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Full Spectrum Cycling
Full Spectrum Cycling Podcast #17 – Wisconsin BikeFed’s Dave Schlabowske Talks Advocacy – Hunting – Pocket Knives and More
May 31, 2019
Full Spectrum Cycling Podcast #17 – Wisconsin BikeFed’s Dave Schlabowske Talks Advocacy – Hunting – Pocket Knives and More
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Transcript
0:00
[upbeat music] See how that works? Just kind of bring it right in like that. [laughs] Nice. Hey, everybody. It's that catchy theme song.
0:18
You know what time it is. Uh-oh. Full Spectrum Cycling Podcast, ladies and gentlemen, from the Everyday Cycle studio here in River West, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, world, Earth. What's the universe?
0:31
No, what's after the uni- Milky Way. Milky Way. There we go. There we go. They just got a- [laughs] They just got a picture of the black hole at the center- Occasional Mike strikes again... sort of deal. Right. Right.
0:40
[laughs] Yeah, somehow they just got a picture of that thing. It's like, what? I'd like to see that actually. You are here. Right on. So we got, uh, we got JK over there. And- Hello, hello... and, and, and Mr. T Burger.
0:52
We got Sven- Hola... on this side of the table. And joining us today in the studio, Mr. Dave Schlabowski from- The Wisconsin Bike Fed. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA [laughs] Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Milky Way universe. 414.
1:07
[laughs] [laughs] Uh, we got the call-in studio, uh, call-in line going too, 717-727-2453, just in case you- That spells bike... ever feel like calling. You can always call, leave a message.
1:20
You don't have to talk to us because, you know, why would you want to? [laughs] But anyway. We don't bite. Nah. We can bite. We can bite via phone lines, so. So Memorial Day weekend. Oh, my. That's done.
1:35
[laughs] That did me in. Yeah, yeah, that was like three rides in one day. Wrong bike to Missoura. Oh, you took the wrong bike? Yeah. That was a bad time. I had fun, but whoa. [laughs] Next year, mountain biking.
1:52
And what, what did you take? The Trek 400 with a one by seven with a 54 on the front. [laughs] Dude. Ah. [laughs] So that was not a mud bike then? Uh, I was climbing- Yeah, yeah... a lot of hills and- Yeah... slowly.
2:05
[laughs] And avoiding deer quickly. Huh. Ah. There were a lot of deer. When they frolic in front of you it's kinda unsettling. And the other rule, there's never one deer.
2:16
It's like, you're unpredict- you're unpredictable. Yeah. I don't know what you're gonna do. Yeah, yeah. There's never one deer. There's usually, you know, a half a dozen. At least two. At least two, and they... And, yes.
2:24
Eh. So next year, mountain bike. Well, you can have your revenge with the venison sausage I will be enjoying- [laughs]... the venison sausage. Dave, Mr. Schlabowski brought some very good-looking venison sausage.
2:33
Not that I've ever been bad-looking venison sausage. [laughs] [laughs] Yep, we're gonna have to sample that. Oh. What kind of knife are you cutting it with? That's a fancy knife, Dave.
2:41
It is a fancy knife, I'm embarrassed to say. I've, I have a, a pocket knife fetish. Ah. So I have a lot of pocket knives. Ah. There's someone else like that here. [laughs] Yeah. Nice. That's super light.
2:52
Benchmade Bugout, baby. Yeah. That's super nice. Yeah, yours looks really fancy. Yeah, it is. Um, it's a James Brand, and it, uh [刀子撞击] it just [刀子撞击]...
3:02
I wear Swerve winter, um, trousers, and they've got the little pen pocket, and this actually slips, like, right in that pen pocket.
3:08
And I'd been looking for a pocket knife that fit in that little pocket forever, and this one does, so I paid too much money for it, but. Is it titanium or does it look titanium? It's titanium, yeah.
3:19
[laughs] It's got that titanium. Yeah. Kinda hold it up against the old Chumba over there and let's see how the- [laughs]... how the finishes compare. They look good together. Right on.
3:28
So, uh, we did, Mike and I, JK, that guy- Oh, look at that. Oh, look at that thing. I got that little sucker. Oh, boy. [laughs] That looks dangerous. You're gonna- Yeah...
3:37
you're gonna forget about that when you get on the airplane. [laughs] Yeah, I should, you know, damn it. It's a credit card knife, folks. [laughs] I don't know what that means, but.
3:44
I've never done that with a, with a pocket knife, but, um, speaking of deer hunting, I, uh, last year I was flying to Washington for a, a national bike summit and, uh, and I had, was taking a bag that still had the cartridge casing from the deer I shot that year in it.
4:00
No bullet in it. No- [laughs] Uh-uh... but a cartridge casing I had pulled out of the line at, uh- Oh, come on... at Washington International.
4:07
And, and they, they dig through my bag, and the guy pulls it out on a pencil, and he looks at me, like, with this, "What a dumbass. What are you doing?" I was like- Did you- "Ah."
4:15
Did you, like, take it from him and blow a whistle on it and go, "I'm, I'm whistling with it," um, you know? [laughs] I was embarrassed. Yes. They, the, uh, the TSA is, is sometimes good and sometimes bad.
4:26
I had a, a crescent wrench that I'd had for 25 years, and it was in my bag 'cause I'm going to do rigging in Las Vegas.
4:34
And the lady pulls it out of the bag and she sticks it on the measuring thing, and it's a quarter inch too long. And she says, "You're gonna have to leave that." I said, "I've had it for 25 years."
4:42
You know, she said, "Well, you can take it somewhere and store it, or you can- Right... give it to me." I'm like, "I'm gonna miss my flight." [laughs] "Thank you very much for something..." It's like a quarter inch.
4:51
What's that gonna do, that little difference? You know, there's companies that collect all that stuff that gets set, and then resell it. Yeah. They make bus- Oh, sure... big business. Sure, sure.
4:59
'Cause people, lots of people bring things on there. Unlike when I was coming back from Costa Rica and they confiscated my toothpaste for some reason. Huh. What do you know about that? And my deodorant.
5:09
[laughs] I'm like, I'm like, really? Y- you know, I'm, I'm just leaving your country. [laughs] You want me to- I always- You want my breath and my body to smell bad? [laughs] Okay.
5:18
I al- anytime I go out east I always wanna bring a s- a Secret stadium sauce. Yeah. Too, too- You can, you can bring three- Too many, too many ounces in the carryon... three ounces or whatever you can bring. Yeah, yeah.
5:28
But yeah. [sighs] Well, Dave- So if I, if I freeze it, it's not a liquid. Ah. It's- You could always put it in your carryon or your, uh- I don't check... check, check-through. I don't check... check, check this out.
5:39
I don't check, check, check. All right. All right. So, uh, yeah, tour de- Change it back... tour de, tour de towner. [laughs] That was pretty good this year, final third of the route. Yeah, that was a good run.
5:48
And then, uh, down to Boone and Crockett for a little Milwaukee Punk Fest show. Mayhem War Pigs. Is that, I think that's going on, the, the whole Punk Fest thing is still going on, yeah?
6:00
[clicks tongue] Uh, different version of it. Uh- Right on The, well, some of the bands are gonna be playing, uh, at the, the Wave The Wake The Wake Wake. Yeah. That's, that's coming up, folks Three out of four. Yeah.
6:16
[laughs] Three out of four. I was k- Yeah.
6:18
Well, yeah, if you're in Milwaukee for the weekend of, uh, coming up here tomorrow, if it's Friday today when you're listening to this show, [laughs] the Wake is, uh, a bike swap in Milwaukee at the Cooperage. Yep.
6:30
El Wrongo. A Bike Fed sponsored and, uh- We'll be there... event type deal. There'll be bikes, tattoos- Mayhem... mayhem, [laughs] puppies. Puppies. [laughs] 5:00 PM, Cooperage.
6:45
That's, uh, June, is that June 1st already? That is June 1st. Cripes, and, hey, it's already June 1st. When you know by the weather. So speaking of June 1st, um, Dave, it's, it's Bike Week.
6:54
What's, what's the Bike Fed doing for Bike Week- Yeah, so, uh-... in Wisconsin? Yeah, it is Wisconsin Bike Week. Yeah.
6:58
They used, we used to always celebrate, uh, Bike To Work Week, which is traditionally in May, and our weather here is not cooperative often. Tell me about it.
7:08
[laughs] Or, um, so, uh, a while ago we just said, "Ah, you know, let's just do our own thing in Wisconsin," and, and so we moved it to, uh, the first week in June, and, uh, it's across the state.
7:18
So local communities, whatever local bike nerds are, feel like putting together, um, we just sort of help coordinate it, and we've got a, a website that we created so you can look, see what's going on in La Crosse, Eau Claire, Wausau, wherever, wherever you may be.
7:33
Um- So which one is that? I was doing a little pre-show poking around here- Uh... and that, uh- I believe it's bikeweek.org. Wisc- We've been switching our websites around a little bit. Oh, yeah, that's, yeah.
7:43
Oh, yeah, Wisconsin- Wisconsin Bike Week... wisconsinbikeweek.org. Yeah. Yeah. Wisconsin, right. It's a, it's a Google Sites one, right, Google Sites? Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, La Crosse, Madison, Milwaukee. Nice.
7:53
Yeah. And I'm sure there's other stuff going on elsewhere, but, uh, you, you know- Yeah... you said- You gotta let us know. [laughs] And, and there's a, there's a group in Madison, Madison Bikes is- Yeah, Madison.
8:03
They've, they've, they've had a r- the lo- perhaps the longest history of doing, you know, Bike To Work Week stuff, uh, the folks in Madison, and Madison Bikes is sort of the local bike advocacy group that's, uh, coalesced there.
8:15
Um, and uh, th- they're trying to make, uh... Madison's, uh, certainly w- the, one of the best places to ride in, in Wisconsin and the country, um, but they feel like it's, um, it's sort of stagnated.
8:28
It, it, they made great gains and, and then it's sort of been incremental improvements ever since then.
8:33
And so they're kind of, the Madison Bikes folks are sort of pushing to, pushing the envelope a little bit to get a little bit more acceleration going on there. Right.
8:41
Yeah, I was kind of looking at that 'cause they were number nine in the PeopleForBikes poll- Yeah, and that- Which- That's, that's where that, that acceleration factor really comes in 'cause if you don't, if you just stagnate and stay the same, your score's gonna go down, so.
8:54
Right. Yep, I saw that Milwaukee was, what, somewhere around 30th? Yeah. You know, it, it- And-...
8:59
changes every year, and it, I mean, Wausau was number two last year in the country, um, because they've done, they did, like, so much stuff so fast. Acceleration fix. Yeah.
9:08
Um- [laughs] So yeah, it's velo- it's like with, I used to hunt with a little, uh, a, a lever action.30-30, um, um, that, uh, my father-in-law has permanently loaned me.
9:20
And then, uh, and then he loaned me a, a 30-06, um, uh, four years ago, and I was like, "Holy cow, that deer didn't go anywhere w- when I shot it. It just fell straight to the ground."
9:32
It's that mass times velocity squared, right? It's that- [laughs]... that squared factor. So then I went out and bought a, a lever action, a.308, uh, Henry Long Ranger made up in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. Nice.
9:47
Absolutely no idea what he's talking about. [laughs] Talk- [laughs] Talk to me now. Are there, are there gun nerds on this show, hunting nerds? Yeah, there, oh, I'm sure there are.
9:53
[laughs] If, if any of our Alaska buddies are listening to, I'm sure, uh, you know- Yeah... they're, they're definitely, everybody packs up there.
9:59
Yeah, Henry's got a, got a factory up, and I hunt up in Ashland County up there. My mom's from Park Falls. I got a lot of friends up that way, so, uh- Hasn't a Henry been around since the 1800s?
10:08
They have, but I, uh, the factory up there is relatively recent- Ah... I believe so. Well, let's taste some of your deer. Sure, yeah. Well, there's my, my knife. I'll, should I just slice? Yeah, go ahead. Nice knife.
10:18
Fancy deer. Fancy knife. Nice knife. So, um, one thing I learned about the Bike Fed that I did not know is that it's the largest statewide bike organization in the country. It is what we say it is.
10:32
[laughs] [laughs] Um, you know, that, those sorts of numbers, uh, vary all the time. Sure.
10:38
And, and, um, uh, you know, our, depends on what time of the year, our membership can be, you know, 500 or 1,000 bigger depending on the time of the year and renewals and stuff. But, um,
10:48
statewide organizations tend to be the smaller organizations.
10:52
Um, Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, now Active Transportation Alliance, is one of the largest in the country, yet, um, the, the statewide organization in Illinois is, is very small. Gotcha.
11:03
So, um, you know, biking is local, and people really care about where they ride, so a lot of people wanna get involved in what helps make their personal ride better.
11:15
And the sort of statewide and national level, you know, advocacy is a little bit harder to feel in your personal life, so. Right on. Mm. Um, it does have an impact, though.
11:25
So, um, for instance, you're, we were talking about this a little bit before the, uh, the show started here about the, um, the loss, Wisconsin lost all of our federal funding for non-motorized safety programs, and that money came traditionally from two sources.
11:42
Um, the two sources were, um, uh, the Highway Safe, um, HSIP, Highway Safety Improvement Program, and the feds changed the rules to disallow program or, um, encouragement use of those funds. Okay.
11:59
So it can still be used, you could fix an intersection that wasn't safe for bicycling, but you can't use the money to, like, encourage cars to- Like a safe for streets kind of thing. Right. Mm-hmm.
12:10
You can't use it for encouragement or billboards or anything like that. And that's not Wisconsin. We're, we're- That's a federal, that's a federal thing... yeah, we're not, we're not singled out as- No...
12:17
bad guys or anything like that. [laughs] That's a federal fund. And then, no, and then the other, the other fund is 405 funds, and 405 funds are broken down into A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H.
12:26
Um, and that funds everything from, like, car seat safety to motorcycles to drunk driving to inattentive driving.
12:32
And the, um, the bicycle category H, um, the feds changed the rules so you, your com- combined fatalities of bicycling and walking have to be 15% or higher for your state to qualify for 405H funds.
12:49
And unfortunately, not enough people die in Wisconsin. Right, we need more cars out there- So we're just-... killing more people apparently- We're just gonna have to-... to get money...
12:55
we're just gonna have to wait for more bicycles and pedestrians to be killed, and then we'll get more money. [laughs] Tell that to the lady in Cedarburg this weekend. Oh, boy. Exactly. That's right. Yeah.
13:03
We're at three, um, fatal bike crashes this year compared to two last year at this time. That's a bummer. So with, with some of, uh, Dave's stats, you can tell that he's been doing this a while.
13:13
Um, you were bike and pedestrian coordinator for the city of Milwaukee at one point. Is- Yeah... is that, whatever the, the title was.
13:21
Short, short, short history of, of my life is I started out as an astrophysics major in college, and, and, uh, realized I didn't wanna work for the aerospace industry, so I liked taking photographs of stars and planets, and I switched to be a photographer.
13:37
And I worked for magazines and newspapers for a long time. I got a journalism degree.
13:43
And then, uh, when that sort of business started to become less and less pleasant and I had to mostly just shoot guys in ties and, um... Actually, the, one of the jobs I quit, I was photographing Jim Beam models.
13:56
[laughs] Oh, wow. And, and the Jim Beam model, uh, said to me during the shoot, she's like, "Man, it doesn't look like you're having very much fun."
14:04
And I was like, "Holy cow, if the Jim Beam models can tell I don't dig this- [laughs]... maybe, maybe I shouldn't be doing it." Um, but- That, that hasn't stopped you from doing photography- No...
14:14
for, for pleasure and, and- Right... for a long time So, so then I's, I, I, I sort of waffled around. I was always into cycling and stuff, so, um, and I was, um, going back to school.
14:22
I was actually teaching first grade at, um, Milwaukee Public Schools. I was in a, an accelerated program to do that.
14:29
And a buddy of mine, Bruce Keyes, um, uh, who I used to race with, said, "Hey, there's this job you'd be great for. It's a bike advocate." And I was like, "What the fuck's a bike advocate?"
14:40
[laughs] [laughs] But I applied for the job and I got it. So I opened the, um, Milwaukee office of the Wisconsin Bike Fed, which was previously based just in Madison. Copy that. And, and that was like 2001.
14:53
Um, and it was just me and on a $27,000 grant, um, to work with large employers in Milwaukee and try to get more people biking to work.
15:00
And it was a limited term grant, and I knew, hey, if I wanted to keep this job, I had to find more money.
15:06
So I, I was entrepreneurial enough to get more grants and grow the office and, and started a Safe Routes to School program.
15:13
That was the first program that we started, and then I hired somebody from Chicago, Jessica Weinberg, who's now the Milwaukee County trails, uh, coordinator. Um, but she was our longest term employee.
15:22
And then everybody kinda that we hired was similarly entrepreneurial. So, you know, Shay Schackmeyer, Jake Newborn, a lot of, lot of, um, names that people around Milwaukee area will probably recognize. For real.
15:35
For real. And we grew that, we grew that program.
15:37
So I did that for, uh, about five years, and then the city of Milwaukee, we had been advocating for the city to hire a bicycle pedestrian coordinator in the Department of Public Works.
15:45
The guy that was the heir apparent for that then, right as the city approved it, got promoted. And so suddenly there was no one at the city that was, like, the obvious person to be that. Copy.
15:56
So, um, the guy that they promoted then asked me, "Hey, would you wanna be, be that?" So I, I applied for that job and I got that job. I did that for about six years until the whole Act 10 thing happened. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
16:11
And then my wife, as a public school- There's steam coming out of people's ears here. Yeah.
16:15
My wife is a public school teacher, and me as a public, you know, servant as well, it was like, Jesus, neither of us can read the paper anymore, you know? Like, or- Mm-hmm...
16:24
um, so I was like, you know, maybe one of us ought to, like, do something different. [laughs] So we're both- You weren't alone in that category. No, no. [laughs] There's a lot of people that threw that out there.
16:33
And so coincidentally, right around that time, um, uh, then executive director Kevin Hardman, um, uh, I had started a blog, um, Over the Bars, just a personal thing.
16:43
I, I made sure I, I didn't confuse my opinions, and I steered clear of stuff that would be weird with the city.
16:50
Uh, but it gained some popularity, and Kevin Hardman from the Bike Fed asked me, "Hey, would you come do that? And would you, would you change our, update our newsletter?" And
17:00
they were doing this really ugly broadsheet newspaper- Mm-hmm... newsletter, so I was like, "Yeah, I'll come back.
17:04
We'll do a blog if we do a new website, and, and, um, we actually do a magazine instead of, instead of the newsletter." So- So that was communications director? Yeah. Oh, okay. So that was communications director. And I,
17:16
that was, oh, I don't know, 2013, something like that. No, before then. Yeah. Yeah, somewhere around there. But I've been, I've been at the Bike Fed since. And now you're executive director. I am. Again. I am, yeah.
17:32
[laughs] [laughs] That, that's a story we don't need.
17:34
[laughs] So, um, one of the reasons why I wanted to bring up the City of Milwaukee thing is because I wanna know how much you know about our little street over here a half a block away becoming a bike boulevard. Yeah.
17:46
And what's the latest on that? So that was another thing that, that the Bike Fed had a hand in. Obviously, it, it came from the Riverwest neighbors, but Shay lived in Riverwest at the time, so, and Jessica still does.
18:00
Um, so, so we had, you know, staff in the neighborhood that, that were advocates for the same thing and had good connections with the city and helped the city write grants for that sort of stuff.
18:11
So the Fratney Street Boulevard, uh, Bicycle Boulevard or Neighborhood Greenway, I prefer my new term.
18:18
They always, they start out as Bicycle Boulevards, and for listeners that don't know, they're just a series of local streets, side streets, that have been- Traffic calm is, calming has been added to over- Traffic calming Calming.
18:30
Nice...
18:30
to, to dissuade speeding, reduce cut-through traffic, and the ancillary benefit is you get a great street to ride a bike on and a great street to live on, um, because you don't have all that speeding nonsense going on on your, in front of your house, so.
18:46
Well, in front of the store, we got a lot of speeding nonsense going on. [laughs] Yeah, you can't, you can't...
18:50
It, that sort of stuff, traffic calming doesn't really, isn't really appropriate for arterial streets like- No... like in front of the shop.
18:56
But, um, but it- You mean like the guys throwing the cones over the bridge on Locust now? Oh, Locust? Yeah. Oh, the, the barrels? Just throwing the orange- The barrels... the orange barrels over the bridge? Yeah.
19:05
Come on. That's temporary. That's gotta get fixed eventually. Yeah. But, um, but so yeah, so I don't know the exact timing on that. I know the project is in motion. Mm-hmm. Um- Great...
19:13
but, um, but so that's, that's like a great project. I would really prefer... They started out as bicycle boulevards, and they started out, out in, uh, West Coast, um, and, uh, um, in Pacific Northwest. And
19:26
then they started calling 'em, uh, greenways. Um- Mm... in Seattle that really started there as they started adding passive storm water management to the treatments.
19:34
If you build a curb extension, you add a little dip into it so that the storm water doesn't run off straight into the sewers, which is great for Milwaukee too 'cause we have flooding issues. Oh, yeah.
19:43
Um, but, um, but I really prefer... B- Bicycling is like an, a niche-y, white sort of a thing, right?
19:51
I mean, it doesn't necessarily resonate with every resident in Milwaukee, but I think safety really does, and that really is what's at the core of, uh, a bicycle boulevard or a greenway.
20:01
It's, it's making the seat- the streets safer for everybody- Right, right... including the people that live there. Yeah. So, so I prefer safe street network.
20:09
Uh, that's, that's what I've been pushing people to start calling it. Instead of greenway, again, that... I like green, I like all that sort of stuff. [laughs] But, you know, I mean, safety resonates with everybody.
20:18
If you wanna ask people's priorities living in an urban environment, um, if it comes to their street outside, it's gonna be cut down on the speeding, get rid of the crazy drivers. I think everybody agrees with that.
20:30
I don't- Oh, yeah... think you can really- Can't fault that... can't fault that. Can't fault that. Unless you're a criminal. Mm-mm. Mm-mm. [laughs] Can't fault that. Drive like your kids live here, man.
20:39
[laughs] There's a couple signs right outside my house. We need those in my house. Bing, bing, bing. It's wa- tonight, just before I came here, it was like- [laughs]...
20:48
there was, there was people easily twice the speed limit driving down my street. Yeah. Yeah, you kinda live- And I have a ton of kids. Yeah... well, you live in a freeway just off the main freeway zone. Exactly.
20:57
Yeah, kinda deal. [laughs] Um, this is, I don't know, jumping around a little bit 'cause I'm, I'm not really good at pulling all this stuff together, but one thing I wanted to, to understand is
21:09
the, the total economy of cycling in Wisconsin is big. It is. And- We're, we're, uh, we're a outlier in the nation in the fact that we've got Trek, Pacific, which makes Schwinn, GT, Mongoose, you know, um- Cerrus...
21:23
uh, Cerrus, and, um, Hayes, which is, you know, Answer, Manitou, Sun Ringlé, WheelSmith. Um, and then Fixation and Wyatt, and we've got some smaller companies- Sure, sure... like, like those.
21:34
There's Waterford Precision Cycle, which is the old Schwinn Paramount factory. Dave Wages. Hey, Richard Schwinn, how you doing? Yeah. Um, and- Dave Wages, Ellis Bikes... Dave Wages and Ellis, Ellis Cycles.
21:44
Yeah, so, um, I- Schlick And then- Schlick Cycles... Schlick. Yeah. Schlick, Schlick's still around, kinda on hiatus a little bit. Can see every frame- So Fi- Fi- 509 up in, up in Green Bay. Oh, yeah, for sure.
21:55
Um, and so they're, they're... But, you know, I mean, Trek is, I think, the only major manufacturer that still makes bikes in the US.
22:03
Of course, it's, it's a smaller number, 10 or 20,000 a year, and it's their super high-end carbon stuff. They lay up carbon wheels here still. But, but, you know, specialized doesn't do that. Trek still does.
22:13
So, so we have, uh, we punch a little bit above our weight class, I think, in Wisconsin here when it comes to economic impact.
22:20
Um, and the outdoor recreation industry assesses the economic impact of bicycling, and that's everything from industry to tourism and, and racing and stuff like that. Right.
22:30
Going up and riding some roads in Hayward or some trails. At, right at two and a half billion. Um, we're, we've been working with the
22:37
s- state, um, uh, Governor's Trails Council, uh, Coordinating Council to come up with a, a state-sanctioned economic impact study. We did one in 2010, and it was 1.5 billion the way that we looked at it.
22:49
Our current one is looking like it's gonna be around 1.4 billion, and that is a real hard number. So the, the, uh, it's, it's direct economic impact. Okay.
22:58
It doesn't include a lot of multipliers and guesswork and- Like, yeah, like you had some, uh- Right... somebody staying at this hotel or that. Right.
23:05
It- 'Cause I, 'cause I've heard as much as four billion in the past, like overall, but maybe that's a little optimistic. Ooh, yeah. I, yeah, I think that might- Or beer. Well, beer- Yeah. [laughs]...
23:15
gotta, gotta count for like half that, right? [laughs] Yeah, at least. So Wisconsin is, um, le- kinda leading in that n- nationwide or- We're one of- One of- We're definitely one of the, the leaders. Yeah.
23:26
There's some other centers that are really cropping up where they're, um, starting to build, uh, more bikes in the United States down in the, um, South and stuff like that, so. Yeah, Arkansas down there. Right. Yeah.
23:36
We're gonna- Hey, speaking of beer, what kind of beer did we drink today so far? Who, who brought this delicious Black Husky? Well, you guys talk about beer- Yeah... I'm gonna go get more of that same beer- I, yeah...
23:44
that's languishing in the fridge. There's, there's 12 beer. I looked, I was- Are you responsible for this beer? I am. I, I went to my fridge.
23:49
Um, I thought, "Oh, I'll just bring some, some cans down from my fridge," but of course it was a holiday weekend, so there was not much left in my fridge- [laughs]... [laughs] when I, when I went and looked in it.
23:59
There were a bunch of sours and, uh, dark beers and stuff like that, but nothing, nothing sort of podcast-able, sort of. [laughs] Um, so, uh- Yeah, you can't talk after drinking sours. [laughs] So, uh, I figured...
24:12
Uh, I, I went then to my neighborhood, uh, my closest neighborhood, uh, Venture Brewing, and they were e- also out of cans after the...
24:20
And it's a tiny little neighborhood place, but they were out of cans, so I figured Black Husky would have something. And their cooler was actually really down as well. There were only two flavors. It's Wisconsin.
24:31
We had a great weekend. [laughs] Yeah, we did. You know? The brewers are all happy, but they're all busy.
24:37
Yeah, I'm gonna pitch this, but it's gonna be a day too late, 'cause tomorrow for all you guys should you wanna go to Gathering Place Brewing, there is... It's Pints for a Cause, I believe is what they call it.
24:48
It's dollar- Yeah... for every pint you buy, a dollar goes to a nonprofit, and tomorrow's nonprofit is a pr- nonprofit I work for- Oh... the Digital Bridge. Digital Bridge. Nice. So it's a, it's a great nonprofit.
25:00
It's a- Do you have a jingle yet, like, ♪ Digital Bridge, Digital Bridge, come on and ♪ [laughs] I sure as hell hope we don't have that one. [laughs] You, you gotta make one and you gotta create a button for that. Yeah.
25:11
[laughs] You don't have to be lonely- Everything cycles... at Digital Bridge. Yeah, but tomorrow night from, uh, 5:00 until 9:30, I believe it is, for every pint you buy, a dollar goes to- 3:00.
25:25
I think it starts at 3:00. Oh, does it start at 3:00? Okay, then- At least the event... I highly recommend. Yeah. You know, and, and Gathering Place Brewing Company is not a terribly bad place to have a couple of beers.
25:35
No. Matter of fact, it's pretty fricking fantastic. Good- Nice... folks. Good, tasty, and very welcome. Did we talk about which ones Dave brought today? Oh, yes. Ah, yeah.
25:44
We, we brought the Vain, a citra pale ale, and, uh, and the Dogfather- The Dogfather Dogfather... which is all mosaic. Dogfather is quite possibly the best pale ale in the city, maybe the nation.
25:58
I'm a big fan of their spruce beers too. Not, n- and I know they have Spruce Too. [laughs] Yeah. [laughs] They have Spruce and Spruce Too, but- Yes. I actually, I have a bottle of the Spruce Too that I've- Yeah...
26:10
I was gifted and I have not try. I t- To, to people that don't know about Black Husky, they started in Pembine, Wisconsin- Yeah... in a log cabin. Yeah. And he, and Tim was, did run sled dogs, so. Yes, he did. Yeah.
26:23
And m- all of his dog... A lot of his beers initially, like Vain is one of his dogs. And Spruce was as well, I believe. Yeah, yeah. And, uh, you know, he decided after doing, like
26:34
80% of his delivery to Milwaukee that he should just come back to Milwaukee and stay. [laughs] And didn't, like, one of his, didn't one of his kids move to the Riverwest or something like that?
26:41
Or- Um, well he's from West Allis originally, I believe. Oh. So they just decided it was time to come back and, you know, the, the work they've done on that building- Oh, yeah...
26:49
you know, the places that has, you know, been. That was- Right... Fat Daddy's Caddy's for a while. [laughs] Before it was- Oh, yeah, yeah... Mano's Motors. The motor, yeah, yeah.
27:00
And, and that building was in really rough shape, and they have done a great job making it a beautiful location, which is dog friendly. Go figure. It is. And he makes great beer. He makes fantastic beers.
27:11
Un- unapologetic about his beer menu as well. And the worst, the worst brewery tour ever. I, right, I would s- Yep... I would highly suggest if you do go there, don't suggest to Tim a beer to make that he doesn't make.
27:24
[laughs] You know, have, have you listened to him yodel at all? He's a damn good yodeler too. My grandma was a awesome yodeler. Yeah. He's a fun guy to have in the neighborhood. He is... Him and Tony are very welcome.
27:35
They are great people to have around. Yeah. Nice. You know, even if he didn't make great... Well, he had to still make great beer, but even if he didn't- Yeah... he'd still be pretty cool. But Tim, you're really cool.
27:46
Cheers. Cheers. Cheers to Tim. Black Husky. [glasses clink] You know. And by the way, that venison's delicious. [laughs] Thanks. Good.
27:54
Now, you know, you're kinda at the mercy of your, uh, sausage maker when you, when you do that, but, uh- I'll have some of that...
28:01
you know, but they, but they shouldn't be in business if they can't make a decent venison sausage, you know? Right. It's, this is Wisconsin after all, you know. Yeah, that's fantastic. That's got tons of flavor.
28:10
Do you want a little baby fork that comes with my little baby knife? [laughs] Right. What the heck? What is that thing? Is that a pickle fork or what? Yes. [laughs] We're a little bit more casual. It was a free thing.
28:20
It was hilarious. The, the last...
28:22
I brought a stick of this a wh- and, and they're like two pound sticks, and I brought a two pound stick and, uh, two bottles of Soul Boxers up to the last Salsa Ride Camp, and I can tell you my, my tent was the most popular place at Salsa Ride Camp.
28:37
[laughs] [laughs] I bet it was. Mark- Salsa Ride Camp... Mark Sirik, if you're out in Maine listening, um, I think you ate most of that sausage, buddy. Did you get little Mike Riemer in your tent too?
28:49
You know, I don't remember if Mike came. Jay Petervery was there. Um, and, uh, a lot of the sort of Salsa luminaries. I don't remember if Mike was, was over.
28:57
He's, he's sort of in charge of everything, so he doesn't get to have- Probably... as much fun. He's probably out fishing somewhere.
29:03
[laughs] Well, they, they were, there were s- that ride camp did have, uh, fishing demos. Yeah, for sure. Mike's a big fisherman. Yeah. Fisher folk.
29:12
So, uh, wanna make sure we mention, uh, next week Wednesday while there is no radio program,
29:19
we do have an in-store demo from a gentleman named Jeff Valadine that's going to ride across the country for the 12th time apparently, and uh, he's gonna show us what he does when he goes bike touring 4,100 miles.
29:33
Catch- So that we can all-... catch the last show. He, this guy's got some great ideas.
29:37
Yeah, he definitely has d- he, throughout the years, he's learned what he likes to do, and that's not necessarily what everyone likes to do.
29:43
But it's worth listening to because I think a lot of how he does it is how kind of I've evolved.
29:49
I haven't, I haven't ridden across the country yet, but when I do my shorter week long ones, I kinda follow his basic philosophy, which is don't take a bunch of crap you don't need. Right.
29:58
[laughs] If you, if you think you need a Bob trailer, rethink what you're bringing. Unless you wanna be- Or a cargo bike. Yeah...
30:03
unless you wanna be Dave and look cool on the beach with your Bob trailer on your fat bike. [laughs] Coming up. That's just, that's all for looking cool. That's all for looking cool. Um- And being, and being Dave.
30:11
If we're, we're, uh- [laughs]... remind, reminding, uh, listeners in the Milwaukee area about events, then, uh, the, the Polish Moon Ride is coming up too- Oh, yeah... on, uh, June 21st.
30:20
It's not part of Bike Week, but it's coming up. It's early this year. We usually trade weekends with the Riverwest 24, but we decided just to move it up, so that's...
30:29
We have accordion players on the back of cargo bikes- Cargo bikes. Ah... on a very slow, very slow, um, police-led fun ride through the City of Milwaukee.
30:40
I was-- we were trying to create a-- I started the Santa Cycle Rampage- One of the best events in the world... a long time ago with a handful of friends, and now it's become a, a, a thing.
30:49
[laughs] Um, but, um, but we were trying to think of a, a summer version of something, like, similar to that. Um, and, uh, and so we came up with the Polish Moon Ride. Well, I like stuff that's not getting too big.
31:01
Like we'll, we'll be doing the, the fat bike tour here in a couple of weeks. We're doing actually a pre-ride this weekend to check out all the, the stops, but the thing has gotten- With Ja- with Jason? It's gotten yuge.
31:11
Yeah. Yuge. Yeah. Well, and the Santa Rampage- When is that?... is like that too. Saturday. Yeah. That's Saturday too? Oh, geez. Whoa. Saturday. Whoa. There's a lot going on Saturday. T-R-O-U-night.
31:21
No, it's, it's the, it's the week of the summer. You gotta get a bunch in every- Ah... every day of the weekend. It's also the Volkswagen Fest over at, uh, the Bavarian Inn. Oh, hmm. What kind of bikes are those?
31:33
[laughs] Fancy German four-wheeled bikes. [laughs] What's the name of that band? What? [laughs] The Volkswagen's their band? Also the, also the, uh, brewery's opening up on, uh, North Avenue.
31:45
The, uh, whatever they've re- recalled- Oh, Hacienda... Hacienda Brewing is opening too. Oh, yeah. That's what it is. Oh, that's at the old BBC? Yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, we need another brewery, obviously.
31:55
Yeah, right around the corner- Well, I just want to w-... from another brewery, you know? I mean, Good City's right around the corner there.
32:00
Well, uh, o- o- one block, uh, west you have, uh, One Poke restaurant across the street from the other one. From another poke restaurant? [laughs] It- I'm not even sure what that is... fish, raw fish. A bowl.
32:13
It's in a bowl. Ah, okay. Sushi. It's like sushi where they're too lazy to make it into something pretty. Gotcha. [laughs] Right on. Still tastes like raw fish. They all skip. [laughs] Yeah.
32:25
I haven't had sushi in Milwaukee. I've only had it out of state in places where- Fish... there's actually close to fish- Yeah... like on the Pacific Ocean. [laughs] I only eat seafood when I'm on a coast. See? Food.
32:37
I seafood. I eat it. Mm-hmm. Oh, God. What... Uh, or is this almost over- He's walking... because we're getting poorly? Oh, yeah. No, we've already- He just like walked into the dance...
32:45
no, we're already, we're already in bonus time here. Sweet. The heck with you people. We're gonna keep doing this for a little longer.
32:51
Uh, mostly by asking Dave if you got any closing thoughts, you wanna-- anything you want people to know that we haven't actually chatted about? Um, you know? No, you know, I don't know.
33:00
It's, uh, you know, we live in, uh, kinda interesting and challenging times, and, uh, um, and funding for all this stuff is get- You know, our, our Highway Transportation Trust Fund has been broke for a while now.
33:13
Um, and it's been surviving because we've been pumping in general tax dollars into it to keep it afloat. Same things a- true with Wisconsin's transportation, um, fund.
33:24
And, uh, and so some new ideas are gonna have to be had to, uh, to come up with, uh, more funding 'cause there's a shortage of cash, and reprioritization- Mm-hmm... has to happen.
33:35
And the politi- unfortunately, the, the timing that we're at right now, the political appetite for, um, uh, progressive changes is only starting, so it, it, I mean- That's tough to do when you have a 10,000 bridges or something that need to be redone, and- Right...
33:52
all sorts of other things to, that are- There's a lot of, a lot of-... that are being-... a lot of things are gonna change very soon, and technology's all a part of that as well.
34:00
So, you know, the one thing that I, I, I am, I am, like, really, like, think that we have a,
34:07
an honest chance now of making some positive changes that, uh, with the exception of, uh, you know, uh, number one, um, the vast majority of people in the world recognize climate change is a real thing.
34:21
And, and bicycles have a legitimate place in, in solving that problem.
34:27
So many trips-- I, I had to go to Madison today and, and because of scheduling stuff I had to drive, so it's me-- and, and part of that problem is that our bus system has been cut. Terrible.
34:39
We didn't, we didn't get the train back and forth, so my schedule with work, I, I couldn't do it any other way today except to drive.
34:45
So it's a single occupancy guy driving his pickup truck back and forth to Madison, and I got stuck in traffic because there was a crash because-- so it shut down the freeway, and I'm s- it took me- Wow...
34:57
two hours, three hours to get back. I mean, all those sorts of things are, are just, like, wrong. [laughs] From the- It's not fossil fuels, Dave, it's freedom fuels. [laughs] They just called it that today. Oh, boy.
35:09
Oh, Lord. That is the new buzzword. Wow. And I was about ready to-- as a guy with a bunch of solar panels on his roof, that really rubs you the wrong way. Well, as fat bikers though, we can see this change.
35:19
Like, remember what-- half the reason why I bought my first Schlick was because of the beach riding. Absolutely. I was like, "Beach riding?"
35:25
I'm like, "I don't just need a fat bike for winter, I need one for that beach riding," you know? [laughs] And need- For real... need. But, um- [laughs] But, um, now, like, the beaches are almost gone, um- Mm-hmm...
35:36
because of, uh, you know, the water level's rising and, and it's gonna keep rising. And Oklahoma, every county in Oklahoma is under a flood watch right now or a severe weather warning or something.
35:48
So, I mean, it's pretty soon nobody's gonna be able to deny it. And all these short trips that everybody takes in their cars, the one mile that less in- Mm-hmm...
35:57
in their single occupancy vehicle are so easily converted to, to a bike. A bike. So- Yeah, we didn't even get into e-bike legislation yet, did we? No. Uh- [laughs] I don't know- I think we should though...
36:07
I don't know if we have time, but our- Well, why not?
36:09
We- We have a Senate vote tomorrow, so we, we were working with People for Bikes and our state bike industry, and Harley-Davidson, who are, are coming out with a full line of e-bikes just like Yamaha has.
36:18
Now Harley's soon to have a full spectrum of e-bikes. Um- Ah, a full spectrum. Nice save, Dave. Cycling podcast by- That's how I tied that in there... by Harley-Davidson. Oh. I do like how you did it.
36:29
[laughs] That's a slow burn. And, uh, and so we, we worked with People for Bikes and the bike industry and, and came up with common sense legislation to update our state statutes so that they're currently legal.
36:40
'Cause right now they're like firecrackers. They're legal to buy and illegal to use on state trails. So, um, luckily there are no- State Trails Police out there- Right, right...
36:48
'cause we don't, we don't have any money for our state trails Well, there's no funding for them anyway. [laughs] Right.
36:52
So, but that, the, the Senate vote, we, the House, um, s- Transportation Committee voted unanimously to approve our bill.
37:00
The Senate is voting tomorrow, and we believe we have all yes votes, so we hope it, they'll soon be legal. So how, um, how different are estates nationwide?
37:10
Is there, is there a ga- run the gamut, or- We've been working with people for b- it, you know, just, it doesn't make any sense to have different legislation everywhere. No.
37:16
I mean, every state's gonna have a little bit of differences, but the core legislation we're working with starts with our, our international industry and, and the class three, the three class systems.
37:27
And, and we have a basic bill that we start with, and we take that. And I think 14 states have passed it so far. There's, like, another 10 that are, like, on the cusp of passing it. Wisconsin should do it this year.
37:38
Yeah. Before we were doing the show, Dave was talking about, you know, just European cities and how electric bikes are now the majority of bike sales, not the moped. Adult, adult bikes. Adult bikes. Yeah. Sure.
37:48
Adult bikes. Yeah, and the mutes. You don't want them on the s- on the electric bikes. Oh, I do. [laughs] Yeah, Harley's first, Harley's first bike is a Strider. Oh, nice. [laughs] Yeah. It's an E Strider. An E Strider.
37:59
An E S- [laughs] Does not sound like a good idea. [laughs] I think it does if you think about it. Like, t- t- those balance bikes, it's all about, like, getting them to get a little bit of speed. Get speed. Right?
38:08
That's true. So, so as long as it's, as long as it's got, like, a, a, a low enough... As long as you're not gonna wheelie on their Strider.
38:14
[laughs] Then they're all gonna grow up driving automatics, and I'm a stick shift kind of guy. [laughs] Stick in the mud guy. I am kind of a stick in the mud guy. [laughs] So. Thank you.
38:23
You realize this is the second week in a row, podcast in a row we've actually had information that's useful? Yeah, it's kinda crazy. Yeah, it's like a- [laughs] It's getting real... it's like a trend, by God.
38:33
It's getting real. Yeah, we don't really wanna set, we don't wanna set a precedent here. We're on a- I, I won't be back for a while. Yeah, you can- Oh, yeah... push the envelope.
38:39
[laughs] We were just aiming middle most of the [laughs] Probably quit while we're ahead. Yeah, we're done. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. The next podcast will be called something different, folks.
38:48
[laughs] Half Spectrum Podcast. [laughs] That, that all came from Floyd's of Leadville with their full spectrum CBD. I'm like, "Full spectrum. Well, we're gonna talk about all kinds of cycling." Full spectrum.
39:00
Thought it was, you know, kind of a good, good name. Full fat spectrum, half moon. [laughs] All right, folks. There's some sort of thing here. Uh, come visit the shop during, uh, Locust Street Day. Oh, yes. Oh, yeah.
39:14
That's coming up too. Yes. June, June 9th. 7th. 9th? Whatever the address is here. 7th? 8th? It's a Sunday. It's the Sunday after this Sunday. Yeah. Find, find us. If you're hearing this on Friday. Yes. Find us.
39:28
That's a b- Harass us... it's a big old festival, folks. Come on down. You can't miss it. It's fun. No dogs allowed unless you bring your dog. Two weeks. Like everyone does.
39:35
Two weeks from now we'll do this again, sort of. Bye. Probably fall back on our old tricks. Well, thanks for having me. Thanks, Dave. Thanks for coming. Thanks, man. Yeah, man.
39:45
[upbeat rock music]
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