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Full Spectrum Cycling
Full Spectrum Cycling #87 – We Talk With New CAMBA ED Dave Schlabowske
Nov 20, 2020
Full Spectrum Cycling #87 – We Talk With New CAMBA ED Dave Schlabowske
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Transcript
0:00
[upbeat music] Giggity goo.
0:16
Tony's little squeaky- Real getting greased... thingy, majigger, math- matron. Wow. Hey, everybody. Hey. Full Spectrum Cycling. Hi, everybody. I think we're on 87. Are we on 87? I think we're on 87.
0:29
Show number 87 today there. 87. The, the- 5309... this is the pre-Thanksgiving show. Well, this is delicious. Got JK to my right. Hello. Hello. Tony to my left and- Hey... splitting the uprights, Sam D. Hello.
0:44
Welcome back, Sam. In the pineapple. Have you, have you ever officially- Happy to be here... been on the show? Uh, I don't believe so. I know he's- Well- I, I know he's been a lurker...
0:53
I know I've once been tolerant, but that's about it... he's, he's been a lurker in the background. Who's the guy sitting behind us? Oh, yeah, JT's here too. Didn't even, didn't even- Hello...
1:00
didn't even see you back there [laughs] Hello. Hello... right on, everybody. Project your voice. [laughs] Such, such a, such a beautiful day today. I wasn't expecting it. Not bad at all.
1:10
You know, and rumor has it tomorrow's gonna be- Yeah... 60s. Well, yesterday is, was. Oh, sorry. Yeah, yesterday was delicious... yesterday was 60s, 'cause this airs on Friday. Right.
1:20
It's a, it's a kind of a time travel thing we do here. [upbeat music] And because my, um, place of employment is having a festival- Oh, shit...
1:30
I get to ride my bicycle to work, which is generally a no-no, 'cause there's gonna be no parking. Where's the festival? In the parking lot, [laughs] which is why we can't park our cars there, so. When's the festival?
1:40
Tomorrow. Or yesterday. [upbeat music] Or yesterday. Yesterday. [laughs] Sorry, yesterday. Right on. How was it? It was fun. I mean, your, your mask looks like you're wearing a bow tie is all I'm seeing. Well, thank you.
1:52
But I'm seeing you through uprights of the boom. So he's not wearing the RW 24 mask today. No, I'm not. Uh, I've, I've opted for- It's a decent mask...
2:00
I've, I've opted for the mask that, as Greg has told me, as you wear it, you, um... It, your beard makes it, like, smooth and nice- Yeah... and soft. Right. More fuzzy and- Ah... beautiful. It is a very nice mask.
2:13
That is- I like my masks... uh, forgot who. Uh, the, it's the towel people, the... [scoffs] Not, not- Excuse me? They, they, they make the- Excuse me? They make the fancy towels- Don't-... that dry off really well...
2:23
tell me, don't... It's not the fucking- Shammy? No. Shammy Wow? Fucking MyPillow people. ShamWow. No, they're... No, no, no. They're part of the MSR Stove Company. Okay. All right.
2:31
They're part of Therm-a-Rest, whatever the towel people are. Oh. PackTowl. PackTowl. PackTowl. I'm starting to get a little- It's a very fantastic mask... I knew I would get to it.
2:38
No, we don't need to talk about PackTowl- Oh, we're gonna have, like, a little... Yeah, we're gonna have a little cross hanging off of it, too. Sorry- Oh...
2:44
if I pissed anyone off, then I- So remember when Crocs- Upside-down cross. [laughs] There we have it.
2:50
Remember when Crocs came out and they were all just bare Crocs with holes in them, and then some clown came out with the thing you put in every hole on your Croc? Yep. Yep.
2:57
Why aren't there dangly things from everybody's mask now? Well, I don't... Hey, maybe you're missing them. Oh, I know. There's gonna be- Maybe I am... well, there, somebody will have them. Yeah, like friendships.
3:04
[laughs] It'll be like friendship bracelets. Friendships. The, the- Little charms everywhere... crazy part about that is I had moved to Colorado- Tom charms...
3:09
right when Crocs got popular, and I told my buddy, I'm like, "I've heard those are really comfortable." [laughs] And, and my friend- That is one nut I'm never gonna crack. I know it. Well, you know- I'm just, nah...
3:20
my, my friend who turns out to know a lot of really famous, like, Olympic athletes and things like that, he just looked at me and he's like, "Please don't give that man any more money." I'm like, "What do you mean?"
3:31
[laughs] And he knew the guy that created Crocs, and he created them because he was a kayaker, and he got tired of losing his shoes when he wiped out, so he made a shoe that floats. Nice.
3:42
I'm like, all right, and now he's even wealthier than he was before. So the people that put the things in the holes also made a- I'm sure they made-... a big haul of cash, for sure, so. For a goofy add-on. I don't know.
3:54
Whoever's gonna do the dangly thing. Like, Sam, I don't know, you can't see Sam 'cause we're on the radio here, but Sam's got a nose ring in today. Liner notes, you'll see him in the liner notes.
4:01
Maybe you could just- Oh, hey, everybody... kind of, maybe you could sort of, uh, I don't know, snap it in there or, or weave it in through there. I'm sure I could do anything of that nature if I'd like to.
4:09
[laughs] I don't know if I'd like to or not, but, uh- But you could... I'd have to process that one. So Sam is one of the more active writers in our, in our group here, uh, out there all the time. I didn't realize that.
4:21
[laughs] Well, and we also have to throw that over to JT, 'cause- Well, of course... you know. JT goes without saying. You're still commuting regularly to HD. I don't have a mic, so I don't- He doesn't have a mic.
4:31
We still love you. I know. I am- He still commutes-... I don't have Philly. He still commutes to the, the, the- I've-... dinosaur-killing motorcycle company located here in Milwaukee. My name is Mike. I can be his mic.
4:41
[laughs] Let him whisper in your ear and tell people, "Oh, here comes JT." No, you can't be my mic. [laughs] Be my mic. [laughs] So, uh- Steve... uh, w- Sam's got many bikes. Um, what, what's your favorite current ride?
4:57
What are you using the most- Uh-... this time of year, which is early fall, mid-fall? I'd tell you, I keep going back to the Narvester no matter what I'm doing, whether I'm riding on the road or, or hitting the trail.
5:07
It just seems to be the bike I gleefully grab every time. Uh, of course- It's kinda gorgeous... lately, the Ursa has been a, a real go-to as well, though. So the Narvester's the carver, right? Yeah. And it's 29 plus.
5:20
Yeah, 29 plus. And, uh, boy, I just really love hitting the trail on that thing. It just seems to have momentum. It just builds it, built right into it. It just flies. Awesome. Nice.
5:31
You still have the RS1 on there, too, don't you? Yeah, and that is the- Super fancy fork... noticeable factor on that thing. Every day I ride it, I think about it. [laughs] We should ride soon. I would love to, John.
5:42
You guys- You guys should totally ride... JT wants to go for a ride with, uh, Sam. Well, JT will ride with anybody, actually. We've talked about it for years. We, we really should. Well, tell me when.
5:50
[laughs] [laughs] So here's one for everybody. Waffle House now has a beer. The bacon beer. Yeah. It's in... I, there's a- I'm gleefully intrigued by that. Yeah. Did I- So any of our listeners- We don't have any...
6:05
if you should happen to be near a Waffle House and would like- To potentially send us some of said beer- Right... in a lucky long time. And any carry out- I can tell you this- And any carry out, it'll hold. The c- right.
6:15
Sure. Oh, yeah, and it will hold. It'll hold. [laughs] The closest Waffle House to us here in Milwaukee is- Cleveland, right?... five hours away. [coughs] Toledo- Toledo... Ohio. Yeah. Yeah, I did look for that...
6:26
right where the 475 and the 89 get together down there in Ohio. Oh, that's what I missed about my trip out east this summer. You guys do know what's round on both ends- There was... and high in the middle, don't you?
6:38
Ohi- oh. Ohio. [laughs] Two old idiots out walking- It's not the only thing that's high in the middle around here... in Missouri or Iowans. Don't worry about it. [laughs] Um, yeah, five hours away.
6:46
All round on both end and Ohio. I don't know. It, there's, uh, everybody and their brother had a story on this thing. I think the one- Mm-hmm... the one that I saw it on for some reason was CNN, but it's bacon and beer.
6:55
[laughs] Yeah, who could go wrong? And it's, the brewery is, I think, in North Carolina that's helping them out. North Cackalacky. No. I didn't write that down. Cackalacky.
7:03
That's how j- well I prepared for this show, because I know how much you listeners mean to us. Whoa. Lack of... [laughs] Here's, here's the thing. Our, our- Took a dark turn, you know that? Well, I'm just saying.
7:18
Our buddy Dave Slabowski should be calling in today, and he's gonna carry the whole show. [laughs] Thanks, Dave. This is just filler. Right. [laughs] Come on, Dave. This is awesome. While we wait, let's have some beer.
7:26
Well, he's warming up his digits right now and, uh, diggity, diggity, diggity. So when's he calling? Oh, who knows. [laughs] It's not really that important. Does he even love us? But he will call. Um,
7:37
uh, yeah, so this, uh... Hey, you know what we should do now is, uh, maybe we should get the, uh, the show beer thing going. The build it to the top of the hill? Well, we gotta, we gotta get all of them.
7:46
Everybody needs to have one in their hand. Yes, indeed. Because if you'd like to go- I will be right back... be the, um, the- I, I'm, I'm not on air. Oh, there you go. All right. Oh. Neither are we.
7:55
We're not on the, we're not on air either. Boy. Oh, boy. [laughs] Yes, master. Two spoiled girls. Did you get us a beer? Would ya? It's good to be the king. Would you like all of them?
8:04
[laughs] All right, so- Bring me all the beers... since it's the- All the beer...
8:07
it's the show before Thanksgiving, and we'll, we'll get down to the shit worth doing in a little bit, but I thought- Holy crap, Thanksgiving's next week. Right? I figured we could talk some shit about- Thanksgiving.
8:16
Let's talk about shit after Thanksgiving. We're not having it... which would be Urban Jungle Cross Numerale 8- Yes... which will be on the Saturday the 28th. It's the O show.
8:26
Well, my one question is, I saw lots of posts about this. Mm-hmm. I saw no posts about fried chicken. Uh, well, I- I'm not coming unless there's fried chicken... I don't know.
8:34
The, it's gonna be a little harder to do the hands ups as it is a, a COVID, uh, safe event. Yeah. So things are- Fried chicken is always COVID safe...
8:42
maybe bring y- bring yourself a pedestal and put your buckets of chicken up on there, and I'm sure it'll be fine. Oh, uh, John, would you, uh- Get, get your beer...
8:50
would you get the, on the lower of the door, the right hand is, is six green beers. Those are what we're gonna- What's six green beers? We need those. These will come later. Yeah. Let's, let's wait for later.
9:00
[laughs] They're, they're- Those won't go to waste, John... first, first, first of all, there's a plethora of beer here, John. Yeah. We, we, we should probably get a picture of this. Uh.
9:06
[laughs] 'Cause we are beer-laden- In, in the dark-... tonight... very, very slim- Data, data, data... I just, I- Please, I cannot bricks w- [laughs] I cannot make bricks without clay. All right...
9:16
I think we should just all have the same beer for the, for the top of the hill when we get to it. Exactly. If we get to it. There you go. Yeah. Oh. Uh-oh. That's not mine. Hello. That one's yours.
9:27
[laughs] Wow, what's up with these tall, skinny cans? Are we drinking beer- I don't know... or are we drinking- Is there any-... whatever those crappy things that sh- like Bear Claw? What are those things called?
9:38
They're leaking way out, bud... Clam Claw? What are those called? White Claw. White Claw. That, that's it. Clam Claw. Clam Claw. [laughs] That's really what they should have called it.
9:44
No, they should have called it Clam Claw. Well, that's 'cause mostly clams drink it, right? [laughs] I have a feeling that this is actually the polar opposite of, of that.
9:54
[bell ringing] Yeah, no, this, this is not clam beer. All right. After, after a lot of hard miles, we made it to the top of the hill. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Uh, and I think JK brought this one in this time. Yes, indeed.
10:05
It- I-... screamed to me. I, I, I read the, he... stuffs about it and like, "Uh-oh." [laughs] Well, yeah, I saw- That is a rough morning, guys... I saw the, I saw the 9 Point, but I saw the name first.
10:17
I haven't touched this in a bit, but this is one that, oh, yeah. 9 Point One- It is no joke Point. It, uh- Clunk... it'll coat the old insides a little bit. The clunk. It is a double IPA, I'm assuming.
10:28
It's a s- it's a s- it's a Sixpoint Brewery Resin is what this is. Yeah, I saw the resin. I'm pretty... Yeah, right. [laughs] Smells like the Marijuanas. I was intrigued. Or at least that's what people tell me.
10:38
Well, there's, there's actual real resin in there. It does not fit a koozie. From the Marijuanas. No, it is a White Claw- Yeah... uh, form factor on the...
10:45
Which is why they probably slip out of your hand so easily onto the floor, 'cause it's just so tiny. But, uh, yeah. Thanks for coming for a while. So, uh, JK, take us away.
10:55
Well, I bought it at Otto's 'cause, [laughs] 'cause the name said Resin and it was amazing. I was like, "Uh, hmm, well, I was gonna buy a show beer and whatever."
11:03
And I had to find one that was being pre-chilled, 'cause I didn't have the time to buy it the day before and actually chill it, you know. And so- It's pretty delicious...
11:13
I'm not, I'm not smelling a m- I've, I've drank this a bunch. I, it's- Yeah, I'm not smelling a whole lot of marijuana... it's a really good beer.
11:17
No, no, that's what I thought it w- I thought it was gonna be a stinky one, but- It's in there. It's in there... they're from Brooklyn, New Yock. 9 Point One El Kahoozee, which, wow. Yeah.
11:28
But not only that, the insane BTU. 103 IBUs. 103 IBUs. BTU is what are you still putting in a furnace over there? I might be.
11:36
I, you know, that is kind of my, my mental thought every day- International Bitter Girlfriend units. Ugh. It's so bitter IBUs. IBUs. IBUs. International Bitter Girlfriend units. No, IBU. IBU, IBU, UBU. No, you be you.
11:49
I be me. This is the- I'll be me And together. So it's not, it's not that, um- It's tasty...
11:53
it's not that tart like a- No, what's frightening is if you had like three of these, you wouldn't be able to get up, and that's- Oh, yeah... I like that kind of beer. Yeah. But you can get down with it.
12:03
I did not realize- You can get up, get down... it was the skinny- Oh, I love that... the skinny can. It does have that- I do like that a lot... hard seltzer, yeah- Feel to it...
12:13
oh, yeah, exactly, but I mean, this is ass knocker, you know? It's a little rude awakening.
12:17
I don't know what, I don't know what frat party in the old days I learned this at, but putting the f- pinky right under the can keeps that shit from falling on the floor. Do that?
12:25
[laughs] I can't believe you just said frat party Scrabble six Hey, free beer is free beer. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I don't think with Milwaukee, UWM- Oh...
12:34
doesn't have that big of a, a, a frat bro thing going on, but- One of, uh, o- one of my- Wore underwear on your heads? As, as an older person- Well, on underwear rides, yeah...
12:44
you meet the 19-year-old drinking age- Yes, sir, may I have another? Which is really fun- Yeah, no, I, I, I rode the latter... it was really fun at U- at UW Oshkosh once when I was at a frat party. He's older than you?
12:55
And, yeah, I'm older than you. Fuck. A lot older than you. [laughs] Weird. And it got, the frat party got raided, and everyone, like, started jumping out windows and stuff, and I'm like, "Oh, shit, I gotta run."
13:04
I'm like, "Wait a minute, I'm legal, and this ain't my house." [laughs] So I have, like, three beers in my hands, and the cops come in. They're like, "Let me see your ID." I'm like, "Absolutely."
13:14
And I walked out scot-free. I'm like, "This ain't my party. I didn't pay for a couple beer. I'm just here having fun." And everyone ran out and handed me beers, so I'm gonna drink them. Wow. I'm impressed.
13:23
And the cop was like, "Good for you." I'm like- We had- Wow, you had, you had the different guy. You, I would say like, "No, okay, and here's the ticket for contributing to the delinquency of a minor." Yeah.
13:33
No, I was not. I did not buy the beer. "Uh, about 59 counts of that right now- Nope. No, no, this is Oshkosh... and about 150," uh, hmm. I was at a similar party with- He w- he was at a similar party. At...
13:43
[laughs] I was at a similar party here, uh, in Milwaukee, and however, it was pretty entertaining because everybody at the party was in their 30s plus. [laughs] No shit. And when the cops showed up,
13:57
it was pretty much just a matter of strictly saying- [laughs]... "No, we're not going to pour them out."
14:02
And then we also had some magnesium castings going on into a fire, so when the cop said to pour or turn the fire off- That ain't gonna work. [laughs]... we said, "No, that can't happen right now."
14:16
And the cop was like, "Why?" And somebody poured their cocktail on top of it, and it lit up even further. [laughs] And they walked away. That's a great trick though.
14:25
It's like- Be- better than the third of July thing over at Flux in the old days when the- The Burning Man one?
14:30
Well, when they came and had to call it an exercise on putting fires out because even though we had around 20 fire extinguishers around this thing, they're like, "Can you show us how you're gonna put that out?"
14:40
We're like- Nope... "We'll give it a go." [laughs] So we doused the thing right at the ba- you know, like you're supposed to do. It came right back. [laughs] Well, it came back. [laughs] Of course it did. It's magnesium.
14:49
So he said, you know, he's like, "We can give you a ticket, but we're just gonna write this up as a training exercise." Oh, that's awesome. Oh. Right on. They learned something.
14:56
You know, my, uh, my in-laws- Holy hell, there's all sorts of people talking, but there's only one person- Call... we wanna hear from. Let's hear him. Welcome to the radio program caller. Who do we have on the line?
15:07
Hey, it's, it's Dave Schlabowski. Who? All right, Dave. Back like a, back like a bad penny. Yeah. [laughs] Yeah. Well, we were just trying to- What's up?
15:15
We were just trying to kill time till you called 'cause the only interesting part of this show is gonna be you. Oh, that hurts. Honey badger. [laughs] So how's it going, Dave?
15:25
Are you- Well, I'm, I'm ha- I'm happy to be back. It's, it's been, uh, it's been too long.
15:29
Um, uh, I'm sorry I'm not there in person, but, you know, with freaking record COVID nonsense going on, I just thought, okay, if we can use technology, why not? That's probably a good call.
15:42
We've all been, we've all been hugging and kissing for the last six months, so I think we're- [laughs] We're, we're, we're at least- Very... we're, we're at least as in a, in a pod- Very pure...
15:51
as we're gonna get over here, so. Or, or are you all just drinking out of a skin? [laughs] Ah. This would be a good idea. Shh, don't tell anyone that. [laughs] Viking style.
16:01
So are you st- are you s- are you still in our fair city, or have you made your, uh, your grand, uh- I am. I am. Um, yeah, I am. So, uh, regular listeners probably don't know.
16:11
It, it was only recently announced at, uh, at a Shawano Area Mountain Bike Association board meeting that I have accepted the position of the new executive director at, uh, CAMBA. Uh- Yeah. Yeah. Atta boy. [claps] Whoo.
16:28
Atta boy. Atta boy, Dave.
16:30
So Ron Bergen, Ron Bergen is one of the founders, original founders of CAMBA, and has been the face of CAMBA forever, and knows more about mountain biking and trail building than I'll ever hope to learn, um, is finally sort of stepping down, so he has a little bit more time to ski and actually ride his bike.
16:49
Um, I'm happy to say he's, we've been working sort of in a transition period, and, and I think he's gonna stick around and do a little work with, with us at CAMBA for at least a year or so, um, to help until I get up to speed on things.
17:03
Um, but yeah, so I'll be... We're selling our house here in Milwaukee. We're trying to buy a house up there and, uh, and be up there by New Year's latest, but hopefully before Christmas. Awesome.
17:15
I don't think you'll have a hard time selling your house from Milwaukee. Yeah. Hell no. Well, you know, it, it- Jane's a little crazy right now... I know. It's true.
17:23
So our house, our house went on the MLS, and we had, uh, I think 16 showings within two days after it went on MLS- Wow... and, and nine offers, all of them over asking. And, but that isn't the end of the deal.
17:38
I, I've, I've, I don't know why anybody actually enjoys real estate. I hear people do. [laughs] Let's, let's ask- Sam B. is here with us... yeah, let's ask Sam about that 'cause that's, that's his game.
17:47
'Cause he's a real estate agent. [laughs] I, I'm not- It's a crazy time... finding it a pleasant experience. Well, yeah. Um, but, but yeah- Most don't...
17:54
inspections, appraisals, all that sort of nonsense has gotta happen yet, so.
18:00
And then the whole moving everything we own, although we have offloaded a lot of stuff in rummage sales and everything like that, moving everything we own to Northern Wisconsin is, like, a
18:11
expensive proposition no matter how we do it. Um, so, so all that sort of is, like, being coordinated. But the good news, so I think I got somewhere to go, and it's a pretty cool place.
18:25
I got ski trails that run literally through my back property- Ha... which is Celie. Oh, I love that. Um, those of you who go up there a lot- Oh, Celie is the bomb... it's really close to the sawmill
18:35
Yeah, it's right in between Hayward and Cable, so it's kind of like a great location.
18:40
And our neighborhood is right by the Seely Hills trails, um, so w- we, the neighbors, like, groom their own connections to those trails. Cool. So ski trails and mountain bike trails are all connected. Um- Wow...
18:56
most of them are on the other side of Old 00, if for those who are really familiar with the, the area, but, but we have neighborhood connections that connect right there, so. Very good.
19:05
I understand that potentially you may have a, uh, B&B kind of a joint up on your property as well. Yes.
19:13
The property that we're purchasing, or trying to purchase, as I said, we got an inspection next Monday, and then it's gotta be appraised, all that sort of nonsense. Um, but, um, but we have an agreed, you know, offer.
19:25
Um, but, uh, the property that we're purchasing is, is part of what they call, uh, some people call the, the, the Penman Slums, I believe.
19:35
[laughs] Um, so, uh, Gary Penman, Gordy, um, Gary aka Gordy Penman, um, essentially created the town of Seely.
19:46
He, he bought what was a grocery store and I think a gas station, and, and in his architectural genius, um, combined them all into what we know as the Sawmill Saloon up there.
19:59
And then he took the school that was behind it and added on to that, did a bunch of crazy stuff to it, and created the Leonard Lodge. Yep. And he's also got- Stayed there myself. That's awesome... um...
20:12
Right, yeah, it's awesome. And he's also, um, got a couple of developments that he started in Seely to try to, like, build, you know, a neighborhood of people that, um, were into silent sports and stuff like that, so.
20:23
Yeah. So we're buying a property that, that Gary gave to his brother, and then his... a tiny little cabin on it, and then his brother kept adding onto it. So it's kind of like an Escher drawing, our house.
20:37
[laughs] Every room is on a different, a different floor, and there's stairs and spiral staircases and everything. It's, it's very odd. And then there are two outbuildings, each with their own septic system. Whoa.
20:50
One of them has a Vrbo, uh, already in it and, and it's- [laughs]... it's very, very nice.
20:56
Um, and it has a heated space below it, and we'll intend to have, you know, like, the full-on, you know, Swix waxing bench and, and, uh, uh, you know, Park Tool stand and tools and stuff like that for, for visitors.
21:09
So yeah, so, well, stay tuned. It's, it's not on the market right now 'cause the sale is in process, but- Right on... yeah, we'll have an Airbnb up there.
21:17
Would you characterize it as a compound or a, a cult meeting place? [laughs] Yeah, definitely a compound. And the neighbors are, all know each other and it's... Yeah, so- So that's a cult...
21:29
a little bit, and you kinda- [laughs] Yeah, it's a little bit, yeah. Yeah, there's some of that. [laughs] In a good way, in a good way. Right on. So besides becoming the king of- Yeah...
21:40
be- becoming the king of Seely, um, what, what else has been going on? [laughs] Well, you know, there's... Okay, there's a couple other folks in Seely that I, that are on the...
21:50
[laughs] That I connect with- In the hierarchy. [laughs] I won't, I won't be king for long Coming, coming in, "Usurper. Usurper." [laughs] In the forest, but I actually don't know.
22:01
No, I, you know, this is northern Wisconsin, so, you know, you can get caught in a holler with your cross-country skis and a bundle and- Oh, yeah, you can... some trouble and you need people, so.
22:10
Um, but, uh, no, so, uh, the other thing that I wanted to mention is, um, so I've been, I've been... I started about a month ago working part-time from here in transition with Ron, um, at CAMBA.
22:22
And just recently they s- CAMBA sent out a media release, and, and I'll share this with you, Greg, so you can put it in the show notes. Um, but, uh, about, uh...
22:33
They, they did a, a really, um, in-depth economic impact study of, of the CAMBA trails, complete with, like,
22:43
vo- tons of volunteer hours at trailheads doing, you know, intercept surveys of riders, asking them, "How often do you come here?" You know, "How much do you spend? How long do you stay?"
22:54
And then they also put, you know, trail counters on the trails to count all the riders.
22:59
And, and, and, and they, they worked with the University of, uh, River Falls, um, to do, uh, a really robust, um, study of the economic impact of the, the 120 miles of, uh, you know, backcountry mountain bike trails that they have, as well as the 50 miles of groomed single track, and then the gravel, the endless gravel that they have up there in the Northwoods.
23:23
I think the university, um, department came up with a number of $7.8 million in annual economic impact from events, the trails, and all of that- Wow... which is, is a significant- Can't you just roll it up to eight?
23:37
Yeah. 8 mil? I mean- Yeah, okay. Well, we'll call it-... you're at 7.8... we'll call it eight... let's just call it 8 mil. So how does, how does that compare to a place like, uh- All right...
23:44
how does that compare to a place like Marquette, who does a ton of, uh, promotions and they take, you know, a, a small percentage from each overnight stay of a guest and they really pimp the hell out of Marquette?
23:57
How does the economic impact of an area like that compare with, um, in the Hayward-Cable-Seely- You know, um-... area?
24:04
The only other place that's really done as in-depth a EIS as, as the CAMBA group did is, is, um, down in Arkansas.
24:14
And, and they did one as well, um, and it's a bigger area in Arkansas and stuff, but, um, and the Walton Foundation- They got the Waltons down there... paid for it. [laughs] Right.
24:25
So the Walton Foundation paid for it and, uh, what I have been told is that, yeah, that economic study cost about $200,000 to do, just to do the study, and- Why didn't they just-...
24:36
this study wasn't anywhere near that, so- Why didn't they just donate the money to the trails, God?
24:39
Dang it I thought you were talking about John Boy and the fucking company I know that, I know they don't [laughs] I thought you were talking about the Walton's Yeah [laughs] That, that place would be nothing without the- But, you know- Without Tom Walton, that place would be nothing, for sure For sure, right [laughs]
24:51
Yeah. This study utilized a number of, uh, a number of the tools that People For Bikes did with that Walton study. So it, it used similar methodology.
25:02
It wasn't quite as robust as, as that study, but it used similar methodology.
25:07
So what's really great about how People For Bikes helped with that and, and they're, they're, you know, they've got a, a, a doctor of, you know, information sciences there at People For Bikes and, uh, uh, and she's, she's helped craft these sorts of things is People For Bikes created these templates that communities can use and, and they're scalable.
25:28
So like if we don't have all the money that the Walton Foundation can put up in, up in Northern Wisconsin, we can still do this with like a tourism grant and some other local and a ton of local, you know, volunteer hours.
25:41
So, so what's great about it is now we have a template, and the hope is that other communities like Duluth and Marquette and Copper Harbor will start to use that same template and do similar studies.
25:55
And we can kinda like combat some of this, this like, well, you know, uh, the, the snowmobilers and the ATV guys, they all show up in my parking lot and they, they spend a bunch of money.
26:07
And like, well, the mountain bike guys and the cross-country skiers, they go home and they change, and they maybe- Hmm...
26:13
leave their [laughs] leave their bikes at home and don't leave them on the back of their trucks or, or their cars a- or their roof racks, and they still go into your bar and spend money, but you might not know who they are.
26:24
You know what I mean? So, so hopefully this like helps spin that a, a little bit and, and we can grow these studies and, and come up with more information that says- Oh, yeah...
26:33
yeah, silent sports are a really valuable part of our, our, uh, economy.
26:37
Well, let's, let's hope that you're a mouthpiece for making that happen because I think that, um, you know, with, with climate change and, and obviously this has been visible for many years in Northern Wisconsin, you know, the, the snowmobiling season is, is waning.
26:54
Uh, fortunately there's still the four-wheeler crowd, which, you know, obviously they spend money too, but, uh, it's such a beautiful area up there and it's so well, um, maintained and, uh, built that it, it should, it should, this should be the, well, it's the Moab of the Midwest.
27:10
Is it, should, should we call it that? Well, you know, no, you know what, what- That's a little stretch, but I, I do like it... I say... Sorry. No. Somebody else was talking. No, go ahead.
27:23
Uh, what, what I think is really unique about the area that I'm moving to and those, those CAMBA trails and the whole Chequamegon, um, area is, um, is kinda like summed up in sorta like their, uh, their little tagline, Big Woods, Endless Trails.
27:41
So, you know, I, I'm incredibly impressed by like the work that like CWOC is doing in, in Wausau and riding the Ringle trails and, and they had the first, you know, full-on a- amazing downhill, you know, at Sylvan.
27:59
Most of the stuff I can't even ride, but it's all awesome, you know? And then- Join, join the club, Dave... recreational- I've only been able to do three out of the six trails there [laughs] Right.
28:08
And then, and then the Outdoor Recreational Alliance in the, the La Crosse area is doing similar things, and, and CORP is doing similar things in, in, uh, you know, Madison, and, and, uh, Metro is doing similar things at, you know, Minooka and stuff like that.
28:24
So all these groups are making incredibly great progressive purpose-built trails and, and they're amazing places to ride. What I think sets CAMBA apart is it's a backcountry experience. So you can ride...
28:39
You know, those are all amazing trails, but you park in a parking lot, each section loops, right? I mean, and some of them are 12 mile longs. That's a pretty freaking long mountain bike race. That's, that's amazing.
28:50
Um, but you're sessioning loops and you're next to, you know, a highway or a, you know, a development, a, a, whatever it is.
29:01
When you get to Cable and you, and you jump off on those North End trails at the North End Trailhead, I mean, you can ride for 30, 40 miles on trails and you're never gonna see anybody. You won't see another house. Wow.
29:18
You might get lost and have no idea where you are, and be really worried, "How am I gonna find my way back?" I mean, CAMBA's doing a good job with signage, but- That's awesome... my point is- That's what I like...
29:28
it's a backcountry experience in the Midwest, you know? So- You know, two years ago I'd, uh, I did a, a ride, um- John Trusky there, Dave, by the way... that was basically
29:40
connecting a lot of northern parts to the southern, and especially southern western parts as far as terrain goes. And so I, I brought both bikes.
29:49
I, uh, brought my 150 bike and then as well as my hardtail with the 140 fork on it.
29:54
Um, and when I was going through those areas, like, you know, coming back from, you know, uh, from Copper Harbor- Copper Harbor Copper Harbor... and then- Copper Harbor... you know, migrating through,
30:08
there were areas that I got to experience like Ashland, which I didn't know about.
30:13
It's like this is unfamiliar territory and it's like, well, hey, this looks topographically like, okay, so a 140 hardtail is a great way to go about things.
30:25
Um, we had been up there once with, uh, one of our friends, um, uh, Shay Shashamire and- Shay I know Shay really well...
30:35
yeah, we did some fat bike rides up in that neck of the woods on some of the back roads and, and also, well, back roads and- Cross country trails? Ish. I don't know if some of the stuff we were on was
30:48
fully sanctioned per se, but I mean, there is so much territory up there that- Right... you can mountain bike vacation out of things. Like, you know, so you want burm-y and flowy and jumpy stuff?
31:00
By all means, you got it. And then go into some place where it's like, no, like, no, let's just go into pack it in, pack it out mentality. Absolutely, you can do it up there way easily. Way easily. Yeah. It's, it's true.
31:18
And, and like I said, the, the ability to get lost is something that, that is something that I- [laughs]... I really like. You know? I got lost up there. Um, I love- I got lost up there... getting lost. Oh, yeah.
31:30
[laughs] I totally got lost up there. Good. And I was really questioning myself- Good... when I recognized the bear scat- That's a good thing, right?... on the trail and I was like- Yep... "I'm not sure where I'm at."
31:39
That's- Focusing more... "I have an idea where I am, but I don't know. I'm, I don't know where I'm at." And that was great. That was a great experience on that. Right. I agree.
31:48
That, that, you know, in this modern day world, that, that's like a, an invaluable experience for- [laughs]... for people that seek, you know, outdoors and, and really want to get in touch with nature.
32:01
Like I said, hey, nothing wrong with sessioning incredibly great designed flow trails and, and progressive stuff. And, and- Right...
32:11
and CAMBA has that, and they're growing the opportunities for that with the Hatchery project is half done.
32:18
That's close to Hayward, and it's another two miles are gonna be, uh, uh, of the trail heading towards Macwa are gonna be, you know, done next year, and, and add a bunch more flowy stuff.
32:28
And the jump line stuff by Seeley and stuff are, are amazing. So that stuff exists up there,
32:36
but what, what we have that a lot of other places don't have, Marquette probably has it, um, but, um, is just the ability to just ride endless mountain bike trails connected with some gravel stuff, throw in a logging road, occasional ATV two track, and, and just get lost- Sounds terrible...
32:54
and have a blast. [laughs] I mean- Why would anyone wanna do this? It just sounds terrible. [laughs] Riding a bike is a, a, is an affordable- I've said that on Mountain Bike ProS... self-learning experience, and great.
33:05
[laughs] And, and the opportunity to stumble across an unknown tavern where, uh, where they'll be happy to serve you an ice cold beer. Now we're talking. That's a special place. Yeah. [laughs] All right.
33:19
There's always a bridge and there's always a good bar. Tony, what are you doing over there? Looking for an opener. Looking for a bottle opener. Oh, he's huffing and puffing.
33:25
Like- I'm hu- You need a bottle- I'm telling you- Like huffing and puffing... just mute me... and puffing. Oh, wait. So that's, that's the case. We need a bottle opener. Can I do that? You're, you're not there yet.
33:34
What, what's your show beer- Oh, no. I need-... you guys? I, I'll tell you mine. Oh. Oh, today's show beer was a Resin from Six Points out there in, uh, uh, Brooklyn, I believe, New York. Brooklyn, New York.
33:45
It's a, it's a 9.1%- Nice... uh, which might explain a lot about how- [laughs]... how- Heavy breathing... how heavy breathing freaking- Delivered in a White Claw-ish- Tony said to mute him, so I did.
33:55
Don't worry about it. [laughs] Yeah. This came before White Claw by about a decade. Yeah. No shit? For sure. But we're- It's the proper way to do this, man... these are in a White Claw-esque- Hey, I-...
34:02
can, which makes them kinda weird... travel timely. But, uh, what do you, what do you got, Dave? I bet it's a Resin. I, I'm on the other end of the spectrum.
34:09
I got a, a, but a very delicious and drinkable Capital Brewery, uh, Gartenbrau. That, that's a good beer. A beer that tastes like beer. Yeah. That's a good beer. That's where I started, uh- Yeah, it's about 4.8%...
34:18
fantastic beer... I, I started the night off with a, uh, Capital Brewing Island Wheat. Wheat. Nice. Wheat. A pale wheat.
34:27
I've been kind of on a search to try to find a, a, a craft beer that actually tastes like a, a Pilsner Urquell or a Czechvar or something like that, and I, at this point I've sort of settled on this Gartenbrau as, like, pretty darn close.
34:43
And if it's not perfectly exact like a Pilsner Urquell, it's, it's pretty delicious anyway, so. Right on. Well, thanks very much for checking in because if you didn't call, we would've- You bet, guys...
34:58
we would, we would've just had a 10-minute show and been done with this whole thing. [laughs] Well, I'm Irish. I could've kept talking, Dave. But, uh, yeah, we could- I'm Polish. I could talk forever.
35:08
[laughs] Uh, this is- Seboski knows that well... this is actually true. Um, so, uh- Kidding... JT, you know, you know Trusty's here talking to you. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, Dave, um,
35:20
I have to admit, thank you for that frame jig. I'm, I have some plans in action, and more importantly- Nice... the, uh, the okay from the wife to start chasing things down on that, so, um, absolutely amazing. Thank you.
35:37
Fun. I could not imagine- Yeah. I am super stoked that somebody could use it, you know? I mean, uh, it's... You know, I had grand designs on becoming a frame builder and stuff and- Yeah...
35:49
you know, after working at Waterford and building a couple frames at home and stuff like that, I realized that it just wasn't gonna happen for me- You, you definitely have some chops on that end of things-...
35:58
and, you know-... that I don't have, but I'm, we, uh, we, the wife and I- It's good practice... agreed that I'm just going- It's, it's good practice... to start chasing these things down and making it happen. Um- Yeah.
36:10
Nice So- I'm super happy to hear that... amazing. Thank you. I couldn't imagine, I c- I can't, I, I couldn't have imagined that. Great. Oh- I'm so happy for you...
36:21
uh, by the way, Dave, JT's got himself in with a, a bunch of other guys who do, uh, not only, uh, uh, they do all sorts of wheeled things, and he's got some guys that can help him learn- They do motorcycle stuff...
36:33
mostly motorcycle stuff. Um, I am- But other things as well... signed up for, uh, some welding classes- Have you-... at MATC, and I'm, I'm signed up to take a frame building class out at UBI. Um, it's pretty much- Wow...
36:46
it's all systems go- Right on...
36:48
to make things happen rather than things, and- Once, once you do all that though, you're, once you g- Once you do all that, you're gonna, you're gonna learn the limitations of the fixture that you got from- [laughs]
37:00
Oh, yeah. [laughs] You're gonna want one of the fancy ones. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Actually, one of the things I'm chasing down is a, uh, is a, a, a, a development. We'll just leave it at that.
37:08
And I have a couple of friends that- Well, the nice-... different aspects and, and environments, but they're helping me chase that down because they see that- Well-... there's potential.
37:21
So, um- You know, the nice thing about that, about that chunk of steel that I sold you is, is it's dead flat and it's super heavy duty.
37:30
So like, even though it's got like the, the holes ground in it for, for, you know, to use as a fixture, if you wanted to lay that thing on its side and just use it as an alignment table for cold setting and stuff like that, you could totally do that.
37:44
[laughs] You could totally make it work for that. Yep. It's not graduated. Cold setting. I will make it graduated. [laughs] We're gonna, we're gonna make it happen on that end.
37:52
We just, we just- I figured it'd work for cold setting... we just jump on him here at the shop a little bit. [laughs] But it's- [laughs]... it, it was, uh, it was a, an impetus to start
38:02
taking some aspects of my, my, my thinking on bike shit to put it into actuality. So thank you on that. Right on. I can't thank you enough. You bet. That's awesome. You're most welcome. All right, Dave.
38:17
Uh, catch up with us when you know- Great... when you know more about, uh, w- if you're permanently settled and when we can come up and- I, I might catch up with you before I know anything.
38:27
[laughs] [laughs] We'll allow that. We'll allow that. I'm just, I, I'm just wondering when we can come up there and crib in your, uh- All right... in your B&B, that's all, so. That's for sure. That's for sure. Season it.
38:36
Season. All right, Dave. Take your bike All right, boys. Thanks. Yep. Cheers. Talk to you soon. Bye. Peace. Yep. Thank you. Hey, everybody. Dave Sobowski, new executive director of CAMBA. I don't know how...
38:50
You know, uh, there's a lot of organizations around the country, but CAMBA's super active and really just doing such great things, so. Has been for years. Yeah. It's been- Yeah, absolutely.
39:00
I've been going up there to Shawano since the '80s, so, you know, there, the... But the, the club has been very active in promoting that area. All right, Dan.
39:13
So thank God Dave's gone, 'cause now we can get off this show. [laughs] Excuse me? Thank goodness he's gone. He was talking way too much. We've already exceeded our limit here. Well, he- No, he hasn't. All right.
39:22
Tony, anything? You got anything? You got anything? Me? Yeah. Upcoming events. Or me, I don't know. I mean, who knows? I haven't heard anything. We're getting the hell out of here. Yeah. Sam, any last words?
39:31
Sam, last words? Last words? I d- No, I just feel like I have to move the... Did he, did he- I don't, I don't think anybody knows about the construction of, uh, different features they've been doing at Minooka.
39:39
There's a, a wooden wall ride there now towards the end of the- Oh... ride. It's, uh, actually pretty treacherous. Ah. It's, it's, no joke at all. Yeah. Yeah. Minooka was always kind of a, I wouldn't call it...
39:50
It was an intermediate place at best, right? It, well, it still is. I mean, it, you know, it- Well, I mean, not for, maybe for western flyers or JT, but for me, that place is still pretty challenging.
40:00
It depends the lines you pick out there, to be honest. Oh, there you go. Right. You can, you can pick some more, uh, more, you know, interesting ones for sure, but, uh, uh,
40:10
it just happens to be close to my house, so I hit it quite often. [laughs] That's really what it is with Minooka. But it is a great trail and it's, it dries really easily. It doesn't seem to stay wet a lot.
40:19
It just seems to be a, just a great ride every time. Oyst. In this case, we- Oyst... prefer it to not stay wet. In, in other cases, we like it though. Oyst. Yeah. And that's just how it goes. All right.
40:30
Wet is not in the lexicon. JK, anything else? Um, Merry Thanksgiving. Thanks taking to all of you. Thanks- thanks taking. Thanks taking and, uh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Stay safe. That's what I'm calling it from now on.
40:47
Don't sneeze on people. Thanks taking, please.
40:52
[upbeat music]
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