Home
Podcast Archive
About
Search
Log In
Subscribe
Search
Full Spectrum Cycling
Chewey’s Salon Chair #39 – Sweaty Yeti and Fatbike Birkie Reports
Apr 2, 2024
Chewey’s Salon Chair #39 – Sweaty Yeti and Fatbike Birkie Reports
15
30
00:00
38:31
Listen on
Apple Podcasts
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Spotify
Pocket Casts
Pocket Casts
Castro
Castro
Transcript
0:01
All right, here we go.
0:03
[rock music] We should probably just back up.
0:31
You like this part, don't you? [laughs] Oh, shit. I might have to go listen to this. Uh-oh. Hold on. We're gonna listen to it. Hold on. Check the line. Where is it?
0:39
Podcast, this, this podcast is starting and it could be ending like right now. This is a page for Winneshiek Ambulance and Winneshiek First Responders in the Decorah area for an 85-year-old male.
0:52
Yeah, that's pretty good. No, just reel that sucker out. That's no big deal. That's not a rescue. [laughs] Yeah, that's not extraction. [laughs] Or it could be. No, no.
0:59
I mean, they would've said, "Do we need cut somebody out or- Yeah... lift somebody out of a house?" or something like that. That's not what it is. Hey, this is, uh, podcast number, Chewy Salon Chair number 39.
1:10
Um, that was Spinner getting called once again to go to work. The guy works more than anybody I know. Um- Volunteer. You called the volunteer. Yeah.
1:18
And they, and then, and the volunteer Decorah Fire Department volunteers work... Jesus. Gets... How many calls you get a week you think you guys get?
1:26
Um, lately it's been we have not had a lot since, uh, we had that ice storm. Um, we had quite a few... We had a few crashes. Still not a whole lot.
1:35
Uh, but, uh, like two years ago when I just moved back, I mean- Even last summer was crazy. Yeah. [laughs] We had a lot of, uh, grass fires. Um- But last summer you were on everything.
1:44
Last summer you were like you would stop by here and you were gone five minutes after you showed up- Yeah... for something.
1:49
I mean, or, or, or when I, by the time I get down here you were already on your third call of the day. It was crazy. Yeah.
1:55
Yeah, just, um, Decorah Fire Rescue, so like if there's a gas leak or, you know, a car crash or, um, a brush fire or... Yeah.
2:04
But we had one, a big one at the church where the CO2 alarms were going off, and turns out somebody,
2:10
somebody was working on the furnace and didn't hook the exhaust back up right, and it filled the church full of [laughs] CO2. Uh-huh. And, um, yeah, we get called for all that stuff, so. Yeah. All right.
2:20
So tonight's podcast is actually about biking. Um- Hey. Actually, you're riding a bike. I'm still barely riding a bike. [laughs] I saw you riding a bike on my way to the bar. [laughs] Yeah. Well, yeah.
2:29
It's the only time I've seen you ride out of the bar. Oh, fuck. I know it. It's, it's been, it's been, um, I didn't touch on it very much, but it's been a fucking rough winter. When your team...
2:37
Like r- I think it, was it on this or someplace else, is it when your team is 3 and 22- Oof... it's a, it's a long fucking winter. Yeah. Not for us. I, I, I feel bad for the kids. Um,
2:48
um, yeah, I can throw blame around to everybody, but it's just been this... It's, it's actually nice to get away from it.
2:53
Now, not that I wanna get away from the kids, I just don't want to coach right now, and going back to mountain biking and, and building and doing, and doing trails is cool.
3:03
So tonight what we're gonna talk about is the two races you've done, Sweaty Yeti and, and, uh, Fat Bike Birkie. Fat Bike Birkie. Yeah. Which
3:11
I, I bailed on last minute on you because I felt I should stick around and help out with the, uh, well, the Carlson project that we talked about in the last podcast. Yeah. I helped out with, uh, building the bin.
3:21
Um, and now y- you just showed me the video and I was like, "I'm a fucking idiot." [laughs] Yeah. No, it was... Yeah. Fat Bike Birkie was a lot of fun.
3:29
Well, and kinda like you said too, like we didn't build a lot of trail last year, and I just walked the Palisades loop where we're gonna build some classic handmade
3:37
single track, which I'm really looking forward to, and just getting out in the woods and, you know, building trail again. That- It's gonna be awesome. [clears throat] It's funny because
3:46
when we were at the last Parkboard meeting, and they... Or not Parkboard. I'm sorry.
3:50
The DHTP meeting and, and all the trails they were talking about fixing were at Palisades, and it's like, God, you know, that was, like, that was like our first big time benching and, and, um, switchbacks. Mm-hmm.
4:06
Mm-hmm. Like, that was, that was like, that was like where we figured out switchbacks. And y- and the cool thing was is we were figuring out switchbacks in amongst road that were doing the same thing.
4:14
So it was, it was a very weird sight. And it's, and it's still to this day, as far as I'm concerned, it's not... The trails that are there are very cool. I hate them. Yeah. They're really hard to ride. They are hard.
4:23
But, but, but the thing about it is is that's built in an area that I don't think anybody else would've bothered to even try to build a trail. No. It's a lot of rock. It is.
4:31
I mean, it's cool at the top, but it's a long way to the top- Yeah... just like everything else around here. Uh, Dead Pet is a boatload of fun in the winter when it's frozen. Yeah.
4:37
In the summer it sucks 'cause all the little slate rocks just slide all over the place on you. And there's roots and it's mossy and- Yeah... yeah. And, uh, it's, it's somehow it's wet. [clears throat] I don't know.
4:46
I- Like, parts of it are wet.
4:47
I, I, um, there's springs that run out of the hill, and I know they're talking about fixing one of them at the bottom, but the one that kicked my ass was, I was probably, I don't know, two-thirds of the way up, and I hit that...
4:59
[sighs] I don't know how to describe it. I know where it was at on the trail, but I don't know how, which part of the trail it's, it's designated at, but I was going south,
5:09
and everything I was cutting up, I was drenched by the time... I was weed whacking just to clear out a path so you could see where you're going. Mm-hmm. Just, uh, two feet on each side.
5:18
And whatever those weird plants I was knocking down were just soaked in water, and as soon as I knocked them down, it turned into a river running across the trail. Yeah. It was the weirdest thing ever.
5:27
And, and, um, I went back up two weeks later, and it was still damp, but it was like, an almost like the ground could no, could now suck up the water instead of these plants taking everything away.
5:39
It was, it was interesting. It's a cool place. It is cool. It's, it's kinda always just humid. It's like rainforest-y a little. It i- that- That-... great way to describe it. [laughs] Yes, it is. A lot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
5:49
It doesn't, doesn't get direct sun, but it's not in the shade there. Plus, I guess it kinda is. I don't know. It doesn't get sun until late in the day. But we've got what? Three projects up there this year? Yeah.
5:59
Yeah, and I just, I, I looked at a new line too where, um, there's some cool rock formations that we can ride around. You know, it's obvious that, you- Again, how long ago was that trail built?
6:09
I think I was here, 2003- Mm-hmm. Yeah... 2004... that sounds about right. That was...
6:13
I mean, Palisades for years and years and years was nothing more than riding the paved trail all the way to the top, and then once you got to the top of it you did all the trails that went back down and eventually went through Cap- no, not Captain's.
6:26
Uh, Lee's Loop. Lee's Loop. We built that later. Yeah, Lee's Loop, and then, well, remember there was that weird bridge we used to use on the timed trail that, like went over to some private property? Yeah.
6:34
That was off k- off course- Upper Lakes, yeah... to the... Yeah. And, you know, and so that was... So really the, all the trails we built to get up there now [coughs] were added much later on. Um, and they're,
6:45
they're a lot of work. I mean, there's... It's hard riding. It's hard to maintain them. It's, it's, um, um, I would think, I would think if you were going to
6:56
designate an area not to build just for cost reasons, well, that's probably one we would stay out of, but- Yeah... people go over them, they like the workout. They like to ride it. It's technical. It's hard. It's slow.
7:05
Well, if I, if I ride Palisades, that's usually, I go up and down and then I'm done. Like, if I'm gonna ride anything else, I'll ride River Trail, I'll do some of The Luge and Ice Cave and Van Panen.
7:15
I'll put some things together. But if it Palisades, it's close to everything, but it's enough of a workout in one ride. You're like, "If I can do- Oh, yeah... that whole thing, then I'm just going home."
7:23
If you d- you're going all the way to the top of the road and then turn around and coming back instead of going down through the woods. Right. Yeah, yeah. And going down toward, um, [smacks lips]
7:30
what's the little thing that Gary built down below with the little... Uh- That little extra loop on the side there that's kinda cool. Yeah. It's kinda fun to ride, that they got mad at him about.
7:39
Oh, uh, that was a Shockey thing. Uh, the Log Jam? No, that was- Oh, yeah... that was GT, that was Gary that built that I think. Oh, okay. I don't know. Well, uh, yeah, it's hard to say.
7:47
I, I- Shockey did Log Jam, I know, but there, I think there's a different- Okay... thing you're talking about. Yeah. Yeah. But anyway, um, so the first race you did was- Sweaty Yeti... Sweaty Yeti. Yeah.
7:56
And, and in, in Minnesota, and there's, 'cause maybe one person that listens from outside the state, Wisconsin, Minnesota both we've had no snow. We haven't had snow really since [sniffs] early January.
8:08
I mean, it's been gone, it's been gone down here forever. We had... No, we had... Shoot. I wanna say I thought we had a snow in February, but it was gone the next day. Yeah.
8:18
You get, you, uh, we got four inches down here. Um, you guys actually have more snow here than we did up in Minnesota. Okay. Yeah. But- Every- but it was gone. Like, next day it was 70 degrees or something like that.
8:26
Yeah. It was ridiculous. It's been, we've had, we've had two days of 70 down here now this time of year. It's like this- It's ridiculous...
8:31
this is, this is like [tsks] uh, I had something pop up on Facebook about the Last Timer and Pugs- Pugsley World Championship, and I think that day, um, this year it was in the upper 60s. Wow.
8:46
Where, where back then we... Uh, do you... I don't know if you remember it, it was probably the last one we did where we started in Death Valley, and, and by, and by mid-afternoon you couldn't ride.
8:57
It was on the south-facing side. Because, because everything was melting. Yeah. So we had snow on the whole thing, but it was melting away bad enough to the point where- Sun would hit that side...
9:05
where people were coming in actually muddy and, and couldn't do the climbs anymore because- Mm-hmm... there was zero traction. Yeah. Well, and that's kinda, that's what Sweaty Yeti was like.
9:15
There was snow in some spots, but not many. Um, they did a looped smaller loop. I think, um, I did five laps on the big fat dummy, um, just because that was the only bike that had air in the tires.
9:29
[laughs] And so- Well, that big frame and everything, you probably had better traction than the other guys. I climbed everything. I mean- Really? Yeah.
9:38
I just, I was able to just, you know, but as long as I kept my ass in the seat, that weight's in the back.
9:43
Did they do the loop, they do the lower part where it kinda goes through the swampy area, or do they have to cut that out? So they did it pretty much backwards this year. Oh.
9:49
So you used to go out in that route and then- Right... um, and you came down Bear's Den, which was that like cool swoopy up the hill and like that. Yeah, yep. So you climb up that swoopy thing this year.
10:00
Uh- I don't know if I'd like that... it, it was different. They ended, they put in a new trail that I think hadn't been used before. Um, and I think my first lap was, you know, they do the shotgun start, whatever.
10:11
Um, my first lap was probably 27 minutes and my second lap was 25 minutes, so they were pretty short laps. Okay. Yeah. Um- Yeah.
10:18
And so if anybody doesn't know, Levis, Levis Mound is an awesome place in the dead center of Wisconsin. Um, I don't know how- Near Black River Falls. Yeah. Yeah. It's 15 miles north of Black River Falls.
10:30
I don't know, I don't know how many miles of trails there are out there, but the guy that own, that maintains it, Steve, is... The, and that crew, I, I'm not gonna give him all the credit, but he deserves a ton of it.
10:40
But it's, it's a fantastic place. It's, um, uh, I think originally it was primarily for cross-country skiing, right? Well, there's still a lot of cross-country skill, ski trails there. Yeah.
10:50
Bruce Mound is like a skiing mound that's not too far away. Um, I guess I don't know what the initial... They do a lot of logging up there. I don't know how many acres they have, but it's a lot. It's huge.
11:00
And it's, and it's great, it's a great place to ride and camp. Camping is primitive, but at the same time it's a fantastic place to go stay. Yeah.
11:06
They've got a nice little chalet that's got a shower in it, and, and if you wanna cook inside it's got a nice little- Yeah... kitchen. They always wrap it up. They have like a soup, um- Chili... potluck type of thing.
11:17
Yeah. And, uh, there's always elk chili that's really good. Um- Was the, uh, was the, uh, pizza truck, fire truck there? Nope. Nothing to have that this year. Really? Yeah. That sucks. That was good.
11:26
And I, I think they, I don't know if they, they had 100 of those leopard print hats, and I wonder if they gave them all away. I don't know if they had 100 people. They had to be close. Hmm.
11:36
Um, but electronic timing, I mean, that's always, always fun. They give away a shit ton of beer. Yeah. A lot of beer. Uh, Sand Creek Brewery- Uh, Sand Creek, yep, yep... had the kegs there.
11:46
Um, they brought their Ragbrai bus. I think it's Ragbrai bus. Wild Ride IPA. It looks like a Ragbrai bus. It says it on the side. Yeah, yeah. I've seen the bus. Yeah, I don't- Mm-hmm... I, I don't know. Um, there...
11:56
And, and again, you know, so it's all local and, and it was fun and, uh, the, the... I've only, I haven't been up there for a couple years.
12:02
It's always, for me it's always right at the end of the hockey season, so sometimes I can make it, sometimes I can't. Mm-hmm.
12:08
And I, and I wish you'd make it more often 'cause the, the four or five times I've been up there, we've had such a good time. Yeah, it's always fun. And the riding is in- the riding is insane.
12:16
I mean, this is a place that we go back... So it's about a two-hour drive no matter from Rochester or from here. Um, going there in the summer, we don't go there enough. Yeah. And it's, it's fun.
12:28
There's some, there's some incredibly technical downhills. Mm-hmm. There's some very fun slopey stuff. It, it's a great... It's... And it's maintained by the local people that just love their area, it feels like. Yeah.
12:41
Yeah. And, um, yeah, there is a trail fee, but you can get a, a summer-long trail pass. Um, what was I just gonna say? The one with the event shit.
12:51
Oh, it'll come back to me, but- Well, and this is the only event they run there. Um, no, they do a few. Yeah. So there's a Buzzard Buster. Oh, and here's a special announcement. [laughs] September 21st- To the-...
13:02
Gnomefest 20-year reunion slash Singlespeed Wisconsin is gonna be- Ah... on the same date. They're- are they are doing them together? They are. I don't like it. I don't like that either, but- No...
13:11
[laughs] um- It's, it's, it's like mixing chocolate and strawberries. No, that's not- It's not gonna work. That's what... Well, that's what I was gonna say about the Sweaty Yeti and the way that they run it.
13:20
I mean, it's a Le Mans start. Um, you set your bikes up and you go running around the thing, and then you can have elite riders, and casual riders, and teams and everything in the same course. Um- Oh, yeah...
13:31
it's big enough where you can split out, and everybody's got kind of the attitude that if, if somebody's coming up behind you, you get out of the way. You know? It's that whole "don't be a dick" mentality.
13:40
So if somebody is there to win it, um, they can have a really good day. I think the winner got nine laps in. Maybe the, the top two got nine laps in, and third place got eight laps. Something like that.
13:50
Gosh, that's dumb because I can remember they were doing near 20 laps on a, on a good- At the Yeti? Yeah. When they were, when they were...
13:58
when it was, when it was a short course the last time I did it, I think the, I think the winning team was near 20 laps. Oh, wow. But it was, it was hard and ice-packed. Okay. So you were, you were fast.
14:08
Like, I remember doing that lower, that lower section. I, I always feel like it's a swamp. I don't remember what they call it. Uh, Snodgrass? Um- Yeah, maybe that's it.
14:19
But, oh, it was kind of funny because I was on my Singlespeed Pugsley. Mm-hmm. And, ah, the, the leaders caught me, so ob- obviously I'm behind the pack. And they're, like, going, "No, no, no, keep going.
14:30
You've got a pace in here that we haven't figured out." [laughs] "Just go." So, so we cruised through it. That was, like, the only place I could ride decent. And, and it was, it was fast, and it was fun, and they...
14:39
It, it was... It, it's a very casual... It's a hard-ass race, but everybody's casual about it. Like, like, their guys are going, "You know, we just caught you, but you know what?
14:48
We like your tracks, so let's just follow you for a little bit." Uh-huh. And you're like... I think it was four of them that were following me. It was kind of funny, actually. Yeah. There's always the Bloody Mary bar.
14:56
JP always- Yep... brings that. Was he there? Yep. Oh, god dang. I missed him. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's... So that one's, that one's fun. And, and again, like they say, it...
15:04
All the trail, all the races that they put on there are to benefit the area. Yeah. That... I mean, that's huge to think about that, that they put on races and they...
15:15
I don't think they, I, I don't think they overcharge either. I don't think their prices are horrible. I can't remember what it was. It wasn't much.
15:20
I wasn't, I wasn't gonna register 'cause I had a fire training that morning, but then I messed up my dates and missed the training. So [laughs] I can... Or testing, I should say. And so, um, yeah, I was able to make it.
15:34
And yeah, I don't know, 40-some bucks for- Yeah... you get a lot of free beer, and you get a lot of, I mean, soup and there was- Oh, yeah, they do the-... this guy that made really good chili...
15:43
they do, like, a chili contest, and there's always a bunch of... Everybody brings chili up there. It, it's fun. Yeah. And, and we've done everything. We...
15:49
Yeah, I mean, you've always bring your camper up there, but I've slept in my van, slept in my camper. In a chalet, probably. Uh, slept in a chalet a couple times. Mm-hmm.
15:59
You know, and just you just throw your bunk in the corner and you sleep with, I don't know, 30, 40 other people. It's kind of fun. Yeah.
16:04
Um, well- I don't know if anybody slept in there that night 'cause w- we had a, a huge fire. And did you see some of the snaps? Uh, somebody made a Sweaty Yeti fire ring. Yes. Some guys were burning through. Yeah.
16:14
And, um, yeah, we- I think I saw a picture of Dave Lenz and-... probably 20-something people... Dave Lenz and Champ, Champ, uh, Chad, uh, what's his last name? Chad Wilson. Yeah, sleeping around the fire.
16:23
[laughs] And, uh, and oh, Colin always is sleeping around the fire. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no. Well, that one year was 50. [laughs] Yeah.
16:30
I- I mean, it was weird 'cause it was 50 degrees and, and, and so everything was kind of mucky, except for our fire was so big that within three, four feet of the fire ring, you could... it was...
16:39
the ground was actually dirt and, and dry. Mm-hmm. So that's where those clowns slept, and you slept in the snow bank. Yeah. Well, you had been okay until you started puking then got thrown out of the camper.
16:49
[laughs] That makes sense. [laughs] I think that was the year I slept in the van. Um- Yeah...
16:55
so anyway, yeah, Sweat, uh- It brings a lot of good people from Minneapolis, and, like, Jeff, uh, Scanlan was there from Milwaukee.
17:01
Kevin Berg, Kelsey, uh, Madison crew was up, and just brings the people from all over the place. Um- Well, and, and, and if anybody's
17:09
local and looking for a place, fun place to go ride and to go do cool shit, it's a great place to go stay. It's, like I said- Oh, yeah... primitive camping.
17:16
But, you know, Hatfield's not too far away, and some people just stay. There's, like, the, the Arbutus Motel, um, The Mug. Yep. You know, that's where we had the roller skating after, uh- [laughs]...
17:26
Singlespeed Wisconsin 2015. Yeah. Um, that's at the... Uh, it, somebody else bought it. I think it's, like, The Lake Lounge or something like that. Well, is it... The roller skating rink is closed, I think. It's...
17:35
Somebody else bought it. Oh, they did? Yeah. They opened it back up? Yeah. Nice. It's, like, Lakewood's Lounge or something like that. Okay. And then, and then, uh, um, what was the supper club we used to go to?
17:44
Uh, not The Wildcat. Uh, Speakeasy. Oh, yeah, that's it. Yeah. Mm-hmm. That was fun. A- a- and we, and great times up there, and the people love... They're, they're very appreciative of everybody coming up there.
17:54
And so the weird thing is, is there's, there is a lake right in Hatfield. Yeah, Lake Arbutus. Yeah.
17:59
And, and so there's, there's the lake boating people, and then there's this goofy group that goes over and ride mountain bikes and looking for cheap stuff. And so they... I don't...
18:07
I, I could be wrong where they just seem to, like- Like us a little bit better because we're just, we're not gonna spend a lot of money, but we're also, like, a lot of fun to hang out with.
18:15
I think we do spend a lot of money. [laughs] Like, I, I don't bring a lot. I'll bring Toppling Goliath beer up there as I'm gonna give it away. Hmm. You know, just 'cause it's local to us.
18:24
And, um, that's one thing that Steve started I think with NOFEST. The, the beer pool. Just a swimming pool full of ice and- Yeah, that's a-... people just bring a local brewery thing up there...
18:32
that, that's a Wisconsin or Winona thing. A Winona thing, yeah. Winona guys started that for their time trials and when they used to do the Wildwood Climb. Oh. It was like two tubs and your, and, and your entry fee was
18:43
20 bucks and a six-pack of beer. Ah. And then everybody would just swim in there and you just grab what you wanted. It was e- it was a great [laughs]... They loved it because you know what?
18:51
There's always beer left over and you get to take it home. [laughs] That's good too. Yeah. Oh, there was so much. Like, at Sand Creek, I don't know how much beer they donate, but everybody got a four-pack.
19:01
I got a four-pack of, uh, mulberry or, I don't know, some sort of berry s- uh, scotch ale. Oh, really? It was, like, super high alcohol. I had one. Um- Well, if it's a scotch ale it will be, yeah. Yeah.
19:16
But it's like a berry flavored. It's kind of a weird... I don't know. But yeah- That's awesome...
19:19
and the winner of the, uh, of the individual solo race came up and Steve's like, "Eh," and this guy, and he like, he's handing him a four-pack and he's like, "Uh, I can't." And he's like, "Oh, come on."
19:28
And he's like, "I'm not 21." [laughs] We're like, "Oh, I'll help you out." [laughs] Where's, where's my dad? [laughs] Yeah. No, it's, it's, it w- it's cool.
19:40
Um, like I s- I don't know if anybody's slept in the chalet this time. Um, but everybody just hung around the fire. We did marshmallows. Um, the Drinkards from Duluth were there. Um, I don't know.
19:52
It's always just a great event. Um. [bottle top pops] No, that, it, it, it's- You okay there? [laughs] Yeah. Yeah. I'm just answering 8,000 texts again, sorry. Um, okay, so that was cool.
20:09
So two weeks later, now you did Birke. Yeah. I'm trying to keep- Or the week after. I'm trying to keep us on tack here, timetable. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
20:16
Um, and, and, and, and I will tell you right now, I, um, I went with the guys to Birke two years ago. Mm-hmm.
20:24
And, and I was kind of pissed off 'cause, again, I, I wind up being in this weird spot with h- with hockey that it, I could have a game that weekend or I may have to work the games that weekend depending on how our team does.
20:35
So I, I can never sign up which, um, I, I think, I think of the two, [sighs] I don't know. I, I, I kind of want to do the Birke. I want to ride that course. You wanna do the full one?
20:47
Y- yeah, I mean, I, I just think I, I think I want to do that because I ride Lois all the time. Mm-hmm. So Birke is interesting to me.
20:54
And then, um, and hopefully Greg can put up the video that you have of it, or else you can just go to, I don't know- Yeah, I can send it. It's just 2024 Birke highlights. Yeah.
21:04
There, the g- if, if nothing else, go to that and, and watch it, and it's so cool because... Oh, go ahead. You talk.
21:09
It, it reminds me of, uh, Mario Kart when you're, like, racing on the snow road, whatever, and the road's just floating in space.
21:14
That's what it looked like because it was grass on both sides and everything was melted except for the snow road that was just packed down [laughs] and it's a ribbon of snow through, like, the golf course and, and a lot of the woods.
21:25
Um, we climb, see, the tower or what's it called? Power line tower, power line climb, whatever. That didn't have snow on it.
21:33
Um, but again, it's, you know, where there's north-facing and south-facing hills, and I think it was negative... No, not negative. It was positive 18 degrees at the start. Oh, it's not bad. Yeah.
21:44
But like two years ago they pushed it back 'cause it was below zero at the start, so we started later. Um, this year they did, because they did a three-lap course, 'cause it's usually an out to double O and back.
21:56
Um, they made a three-lap course, and they had the short fat and a fun fat go first. Short, it's one loop or, like, half of a loop, and then the main Birke was three full laps. Oh, cool. Okay. Yeah.
22:07
So, um, and it was definitely-- We started at 10 o'clock, which was probably in the high 20s when we started, and it had to be 40, 45 when we got done. Oh, it's just starting to make it iffy. Yeah.
22:19
Although it was done in 18, it's, it stays for a while. Yeah. 'Cause- So the snow was nice and good and hard for a while. Yeah. Yeah.
22:25
And then when you're in the woods, when there, the snow that was in the woods, you know, that was fine. Right.
22:29
But, you know, once you got out into, like, the golf course, um, kind of to the starting to finish, the sun was really hitting it, and you can re- definitely feel, you know, those south-facing slopes where the sun was really getting to it.
22:40
That, that's weird because [laughs] Sorry. [laughs] You're like a teenager looking at your phone going, "Dad." I'm work- I know. I'm working my ass off here. There's too much shit going on. Yeah. Um,
22:54
yeah, they did a really good job. I'm glad they pulled it off. You know, there's a lot of people that were, um, I'm sure, hesitant to register. Numbers were down. I think I heard 750, 800, uh, registered- Uh...
23:06
this year compared to what it's been in the past. When you and I skied with Greg and those guys, what do you think it was then? D- did they limit to 1,000? No. I wanna say 1,200, 1,500. Okay. I don't, I, I don't know.
23:16
I m- I remember when I tried to sign up, they wouldn't let me. Uh, you couldn't do it, yeah. And, and, and a little, and a little bit of that was
23:23
maybe not so much that they've peaked on numbers, but it was more, like, the registration and the timekeeping and stuff. They c- they couldn't sign me up that late. Yeah. So, and I understand that.
23:33
I, I tried to, I tried to sneak in, of course. [laughs] And got yelled at. They're pretty much on top of things up there. I mean, I- Oh, without a doubt. I mean, this is, this is their livelihood when you think about it.
23:42
Yeah. That's where they get their money. Well- Yeah... well, they get a lot of their money from the Birker Miner ski race the week before, which, you know, when they can pull...
23:49
If they don't pull that off, that is hard on them. Sure. You know? I mean- Well, I mean, you think about... So, I mean, they're, they're, they're kind of living on Trollwang and 40, the Birke, if you have, like, Birke.
24:01
I mean, they're living on three, four events. Yeah. They do, they do other stuff too, don't get me wrong. There's always something going on up there too. Oh, Hayward has the Lumberjack- Right... uh, Na- I don't know.
24:08
It's National World Championships. Ah. Which I would like to go up there and ride bikes when that's going on. I just wanted to see that. That would be kind of cool. That would be fun. Yeah.
24:16
Um, so if you wanna take a summer trip We, uh, O'Garra and I talked about this last year, 'cause we went, we're gonna go down to Bentonville in July. Yep.
24:24
Like, if, if, if we're doing a summer trip, we're going fucking north. We're not going where it's hotter. [laughs] So we're... [laughs] We're going where it's- Let's go where it's hotter and more humid, yeah. Yeah. No.
24:32
No, it was, it was a great weekend.
24:34
I, I got a little Airbnb in Seeley, um, so a short ride to the Sawmill Saloon that was dog friendly, on a cool little frozen lake, so my dogs got to come up and, um, stay up there with me too.
24:45
Um, yeah, that was the coolest part. And then, yeah. So the question is then, so that was fun. So just 'cause we're getting short of time here, I'm trying to stay on task. Okay.
24:56
Um, are you at all interested in going to New England? Oh, Singlespeed N- was, I guess... Singlespe- well... it was... well, uh, what's the... I'm trying to say, like,
25:06
um, I, I, I haven't seen anything about Singlespeed USA. Yeah, that's true. All the bullshit we put up with last year in Kansas City, I've seen nothing, and I'm not trying to bitch at anybody.
25:15
Maybe it's gonna come up and maybe it's not, but it should've been up by now.
25:19
But that being said, uh, New England, um, the guys that ran Singlespeed USA in New England, other- well, actually they ran it in Maine They were in Maine... in two years ago? Uh, well, well, that's where- Yeah...
25:32
before we brought it to Iowa. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. So yeah, so three years ago maybe. Um, anyway, they're putting on Singlespeed New England. They're, they are so,
25:41
not even just singlespeed racing, just mountain bike racing in general in, on the East Coast, up in that, up in the upper East Coast areas, they're dialed in. Yeah.
25:51
They've got, they've got a couple guys that are building trails and understand what they're doing, and they're running... It, it's fantastic. So, um, I'm interested in going to that one. I, I- I am too...
26:01
I, I wanna go to Singlespeed USA also. I don't know when it's gonna be. I think it's gonna be in Colorado. I think it's gonna be at Grand Junction. Oh. I don't know what that, I don't know what that means.
26:14
I mean, I, I... By that i- I mean, um, I've only ran, rode Grand Junction a little bit. Okay. And, and the concern of everybody that's, that wasn't there that, that rides Grand Junction is like,
26:27
"You know, you can get people way out there." Yeah. "And we get drunk, and they're gonna try to get back, and there's no fucking, there's no shortcuts." There's no shortcuts and there's no shade. I rode- Yeah...
26:35
up at Grand Junction a lot of times. Oh, have you? Okay. Yeah. Yeah, so, so you understand what it's like too, so it's a concern to people. And, and maybe, and maybe Matty's got it figured out. I don't know. Yeah.
26:43
And that's awesome. But I, I, um- I heard Crested Butte. Maybe it's not Crested Butte. I thought that's where Whitman lived. But, but again- Well [laughs]... nothing's been- Today, today he could be there...
26:54
set in stone [laughs]... Whitman could be living... [laughs] The, the guy is kind of living the dream. Yeah. It's like, "Ah, fuck it. I wanna go live here. Uh, I wanna go here. Oh, there's a bike shop.
27:02
Oh, I can work there. Oh, good." Yeah. And then it's like, I put on a couple events and move on. It's like, "Ah, fuck it. I'm gonna move here." It, like, I can keep track of the guy. Yeah. He's, he's an awesome kid.
27:10
Don't get, get me wrong. I love the guy to death, but he, he's like, yeah, do it right. So anyway, there's, um, other things coming up. Um, we've got the Klunker race in Osage. Is that Mayday or whatever? Yep.
27:23
Mahday, May, May- Mayday... yeah, blah, blah, blah. I don't remember what it is. Yeah. Yeah, Derek didn't make it up to, uh- I was gonna say that... his buddy, buddy Yeah... Joe was there.
27:33
And, uh, he, he got a sweet Klunker. He got one of Shell Money's Chuck, uh, Klunkers. Really? I wanna buy that. Shell? Sell? I, I don't know how you say it. Yeah, Sell. Yeah. No. Uh, fucking Tyler Anderson.
27:43
His mom, my husband's- Fuck it, it was Ty-... high school- It's Tyler Anderson. I know the guy. [laughs] Zimmerman. Zimmerman. Oh, Zimmerman. 'Cause his mom, 'cause his mom was my math teacher in high school.
27:50
[laughs] Yeah. [laughs] She's Albert Lea. She is. But don't get me wrong, he's got, uh, he's got a Klunker I want bad, but I, you know, I,
27:58
I ride like shit, and you think I'm gonna spend, I should spend $3,200 on a Klunker? Yeah. It's either that or I have to give the money to my kids, right? Well, that... I mean, that, it looks cool.
28:08
It looks really cool, but there is so much take-up in the pedal. What do you call that when, when, before the engagement happens? Oh, yeah, the engagement? Yeah. It, uh, it's not, it... But he uses good stuff.
28:16
Like, like- Yeah... it, it's just the pawls aren't tight, because the, the, those... I mean, those guys carry, they ride, they ride West Coast stuff. The, to the point where they carry
28:28
crescent wrenches and other wrenches- Yeah... and they fucking repack the fucking g- and grease, and they repack their brakes so they get down to the bottom of the hill. Oh, believe... Well, remember?
28:36
'Cause last time we rode, was it Bellingham? What was that Singlespeed, what? No. Bill- no, Bellingham was where we did- Bellingview? Yeah. Bellingview or Bellingham? Bellingham, yeah. Yeah.
28:43
When we, we took that shortcut down the mountain- Mm-hmm... and we got to the bottom and their, and their hubs were smoking- Yeah. Yeah... because yeah, they had to.
28:52
Well, that, and that, and that's why, that's why, that's why when you buy one- 'Cause they're running the ratios... of Seal's bikes, it has- Down low... it has a fin on it. His do, yes.
28:58
And that, and, and I think, I think the fins, the fins help, but they don't save it. Mm-hmm. You're still, you know... And none of those guys, and none of those guys have front brakes.
29:07
Like, guys that will cheat a little bit, like they'll go out there and they'll throw a front disc brake on- Yeah...
29:11
just to save the rear wheel from dying on them as they're going down the hill, which just- Or a reducer or whatever they call it... makes total sense to me. Yeah. Yeah. No. No. Yeah.
29:19
Um- So we got, we've got stuff to do this summer. I don't know. I'm gonna, I'm gonna coach through April and then I'm done. Okay. And I don't know. And, and- Forever? No. You're done being a coach.
29:28
Well, I'm gonna do high school, but I don't, I, I seriously don't think I'm gonna do USA Hockey anymore. Oh. Um, I'm, I'm... I don't mind spending my own money, but when I put
29:38
more miles on my truck to go to practices and games, and hotels, and everything else that I did, and I get reimbursed for nothing- Yeah... I'm like... And they, and they're charging, they're charging these kids a ton.
29:55
I, I, I don't, I don't keep track of all that kind of stuff. It's the kind of stuff I try to stay out of. But, like, next year if I, if I were to do it again,
30:03
um, I'm stuck with a different group of kids, so I'm doing a younger group, so I have to go to Duluth, and they're gonna, they're gonna reimburse me 150 bucks a night for my hotel. Mm-hmm.
30:11
Cheapest hotel in fucking Duluth is 300. Ugh. We looked at an Airbn- you and I talked about this last night. The Airbnb we're looking at for two nights with taxes and-... mandatory fees- The, the...
30:24
is $850 for two nights. Yeah. And I'm like, "And we're getting 300 back." Yeah. I'm like, "I, I love you kids, but I'm not spending 550 bucks to spend two days with you. Sorry." Yeah.
30:35
You better be having a lot of fun if you're spending- Yeah. I, we went to Alexandria last fall. I brought my camper up there. Mm-hmm. We stayed at the, um [laughs] the gun range actually. Ooh. And it was okay.
30:44
She had one of the showers up there, and it was, it was an okay setup. It was, it was fine, but at the same time it's like, seriously? It, it's... So yeah, so I think, I think my, my, uh, lack of income and, and my...
30:59
I'd, I think I wanna go do biking stuff instead. Yeah. And, and, and there's, and there's ton- You're supposed to be retired, you know? Yeah. [laughs] That doesn't happen. [laughs] But there's tons of stuff coming up.
31:07
I mean, we've, we've only touched the surface. Like als- just for us here in the Midwest, Old Stage has got a ton of stuff going on. Wisconsin's always has something going on. Yeah.
31:17
Um, Iowa in general our, our high school season's getting bigger and more races, so we're gonna host more here in Decorah. Mm-hmm. Um- I'd like to do more Milwaukee shit.
31:28
They got, what's it, 10 years ago- Oh, by the way, uh, yeah, April 2nd you going over? April 2nd? That's a Tuesday. That's a Tuesday. We talked about that last time- Yeah... a little bit. Did we? Yeah.
31:36
Can't even remember- I guess. I'll have to see what else is going on... can't even remember anything anymore. It's a Tuesday. It was last podcast. It's not Tuesday. It was like last night. Oh yeah, whenever.
31:42
[laughs] Yeah. [laughs] No, but I, I agree. I- Well, what is the plan? Is there gonna be a party? Is there just- There's a party on Tuesday evening. Okay. So whenever you wanna go over, we can go over. Okay.
31:52
Well, we need to go over Tuesday during the day, and we won't be back until Wednesday night.
31:56
I think, I think my problem is I either, I might have to coach Wednesday evening, so I'm gonna have to come back, like, at a decent time on Wednesday. Well, I usually got fire drill on Wednesday too.
32:03
Yeah, so we have to be back in town, but that'll be fun. It'll be... It's a Tuesday night. Yeah, it's, um, the bike scene in Was- in Milwaukee is fun. Um, I th- I think the same thing is up, going up in Minneapolis.
32:15
They're just quieter about it. Um, Pat Mersch is coming up, um, from Drunk Cyclist, is coming up on the 23rd and 24th. Yeah, baby Jesus. You just outed him again. Yep. [laughs] Oh yeah, fuck, I did. No biggie.
32:25
Um, but he's, he's gonna be up on the 23rd and 24th, so if you wanna go to Cities for a stupid night- Oh my God... of riding, doing urban shit. Has he got a plan, or is his- No... retired-ass ass [laughs] No....
32:37
showing up showing up? No, he's making me... He's, [laughs] he's like, "Hey, where should we go? Where, where should I stay?" And I'm like, "I don't know."
32:43
And then I'm, like, doing stuff with Sven and everybody else, and I was like, and then, and then Turner shows up out here, and all of a sudden I'm like, "Oh fuck, I got nothing set up."
32:51
And he's, like, texting me, "Where are we staying? Where are we going? What are we gonna do? Where... What's the bike-friendly place to go?" 'Cause he's bringing his bike with him. Okay.
32:56
He's gonna ride Saturday and Sunday, and then he start- he works Monday and Tuesday, and then he has to go back to Tempe. Do we have any Minneapolis friendlies anymore? Like, does Surly guy come up anymore or- Uh, we do.
33:07
I, I think, I think I'm trying to... We... Our biggest focus is gonna be we're gonna try to find a place to stay, and then, and then... So even if it...
33:14
He's, he's working in Eden Prairie, so he's on the south end of the cities. But that's not a place where we... That's, I can't say it's, I can't say it, it is bike friendly or it isn't, 'cause I, I don't ride there.
33:24
But 15 minutes into town is way more bike friendly and m- way more eclectic places to go hang out. That, remember that cabin? There's, like, a cabin in the middle of Minneapolis that a bike guy had for a while. Um,
33:40
this place. Girl's Place? Is that it? Yeah, that's Girl's Place. It's for sale again. I know it. Okay. And, and, and I'm a teeting, I- If you want to buy that. [laughs] You want to... [laughs] No. No you don't.
33:51
[laughs] No? No. 17th Ave South Minneapolis- You know, it's, it's, yeah... is not a nice place to live?
33:54
No, it's, no, it's not a bad place, and it is, like, the most friendly, bike-friendly area in that part of town to be in. Okay. I mean, that's... But it, it doesn't have a garage. No. You're still living in Minnesota.
34:05
It's got a weird-ass backyard. You, you ain't got... You... There... You're gonna have to rent. You're gonna have to go about 10 blocks away to Gino's Bike Shop, one-on-one bike shop- Uh-huh...
34:15
and store your shit there because there's, you don't have enough room to store a third of the stuff you have. Oh, I mean, I wouldn't, I don't wanna live in Minnesota ever. [laughs] I would never live in Minneapolis.
34:23
It's the land of 10,000 laws. So... Ah, I know. You know what? And be retired. Yeah. And, and look at what you're paying in taxes. Oh. It's fucking stupid. Yeah. So yeah, I get it. But, but it's a, it's a cool house.
34:34
I, I've been there. I helped. Um, my interview with him just before he moved, we, we sat on his front porch, and that, and that really cool fucking barber chair is still sitting on the [laughs] front porch of that place.
34:45
[laughs] And I kinda want the, I kinda want the barber chair, but I don't know where it would go. You have enough barber chairs. No, I have s- I have salon chairs. Barber chairs are totally different.
34:53
Oh, well, let's- I could send a whole new... [laughs] Then when you fucking put one in my house. [laughs] Uh, again? Yeah. Yeah. No, yeah, but you want one of those.
35:02
A- after, after as much fun as we had in the garage out here, you want one of those chairs. Yeah. Hmm. [laughs] All right. We have- Yeah... we're at 35 minutes.
35:13
This is probably the best we've ever, ever done being on time. So- The soberest we've been in a while... yeah, no shit. All right. We are out of here. Um, thanks, man. All right. Thanks.
35:23
Thanks for, thanks for the information. Thanks for actually going to races. [laughs] I go to races. I'm gonna... I, um, I think my hip is good enough that I can go ride and ride fairly quickly. Is there...
35:35
What's, uh, is there anything coming up in Rochester? Swirly? Did that already happen? Swirly's gonna... Oh, s- uh, Swirly- Maybe it already happened... was it Swirly this weekend? No, it was last weekend. Oh, was it?
35:43
And actually, they did, they did it out of Preston. Oh. They've all turned into gravel road nerds. Oh. It's Kayla. Fucking Kayla's rubbing off on them. No, this is Jeremy. Okay. Yeah, this is all Jeremy's thing.
35:55
It, it's him and, him and Brad are got... Well, the cool thing is, is him and Brad have gotten really big into bike packing and stuff, and they've set up- That's cool... and they set up some kinda cool little adventures.
36:05
Oh. There's, there's a group down here called Coffee in Decorah where they ride their bikes and just do coffee once every- Do-... once or twice a month... do, were you ever involved with this? Uh, were you...
36:13
I don't think you mo- I think you moved out of Rochester. So Jeremy and I, James, George, the usual, the usual two, three in our group. Yeah. We would go Sunday mornings.
36:23
We would go out and, and make a fire and make coffee in the fire. That'd be cool. That was fun.
36:27
We had do that, we did that a bunch of Sundays, and then we started [laughs] getting dirty looks, so we started, like, we're like- I'll buy mail wood, but we're like little bonfire going on and we're making coffee and people are like, "Vagrants, get out of here."
36:38
[laughs] You guys probably did look homeless. [laughs] Probably. Like, James' beard's down to his belly and yeah- Yeah... we probably did look like- He shaved that when I had left. He's got it, he's probably got it back.
36:48
Oh, it's back. Yeah. Yeah. It's back, yeah. All right. Okay. We'll get, we're out of here. Thanks man. I will, uh, well, hey. Do we get two? We should probably do another one next week. Sure. May- maybe.
36:59
We got two in the can. We're way ahead for once. [snorts] Yeah, but we, we probably should get five more in the can quickly. We gotta catch up, yeah. All right. [laughs] Here we go. Maybe. Yeah. I don't know.
37:11
Air's quiet for nothing. That's the start music. [upbeat music] There we go. That's the start music. Oh, I'm sorry. [laughs] I don't like this new setup. It's only a year old.
37:22
I can't, I can't stop it in the middle anymore. I want to go right to the end where it's ending is fantastic. It's the end music. Oh, you can't skip to the end? No, I can't stop it and go, and when it starts again.
37:35
It repeats. Yeah. Or I mean if you start it sooner. Oh yeah, by the way, get ready to start doing the video on this now too. Oh, that's right. [laughs] Start doing my hair.
37:46
[laughs] I'm trying, I'm trying to talk until we get to the good part. [laughs] That's what we should do. You should start it way sooner, then we just, we, we wind into it like this. Oh, I never thought about that. Yeah.
37:56
Oh, we're getting so good at this. Now that we've done two night to night, we're g- we're like so expert at this now. Yeah. Yeah. We're getting there. Here it comes. Oh, we didn't, we didn't talk about Greg being a dick.
38:08
Well, Greg's always a dick. [laughs] So it's just another day. Well, if he had Decora boy playing, well, I guess he's not Decora, but he was at Mike Back and he showed me and like, "Hey, what the-" Oh, yeah.
38:16
Bitching about that, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I'm like, "Buy him a drink." He's like, "He drinks top shelf." I'm like, "Fuck you, buy it." [laughs] This is maybe the best way to end this. Yeah. [laughs] All right.
38:28
We're out
New episodes, straight to your inbox.
Subscribe
