Home
Podcast Archive
About
Search
Log In
Subscribe
Search
Full Spectrum Cycling
Chewey’s Salon Chair #4 – The Aftermath of the Decorah Time Trials
May 19, 2021
Chewey’s Salon Chair #4 – The Aftermath of the Decorah Time Trials
15
30
00:00
37:11
Listen on
Apple Podcasts
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Spotify
Pocket Casts
Pocket Casts
Castro
Castro
Transcript
0:00
[upbeat music] Da, da-da, da-da.
0:25
[can opening] All right, here we go. [laughs] Uh, podcast number 927. Yep.
0:43
For sure. Something like that. Um, uh, once again... Oh, I'm not sure if this is a Chewy's Salon Chair or not, but if it is, it's not, once again, in the salon chair. Chewy's Spectrum f- Salon Chair.
0:56
Yeah, [laughs] there we go. [laughs] The Spectrum Salon Chairs edition. So with me tonight is Greg from Full Spectrum. Uh- Hey, everybody. Uh, Captain from- Decorah, Iowa... Decorah, Iowa. The new,
1:14
uh, owner of, um, Decorah Time Trial Reunion. Thank you. And- The 1-year- A first-time rider in the area. Go ahead Patrick? Patrick. Pat- Patrick Ziegle. Well, he's a Ziegle. I don't know if you want to call him Patrick.
1:29
[laughs] Yeah. He's a Ziegle. He's a Z- [laughs] I don't know if he... So Z- with the Ziegles, is it they're just Ziegles and th- that's, uh, an open name to- It's a big tribe. Yeah. There's a lot of them.
1:39
It's a gigantic tribe- [laughs]... and you just say, "It's a Ziegle," and you just go for the best? Or do we actually have- You could probably stereotype. Uh, anyway, this is Pa- Yeah... yeah, that's Patrick...
1:47
this is Patrick. This is a, this is a- [laughs] At the moment, this is our new favorite. [laughs] Well, I was thinking about grabbing my shotgun and shooting a bunch of Ziegles. [laughs] It's good sporting.
1:58
They're, they're pretty fast. It's good sporting. They, they stay low to the ground. Yeah. Yeah. Like, you know, they're right on the, right on the ground usually. So we've, uh, we've...
2:07
Well, we finished the first ever, uh, Decorah Time Trial- Reunion... reunion. Reunion. The, the first annual. Yep. Supposedly this is gonna happen again.
2:18
Um- I think before you say annual, I think you have to have, you have to have- [laughs] I, every t- I'm just gonna throw that out there. All right, Poindexter. Thank you. That is- The, the, no- Poindexter...
2:27
so- Weighs in with his opinion. [laughs] I had this, I had this discussion with myself a while ago thinking- Just gonna say... wait, is it technically, uh, the first annual if we've never had one?
2:37
I've, I've been chewed out, so I just wanna throw my- Ah... you know, let you know. Was your mom one of those people that called you out on your grammar? No, no. It's just fucking internet bullies.
2:46
Well, it's their first. They're heavy. And we're going to have a second. That's how it works. So it will be an annual. Thank you. There you go. There you go. It, it is the first one, and we will have more.
2:54
So next year could be the second annual. So the, the Decorah Time Trials- So whatever- So Lee Allen has been in Decorah forever, and the Decorah Time Trials go back, I think the first one was in 1990.
3:06
And then there was a gap for a while. Mm. And then they really started picking up in the mid-'90s, like '96, '97, or something like that, and went for quite a while. 25 years. Yeah, 25 consecutive years before,
3:19
uh, infighting and bullshittery and COVID and everything else happened. And it, and there was a couple year gap since the last one. No, I, it wasn't infighting. I don't- [laughs] 2015.
3:28
I just want to- I, it's, no, no, no- I, okay, if there's no conflict, there's no show, Ron. Well, okay. That's what I'm saying. Okay, so I hate everybody. So let's put it down from the start.
3:35
[laughs] Um, Deke, after 25 years, stepped down. Right. Uh, I took it over. Um, we did- With my arm twisting. Expert assistance- Yeah. I think it's called... um, we're, exactly. Um, so- Well, I got him drunk, okay?
3:48
[laughs] Twice. Um, as- He's a cheap date, folks... and then from there, and then from there, um, w- well, we ran it, we ran it two years, and then we ran into trouble.
3:58
We ran into a year where every race in southeast Minnesota, northeast Iowa, uh- Western Wisconsin... western Wisconsin was canceled because it, because it was a miserable year. So we canceled. The next year,
4:14
for whatever reason, I was no longer in charge, and Deke took it back over. And he wound up canceling. So it kinda died. And it, and it's- And then COVID. And then COVID happened the next year.
4:23
So, uh, we've had three years we didn't have it. Don't get me wrong, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Shit needs to die eventually so that we can get, we can bring it back to- So Phoenix can rise from the ashes.
4:35
Exactly. And- So the diehards- Yeah... can come through. Yeah. Yeah. And, and so this year, D- uh, Captain took it over, and he put his foot down five or six times. [laughs] They're like size 13s.
4:49
I basically told everybody- I-... that I was the dictator... that I'm gonna do this race. I'm having it. [laughs] I'm gonna do this race. And then, "Okay, I'm gonna do this race."
4:58
[laughs] And then, "I'm gonna do, I'm gon-" But he did it. And, and so it's done. And we, and thank God it's done. It was done well as well. Yeah. And it was, it was, it was as close to original as you could've gotten.
5:13
Yep. Uh, it was a, there was 15, 16 of us that rode it. Um, we- Original course... original course. Um- To some extent. Why? Well, because- Why?... it's been rebuilt f- since then. [laughs] Well. Eh.
5:28
In the last, in the last 31 years or whatever it's been. [laughs] Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, you're- Yeah. Stuff breaks... you're splitting straws there. I know. You know, you gotta.
5:34
Well, to be, to be fair, it is, it is now. To be fair. But yeah, right? Um- Um, so Ziegle is, it, there's been Ziegles in Decorah before, but not Patrick Ziegle. Yes. This is his first time here.
5:45
Which is- My first time... which is really sad. It is. I'm- I'm crying over here just thinking about it. Oh, yeah. I, and that said- I, I was bawling, but I got through it.
5:53
Well, I said- So in initial impressions, since you did all of, uh, two and a half miles of racing and probably eight miles of riding around town, what's your initial impression of Decorah, Iowa?
6:03
Uh, well, I mean, I doubled back, so I got quite a few miles in. But- Trails were amazing. I mean, the one trail system that I rode. And- Was it Twin Springs? Twin Springs. Okay, yeah. And, and, and that was...
6:17
Uh, when I came down here, I don't think there was anything else other than that. Well, we had Palisades. We had, uh, just a small loop. Uh, Dunning Springs, we just had a small loop. But what we would do is, uh,
6:36
tie all the courses together, and actually had more riding between the different trail heads than riding. And, um, you know, that's what we did.
6:47
But Twin Springs is always one of the original rides, one of the original- Well, so the second, second year of it, it was the first, my, I think my first year down here. So I did it then.
7:00
It, it was the second six years later year. Yeah. So it was the second not annual. Okay. 'Cause, 'cause there was a big gap in between the first one- No... and then. Between the first one and the, and the second one?
7:11
And, and the second one, yeah. Um. To my n- At least that's Gunner. I, he's the historian. Maybe Hovden's the historian. Well- Somebody's a historian. Not me. No, but that was too many brain cells ago. [laughs] Yeah.
7:22
Yeah. Well- You had to have a designated driver... and, and, and actually if you think about it, it was Deke and Gunner that did it, so I'm not sure the exact, the exact dates.
7:34
But at the same time, whenever it started, when we originally did it, w- it was out there for the first three, four years. At least, yeah. And then at that time we were building more trails on Van Peenen and- Dunning...
7:48
Dunnings, yeah. And so then we moved over that way. Yep. And we included Palisades. You know, Palisades was part of it, but Palisades eventually became big enough that w- it was its own time trial. Right.
8:00
Well, with 35 miles of trails here, now you could have a time trial every weekend and never run the same thing twice. Yeah. That, you know, and that's the funny part about...
8:08
The bad part about running at Twin Springs is everybody knows the course, 'cause there is a single spot. The good thing is I marked the course, which I didn't have to mark the course, which I didn't. Yeah.
8:22
So that's great. [laughs] Yeah. Less work, just like not editing a podcast. Yeah. Less work is better. Exactly. And so, so that was the first year, the first few years. Um, then it moved to, we're in Palisades.
8:37
You know, we're, we're talking tonight about all the different places we started. We started in five or six different spots. Yeah. Palisades, Bruno's Garage. Um- Every year was different because we would add more trails.
8:50
We would start all different places. It normally always ended at the end of the river trail. Right. Um, and, and like you said, we, every year that we added new trails, we tried to include all the new trails.
9:04
So each year the, the, the course literally got longer. So paint a picture of Decorah's topography for folks that have no idea what the fuck we're talking about.
9:13
You know, it's like nobody knows what Palisades or Van Peenen or any of that stuff is. Yeah, so, so- But Decorah is surrounded by 400 vertical feet of bluff. Uh, yeah. Ish. Ish. You'd explained that the, uh...
9:26
Just recently they found out that a meteor had landed in the area. Yeah, the impact zone. The, everybody's trying to make this sound like this was, or seen it, invasion- Is this not, maybe not a thing?
9:37
Or like it's- Invasion of the Martians, you know the one, that one with... No, it's true. It, this was hit by a meteor. That's what, and that's where- I mean, there, there's aliens everywhere...
9:46
and that's- Let's, let's be real. Oh, yeah. Wait. Well, we- [laughs] There's one, there's one sleeping away in my living room right now in fact. Oh, yeah. Yeah. [laughs] Yeah. No, you said he was recharging.
9:56
[laughs] Well, yeah. Well, see, well, he was certainly speaking alien language, whatever that's called at this point. Oh. Mr. Lunz, God bless you, sir. Boop, boop, boop, boop.
10:05
For, if it weren't for that entertainment, it just would've been racing and having a good time. [laughs] When, when, so the race went well. Everybody hung out. We, um, we had wings afterwards by- So many wings.
10:16
We had some wings. It was amazing. It was some great chicken. Oh, they were drumsticks actually. Drumsticks. Yeah. Yeah. But to the,
10:24
uh, Decorah's in the driftless area, so which goes up through Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin. The last gl- uh, glacier missed it, so the Upper Iowa River cuts through Decorah. So Decorah is in a bowl.
10:41
And like Palisades, you have a 200-foot cliff. Uh, that's a great place to watch the races that's going on tonight, stock car races. Over at, over at the fairground there with the quarter midgets, folks.
10:55
Just missed out on the dirt track. And- They're like, "Yeah, yeah." Kinda like that. But Decorah is, uh, if you ever rode the trails in Decorah, it's definitely- I never have... known for very steep climbs.
11:11
Uh, a lot of our stuff is on hillsides. It wasn't that steep though. Like, uh, the stuff I rode- Well, it's-... like it was, it was well done. Uh- But it went up, uh- You- You, yeah...
11:20
you haven't rode the rest of it in Decorah. [laughs] All right, all right. [laughs] You, you, you rode, you in essence rode diddly. Yeah. Let's put it that way. Yeah. Yeah. [laughs] All right, I'll stop there.
11:28
So, so, uh, Pat- [laughs]... Patrick runs, uh... Tell us about the bike you were running, that you normally ride, that you rode here. The, the bicycle I rode today- Yeah... was my- The purple thing... my Farley.
11:41
Got it set up single speed, but run it at Arrowhead multiple times. Driven it into a parking garage. You know, just the standard. Standard issue. I was gonna say, the usual. Yeah. The usual.
11:54
So it was on the roof of the vehicle when you ran it into a parking garage? Yeah. Chrissy and Aaron Domeier's wedding. Oh. Drove it straight into, ripped off Kelsey's, uh, roof rack. Oh, Jesus.
12:06
So, so Aaron's down in Indy now, eh? Two weeks later. [laughs] Wow. And their, and their hard is Iron 135, which is a race that starts, mm- Like Boundary Waters- Yeah...
12:19
uh, International Falls, the- And then, and, and, and, and starts in- Frostbite Falls... end in, end of January. Is that where Bowlink- Yeah... comes from? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, Frostbite Falls. So it starts end of January.
12:29
Really? It's literally, it's literally 135 miles of maybe snowmobile trails, kinda, it's- Negative- Yeah... wet degree weather. Yeah. Absurd snow.
12:40
I think the last two years they've had the best weather ever, where it was like it never got below zero, but for only a day.
12:46
Usually it, usually the whole thing is below zero, which takes the cross country skiers completely out of it. Did you- And there was one year- Did you have to bivy at all ever? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
12:55
I, I slept just past the Surly checkpoint. But there was one year my dad and Paul Ziegel ended up running it, and they dropped out at the halfway point unfortunately. So, you know, s- about 70 miles.
13:13
It was negative 44 degrees plus- Wowzers... wind chill on top of that. So Uncle Paul is, he's a Surly guy. He is the Surly guy. Well, he's actually the- He's the- He's actually the Surly guy...
13:26
I mean, if there is such a thing as the Surly guy, he is now the Surly guy. Well, now I guess. And your dad was a Trek guy at some point in the past. Mm-hmm. Engineer- Yeah... for suspension, right?
13:37
Yeah, suspension engineer- Yeah, so... manufacturing engineer. And you worked at Trek even. I worked at Trek. It's like, you know, every Ziegel works in the bike industry. What a bunch of dummies. It's not a smart bunch.
13:48
[laughs] Suck to- suckers. Quite obvious you're not doing it for the money. Yeah. No, for sure. There's a love of bikes going on there. They do make some great bikes, guys.
13:55
If, if you're three generations of the bike industry, one of two things: either you're not really smart, or you are l- you love the industry, and that's, I would say that's just you guys.
14:04
That's- To be fair- To be, to be determined. Who knows? [laughs] To, to be fair though, Patrick, you're not in the bike industry anymore. I'm not, no.
14:09
Well, you're, you're in a, you're in a biker industry, but not a bike industry. Yeah, I work at a motorcycle shop in Madison. Oh, what, what kind of stuff do you guys do there?
14:18
Yeah, you, you were talking before about how you had, like, the Top Fuel- Yeah, we got-... drag racing champion bikes... Top Fuel, drag bikes, Top Fuel Ducati. Ooh, snap. World's, world's quickest Ducati- Oh, man...
14:30
and the world's fastest Ducati, not on, like, a radar gun, but a timed mile. Ducati is its own class? No, no, that, that- [laughs]... that's, that's its own.
14:39
[laughs] Sorry, I just- Unfortunately, like, our, our class- I have the, I have the world's holiest socks. Uh, they have, like, more holes than any sock ever made. Do you have, like, a little plaque for it?
14:48
I have a chart. Yeah, no. Oh. I do. It was- Do you have a chart? I, I can print, I can print it out. Like a digital chart? No, no, digital charts don't work. [laughs] I can print it out for you right now.
14:54
[laughs] No, that doesn't designate a trophy. [laughs] So the Ducati, was, what was that thing? 'Cause who doesn't love a Ducati? Uh, yeah, so this, uh, 1000cc Ducati four-valve with a turbocharger
15:08
run with partial streamlining and a fully custom frame. And my, uh, the boss at the shop, Bill Wisnant, built it, designed it, and rode it. He went 100...
15:25
212 miles an hour. Wow. Whoa. That's moving right along. That's r- that's crazy. Yeah. For a motorcycle. Yeah. Who wants to do that on two wheels? So, okay, so I need to take a break. You guys keep talking.
15:37
I need to go get a beer. Okay. Ron's gonna go get a beer. Yep. Everybody have a- I don't, I don't know if we ever finished getting, uh, Patrick's impressions of, uh- Oh, no. Sorry... Decorah.
15:46
Wait, wait, so, uh- Well, he hasn't seen a lot of Decorah... I thought you were going to get a beer. Huh? Where is- He's been to the Haymarket. I'm just asking for first impressions. Yo, take over.
15:52
I'm gonna go drink beer. [laughs] So Patrick, you haven't seen a lot of Decorah. No, no, but I, I, I'm enjoying- You rode in this morning... Decorah- You rode out-... to a T... to Twin Springs. Mm-hmm.
16:06
W- one thing about Decorah, Decorah has more park area than any other city in Iowa, for sure, and I think most of the country. I can't remember how many acres of park land we have. A lot of park land here.
16:19
A lot of park land, and like I say, the Driftless area, so it's, if a lot of people think Iowa's flat, come to Decorah. [laughs] Yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, any RAGBRAI you ever do, you'd know Iowa's not flat.
16:33
[laughs] Yeah. Have you done RAGBRAI before, Patrick? I've never done a complete year, but I've done two partial years. When I was working at Trek, we did a couple of test trips. And it, and it was amazing.
16:45
I had a good time. Yeah, yeah. Um, middle, southern, which route did you do? Do you remember? Mason City. Hey, did you leave a dollar in my fridge for that beer? Yeah, I did. Okay. Mason City was one.
16:58
Oh, so northern, so northern route. Near, uh, Car- Northern route, for sure. Clear- Yeah. Yeah, it's always been southern route. Clear Lake. Clear Lake. Oh, nice. Yeah.
17:04
Clear Lake, is that where the, uh, surf ballroom is? Surf, yep, yep. Yep. Yeah. That's a great spot. Oh, you did the easier route because northern Iowa- Oh, yeah. No, I, that's the reason it's easier...
17:11
over there is just flat as a pancake. Yeah, but I'm not sure there's northern route's any easier. All's I remember is the southern route is the boringest piece of shit I've ever done.
17:19
Well, except for the comedic, uh, Amish that live down there or whatever. What are, Am- Mennonites... Mennonites or Hutterites- Yeah... whatever. So I go to this- Meterites... this, this, this lady.
17:27
They're selling, like, you know, pa- uh, muffins and stuff on the side of the road. I'm like, "Oh, that's really good." I'm like, "Do you have a restroom?" And she goes, "Yeah, you're welcome to use it, son.
17:36
Uh, it's just in the, it's in the house. Just go in the door past the microwave and it's right there." [laughs] I go in there, I go, "Oh, man, she got me," 'cause they don't use microwaves.
17:46
[laughs] [laughs] It's like, I was like, "That's pretty funny." It was cracking me up. [laughs] Nothing like Chris Cakes. Nothing like Pork Chop. Son of a bitch. You know? Yeah. [laughs] That was funny, though.
17:58
Um, it- just a bunch of interesting things about those folks 'cause they'll let their 16-year-old, uh, their 16-year-olds drive- Yeah... but they're not in the church yet.
18:08
You have to make your decision when you're 18, I think, or something like that. What are you- Ron's making pantomimes Yeah. Yeah. The captain. Captain. Oh, he wants you to do this thing here, so you don't- Yeah...
18:19
oh, there you go. Now I tell you what he wants you to do. Um, but they'll let the 16-year-olds drive a van with u- everybody in it because they're not in the church yet.
18:27
They'll let them use weed whackers in the ditch 'cause they're not in the church yet. Right. That's so weird. It's- so you have to make your choice, I think, when you're 18, which is actually pretty forward thinking. Mm.
18:37
I thought it was 16. Whatever the- Yeah... age is, but it's not, it's not, you're not beating them into it, and you're not doing it and saying you're in when you're 12, so. Right. But anyway.
18:46
Yeah, back, back to- Enough about the Mennonite church... back to racing. This is a racing thing. What? No. Yep. This is- This is a racing podcast... this is a History of Iowa podcast, I thought it was.
18:54
But it is, but it's so, it's a racing one because we did a race today. We talked about how we- We did a race. I thought we just timed- We talked about- So, so yeah...
19:02
some people and drank beer and- That was a, that was a, that was a really fun crowd... gave prizes away.
19:06
Okay, again- Oh, oh, okay, speaking of prizes, the coolest, I thought the coolest prize besides cash dollars- Yeah... was- Uh, the way, and, okay... was, was Gunner's plates. I mean, are there- Yeah. Oh...
19:16
this, so Decorah's known for potters, and, and our buddy Gunner made the, the, the plates that people got as the prize were very nice.
19:24
And on top of that- I was, I was hoping, but I didn't actually try that hard, so [laughs] Yeah, you didn't ride fast enough.
19:32
The- You were, you are def- That was, that was the key thing that g- [laughs] You are definitely faster, I know that [laughs] There was at least one lady that was faster than you by quite a bit, just so you know. Oh.
19:40
Oh, yeah. Definitely faster than me. Yeah, she was, she was fast. Yep. Man, when she was coming down and going over the rocks and doing jumps and stuff, I'm like, "Yeah! That's super kickass." She rides bike well. Yep.
19:52
Yes, she does. Um- I was hoping to pass you, Chewy. [laughs] How did you not? [laughs] I don't know. I- I literally walked most of it.
20:00
Well, tell, tell, tell them- I, I don't know what bike you were riding, Chewy, 'cause I think that's important to know... so I was, I, I, I was riding, I, I was riding a 20, 27.5 cruiser, and- From State Bicycle...
20:09
from State Bicycle, and it was- Thank you, State Bicycle- Well, that's 27.5... for sponsoring the show. Yeah. That's 27.5? Yeah. Oh, nice. Which is, which I, to me- Yeah...
20:16
is like, so Hank Tim, uh, it seems like everybody's followed suit. Everybody else that you see makes a, that makes a, a, a coaster brake mountain bike. They're 27.5. Yeah, mine's a 27.5. Yeah.
20:28
Yeah, and they're fantastic. Don't get me wrong. That's, that's the way to go. It's- Yeah... it rides well. It's easy. It's, sure, out here, um, the climbs suck. I don't climb well anyway- Yeah...
20:38
so I'm gonna get off and fucking walk anyway because this. Don't forget, my other bike is a single speed, so I don't have gears anyhow, so- Do you have that sticker on your car?
20:46
Wait, but, but the other one is a single speed. What's that? The first one is a single speed, too. They're all single speeds. They're all, they're all single speeds.
20:53
[laughs] Every bike I have except for my Tims are single speeds. [laughs] Speaking of bikes you have- I, I re- I respect that... thanks for lending me the Handsome 'cause that's a very nice riding bike.
21:01
Wasn't that fun, the Handsome bike? Oh, my God. Uh, shop bike? Yeah. Yeah. It was- That's a great bike... it was literally built to ride- I'm, I'm, I'm massaging Patrick on the potential sale of his version of it.
21:12
Oh, you have one, that's right. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I have a Stevil All Hail the Black Market one. [laughs] Which is even worth way more money as far as I'm concerned.
21:18
It's, I mean, it's- I'm thinking it's worth, like, 120, 130 bucks, not, like, 100. What? No. [laughs] I was thinking 17, 18 bucks, but sure, go with that. Yeah, yeah. Oh, man.
21:26
I'm just trying to shoot, I'm trying to shoot low, you know? But I can aim high. It, it's, uh, it's, uh- It's only the tires. [laughs] You know, I mean, it was built, it was built by, um,
21:36
the Erickson boys with Gino's help, I think. Um, it was a, uh, a bike that they figured that you needed to...
21:45
It, its goal was is to rip from one of, one of those downtown in Handsome when they were downtown to the liquor store and back quickly.
21:55
Be- and so it's pretty nimble, um, but it's also, you know, it's just a, it's a fucking coaster brake single speed, and it rips. And does yours have the, um... Which hub does it have?
22:07
'Cause Wakeman designed a hub specifically for them- Uh, that got produced as well... that got produced. It is, it is, it is Wakeman's hub. It's Wakeman's hub.
22:15
'Cause it's a re- that, that one that you rode today was all original. I know it wasn't like... I mean, it was Wakeman's design interpreted by- Yeah, right, yeah, yeah... like, it, it's not- Yeah.
22:25
I don't think it's the best, but- Yeah, it, it, it rode great. It handles great. It's fun. I, it was very lightly raining after the event today, and it, uh, first of all, Patrick had to go in hunt of Dave.
22:35
[laughs] And then I went in hunt of Patrick. [laughs] And we, we crossed, like, two ships in the night and missed each other, and it was just drizzling, and it was, like, maybe 65. It was beautiful out.
22:45
I had my Kitsbow wool shirt on. I'm like, "I'm just gonna keep riding even though I don't really have to. I'm just gonna go-" Just the, the trails around town, the one that I rode, I mean, multiple times, was awesome.
22:55
Oh, part of this one. Part of trail- Well, yeah, it goes along the- Part of the trail run trail... whole valley, kind of. Right along the river. Nug Road. Yeah. Nug Road? Nug Road.
23:04
Tomorrow you ride, tomorrow you ride the other s- the, the regular stuff we do. We're gonna go, um, public television- Yep...
23:11
and up through that way and, and ride, and you're gonna find out th- what the trails are really like 'cause that- Cool And then you're gonna wanna come back... this, this is what- I, I, I already wanna come back.
23:20
Well, so- Well, you've already been invited back, which is even- To be fair- Which is even, yeah, to be fair, to be more important that you've been invited back by multiple people.
23:29
Well, and, and what you rode today was, think about, was our original trails. Yep. Um, that was, there was nothing else where, where you're gonna ride tomorrow didn't exist until after we-
23:41
So, who do you think, or when do you think this trail was built that we rode today? '89, '90. '89? Yeah, '89 or '90, something like that. So, 19- Well- Wait, so 1990 was the first Decorah Time Trial.
23:53
That was last century. That was the original. Yep. And then you said 25 years. Yep. And then, so 2015- Well, there-... it was done? No, because there was, like, a gap in the beginning from the first to the second.
24:04
Yeah, there was a gap between the first one and the- Okay. All right. And, and, and it's, so if you go by just the race itself was we did a few years out there And then we moved to... Do we do Palisades first?
24:18
We talked about this at the beginning of the show. Yeah. Yeah, it was, we did Palisades. Yeah. But I wanna say we did some of Dunnings too, because remember for years- I got a question. Oh, right.
24:27
We started, we started at Dunnings Springs, which you can't even- We should probably have a map of the town so people know what we're talking about. So, when- Oh, yeah... was your first Decorah Time Trial? You guys.
24:36
I don't remember. You don't, do you remember? Well, mine would- Uh- Yeah, mine would've been in, like, nine- uh, '97 or '98, 'cause I was coming through here- Yeah, '98, yeah...
24:42
as a rep for a wholesale company, and I rode here every, I was here every three weeks I think or something, every maybe- Yeah. Oh, really? Oh, that's- Yeah, so I, I would ride, and then- [laughs] That's awesome...
24:51
did the events and stuff, and so I think, yeah, in that ballpark. And I only did three or four years. These scale, these trails here, especially back then, they weren't benched in as well.
25:02
They were much more fall line stuff, and some of them were just scary as hell. Like, going down the Backbone and stuff. Yeah. I'm like, "Oh my God, that's" I still have- It's like shale, and sketchy and stuff.
25:11
I'm like, "Uh." I still have scars from Backbone. [laughs] Well, not, yeah. And that was part of our course. I mean, and, and it's evolved as, as...
25:18
You think about as we built these trails, as we would add a new section each spring, we would have to figure out the course to make sure that that, that we included that section in on the race. So it was- Right on...
25:28
every year get bigger, bigger, bigger, and maybe change spots. Um, well, we, well, we added, um, Dead Pet- Right... over in Palisades, which is technically across the road from everything else we do now.
25:41
And we don't even use it anymore, because now we have all the trails on one side of the road, so it's, or in, in a section that's safe so that we can, we can monitor you with less, uh, um, volunteers.
25:53
So are you, are you dodging Patrick's question about when the first year you raced here is? Yeah, 'cause I can't remember. I can't remember. Because...
25:58
Yeah, that's, well, at his, at, at his advanced age, he's really not- The whole time I've been babbling here, I'm just thinking, let's see, what decade is this? Well, Ron, so Ron, he, he started the race for many years.
26:07
He was the guy that held the saddle when you're facing a 90-degree cliff in front of you and, and was like, "Okay, go," but he was holding you up so you didn't slide back down the hill.
26:17
I, I did, I did- [laughs] You did, you couldn't have a running start? No. No. He started on a, like- He started on a hill... like a 45-degree angle going up a hill. Yeah.
26:24
I mean, you were doing good to get up that first climb. Oh, yeah. Probably 10% of the people made it.
26:30
But he would, but he would, he would run after you, and push you, and get you going, and then you were on your own, and then you're like, "Oh, there's a tree right there. I can't..." Uh, it's like, "Oh, damn."
26:38
[laughs] Yeah, it, it was just like, like, it was a very interesting- I, my claim to fame is I've held more butts. [laughs] And counted five, four, three, two, one, and if it was a nice butt, it was, "Five, four."
26:52
[laughs] Oguera, Oguera's butt's pretty nice. Yeah. That's, that's too hard. It's just too rocky. I can't do it. [laughs] So, so, uh, I, I don't think...
26:59
W- has there been a time trial in recent memory that Oguera hasn't won? Like, the last ones? Uh, no. It was... There, you know, so, so going back to when we were doing it in the middle, and De-
27:14
Decon's, uh, Oneota River Cycles here in town, car company... and, and, and Deak is, in, in essence is, is the founder, the runner of this thing.
27:21
But there were times when, so, you know, before cellphones and everything else, I, I can remember coming down here and setting up the course with Deak.
27:29
But to make it fair to those that were coming from out of the city, uh, we wouldn't tell anybody the course.
27:36
So all these guys would, like, they were, like, riding, uh, 19,000 ways, 'cause they, they would see Deak and I out riding, and they'd think, "Oh, well, it's going that way," you know? Yeah, yeah.
27:45
And Deak and I would literally go fuck with them just on purpose, just to go ride different ways to make everybody off.
27:49
But in essence, nobody was supposed to know the direction of the course at the start of the race to, to make it fair for everybody. Right. You know? And, and I can re- Not to give the locals a, an extra advantage.
27:59
Well, but if you rode that section 1,000 times in the past, it didn't really matter whether you knew- Oh. No, it did, because- Come on...
28:06
because, because you're, you're like, you got in the habit of riding it a certain way, and then you would take, throw a, a turn here left, and you don't do, and it would screw up the guys enough to make it somewhat fair.
28:17
Yeah. Um, but then, then on top of that, then Deak would have us sit at his house, and like, I'm not kidding, we'd sit in our, our fucking La-Z-Boy chairs and watch the weather.
28:25
You know, because it was earlier, it was like end of April. It was usually in April at some point, yeah. Yeah, end of April, and it was like, "Fucker, are we gonna get snow, rain?"
28:33
And we, and you know, this was, like, before cellphones and stuff. Plague, plague locusts maybe.
28:36
So we, so we're, like, literally sitting there glued to a TV set all fucking night long trying to decide if this race is even gonna happen. It was, uh, uh- It wasn't canceled, I don't think, very often.
28:47
We- No, definitely not. No, we never- Even in the snow it wasn't canceled... you know, we never really canceled it until... And I'm not sliming anybody here, but I'm going to.
28:55
[laughs] Um, until they decided that- Ring-a-ding-ding-ding-ding... that we had to be correct on our trails and how we use them, and it's like, "Oh, it's gonna fucking rain. We can't ride the trails."
29:04
And- Politically correct... and we rode in snow. We rode in rain. We rode... I mean, we went out and hunted down riders that were hunkered down by trees, 'cause they were freezing to death out there, you know?
29:15
A little hypothermia on the home race course. Yeah, and, and, and now, and now it's, and now it's all about saving the trails and making sure they don't... And
29:23
sure, there's some of that, but i- uh, uh- You have to enjoy the trails, too. Uh, you're right. And you know what? And it's the- And they didn't have fat bikes in the olden times, 'cause that would've been like,
29:31
that would've been awesome with a fat bike. Oh, a fat bike, you'd have ripped it. You know, it would, it'd be a d- As a matter of fact, Oguera was riding a fat bike. Yes. Single speed.
29:41
[laughs] Um, you know, steel frame fat bike. He's a fat- And he won it by, like, a minute? Yeah. Yeah. He was significantly fast. [laughs] Like eight minutes.
29:48
[laughs] Again, and, and, and I'm not gonna rip on Oguera, but at the same time, they knew the course. You're gonna rip on Oguera. So they wanna- So what?
29:54
Like- So, so if you rode my- So, so Gunner knows the course too... yeah, but- So he rode a single speed. He rode a fat bike. Like, it, he still ripped it. Yeah, but you know the course.
30:01
It just, like- Well, Gunner's fat bike weighs around 60 pounds. 16? 60. 60 pounds? 60. Yeah. No, one six. His fat bike- [laughs] Whose does? No, Gunner's. It- Oh, Gunner? Oh, Gunner has one. Oh, Gunner's does.
30:11
Yeah, Gunner, Gun- Oh, he has a Mongoose. But he has gears. Yeah. Yeah, but- Yeah, he has a Mongoose. It's, it is not... So Oguera's fat bike probably weighs- More of a gang or whatever, yeah... 24 pounds or something.
30:20
Right. But one thing I wanna mention is the original- Race was won by Terry Hovden, and it was pouring rain Saw Terry today, by the way Yep, and he was the one that donated all the cash for the prizes.
30:34
But he went home, got his f- football cleats, he used to play football at Luther, and he ran the course with the bike over his shoulder and won it. [laughs] And, and, and ran probably two-thirds of the course?
30:51
Oh, well, he had to finish the whole course, but yeah. Yeah, but, but I mean running it, I mean- Yeah, he just took the bike... his cleats, I mean, yeah I mean, he didn't even start riding his bike.
30:58
He just threw it over his shoulders- See, and I think-... and ran... that was my second And then you said, "That's cheating. You gotta ride your bike." Uh, no.
31:04
[laughs] No, because I- [laughs] I didn't ride, I didn't ride my bike [laughs] Well, we were talking today about, everybody was talking about how they took off and they, they did the, they did the wider part of the course to, uh, that first corner.
31:17
And we're like, when the first year we had it, there was no wide corner. There was a path eight inches wide, and that was it. Yep. Your tires were in that path. There was no ri- like, riding around the rocks.
31:27
It was shot straight up through there. That was what you rode. So it was- [laughs] Even if even though it was a reunion, it was a little bit skewed maybe. It was fun though.
31:38
Back in the olden times, yeah, I was riding my bike and I, I barely could get through the parish on that thing. So let's go back to your impressions of- [laughs]... the trails in, in Minnesota. Yeah, because- Let's go...
31:53
this, we gotta wrap this up at some point here. Oh, yeah, no, this is- You, you mean this one trail that I rode? Yeah, this, this- Yes... this mile of- Like, like... this mile of trail that you rode today.
32:04
That we normally don't ride because we have so m- so much more better trails that- Honestly, to be fair, it's- To be fair, huh? Yeah, it's- [laughs] It was fucking awesome. It was what I enjoy for doing a steep climb.
32:20
It wasn't super technical, but it was just like- Oh, we forgot about-... a kick in the ass... your feats of strength too. He was the only guy that did the feats of strength and riding. True. Yeah.
32:27
And he rode down from the, from the Twin Springs, or actually actual springs, where they used to- Yeah... where they used to be- Gorgeous, like-... it used to be the fish hatchery up there... fresh water. Yeah. Yeah.
32:35
The original fish hatchery. The original fish hatchery for trout and, and zeal- I wish I would've gotten some photos... dropped off into the water. I, we have video of that, dude. Oh, man.
32:44
So I think I'll throw that up on YouTube, and it's probably gonna get, like, at least three, four views. 12? Yeah, 12 would be good. 12, like, is, I mean, I think it should probably get 12.
32:51
I, you know how much, you know how much money we'll make when you get 12 views? I will split it with you guys four ways, 100%- Yeah... four ways. 18th of dollars. [laughs] Right.
33:00
I was listening to a thing, I was listening to podcasts on the way here in the car 'cause I drove so much this, this week, um, and there was people talking about podcasts versus YouTube, and YouTube is something like, mm, it's, it's super low.
33:15
It's like, if you get a million people looking at your, your video, you're gonna make, like, three grand. It's like, wow, do you really wanna spend a bunch of time?
33:24
But if, but, but, but if we can put a video up there and only 12 people look at it, that's, that's way more cool, especially if we get three grand for it. I mean, if it's a video of me, maybe people will pay.
33:32
Yeah, probably. If you- Can you, like, charge it- Yeah... like, $10- Yeah. To watch a video of me- [laughs] Captain's over here-... crashing and, like, on both bikes. We have, we have you from all angles.
33:39
You left all your clothes on. Two springs. You know, no checks, you know? Two springs. Captain's over here taking notes during, figuring out how can I make money off of podcasting? Right. Yeah. Yeah.
33:48
Well, here's a way to do it. Um- Go on YouTube? Ed- Was that it? Yeah, no. It's- No, pod- actually, podcasts so, so the amount of money you can make with a podcast per 100,000 listeners versus YouTube is much higher.
34:01
The, the- Oh... the, the thing in the corner of YouTube is if it goes viral, then you're, you're doing 10 times what you would normally have done, and that makes you more money. Yeah, I guess it's probably less viral-
34:11
That's why we do-... podcasting. That's why we do podcasts. Like, is there any place where people can search- There isn't because a pod-... like podcast highlights?
34:17
Yeah, but a podcast is more like, um, you're kind of in...
34:20
you're kind of looking in on someone's family, and you're, you're kind of giving them your trust, and you're like, "Oh, I wanna hear what those guys are doing every week." With a YouTube video, it's mostly sensational.
34:30
It's like, you know, the 10 best ways to tie your shoes when they're on fire with a dragon. Or- You know, those are... Have you seen that one? With a, with a giant rack out in front of it, yeah.
34:41
[laughs] Wait, wait, am I, am I lacing my shoes the wrong way? One of the best parts of the whole day is look at the puppies. Oh, there's- Rudy is completely trashed out. [laughs] Oh, Rudy is messed.
34:50
Look at Holly and- And Holly and Viv-... Holly and Vivians. [laughs]... they're completely trashed out. Oh, Holly, you are such a bad dog chasing another dog around everywhere. Oh, look at, both laying on the armchairs.
34:59
Yeah, they were... I think they smoked some weed though. So Hank's gotta be around here someplace. I think I, I think they ate some gummies. He did have Hank. Oh. No, you didn't bring Hank. There you go. I did.
35:06
Oh, you did? Yeah. Hank's even tired. All right. So, um- Thanks for inviting me to Decorah. Yeah, thanks for- It was amazing. Thanks for coming. Fuck yeah. Yeah.
35:17
Uh, we'll get you on the trails tomorrow to show you- Oh, yeah, I'm, I'm looking forward... even more better, funner stuffer.
35:22
So the next show we do, whenever we see you, you'll be like, "Oh, yeah, that's what those guys are talking about." Yeah. [laughs] Yeah, rather than just us spewing out names and numbers here. It gets better. Yeah.
35:32
I've gotta go do- Um, I mean, I-... Funny Bear or Funny Slogen. Yes, we gotta go back to the Haymarket and drink more champagne.
35:37
Oh, yeah, we have to go back to the Haymar- it's only, it's not even 10 o'clock yet, so we're gonna- That's right. We're gonna go ahead and go back to the Haymarket.
35:41
So, so not that I don't like you guys, but I really don't. I never did like you. Um, all right, and so I'm thinking we should just- Push, push that button. [whistles] Let me just... I got that one pushed. Watch this.
35:52
You're a pro. [rock music] I hate this. [rock music] [laughs] No, I'm not a pro. [laughs] It was- Oh... you start with a- [laughs] Sucks so bad. I forgot, I forgot you can do that with the Rode noise. [laughs] Yeah.
36:04
Do it again. Okay. Let's try this again. All right. So wait. Are we doing this right? So that was a horrible... This is how it's supposed to sound.
36:13
[laughs] We're gonna, we're gonna do- Hey, it's gonna- We're gonna s- no, you fuckers- If you had a Rodecaster, you could never do this when these first come out. No, you fuckers get out. You fuckers g- It's you, man.
36:20
We're gonna sit here- You guys-... until we do this right, right? Here we go. Okay. All right, go. [rock music] Oh, that was a beautiful thing. Beautiful. Is this so much better? That was awesome.
36:29
[rock music]
New episodes, straight to your inbox.
Subscribe
