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Full Spectrum Cycling
Full Spectrum Cycling #26 – Caressa Givens and the Bike Fed
Sep 20, 2019
Full Spectrum Cycling #26 – Caressa Givens and the Bike Fed
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Transcript
0:00
[upbeat music] All right, all right, all right. Good day,
0:17
podcast people. It's the- [laughs]... Full Spectrum Cycling Podcast. Good evening... from the, uh, Riverwest Studio here at Everyday Cycles. Got JK in the room. Yeah, we're 26 years old again. Right on. Tony, Mr.
0:33
Tony Burger. Hola. And our special guest tonight, Miss Carissa. Hi. Hi, Carissa. We're gonna be talking to Carissa a little bit later about some bike stuff.
0:42
Well, actually, we're gonna talk about bike stuff all day, or all night, or, uh, whenever, however we do it. It's Monday. Whenever you're listening to it- Yeah... is exactly when we're talking about it...
0:50
it's the right time to be, us to be talking about bikes to you. So, it's only been a week, but heck in, heck, it seems like a lot went on. Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah, 33 miles on that damn one. The Goonies.
1:04
[laughs] "Hey, you guys." That was a good ride. That was a damn awesome ride. How come Tony Burger wasn't on that ride? I was obligated to go have pizza and beer at a friend's house. Ah.
1:16
What- Well, that's a good obligation... if it was on the south side, you could've gone down there with us. If it would've been on the south side, I'd have been there with you, but I was there with you in spirit.
1:22
So y- And having pizza and beer... Mike, why don't you, uh, tell people what The Goonies ride is all about and... Oh, now I'm on camera again? Yeah. Which we were on camera. Oh, that's right. But they- But you know what?
1:32
They, they didn't air it. Did you... You saw it, right? I, yeah. It was on Channel 12. I saw it. Yeah, I saw Matt. Oh, was it a hobby drone that got you? Oh, it was a- No...
1:40
it was an actual lady with a camera and she was at the- Oh... Boone & Crockett parking lot. Yeah, just asking [laughs] a lot of questions. There you go. Uh-huh. It was funny. I thought we did real well. Yeah, exactly.
1:49
[laughs] And we were on... We were, we were- Apparently there were too many fucks and whatnot in there, so... yeah, we were, yeah, we were, yeah, we were B roll. Yeah.
1:54
You know, they, yeah, they, you know, they talked to the organizer and- Just in case... he did well- Yeah... as much as he thought he didn't. Yep, it was good. Way to go, Matt. It's actually on the interwebs.
2:05
Go ahead, Matt. I should find the link for that and throw it on there so everybody can see Matt. Yeah. You know Matt is the, uh, Malort ambassador for- Brand ambassador for- Brand ambassador for wherever in Wisconsin...
2:16
Mikkellerins. That exists? Malort. Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they have a- I've never had a shot of Malort. Oh. Oh. Well, you Fernet guys ought to be Malorting the heck out of stuff. I, I'm a Fernet guy.
2:24
The thing is, down where he works, uh, Boone & Crockett, they have, you know, the, um, what, boilermaker combo- Yeah... beer and a shots. Yeah. And they do a Dogfish ale session sour with a shot of Malort.
2:42
That sounds horrid. So, well, the Malort has a taste. The sour- Has a shitty taste... kind of... No. [laughs] It kinda washes it away. [laughs] Makes it go away. I know, you snob. Come on now. Right? No, sours- So is-...
2:58
sours are the work of the devil... Malort like a, like a Jäger? It's like dirt. No, it's not really- No, but it burns the palate... Jäger. It has an, it has, it hangs on for a while and- Herbal properties...
3:07
it's one of those things that people buy as a joke- Let's put it this way... and then you find out you kinda like it, and then you're like, "Oh, I'll drink it." You don't want that flavor to hang too long.
3:15
You gotta wash it with something. Do you like Fernet? I love it. I love Aperitivo. So you might like... I heard this, you know- I love Ramazzotti. I love Cynar. I don't know if you know.
3:24
Man, this woman is enlightening me. I don't know what those are at all. I know. This is exciting. Make notes. Make notes. Those are all after dinner drinks that Italians drink. Oh. And it's like a little herbal chaser.
3:33
Aperitif. Okay. Well, we might have to go try some of those out. And it hits record, right? You are recording. There you go. It's, it's a red, it's a red button. Good.
3:40
We are gonna be analyzing- As you're sitting, take notes, I'm like- Yes... "Well, just make sure the damn red button's on." All right. We will be- So we started at Boone & Crockett- Yes...
3:47
with the Malort ambassador, and then? Uh, went south. South. And the end destination being, uh, John Matuszak's, uh, grave site in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery. Sepultera, Sepultera. Sepultera. Sepultera Cemetery.
4:04
It just takes forever. I was like- Yeah, I can't even-... stumble over it... don't even know what it means. [laughs] What does it mean? Hey, um, no. Right. We're distracting ourselves on this one.
4:16
[laughs] John Matuszak's. Who played Sloth in The Goonies, and he... Get down there and we do the Baby Ruth toast. And everyone was on good behavior. Very good behavior. Yes. Right.
4:30
I was impressed by that, and, well, yeah, a couple bars on the way, and then a couple bars on the way back. Yep, pretty much what that whole ride's all about.
4:39
Yeah, and it's just a good time, just to go home and- And I got home at 3:00 AM from that ride. [laughs] Yeah, same here. Yikes. Right? Well, it starts- Well, it was a good burn... it starts at 8:00, and it's like a...
4:48
Well, it's one, one of those rides where it's like a hour a stop- It's like a whole day-... kind of a-... only at night Right. Exactly. Well, the thing is with this ride, it doesn't really loop back to where you start.
4:59
It dumps you off as far south as it goes, and you're like, "Oh, yeah, we're still on the... We gotta go another 14 miles home," or whatever it is. [laughs] You just gotta hope for the best. At 1:00, at 1:30.
5:08
And keep going like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, we're going up to Stone. Oh, oh yeah, I'm going back to Boone." It's like, "Well, I had to go to Stone." Yep. All in all, a good ride. Oh, yeah. Nice. Yeah, it's just fun.
5:19
I can't, I can't not do it. It, it, it's just, uh, the spirit of it is just so awesome. Next year. Next year. You know what I discovered while sorta researching that cemetery and Matuszak- Ah...
5:31
is that The Crusher is also buried in the same cemetery. And I do believe I have coordinates. Yes, I found them. We will, we will be doing a recon.
5:43
Uh, at least nearby- We're gonna be doing it on the s- Nearby coordinates... on the same basic idea. Yeah. We're going to do a Crusher ride. I love that idea.
5:51
Do that to his, to his grave site and his statue in South Milwaukee, and a couple stops along the way. I've told you that Miley's father worked with The Crusher, right? They were masons together. Mr. Lozowski?
6:02
They were Masons together Yeah, I think you have mentioned that Yeah. You know? Nothing like seeing a bunch of men climbing incredibly tall ladders with lots of bricks on their shoulder. Molly's dad. Molly's dad.
6:13
Maybe we stop at his house and get him to talk a little bit about the crusher. Be another stop. We could do that. I could see a good cargo crusher type of r- ride where you have to- Oh, yeah...
6:22
try to, like, carry tons of bricks. That would be awesome. I have several cargo bikes. What was that one, um- [laughs]... that little messenger dealy bob where they do the Alleycat, and then they have, like, a,
6:35
a cargo- Oh, that's the, uh, Cranksgiving? Oh, yeah. Yeah, well, screw that. Do the crusher. I like that idea. That's a good song. You gotta carry these bricks. Do the crusher. [sings] Deal with it. I, I- Can you do it?
6:49
Can you do the crusher? Can you do the- Can you carry bricks on your bike? Yeah. I think there may be something of that, uh, ilk in this. This ride is, we're gonna do it this year and just kinda recon the, the route.
7:00
But- It's what it is... and so his, he, he died on October 22nd, 2005. Sounds like a great day. So it's a good s- it's a good fall time. It's a, it's a good month after the Goonie ride. Mm-hmm. Perfect. I like it.
7:13
I like it. I, I like it. I would s- I do like it. So, uh, otherwise we reconned the upcoming Jungle Cross- Oh, that was fun... race course. Which I think, yeah I, he's got number seven on here.
7:26
I thought this was eight, but- Whatever. Have you done a- Seven, eight... have you been to a Jungle Cross, Karissa? I'm a virgin to the Jungle Cross. Oh, they're always- Enlighten me...
7:34
well, they're always, um, in areas of the urban environment that are in decay or soon to be gone, like the Solvay area, which we used for a couple years. Mm-hmm. Last year was under the freeway
7:47
up towards, uh- By Home Depot... Home Depot, up by Port Washington Road. This year it'll be under the freeway, kinda more on the s- central part of Milwaukee. Nice.
7:55
Right under the, uh, it's probably the busiest intersection of freeways in the city. And this is, like, the clean- But we'll be under it... this is, like, the start out cleanest Jungle Cross.
8:07
Cleanest as in it's not gonna be eight inches of mud? Well, it's- There's no, like- There is clay... yeah. But there's, like, no terrafor- it's not like, "Oh, hey, let me go grab this spent tire- And, and make a-...
8:19
and use- Yeah. Gotcha... and, and make an obstacle." There's, like, nothing. That's exciting. Which is strange. Oh, there will be stuff, though. There's tents. Well, yeah, I'm not gonna grip.
8:28
[laughs] Oh, I know where they're doing this. It's- Oh, boy... it's tentatively called Intensity in Tent City. It's tentive, tent- tentatively calling it tentatively that. Tentatively. Really? For real.
8:39
Well, the thing is the tent city part is, like, the entrance. Yeah. There, but where we go- There's a-... there, it's way back there. There's- Oh, yeah. Okay. There, there are no residents.
8:47
There is plenty of real estate. And also, part of the idea of this is that people bring something that the people in the, that are in the tents need. Clothing or sleeping bags. Nice.
8:55
I like, okay, I'm liking this idea a lot. Yeah. It's, it's, it's bring something that would help them in their- Oh, okay. Uh, for a second I thought it was- We're not gonna ride through their tent city...
9:04
oh, we're not that much assholes. [laughs] Oh, okay. [laughs] Oh, no. [laughs] No, we would never do that. You're like those- We're assholes, but not big assholes...
9:11
yeah, who, who are those assholes that did a, where they did, like, a mock favel- favela for the World Cup? Oh, yeah. That's what I thought it was like. That, that's your hangout. No, the Nomad. Don't do that.
9:22
I mean, whatever. No. It's fine. It's a bar, but that's kinda where I was going, but now I'm happy. Yeah, no, no. Yeah, no, that's, it's, you know. It's gonna be here. We wouldn't do that. Nah, we're not- No, no...
9:30
we're not big jerks. No. No. Little jerks. Little, tiny jerks. Little, little- Yeah, we're the mosquito jerks... just the little jerks. Yeah. [laughs] All right.
9:38
We're not, [laughs] yeah, we, we don't, we don't put a big dent into it. We just, we're the mosquito bite. Oh, interesting. [laughs] Just I'm, I'm, I'm intrigued 'cause I did not do the recon ride this year.
9:49
Well, we're gonna have to do some more recon riding because- Oh, yeah... it needs to be, the, everything needs to be laid out and marked and- Yeah... that stuff... it, it, it, it's more of
9:57
course planning, not course building. Right. Okay. That kind of a- Yep, yep. Let's see... what is the, uh, date? You guys build- October... October 13th. 13th. Huh. So- Week after my anniversary... the weekend
10:13
or the Sunday, yeah. It's a Su- is it a damn Sunday? No. It's a damn Sunday. Well, no. It's a Sunday. Well, no. Well, no, I will figure it out. I'm just doing math now. Or- Oh, geez... I have to, calendar math.
10:24
Thought you had your- I'm pretty sure it's a Sunday because- Well, no, because I'm thinking Biketoberfest is Friday the 11th. Oh. And- Damn it. [laughs] Jim, I'm, I'm fastessing. There's a lot going on.
10:38
It's a serious echo. I couldn't lean into my slobbles. Um- Would you like a mat so you can thump away? You have, like, a mouse pad? [laughs] Yeah. Exactly. Got a mouse pad over here. You have that giant mouse pad.
10:48
What happened to that thing? Took it home. All right. It's a gaming pad. Yeah. I don't game. I know. Oh, okay. But it's really big. It could be on the same weekend. I'm just saying.
10:55
It's like a mouse pad, like- And that's fine. Things that happen. It's good for politicians. It'll be a good riding weekend. I'll take Monday off. Another good riding weekend. Yeah. Monday, oh, I'm sick.
11:07
[laughs] So, uh, we got beer today here at the, at the show. Where's the, are we at the top of the hill? Where's the- Clang clangers... uh- Up there. [bell rings] Hit it. Top of the hill. Top of the hill.
11:21
Top of the hill. Beer for you. Uh, we got, Tony picked up some Day Blazer New Belgium easy going ale. But Greg paid for it. And I watched them both. And the, my first sip, I really, really, really thought it was water.
11:39
Yeah, but it's starting- With a little flavor... it's starting to grow on me, I must say. Yeah. I could see a nice hot day like today, drinking a half a dozen or so of these before noon.
11:49
I mean- Oh, yeah, we threw those on the cargo in the summertime, took them to Atwater, downed, like, what is it, a 12 pack. Oh, yeah. That, that, that sounds like a nice beach beer- Perfect... for sure. I agree. It is.
12:00
It is, uh, it's going down pretty easy. [laughs] It's very easy to drink. It's drinkable. Karissa did not, she does not yet have an easy going ale. She has- Well, I don't play...
12:08
she's fancied up with a gigantic beer Girl after my own heart Yeah, I just came here. I said, "I don't know what it's gonna be like, but I need to- Bring a beer... just- In case... yeah.
12:19
[laughs] It, it's, it's Estrella Jalisco. Yeah. That's a tasty one. So it's beer from Jalisco province of Mexico? Isn't... Jalisco is a, is a territory in Mexico. See- Where tequila comes from Yeah, it is...
12:34
and tequila is what I was thinking... but, you know, I'm not gonna... I'm just... I'm not gonna act like I know. You're just going with it. You're just going with it. No. No, it, it, it, it, it- It's tasty.
12:41
That's all you need to know. It's tasty, and- Yeah. It, it runs like a Pacifico or like a Mex- like a good Mexican ale. Yeah. And yeah. Cool. And there's plenty in that can. I like it better than a Modelo. I, yeah.
12:55
I- See, you know, Modelo is a German beer- I would... I, I've never seen that size of a can... that's brewed in Mexico... I've never seen that size. How did that journey occur?
13:03
Um, it had something to do with World War II and the Nazis. [laughs] Did it have something to do with- Jesus... accordions? [laughs] N- no, but- And World War II? And invariably, invariably it came back to- To...
13:15
No, I learned this from- Oh... Colin Ford. Hey, Colin... were there bikers involved? About Modelo being brewed by Germans that immigrated to Mexico. Colin would know, wouldn't he? He's kind of a beer guy.
13:25
Kind of beer dude. So I can take whatever we can get- A terrible-... and we're gonna make a beer. Yeah. Yeah. So I went tall, I went wide, and- I, I'd say you did. Right on. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers.
13:37
Thanks for having us, or having this show tonight with us. [laughs] Yeah. Yeah. [laughs] I'm having fun. I got a koozie on here, but it looks more like a, a bandaid on a rhino's foot. A thimble. Yeah, it really does.
13:46
Yeah. [laughs] It's like- Yeah... wait a minute. We'll get a picture of this and throw it in the, uh- No, you're not going to see the... No. This will be in- No, no, this is a soda... next week's. I tell you.
13:53
[laughs] But this would fit very comfortably in a- Two of them... you know, in a- [laughs]... a bike, a bottle rack. A water bottle holder? A water bottle holder. [laughs] Is that what you're shooting for there?
14:08
A bottle racket? A bottle rack. [laughs] Bottle rack. Words. A bottle racket. Sentences. Facts. Sentences. Phrases. Bottle racket. Mm-hmm, yeah. Use your words. So obviously beer is a comfort zone for Karissa.
14:18
Yep, and Italian spirits. Right on. Yeah. Good. Yeah. You, yeah, I like this. So that's, that's two out of the three things- You can come back anytime you want... we asked you to come and talk about.
14:27
[laughs] What's the third thing? So- Is it maybe- Well, we should probably ask her what, ask Karissa here what it is that she does- She's here for it... and why the heck she's even on the show. Yeah.
14:36
But, uh, why don't you tell us a little bit about what you do? Well, I live in Milwaukee. I'm hanging out. [laughs] I've been living here for, I guess, maybe 12 years now. Where are you from originally?
14:49
I was born here, but, uh, my parents, uh, hightailed it to Northeastern Wisconsin when my dad lost his job here in Milwaukee in the '80s, 'cause everybody was losing their jobs. Yep.
15:04
So, you know, he couldn't find a factory job. Probably he couldn't find a job that paid more than $9 an hour.
15:11
So he went and got a job up in Northeastern Wisconsin, and he actually just retired this year and it blew my mind how f- fast time went by. But I've been here, yeah, I've been here for about 12 years, and
15:24
I, I currently work with the Bike Federation. But I actually, for a really long time, I was working as a sculptor. I was working for a public artist here in the city of Milwaukee. Um, her name's Jill Sebastian.
15:37
She's a rock star. She actually did, um, some of the pieces in Madison called the, um, Philosopher's Stones that were over on, uh,
15:46
State Street, and that was like a big huge piece of contention 'cause they took them out recently 'cause- Hmm... too many bums were hanging out there, but who... They always blame the artist. So I- Yeah...
15:58
long story long is I'm really kind of an artist at heart, but I just love cities. So, um, I loved working with Jill as a public artist.
16:07
I loved all the, um, sort of like unsolicited opinions that people had about what you were making for them, and I also happened to be getting around by bike.
16:16
But I kind of melded a lot of those things together when I first started working for Bike Fed, 'cause I'm a millennial and I was probably working like five jobs at that time.
16:27
[laughs] So- So, so at the Bike Fed you do...? Um, I'm advocacy manager now. Um, I started as a bike walk instructor, and right, right now I'm
16:39
hardtail focused on trying to implement our Safe Streets policy, which is our Complete Streets policy that we worked on, um, with the city last year. We passed that in October of 2018, so it's been almost a year now.
16:52
And, um, we're working with, uh, Department of Public Works, and Department of City Development, and the Milwaukee Department of Health to try to implement this Safe Streets policy that we have 'cause it's one thing, I guess, to pass a piece of legislation, and it's another thing to actually implement it.
17:13
Implement it. Use it. Yeah. Yeah.
17:14
Yeah, which, you know, I, I will say, you know, despite all of our qualms about the bikeability and walkability of the city, I'm, I'm really impressed that somehow we managed to work on a piece of legislation,
17:29
get a grant, a three-year-long grant, to actually implement it. And also the city added on top of that a grant that allows them to create a Complete Streets sort of guidebook or handbook, which- Oh, nice Nice...
17:42
sets- Yeah... creates standards f- for anybody that's publicly accessible, uh, uh, to see how, how things should be done instead of it sort of being cloaked in dark, [laughs] in darkness. Right. Right. Right. Yeah.
17:57
And yeah. Is that something that would be applicable to other cities as well? Are, are they working with any forward-thinking cities or backwards-ass cities that- [laughs] Well- Uh, to-...
18:08
uh, the w- I just started working a lot with the city this year, and I do know that, um, a regular-...
18:15
practice is to look at cities to model the things that we're trying to do, 'cause there are a lot of cities s- even smaller than the city of Milwaukee that are making huge strides in making our cities more walkable and bikeable.
18:29
Wausa. Wausa. Yeah, we're gonna be in Wausa. In Wausau. We're gonna be in Wausa- The Wausau... in about a little under a month for the Bike Summit, and I'm pretty excited to- W-A-U-... go up there... S-A-U.
18:40
So [laughs] Wausau. Wausau. I, so is it- [laughs] You can't be- D-... not said that way... so the bikes, I mean, somebody like you that's in advocacy, the Bike Summit makes a lot of sense for.
18:49
Is there, are there things at this summit for average bike shop owner, average bike rider, average non-bike person? Definitely.
18:58
This year we partnered with People for Bikes, and we wanted to make the, the Bike Summit more about just biking instead of sitting on your butt and- Right... like listening to lectures.
19:11
[laughs] So if you come to the Bike Summit, which, um, we have an ebre- Eventbrite up on our page, um, you can see all the different activities that are gonna happen, and a large chunk of them on the 5th are gonna be riding.
19:25
So not only riding in the city, or a city, but also taking to their trail system, which they should be really proud of. I think a lot of North- Northwoods, uh,
19:37
residents of the state of Wisconsin should be really proud of their trail making [clears throat]
19:41
and the network that they're building, uh, because it, it actually is a good part of their economy, and they're also teaching their young people how to- Yeah... um, build- Yeah, looking good... and maintain trails.
19:51
Well, I was up there- So you're gonna learn about that, but you're gonna be actually riding which is, I think, the best- Yeah... way to connect with what's going on.
20:00
I was up there last weekend and then like a month ago, so I've been there twice recently. Once at Nine Mile and once at Sylvan Hills, which is their kinda gravity park.
20:10
I haven't used their actual more commuter-based infrastructure yet, but, uh, this seems like a good [laughs]... Oh. Sorry about that. Yeah, Tony just flipped JK off for a second. No, I didn't.
20:23
I flipped off the chuma JK accidentally walked into. [laughs] Oh, gotcha. [laughs] Yeah, those are- Sorry, we digress... hey, those, the, those bars aren't cut down yet, it's- He didn't almost walk into that...
20:32
you know how wide those things are. They're like 850 millimeters wide. Keeps your heart open, keeps the heart rate steady. Yeah. Pay no attention- I hate that... to the man behind the curtain. You hate that?
20:40
[laughs] I know everyone loves these super wide, and I understand it's to keep your heart going and everything, but I'm like, you know what? I'm a short bike, I bike- There, there's a- Ugh...
20:48
there's an optimum bar width- Old school mountain bikes... for everyone. Well, I could see too the, those bars in particular are so straight across, they might put a lot of pressure on your wrists, but.
20:58
That's why you, they make 'em so you can- Oh, gosh, we're getting technical on this... they make 'em so you can cut 'em down. That's made for a 6'7" guy. Yeah. Sure.
21:03
[laughs] You can't add on to a bar, but you can cut them down. Yeah, that might be- I know... puny, that might be puny for- Bozo one? Hey... big person. [laughs] I say you make a tall guy- Nice... buy special bars.
21:13
It's made for Bozo one. Made for Bozo one, yeah. [laughs] Hey, shout out to Bozo one. Not, not Bozo two so much, but, uh- Bozo one. [laughs] That's the one. JK- That's what they're talking about...
21:24
JK's working on being Bozo three though, just so you know. [laughs] Just saying. These are all Kim, Kim things. Oh. Uh, we need to step back a little bit and pay our respects to Ric Ocasek. Hey, good call.
21:36
Yeah, we didn't talk about Ric yet. Forgot about Ric, and, you know, I have so many fond memories as a youngster of Ric Ocasek and the Cars, being from the MTV, early MTV generation- Mm-hmm...
21:48
and Fast Times at Ridgemont High and, you know, I'm sorry, but- Paulina Porizkova...
21:54
but, but, but a bunch of ugly men making it big as rock stars, and I'm sorry, they're, I, I'm not, I'm not the prettiest human in the world, but whoa. They are not good-looking men, and they kicked ass.
22:06
Talent knows no- Ta- talent knows no beauty... lookie, look, lookie-loo. [laughs] Yeah, there we go. [laughs] Wow, you're deep. Hey, I just- I just- My brain's-... I just recall... not engaged...
22:18
and I, I mean- Stop winding the night- Wait, what is the definition of a lookie-loo? 'Cause I thought a lookie-loo was just like a very curious person. I, I don't know. I don't know. I'll go with that. Sure.
22:26
Thank you for putting a pin in that one. I feel like- 'Cause I was-... my dad was like a lookie-loo. Like, whenever there was a house for sale on our block, he would, he's like, "I'm not buying, I'm just looking."
22:35
Going in there and checking it out. He's like, "I'm a lookie-loo." [laughs] Could be. Yeah. That, that's a good definition of a lookie-loo. But it's not Mitch Ryder and the- But I don't know... trying to remember.
22:42
A good lookie-loo. Not, not, it's not a Little Lopey-Loo. [laughs] Hey, leave it in the comments. Very close to that. Leave, leave it in the comments for this. What the hell is a lookie-loo? [laughs] Yeah.
22:53
What's a lookie-loo? In your neck of the woods. I think it's probably regional, means different things in different places. Could be. Yeah. That's my guess. Probably.
23:00
Hey, JK got us another one of these, uh, wonderful Day-Blazers. Maybe after a couple more of these my brain will be in gear. Oh. I'm almost ready for mine. Yeah, it's right here. Almost ready for my closeup, Mr. DeMille.
23:11
[laughs] Ooh, ah. [laughs] Yeah, I, I actually had dinner with an aunt that has a Gloria Swanson makeup problem. Oh, boy. Yeah. Oh. And it was like, "Oh, Lord." [laughs] Like, "Hey, nice shade."
23:26
Careful, she might be listening to this podcast. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I know. Oh, no, no, no. She's our only listener, actually. Yeah. [laughs] No, no, no, no. Hey, Auntie. Th- this one I know is, woo, off grid.
23:37
[laughs] [laughs] All right. So Carissa was talking some good stuff, and then we interrupted with a bunch of junk and- With the Ric Ocasek junk... well, that's good junk though... Indonesian junk. Oh, yeah. Um.
23:48
The Chipmunks. Alvin and the damn Chipmunks. I know who the Chipmunks are. Thank you. They did an album called Chipmunk Punk. Side one, track one. Right. Let's go. Yep. Totally. Oh, my God.
24:01
When listening to The Cars via The Chipmunks- Kinda good... it's something else. It's kinda good. It's something. I have no problem with that. Are all The Cars' albums just like a babe in a car on the discography?
24:12
The Vargas? Um, yes. Vargas. The Vargas paintings? I believe they are Or laying across a table. Yeah And yeah, you know, I think the cars were kind of into that. Age to- Well, and that age- Age to '80s fur y'ad air.
24:24
Yeah Yeah, the '80s were into that sort of album cover. It was always, like, really high vis, beautiful colors, pin-up kind of, but just, like, a snapshot of, like, a lady- Mm-hmm... like, enjoying herself in a car.
24:34
Well, it wasn't gonna be real. Well, the, y- yeah, the- [laughs] [laughs] Right. Well, the artist that did 'em has- Rest in peace, dude, but there you got a picture of you... started doing pin-ups in World War II. Okay.
24:43
So that guy was- Fair. [laughs] His style had been going forever. Yeah. So we're on the same page. This is the same. Yep. It's like nose- No, you're, you're totally right...
24:48
it's like nose art on your World War II bomber. You know? Yeah, like, uh, Duran Duran was doing the Nagels. Memphis Belle. Yeah. Nagel. Nagels. Did you say Memphis Bagels?
24:58
No, Memphis Belle was a, a, a- It's a, part of it-... B-17 [laughs]... it was a B-17 bomber That had a nose art that was- You're way too young to know about these- What?... World War II things. What? Clearly are.
25:07
[laughs] What? What do you have there? What is that? Did, is that a gummy bear? Yeah. What is it? Oh. Yeah, in smokable form. [laughs] Only if it's Haribo, then get it out of here. Shout out to Sun Prairie.
25:19
Sun, whoever shouts out to Sun... Wow. Is it, didn't Haribo just- Sun Prairie... build a fact, a factory in Sun Prairie? Maybe. Is that the gummy people? Yeah. Oh, is that- Isn't Sun Prairie the company?
25:29
But that's not the good gummy bears... Haribo is so good. They, but they're legal gummy bears. I got a big bag of them. It's funny you should say that because- The German Haribos...
25:37
my, my daughter is totally into them, and I went to go to our pantry this morning- They don't have a ghost pepper version, though... to get my oatmeal to eat for breakfast.
25:45
[laughs] And all I got was this huge whiff of gummy bear, and I'm like, "You didn't close the bag." I'm like, "I do not, not..." I mean- It was gonna lose all of its magic...
25:55
but that's a terrible smell at 6:00 in the morning. It just blends together, and it just kinda smells like- It's just, like, this sugary, like, yeah, it, it-... uh, gelatin and plastic. And, yeah... and lemons. Haribo.
26:07
It almost interrupted my bacon. Sorry if went off course there. [laughs] We go off course a lot here. Yeah. That's half the fun. The rails are kind of wavy. Yeah. Yeah, man. Somebody put a lot of pennies on them.
26:20
I think, well, we were kinda, we, we kinda got through the bike summit idea. We'll have a link in the show notes for that whole thing. Yeah. Uh- I'm gonna be h- hosting a session there.
26:30
It's not gonna be as fun as bike riding, but it is really important. Uh, the State of Wisconsin sort of basically repealed their Complete Streets statewide policy- Yep, yep... in 2015.
26:41
Only state in the country to do that. Guess we have to, uh, who do we have to blame there? Don't have to say it. Fucking Scott Walker. Oh, yes. [laughs] Yeah. So we're gonna be t- Oh, I'm sorry.
26:52
Did I, I used my out-loud voice. [laughs] We're gonna be talking about- Mm-hmm... different approaches to c- to bringing that back because- Sure, sure...
26:59
there's a lot of smaller minis- there's a smaller, smaller townships and, uh, municipalities that really wanna bring those types of safe streets legislation to, to them.
27:10
But u- ultimately, sometimes you, you, you live in such a small, uh, township that you can't necessarily implement a Complete Streets 'cause it, Complete Street 'cause it [laughs] runs through- It's one street...
27:21
[laughs] it runs through, like, three or four other counties who are like, "I'm not gonna do it unless he does it." Yeah, like Hortonville to, to- So-... like, in the New London zone... yeah.
27:30
So is the- You can see that... the Complete Streets, there is a federal version of it, right? Well, this year, um, there is a federal Complete Streets Act that's up on the Senate floor. Um, and it's,
27:43
everybody's pretty hopeful about it. I don't think there's gonna be any issues about it.
27:47
But i- it's probably gonna be another one of those things where they're like, "Yeah, we did this," but it's like how do you, do you have any ideas of how you're going to invest in it?
27:55
Like, once the money goes out to states, are you gonna allow states to funnel that money into, like, [laughs] highway, uh, [laughs] safety or- Divert it to the wall... yeah, di- basically divert it to the wall. Yeah.
28:09
But divert to potholes. [laughs] 'Cause there's a loophole there. Just saying. I mean, it's, yeah, it, it, yeah. There's a, there's a giant loophole there that, you know, this whole,
28:17
uh, transportation alternative programming, for example, um, the federal government allows states to divert s- uh, tap funding, which is really designed for pedestrian and cycle, uh, projects, to fix their highways.
28:32
And, uh, the State of Wisconsin did that, and their highways aren't necessarily that much better, but the funding is so low that it would just, wouldn't even put a dent in the highway. I am a big fan of potholes.
28:42
They slow people down. Yeah. If you don't wanna wreck your car- Wow, man... go slower. If you wanna ride your bike, get bigger tires. Oh, yeah. Potholes are great. Oh, yeah.
28:51
I happened to notice that, um- Two inch at least... the last, like, five, six days- Anything under two, mm-mm... five, six days riding down Booth on my way to- Booth?...
29:00
work at The Digital Bridge, there were some spots that have been road constructioned. And on my way home today, I noticed that- There was a little flower in one of the potholes. [laughs] No, better Oh.
29:14
They're speed bumps. A turtle. Oh, humps? They made them into speed humps, and I'm like- Hump, hump, hump... [gasps] I'm like, "I'm so freaking excited."
29:22
Now there's speed humps on H- on Booth, and let me tell you- That had to been approved. His mom?... Booth's a freaking- That had to be went through a neighborhood traffic management program... good character.
29:30
I am very excited about that. 'Cause if you go fast, you get air. Neighbors get behind it. I think every block- They did that... I think every block should have a speed hump.
29:36
Well, they had them on Booth down towards the bottom of the hill, but they took it out. Well, Fratny- Well, now they've added them back in... Fratny Wright's gonna get a bunch of 'em. Yes, it is.
29:44
Well, we're a- As it should... we're a half a block away from the- Yeah... it's gonna be a- We are out of Fratney-... speed bump frenzy...
29:50
there should be, when that happens, we're gonna do a podcast in front of one of them. You should. We're gonna get a bunch of BMX guys to do tricks. Oh, yeah. I think you should. That would be awesome.
29:59
Roll in- I just wanna hear the cars scraping the bottom as they blast over them. B-rad, oh, totally. Yeah. But I wanna see B-rad and the guys just go- People will have to determine whether it's a car or a bike.
30:05
I'm putting a pin in this. Rollin Flash. Yeah. [laughs] You n- yeah. I like this idea a lot 'cause I thought of it. Yeah. Yes. I put a pin in it. Thanks, Tony. Thanks. Here we go. Glad I can help out. There's Tony.
30:19
Hey, hey. No. Occasional, occasional Tony showed up today. Switching up from the 24. It's September and July. I mean, the other way around. There you go. July and September The beer- Crazy Lenny... cheers.
30:31
The beer refreshing. Cheers. Um- More cheers and oh, that one's empty. Oh. Oops. Oh. Switch ups. That one's empty. Oh. Oh, no. That one's empty. Do you need some? Oh, wait, this one's not. [laughs] Jesus. Hey.
30:42
[laughs] Good God. [laughs] What the hell's going on? You're making people spill beer on themselves. Thankfully, I wear mostly black clothing. [sighs] Yeah, that's clean looking.
30:52
And look at me, I look like a damn cult member. But- Yeah. You're too sexy for- But your hazy... hey, hey, but they're all, no, uh, hey... like a Rajneesh... no, no, no, uh, no stains that you can see yet.
31:05
[laughs] Impressive. This is like the third time I've- Sherwin-Williams called. They wanna hire you. I'm just saying. [laughs] I, I, I, I'm tempting- You should come paint... every time with this one on. All right, now
31:18
that was enough for the fashion. We digressed. The fashion portion- And where are we at next?... of our program. Greg, what's on the list next? Well, we were gonna talk to Charissa about some stuff. [laughs] Oh, wait.
31:29
Are you going by- Well, whatever you wanna talk to me about. I'm not going by a list. I'll, I like to throw in whatever.
31:33
Well, we, uh, w- w- I've noticed on the Book Face that, um, you guys are doing some standing around on the road with sign thing. What's that all about? Oh, nice. Yeah. Um, [laughs] so
31:46
in the last, uh, maybe three or four months, I've put together a, um, people protected bike lane demonstration which, to be perfectly honest, I think we could have drummed up a little bit more [clears throat]
32:01
media around it. But I think also what is really important is having people, bikers, come out and,
32:11
and communicate with other motorists about why it's important to slow down and why it's important to have separated bicycle facilities, just so that everybody knows where they are.
32:23
And to be perfectly honest, a lot of people have been in support of our demonstration. Um, but we, I think, really w- still wanna get to the core of our decision-making, uh, front.
32:38
Um, and that seems to still be a pretty big struggle. Okay. For sure. Yeah, yeah. 'Cause I remember- It's the first year though, right? So- Yeah... well- But, you know, here's the thing is I think...
32:48
So, um, the Wisconsin Bike Federation and Safe and Healthy Streets, which used to be called Path to Platinum, but I changed that name 'cause it sounded like we were Jared's Jewelers.
32:58
Um- Make- [laughs] You're making a record there, baby. Yeah. Platinum, yeah. Yeah. We changed it to Safe and Healthy Streets 'cause it's more aligned with like, oh, yeah, streets.
33:06
Um, uh, we still, I think, had quite a difficulty trying to get under the skin of our decision-makers and try to get them to prioritize safe streets for people that walk and people that bike. Um, in the...
33:24
Like, again, I said bef- earlier, the policy is there, but, uh, this year during budget, budget hearing, the budget hearing process, I went in front of the mayor and the, and the budget, um, executives, uh, Dennis Jacorino and Alderwoman Coggs, and I just laid it out flat.
33:44
I was like, "Nobody really knows how we prioritize better facilities for biking and walking through our paving program.
33:51
There's no studies out there that indicate that we've done anything better than just making the roads smoother- Hmm... let alone just [laughs] you know, we're, we're o- often just replacing what is there." Right.
34:03
"And we also want you to be a lot harder on parking enforcement, and parking should cost, should be at a premium.
34:10
And this whole market pricing thing that the city's rolled out with in the last year and a half or so is just moving too slow.
34:17
And, you know, places like Walker's Point should be charging for parking, and we should be making bike and walk facilities better with that funding. So don't tell, don't tell us that you don't have any money."
34:29
[laughs] 'Cause y- we got... You know, you gotta lay down the law here. It takes courage and leadership, and everybody's addicted to cars. Mm-hmm.
34:38
And at the end of the day, we're just trying to tell them, like, you gotta just shift the paradigm, and if people don't like it, you know, then- Start riding a bike. Yeah. Or, I mean, but it, they- Or a scooter.
34:50
[laughs] That too. Oh. I'm not gonna lie. Like- [laughs] You know, if you ride a scooter responsibly, I've got no problem with you riding a scooter. Yeah. Just like you ride a bike responsibly.
34:59
I also, I've been on the- Exactly... I've been on the Book of Face, and I've told people, more cyclists, to take time to ride scooters in a respectful way 'cause you know how to ride bikes.
35:09
So- But I don't know how to ride- But do they? No, I don't. But how many- I-... of those people, how many of those people- I fucking try... you're preaching to don't stop for stoplights?
35:17
To be fair, to be fair, I totally agree with you, but I think that people's biking etiquette has improved over the last three or four years. I've seen worse. Hmm. I've seen a lot worse. We almost, uh- Hmm...
35:30
didn't you almost bunny- That's an interesting thing to think about... bunny hop over the falled lime- I just think it's us against-... taller [laughs] rider? I think it's all of us against cars.
35:38
We really have to- Okay... like figure out how to join together- I-... and, like, get it figured out... yeah, for sure. And I hate that animosity between cars and cyclists, and I, and I hate...
35:47
This is just me, but- Yeah, it's definitely-... people that-... yeah, that-... people that-... you don't speak for me on this one. You know, um- [laughs]... you run red lights. You run red lights.
35:55
You, you know, ride dangerously. Maybe you've been drinking. This is the car? Um, yes. On bikes. And the cyclists that... But, I mean- Just saying... I, I, I d- I ride- Hey, you got a couple tons on me...
36:08
I ride the same, I ride the same route to work every week- You got a couple tons on you... every day of every week, and I see the same group of people that don't obey traffic lights.
36:22
Well, dicks are- I, now I have no problem- Assholes are assholes... with stop signs. Assholes are assholes. But- You know? Now these are people that I actually consider friends- No, at that point-...
36:29
who don't recognize me because- Well, I, I can definitely sympathize with that.
36:32
I won't completely put myself in- In one camp or the other, uh, if you're listening, [laughs] if you are listening [laughs] Um, if you're on a bike and you're acting like an asshole, stop it, 'cause we're the minority.
36:46
Right. Well, and we give- [laughs]... we give them fuel for their fire. Yeah. Yeah. That's my pet peeve. I mean, yeah. I, I, I've done some dummy- But, but also- But we all have...
36:55
but also, I do wanna say, uh, I see it on social media a lot, and for those people, i- if you need a good argument, uh, cities, our, our city d- also doesn't really time our traffic lights appropriately to- Hmm, totally agree...
37:11
to accommodate cyclists. Um- Or cars... and, and this is a whole, like the larger effort is creating a low-stress, a bikeable network.
37:20
If we were actually to create a low-stress bike network in all surrounding neighborhoods, including downtown, cyclists would stick to a lot of those routes, where we wouldn't be in so much conflict with cars all the time.
37:32
And it's not to say that bikes shouldn't be with cars, but ultimately- You can have... Yeah...
37:37
creating, creating a network that allows cyclists to move freely, um, based on their physicality, their means, the cycle itself, to get through those- Like Madison, Tony... of course, easier.
37:49
Who, who brought her on the show? It's a- 'Cause it's fucking great... well, Madison's doing a great job of that. Timing. Time, signal timing.
37:56
Like, um, people, a lot of people bike, a lot of like really seasoned bikers bike on First Street in Milwaukee, which I always say, "You're crazy."
38:04
But, like, s- um, Second Street, even though it doesn't have a lot of lights, it's still- Yep... poorly timed. The hipster highway. It's poorly timed, though, i- wherever the lights are, and people still like go for it.
38:15
Some of those bicyclists that are really seasoned that will bike anywhere, they prefer to bike on First Street, even though it's like a death chamber. Oh, yeah. No way. Yeah. Um, I never do. Nope.
38:25
I take, take it- Nope... I take the [laughs] Second Street. I take Second Street. Yeah. I w- It, it's all, yeah... it's either, it's a high spectrum. It's either like very- Three left to make a right...
38:31
very experienced bikers- Three left to make a right... or like really, really experienced bikers take First Street. I like taking the ninja routes. He's a serious biker. Yeah. He's a serious biker.
38:41
We don't take First Street. I don't take First Street. I, I, I don't- There's plenty of alleys and parking lots. There are plenty of other alternatives- I, I do not take First Street...
38:45
and safer routes The only way is if I'm chasing somebody who- I take Second Street... took First. I love Second Street, personally. It's great. Yeah. That's in Milwaukee, folks. Well, well, yeah, because- It's smooth...
38:55
between First and Second- Yeah... there's a bridge. It's got a good lane. So tell your friends- There's a bridge, and there's a-...
39:00
anybody who you're trying to educate, getting, getting them biking, just get the hell off of First Street, you crazy- Yeah, take Second... goon. You'll love Second. It's- Yeah, they have protected bike lanes on that one.
39:11
No, they don't. They have a buffered bike lane. Well, buffered. I'm sorry. I- Buffered. Buffered. That's- Buffered. By braes. Oh, Milwaukee's- All these Bs... so Milwaukee became a Silver- Yes...
39:23
city this year- That's correct... for the biking goodness. [laughs] What ma- what makes a- The benevolence of the gods... what makes, you know, a Gold or a Platinum city- Yeah, how do we get to that?... so much better?
39:32
Well, I'll tell you what makes a Gold or a Platinum city. Well, I just, first of all, I, I do wanna tell you, Madison, the city of Madison, is a Platinum city. Hmm.
39:43
But, uh, I still don't think that they actually deserve that accreditation, because they don't, uh, they don't build safe bicycle facilities or walking facilities for people on the other side of the Beltline. Hmm.
39:55
It's not an equitable- Uh-huh... rating scale. So it's confined to just downtown. Yeah.
40:00
And so I s- I just want us to be very careful about when we're looking at these national nonprofit rating scales, and how they determine whether our cities are safe or not.
40:12
We determine whether our cities are safe, because somebody at the city level is going in and plugging all these numbers, and they're ha- they're having to do their, like a little Dick Tracy.
40:23
They're going around and, like, doing all this investigation.
40:27
And ultimately, at the end of the day, they kinda set the tone for the narrative of whether the city is safe enough for people to bike, and I think that's very dangerous.
40:36
I think that in our, in our community, we need to create an index on a local level as to whether our bike is a, our city is a bike-friendly Platinum or Gold city, or whatever the hell that means. Mm-hmm.
40:50
Because, um, if you're not from here, I, you, you really don't know whether the city is bikeable or not. And it shouldn't be, uh, you know, a game of telephone, basically, as to a national standard.
41:05
But what does make a Platinum or Gold city are a lot of factors. Things like how much, um, general education and, um, school education happens, um, you know, in the school district for b- safe biking and walking.
41:23
I, I keep saying walking, because a lot of the facilities and the movements that we create integrate walking, because safe biking is safe walking. Mm. So, um, so education programs determine those things.
41:36
Um, how much money we're investing in facilities. Uh, the state of Wisconsin, uh, invests less than 2% of their budget in, or their, like, yeah, their budget into bike and walk facilities. No surprise there. Ridiculous.
41:53
[laughs] But, um, you know, for, uh, for s- from city to city, we do have a lot of challenges here in the state of Wisconsin because of our tax portfolio.
42:03
We're not able to really supplement social services appropriately, in my opinion. My opinion. Um, and I think that that, that ultimately determines how much, how many projects happen and go on the ground.
42:19
Um, and I think that, uh, for whoever's listening, make sure that you advocate for...
42:24
[laughs] You do advocate for s- for a sales tax and selective sales tax, because we, we can't balance our social services like transportation on the backs of property owners, especially in the city of Milwaukee, where not a lot of people that live here own property because of our economy and things like that.
42:42
So we really do need a stimulant. So there's, there's, there's the education. There's facilities. There's also enforcement.
42:49
It's ironic that we spend so much money on enforcement and punitive measures, but at the same time, there's not a lot of tickets that are, that are being handed out.
42:59
There's not a lot of enforcement out there for, for minding-... m- minding, uh, to bike and pedestrian, uh, safety needs. And I, I'm not gonna get into that 'cause that's a complete conundrum for me.
43:14
[laughs] But that's just, like, another tick on the box for your question, is, like, how do you build a platinum or gold level city? And it's not just one thing, it's an equation.
43:25
So if you wanna look at it broadly, if you have a conversation with anything, w- excuse me, with anyone, is you have to have an adequate level of enforcement, an adequ- adequate level of in, of education.
43:39
You have to have an adequate level of engineering, and you have to have an adequate level of encouragement. There's not one thing that will decide whether your city goes to the next level.
43:51
It's, it's kinda like lead certification. So- [laughs]... we, we, we- Good way to look at it... I would say in our city, we- Dance, puppets, dance for me... it's, it's money. [laughs] It's investment.
44:02
But it's also, I think the money's there, but I think that the leadership has to, you know, get that brain worm out and, like, start prioritizing people over profit. Maybe they should have some attaboy- Brain worm...
44:16
an attaboy, not police, but- They got the brain worms... get the attaboys out there. "Hey, when you did, when you did something good, instead of something bad." Attaboy. "Hey, way to stop at that light." Yeah.
44:25
Good job, you. "Attaboy." Yeah. I'm super excited about that. Actually, right now, the Bike Federation Wisconsin is currently working on trying to, um, create a campaign for the Kilbourn protected bike lanes.
44:37
We don't think, um, and we do work with the city, but we also think that we, we can't sit around and wait for the education element, so that education thing is really important.
44:47
A lot of people have been parking in the parking protected- Ugh... bike lane areas. Brutish. Um, but we don't believe- Oh, it's new... it's $60 for a ticket if you park in that bike lane. It should be 160.
44:59
But here's the thing that's happening, is I was o- out there at City Hall the other day, and I saw somebody got a ticket, and they, uh, and, uh, underneath it was just, like, a little leaflet that said, "This is how you park."
45:10
And I'm like- [laughs]... great, so car- You have fuck up... car...
45:14
But still, cars are already pissed off, and they're getting a ticket, and then they're learning, when we could go out there as an organization and we could incentivize people for doing the right thing, instead of creating punitive measures, which the city, in my opinion, does a lot of punitive things instead of incentivize things.
45:34
Oh, absolutely. Oh, yeah. Of course. 100%, yeah. Of course. That's how they make money. Yeah, well, it's how they make angry, dysfunctional assholes. I, I agree. It, it, it's a- [laughs] Yep, yep. Uh, yeah.
45:45
Instead of me flipping off or spitting or- I wanna give you-... kicking or-... a-... you locking... gift card to Amazon. I don't wanna, like, give you a $60 ticket. I wanna be like, "You did the right thing.
45:54
Good for you." I don't wanna do that. Oh, that's a way better idea. I see where you're coming from now. That's the- I don't wanna-... that's the carrot.
46:02
Like, you stay out there and- Oh, and on the t- on top of it, it was somebody who was, had, like, a disabled hang tag. Was like, great, so we just gave somebody a $60 ticket who's disabled. I, yes, I hate cars.
46:14
People in cars often act like assholes, but I also drive a car too. We have a family vehicle. I have a car. And- Okay... I just don't wanna create animosity- Preston... between these mode shares. Well, I, you know...
46:26
But I'll tell you, we, we are a bike shop on Locust Street, and almost every day that I come here- Fuck Locust Street... ev- almost every day I come here, there's a car parked out in front of the b- in front of the-
46:39
Here we go... the local- Rest in peace, Rick Ocasek... you know. Locust Street is a poop chute. All this t- It is a poop chute.
46:45
All you, all you guys are saying- But we're only a half a block off the new Fratney Street Bike- You just said-... Boulevard... you just said poop chute. You said it first.
46:51
You just said cars, you said cars between the two of you, like, 15 times in the last, like, two minutes. Bow, bow, bow. Bow, bow, bow. Life's a heck. Lose your, lose your license. Bow, bow, bow. I bury you.
47:04
There- Cars, cars, cars... that's what I have to say. Except my shoes. [laughs] Well, thank you. Thank you. What did you do? No, you got a lot of great insights.
47:10
It's, it's good having somebody that's on the ground with this stuff and actually has a, a platform to talk about, because I have ideas, but I don't have a whole lot of, uh, support or education from other stuff, 'cause I'm kind of in my own little silo.
47:25
Well, okay. Silo. So here's the thing- It's my own damn fault... that I really would like some insight from people who just love to bike, but aren't necessarily always so civically involved.
47:38
Um, you know, the Bike Federation ha- has done a lot of going to bat for, for bike amenities. Uh, Schlabowski, he helped- Who? [laughs] You know, he put, you, y'all, he, he- He's our co-host, you jackass.
47:55
Oh, yeah, that guy. He worked on that master bike plan, and we had 50 miles of low-stress bike boulevards planned 10 years ago, and only two of those- Right... miles have been planned. That's perverse. Built. Okay?
48:08
Planned? No, they're not even- Or is wrong... built yet. Oh, they're just still- They're just planned. Okay. Bike boulevard here- They haven't even started... on Fratney is one of them. Oh, right on. Gotcha.
48:15
And, you know, it's, it really ha- it's, has to be more than just Bike Fed.
48:24
Um, and that's kinda why I started doing the protected b- bike lane demonstration, because I wanted to see if anybody else is interested in the same things that we were.
48:33
Because Bike Federation is great, but they're also have been incredibly, um, educational advocacy driven. We do a lot of work in public schools, but we really haven't been, like, in the streets yelling. Gorilla.
48:49
Um, and you know, I, I, uh, I- Yeah, go gorilla... and I'm, I'm a little bit more that way, and it hasn't been easy.
48:57
[laughs] As a Bike Fed employee or as a person or as a woman or as a person of color, I often, I- Sometimes I feel like a little bit alone.
49:10
Um, but I, I can't, it can't just be the bike fed anymore 'cause nothing's gonna get done. Nobody wants to listen to, nobody wants to listen to me. They have to, it's that inside-outside thing.
49:22
They have to hear from other people other than just us, so. Dig. Well, it sounds like we could have a whole nother show on talking about [laughs] this stuff. This is literally one of the best shows we've ever had.
49:36
Well, that's 'cause we're not talking mostly. I, you know what? Well, you know, I like to run- We need to do more of this. [laughs] I, I run my jaw a lot, you know? Yeah, but your jaw, at least at this point- Yeah...
49:43
has a lot of good stuff to say, so. Yeah. You, you, you are very insightful, very informative. Yeah, you've heard what came out of my mouth. Ladies and gentlemen- It's fantastic... one of our, if not our best guest.
49:52
Well, it's- Better than Schlaboski... just bec- it's because- Better than Schlaboski [laughs]... of this Day Blaze. Holy shit. Dave- This is Day Blazay. Day Bluh-Bluh. I don't know. Maybe it's Dave Blaze. Dave Blazer.
50:04
Oh, I, I never have three beers per show and now I'm already on beer one- No, I know. I know... because it's like- I'm, I'm getting ready to be open- Have another beer there, sir [laughs]... 'cause it was so good.
50:11
Dave has taught me well. Holy shit. [laughs] Yeah. And- Yeah... dare we say the name Jake Newmark? We don't. Oh, yeah, that stinker. Too late. It escaped to your lips. I did it. So, uh, Carissa's invited back anytime.
50:25
Anytime, Carissa, you wanna come back and share your insights, you are more than welcome. Well, I'd, I would really like to get out on Fratney and do a show on Fratney when that project is done and hear- Yes...
50:37
get, hear some car scrapes. Hey, this thing's portable. Yep. Totally. We will have so much fun. Yeah. That'd be, that'd be really cool.
50:42
I even, I even have a battery we can power this puppy with for an hour, so we don't even need- We need a couple of cameras for fun stuff... we need no dango plug, man.
50:48
In between now and then, the technology, pew, to the stars. I'm gonna plug it into my Tesla, man. I tell you. Yeah. [laughs] By that time you have a USB in the back of your damn- Neck... nape of your neck. Boop.
51:02
So let's, um- [laughs]... let's real quick like, uh, run down some stuff that's coming up. JK? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Bike, yeah, the biking movie. Oh, yeah. It's coming up. I'm running that. [laughs] Sorry. I gotta- Oh.
51:14
[laughs]... that's a reminder... by the way, while I was just bringing it up there. I gotta do that. It's a Wrinkle in Time. Shoot. [laughs] And, and it'll be followed by, uh- Oh, and by the way... uh, Dark Crystal.
51:22
Thank you for reminding me. Yeah, Dark Crystal. Yeah. So is that, that's at Swing Park, right? Yeah. It, it starts at 7:00. That's gonna be- It's under a bridge. Yeah. I mean, how perfect. There's always a bridge.
51:32
Oh my God. There's always a bridge. I've been watching- Exactly... the new Resistance series. I can't yet... so I'm pretty excited. I have to- Yeah.
51:38
I, I started it- I have to reinvest in the f- original and then work from there... that's okay. It's on the Netflix. It's on the Netflix. I know. Oh, it is. Or it's under a bridge.
51:45
So the, the- First it's gonna be under a bridge-... Dave and Bo said so... and then, hmm, Goldflame. It looks like Goldi. Can't be Goldflame. No Goldflame. [laughs] That's how you- Yeah. Thanks for reminding me.
51:57
Shoot, I better get that going. [laughs] I, I could- [laughs] I tried starting the Resistance with the boy at home, but haven't- No, I didn't even try that... haven't, only did one episode so far. No.
52:06
I have to watch the original first and then- I binged... yeah, I gotta get him off the Switch... and, and, and get, get in the rhythm. I binged. Did you? Get in the rhythm. Yeah. I did.
52:12
I know- I can't, otherwise he'll get mad at me, but then he won't come up out of the basement and watch, so. Well, watch The Muppet Show or some shit like that, and then boom, ba, boom, you know? Yeah.
52:20
My daughter won't do it either. Move it up. Yeah. Well, Muppets are creepy, man. It's just so weird. I mean, it's just- Either they're creepy or they're clowns. What's this bike- Like you love or hate...
52:29
what's the bicycle scavenger hunt thing? Ooh. Uh, it's, uh, from, uh, Adventure Rock over on, m- North... North and Humble-ish. I have no idea what it's about. Oh, you wrote it down. Oh, yeah.
52:42
Why don't you put it on the thing? Well, it was a thing that was coming up. Right on. It's like a scavenger hunt. That's, uh, that's on- And apparently you sign up and they just- That's tomorrow, folks, Saturday. Yeah.
52:50
Since you're gonna- Yeah. Since it's hilarious on a Friday. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna do it, but it's a thing that's gonna happen. Not gonna happen. Speaking of Fridays- Oh, it's, well [laughs]...
52:57
we talked about it a little earlier, Biketoberfest, October 11th is a Friday. Oh, yeah. Gonna be awesome. That's always a fun ride. And you know where the next stop is? You'll find out when you get there. November? No.
53:10
Oh. You find out when you get there. Yeah. Uh- I do like that... did you see the new poster out in the- [laughs] Did you see the poster out in the hallway for the Grand Funduro? I did.
53:21
Oh, I was gonna ask, you know, what are rooms costing for the Funduro? Uh, there is a block of, I think, 50 rooms that, uh, Zion and Fatbike.com got a block rate on for, uh, 115. Oh, that's not bad.
53:35
This, this place is right on the beach, folks. Right on the beach. So you cannot get a better hotel than this. Pictures are pretty. I, I looked at the website. It's, the views are [laughs] terrible.
53:42
I, I have a balcony room. I don't know how many are left, but third floor balcony overlooking the lake. Y- y- for a buck 15. Bring your slingshot. Oh, yeah. There's gonna be, and it's- And glass bottles...
53:52
there's one of the few places in the s- [laughs]... in, in the, uh- Thrown... in the Lake Michigan basin that actually has enough sand to ride your fat bike on, too, so. Right.
54:00
One of the reasons why it's happening there, but, uh, Chris at Zion- Maybe you should come and borrow a fat bike. I got a fat bike for you. I would love to. I got one you can borrow for this.
54:08
Uh, Chris down at Zion Cyclery is one of the main guys for this thing, and has a bunch of stuff planned including, I think, making music and whatnot. Yeah. He's a band guy, right? Oh, heck yeah. Oh, geez. Smooth Evil.
54:21
It's Ex Uncle. Ex Uncle. He used to be Smooth Evil. Used to be Smooth Evil. And that was Frozen Orange. And, and yeah, it's him. [laughs] But yeah, he's, he's, uh, Ex Uncle. All right.
54:30
You can take that out of the- Uncle... right? No. No. We don't do any editing anymore. Exactly. It's all live, baby. Editing, schmediting, I say. So if you do wanna go to this thing, it's November 2nd/3rd
54:43
down there at, uh, Illinois Beach State Park, and the hotel will gladly give you this. I think they're like a buck 80 a night normally. Nice. So- It's a very pretty location, that's for sure...
54:53
it has a massive ballroom, has a pool. If your significant other- Got a beach, got sand, got balconies... doesn't like to ride bikes they could still have fun. Absolutely. So that's kinda where I'm pitching. Yeah.
55:03
It's, uh, yeah, it's like a fat bike, uh g- Molly... like gateway drug into that. And if you are a cyclist- It's just so simple and-... and you want cool Cool stuff because there's a bunch of sponsors now.
55:14
Surly's sponsoring, 45NRTH, Portland Design Works, Garage Coffee. [laughs] There is. There will be things to be given and- I-...
55:21
or earned or won or, I don't know, probably be a derby or two, probably something come out of that. [laughs] You think? I don't know how, it's... I'm not running the thing. Gomez is running the thing.
55:32
Yeah, but if there- Carissa's running the thing... if there's ever a- Those guys got ideas... fat bike event without a derby, that fat bike event should never happen again. Oh, there'll be a derby.
55:41
Of course there's gonna be a derby. It's like there's always a bridge. There's always a derby. Always a bridge. And there was always a brid- there was a derby under the bridge. There was. We, I attended that derby.
55:52
That ended up being around- Are you familiar with the derby?... a light pole. There alway- yeah. [laughs] It's always terrible, too. A wh- Yeah. Oh, I miss that. Dude, every- Don't forget that-...
56:03
everybody on that ride... crap mobbies... everybody on that ride [laughs] We got everybody on that ride for l- like two- Full laps...
56:12
two laps, everyone on the ride was in a big ass derby, and I'm not gonna forget that, 'cause that was fucking awesome. [laughs] And a lot of them didn't know what the hell was going on.
56:25
It was like- Because the giant concrete block in the middle? No. No. That was a street light pole. Yeah. Oh, that's what it was. You're right. That's- Yeah. When it closed in, but- Damn... it was so damn rad.
56:35
I was like, "Oh my God, everyone-" I got third place in the derby... everyone's in the derby." Xeno got second place in the derby. And then everyone peeled off, but it, like, the mm. 'Cause there was beer to be had.
56:47
[blows raspberry] It was- Amen... de blasé to be had. Dude. Dude, what'd you get? [laughs] De blasé. 50, 50 fucking people in a derby. [upbeat music] Big ass derby. It's sweet. It's down.
56:59
Like what you- Big a- huge ass derby. And then they figured out what was going on. They're like, "Oh, shit. No, no one do this."
57:06
Hey, speaking of, speaking of huge ass shit, uh, there, this, so this is the first of three of these things, these, uh, Illinois Beach State Park deals. Nice.
57:14
The next one is just after the holidays, and it is a huge ass race stop. Oh, nice. A huggy, huggy ass- And then I think the final one is in April sometime or somewhere about then. Oh.
57:27
Got Gravity Fest at Little Swiss this weekend if, uh, anybody wants to go- 60 bucks... ride, ride a chairlift for all three days. That's a hell of a deal.
57:34
Yeah, 60 bucks for- You don't even have to ride your ass up the top of the hill. They also ha- do, I think, a really great hall- like a haunted, uh, ski hill type of thing over there, too, once it gets towards Halloween.
57:48
With the bikes and the haunting. Take your bike over there. We're, we're almost there. Just- At [laughs]... just- Wow... just continuation. That sounds really fun. Yeah. Right on. Yeah. Dig.
57:59
Well, thank you very much, Carissa, for joining us on our little [clapping] program here. Sure. And also, thanks to JK and Tony for going to grab the de blasé. Um, I do have one announcement.
58:11
October 23rd, uh, the Wisconsin Bike Federation, Milwaukee Safe and Healthy Streets, and the Department of Public Works will be doing a post bike and walk over the Hawley Street, uh, uh, road diet that was done towards the end of the summer.
58:29
Mm-hmm. So, um- Oh, is that over, uh, State? Yep... the Hawley part over State? So in May, we took a bunch of neighbors out there.
58:39
There was a, a woman who, a resident who led the walk, and she just talked about how unsafe it was to just traverse over that bridge and along Hawley Road.
58:51
And there's protected bike lanes there, now there, and they've done a road diet. And we wanna do, we're gonna be doing a walk and bike, so- Fantastic...
59:00
you could walk or you could bike, and we're gonna bike over it and kinda feel the difference.
59:06
But I think the most important thing for the listeners is that the Department of Public Works is gonna be there, and they can tell you kind of about how the dis- decision making process came about. Yeah.
59:17
And, you know, what's to come in the future for protected facilities for the City of Milwaukee, and I think that that's really, uh, important for a lot of people. They, they wanna know. So that's gonna be October 23rd.
59:30
The alderman's gonna be there, too, and it's gonna be from, like, 5:45 to 7:15. So just, like, a quick- [laughs]... post walk, bike, and we're all gonna be there and gonna be like, "How's it going?
59:44
What are the traffic counts? What, how fast are people going now?" Nice. Yeah. My recently re- Cool...
59:50
my recently retired buddy, Mike, from the city o' Milwaukee, for a couple o' years did the bike counts, set up the spots on the bike trails and on the streets, and clickety, clickety, click. Those are- Nice...
1:00:04
very important. Yeah, man. He's retired now. Yeah, man. Damn it. So maybe nobody's doing it anymore. I don't know. Yeah. Oh. [laughs] La, I wanna say one- We got one more... I wanna say one more thing.
1:00:16
So I don't know if you've all noticed, but on the North Avenue and Locust Street bridges, we had a pretty much a big disaster when the protected bike bollards or the vertical posts were put in initially.
1:00:30
People were running them over, those? People were running them over. Throwing them over the bridge. Um, and but since then, when they put, the city put in the concrete initially at the front- Yep... front ends- Yep...
1:00:43
um, I have noticed that a lot less bollards are down. Nice. And, um, there's- There's been no cars in the river yet. No cars in the river, so I just- Oh, yeah... I just wanna- A bit of, a bit of glass.
1:00:56
Little bit of glass... well, North Avenue is always a freaking junk parade. Yeah. Like, what the hell are people doing in there? Well, e- either one, it's like you have to look down for glass.
1:01:02
But I think it's a decent improvement. I agree. And I, I- Yes, definitely...
1:01:08
I wanna say initially, just for you stat monsters out there, when they had first put, put out that protected bike lane i- and they did a road diet, uh, the city was able to reduce, uh, speeds over 40, 40 miles per hour by 70%.
1:01:25
Nice. Nice. Oh, hell yeah. And 15 miles per hour, over 50%, and that's pretty damn good. That's fantastic. So just remember that, like- And that, that's cars going that fast, right, not bikes...
1:01:35
well, I'm going that fast. Yeah. I'm not their lackeys- [laughs]... but I, I, I will say I, I biked over those bridges, uh, in the last few days- And-... and I was impressed...
1:01:44
well, yeah, any, anytime going one way or the other, I just go as quickly as possible- May we get a small clarification that-... just to get the hell out... cyclists are allowed to ride on those sidewalks, too?
1:01:54
That's correct. I think that that's, uh, something that needs to be improved- [laughs]... is there should be signage there that- There should be signage because the runners-... tells you that-...
1:02:02
that run across that sidewalk and yell at us cyclists- Yeah, you, that's-... for being on the sidewalk should be whipped...
1:02:07
any, any bridge in the s- any, any bridge in the City of Milwaukee that you traverse over, whether it's Sixth Street Bridge, Locust, North, uh, cyclists are allowed to share that space. Hot damn. Oh, gosh.
1:02:19
You heard it here. Hallelujah. So thank you for letting me ramble on. Right on. That's all I have to say. Anytime. She's got a lot of stuff to say. We're gonna have her on again 'cause- Totally...
1:02:27
I don't think we're done yet. The old updates. Yep. No, I just had to take that opportunity. Maybe she should come on every month and say- At least once a month. Yeah. We'll bring the beer. All right, everybody.
1:02:38
Have a great night. Hey. Or day, whenever you're listening to this. Au revoir. Au revoir, Simone. If you're lucky, we'll see you or talk to you next week, or about you. Or near you.
1:02:50
[upbeat rock music]
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