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Full Spectrum Cycling
Chewey’s Salon Chair #25 – Shenanigans on Bikes, RAGBRAI 2023 Route, Upcoming Ride Plans
Feb 10, 2023
Chewey’s Salon Chair #25 – Shenanigans on Bikes, RAGBRAI 2023 Route, Upcoming Ride Plans
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Transcript
0:00
Smartass.
0:02
[rock music] [laughs] It's Slowey's Chant.
0:22
[laughs] I'm just suffocating over here- [laughs]... 'cause I'm laughing so hard, trying not to laugh directly into the mic. [clears throat] Slowey's, uh, who am I? Chewy's Salon Chair number 25.
0:34
Uh, it's Kayla and Jew- you're, you're in the shop today, and we just did 20 minutes of podcasting without recording. That's- Well, at least it was only 20 minutes.
0:43
I was like- We've done, we've done hours before and not recorded. [laughs] God.
0:47
And it was, and it w- it was the best because you guys missed Kayla banging her head into, into or hitting her face with the, the microphone.
0:55
It's been so long since we've done a podcast that she doesn't even know how to use a microphone anymore. [laughs] God. [laughs] Could've left that part out, but it's fine. I'm s- oh, no. It was hilarious.
1:05
[laughs] You know, sometimes we should, like, videotape ourselves while we're doing this. Yeah, that's gonna be the next thing that's gonna have to happen. [laughs] It's, I'm not looking forward to that.
1:14
It's, uh, um, so- We're gonna put it on OnlyFans. [laughs] Jeez. It'd be OnlyFan, w- as in one. [laughs] Goddamn. Um, let's, uh, this is podcast number 25.
1:30
24 was done in November. Um- It doesn't feel like that long... since, since then we've done the Santa Rampage. We did a New Year's, uh, you guys did a New Year's Day ride. Um,
1:41
um, like we were talking before we b- [laughs] before we just started to podcast, we were talking that to get Brad and I and you together since, pretty much since the end of Santa Rampage, so the s- after the first week in December has been next to impossible.
1:56
Um, with Brad and our coaching and our, and snowstorms and our superintendent that sees a snowflake and cries wolf and we all have to shut the whole goddamn city down every time, um, it's been, it's been really hard to do.
2:10
And again, like I told you before, um, if I'm in town with a game, Brad's out of town with a game.
2:15
So to do a, a podcast on game night doesn't work, and then you have, you're like the social butterfly, so you're always gone doing something. So it's, it's been rough.
2:23
So today was la- uh, w- uh, last night we decided that the three of us would meet at a bar and we're, at the club, and we were gonna do a podcast today, and we had plans to start at about, what, 1:30, 2:00.
2:37
Then Brad had a game at 3:00, and then he was out 'cause he has a pizza party. And then you and I him hawed around until we decided, fuck it, we just have to do one. Yeah. So we're doing it.
2:45
We're doing our 25th podcast, and Greg's, Greg and, uh, the crew in Milwaukee should finally be happy with us maybe. [laughs] Maybe not after they hear this, but- They're never, they're never gonna be happy.
2:54
[laughs] This, they're gonna like this, they're gonna like this one 'cause there's actually information in this one. Yeah. Like dates and rides. It's gonna be about bicycling.
3:02
And now that we had 20 minutes to practice- Yeah... we might get it in the right order this time. [laughs] Maybe. Probably not. All right. But we'll try. So let's do it this way.
3:09
Um, yeah, let's just start with the first one. Let's do, should we do it in order? Do you wanna go- Santa Rampage, New Year's Day ride. Yep. Okay. So we'll start Santa Rampage as first.
3:18
We'll do what I actually wrote down. [laughs] Shh, don't say that too loud 'cause if Brad ever listens to this and he finds out that we had a plan, he's gonna go ape shit on us. He's normally our planner.
3:29
Yeah, no, but that b- That's what we have him for... but it, but I never do. [laughs] So, so the fact that you and I did is gonna just kill him. Course the, this is- I'm back-up Bradley, okay?
3:38
[laughs] That's what I'm doing here. He's not here, so I'm just trying to do this very important role. He's stuffing his face with pizza about right now,
3:46
or he's o- or, or he's done stuffing his face with p- with pizza and he's laying on the couch watching a hockey game probably. [laughs] Knowing him. We might as well just dial in then. I know.
3:56
I thought about asking him to, but it's, he just, all you would have to do is, I'll just have to give him his microphone up at his house and he, he can remote in. He'll just get- Oh, boy.
4:04
Maybe he'll never get off his couch. Maybe. So, uh, before we get started, um, I got a picture that I'll post of Kayla is in the new salon chair that- Sparkly... that, uh, uh, this beautiful sparkly green one that works.
4:17
It's kinda, it's got kind of a cool hood on it, and when you drop the shield down it turns on and off. It's rather... The, I went to Austin, Minnesota and bought this for $20. She had five. [laughs] And- Oh,
4:31
did she used to have a salon? Yes, right in her house. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. And, and then, and the other three are ups- [laughs] here's the best part.
4:38
So first of all, I bought two 'cause they're $20 for God's sake, you know? And everybody else always goes, "You want one of these?" They go, they go, "Well, I don't know." And it's like, what's there to think about?
4:47
It's 20 fucking dollars. Why would you not want this? When you see the picture you go, "Oh, I need one of those." I- 'Cause you have a purpose for them.
4:55
Other people are like, "What the hell am I gonna do with a salon chair?" [laughs] Like, poor, poor Spinner. I just, it was his Christmas present for God's sake. [laughs] I buy- Oh, that's hilarious. [laughs] Yeah.
5:04
So we, uh, we decided to surprise Spinner.
5:07
Uh, we got O'Gara to open his garage up and we snuck in there, or give me the code so I could get in, and we, we high-haul the chair down there and we put it in his garage, and Shannon decorated it all pretty with bows and ribbon.
5:18
And, uh, [laughs] and let's say he was less than impressed. I, I found it very entertaining.
5:23
Yeah, like we were saying, um, out of the, out of the five people that knew about it, only four of them thought it was funny as hell and one of them didn't like it at all, [laughs] and that was Spinner.
5:32
[laughs] I think he thought it was funny. He was just like, "Well, I just don't know where I'm gonna put it." [laughs] Well, he was- And I'm like- He was in the-... you can put it anywhere...
5:40
he was in the, that's what I said. It, it's not a matter of where would you put it. You have it. Yep. You know, if nothing else, bring it down to the house and we'll... I, I still say there's three more, you know.
5:49
Do you need one? [laughs] No. Unless I'm storing it here. Oh. [laughs] Does it look like there's room for it here? God, no. More room than my place. You, look, you have a p- you have a porch. Outside?
6:04
Well, you'd have to have it covered, 'cause it's like- It's electrical Well, it is, but it's also, like, really cool, so you have to keep, take care of it. Yeah.
6:13
Then, so the thought is then you could bring it down to Decorah with you, and we'll do it, we'll do happy hour in our driveway [laughs] in salon chairs. [laughs] I definitely am gonna need that truck. [laughs] Okay.
6:28
I'll get you this lawn chair, then when you get the truck, I'll, you can come and get it. Okay, perfect. Does that work? Yeah. You'll never come and get it, will you? Nope. [laughs] All right.
6:38
So anyway, we got the new salon chair. We got a couple of them. Anybody needs this salon chair for 20 bucks, give me a holler.
6:43
[laughs] I know a little old lady that's got three more, and I gotta go up to the attic and get it. I gotta get that, I gotta drag those out of an attic. Oh, boy...
6:49
in the second story of a house that was probably built in the early 1900s. So that's gonna be... And the house is packed with stuff.
6:57
Her son's a quadriplegic, so he's got all of his, his, his, um, like, his, his life is in front of him on, on monitors and screens and TVs and stuff. And so- Oh, gotcha...
7:06
trying to weasel by that stuff without knocking shit over is not gonna be easy for me, so. And you just randomly stumbled upon this thing? It came up on Facebook. [laughs] I'm like- Yeah...
7:15
[gasps] "I gotta have one of these." And then it was, like, 20 bucks, and everybody's just like, "What are you gonna do with it?" Don't care, it's only $20. [laughs] And then that was, like, when I bought it for Spinner.
7:22
Everybody's like, "What if he doesn't want it?" What do I care? I've spent $20 on dumber shit. [laughs] This is true. [laughs] We've all been there. [laughs] So I bought it for him.
7:31
Look, I went and paid $8 for this dentist chair. I mean, life is- That's a dental chair? Yeah. Life is good. [laughs] Just finding the weirdest eclectic shit. I'm not as bad as my kid, but I'm close.
7:42
He's- Well, every time I come in here, there's, like, new shit in the shop. There's Young Gravy's bicycle apparently. Yeah. Yeah, so yeah, so I have friends that run a business in Rochester called Junk Be Gone.
7:53
And, um, they get bikes and sometimes they recycle them and sometimes they're not worth the hassle. But [clears throat] we've gotten a couple nice tandems. Um, we got a nice Klein road bike, one year.
8:03
A lot of, like, middle-of-the-road stuff that with just a little bit of work we can get somebody on a bicycle for 100 bucks. We make, like, 15, 20 bucks. We don't give a shit.
8:10
It's more like recycling the bikes and getting them back out there and people using them, right? By the time you put a...
8:14
By the time you get a bike and you put a couple tires and tubes on it, you know, you got 50, 60 bucks stuck into it, and, and you sell it for 100. So you don't really make much money off of it.
8:22
You know, your labor is pretty much nothing. But it's, it's just nice. They're the kind of people that hate throwing stuff away. Like, how you get... You're, you're as big a hoarders as the rest of us.
8:31
[laughs] I, they, the buildings they kept moving into kept getting bigger and bigger. And finally I think they got to the point where they realized that they gotta quit doing that, 'cause they're pretty well open.
8:39
They're... Well, you know why it's open? They're, they, there's open room in their shed now. Their kid, they [laughs] one of the houses they cleaned out had a batting and pitching machine and the cage for it.
8:49
So they set that up in there so the kids can practice baseball in the winter. [laughs] That's super cool. It's really cool, but at the same time, like, get rid of the clutter. [laughs] Yeah, that's true.
8:57
So, so anyway, um, yeah, so we have, uh... Oh, get a picture of that. I've got Young Gravy's bike here.
9:03
They went over to his mother's house and she was cleaning out and that bike happened to be sitting there, so they're going to, uh, I'm gonna check it, go over it, check it over.
9:11
Not do a lot to it, just make sure everything is working and clean it up a little bit.
9:14
And they're gonna get him to autograph it and they're gonna, they're gonna donate it and somebody can auction it off for Christmas next year. Yeah. That's gonna be cool, yeah.
9:21
In reference for people that don't know Young Gravy, he grew up in Rochester, now he's, like, a famous rapper. Yep, went to Mayo High School. Yep. Yep.
9:27
I love his music 'cause it's extra fucking raunchy and it's hilarious to play it out on the bike trails and just- [laughs]... the looks I get. Like, you have to listen to some of his songs. Which, what- They're bad.
9:36
Like, how many bitches can he fit in a Tesla? Like... [laughs] I haven't heard, which one is that? I haven't heard that one. Uh- Is that a song or is that just part of a song? It's, like, a phrase in one of his songs.
9:45
'Cause the only one I've really listened to is Mr. Clean. I, that's probably one of my favorites. Well, now is that the one that made him famous you think?
9:51
Um, I don't know which one really, like, got his big- I, you know, I, I, I barely remember him kinda doing stuff around Rochester before he left or, or maybe he'd come back and did it and I just didn't, didn't know who he was at the time.
10:02
But I've only listened to, like, three songs and they're all, they're all funny as shit. Yeah, there's no getting around it.
10:06
It's, like, and they're almost like, he's almost like the rapping version of Weird Al Yankovic if you ask me. Yeah. You know, so it's pretty good stuff. But yeah.
10:13
So anyway, we'll post a picture of that, um, in case anybody wants to buy a piece of something. [laughs] Um, okay, so then next thing that comes up is Santa Rampage.
10:24
Yep, so- So this, this one was, this is how long ago it's been since we've done a podcast. That was the first week in December. Cold, that was probably the coldest one we've had. I didn't think it was too bad.
10:33
No, it was actually decent. It was, like, nine? I mean, I was barely wearing anything, so. [laughs] You're used to that though. [laughs] It's true. [laughs] But it was, it was decent. We had good turnout.
10:44
Um, probably off and on 25 people I'm guessing. The other thing is, is we filled that trailer, we filled a pickup bed of toys, so that was awesome. That really, that really hit well with everybody.
10:55
Um- And that still goes towards, uh, Toys for Tots, right? Yes. Okay. Yep, yep, yep. We still donate to that and they, they really appreciate it.
11:00
And they'll just the fact that we dress up like Santas and ride our bikes around. Um, the one in Decorah, uh, Decorah's got to do something different.
11:08
Like, I think D- Decorah needs to do a pub crawl instead of a bike ride. Well, that's basically what it is.
11:14
Well, true, but I mean just everybody meet at someplace, you, like, meet at Dixie's and then just walk to the Haymarket and hit spots along the way as a group. Yeah. It'd be more,
11:24
it'd be more friendly to the people in the area. 'Cause with a bike you just kinda blow by everybody and then you're there. You know? It's, uh, it's about a mile and a half ride maybe. Yeah. Back and forth.
11:33
Even if you go, even, like, the one year that we tried to do it and make it a ride, we went from one end to the other and back to the other and to a different bar and then back, you know, just kinda went back and forth.
11:41
We maybe got five miles in, so it's- I don't even know if we got five miles in. I could- Probably not... I could- I don't know. Yeah. Yeah.
11:49
So anyway, I, it, it's, there's gonna have to change, but it, but it's, it's a thought that comes to mind. Well, this year the announcement for the actual date and time didn't go out until literally the night before.
11:58
Well, that's true. So we didn't know- Yeah... it was actually gonna happen, so then Decorah folks came up here to do the Rochester one, which is fine.
12:04
I do both 'cause, I mean, bikes and shenanigans, I'm gonna do them both, so. And I, and I would normally do it, but it would be, again I think- Star and hockey... yep, we have a game. Yeah. Yeah.
12:14
So, um, we did that, and then you guys did New Year's Day ride. Yeah. I, uh- That was awesome... I did not do a d- New Year's Day ride this year. You- it was good? Yeah.
12:24
I mean, this was just my second one doing that ride, but we had a really good turnout. There was at least a dozen, maybe 14 people. Nice. So, um, yeah.
12:33
And like, I never- The ride goes out to Bluffton and back, so the, the total distance is a little over 25 miles I think. That sounds right. I think it's like 12 and a half each way, if I remember right. Yeah.
12:43
Um, last year the river was frozen over, so you guys were, I don't know, wrestling on the ice- [laughs]... and doing normal weird shit that you guys do, but [laughs] - It was fun...
12:54
kicking boxes around and beating up Spinner on the ice. Um, this year that was not available 'cause it was so warm.
13:01
Like, I, I thought it was gonna be really cold, and so I was wearing all these layers, and I had to stop, like, how many times just to like shed layers.
13:09
And, um, the funny part is everybody thought I was wearing an e-bike. [laughs] I thought that was entertaining. Did you have your Fat Boy? Yeah. Why would they think it was an e-bike? Oh, that does have a big downtube.
13:20
Or were you just riding that fast? I was just riding that fast- [laughs]... and they were like, "There's no way. Like, she's so fast."
13:26
'Cause I showed up, like, a half hour late, and so I was trying to catch them, and I missed the turn that they apparently were sitting at, and they were yelling at me to stop, but I couldn't hear them 'cause I'm always jamming out to my music.
13:37
Yeah, right. And I was flying 'cause I'm like, oh, they're probably already there. So, yep. Okay. There was a couple roadies. Um- Well, there could've been this year, right? Yeah. Was there much snow?
13:49
There, there was snow, so it, it was kinda challenging 'cause, like, it was icy in some spots and snowy, but then it was also, like, m- mush because it was thawing. Oh, yeah. And so I don't...
14:03
I'm not worried about, like, going down hills and crashing, but a lot of people are kinda worried about that 'cause you could hit a slick spot pretty easily. On those down hills, yeah. Yeah.
14:10
Those are, if you're not used to... I mean- But you hit speed. I got it, uh, I topped out at, like, over 50 miles per hour on one of the hills. [laughs] Oh, I can believe it. I can believe it. I mean, th- they're, um...
14:19
what is it? Wagon Wheel? Stagecoach, Stagecoach, is it the one? I don't remember the names of them. They all drop down to the river though. Oh. And those are like, you can... I don't know.
14:28
I'm gonna guess they're, what, two, three miles to the top? Um, I don't know the total- Maybe not that far.
14:33
Maybe it just feels like that to me riding a single speed, but- There is, on the way back- But they're fa- I mean, yeah... through Bluffton, there are some long hills.
14:38
There's some, I mean, there's some big climbs and it's, you can, yeah, you can get up speed and, and, and if you're not used to riding gravel at speed, especially going up and down a hill, and you don't know the gravel- Mm-hmm...
14:47
it's, it can be kinda nerve-wracking. Yeah. It's ki- I don't care about the downhill. It's kinda like the only gravel I like to ride is around there. I don't like, I don't like doing...
14:57
And this is no offense against any of these rides, but I don't like doing, like... I got tired of the Monzo after two rides, you know? We did, um, uh, Filthy 50 like
15:07
four or five times, and then it's like, it's the same route. It's, it's some of the same hills as, as the old Monzo used to be. I know it's something out of Spring Valley, but, um- Oh, the Spring Valley 100- Yeah...
15:19
it is now. It's, it, it's- I did that last year. I was rather impressed with the setup. I mean, it's, first off, it's a free race. Mm-hmm.
15:26
So you just have to register and show up, and then they still provide you with food and everything, so- Oh, yeah... and they still time you, and- The town loves it... yeah. Yeah.
15:34
I mean, I'm, I'm really glad they kept it up to be honest with you, because it's... Oh, how many people do you think there are? 1,000? Um, well this last year- Maybe there's many...
15:42
there wasn't a lot 'cause it was really cold actually. Yeah, and that's the, that's the problem of it 'cause it's- And it was kind of like dri- I remember it being drizzly at one point. I think the last- Yeah...
15:51
I think the last year I did it was one of those years that it was so, that it was... We took off, and I think the temperature dropped at least 20 degrees. It was below 40, and it was everything...
16:01
That was when people's bikes were seizing up with the mud, with the, with the, with the- Yeah... with the gravel, you know. Uh, Spinner's frame cracked on his, on his, uh, his, in his, on his Pugsley.
16:13
And they c- when it broke, and then they said, "Cut it up and we'll just send him a new one," and we s- we cut it up, and you should've seen how much gravel had, you know, you know, turned into m- Yeah...
16:23
mud and got ins- inside the frame to the bottom bracket and stuff, and had caked on so hard it was, you c- you couldn't get it off your paint it was that bad. Oof, yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's...
16:34
Well, that's why you, you gotta hurry up and wash your bike from- Well, that's, yeah, that's why I haven't really been doing a lot of fat biking 'cause it was so cold I couldn't wash my bike outside like I normally would, so then I just finally gave in.
16:45
'Cause I wish that somewhere in Rochester one of the bike shops would do, like, a bike wash station. We were talking about that earlier, and I feel like that's a really missed opportunity.
16:54
Like, all the different trails that we've been on and they have bike wash stations, but nowhere in Rochester has that. Um- And there isn't, there's only two self-wash, uh, car washes in Rochester.
17:02
That's where you, that's where you were the other day? So I went to the one by, is it Cook's Park over off of- Oh, yeah, yeah... by Kenny Creek over there. Yep. And Abe's Coffee. Yeah. Yep, okay.
17:11
That's the one I went to. Um- I, I would've n- I never even thought about using it. When I saw that you was j- you were in there, I was like, "Well, that makes perfect sense."
17:17
Of course, I can take- It was still, um, frustrating because every one of the settings had, like, their kind of, like, chemical wash coming out of it. Sure.
17:25
And so, like, I just had to, like, hand wipe it down later 'cause I couldn't get just plain water to come out. [laughs] Oh, yeah. And I didn't really want that on my bike.
17:33
I, I have to admit, I, I can take mine to the Zamboni room, clean it back there. Oh, well, now that I have a hookup- Okay, if I-... I'm sure to let you know... yes, let me know. [laughs] Come and use it, yeah.
17:42
[laughs] 'Cause- It was just caked on from the New Year's Day ride. I have some great pictures of just- And you just, and you just washed it? Yeah. Eek. Yeah.
17:51
That's- It, it took probably at least an hour to [laughs] get the mud off. And I bought, like, all kinds of, like, bike cleaning supplies 'cause I knew it was gonna be tough to get cleaned off. Oh, but yeah.
18:01
Yeah, I'm sure it is, 'cause that gravel's tough.
18:02
I remember, um, I don't remember if it was Dek or somebody else that told me that when they started doing the Trans Iowa, the gravel road races, and they were always talking about how horrible
18:13
The gravel was on the western part of the state compared to the eastern part of the state. It was a different type of gravel, and it w- it got so soupy and it just destroyed your bike.
18:21
Like, you know, i- if it's set up on there, your crank arms wouldn't even turn it was so hard. It just turned into cement. Yeah. So it's... Yeah. But, so- Um [clears throat]... that was fun though. Yeah.
18:32
No- nobody died, everybody had a good time. Yeah, nobody crashed. Yeah. Everybody had a lot of fun. There was a fair amount of people that actually finished, so that's cool.
18:39
'Cause last year was literally me, you, Spinner, and Noguera that finished. Oh, that's right, everybody else jumped in cars and- Yeah... and the trucks, didn't they? Yeah.
18:45
There was still a fair amount that, like, they dipped out once we got to Bluffton. I've never been to the Bluffton Campground Bar when it was that packed. Well, there's- It was crazy... I hear there's new owners. Yep.
18:56
And they said they're doing... They did... They had a band playing or a guy playing. Yeah, there was a musician there. Yeah, yeah. I forget his name. He was good. Yeah. That's what I heard.
19:02
I don't, I don't remember his name either, but yeah. So that's through, we made it through holidays without anything, and then it's... We've had decent weather. Um,
19:12
I've kind of started riding my fat bike back to s- to the rink and stuff a little bit now. It's still so hard for me with my pos- new position on the team. I don't really get to...
19:21
I literally go to the rink at 2:00 every afternoon and get home about 7:00. Gross. That's on, that's on non-game days. And then on game days it's like- Yeah... 11:45 you said? Yeah.
19:32
You know, and then, and it's, and it's, and it's still go to the rink at 2:00 to get the sharpener and the, and the ga- and the travel box ready to go if we need to use that and...
19:40
And then you're running tape when you get home, too. Yep. I had to get home and do that last night. It got... It went really fast last night. So, um, yeah, so much for retirement. [laughs] Yeah. [laughs] Well, yeah.
19:48
I was just talking to my mailman. He goes, he goes, "How long you been retired?" I said, "Eh, like almost a year and a half, almost two years now." I said, "It'll be two years in August." It's really been that long?
19:57
It'll be two years in August. Wow. And I've never been so goddamn busy in my life. [laughs] It's ridiculous. I mean, it's not... And I can't even, I can't even blame it on the rest of the world.
20:06
I can't say that all you guys keep coming or you ain't got anything going, I go do it. I'd, I've taken on too much myself. Yeah. Like, I honest- You're easily- I honest to God, in my pea brain I thought that...
20:18
And this is [laughs] kind of what Sven thought I was gonna be doing for Full Spectrum Cycling, too, was I was gonna jump in my truck and a couple bicycles and my Scamp trailer, and I was gonna drive around and I was gonna do the podcast for those guys.
20:30
I've got, like, five days I could do that or do it in the summer, 'cause otherwise the summer's full. You know, and part of it's self-inflicted.
20:37
We decided that to make our hockey program better, that we're gonna start running summer camps. So there's two months out of the summer shot, which in Minnesota, that's three quarters of your summer, you know?
20:47
So that's, that doesn't help matters any. But, um, um, yeah, so I, I, I'm going to carve out time to do that this year. I, I don't know how I'm gonna do it, or where I'm gonna go, or what I'm gonna do.
21:01
I probably won't even tell anybody. I'm just gonna pack shit up and go. And then maybe I'll, I'll Snap you when I get there, and then if you wanna come and find me, that'll be fine. [laughs] Well, I already have...
21:09
Like, I'm having to actually watch my PTO this year. Normally, like previous years, I'm like, "Can we please do something?" 'Cause I have just PTO burning a hole in my pocket.
21:17
But, um, this year with the bikes and barge trip for Lily, one of the team members on Rotor, um, for her 50th, we're going out to Europe and we're gonna do a bike and barge trip in August.
21:30
Um, and that's 14 days worth, so- Nice... that's already a big chunk. And then- Is that the same one, are you gonna do the same one that was a big hit? Oh, Jason Herald? Yes.
21:39
This is a different one, 'cause I think he did Holland. Um- Well, it could be, I don't know... Jake also did Holland. Jake on Rotor did H- uh, Holland trip, too. Okay.
21:48
Um, which was originally what Brett and I kinda wanted to do. And I mean, that's still something that we can do. Um- Sure... but she had picked, um, through some sort of traveling agency this...
21:58
Is it, uh, D-A-U-B-E, Daube? Oh, I don't know. Maybe. I don't remember. Um, but it kinda goes into, like, Germany and that area. Jesus. [laughs] There we go. Now you got it working again. The attack of the mic.
22:13
You gotta warn me first. [laughs] You're not used to throwing objects flying at your face without being announced? [laughs] Well, it's been a hot minute. [laughs] Um- Now I'm all flustered. What were we talking about?
22:29
Usually, usually it s- [laughs] takes a little. Yeah, just a little bit. Um- So- So yeah, I still wanna do a lot of trips. I mean, that's my jam... what else, what else are you thinking about doing?
22:40
So one thing that- Mm... you know, I don't know if you get... Well, you're gonna do Fat Bike Birkie. Well, okay, going back. Supposedly. This weekend, like this is Sunday, so it's over with now, but we did, uh, um,
22:52
Fat Bike World Championship was in New Richmond, Wisconsin. Fat Bike Worlds, yeah. Or Worlds, yeah, yeah. That was in New Richmond. Mm-hmm. So that was, that was this weekend right now, so this is...
23:00
I don't even what the date is. 19th? 18th? No, it's worse than that. [laughs] 29th. [laughs] Yeah, there we go. If you tell me- Shoot, time is irrelevant these days. [laughs] Yeah, no kidding. Though- Yes...
23:10
what week was it the worst? There was one week where we had a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday game, and I had from the afternoon on Monday I had no idea what day it was. Like, 'cause normally we have games on Tuesdays, right?
23:21
Yeah. So we start with the game on Monday, and then our second game is the next day. So I'm thinking, "Tomorrow's Friday." You know? [laughs] That we play Tues- Oh, you're confused. Yeah, it was- [laughs]...
23:29
it was horrible. Yeah. Especially in the winter, like, we've been so busy with our- Well, it's kinda nice 'cause winter is really flying by this year. Yeah. At least I think it is, yeah. I agree.
23:39
Um, so okay, so you are- So it's Fat Bike Worlds. Yep. And then coming up, um- [clears throat]... like I know about the Des Moines Burr Ride. Um, that's- You get-... kind of a fat bike- And you can't make that?
23:50
Um, well, the Fireman's Gala is this weekend, too. Oh, that's right. Yeah. And I do really like going to support that, so I'll probably go to that. Okay. Um, and then the Bush League Curling event, that's in Lansing.
24:01
Oh, I, I, I- So that's pretty cool... I heard that's full. It's full, but you can still go watch it. Oh, sure. Yeah. 'Cause I think, what did Spinner say? They bumped it up to 150 participants? Yeah, that sounds right.
24:10
Yeah, and it filled up really fast. Yeah. It filled up as fast as it did the year before. Yep. Um- And then the Swirly is maybe gonna be February 18th- Yep... in Rochester. Yep. That's with the T&R Crew. Yep.
24:20
Those are, those are fun. They're ca- Yeah... nice casual ride out to Pine Island and back. It's, uh...
24:24
Well, for me it, it can be if we, if we start at my house and then ride out, and if we come back around Cascade Lake and back to my house, it's 50 miles Do they kinda do like a potluck-type style?
24:35
Or is it more like- No... just going out to Pine Island and riding? Well, I, well, I, I haven't done... Let's see.
24:39
The last time- 'Cause we did do a potluck ride, that was like after Thanksgiving But that's always the Thanksgiving ride, yeah. Yeah. At least that's all it is now. Mm-hmm.
24:47
That used to be, that used to be meals at each house. That's, yeah- E-... that's what we did. It was so much fun. It was brutally cold, though. Yeah, we did...
24:55
Yeah, I think the last one I did w- when it started at, uh, Becca's house, uh, for pancakes. I don't think you were on that one. Mm. It's about a couple years ago I did that one. Yeah.
25:05
'Cause that was- I've done, like, every other. Like, I've only done a couple of them.
25:08
Like, we, we, we got to the point where the G&R group would like, like we, let's start at Moffat's house, okay, and then I would, like, smoke like four dozen wings, and we'd eat, and then we'd ride someplace else.
25:17
[laughs] And they were just basically riding around eating is all they were. Nice. Yeah, it was fun. Um, are you, uh... So that's going on. That's just, that's not really a posted event.
25:26
That's just something that's kinda fun to do here in the Rochester area, but it's still fun to do. Um, and that rides a lot of snowmobile trails if they're, if they're decent.
25:34
I'll always try to ride on the, on the, on the Douglas bike trail as much as we can. Yeah. Or take some gravel, too. It's hard to say in February. Yeah. 'Cause like you said, we kinda get through that cold snap, and so.
25:44
Yeah, I'm hoping that this, this one that we're on now doesn't last long. Yeah. Um, and then- And then Grumpy Old Man, Men Festival in Wabasha, um, Rotor crew might be doing some sort of shenanigans out there.
25:57
That's the weekend of February 25th. And then the Sweaty Yeti, which I've been really wanting to do, but they haven't really done a real ride in like three years. Right. So this is their first kind of coming back to.
26:10
Um, so I don't... Are you going to the Sweaty Yeti? It, that's another one of those things that depends on how we do in hockey. Yeah, 'cause it's, uh, March 4th.
26:18
And I, and I think we have our first, our second round of playoff games that day, so I won't be going. Okay. A lot of, a lot of times, always it'll be if we get beat out on Thursday before that, then I just show up.
26:29
And that's another one of those that can be like that 'cause the last couple I've been to, I remember there was one that Luns slept by the campfire 'cause it was like in the 50s. There was hardly any snow left.
26:39
And I think the, the last one before pandemic was kind of the same way. Like, they had to reroute the route because the sun was beating down so hard they lost crap loads of snow, and they didn't wanna wreck the trails.
26:49
Oh. So. Well, even the Huge Ass series, I've been wanting to do that 'cause Spinner told me about... That's, like, on the Wisconsin side. Right, yeah. Um, and they've had to cancel a couple of theirs just 'cause- I-...
26:58
the snow has not been great... those guys talked about it, Milwaukee talked about it. I'm not even sure it's, it's running anymore this year. Huge Ass? It is running. Is it still running? Yeah. Okay.
27:06
But they had to cancel, like, the first two, first one or maybe two of them and rescheduled them. But it's still going on 'cause I follow them on Facebook. Okay. Yeah. It looks super fun. Well, I, I would bet they are.
27:19
Like, I want to make that up. I mean, any of the, any of the... Maybe I've done a couple of them before we ever called the series. Maybe, I don't remember. I've done, I raced one with Luns and, and Greg.
27:28
We were on a team of fat, on fat bikes one time. 'Cause it's not your typical, like, fat bike race where you just go on a, a trail route. Like, they do, like, hammer slogging in between- Oh...
27:38
and, like, other activities. No, no. Oh, that's cool. And they do, like, um, they do like a... 'Cause it's a series, they do, like, if you show up in certain costume themes for their races, then you get bonus points.
27:48
Oh, cool. And then at the end, like, they do a, a, a run-through of, like, whoever had the most points, and they get different placings- That's cool... and awards. Yeah. Then that would be... Yeah, I'd...
27:58
But I, that's, I haven't done anything like that against hockey seas- Oh, well, um, are you going to do Fat Bike Birkie? Is that the next one then? Um, yeah, I'd like to do that. That was where we- [laughs]...
28:09
did our, my favorite podcast, um, the Shit Show- Oh, God... podcast. The one with, one where Luns decided he was gonna do podcasting? Or the one before that? Uh, yeah, where I was translating. [laughs] Yes.
28:19
And then I still listen to that podcast, and it worries me that I understood so much of what he was saying at that point. You understood everything he was saying. Yeah.
28:26
And I'm like, "Why can't you guys understand what he's saying?" And now I listen to it, I'm like, "How did I understand [laughs] what you were saying?"
28:32
[laughs] And, and I, and I'll be in the same boat with that one, too. Um, I'll know day of if I can go 'cause I think, I think last year
28:42
I called Spinner the night before, drove down to Decorah, and jumped in the car and rode with him. Yep.
28:47
Yeah, because I didn't know if you guys were for sure going, and the Rask guys had already invited me to stay with them, but then I ended up- Oh... staying with you guys anyways. [laughs] Yeah, no.
28:54
Well, there's- Well, it was kinda halfsies. I mean, it was like, it was like, it was pretty simple. It was, it was the Birkie course, sawmill, and the Airbnb that Seely Dave owns. That, that was, we were no place else.
29:06
Yep. I mean, we went to Seely, we went, we spent, I'll bet we spent a half of our time at the Seely sawmill. Oh, yeah. We put a lot of money [laughs] into that.
29:16
Yeah, they're, they, they're gonna add a wing just for us after that deal. They should. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I, again, I'll, I'll try to make that one. I'm gonna sneak onto that son of a bitch this year, though.
29:24
I'm not, I'm still not gonna pay to go. Dude, we should both do it. [laughs] I love being a bandit.
29:29
[laughs] That was, that was a, that was probably the most effort I put into it, like a legit effort of trying to sneak on the course without, like, just going out in the woods and then jumping on and riding.
29:39
I literally tried to go through the path and through all the gates and all the, all the volunteers that were kicking me. I made it all the way down to the start line. That was as close as I got.
29:48
I almost, I almost got up to the back end of you, and then you guys were gone. I was done. Yeah. And the guy goes, "They're there. They left. Turn around and go back." I'm like, "Ah, shit." So. That was super fun.
29:57
Um- That was a good time... I'd like to do, like, the next, 'cause Spinner gave me so much shit about doing the kiddie ride. [laughs] But I had the most fun out of everybody, so I don't know what he's complaining about.
30:07
Yeah, Spinner was kind of pooped out after that there 'cause he was riding hard. Well, it was so cold. Oh, that's right. That's right.
30:12
Um, 'cause even some of my friends that did, they were going to do the full thing, and, like, they're all strong riders, and not many of them even ended up finishing. Yeah. It was just- It was, it was pretty brutal.
30:22
Yeah. Yeah, just walking around was not- Well, they had to delay it because it was so cold, too. That's right. Instead of starting at 8:00, they moved it up to 10:00 so it warmed up some. Yeah. I forgot about that. Yeah.
30:30
But it was beautiful. That was the most beautiful, like, trail riding I think I've ever done 'cause it was, like, all the ice. Mm-hmm.
30:37
Um, 'cause they had all the, a big ice storm come through before we went down there, and, and so you could, like, just see all the sparkling of the trees, and it was just really peaceful.
30:44
And I, that was my first time doing it, so I didn't know that now I'm rather spoiled because other years people talk about how they, like, had shitty snow, and they were wiping out.
30:53
And so we were placing bets on how many times I was gonna crash. [laughs] Oh, that's right, yeah. No, the snow positions were perfect. Yeah. I'm actually...
31:00
But- They don't worry about extending their season after this weekend for cross-country skiing. Yeah.
31:05
So, so, uh, that- and that's why they let them use it because they're done grooming, so they let the mountain bikers go out after that, that last grooming and after the Birkie.
31:12
So, um, it's a cool idea and, and I think last year they could have extended their season if they'd have wanted to. Yeah. Because that snow was in fantastic shape. It was perfect. Yeah.
31:23
Like, you could easily fly on that thing. Yeah, I mean, it was, it was deep. It was hard packed. I don't, I don't think you'd, I don't think you'd have melted through that stuff in another two weeks probably. Nope.
31:30
But... And then you have to maintain it, so that's rough. Oh, you know, the thing that we for- I forgot to throw in there is I was gonna be going to Arizona Single Speed Championship this coming weekend.
31:39
Oh, that's right. Yep.
31:40
But, uh, my plan was to leave this Friday, miss- I was gonna miss a practice, but I was gonna leave on Friday and fly to Tucson or to, uh, Phoenix, and then ride with my buddies from, uh, Tempe out to Superior, Arizona, which is like an hour-ish out of, uh, Phoenix area, and do Arizona Single Speed Championship, stay overnight Saturday, race Saturday, stay overnight, come back, leave Sunday morning, or well, Monday morning at 1:00, 1:00 AM, and then fly to Rochester and get back for practice on Monday.
32:10
And now w- because of, again, our superintendent canceling shit, I have a... I decided... And our kids being little bitches about, "I need to go do this. I can't make practice."
32:19
So just to make a point, I canceled out and I'm at practice and at games, and you, and you know damn well those kids are gonna get it. Like, you know what? I could be in Arizona drinking beer right now.
32:29
Get online, you guys are skating. [laughs] Yep. You know? But it- Is that always... Is, uh, Austin Single Speed, is that always this time? It, no, this is Phoenix. Oh.
32:38
Arizona- and Arizona Single Speed Championship is- Or what did I say? Well, you, it, yeah. Austin? I meant to say- Um, it's always-... yeah, Arizona...
32:44
this seems like it's a week early 'cause this, it's usually Super Bowl Sunday. Oh, okay. When, when they first started doing it, it was always Super Bowl Sunday. Okay. Or that weekend.
32:52
So we w- w- we would, w- that was when, when DJ was running out of Tucson, and it was kind of the same area we rode down there. Um, Melrose, the canyon area that, I don't know if that's... I, I think that's...
33:05
I wanna say it's like northeast, kinda like off of Mount Lemmon out that way. Okay. And it was a bitch. It was a hard ride. It starts, like, an 11-mile gravel road climb. So it was, it w- but it was cool, and it was...
33:16
So they would race on Saturday, and then Sunday we would go to a microbrewery and play Skee-Ball and watch the Super Bowl. It was a blast. You know, we did...
33:22
And for us, the up here, you know, usually that time of year, you know, we're just getting out of the deep freeze.
33:27
So we've had six weeks of below zero weather, and we're sick of it, so it, it was a nice little break for four or five days to run down there, and then I went back to coaching, so that ended that nice. Yeah.
33:36
But, um, yeah, that was... It's cool and it's a fun race. Now, now it kinda moves around that area. You know, it's, um, it's up in Scottsdale.
33:42
It's, it's not really too far out of Phoenix or Tucson, but it's in that, in that realm anyway. It's fun. Do you hang out with the Austin Single Speed crew? Um, not much.
33:52
When I go down to Austin and ride, I just go ride. Okay. I'll, I'll hook up with Kerry and Anthony and go places, but I've even been going just kinda by myself. There's...
33:59
You would be sh- surprised how, how fun and technical riding there is in Austin, Texas. Oh, I've heard. Yeah. It's very cool. Yeah. So, um- And the, the Single Speed, the SSOD, Single Speed or Death group- Yeah...
34:13
is down there too. Yep. Okay. There was two. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so there's a bunch of- So instead of that, you guys are talking about doing the Ride the Rim. Yeah. So [coughs]
34:24
um, Pat, my buddy down there, um, is thinking about us just going the first weekend in May, and I- he said Ride the Rim, and I don't know if it's a, if it's a, a laid-out trail that rides around the Grand Canyon.
34:36
It's a really... If I'm thinking of the same... It's a really rough ride 'cause Travis has sent me, um, I forget the guy's name, that he follows on YouTube.
34:43
Well, there's a rim to rim ride, and I don't think this is the same thing. Oh, okay. But there is one that goes rim to rim. Yeah. And that you got, like, a set amount of time you have to get it done in,
34:53
like, to be out of the canyon. Well, it takes, like, three days I think for- Yep... most people to do it. Yep. And- There's, like, camping- Yeah... but, but at a certain time of year you can't. Mm-hmm.
35:01
Like, I think it's closed right now, so that's- Oh, okay... so that's why he was thinking the first weekend in May would be the, a good time to do it. Like, I, I think it's reopening soon or something. So- Okay...
35:09
we might do that. Um, I do wanna get out and do a bunch of riding, just, like, go someplace and ride, you know? And not necessarily road riding.
35:16
More mountain biking, just throw the bike in the car and go someplace or haul a camper someplace. I could... Planned on doing when I retired, and I haven't done it yet.
35:23
But, um, um, the thing we better get to is this weekend was also the RAGBRAI announcement. Oh, yeah. Do you want me to pull up the route? Yep. Okay.
35:34
While I'm doing that, you can talk about the Aus- or the Albert Lea ride. Oh, yeah.
35:37
So, uh, one, the only good thing that came out of hockey maybe this year with all the crap that's been going on is I was watching a game, and, um, somehow or another, I got talking to the coaches from Albert Lea, and I asked him if my buddy was still running the rink down there, and he goes, "Oh, no, he's, uh, he's the park director now."
35:53
I go, "Oh, cool." Anyway, I don't know how we got to talking about bicycling. He goes, "Well, you guys should come down." They put on a ride, uh, Rock 'n Roll the Lakes.
36:02
So Albert Lea has a bunch of small lakes, and they've got a 10, 15, 25, 50-mile ride, uh, around the lakes down there, and we're like, "Well, I'm not sure I should bring my bunch down there to ride.
36:12
It sounds like a family event." He goes, "Why?" It is kind of a family event. [laughs] Yeah. Well, he doesn't want it to be. Oh. He wants us to come down. He goes, he goes, "Yeah, bring those guys down."
36:20
And we, so I said, "I'll, I'll mention it to a couple of the teams up in Rochester and see if they'd be interested coming on." He goes, "Oh, yeah. We need some beer drinkers. Come on down."
36:26
So I was like, "Okay, we're in." And then- Yeah, 'cause they tried hard at RAGBRAI last year to get people down, and I don't know, it just didn't time out real well for us to go.
36:34
Right, because it's pretty close after that because RAGBRAI is the last full week of July. Yep. And this would be less than two weeks after that, so, so yeah. It'll...
36:42
I mean, and it just so happens to be close to a couple people's birthday that I c- maybe I can get Kerry and Anthony to come up from Austin, Texas, and then it will definitely turn into a shit show over there I'm sure.
36:51
[laughs] It seems to be the, the norm whenever Kerry and I decide to celebrate our birthdays, unless she wants to go to Creed, which has gotta happen too. But, so did you find it? Yep.
37:00
So RAGBRAI, um, so I'm really liking this new director that we have, um, Matt, I forget his last name, but right now it's escaping me.
37:09
But, um, he even did a, a Zwift, so indoor training, um, virtual reality training that we do [laughs] on our bikes like a bunch of nerds, as you say.
37:18
Um, he did a, a pre-ride with all these people on Zwift, and then we were kind of talking about what we were predicting it was gonna be.
37:26
Um, but they announced that day one, or the day zero will be in Sioux City, and then we're going to Storm Lake. Uh, so that's about 77 miles, 3,500 feet of climb.
37:37
And then it's going to Carroll for 62 miles and about 1,800 feet of climb, and then Ames for 83 miles and about 1,500 feet of climb. Des Moines 50 miles with about 1,200 feet of climb.
37:49
Tama-Toledo, which I didn't even know that was a town in Iowa. Uh, I think we've been through there one other time. I'm sure we have.
37:55
'Cause when I saw that, I was like, that, that's, that would the only be way I could, I would think I would've heard of that name before. We haven't been through...
38:01
I mean, this will be my, I think, seventh RAGBRAI, and we haven't, um- Oh, no. Yeah, it would, I would... I think the southern routes wind up being way different a lot. Yeah.
38:11
So day five, Tama-Toledo, 82 miles with about 3,700 feet of climb. Day six is Coralville for 80 miles, about 3,300 feet of climb. Wow. And then Davenport, it was 66 miles and 1,600 feet of climb.
38:27
This is the sixth longest and sixth steepest ride in the history of RAGBRAI.
38:32
Um, so right now they're estimating about 500 miles, but, um, in all the chatter, like, they're still gonna do a, a century ride option like we've done in previous years. Sure. Last year you, you had to do a- Yep...
38:44
a century day. Which I thought was cool. Yeah. That was awesome, and it was like the easiest century you could ever done. [laughs] Like, we had a tailwind, and it was completely flat. Um,
38:56
and then, uh, Matt is also a big gravel guy, so he's talking... I mean, there was a rumor about maybe doing, like, a, a completely gravel RAGBRAI in, in, um, like the same week as the RAGBRAI.
39:10
Like, they would just ride gravel or you could ride road. That would be cool. Yeah. That would be a logistic- He just says it's really hard logistically to plan it out. I was just gonna say to, to, to man...
39:20
Well, I don't think it'd be that hard to get you into the same stops. You're not, you're certainly not gonna go through the same cities. Mm-hmm.
39:25
That'd be almost impossible, but I, but, but I can't imagine them trying to manage, 'cause it's not gonna be the same groups. No.
39:33
You're, you're gonna bring in a completely different group of people that probably don't do RAGBRAI. Yeah. You know?
39:38
So you're g- you're talking, you're talking literally running a second RAGBRAI at the same time as the first one, but not with the numbers, of course. Is there a official ride where it's like a gravel ride across?
39:49
'Cause, like, Minnesota- No... has the damn... Well, they used to. Um- Yeah. No, there, even before that, there used to be one that was called Trans Iowa. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Okay. They used to do that.
39:57
I don't think any... That was, um- I don't know if that runs anymore... Gary, I forget his last name. He has a bike shop mechanic in Waterloo, I think. Names are hard. Used to put it on.
40:08
Yeah, I mean, that was, it was cool. That's what we were talking about how the gravel was so crappy on the, on the western side of the state compared to the eastern side.
40:15
It was, like, more cement-y when it got wet and- Oh... would suck you right in. It was horrible stuff. Yeah. Um, I, I never did it.
40:22
Um, I, it came through Decorah the first or second year, and I think it actually, oh, it, it ended in Decorah, and it was... And literally we stayed up all goddamn night after putting on a time trial.
40:36
So we put on the time trial, and their, and their assumption was about the time the time trial ended, the riders would be coming into town. They didn't come in till the next morning. Oh.
40:45
Yeah, and part of it was because of the gravel in out, out in the western part of the state. Mm-hmm. So it was, oh, it was horrible. Fuck, it was horrible. But we got... Nice catch.
40:54
[laughs] But we- You know I'm slowly catching on to this thing... [laughs] I don't know why that one tilts so bad. It must just be the way it's on that chair. Yeah.
41:01
Her mic just, her mic booms keep swinging and smacking her in the face. Yeah. [laughs] So, so, um, but it's ending in Dubuque? Uh, Davenport. Davenport, okay. And that's, that's happened many times before, I think. Yep.
41:16
Yeah, I mean, there's only so many towns that they can end in. Right. Right. So. Yeah, I mean it's- 'Cause a lot of people are mad about it ending in Lansing last year, 'cause it's so hard to get in and out of there.
41:25
Oh, I know it. Um, this year I think because people so pro- actively prepared, it really wasn't that bad to get out. Well, you know, we've never, I don't...
41:35
In the years I've done RAGBRAI with especially the people out of Decorah- Mm-hmm... I don't think we've ever done the full last day. Like, we've never gone into the finishing town.
41:42
The last day is always kind of lame, other than- Yeah... the fact that you get your pictures at the end and, like, have the last hurrah with your team. Like- Yeah. We do those-... it's kinda, there's no vendors.
41:52
Like, there's- Right... no fun stops. Yeah, we usually do a ditch along the way, like close to the, one of the last towns, and then figure out a way back to Decorah.
42:01
You know, and sometimes that's, to get back to Decorah that night is, you know, some of those, some of those towns we ended up in, it's a three-hour drive, so it's not an easy...
42:08
In fact, we even got to the point, we got so lazy for a while there, we were stopping
42:13
a day early, and then we had another ride that started south of I- of Decorah, and we would just go drive there with the bus and unload all the bikes, whoever wanted to ride, and rode back to Decorah and hit small little towns like Fort and all that along the way.
42:25
And they, they almost expected us in after that because of we were gonna be riding through [laughs] on our own RAGBRAI finishing up, and we'd, we'd skip the last full day a lot of times. Nice.
42:35
Do you think a crew from Decorah is gonna actually go this year? 'Cause there's a lot of talk- I, you know-... where we wanted to get a group going this slash year. Yeah.
42:40
Well, the, you see, the problem is with this, with the group there, and I, I, the announcement came, and I haven't been back down to see, talk to anybody or just haven't talked to anybody online either. Mm-hmm.
42:49
Um, the biggest problem is, is they got, they have to, a lot of them have to be done by Wednesday, because Nordic Fest starts on Thursday, and their kids are in dance or they're helping with one of the booths. Oh.
42:58
So we all have to be back in town by Thursday.
43:00
So, um- And if, and if the ride is long on Wednesday, if it's, if it's like the century day, and, and it's way down south so you're done with the century, then you gotta turn around and drive three, four hours back to Iowa, to Decorah, I'm not sure how many people are gonna go.
43:15
It's- I know there's a bunch that want to, but-... I mean, it's gonna be a lot of, it's gonna be a tough year. The, well- It's a lot of, lot of climbing. Yeah. Yeah. That, that's, that's what people aren't saying.
43:24
You get in the southern part of Iowa, you're in and out of the river valleys. And the roads are shitty- Yes... and support is not as great. All that, this is n- At least in years where I've done it- Okay...
43:33
where it's more southernly.
43:35
Yeah, I just, I just remember the, the one year, the one of the more southern routes that we ever did was like you could see Missouri the entire time you were doing it, and alls you did was going in and out of the, what's the river?
43:45
Um. Was that, was that the Missouri River that runs through there? No, what is it? The big river that runs south, through southern Iowa.
43:53
It, whatever that is, you just, alls you did is ride down across the bridge and go up the other side, down a little bit, down across the bridge and up the other side. That was the entire ride.
44:00
It went through, like, New London and New York and all those little weird little towns down there. Well, that sounds pretty fun, too. Yeah, well, I mean, it was cool.
44:06
It was, it was hot, so it was nice thing was you just rode down and jumped in the lake and then, well, continued on with your ride. So it was a savior almost, but... Yeah.
44:13
I, I forget what year it was, but, like, it just seemed like the southern routes weren't as, um, I don't know if they just weren't as prepared or maybe they just didn't really feel like putting as much- I don't think they care Yeah.
44:23
I don't think they're interested. I don't, they're just not as, um, warm and welcoming as, like, kind of- Right...
44:28
the northern, like, the northern routes every farmer is like, "Are you sure you don't wanna [laughs] ride?" Yeah. Or, like, "Want help?"
44:34
Or, like, I've been stranded out on a gravel road trying to find my host home, and, like, a farmer will come up and be like, "Oh, yeah, I know Bobby. He's just down the road over here."
44:43
[laughs] Like, southern routes there was one year where the first two towns didn't even have water. Really? Yeah. And I thought that that was, like, a requirement, like you should have- No.
44:53
I mean, they're pass-through towns. I mean, they, yeah, they should- Like, you would think they should... I mean, they should be easy to get water. Yeah. You know, any spigot you should.
44:58
But we did, I know the one southern route, and it was similar to this one because we, we left out of Des Moines, and all's I remember is hitting a little town and, you know, the lines for breakfast were 100 miles long.
45:09
So Captain and I went into a, like, a Hy-Vee. Mm-hmm. And there's seven people sitting there at the breakfast counter. We're like, "Oh, this is brilliant." So we go in there.
45:17
We, knowing, the thing about it, you're damn near Missouri, right? Yep. And we go up there, and there's three little old ladies working. We're like, "This is gonna be awesome.
45:23
We're gonna eat breakfast, get a good breakfast, and we're outta here." They were making one breakfast at a time. Oh. Captain w- the seven people, it was one, two, three, four...
45:33
The seventh person was getting their meal when they were just starting Captain's. Captain was done with his when they brought mine out.
45:39
And we sat there, and then the people that came in behind us, 'cause everybody thought the same thing, it's like, "[gasps] Look at this. There's nobody there."
45:44
Well, there's nobody there because you, it was so stinking slow. Yikes. Yeah. It's, it was, it was... But this s- that was a, that was a rough year, too. That was a hot summer. That was, that was a...
45:56
That, I think I've only done one, I've probably done, like, I've only done one really far southern route. The other ones have been kind of more middle. Mm-hmm.
46:03
You know, they kinda, like, the th- the three different levels were more middle to upper, rather than the dick of ringing it in the way southern part. And I just, I don't think they just...
46:12
Like you said, probably because they don't get much participation in the cities and, and the people, so. Yeah.
46:19
I did hear a rumor, I forget which team that was, that was saying that, uh, 'cause I think it was normally only like 150 to register for RAGBRAI, and now I think it's up to 200 to register. Um- That sounds horrible.
46:33
I mean, it's been- No, it's not bad, but, like, there's a lot of people that just band it, and last year there was one town where they, like, completely shut it down, where they wouldn't let you get through to the band unless you had a wristband.
46:44
And now there was talk of, like, there just being stricter rules. Like, it, if you don't, if you're not a registered rider, then you don't, like, you have to go to a different line, and, like, may- Well-...
46:53
basically, like, um, just really trying to promote more registered riders Right. Well, I, I mean, we never registered... than non-registered. Yeah.
47:01
And I- But, but, but- I normally wait until the end when people, like, have to try to sell their wristbands- [laughs]... and then I get it for, like, a third of the price.
47:07
Well, what we did was, but we would, but, but that, you know, it's been in, since the '90s since they did it, like, religiously. But, um, back then they would go, you would go, like, say,
47:18
a spaghetti dinner was seven bucks. Mm-hmm. Five if you had a wristband, seven if you didn't. Yeah, like, you could get discounts if you had a wristband. Yeah. Right.
47:26
And then that makes sense, 'cause then you get your money, then you easily get your money back out of that 150 you put in. I mean, all my years there I never saw any of those discounts, though.
47:33
And, like, the bands, you wouldn't have to have your wristband. So I'm like- Yeah... and I don't do, like, the SAG wagon or anything, so to me, I was like, other than supporting RAGBRAI itself- [coughs]...
47:43
it didn't really make sense to be registered. Right. Um, other than as a team you have to have so many registered riders.
47:51
Well, and then, and then we, we know when we had our bus, you had to use, you used to have, there was a separate bus pass you had to buy. Yep. And you have to have so many- Yep...
47:59
like, yeah, you have to register the bus, you have to register your support crew. Um- Yeah, we didn't have to do that. We just had to register the bus. So, like, we would just, like- Yeah.
48:08
I'm pretty sure Brett pays so much for support people. Um. Well, that's the hardest part about it, is trying to get people to come and help you guys. That, if you're just riding, 'cause the fun part's riding them.
48:19
The not fun part is dealing with everybody when they get back in, going to town, setting up, and then having 75 drunk people come to your campsite and just rifle through shit, then just
48:29
make a mess and get up and bail the next morning. It's- We have a, we have a pretty good routine of how we do it, so it's not too bad. Sure. And everybody, like, our team is pretty good about pitching in.
48:39
Like, there's stuff that needs to get done. Right. And, and, and that's how we did our bus. We just, uh, um, we'd do, we'd take turns driving, or you could just take a day off. Yeah.
48:47
And then you would ride backwards to find everybody, 'cause there was, that was before. Well, back then we had cellphones, but Iowa had two cellphone towers, so they didn't work worth a shit.
48:56
I can remember the very first one I did- Well, even still the cellphone towers can't hold up... the, [laughs] the very first one I did, there wasn't any cellphones, and you should've seen the lines to use the telephones
49:06
Like people- Well, they had like the messenger boards and stuff back then Well, that too, but like if you wanted to call anybody else. Mm-hmm.
49:11
Like, uh, the, the one that reminded me that I remembered the most is in Spencer, Iowa, in the fairgrounds. Like the line was 100 and some people longing to wait for it.
49:19
They'd like literally brought in a telephone and hung it on the pole just for the day. Mm-hmm.
49:22
And you could use it for free, but there's this gigantic long line of people waiting to use the telephone because there's no telephones.
49:28
And the cell phones never worked at first either because they would flood the line so bad, and it was like $2.50 a minute. Oh, yeah.
49:36
My bill so went through the roof because I, I had, I had a work cell phone at the time, I think, and, uh, everybody's using it. And the bus driver was using it, the guy that drove our bus, and I didn't know it. Oh, no.
49:47
So I had like a $500 bill when I got home. Ouch. Oh, it was horrible. But that's the way it went. Uh, I also find it, uh, comical.
49:57
So the pre-announcement on Facebook, they posted the route as like kind of like their teaser.
50:04
Well, it wasn't meant to be a teaser, but they posted a route picture from 2017 where they're holding up the signs like [sneezing] And like so many people from Cresco and like the little towns back home were like posting it.
50:15
And they're like, "Oh my God, it's going through Cresco again. No." And I'm like, "It's one day of inconvenience." You know, it goes through every year.
50:24
If you don't wanna be around RAGBRAI, go somewhere else [laughs] for a day. You could, you could rent your house out for that day and- Yeah... and pay for a trip.
50:31
I've, uh, Dave Grunkle, this guy I worked with, his brother or his uncle owned a bar on the route- Mm-hmm... and made enough money that he closed the bar for a month and went on his first vacation ever.
50:44
See, that's very smart. Yeah, I think that was brilliant. Take, take advantage of the opportunity, and the amount of revenue that comes through these little towns- It's huge... it can save bars that were like- Yep...
50:53
ready to- Yep... you know, go under. Yeah. So I just, I, I love what... And like cyclists on RAGBRAI love supporting the towns. Oh, without a doubt.
51:02
Like they go out of their way to like figure out like where they can contribute. Where's the church I can get pie at, that kind of stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yep.
51:09
That, that even though it seems hulky, it's still what everybody does. Yeah. Because, because that's a big thing for bringing those towns.
51:15
You know, like I think of some of those towns we stopped in that they opened buildings up that have been shut down for years just to put in a small barbecue place. Yeah. Something like that, you know.
51:25
So, you know, and then it got corporate, you know, and then it kind of sucked. You know, it's, you know, it's you're either gonna drink Budweiser or you're gonna be drink Miller, and that's all there is to it.
51:34
Well, that's what I'm worried about, like the rumor. And again, it's just rumor, so I just only take it as that, right? Sure. So I'm hoping that it doesn't keep going in that corporate direction, 'cause yeah, when you...
51:45
I mean, I've s- I saw Matt like several times last year, and he was like in riding with the riders. Like that was kind of a big deal.
51:52
'Cause Dieter, he, he was kind of sassy about things and like he easily would just get in arguments, and he really just didn't give a shit about what anybody else thought. Right. Like it was his way or the highway.
52:03
Yep, yep. So, um, it's cool to see that Matt's open to feedback and that he's actually out there riding with the riders and like he's really passionate about RAGBRAI, so.
52:11
Well, I think part of his battle is, in my mind anyway, is the fact that, and we've kind of done it not intentionally, but, um, there was a few friends of ours in Decorah that wanted to par- do a RAGBRAI, and they didn't know what it was like, so we just said, "Hey,
52:26
grab your stuff. We'll haul it down some place, and we'll do a RAGBRAI weekend." So we just did our own little like rode down to a spot. We already had our camping stuff down there.
52:33
Rode down, camped, and then the ride back was here's three different ray- routes to get back to Decorah. Mm-hmm.
52:39
And go ride it, and people did that, and they're going, "Well, this is as fun as RAGBRAI and a lot less people. And the people in the bars are friendlier." So there's people that do that now instead.
52:48
I- that's, I don't think it's taking anything away from RAGBRAI because it's still such a big party and everybody likes to do it, but, but it's taken some away because you can do all that.
52:55
And with backpacking stuff now, you don't need to... Yeah. I mean, my only backpacking time I did Rag- RAGBRAI was with, I did it on my Big Dummy. Oh, yeah. Which wasn't bad.
53:06
In fact, I still have the- I'm excited about the new Big Dummy that's coming out. I'm not. Why? It's still electric. What? Yeah. The one that's, that's more of a standard size frame. Yeah. I forget what it's called.
53:18
Yeah, that's still electric. Stupid. [laughs] Well, now I'm not excited and- I'm not happy, no... kept my eyeball on that one. Yeah, I was all happy about it. Um, any other fun RAGBRAI stories?
53:30
Um, nope, I don't think so. Okay. Uh... Um, you wanna go to the club because Kelly's mad she's sitting alone by herself. I should probably not go to the club. [laughs] I was- I am- Look...
53:41
finally a functioning human being again. You were the one that decided that it was really smart for you to meet me there when I told you it was last call. Yeah. Correct? Yeah. Okay, I was just checking.
53:51
I just wanna make sure you- No, the not- You weren't trying-... smart thing was going full degen Saturday. Well, that's true. That was, that's why you made the bad decision. I want degen. I want degen.
53:58
Because you know if you're up there with Kelly that when, when it's closing time, you have to help her close. Yeah, no, that was the easiest part of my day.
54:05
[laughs] The hard part was waking up this morning and realizing that, you know, when you start at like 10:00 AM on [laughs] a Saturday and just go full degen all day and close down the bar at 2:00 AM.
54:16
I honestly don't know if I could do that again. I mean, I've done it. Yeah. It's not a pretty sight, as we know. We could look at the pictures from two, two [laughs] Santa Rambas ago.
54:25
Oh, by the way, d- do you remember that, so this Santa Ramba, which I forgot to mention this, uh, the reason we survived this, we walked from the hotel to the bar. [laughs] Yes. [laughs] We're learning.
54:36
[laughs] Yeah, we're g- we're getting so much smarter, and all of a sudden we... I was like, we rode to the bar, everybody gets out of their bikes, change clothes, we walk to the bar. Yep.
54:42
Now, that didn't make the bartender any happier because we were, we sat in a hotel and drank, and then went up there and made a mess out of everything. But it was, it was still fun. Yep. All right.
54:53
Hey, we're almost hit an hour. We did it. We did our job. Nice job. Yay. Let's, uh, get out of here. We'll start getting to be back to a little bit more normal. We're back to bike riding.
55:01
We'll get Bergie out here one of these days. He's, he's actually awake. He's at least texting me. I mean, it's only 8:00.
55:08
Yeah, but h- he's, he should've been playing hockey, but he's usually on the couch by that time, by 7:00, hockey, and can't get his butt up.
55:15
So he's, I'm, I'll, I get 10 bucks, he's laying on the couch watching a hockey game. Ah. Or some other TV, but, but yeah. All right. Hey, thanks for coming out. Uh, we'll do this again in, in a week.
55:25
We're gonna start, we're gonna get serious about this. We should. All right, good. In a week. Yep. See you then. Bye. See you. Bye. Bye.
55:32
[rock music]
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