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Full Spectrum Cycling
Full Spectrum Cycling 332 – Doom and Gloom Plus Bright Spots
May 15, 2026
Full Spectrum Cycling 332 – Doom and Gloom Plus Bright Spots
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41:29
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Transcript
0:00
[rock music] Jeremy Parsons Ride! Oh, heck yeah. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Full Spectrum Cycling Show number 330... What was it again? Deuce. Two. 332.
0:17
Covers most of, uh, greater Manhattan. Ah, nice. There's a lot of people there, a lot of computers there, lot of robots there. They go, they go very vertical. Um- Yeah, a lot of robots going on there.
0:27
We're sitting here in, uh- Do you have robots that, like, deliver- Where the heck are we?... sushi to you? This is the back room here at, uh, Amorphic Brewing.
0:35
Uh, you might notice those posters on the wall, All Through the Night, March of Wooden Soldiers. Wow. Those are my movie posters. Nice. Somehow they ended up [laughs] on the wall here. All right.
0:44
[laughs] Those were in my dad's, uh, uh, uh, production studio at some point in the distant past, and they just keep- Cool... they just keep getting used. They're on Masonite boards. Nice.
0:55
So, you know, they did a pretty good job. Anyway, been about a month, been a month since we did this last, I think. Indeed, indeed-o. There's probably a couple things that happened- No... between then and now. No.
1:04
We had... Jeremy was late. Twisting Yong. So it's only been, like, three weeks. That's why I was confused about the podcast. Well, it's when the second Tuesday falls, you see. Okay. So that could go as late- When the...
1:13
We, we- It's kinda like Easter... we've run into each other on different- Well, well, we're on the same page though... occasions, so it feels like we are doing this. Was Jeremy not a great guest or what?
1:21
He was a great guest. I... That's a well worth re-listening to podcast. Quite possibly the best guest we've had. I think so.
1:28
Uh, I like how he asks questions and then, uh, we have to answer them, 'cause- They're a terribly great audience. That's my Jeremy impression. What a g- what a good-looking audience, you guys. You know? He, he's... I...
1:40
He did not bring out that chestnut, though, during the '24, at least in my- Your time there? In my... Yes. He, he did know, uh, Rodville? What a good-looking crowd. Nope. Hey, what a...
1:50
Oh, no, he did Rodville, but he didn't go with the, "What a good-looking crowd." Uh-huh, let's see. We all have our lean to, crutches, and... Eh. I mean, I mean, I mean- So I, I did not make it to registration.
2:03
Did you guys both go? Yes. Uh, I made a brief appearance. Then you ran away. Did you need to get registered? Fuck no. I'm not doing that. You ran away. I had to come and have a good beer.
2:13
Oh, that comes- I wasn't about to drink Black Husky swill. Oh. Oh, they have- Here we are with the vendetta again... they, they have, they have spirits. I know they have spirits, but- Then...
2:24
I petted, like, 20 dogs, though. That was cool. Get a little overload? No. No? Not possible. Just right, just... Not possible. [laughs] Just right there. There's no such thing as overload of dog for me. Huh, well, okay.
2:37
I have an allergy to pet dander, so yes, there is actually. [laughs] I'm sorry. So, so there is a threat. [laughs] It's called meds, man. That's why I can't- I know, I do, but...... love dogs as much as Tommy Burger.
2:47
I do have a thing for dogs. So no, uh, no stories from the registration then? Um- A lot of people. Well, Michael didn't get in. Um, not only did Michael- Jer...
2:56
Uh, uh, Jeremy, uh, I, I was finishing off the last of the Rainier beer, and [laughs] you could tell, like, from the koozie and whatever, he's like, "Oh, I had mine yesterday, man. Thanks." [laughs] So you're welcome.
3:12
[laughs] River, RiverWest '24, did we say that that was what the race- Yeah, that's what this was. Yeah. That's for the RiverWest '24 folks. So- Mm... Rob and, and- It was fun. I mean, it was... It, it is what it is.
3:22
It's a day to just sit around and drink in the park- It was... and have a, um, a good time. It was a glorious day too, actually.
3:27
Rob was really funny that he told all his friends last year, "If you wanna race this year, volunteer." None of them did. Somebody came from Iowa. Rob from Madison. Yeah, Rob from Madison.
3:36
Um- Were the other people actually from Decorah or somewhere near? Near... Iowa somewhere. I'm not certain if it was actually Decorah. The Quad Cities. Maybe, but none of them got in. Yeah.
3:44
Oh, no, some of them are from Cedar Rapids, I think. Cedar Rapids maybe. Yeah. Uh, none of them got in. Zero. All right.
3:51
I'm just flexing what little I have on my- But I told, I told Rob, I'm like, "Rob, just haven't come stay at our house this year and volunteer."... my blue Trivial Pursuit piece. Well- So then they're in next year.
3:58
[laughs] Because this is at the top of the list, and it's in Iowa at the same time. Uh-huh. So- That's pretty cool... Decorah is one of, I think, 28 maybe IMBA trail towns.
4:08
I think we talked about Anchorage being one last show or a show be- sometime in the not too distant past. But Decorah's had a mountain bike presence and whatnot since, like, at least 1983.
4:21
I know Deke started the Decorah Time Trials, which were way before wars, and, and one of the earliest series of mountain bike racing was in that area. And you've been to Decorah, right? Hmm? You've not been to Decorah?
4:33
I have not been to Decorah. So Decorah is surrounded, like- What's this?... 270 degrees around the town is a, I don't know, 300-foot bluff. It's like a rim all the way around, like a crater. Maybe, maybe- [laughs]...
4:48
maybe in the past some, some asteroid or something hit there. As ancient astronaut theorists speculate.
4:54
But it, it, so it gives you, on a, on, like, a normal 11, 10, 11 mile Decorah Time Trials course, there's, like, 4,500 feet of climbing. [laughs] It's very a lot of climbing. Sounds like it. You don't have to climb.
5:08
You can ride on the bottom and have fun, too.
5:10
But anyway, it's one of those places where of the 10,000 people that live in Decorah and 3,000 people at Luther College, you're within, like, 10 minutes or less, way less probably, of a trail. Wow.
5:22
Because it's just everywhere you go, there's one, there's one, there's one. There's a nice paved trail all the way around if you like that, too.
5:28
Anyway, I think it's cool because, uh, they've been doing it so long and they got some recognition, and Wisconsin got none. Iowa got two.
5:39
The other one is in Mason City, which is sort of a Johnny-come-lately to this, even though- That's Scott Haps... back when I was on the road doing the bike sales, parts sales shit- Scott Haps...
5:47
they did have a mountain bike presence, but they've really been putting, like, time into it. And I think there's some group in Iowa that also, like a political arm of something that maybe kinda helped along with this.
6:03
A little flexing. 'Cause it's not like we don't have some of the best trail towns in the country- Right... here either. But anyway, I think that's cool for them.
6:10
And, uh, you know, Deke and Chewie and Spinner and all those guys, they've been doing this for 30 years, and it's... Well, not Spinner 'cause he's not that old, but- Captain. Captain Yeah... he's old, that captain guy.
6:21
Anyway, that's the Iowa news for today. Iowa news. If you wanna get- Still part of the Midwest. I dunno. You know- I actually, I try to avoid- I don't have the bell. I didn't bring the bell...
6:30
I was thinking about- Fuck... we don't have a bell here... didn't bring the fucking bell. Ding, ding, ding. Ding, ding, ding. Ding, ding.
6:34
Point here is you'll get to the top of a hill in Decorah a lot of times on any given lap, so let's just have health. Da, ding, ding, ding.
6:41
Well, we can have a cheers of this, and then we'll, we'll see what the, uh, we'll see what the show beer is today. Ding. Ding. Just because. Sorry, Ron, we're not gonna drink it. We're just gonna look [laughs] at it.
6:53
Are we not? Uh, this is- I'm sorry. We saw you around. I'm drinking it. I'm s- I'm sorry, I didn't hear that. This is the last- [laughs] Whatever you just said. I didn't hear that.
7:01
[laughs] This is the last of the beer from the, uh, out west trip. Yes. I can resist. Fresh bong water. [laughs] Well. Well, I always thought- Okay. It's a hemp pale ale. [laughs] See- It's herbal, nutty, and smooth...
7:18
I'm just curious. And by- Mountain-grown barley. I didn't know you could grow barley in the mountains. But hey, this is interesting. That's- I'm excited for this. It's- By, uh, hemp beer, the, this doesn't...
7:26
It's not like a THC beer, is it? No. It's just a- No, I double-checked on that one... hemp-derived or- Yeah.
7:32
It's, actually, it's, doesn't even taste- Montana-grown barley and Colorado-grown industrial hemp It doesn't taste like a pale ale at all. It tastes like a- You know, I'm gonna double fist.
7:40
[beer can clicks] It's clean tasting. Well, yeah, I took a healthy swallow there, and it's pretty clean. That's your 5% ABV. Yeah. I mean, it's, yeah.
7:53
That said- I mean, I, I kept looking and going, going- Let that, let that settle for a minute. Kinda tastes like bong water. [laughs] Well, no, I- Did you guys ever drink bong water for any reason?
8:01
[laughs] Well, uh, yeah. The, uh, the wife's ex had a big... Remember the, uh, had the, uh, body pillow size of, uh- Oh, the bag... of hemp. Oh, right Or of just, uh- Ditch weed... D- DTHC'd flower. Weed?
8:19
And it was like, "What do you do with this?" And I was like, "I don't, you know, I don't know." Burn it in the backyard? "Make, make, make tea." And I was like, and I just thought about that, and I was like, make tea.
8:26
I'm like, so the tea would just taste like bong water essentially. It probably did, didn't it? Well, I didn't get that far. [laughs] I just used it as a fucking body pillow, so. [laughs] But no, um, yeah.
8:37
As allergic as I am to dogs, I'm more allergic to rubbing marijuana or hemp on my skin.
8:44
It's like, you know, it's like if you're rolling around in a field- I've never found myself in the situation where I was doing that It is- Well, it's just like you're walking through the forest...
8:50
there are little, tiny barbs on it, I believe. You're walking through the forest, and you go past- So that might do an irritation to the skin...
8:54
yeah, you go past something, and you're allergic to it, it's gonna, it's gonna get you. Sure. Yeah. It's not like stinging nettles where- That's why I never go into the forest. I s- live in a big city for a reason.
9:03
If- I had, I, I had the big, uh, the peanut allergy test with every- Oh, with all the scratchings?... e- every nut. Every nut. Yeah? Yeah. Sometimes you feel like a nut. That, that Greg, he's kind of a nut.
9:14
Sometimes you don't. It was insane. ♪ Almond Joy's got nuts. Mounds don't. ♪ Mounds don't. Like... I prefer an Almond Joy personally. Some are about two something, something, something, yeah. I, I prefer the Almond Joy.
9:22
You get more bang for your buck from a, with an Almond Joy- I agree... than you do with a Mounds. Yeah. 'Cause it's got the nuts? Yeah. And you- It's got coconut... and that's loaded with protein. Don't you understand?
9:33
Protein all up, all day long. Up. [laughs] Feel like I haven't been getting enough protein. I heard there's a bean soda now that has protein in it. That sounds terrible. Doesn't it? Soy bean?
9:44
It's, I don't know what it is. It's like soy milk? I'm not going- It, guess what? I have no problem eating protein. There's no soy milk because guess what? The soy bean doesn't have a titty. Oh, sure it does.
9:53
You just gotta sit there really- It doesn't have a titty... pretty tiny, really tiny. I'm doing, I'm doing my, this has to be Lewis Black. It totally isn't. 'Cause it- [laughs] Oat milk...
10:01
there is so- no soy nipple, so there is no soy milk. So it's just called soy juice. Milk. And if you say that and try to market that, you kinda throw up in your- Speaking of that, and totally off topic...
10:14
mouth a little bit... I heard that Simple Soy Man's coming back. Tell us Simple Soy Man. Uh, that was the Milwaukee soy producer/reseller for years. We bought a bunch of his soy to make, uh, biodiesel. Oh.
10:28
I was going with Soy Man from SNL. No. Bummi Lick. [laughs] Bum Licker. Bum Licker. Bum Licker. Cheeky Monkey. Oh, geez. All right. Hey. And we're back on track. [imitates tires screeching] It just took a dance there.
10:42
Tour de Towar's coming up. Green Mile was fun. Green Mile was fun. Tour de Towar- Green Mile was fun... I mean, they're both at the same time. Are they? Well, no.
10:50
Green Mile, I think, had as many volunteers as it did racers. Yeah, it was kinda- That, were there more volunteers than racers? [laughs] There may have been more volunteers than racers.
10:55
Uh, it, it felt like 50/50, and that was- Yeah... that's awesome 'cause it was a fun damn time. Uh, the, the young lady who had the hat on that just said, "Motherfucker," she was so sweet.
11:06
I had such a great time hanging out with her before race, pre-race at that cafe. And then- Oh, Haven or Ha- Ha- Haven, whatever it's called... Ha- Haven? Haven?
11:15
So did they d- did they end up, like, loading up in the, um, Victor's parking lot across the street? No. No. They just, just loaded up at- We stayed over at Haven the whole time... Oh, shit.
11:28
There's truck- And then we all rolled out. I just... No, no, I just thought for the amount of humanity that was gonna be there- If there would've been enough, they mighta. There wasn't that...
11:35
I'd say there wasn't- I, that's what I told Spencer... there wasn't that many people. That's what I told Spencer. There was probably 20- I, I, I told Spencer, I was going like-... uh, five racers maybe.
11:42
We had four at our stop. That's all that came through there? Nobody wanted to go- Four, four or six. It was, it was not many... nobody wanted to come down.
11:48
'Cause we went up- You're not helping my booing and elevating the thing here. The... [laughs] It's- It was- But no, I mean, okay, I'm just saying, perfect opportunity.
12:01
It's a Milwaukee nightclub that went out of business just recently- And you know what? It's showing, like-... and has a free parking lot Yeah. Yeah. No, I get the idea.
12:09
There's- A couple of smashed out windows already there and stuff. I can imagine... it's kinda like, well, you know what? You gotta have party in there. Well, you probably-
12:17
All those guys that used to work at Century- I wanna go in there and see if I-... as bag boys- It's-... and they would save all their money for the weekend and go to Victor's- And see if it's-... try to get lucky...
12:26
if I can find my fucking, uh- It's just a cougar bar... my tool bag. No, it was- What? A cougar bar? Well, that's why this- Depending on who you were, yeah... that's why the bag boys went there- Looking to score...
12:35
looking for the big scores... 'cause they were. They're the Cougars. Once, in the 30 years- They're the money... I've lived in Milwaukee, once. They had a great fish fry. I went to it a bunch.
12:42
Yeah, and they did have a lot of good, good pizza. It's an awesome place. They had a great motherfucking fish fry, and I d- I left my, my tool bag, which was cool. It was one of those, uh, um,
12:53
green whatever made out of, um, bicycle tire. I can't remember the name. Oh, Green Guru. And it was like... Green Guru. There we go..com. Mm-hmm. To the- Now part of Alchemist..com. Or, or part of the inner-.com...
13:11
unless somebody, like, just stole it from me at Victor's. Huh. I just felt like I... I'm like, "Ah, last place I had it, like, anywhere." And they had, like, deep cushions, so it could've [laughs]...
13:25
It could still be fucking there, Stephanie. [laughs] That's what I'm fucking saying. [laughs] I'm like, "Oh, hey." Oh, boy. Open window, you say. So, yeah. [laughs] Oh. I had some good Park tools in there, man.
13:42
I don't know. [laughs] I don't know. Park tools got a shout-out from, uh, from the Bike Farmer. Oh, yeah? I think. Saying that they had the greatest, uh... You want to learn...
13:49
Uh, basically because he's closing down his shop, and he's still gonna do his channel, his YouTube channel, and he's doing an AI thing, which I think is kind of interesting. I don't...
13:59
I haven't watched a bunch yet, but it's Bike Farmer on AI. It's a whole separate channel. Oh. Anyway, um, and I think, uh, he's embraced this idea of the... There's a bike surplus.
14:09
There's way too many bikes already- Absolutely... in the world. Too many dicks on the dance floor. Too many bikes that, that could- Too many dicks. [laughs] Well, to be- Hey... to be, like- It's a thing...
14:17
to be revitalized- [laughs]... to be refurbished, to be... There's tons of old treks out there that are perfectly good bikes, and he's like, kind of his mission to get some of those out of barns and under butts.
14:26
And, um, one of his points was, and I think this is funny, and I, I don't disagree with it, and I may start doing videos on this, is that for 95% of the things people go to a bike shop for,
14:39
you don't need to go to a bike shop to do it. Right. Changing a flat, adjusting your derailleur. YouTube videos. Even, even trueing a wheel. You don't really need- Ah... to go to a bike shop. Ah.
14:50
Trueing a wheel, I'm gonna pay someone.
14:52
Well, I'm saying if you spend, say, 30 minutes getting into your car, putting your bike in your car, going to the bike shop, talking to the bike guy, that's at least 30, probably 45 minutes just for that one.
15:03
Then you gotta go back and pick it up, so they're into it for an hour and a half. I mean- I have no problem paying $40 when I have shit- Even if you live. I know. I do that.
15:10
Well, now it's not 40 bucks anymore though, either. Uh, so, okay. Prices are going up. You know why? Bike shops aren't making money like they used to, and they...
15:17
A, a mechanic in a bike shop should be making- And they're not being as bene-... like 30 bucks an hour minimum... benevolent as- You think they're not any better than a, the... I mean, they're as good as- Um...
15:25
an auto mechanic. As a matter of fact, I would argue that being a bike mechanic now with all the bullshit changes and everything- I don't even think I can let you leave-... all the fucking time.
15:34
I don't even think I can- And- I don't think I can leave, let you leave the bike shop- All-... with this bike in this situation. Ex- exactly. With all the tools- Ugh, God...
15:41
the specialty tools you need for the one time the one thing comes in that you need. Shit. It, it's just silly. Mm-hmm. Anyway, point is that to do just normal maintenance, lube your chain, do this, do that.
15:51
Yeah, those things you should be able to do yourself. Which- Yes... a lot of people go to the bike shop for.
15:55
That said, there aren't gonna be bike shops to do that much anymore because either you're going to Eric's and you're waiting three weeks, or your- Hmm... your local shops are shutting down. There's no way a shop...
16:07
At our shop, I mean, we're technically still a bike shop, I guess. Doing electric conversions is the only thing that makes any sense. Right. Absolutely.
16:15
Which, by the way, we got that Haas running today, the, the ta- the tandem, tandemonium. Yeah, that's exciting. Uh, I think it's- Bringing it all back... a really crazy looking tandem. All the way back.
16:25
It is very interesting. The recumbent front end to regular. And the neat thing about it is you can talk to each other as you ride. And the... What? Yeah, because the person in front of you, your head's like right there.
16:36
The front can free- It's great... the, the front can freewheel? Yes. Yes. Also cool. Because we didn't even have somebody on the front. But you don't have a BMX freewheel there- And, and the pedal was not spinning...
16:45
so it's not zing, zing. Yep, there's a BMX freewheel on there. Is it gonna be all like I'm on a BMX? It's, I think it's just a Shimano that's been modified at the cran- It's inside the crank. Let's put it this way.
16:54
Is it gonna be something where it's just like at least just ghost pedal it- No... just softly? Oh, yeah. Just softly do that so there is- Yeah, if you set up a hang up that way- Well, yeah... you can totally do that.
17:03
Well, you could do it even with- So softly do it so it's not... Yeah. [imitates bike chain] Oh. Yeah, you could soft pedal it. Oh.
17:11
Uh, I, I think it- No, I'm just saying, I mean, have you been next to a person with a big- Everything, everything was a fight on it to get it to fit- That's-... including that goofy freewheel thing.
17:19
The little bolts be- hit the housing of the motor. It's like, well, let's clearance that a little bit and blah, blah, blah. Anyway, it's, it is now operational.
17:28
We spent, like, 45 minutes today going, "Why isn't this fucking thing turn on?" Apparently we have a bad display. We were talking about displays earlier.
17:38
So I had a display in the, uh- Is that still at your shop, or did it roll out? No, I gotta put some miles on it so I can make sure that after bashing it around- I want to, I, I want to ride with you...
17:46
potholes and stuff. Can I ride with you? You can go on the front. Yeah, I'll totally go on the front. Yeah. [laughs] You can go in the back. I don't know. No, I want to go on the front.
17:52
Yeah, I, I think we ought to put person up there just to see, or a dog. I really want to see what that's like. Or a dog. Put a dog up there.
17:56
You'll, you'll have, yeah, you'll have a better experience than me on the, on a cargo bike for the first time, and you just jump on the front part for the bingo, and I almost crashed it. Oh, I did that? Yeah.
18:09
And I cra- almost crashed into the, uh, um- I don't remember that, but-... the antique shop outside of Radio Milwaukee. Oh. I do remember that now. [laughs] Yeah. I just need to hit the right button. It's kind of fun.
18:22
[laughs] It's like, don't go in there. It's your first time riding a Bullitt, right? Yeah. And- Well, they are not the easiest thing to- Yeah... jump on and ride.
18:28
Especially with the- It takes about a week, and then you're fine. Yeah, it, it takes some time. And then you have a-... a squirming Tony in the front. Doesn't help- That's the nicest thing anyone's ever called me.
18:38
Squirming Tony. The squirming Tony. Squirming Tony. The... I'd say the Haas, honestly, once you ride it, it's kind of like an Omnium. It doesn't ride that bad. It, the, it, it rides better than it looks.
18:50
It's kind of a gangly, ungainly looking thing. Oh, I think that's a good-looking, crazy-ass bike. It's crazy ass. Uh- That storage underneath. Yeah, that w- You could put a whole lot of beer down there.
19:00
Well, yeah, and then you'd have a lower center of gravity, so it'd be kind of cool. And you, with your beers, you're riding. Anywho, I think that should be all right. Hopefully they like it.
19:07
It's like a miniaturized, that super tall bike that had, like, the cargo underneath. That thing's nuts. And then the guy... [singing] Does he have two kids on there now, too? Him, his wife, and two kids. Most likely.
19:17
Does, they ride, like, underneath on the bottom? Yeah, it's got a rear... Yeah, that thing's- Yeah, it's gone from like transporting- We should find a way to put in the showrooms...
19:24
like beer to transporting children It's got, the whole bottom of it's like a big cage. I've seen silliness like that before. That's what's fun about cycling, silliness.
19:34
Well, and if you're, got a mild skill with a welder, you can make some super silly, tall slash, you know, fun cargo bikes. I am surprised that Dave Fucking Lunds hasn't- I'm not s-... ventured into that arena.
19:48
Mm, I've seen him weld tubes before. That means he probably shouldn't be welding tubes without a lot more practice. He can weld a bridge, but- Listen, I don't know...
19:57
it's like he can tune a piano, but he can't tune a fish. Maybe he has tried and has failed. [laughs] He has.
20:02
I ha- And, and, and, and, and, and, and he- I, I, I wanted him to modify a fork and he blew right through it like- I'm not gonna celebrate this failure... oops, [blows raspberry] sorry.
20:09
[blows raspberry] Right through the fork, like immediately. It was like, "Eh, that's all right. Just goober it up with some brass. It'll probably be okay." [laughs] I mean, it's- Yeah... you know, whatever.
20:21
It's a round thing. Reference, yes. Uh, do you guys know who Todd Puckett is? What? Who? No. Well, we're talking Dave Lunds, 'cause he's always going for DFL at the- Mm-hmm... at the, uh- Yeah...
20:31
the race up there in Michigan, the, uh, what's that snow race-y thing they do called up there? Yeah. Frosty. I'm sure Chad would know that. Not Frosty Mug. Frosty something. No, it's, whatever it is.
20:39
It's, it's a big deal. Something hundred or... The other thing. Eh, if you don't s- keep talking- I'll know... I might figure it out. Anyway, Todd's from the, from the UP up there. Do you really want me to stop talking?
20:48
Uh, no. And he de- he designed a bike five years ago called the Lake Effect, E-H-F-E-C-T. [singing] If I had wanted you to me. Eh. Eh. Uh, effect. Eh. Lake Effect. Eh. There you go. It was a fat bike.
21:01
It was a, a kind of a fat bike project. It's more of an all-around bike project, 'cause it can use 29 plus or whatever. He has a new version of it now, and I have a picture of it. It's really cool.
21:11
It's gonna be a little bit longer in the back, and it's supposed to be the one bike to rule them all kind of a situation. Ha. Because he only has one bike. He's one of the rare weird bike people that only has one.
21:21
He has one bike? All right, I'll give him credit for that. And he wants to make it do as much as possible. I normally only have, like, one functioning bike.
21:27
[laughs] So I feel like kind of slightly in his- I'm a little bit in that... corral on that one. Yeah. I feel like I have one that I ride regularly. Just saying.
21:36
I am unfort- well, unfortunately fortunately really enjoying Bass Boat. I should be riding bikes that make me exercise a little harder, but- Bass Boat's pretty cool... Bass Boat's a really fun fucking bike to ride.
21:47
Conquer me. How's your push-uping going? Uh, I had a minor setback, but hopefully if I enjoy myself a little less than likely tonight, I'll get another hundred in. Yes. Do not- You're doing them on a Gibbon board now?
22:01
Don't, don't do pushups with hard-ons. Um, so, so Dan- [laughs] Well, cock pushups, man. We all know about cock pushups. Cock pushups. Um, Daniel got a Gibbon board, which is a
22:12
slack board that's not like a roller like my other one. Yeah. You put your... And it's great for pushups to get- Cock pushups. [laughs]... drop all the way down and up. I really like it.
22:22
I, you, you shouldn't go more, you shouldn't go more about this. I go roughly- You don't want to go like this, 'cause then you're, you're hurting your delts. Those delts around. Yeah.
22:27
Anytime I see any of you dumb fuckers on any of those things- Right... I, my anxiety level goes wow. Oh, I really- I'm like, God damn it, I'm...
22:36
So- The amazing part about Daniel for being a really large child- I'm breaking my-... is his balance is incredible. Probably 'cause he's got a Gibbon board or whatever you call that thing.
22:44
I, he wa- it wa- it came in the mail. Hoveries. Hoveries Sam. I take it out of the box, and he like- Hoveries [laughs] It's very Sam... li- Little Wheelie Sam on that.
22:51
[laughs] He literally got it and walked around it, like, like, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo. I'm like, "Dude." Let me just take a wheelie around what I've done.
22:56
So, uh- [laughs] So I have done more pushups every day since the day I started, but I'm not... I'm just trying to do- Well, you started with one, right? I started with five. Okay.
23:08
I'm s- I'm trying to do one more every day. Good. That's it. I'm trying to keep my noodle arms. Yeah. I don't know. I just, eh. Feels good, man. It really does. Yeah, they do. I really enjoy it.
23:17
Well, I looked back on when I was doing, the goal was to do 100 in a row. Yeah, that's brutal. And I ha- I have an app for that. Well, to get to 100 in a row, you're doing like 400 or 500 a day.
23:27
You're doing them in, you, you're doing them at maybe a couple times a day in different sets and stuff, but there's do this many, stop, take a rest. Do that many, take a rest.
23:36
It took like 15 minutes to do the whole thing. It took a lot of time. And, um- Yeah, it's like going straight up that fucking hill or going all the way to Cecil Park.
23:45
When I went against- [laughs] I went against two firefighters, one James Arps and another woman that he worked with. Arp, Arp, Arp, Arp, Arp, Arp, Arps. And those guys are fit. And we did, we did the, like- Arp, Arp...
23:54
face-to-face, like this kind of thing. Mm-hmm. In, in Rascal's on the floor in the bar when we're all kind of hammered, and James, uh, we're all going in, we're all going in, and she's getting kind of tired.
24:04
We're at about 45, 50, and she's like, "I'm done." And I'm looking at him. I'm going, "Can you do one more?" "Well, yeah, yeah." And I go, "Do you want to do any more? You want to do?"
24:11
He's like, "No, I don't want to do any more." "You want to do any more?" I'm like, "No, we're done." [laughs] At like, I don't know, 65, 70 or something like that. Yeah. But it was just like...
24:19
[sighs] Can you call Ethan? No. Uh, it was crazy. I mean, I, you know, it's just, but that was- I could never do 70 in a row... but that was, like, 10 plus years ago. Yeah. So I, I- No, I, I-...
24:30
it's more than that probably. And in the interim he has shown up, 'cause guess what? The fire department gets called to the campus... many times.
24:39
And then all of a sudden, I'll just be out, like trying to move the car or having a smoke and, and all of a sudden, she's like, "You didn't do this, did you?" [laughs] It's like.
24:49
I thought he was like, I don't think he's a captain, but he's way up there now. He's been- Sure... doing it for a long time. In fact, Joe's here. He looks- Joe's wandering in the bar. Oh, Joe.
24:58
Oh, he sn- he snuck under the thing over there. [laughs] Uh. There he is himself. How you doing, guys? Hi, Joe. Welcome to Joe. We're, we're doing our show right now with Joe in the, in the, in the area. Joe in the hoe.
25:12
Uh, howdy. Should I, should I get you a microphone, Joe? You wanna- No, we're good... say a few words? No, I just wanna say hi. Hi. Um. Hi. Have you been up- Hello, everybody out there...
25:20
have you been up to- Trail riding... have you been up to Door County lately? Um, not since summer. Spe- speak directly into the flower. [laughs] Oh, into the flower. Um, no. Uh, no.
25:31
I haven't been there since, uh- Well, there's a place called, uh, the- August... The Thirsty Cow. Ah. It's in Bailey's Harbor. Okay. Right across from PC Junction and Stone's Throw, uh, Winery. Bailey's Thirsty. Yes.
25:41
So if you know where... Fox... Okay, it's like right there. Their food is mediocre, but they have this really cool beer system.
25:48
You get a little tag on your wrist, and you go up and you put it on the thing you want, and you pour your beer, and it only charges you for how much you pour yourself. By the ounce. Yeah.
25:58
I've never seen the automated system- Yeah. Yeah... where it just racks up like a gas pump- Oh... how much beer you're drinking. Um- That's trouble for me... Wendy beat me by, like, 12 cents somehow. Nice.
26:08
But, uh, so- Can I just go in there and hit the button? So you can do, you can do... Yeah, you could, I guess. You can do the math. Can I g- yeah, can I get the bottle?
26:15
So- And I'm being environmental 'cause I'm saving glasses... boom, boom... so light beer from Miller- Can I just put my arm on it? Miller... 24 cents an ounce. Chaos Pattern, Three Sheeps, 54 cents an ounce.
26:26
Which by the way, was the only drinkable beer there I thought, but- Oh, Chaos Pattern's good... yeah, just Chaos, very good. It's a good beer.
26:33
So 54 cents, so 10 ounces is 5.40, so 16 ounces is, like, nine bucks for a Chaos Pattern, right? Seems a little spendy. Yeah, we- Wait. You work in Sheboygan. You're paying a lot more...
26:47
Yeah, you're paying a lot more money by the ounce when you go to these places. Yeah. Oh, heck yeah. First time I experienced that was in the Asheville, um, North Carolina, and it was great. It was almost like,
26:59
like a sort of a, I don't know, an epiphany of beer tasting, and it was all, you know, affordable. But- Y- in the end... beer in Milwaukee, beer, they're, you know, Wisconsin, they're- Yeah...
27:13
they're fucking you big time. I was up in the, um, UP. [laughs] Watch your total for that body...
27:20
in the, at the place there, and it was, and the beer was so shitty on the, the pours, that the beer, the actually the place made was so much better. So you just went there? Yes.
27:28
[laughs] I was like, "I'm just gonna drink at the bar. Why am I doing the, you know, the, the off stuff?" Is, is it a lot of it foam and shit too? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Fuck that. Yeah, it was foamy. No, I mean, trust me.
27:38
And I went to the, a National Restaurant Association, the, um, convention down in Chicago, and they were showing this whole, you know, business prototype down there, and I'm like- This is dumb... "Yeah, this is fucked."
27:50
You know, this is, you know, it go, you know, you're, you're pushing this thing. It, it sounds attractive. Best place was in Chicago, Barnum. He had all Chicago beers.
28:02
It was, um, somewhere just north of the Fulton Market area. Okay. Yeah. I don't remember the name of it. Mallort Jin. But just- [laughs]... but good.
28:12
I mean, they had, and it was all good beers, and it was all reasonably priced. I was wondering what that system costs. It's like a couple hundred Gs I bet. Yeah, it's gotta be. It's gotta be spendy.
28:23
'Cause you think you got, like, 20 beer lines going- Right. Well, they had-... four ounces... okay, so they didn't- By ounce... just have beer. They had brandy Manhattans and other
28:32
booze-a-ha ones that they- Imagine if anything you could put in a horny cake... that they mix up- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah... in a, in a thing, and they, and they put them in there. Wow. Yeah, so. Yeah.
28:40
Anyway, yeah, so that was, uh, The Thirsty Cow. Food, mediocre. Beer, interesting. Everything that starts with thirsty is gonna be end up being a good place to end up with. Really?
28:51
I- I need to talk to you about getting carry-outs from- No, 'cause there's that-... Three Sheeps... Thirsty Beaver in Crestwood, Illinois. [laughs] Thirsty Fox. I could do that for you.
28:58
Just have them deliver it to the shop. So the, well, the deal is is I was telling Michael, I just got dealt a dirty- And the Thirsty Beaver. I just got, uh- Yeah... dealt a dirty at Total Wine.
29:07
They had a 12-pack of Fresh Coast, which is one of my favorite pale ales. Totally drinkable. Yeah. Great tasting. Fresh Coast is good. So I went and got a 12-pack. It was bo- it was canned in the first week of November.
29:24
This was canned in 12 of '25, and it's still pretty good. It was bad. I was like- Oh... it had a horri- I'm like, "This has got such a- That's, that shouldn't be that bad. They're not good, are they?
29:33
I mean, six months shouldn't be bad. It either got warmed up. It shouldn't be bad. It either got stored warm. You're getting a little snooty. Was put, you know, yeah. I thought canned beer was- Are you getting snooty?
29:42
... you know- Snotty? Snotty... impervious to, you know, like climate change. Well, if it's skunky beer. Remember when it was skunky beer? Well, if it's light, it's still gonna age in the can.
29:52
[laughs] You had that whatever we had, the- The, yeah, the Motorhead. The Motorhead beer that was almost undrinkable. I was like, "Holy shit, there's Motorhead beer." I don't know if you'd shot it.
30:00
I thought, I didn't, didn't think they made that anymore. I don't know if that's actually Merc- No, they make it anymore... 'cause I was like, "It's five years on the shelf." I don't think it's actually doing anything.
30:07
We'll see. It's curious. [laughs] Yeah. I think, yeah, I think it had to be all stu- You can't just add it in when we're going. That's something I need to- All right. Something you need to know about...
30:13
we need to figure that out. Ah, yeah, yeah. Um. Good, you're experimental. Anyway. Experimental. Well, I'll take that back since it's not doing anything. Okay. It's not- Oh, I almost got some chest hair with it. Oh. Oh.
30:23
[laughs] Oh, you were monkeying around with my, uh- No grass on the busy highway... my upper merkin there. [laughs] So I was like- Take off my shirt... were you doing trail riding before you got here?
30:32
No, I, well, I went down to Grant Park and back, and then I, you know, the weather got, was crazy, you know? Wind. It, it was like- No, the wind sucked... cold as shit and raining.
30:42
It was like, I, I thought it was snowing, but it was just the- You know, shit coming off the trees, and then- Well, right next to the lake is gonna be- No, and so, boom, you know, you got- 20- So I'm like, that backyard, I'm like, "Well, pretty damn nice out."
30:56
Yeah. Get on a bike. So I jammed on Grant Park a bit, stopped at, uh, Newport. Stopped at Barnacle Bud. You get PK'd? Barnacle Bud's is open? They're open, yeah. Did you get PK'd? Yep. Nope.
31:07
You- Got a, got a, got a Barnacle Bud. Paul Kennedy? Yeah, and, um, then came up here, and... Oh, I stopped at my buddy's house on Humboldt Avenue, down right by Kellner's. We know who that is. Yeah, Dan Dole. Yeah.
31:19
And, uh, had some MyBox there, and- There you go... talk shit and- Now you're- Now you're- [laughs] Well, let's get through the rest of this show. Thanks for stopping in, Joe. Woo. You could stay.
31:30
We're gonna- You could stay... we'll be up, we'll be up front about 10:00. I'd sooner end up front. You could stay and just listen to us bitch. No, no, no, it's good. Just saying hi and- Good... see how you're doing.
31:36
Yeah. Good to see you. Hi, hi, hi, hi, how are you? Hi. Hi, how are you? Hi, how are, how, hi, how are you? [laughs] Hi. Thank God. Uh, a little more news in the old bike industry.
31:46
Uh, Mert Lowell, if anybody knows who Mert is, he was the guy that made- He passed away, right? Yeah, he passed away. Uh, he's the guy that made the fork that's on my GT with the, uh- Oh, that's a cool GT...
31:57
and, um, he was one of the first suspension guys. I think the RS1 that, uh, Gary Fisher came out with was one of the very first suspension mountain bikes, and Mert designed that. Plus, he was a badass flat track racer.
32:11
Nice. Uh, always a motorcycle guy, always a, a BMX and, and mountain bike guy, and he was way more influential in the industry than people remember him for, one of those deals. Interesting. Okay.
32:23
Um, there's a really good, I hate to say it, and it's in Mountain Bike Action, which is still around apparently, 'cause Zapata Espinoza is still making stories, I guess. Um, I do or did have a link for it.
32:35
I'll try and find it, 'cause there's a really good story from 2021 where Zap went and interviewed him and shit, and it's worth- Hmm... worth doing. Oh, that's what happened. Okay, so I, I have it in there twice.
32:45
Let's get rid of... We'll get rid of that later. Um, anyway, yeah. Mert Lowell, a man with a mountain bike mission. Anyway, that's, that's the name of the story. [burps] Excuse me. Ugh. We're on air. Yes.
32:56
Sorry, man, I almost blew a fucking bolt out. Can we edit that out? Yeah, when you burp, you burp hard. You don't just do a little [burps] I'm just as God made me. [laughs] Ha.
33:07
[laughs] Uh, clickfatbike.com news, uh, Fat Bike Lab community, that's 103 members now,
33:13
and there's about- I will, I will write a picture of my ape- I did more participatory but- I did see you today, but I'm not participatory right now...
33:19
I did see that, that Tony was in there the other day complaining about no stickers. You got stickers. I didn't get any stickers. You got... Well, not recently, but- Well, I know...
33:27
you've gotten stickers in the past- I thought that you were like-... in the, in the last 20 years... my, my, one of my... Oh, thanks. What's that? You get a sticker. What's that? What's that? You get a sticker.
33:35
What's that? Stallis Cowboys. Oh, I've... Yeah, where'd this come from? Stallis, obviously. From the Stallis Cowboys. Um, I really like the, you know, peop- whoever asked, like, "What's your worst crash?"
33:45
And I described mine- Hmm... and put a link to Liz Frank break, [laughs] and he's like- Oh... "Oh, oh." Yeah, we did not have that on video. [laughs] Good. Speaking of Stallis- I don't need to relive that, okay?
33:57
[laughs] Speaking of Americana music, uh, have you- Speaking of diverting, what a... Yes. Look, what a blue car over there... have you guys listened to the- St-... God's Outlaw album yet? No. I did.
34:11
No, but, uh- Very good... yeah. Really. Yeah. It's got a lot of good players on it, and it's- Don Smith does his thing... very well done... right. Yes. There's a little Jeff Hamilton mandolining in it even. Mm-hmm.
34:22
Yeah, he was, yeah, he got it all done at the Hamtone. At the Hamtone Studio. At the Hamtone Studios. I highly recommend it, even if you're not from Milwaukee. I would check that out.
34:31
Um- He is like the Steve Albini of Milwaukee. Hmm. So, uh, here's my doom and- And also-... here's my doom and gloom in the bike industry thing.
34:38
We, we'll, we'll rattle these off real quick, 'cause there's links in the show notes, but Riese & Müller leaving the US market. Yep. Much like- Omnium...
34:46
Omnium and a couple others, tariffs are killing them, and they're like, "Fuck this place. We're not doing it. We don't have to. We don't care-" Deservingly "... about it anymore." We, we deserve to be butt-fucked.
34:55
And I like to say thank, thank you, Trump, for that one. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I'm not sure I can blame- Tariffs are bullshit... him on this one, Lynskey Chapter 11. That may just- That's sad... dead.
35:03
So those guys were great, because you could call them up with a design, and if you made, I'd say, 15 to 20 frames, they would build them for you.
35:13
I always wanted to do the redesigned ape that Zen did that never built it, and I wanted to have Lynskey do it. I'm like, "This is a great bike. We should do it." Gotta come up with, you know- I mean, Coby-...
35:25
12 to 15 grand or something... Coby sent me a text message, like, a month and a half ago saying, you know, "Thank you so much for convincing me to buy a Lynskey- He should buy another one before they're done...
35:37
in- instead of a, a carbon fiber bike." Because his big, tall personage could probably... That's gonna be, like, some of the last frames they sell, because that's on the other side of the bell curve, you know? Oh, right.
35:48
Big, small. Yeah, he... Well, he's tall, so they're probably- He's tall, yeah, yeah... still got a lot of those. Yeah, those are gonna be sitting around for a bit. So if you're listening, Coby, think about that.
35:55
I know you listen to all the shows. Oh, FYI, Coby always listens. Yep. I saw him listening, and he was just taking a picture of the TV, and his feet were out there like that foot TV picture thing. He sent you a picture?
36:04
Yeah, he did. He always sends me a picture. Yeah. He's a good kid. Um, so- Adult. He's an adult now... so that's that.
36:09
Uh, we talked about that reason, and then we talked about the bike farmer closing Gibbs, and, uh, Porsche closing its e-bike group.
36:16
I'm not 100% sure how that's not something that should be, but those guys have tons of money, and they tried to do it. Who cares? They're not doing it. They bought a few companies that had e-bike divisions.
36:27
Wow, I really don't care. Now they're cleaning house, and guess what they're gonna go back to making that they do well. Guess what? Guess what? Less of cars? Yeah. Are they cars? Cars. They make cars. Not SUVs, right?
36:34
They make cars. Hopefully nice cars. Well, they're best-selling vehicles, SUVs. I know. It's so sad. Stupid vehicles. All right, so- Freaking old sucks. It makes me cry...
36:42
and now we're at the it's not all doom and gloom section of the show. Oh. Oh. If you ever wanted to have a disc brake tab put on your 1995 Trek- 9:30- Or 9:50...
36:53
to turn it into a, or 9:50, to turn it into something usable these days. W- I'm not saying they're not usable without it, but there's a whole list of places that do frame repair.
37:05
New down tube, "Oh, I broke my d-" That will, that will literally drop disc brakes on it? Or, or will put tabs on your bike. Um, strictland.com disc tab directory.
37:15
So there's a 30, 40 builders around the country that will put tabs on your bike. So what about my Trek 630 touring bike? Skin tabs. I need skin tabs. Do you really want disc brakes on it? I want skin tabs on my bike.
37:29
Oh my God. I'm sure you could, especially since once you send it out, they're gonna have to repaint it anyway. Of course. Uh, yeah. And then- I only have to sell my last son for that, right? The final son. Price-wise?
37:42
The final son. Yeah. [laughs] [coughs] You can. Oh, come, come on, you. Uh, Kettle House Brewing Co... Oh, we did that already. Um, Omni Terra, John and Mira. John and his dog, Mira. This is that extra cycle thing. Yeah.
37:58
There's other stories. It just seems cool. That bike, long tail, fat bike, long, similar to the thing Todd Paquette's doing. I think this is where f- fat bikes are going, is Omni Terra bikes. They can do anything.
38:14
Make them a little longer- Okay, okay... and throw a, throw a bunch of shit on them. Yeah. Well, no, you go slow enough, you can traverse the right thing with the lowest- Okay, I'll give you that...
38:24
bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-boom. So because you guys are both community members- It's like I don't have to get over it. I have, I have to think that I have to be, ooh.
38:31
I mean, I do have to reign in my single speed mentality, going, "I gotta get on top of the hill quick." I'm like, "Ooh, wait, no, I can just- Fine... I can hamster wheel this and just slowly-
38:44
Hamster wheeling is good sometimes... snail and, like, and snail- Do this, do this, do this... snail walk up here. Right? Yeah. Do a little snaking. Little- And you get there.
38:51
But it's hard to knock that out of your brain. Dude, coming up from Locust Street, down from the river and up- Don't mind me. I'm... No. Okay, so I'm- No... that's a steep hill.
39:01
Then when you make the right turn, it's super steep. It certain is. Guess what I'm thinking. The guys in the Tour de France, that's what they ride, like, 7 to 10 miles of on climbs. Yeah.
39:11
Those are, like, the steepest sections, and they're really long. Yeah. And you're like- How are you doing that?... those guys, those guys are superheroes. They're throwing almost 1,000 watts riding.
39:20
Yeah, they have a, they have a bottom bracket motor- From their legs... that's really small and sexy. No, they don't. I just could- They're just monsters...
39:25
I just could not- Yeah, it's just nutty how c- how crazy it is... I, I had, like, a moment of panic of, like, [laughs] "How do I dismount? What side?" 'Cause it is coaster brake. [laughs] It didn't really- Oh, boy...
39:35
it doesn't, like, fly out- Agreed... underneath. [laughs] Anyway, I don't think there's much else we gotta go through. This was pretty good this week. Uh, Joe stopped in. You guys see Joe? He was over there before.
39:43
That was the guy with the chest hair and all that stuff. Killer butcher. Um, Tony Burger over there, JK. Sven. I think if we're lucky, we'll do this next month one more time, uh, or more than one. Here? But I don't know.
39:56
I'll see you guys at Locust Street Days. Yeah, it's, it's- Oh, yeah... it, but it's in May. You know- It's not in June... Days. Sss. And, uh, in May 31st, but- Day. Um- Sss, with a Z... speaking of that- Yeah...
40:07
there's two great... They have a great, uh, um... Polish Falcon has a great stage. Uh, the Sni- Plus, the Husky stage is pretty good at 11:00, by the way. I know that.
40:18
Um, uh, also something I never go to, but the summer solstice has got some great shows this year. Oh, the Deerlick. Uh- The, the Deerlick. The Deerlick. Uh- Oh, next time maybe- A Lee Award.
40:30
There's some- Next time maybe I'll tell the Deerlick- Deerlick Dave... do a- The Deerlick Dave... I gotta tell the Deerlick story next time because- We had a good Deerlick-... it takes a long time to tell. Yeah.
40:38
And it started the night before. Yep. [laughs] Then the morning, then the evening. Then the after. Then the telling Wendy the next morning. So it was like a three-day- Oh, shit... Deerlick thing.
40:49
I haven't, I haven't heard the coda. [laughs] Oh, God. [laughs] I haven't heard the coda- It's long... of this one. Next time. Anyway- I've only heard the first two acts, I tell you... thank you for hanging out with us.
40:56
And I have no idea how this works, but hopefully- We're gonna find out real soon... this is just a test of this. I've just been staring at Winchesters the entire time and smiling at- Oh, yeah. Smile away, boys...
41:07
smiling and bucket bronco-ing it. Smile away. Yee-haw. I gotta go fart.
41:15
[rock music]
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