and shitty out, is 'cause the corn gets all curly and stuff. It goes shh. When it- And it, the, um- And it opens back up again, it's all like ee- ee. Reh. Yeah.
14:41
Um- You know, it's weird how nature makes noises. We, we don't have it on this side of the lake for some reason, but in Michigan, they have singing sand. And if it's the right- Uh-huh...
14:49
if it's the right consistency- It resonates? It, it hums when you ride over it on your fat bike. It just kinda goes eh. [laughs] For real, I can't make the sound, but it's, it's great. Like cheese curds. Yeah.
15:01
[laughs] Exactly like a squeaky cheese curd- [laughs]... in your mouth, yeah. Very- Spoken like a original Wisconsinite... very curious. Right. Yeah. It all comes back to cheese curds. Right.
15:07
I don't know, I was at, uh, I was at, uh- Cheese curd...
15:10
I, I was at, uh, h- uh, Joseph Huber's show the other day, and somebody had come from Western Wisconsin and brought cheese curds that you can only get out there, and they were so good. Probably Organic Valley.
15:21
Uh, it's something with a C, Carr Valley. C-A-R-R Valley. Oh, yeah. Uh-huh. They were very good. Yeah, they were s- and just that squeaky good cheese. Yeah. Uh- Mm, good stuff. Can't get that. Super fresh.
15:32
So Mike is here to play a show. Actually, he's here to play two shows.
15:35
Uh, I don't know that this'll matter, because it probably won't be up till after he's gone, but- If you have a time machine, go back in time and come to this bar. It's gonna be- Come to the bar tonight at 8:00.
15:43
Otherwise, tomorrow at 11:00 at Uptowner. But what can, if somebody that comes to a Mike McBee show, and I know you've been playing for 25 years on the road, what can somebody expect at a Mike McBee show?
15:53
Uh, is it, every show's exactly the same? No. Look, that's like a, that- that's like a lowball question, man. [laughs] Uh, no, that's what I like, is like I don't want everything to be the same.
16:02
I want it to be different. I wanna make sure that people know, like, um, that the, the show that's going on at that particular time is very specific to where I'm at right then, right?
16:12
Like, make a lot of references about what's going on right now in the news, make references about the location that you're at, talk to the people in the bar.
16:20
It's not a comedy routine where you're like, just go there and you just puke out the same shit, then you go to Peoria and do the same thing. You know, like that kinda thing. Yeah, a little bit of banter.
16:28
Yeah, a little bit of banter. I love that. I mean, that's, I couldn't do this if I couldn't do that. I mean, it's not like, it's not like I, I, I sat around thinking of some formula.
16:35
It's just like I don't think I could be a guy that just played, you know, "Here, you, listen to my art," you know? [laughs] [laughs] You know? And then, like, and that, and that's the show.
16:45
Like, no, I w- and I wanna know what people wanna hear. And sometimes it'll be like, like somebody wanted, somebody wanted a Lady, of course. A lady wanted the song called Lady. Sh- it was named after her, apparently.
16:55
[laughs] You all right? But, uh, by, uh, Little River Band. Oh, not, uh, not the, the Styx one. No, not the Styx one. The, the slightly less cheesy one. Yeah. [laughs] Slightly cheesy. Oh, yeah, just slightly.
17:07
And like, I'm like, "Okay, sure." I started playing it. I'm like, "Damn, I had this on a 45 when I was a kid." I'm like, "Hey, I know the whole thing." [laughs] You know?
17:14
Like, like you didn't think about, like, um, whatever, so, uh, and so you'll never have that kinda, those kinda moments and stuff, you know, if you just stick to a script and stick to a setlist and stuff, which I can see if you have a band and you're all trying to be on the same page about shit, why you would want a setlist, and you would try to, you know, relatively stick to what's coming up next, and so there's not a lot of downtime in between songs.
17:35
But, uh, yeah. Anyway, that's- Yeah... that's, that's my MO, I guess. So. So yeah. Let's, uh, hope we get some folks. I'm pretty sure that there'll be some thirsty people on the route tonight, and we'll- Yeah...
17:47
we'll heckle them into the bar if they- Yeah, I'm excited about it... if they can't get, they can't get the, uh- I had a lot of fun last time I played here, but I had to go, like, s- ah, then yeah, I had to go.
17:55
But this time I don't have to go, so, I mean, when I'm done, so I can hang out and make a real ass out of myself later, so. [laughs] Don't sell yourself short.
18:02
Speaking of getting the people here, I got a bunch of handbills. Oh, cool. Yeah. Uh- Oh, yeah.
18:06
Oh, I sh- I did not, I did- We can pass out along the, to our River West 24 friends I was gonna stick them all over my bike trailer. Oh, there you go. You don't have- Yeah, I've got the- You don't have big ones, do you?
18:18
I don't have any big ones left, or we could steal one, uh, that I have up in the bar here if you need it. Oh. No, that's all right. You leave those ones open. It's fine. I've got, uh, I've got the one for the Uptowner.
18:27
We'll grab those so we can have that for later, too, so. Okay. Yeah. Um- Yeah. Uh, I don't know. Uh, hey, you, you, you had a... Uh, you told a story in the...
18:38
When we were going to lunch about, uh, about the RAGBRAI guy that, uh- Uh, I'll go, I'll go and give you my entire RAGBRAI experience in, like... We got three minutes? Yeah. Okay.
18:48
Kentucky Jim's this little guy from Kentucky. He tells me I need to get back on RAGBRAI.
18:52
So I go on RAGBRAI, and it turns out he crashes his bike probably on hallucinogenics and punctures his lung before I even get there, so he's not around.
18:59
[laughs] My friend drops me off there in Estherville, and she's supposed to go home right after that, you know, and... 'Cause we live, like, three hours from there.
19:07
And she winds up, uh, getting [laughs] team stickers all over her breasts and having relations with a Asian rider guy. And then, um, and then I, I, I go to Casey's Park a lot. I find my friends.
19:18
We're sitting down drinking. My buddy Dylan's got a thing, a Scope that's actually just Rumble Mint with green, uh, dye in it. [laughs] So we drink that at Casey's a lot.
19:26
Now it's, like, 9:00 at night, and I'm like, "Man, I wanna get out of here. I wanna ride."
19:29
So I, like, hop on my bike at, like, 9:00 at night, and I ride, like, to the first, what's supposed to be the first town the next day, and I get there. Sleep behind the post office. My friend Zeb sleeps behind the bank.
19:40
Get up, start riding. My back hurts. Start drinking vodka. Um, get real sick the next day. Get a sag to, like, a, a town. Um, you know, uh, tent breaks. You know, throw up from heat exhaustion.
19:57
Still wake up the next day and ride a bunch more the next day because, uh, because I, I didn't- 'Cause that's- I felt like I couldn't quit, you know? 'Cause that's RAGBRAI. Yeah. 'Cause that's RAGBRAI, yeah.
20:04
Um, my friend Zeb, like, he's keeps talking about how... He, he rides out, right? And these guys, they ride out from Iowa City, and they're almost, um...
20:11
They all have real jobs, and they own real houses, but they identify as homeless people for, like, two weeks, you know? Oh, yeah. It's like bitching about these hot...
20:17
He's gotta cook these hot dogs, and I'm thinking, like, "Man, why you gotta cook hot dogs for?" Like, you're on a bicycle. You don't even- Aren't they already cooked? Yeah. Yeah, you could just eat them.
20:23
But I didn't say anything to him 'cause he's a great guy. [laughs] And then somebody later on the ride was like, "Yeah, man, we saw Zeb come crawling out of this river. He had a little fire going. He's cooking hot dogs."
20:31
[laughs] That sounds about right, you know what I'm saying? And I went to go to a Dollar General, and this is, th- th- this is... A guy comes up to me.
20:39
I go to a Dollar General, and, like, it's, it's full of bikers, right? It's right on the route. And some lady's like, "Honey, do you think they have food here?"
20:46
I'm like, "Who the fuck are you that you've never been to a Dollar General?" D- there's, like, one every five feet. Like- [laughs]... what, what penthouse do you live in, you know?
20:54
Like- You could throw a stick and not hit one. Ex- exactly. Like, in my... Where I live, there's, like, five shitty little towns, and every... As you go down the highway, like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, right?
21:02
You know, it's like- They, like, took over where all the, the mini Walmarts were back in the olden days before they got the super Walmarts. Yeah, uh-huh.
21:09
[laughs] Well, yeah, they had those little neighborhood Walmarts for a while. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, yeah, I mean, they're, they're a blessing and a curse because they, uh...
21:15
'Cause a lot of towns, they're, they've been a godsend, but a lot of towns, they've just wiped out the last two businesses that were left there. Mm-hmm.
21:21
After, yeah, after Walmart strip-mined them, then these guys came in and picked up the, the leavings. Yeah. [laughs] I started writing a song about it 'cause, uh, I used to live in a trailer park, you know?
21:31
It's like, "I no longer live in Trailer Park Central, but I know my way around a Dollar General. Baby, meet me over in health and beauty with a bottle of wine." [laughs] Which you can get at Dollar General, you know?
21:43
They, they got wine. So have, have you, uh, put any songs to, uh, recording vinyl, anything lately? I know you've got some albums and/or albums out there. No, my stuff's on Spotify. That's cool.
21:52
I haven't really been writing anything lately. I've been trying to, like, prepare for the apocalypse 'cause, uh... Well, I don't know. I should... I don't wanna be all dark, but, uh, yeah.
22:02
Just trying to, like, cover my bases, right? I, you know, feel like if the economy takes a left, like, I'm gonna be the first thing to go as a musician, right?
22:07
So I'm like, what can I do now to kind of buffer that, right? So got my... I totally got my license back to drive semi, which is cool. My man card, got my man card back. Got your air- You know?
22:17
Got your air brake certification. Got my air brakes. And now you gotta- That's a, that's a HAZMAT thing. This is HAZMAT, yeah, and this is... And you had to get fingerprinted for that. But this is kinda cool.
22:25
Like, I didn't realize now, you know, there's so many automatic trucks. They didn't exist when I drove semi. Oh, yeah.
22:30
That, like, you have, like, you have to take your test in a stick to get certified to drive a stick, right? Right. And, like, that's all I ever drove, right?
22:39
So I'd went through that, no problems, and I have this extra cool thing that, like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, but do you drive stick? Well, okay, well, then you're not a real trucker," you know? [laughs] Right.
22:47
Be that guy, like, you know, so. Gatekeeper. Do like, uh- [laughs] Can you do power stands in the automatic ones, uh? Yeah. They just suck. I, but, you know, I drive for a farmer that has one, and it's...
22:58
Oh my God, if I had that thing on the Kennedy, I'd be dead by now 'cause they're like... It'll forget. You know how your phone'll screw up, and so you gotta turn it off and turn it back on or take the battery out?
23:07
[laughs] This truck literally, like, like I get... pull out of his driveway, and, and we get up to, like, fourth gear, and then that's as far as it'll go.
23:12
And now I'm doing thir- I'm thinking about those ramps in Chicago that, like, you, there is no merge lane. You just come down to your, in the lane, right? Oh. I'm like, like, "Oh my God, I'd be..." You know?
23:20
'Cause I gotta get out, just like your phone, I gotta get out, unhook the battery, and hook the battery back up again. [laughs] You know, it's the same thing.
23:27
You know, have you tried unplugging your semi and plugging it back in? Yeah, while you're rolling down the road. Did you, did you try a soft reset? [laughs] Yeah, right. [laughs] Uh-huh, exactly.
23:36
So, uh, so yeah, I'm not a big fan of the automatics. Plus you don't get to... The jamming gears is fun and- Right... whatever, that kind of stuff, so. Do the split transaxle. The whole- Yeah, I had one of those.
23:44
The dri- Split shift. Oh, yeah. They all have... I had a 13-speed once for a job. I didn't like that. That's too many gears. I also don't like bikes with, like, three rings on the front.
23:52
I think that's just too many gears. Like, you don't need that many gears. That's a lot of gears. Like, where are we going that we need 25 gears or whatever?
23:58
Well, when, like, eight to nine, eight or nine of them are overlapping anyway. It's like you're in this one and this one, and it's the exact same as the one before. Yeah, uh-huh.
24:04
Yeah, again, I'm sure you know the math on that. Yeah. I could never figure it out. No. But it just, just seems like... And it, and it's just a imperfect system anyway. The derailleur system is just imperfect, right?
24:12
It's never, uh, it's never gonna, like, whatever. It's always gonna screw up eventually, so. Absolutely. So the, the fewer moving parts, the better, right? Yeah, temperamental. Got that. Yeah, very temperamental.
24:23
Yeah, totally. I like your Potosi shirt, by the way. Oh, thank you. Oh. Great brewery. Good brewery. I've been there a few times. I'm a real fan of...
24:30
There's a campground right down the road from there Uh, right on the Mississippi. It's an Army Corps of Engineers, uh, campground. Yeah? Is it at the base of a dam?
24:39
'Cause they seem to put them at the bases of dams a lot. [laughs] They do. Um, but it's- The Corps. I think I know people that have stayed there, yeah... it's a really basic campground. You know- Uh-huh...
24:47
the, the trees are sort of sparse. Um, it's, you know, it's rather organized in a rather military fashion. Well, they got going there. Yeah. Look at that, look at that wacky rig.
24:55
There is one campsite, or a couple of them, that are right on the river. Oh, that's cool. So a couple of times my son and I have gone there, and we camped with our hammocks, like eight feet from the river.
25:04
Oh, that's great. And it was so soothing. The only, the only sounds you, that would come through the night were, you know, of course the lapping water- Uh-huh... and the sounds of the river. Yeah.
25:14
And then there's the occasional freight train right on the Mississippi. No, 'cause I live on the Mississippi and I'm- Right. Yeah, I, I got a new marina now where I'm not 10 feet from the tracks anymore.
25:24
[laughs] Right, yeah. You know? Now it's more like, uh, it's like a 20- Yeah, this is much more pleasant.
25:28
Just like you hear the whole- Oh, man, and you're on the Wisconsin side, too, and like the ones on our side, they're loud, but they, they don't go over like maybe 40 or 50. But the, on your side they go 65.
25:37
Yeah, there's- I mean, if you're, if you're staying there- If you're that close, yeah... the Wisconsin side, they're like 65 miles an hour. That's moving. That's...
25:42
Yeah, and yeah, there's restaurants where the whole restaurant moves, you know, like- Over, over at the Curve Inn there and, uh, where, what town is that one in? Curve Inn. Curve Inn.
25:50
[laughs] It's, it's on the Wisconsin side. Uh, I don't know. It's, uh- Is it like Oostburg or something?
25:55
Like, if you're coming out of, like, Richland Center and heading towards the, uh, the river, it's over that way somewhere. Or if- Cassville maybe.
26:02
No, way north of there, but I don't know the- I gotta show there tomorrow... doesn't matter... after here. Or after Uptown, I gotta play by Cassville. Okay. Bagley. Um- Oh, yeah. So I, so I, I have a, um... Oh, cool.
26:12
Yeah. I have a, um, hammock on the roof of my houseboat, and it's awesome 'cause the barges go by and the, the thing just moves for you. You don't even have to- Perfect... you know.
26:22
[laughs] But I put, I put one of those easy-up canopies up there, you know, up above it and, and like within like a week it was just destroyed. Oh, yeah. Like with the wind and shit, just...
26:31
So I'm gonna try to beef it up. At least I have the frame for one no- you know, I can like use the frame of it to build something a little more sturdy so I can lay up there. That would be cool, yeah.
26:39
But, uh, yeah, I mean that's the best, but- Sort of an, an open air but covered roof kind of an idea? Yeah, 'cause it's so hot there, you know, like, uh, nothing around and the...
26:48
We're farther away from the bluff right now, so the, the sun doesn't go down till after like 6:00 'cause you gotta wait for it to go over the bluff, you know?
26:54
Uh, the last marina we were at, we were a lot closer to the bluff and whatever, so... I bore you guys with stories about houseboating, but- Yeah. Well, it's a- Yeah... it's a unique lifestyle. It's adventure. Yeah. Yeah.
27:06
Uh huh. I don't, I haven't taken it out in months. I, I had a, I crashed it into the dock coming in this year. [laughs] And I've had a lot of, I have a lot of anxiety. My, my kid, my 14-year-old, calls it boat anxiety.
27:15
'Cause we have this thing. Like, we love the boat, and I did all this work on it and it runs great and everything, but every time we take it out there's just something unpredictable just goes fucking anyway. Oh, yeah.
27:24
[laughs] You know? [laughs] And like, and, and so I just, I'm, I'm just attuned to like not, you know, like, uh, so... But no, this August, and this July has been really busy.
27:33
Uh, this August I still got a bunch of shows to play, but we're gonna, we're gonna take that thing out and we're gonna go live on an island for at least a couple of days. Sounds fun.
27:41
It's totally, it's, uh, good enough that we could totally do that. We just haven't... And that's why we bought it, so we could just go, you know, crash on some slough somewhere and- Stock up and check out. Uh huh. Yep.
27:51
Yeah, yeah. I enjoyed doing that, uh, in my, uh, inflatable canoe on, uh, the Wisconsin River. Oh, yeah. Uh huh. Found a sandbar and- Hit a sandbar, yeah... camped in peace for a couple days. Yeah. Uh huh.
28:01
I went down that river for my honeymoon, like from, we went from Baraboo back to Wis- back to Iowa on my honeymoon in a canoe, and it was flooded. And like, yeah, all the sandbars. And there was no sandbars.
28:10
It was like so flooded [laughs] like- Oh, yeah. Sandbars... we just went right over everything. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, but it was still a great trip.
28:16
Uh, um, one of the, one of the high points of that marriage, so, um- Nice. Yeah. All right.
28:22
Well, uh, anything you wanna leave us with before we wrap this up and, uh, you know, do a lap and get ready for the start of this Riverwest 24? Yeah, what am I doing? Um,
28:32
I got, you know, you can go check me out on mikemcabee.com. M-I-K-E M-C-A-B-E-E.com.
28:38
If you wanna see me on TV, you can Google, uh, pop machine in the news, and I'm, should be the first thing that comes up because my local TV station did a story about me and this pop machine I own, and I'm still not really sure why.
28:54
But then it got picked up by a bunch of other affiliates in like Tampa and Denver and stuff, and so people all over the country saw a picture, this, this five-minute story about me and my pop machine.
29:03
[laughs] So we call them soda machines here. Yeah. I know, but the thing- [laughs] But the, the thing is I live in a more southern state, and you can't say s- soda down there- No...
29:10
'cause sometimes it'll mean, you know, or I mean, you know what I'm saying? Like- Yeah. It'll mean something else. So I know growing up here it was a soda, and it was a bubbler, and it was a stop-and-go light, you know?
29:18
And- Yep, yep... and I grew up talking like this. [laughs] And that, eh? Uh huh, this and that. Oh. I say, uh, um- [laughs] Yeah, what do you say? Oh. Oh. Yeah. [laughs] Yeah. So, um, so yeah. We don't have an accent.
29:31
They have an accent. [laughs] Exactly. Um, so, uh, what was I gonna say? Oh, yeah. So I have this pop machine I use the money from to keep the streetlights in our town on. Ah, yes. Uh- Oh, yes...
29:42
Frankville, keep it wet and lit. Keep Frankville wet and lit, yeah. Uh huh. So- I've got the, uh, I got the koozies and the shirt. Oh, that's right. Yeah, uh huh. Yeah.
29:48
So if you're ever in Frankville, uh, you know, like- Yeah. Good stuff... if you wanna see the TV thing. I had my X hat on 'cause from my favorite band, I decided I'd wear that.
29:56
And I was really proud 'cause I never mentioned that I'm a musician once in this TV thing 'cause it seemed like the most douchiest thing you could possibly do. Like, "Did I mention that I have albums out?"
30:05
You know, like with something like that. [laughs] Yeah. Like, "Local resident." [laughs] Exactly. You know, like, it's just like, "Local resident Mike McAbee," kind of thing, you know? So funny. Cool. Yeah.
30:15
Well, thanks for, uh, sitting here out in the beautiful weather and, uh, chitter-chattering for a little bit. No, I love that.
30:20
It's, it's b- been a real privilege, and it's just a real privilege to come over here and play. I never play cities.
30:24
And not only do I play cities, I play a cool city here, and I play the coolest neighborhood in that city. That's huge for me. I love it. Quite possibly on the coolest day in the neighborhood.
30:33
At the coolest bar in the- Yeah, and at the, at the coolest bar. [laughs] Yeah, and that's not even a lie either. I'm not just blowing smoke, man. No. Yeah, 'cause we do a f- Here we do a lot of live music. Uh.
30:44
I do the booking, and it's everything from punk and metal to songwriter country. Yeah, nobody gets kinda where I live with my punk rock approach to kinda the- [laughs]... standard country music, you know?
30:54
I just, I grew up playing country music, and then, uh, you know, I got into punk rock in the '80s and stuff, and like, I just have, I've always had that kinda mix going, and I'm always looking for that vibe from people.
31:03
And like I said, my favorite band is X, or one of my favorite bands, you know? And like- I'll show you my pictures hanging out with John Doe and Billy. Really?
31:11
It was at Summerfest, and they, and a, a huge-ass storm came through, lightning and all that stuff. Uh. They had to land all the speakers and everything.
31:17
And so I happened to be backstage because my buddy manages the stage. And so they had to come back there and hang out while the weather passed. Uh-huh.
31:26
They're just, you know, doing nothing, and I start shooting the shit with [laughs] those guys, and they were very cool. It was awesome. Now- Yeah, I've talked to John Doe before. Yeah.
31:32
Not typical, like, you know, snotty rock people that wanna stay- No... in their room and be all weird and stuff, but- So these- Yeah...
31:39
um, just one more story 'cause it involves X in Milwaukee, is that these people stayed at my house. We're at my house that is a B&B when I'm gone. They're from here, and they stayed at my house.
31:48
And they're like, "Hey, we're checking out your CD collection, and I see you got a lot of X." They were big X fans. I'm like, I'm like, "Oh, man, I saw them in Milwaukee last year."
31:55
I said, "I came over from Iowa to see them." And the guy's like, "Yeah, I was at that show." I'm like, "Yeah." I said, "I had my Hawaiian shirt on.
32:02
I was jumping up and down and singing, and everybody just fucking stood there. Like, is that what people do now?" Like, I was so bummed out. Like, this is supposed to be a punk rock show.
32:10
[laughs] And then I never heard from the guy again. Oh, boy. I think he was like, I think he was like, "Oh, he was that guy." He was... [laughs] You know, like...
32:16
'Cause I was, like, I don't, I don't go to shows much, right? I'm like, oh, it's X, you know? It's like, uh, cool, you know? Like, punk rock show, like I don't go to stuff, right? Right.
32:26
So I come to Milwaukee, I get drunk. I like go to the venue. Like, "Yeah, let's party," and it's a bunch of people that work at Epic in Madison standing around with like $16 beers, you know? Yeah.
32:35
Like, come on, you know? It was- Those Gen Xers are aging. [laughs] Yes, totally. Totally.
32:39
And now, now it's kinda turned around where you get the aging people going to these big shows because they wanna relive the past and the glory and- Oh, yeah. Uh-huh... the good old time.
32:48
Right, with the- But now I'm finding the local shows like here and a couple other, uh, bars like Last Rite, Sabbatic- Yeah... X-Ray Arcade where we're, where we're gonna see Daikaiju on- Monday night... Monday. Yeah.
32:58
Um, with The Primitives. Shout out to Ian. Um- Cool... you f- I'm finding more of the local shows, where it is what you make it about. Oh, yeah. I'm sure. I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah.
33:06
You have people, and like more, you know- And they're not a hundred bucks, and you're not, so you're not going broke. Yeah. You know? Totally, that too, you know?
33:12
Um, and I just, I live, I live in the middle of nowhere, right? And then I, I play music for a living, so rarely get to go to shows, you know? Right. Um, actually Swerves Driver's coming to Chicago.
33:21
I really wanna catch that next month. Sweet. But, uh, um, but yeah, so I, I just, I... Wrong vibe, I guess. I, I was, I felt embarrassed for myself there. [laughs] I think you, you- I saw X.
33:31
He looked at me once or twice. Like, "What?" You being you, bro. Right. [laughs] I know. I'm wearing this bright pink Hawaiian cowboy shirt, you know, and like everybody else is wearing like a black turtleneck.
33:41
[laughs] You know? A bunch of German art students. Exactly. [laughs] Exactly. Yeah. Which is also a kickass band, by the way. Oh, yes. Yeah. Also, yes. I, I still live in Madison, so yeah. Oh, uh-huh.
33:51
Yeah, I, I play some of that for my 14-year-old, and they, they love it, so. It's like Steve Jobs called. He wants his costume back. Yes. Right, exactly. I- A little Bauhaus for everybody. Right on. Uh, so. All right.
34:01
Well, let's go do a lap, or at least ride around and stuff, and, uh- How's it... Yeah. Well, like if you- Get everybody started... if you lose me, don't worry, man. I'm gonna go really slow.
34:07
Like, you gotta- I'm real slow. I, I'm good with slow. Okay. That's cool. But, uh, yeah, we're not very far away from the start, so we can just do some neighborhood- We can put some heavy stuff on your bike, so yeah.
34:16
Yeah. [laughs] All right. Well, thanks, Mike. Uh, we will obviously be seeing you at the shows, and I hope, uh, next time you come to town, we'll, we'll have another chitter chatter.
34:25
No, I really appreciate the opportunity, Greg. Right on. Yeah. Thanks, Mike. James. Thanks, Greg. James. Thanks for, uh- See you guys... thanks for sitting in. [laughs] Cool. Peace. Oh, boy. Oh, geez. Oh, gosh.
34:39
Boy, this chair sucks you right in there, doesn't it? Yeah, it do.
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