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Full Spectrum Cycling
Full Spectrum Cycling Podcast #21 – Interviews With Jeremy From Riverwest 24 and Dave Schlabowske On Bikepacking
Jul 26, 2019
Full Spectrum Cycling Podcast #21 – Interviews With Jeremy From Riverwest 24 and Dave Schlabowske On Bikepacking
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Transcript
0:00
[instrumental music] Ahoy, ahoy, everybody.
0:21
It's Sven and the Full Spectrum Cycling Podcast. Good evening, or morning, or- I- I'm gonna go-... whenever you're listening to Hey, I'm gonna go kinda counterclockwise around the table today.
0:34
[laughs] We got, uh, JK Livin'. Hello. I jumped in line. Yep. We got Dave Schlabowski. Good to be here again. Dave's here. It's... He's our second time guest already. Yeah, I'm gonna be a regular. And we have Mr.
0:47
Tony Berg. Hola. And via an, an earlier recording we have Jeremy Proch from the, uh, River West 24. That's coming up, isn't it? We're just gonna, we're just gonna jam that right into the old, uh, show later on.
1:00
Yeah, yeah, a little. I'll have to remember to say, "Hey, everybody. Welcome Jeremy," you know? That kind of thing. Yeah.
1:05
But, uh, yeah, he's, he, he had a thing to do here planning for this r- thingy that's coming up tonight, exactly. When you're listening to this. Yeah. It'll be going on all day, 7:00 PM to 7:00 PM Friday to Saturday.
1:20
Thousands, he said there was over f- 1,500 people I think this year. I think so, yeah. That's a lot of people. 1,500 riders- Yeah, that's-... 900 volunteers.
1:27
Yeah, 900 plus t- [laughs] 900-plus volunteers, many of which are riders. Let's- Right, right. Yeah... I'm gonna let him talk about the 24, because- He said, he said-...
1:35
because that's what he talks about, the 24, among other things. Mm-hmm. He's very, um, a very interesting individual, so we'll hear from him a little later. Yeah, we saw him, uh, this past week. Oh, yeah, we did.
1:46
At the, uh- The Bleed show... Bleed show, which is tonight in the past when you wouldn't have heard of this, 'cause they play tonight. Oh, yeah, we're gonna try and make it down there, aren't we? Really. Yeah.
1:58
Have you ever heard of them? Yeah, great. Bleed? Great local band. From the '90s and then they shuttered for, like, two decades and then got back together and- Where are they playing? Uh, Cooperage. Oh, nice. Good spot.
2:11
Mm-hmm. Johnny Ray. Opening for the legendary Shake Shackers. They're good. Music is good. Yes. See? It is. Kinda my buoy. Right, right. [laughs] So before we're here for the next show, we're going to...
2:28
JK and I are going to Michigan. You're not going to Michigan are you? I'm holding the fort down here. Right. Somebody's gotta keep this shop open. Right.
2:35
[laughs] Somebody's gonna go play Michigan and Tony's gonna hang around the shop sometimes. Al will be here, Tony'll be here. Don't worry about it. Come get your shit fixed. Yep. Um, Dave is here.
2:47
Dave just got back from a recon mission up Northern Wisconsin way on the- And UP... and UP. Up there? UP. [laughs] I see you, UP. He said UP. Um, tell us what that thing's about, Dave.
3:01
I know you have waterfall in the, in the thing, so. Yeah. Yeah, so I just got, just got back. I've been, I've been... For a long time I've been, like...
3:07
I love the gravel roads up in Northern Wisconsin and, and the UP, and I... and there's lots and lots of waterfalls up there. So I've been...
3:14
Lots of my trips in- involve just riding around, and I'll just ride to a few waterfalls. And so over the years I've ridden a, a bunch of them, and I decided like, "Well, what if I pieced it all together into one route?"
3:27
So the ultimate route is, is about 455 miles and, um, and goes from Cornucopia in the Bayfield Peninsula down to Amberg, um, a- across the state and then up into UP a little bit and then back down to Amberg.
3:44
So I've been, like, doing a recon. I've never put it all together. I've done these as separate rides. Got you. So, so now I'm trying to recon the actual route.
3:54
So I, I go up and I'll do, like, you know, 200 miles, 250 miles, and then I'll, I'll... and then, uh, and then I'll have to finally ride the whole thing in one route. So this trip was the f- the, um,
4:09
the part that starts in Amberg, Wisconsin, which is coincidentally the town just south of Pembine, Wisconsin, which is coincidentally, um, the town where- Black Husky Brewing...
4:22
the town where Black Husky Brewing- [laughs]... which we came from, which is what we're drinking right now. Yeah, just titty corner from each other, yeah.
4:27
[laughs] That, that's, that's a, a long ways around the horn to get to where we're going.
4:31
And I, I did stop in the, the Supper Club Paris in Pembine, um, and, uh, and asked if they knew Tim, and they said yeah, they did know. Nice. They know him, so. Nice.
4:42
Um, but, uh, yeah, so I started at, perfectly, at Dave's Falls, um- [laughs]... which is right, right outside of Amberg, and then rode up...
4:52
Uh, and I went with my buddy Todd, and, uh, we rode up, uh, all the way into, uh, um, into the UP and, um, and then came back, came back down. Um, and unfortunately I...
5:05
Although it was a great trip, we had unbelievably great weather, the black flies and deer flies were hardly bugging us at all, the mosquitoes were not bothering us, it wasn't too hot, so it was a, it was an awesome trip, but, um, the, the section of the route that I put together between, um, Ironwood and, um, Florence, and Florence and, um,
5:29
down to Amberg, there's a bunch of stuff that's just not, not what I'd wanna, like, send people on- Okay. [laughs]... for a fun, fun bike ride.
5:37
Not because, uh, there just aren't enough gravel roads in those areas, and they're paved, and there are no roads. So when there are no roads- You make one... then, then there's only... There's a lot of traffic. Traffic.
5:49
Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of traffic. So, so unfortunately as, as awesome as this section is, I think it's a, it's a- Up and back from, from Amberg or something like that.
5:58
It's still a good ride to do this, but connecting it to my other route, I, I don't think it's gonna work out. Not gonna be logistically possible?
6:05
No, so I think my route's gonna probably end around Watersmeet, and that's the section that I have to ride next. I gotta recon the section from Watersmeet to Ironwood.
6:14
Um, and, uh, and so I think I'm gonna have the route end in Watersmeet and then probably I'm gonna throw in one last little, um, uh, Sylvania wilderness areas right below Watersmeet. Yeah.
6:26
So I think I'm gonna, like, try to do it as, like, oh, I gotta ride my bike from Cornucopia down to, um, down to Watersmeet and then I'm gonna spend... I'm gonna rent a canoe and, uh, and go out and canoe pack.
6:41
That's, uh, that sounds cool. Nice, nice. And- Nice. Yeah... so how many waterfalls do you figure are on this? 34. 34 waterfalls? Whoa. Yeah. That's awesome. I didn't know there were 34 waterfalls around here.
6:50
That's a, that's a waterfall every 10 miles. Yeah. It's... So, um, and the road is great. The... I mean, I've done all of it, but I haven't put it all together. E- everything is a, is, is fun and, um,
7:02
it, it's challenging though. A lot of the, lot... The Bayfield Peninsula area is all sandy, uh, and it's really sandy. So I did this trip, I forgot that there was so much sand over on this side of the state.
7:16
There are sand barrens over on that side of the state by Crivitz and Amberg and that sort of stuff.
7:21
So, um, when we're riding on the ATV trails and stuff like that, which I use those as well, um, I'm down to like 10 PSI, you know, in my tubeless 40.
7:31
Um, and, and it's still, it's, it's a struggle to ride through that sand stuff. In Bayfield Peninsula, a buddy of mine that lives up there said, "Yeah.
7:39
Oh, yeah, even his fat bike sinks down," and, uh, 'cause it's really get soft as ATVs will keep everything loose. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So- Yeah, churn it all up...
7:47
it's not, it's not packed, but it, it was an absolute, absolute blast. They aerate the soil. Yeah. It was an absolute- [laughs] Yeah.
7:53
We, we had a, a, a really great time and- So the ultimate goal of this, um, recon and, and making this route is to have it published somewhere where people can check it out. Yeah.
8:03
You know, I, I s- when, when bikepacking.com, one of my, if not my most favorite website, most frequented website, um, when Logan Watts put that together and launched it, um,
8:16
it, it was a revelation to me and I thought it was, like, such a wonderful site and I, I, I look at it, I check every day to see if there are new updates on it. It's just one of those kind of sites.
8:26
And, um, but I noticed he had no pins in the Midwest for a bikepacking route, so I was like, "Well,"- Hmm. You have to make your own... "come on, come on."
8:33
[laughs] So I put together the Tour de Chequamegon actually purposely because there were no pins in the, in the Midwest and, and I wrote it up and, and talked to Logan ahead of time and said, "Hey, you know, I'm gonna do this," and he said, "Sure.
8:47
If it's good I'll, I'll, you know, put it up." And, and so that route is up. I, I dropped the first pin in the Midwest- Nice... for bike, on bikepacking.com. Thank you. Thank you.
8:57
[laughs] [laughs] Well, it's a worldwide site, so- Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No... you know, there are routes all over the place. Kyrgyzstan, all that sort of stuff.
9:03
And while I really love all that sort of stuff, I, I love reading about other people's adventures and, and, you know, uh, doing the Silk Road race and all that sort of stuff, really what I feel like [clears throat]
9:15
what, what people need is to just enjoy the most accessible nature that they can, that, that they have at their disposal. And, and for us in Wisconsin, the Northwoods is a, is an unbelievably great resource.
9:29
And so I prefer rather than do the Tour Divide, all that stuff is super cool, but it is completely not my thing, man.
9:36
I, I wanna ride my bike, I wanna, I wanna get a lot of exercise, I wanna view nature, be away from everything, but then guess what? I wanna stop in at a tavern, I wanna have a beer, I wanna meet the locals. Yeah.
9:47
I wanna do that stuff. And I want it to be, uh, uh, something that more anybody can do, and that's why it, with the Tour de Chequamegon is. It's, it's actually an introduction to bikepacking where, where we guide you...
9:59
I, I don't work there anymore, but when I did though, when I put it together for the Bike Fed, um, we have guides and you have to carry all your own stuff, your tent, your sleeping bag, stuff like that, but we provide the food and we have mechanical support, and we've got the route figured out.
10:13
So- See that thing on the floor behind you? It's the, uh- The-... Coho XC Burly. Oh, that. We- Yeah. You've got the Lunds, Lundsten. We're gonna... [laughs] Well, we're going to Michigan, so I thought I w- I might, I...
10:25
If I can get it all hooked up before the Michigan trip, I'm gonna give it a go on the sand over there. He's already got his fancy trailer he built. So this is like- With, with a fat, fat tire and everything? Yeah. Yeah.
10:35
Oh, yeah. With, with a, with a- All right... like a Wallgoose 20-inch fat bike tire. Okay. Yeah. 'Cause- But this is a company that makes trailers, and they actually made a trailer with a fat bike, uh, tire size.
10:45
So- It's a three-inch, it's not a four, but it's pretty good. They say it's gonna be better. Uh, the coolest thing to me about the whole thing, it's a single wheel trailer.
10:52
It's got a little suspension shock on it like the, like the, uh, Bob, but it has a yoke that will go from 126 millimeter to 197 millimeter just by changing out the skewer on the bike.
11:04
The yoke is adjustable, so you don't have- Hmm... to monkey around with a bunch of different, uh, yokes or bending your own like- Mm-hmm... some people have had to do. [laughs] So that's, that's something.
11:13
Do you think that that would be... W- so bikepacking you can- I'm, I'm sold... or are you gonna pack? My gen- my, my general rule of thumb is, is if I need to bring a Bob trailer I gotta rethink.
11:25
I'm packing too much stuff. [laughs] Packing too much stuff. [laughs] But if you don't wanna put anything on your bike at all and just carry everything in a trailer, then I guess that, that makes some sense to me.
11:34
That was, was one of the things that kind of intrigued me about it. It has sort of a almost like your Yuba has a kickstand, a double kickstand. Mm-hmm.
11:42
So you just unhook it from your bike, it sits there- And the bike will sit. Yeah... and you let it sit in the camp, and you go out and do your thing.
11:47
Um, that said, on, on our, on our four-day trip it's overkill for sure. Um, but, uh- Oh, you tested it out... dang old testing it out, for sure. Yeah. Um, I was just curious how it worked because somebody made...
11:59
A company that makes trailers made something like that, and I'm like, "Well, they probably did a pretty good job." Yeah. But yeah, truthfully, I would just- Yeah... be, be awful light on my metal packing. Yes.
12:08
Lentz threatened to come with me on a, on a- [laughs]... section and then he actually found some work, so. Yeah, he... That, that happens to him pretty often. Well [laughs]... Yep. That's my, that's my impression.
12:19
Yeah, he engulfed it. That's not your day lunch. He, he asked me about, about that, about, "Well, what if I bring my trailer?" Um, but, uh, you know, I, I, I did the... You know, I did these,
12:32
these routes on 40s, you know, down to 10 psi. Um, but, uh, but I did it and, and I rode it, you know. There were a couple of hills I had to walk 'cause it was too loose and soft, but, uh, but I rode it all on that, so.
12:47
But I wouldn't recommend... I, I think... The last time I, I did the trip, I did it on my Milwaukee 29er up at Bayfield, um, and then I cut all the way over to Copper Falls.
12:57
Um, I rode from Cable up to Herbster, Cornucopia, down and over to Copper Falls and, um, and I did that on a 29er.
13:05
And again, I was down, uh, you know, 10 psi, but those are 2.35s, um, and that was- Yeah, it's quite a bit different. Yeah, that was better.
13:12
So I was going into the plus bike realm that the ultimate- Yeah, I think that would probably be a good combo.
13:17
You know, the thing is, like, there's some of the stuff that's, like, such hard pack gravel and stuff that, like, the 40s are, like, so fast- Mm-hmm... on, on that, you know. So, like, it, it...
13:26
You hate to, like, give up that speed, but when you're really suffering in the soft sand, then... I think, um, yeah, a, a 2 point, you know, 5, 2.35 sort of tire or a plus bike would probably be good for this route.
13:42
I should have it... Uh, so I'll finish this middle... recounting the middle section, and then I'll ride the full route soon and, um, and then I'll, I'll share with Logan and, and have it. It's been up on...
13:54
I've been sharing various iterations on Facebook on Wisconsin, um, Gravel Syndicate. I'm a, a... I didn't start that site. A, a friend in Madison did, but, um, but he got too busy and he gave it to me to, to run.
14:08
So I'm now in charge of that. There's also, uh, Sheboygan Gravel and, uh, I think it's, uh, Northeastern Wisconsin Gravel that, uh, Shane Hince has put together. He's also the guy that started that Iron Bowl.
14:21
Um, well, he's helping with the route, the Iron Bowl, that it's in Wausau Gravel Race that's coming- Wausau? Yeah, 140. W-A-U-S-A-U. They got, they got 140-mile route, an 80-mile route, and I think a 60-mile route.
14:34
I can't remember. It's new this year and Shane, um, put that together. Cool. Well, the route, helped with the route. So this is a lot... You're doing a lot of this in your retirement now.
14:43
Since, since last time you were on the show you became retired. [laughs] Yeah, dude, I rode my bike back and forth to the office- [laughs]... and to meetings. That's what I did when I was, was fully employed.
14:52
I got, I got the summer off. I'm gonna have to figure out something at the end of the summer to make some beer money, but, uh, but for right now I'm riding my bike. Sounds good. Hell, yeah. No, that's, uh...
15:01
I, I love the waterfall angle. I mean, it's just like- It's a good- Yeah, you can always have a route, but now there's- Right... even this additional- Yeah... uh, feature that you can check out these waterfalls.
15:10
Yeah, Karen, steak. Karen. Like a neat steak. Ch- changing subjects slightly- Ghost pepper... but summer off, uh, have we heard any words from our weary cross-country traveler? Weary cross-country traveler
15:21
on the Meridian? [laughs] Not that crazy. Hey, folks. No. Uh, just, just as an aside here, um,
15:29
Jason Beckhouse, Dave Lunz met up with him somewhere, and this guy is riding a single speed Meridian Schwinn trike acro- He, I think he started in Mich- in Minnesota and he was gonna ride it to New Orleans or something like that.
15:44
He called in from somewhere in Ohio. He was talking about Toledo. I don't know if we got the whole, the whole, uh, voicemail, but I'll put the... what we do have, I'll put it up right after this.
15:54
Everyday Cycles is the go-to dealer for the remaining stock of the Chumba USA Ursa Major titanium fat bike. Contact Greg at everydaycycles.com for more information. Hey, Stan. This is Jason Beckhouse.
16:09
I'm the guy that's riding across the country on the Schwinn one speed Meridian tricycle. I just made it to Lansing, Michigan. I'm in a place called the Unicorn Lounge having a beer, a victory beer because I made it.
16:24
I made it to my third state capital building on this trip. Uh, I'm gonna make a quick stop in Detroit. I'm gonna look at Toledo and, uh, get to the bottom of, uh, the Toledo, Ohio dispute.
16:43
Um, I heard there were shots fired back in the day over whether Toledo should be Michigan or Ohio, and I think that's what the whole Ohio, Michigan rivalry is all about.
16:55
Um, I've been trying to talk to people about it and having a good time with it and, uh, I'm just gonna keep on pushing on. I got some family... I got friends and family in Detroit,
17:07
and I'm gonna be pushing on to Columbus, Ohio. I'll be calling you, uh, shortly and, uh, hopefully we can get an interview or something like that going. Um, I'm roughing it, roughing it, roughing it. I got a, a,
17:24
a basket full of, full of gear that I'm keeping my eye on here in the mean streets of Lansing, Michigan. Um, hey, shout out. I'm gonna plug the Unicorn Lounge.
17:37
I'm gonna plug the Unicorn Lounge right here in Lansing, Michigan. Um, come see Molly. She's a good bartender, and you can get a good dinner special from her.
17:47
So, uh, u- until further notice, give me a call and I'll, I'll be on the road. Uh, hope to hear from you soon. Bye. Thanks a lot, Jason, for calling in, man.
17:58
[laughs] As long as we're switching up topics, I was, I was, uh, listening to the...
18:04
you guys, uh, when I was on my last trip up and you asked a question that you said, "Oh, I wonder if Dave would know the answer to this.
18:13
It was, uh, we were talking about, uh, why they used to teach kids to ride their bike the opposite way to traffic- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm... and, and, uh- [laughs]... and, and now, now that's illegal to do that. Right.
18:24
And, and the reason why it's illegal is because statistically, crashes happen at, at conflict points, which are intersections.
18:31
And, and when drivers, drivers look where they expect motor vehicles to come, they don't look for pedestrians, but pedestrians move really slowly. So, so at every intersection, um, when you...
18:45
They don't look the, the way on c- traffic- Right. Yeah, that makes sense... right. So, um, however, um, when you're out in the country on, um, sort of like, um, you know, like where I was just riding, and you're...
18:58
there are no intersections for miles and you're on a, a, a low, you know, sight line, short sight line, um, road with hills and curves and stuff, it actually might potentially be safer to go against traffic. I, yeah.
19:14
Right. I mean, I grew up- Potentially, it could be. Um, stati- I don't have any statistics- Right... for that, but, um- Yeah. This was, this was just from when I was a kid out in the, out in the country. It is.
19:23
That's what they said. You are supposed to walk, uh- Right... where there's no sidewalk, you're supposed to walk in, in the country opposite. And, and, and, and some people who get on their... Yeah, that's their mindset.
19:33
Or they were taught that. It, it, it's gonna- In the city, it's- Yeah. Well, no, just walking. Right. And then it's like, "Oh, now I have a bike." Right. "But then I will go against traffic- In the city, it's, it's-...
19:40
because that's what I'm doing"... it's statistically way more dangerous- Yes. Now that makes sense... to ride, ride the wrong way. Um- Oh, hell yeah...
19:46
uh, or even on sidewalks generally, because again, uh, people don't look. Cars, people don't look. Oh, yeah, when you try to bomb in. Yeah. They don't look, so. Well, they're- They're not expecting-...
19:56
uh, my s- my son is 13, and I've been trying to tell him that on bikes, if you're on the sidewalk and you're going 12 miles an hour, cars don't expect things on sidewalks- Mm-mm. No... to be moving that quick, right?
20:05
You use your peripheral vision- Oh, no Right... and you expect a pedestrian, and that's about it. Yep. And, and, but a bike can be in that. I said, "You're much safer on the road where cars can see you." Yes.
20:13
Ab- absolutely. And, um, he got, he got right hooked on, on a pretty major intersection. Didn't get hit, but a guy turned right in front of him. Yeah.
20:20
And he was in, in the right turn lane, but towards the left side of the lane, basically where you'd be going straight. Where you should, where you should be. Which he was where he was supposed to be. Right.
20:29
And the guy just sped around him and cut right in front of him, and I thought, "Pff, he was doing everything right, and that guy was apparently a jerk 'cause he should've gone on the right side of the cyclist," my son.
20:38
Mm-hmm. Um, but, uh, yeah, I mean, people have been getting hit a lot more often, it seems like. Yeah, one of the- Or am I just reading about them more? One of my... Um, one of my... I don't, you, it... You probably are.
20:47
I mean, well, stats- Well, yeah... you can, I, I, I don't, I... It used to be with my last job, every, I got a daily crash report, one of the fun things, you know, to go through. Oh. And then a weekly one as well.
20:57
Reading, yeah, reading the obituary page. [laughs] Yeah. Yeah, right. Yeah, so, um- Come on now...
21:01
we used to have to report on, uh, we would report on most of the fatal crashes and stuff just because we wanted to, like, see, oh, is- Mm...
21:07
is there a way we can look at this and see if it's something, um, that we could advocate for to make sure this doesn't ever happen again. Um, but, um, I, I don't know at this point.
21:17
I don't get those emails anymore now that I'm retired. But, um, if crashes are up, um, for pedestrians or bicyclists this year, I don't know.
21:25
But, um, um, one of my coworkers, um, former coworkers, Tori, um- Yeah, it's sad... uh, got, got hit, um- Hard. But yeah, hard, you know, by, uh...
21:36
And now apparently we've got a term for this thing, the Milwaukee Slide or something. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, I heard that. That, well- I, I see it all the time. You s- the- Right. I see it all the time...
21:45
right out in, right out in front of the shop, it happens every day. Right. Yeah. Um- People pa- she got passed on the right, and, uh- Okay... and got hit. Got hit. Yeah. And was pretty severely injured.
21:56
I am not seeing a whole lot of enforcement for that Milwaukee Slide- No, it's ridiculous... from our local constabulary.
22:02
I, my drive, it, you know, and we go back, like, I think two weeks when we talked about the ride where we went to Mac Bob's, and you made the greatest route because we ended up over on, uh, what- Walnut... Walnut. Yeah.
22:14
And Walnut, because it's so wide, people don't have to do the, the right lane pass versus, you know, every other year I've gone to Mac Bob's, I've gone up Center or North. Yeah. Or North. Yeah.
22:26
I'm sorry, Center, every block you're rolling the dice. I- Oh, yeah... North, North is the same as- It's unbelievable...
22:32
I come down fr- When I come down to this, I, I live in Washington Heights, the west side of Milwaukee, so, uh, I ride down North all the time too. And I've tried the parallel streets, Brown or, or- Yeah...
22:42
so, and, and the same craziness has- Yeah... happened there, so, um. Uh, our buddy, uh, Kenny lives out, um, by Wonderbar. Yeah, Kenny lives out by me. West of. Yeah. And, and he's like, "No.
22:54
Hell, I'm gonna go down to the Hank- Mm-hmm... take the Hank, and then just-" Definitely. You know, I'll- If I have time, I take the Wonderbar... I'll, I'll take, I'll take three lefts to make that right. Yeah.
23:02
And put, like, three more miles on. Way safer. Yeah. And a hell of a lot safer. I know our audience is not a, a- Mm-mm... pure Milwaukee audience, but, um- But yours is... but Bleeds Street- But you are now...
23:13
is actually a, a good, uh, east-west road. Yeah. Really? Okay. That's good to know. Yeah, because it's got very low traffic volumes compared to, like, North and- And a police station that everyone avoids...
23:22
and it, and it, and it has no taverns or anything, you know, liquor stores or anything like that on it. So it, it just gets neighborhood traffic. It does. It's, it's a pretty good- That's good to know... east-west road.
23:31
Yeah, they have, uh, Charles E. Fromage. Yeah. [laughs] So when the ne- That's in our neighborhood, yeah. That place. That is awesome. [laughs] Charles E. Fromage. Chuck E. Cheese. Chuck E. Cheese. Yeah. Uh, for adults.
23:43
So is your, um- [laughs]... is your, is your Yuba your main transportation bike? Yeah. For transport, yeah. I, I have the Yuba with, uh, uh, Bafang or EightFun, if you're still in that sort of brand territory. Yeah.
23:57
Which one, which one you're in, yeah. It's a Bafang. It says B-F-A-N-G. With a, with a eAssist on that. [laughs] Yeah. That's my transportation bike. Um- And does that...
24:04
So do you feel more, um, do you feel safer on it- I do... in amongst the cars- I do, actually... 'cause the, 'cause you can be faster? I do.
24:11
Um, and, um, not just that, but, um, it, it's just when you're riding for transportation, the whole point is just to get where you're going- You know, it- 80... it's not, it's not to enjoy my ride.
24:23
I, I would never- Sometimes. [laughs] I would not take that on a, like, you know, uh, my buddy Pete has got 200-mile range on his, on his Bullet with a, a Crystal Light motor on the- Big battery, huh?
24:36
Di- diamond Power, what? Is it Crystal Light or is it a- It's a Crystal Light, yeah. Diamond Power, yeah. Yeah.
24:42
And he's got a 200-mile range on it, on- He's got a custom battery pack underneath- He builds his own packs... yeah. He builds his own packs. But, um, so, like, and he's...
24:49
I've done a trip with him where we rode, we took the high-speed ferry across and then we rode up to the slow speed r- through Michigan and we rode over and, and we rode down- Oh, lovely town. Yeah... yeah.
24:59
And, and then he uses the Grin, um, a Grin, uh, you know, their, their charger, which I have one of those chargers at home too.
25:07
So you can custom profile charge i- profiles in there, and so you can set a really high amp, you know, an eight amp charge. Very fast, right.
25:15
So, like, we can stop for lunch and he can, he can plug it in and, and like throw a, a, a quick, you know, five, bring his voltage up five volts or something like that- Wow... you know, in an hour.
25:26
Uh- What kind of batteries is he using? Do you know? I believe he bought, like, an old Tesla thing and, like, took that apart and- 18650s... yeah, I believe he did that. A bunch of, a bunch of them. 18650s.
25:37
But he also has 3D prints his own, like, holders and stuff like that- Yeah... for 'em. So, um- Quite cool. Yeah. And he's got- Wave of the future, folks, electric bicycles.
25:48
For transportation, absolutely no doubt about it, man. They're, they're gonna be ubiquitous. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I agree. I have to, yeah, get a little more- The prices will come down. Well, yeah, it's- They're gonna...
26:01
prices will come down. There's that. I have, I also have to kinda, like, be a little more degenerative [laughs] at that point.
26:07
Yeah, I, I- And, uh, because I, I, I know I'm gonna be riding a bike- I think you're gonna see-... until the day I die... I think you're gonna see great- But there might be a point where I can't, and so the e- I-...
26:14
isn't gonna work for me... I think you're, I think you're gonna see there's gonna be different categories of e-bikes,
26:21
um, that are going to, that, you know, like, the, there's a Italian company right now, and I'm drawing a blank. Helios or something like that, that does... They have a completely self-contained rear hub.
26:36
The batteries are in it. There's no cables. Oh, like the Copenhagen Wheel. But there's no cables at all. You don't recharge this thing. It draws off your power as you ride and only uses it- Your sense of wellbeing...
26:47
when you're from a dead stop or climbing a hill. [laughs] So when you're going down a hill, it's siphoning a little bit of power and recharging the batteries. It's the Ed Begley Jr. wheel.
26:55
[laughs] The Copenhagen Wheel will recharge itself too. Okay. Yeah. It will. I, yeah, I'd like to check this thing out. It looks interesting. [laughs] It, it looks...
27:01
I, we've, I've been in contact with the company, 'cause they don't have any US, you know... They're currently offering their hubs only to wheel, to frame builders.
27:10
Um, but their Bike+, I think it is, is there's no even, no... There's not even a way to plug it in to charge it. It is a fully- Huh. It is... There's, you control it with a Bluetooth app. There's no cables anywhere.
27:23
Now, Copenhagen Wheel is similar to that. Yeah. But you can charge a Copenhagen Wheel, I believe. You know, uh, the only benefit of this is it doesn't look like a Copenhagen Wheel. Yeah, I know.
27:32
[laughs] [laughs] You gotta- Long story short, I, uh, like the- You've gotta give it to the Danes when it comes to design in general. And so, but it's... That one is, like, you either love it or you hate it. Right.
27:43
I think it's beautiful. It, it is a- But it looks like an electric wheel. Right. Yeah. This is nearly, like, almost impossible to tell. Uh, smaller. Yeah. Yeah, it's tiny. Speed.
27:51
Um, they've been pushing me hard now to get one the last, like, two weeks. I keep getting emails from the sales rep and I'm like, "Mm-mm." So- But we'll see...
27:58
remember at the beginning of the show when I said we had another guest? Yeah. Let's, uh, let's listen to our little segment with Jeremy right about here. What?
28:07
Jeremy's talking about the Riverwest 24 and the, and, and, and all that stuff, uh- Is that coming up? We'll plug that right in here. You're tuned to the Full Spectrum Cycling Podcast. Hey, everybody.
28:20
Welcome back to the radio program. We got Jeremy Proch in the studio. Jeremy is the founder of the Riverwest 24, which is one of the coolest events in the city of Milwaukee.
28:32
Uh, ostensibly a bike event, but that's not really why Jeremy got it going. Maybe you could, uh- Yeah... fill us in a little bit. Well, thanks for having me. [laughs] I'm glad, I'm glad to be here.
28:41
But I got, I gotta r- I gotta correct you right away. The founder is not a fair... A, a founder- A founder... of, of other, of other people. I can't disrespect people that the brainchild that this came out of,
28:53
uh, what, 12 years ago, 13 years ago, if you will. This is our 12th year. It's been a year planning. But your original question was, uh, what did you say? What was the blank you left me to fill in for?
29:02
Let fill in the blank because it's not a, as it, it, it is a bike event. Yes. But that wa- It's not a race. It wasn't designed as a race per se, and, uh, your idea of it was bigger. Um- Yeah. Yeah.
29:15
Well, so there's a lot there. There's a lot, a lot there. Let's just focus on the name, if you will, race. Um, we, um, we, we still debate this.
29:25
We keep the word race in it because it sounds more dangerous, more, uh, risque, um, even though all the energy spent is to make it not be a race.
29:35
So, uh, an example, first off, I mean, I, it's so thick to just give a, uh, you know, give a broad overview maybe to someone that's never heard of this. Um, it's really, it's even...
29:46
I, I don't even have a starting point. In fact, I did a, a, an interview just the other day, and I don't even know my talking points because it's so large in my head.
29:57
[laughs] So I, I, I just me- meandered there for about three minutes without any information, but I just wanna, uh, focus- That's pretty much the whole show all the time [laughs] I mean, you're fitting right in for sure.
30:06
But, uh, the Powderhorn 24 in Minneapolis, they had done this very successfully, uh, a bicycle race, um, going around a neighborhood in a square or a circle,
30:17
hitting, uh, checkpoints along the way, and they were the Powderhorn Race, and then they changed their name to Ride. And I know why they did that. Uh, le- legally people were probably going too fast
30:28
Um, we still keep that, and then the gamble for us as organizers is to restrain that, that power, hold in that dynamite, hold that atomic energy in, in our palm by still calling it a race, but slowing it down. Yeah.
30:42
Does that make sense? Sure. [laughs] And I, I like how you reference it being a community event, a community-building event, getting everybody out on their porches. This is approximately a four-mile course. Yeah, yeah.
30:54
And- It wa- it was a little, it was almost five, and then we decided to shorten it 'cause we had to move one of the checkpoints. Fair point. And, uh, but, uh, I wanna just give a little brief, uh, history, if I can.
31:05
Sure, yeah. Uh- You're the expert [laughs]... that, that Paul, Paul Keelan, uh, my neighbor, and I, um, and some other local people, Scott Johnson from Fuel, uh, Dave Kilkenny.
31:15
I don't know if you know these guys from the motorcycle world maybe. Sure. But anyway, a local Milwaukee guys, and, uh, they asked-- They were doing the Baja 1000. Have you heard of this? Absolutely.
31:24
Uh, this year was the 40th anniversary, so that was from Tijuana to Los Cabos. And along the way, uh, people would clap and cheer. But it wasn't that that was interesting to me. We weren't the Honda team.
31:40
We weren't the KTM team.
31:42
Um, we were some dudes from Milwaukee, so we were way towards the back, back of the back, and people still stood up and cheered when the motorcycle drove through their town, their campsite, their little farm, with,
31:55
I don't know about the equal excitement to the pros or the Honda team, but there was a great energy, um, a community. They didn't care who we were. Uh, they were excited that we were there.
32:04
And so that philosophy is what translated over to the Riverwest 24, that people are cheering and clapping
32:11
because you're putting force this, putting forth this effort and challenging yourself to do as many laps as you can. Um, so let me just explain then community, uh, uh, the community involvement, uh,
32:27
that when you're riding the course, there's a wall of humans, um, lining it, drinking beer, heckling, giving out free food, um, full community involvement to, to rally around. Going a little bit deeper, if I can.
32:43
Sure, sure. [laughs] I've always long believed that if you go to a birthday party, uh, or if it's your birthday, I'm gonna do whatever I want on my birthday.
32:53
I don't always think that those kind of opportunities give you the best satisfaction. Like, I think when you're older and you look through your life and you're like, "Man,
33:02
when we did that roof and it was 100 degrees and those beers we had after tasted great." Uh, my point is that we all need kind of an activity or a job to do to enjoy the good with the bad, right? So- Copy.
33:16
So just boarding, gorging yourself on drinking beer on the porch or gorging yourself, um, I don't think brings about satisfaction. There has to be some pain in it, and that's why there's a bicycle race for 24 hours.
33:29
There's, there's, uh, am I just being-- You know, I'm just throwing darts here. Yeah, yeah. Does all that make sense? Sure, sure.
33:33
[laughs] And, and, you know, I mean, besides just people riding around, and we're gonna have 1,000 people in this thing, right? Is that about where we're at? We are very large this year. Uh, what are our numbers?
33:44
I think we're at 15. Wow, yeah. 1,500. And so the 1,500 people, A, aren't all on the course at the same time, but you have other things going on, too.
33:54
Bonus checkpoints, which take people out of the race temporarily to do other tasks. Yep, yep.
33:59
So the philosophy of the bonus checkpoint, as, as opposed to the, the four checkpoints you have to get through every lap to be the lap counted, those are the actual, uh, on the manifest stops.
34:10
There's these bonus checkpoints where you can gain laps or other things as you are participating in this, and a lot of those things seem to me to be things that help the community in general. Yep, yep.
34:21
Let, let's, let me just pause for a second and take community out of it. Take that aspect out of it. Let's talk about it as a sporting event with just the rules of it.
34:28
You get one point every four miles, four and a half miles, you ride on a circle.
34:32
And we never wanted humans to come in with their sprinter vans and the truck team, no disrespect, to come in, uh, with their shaved- The cutters... with their shaved legs. [laughs] No disrespect.
34:44
And have their, with their iPods in and put their head down and then pump out laps. Um, so we made it so that every hour-- It wasn't every hour at the beginning, but it's turned now into every hour.
34:57
A bonus checkpoint opens where if you wanna win, you have to do. Um, so that's the sport. That's how the, the sport works. But now give me again your exact question. I don't remember.
35:10
That would be the exact- That was like five minutes ago. [laughs] I have no idea. No, just that bonus checkpoints often, um, involve- Yes, that's what it was...
35:16
something that helps, that helps the community in general, not just the bike racers enjoy the race for the one day, so. Yes, yes.
35:22
Well, let me-- I, so I've been bonus checkpoint manager for a few years at the beginning and then now kind of at the end.
35:28
Uh, Nicole had done it, um, uh, another young lady who was a founder of this and now her name escapes me. It's terrible that I can't remember.
35:36
Um, but anyway, now that I'm bonus manager right now, I changed the philosophy a little bit. It's not necessarily about helping people. Um, I, I want to reach and connect with people who have a strong core value.
35:51
So for example, I'm not gonna tell any, I'm not giving any clues to this year. I'm only gonna use last year as an example. There was polka lessons.
36:01
A crew of people in Riverwest, in this neighborhood in the city of Milwaukee, are really hardcore about polka dancing. [laughs] Yeah. I wonder why. And, uh, who would've thunk it? Right? Polish neighborhood.
36:13
And, uh, they have a core values, like why we are into this. And I said, "Well, you have to express those core values." So you can't just come and dance. Um, there has to be a core value connected to the activity.
36:25
So some of those are helping, some of those are fun, but I want you to feel the passion of a group of people that are running it. That's, that's the theme of, of this year. Cool.
36:36
Yeah, I mean, you, you saw that's great about the checkpoints. Um, you also have a bunch of different categories that people can compete or ride in. Uh, it's not just one person out there solo, although that is a class.
36:51
There are several, and some of the ones that have been around for a long time, like team A, six people, up to six people on a team riding the exact same bike the entire time.
37:00
Uh, team B, where you can have a team of people that have their own bikes and they can do it however they want. Um, but you've added a few new ones over the last couple of years.
37:08
[laughs] Um, like the convoy and a couple- Yes, yes... of the other ones that, uh, seem to be more fun.
37:13
And I noticed, I think it was at the, the signup this year that at the very end when people were getting antsy and ornery, there was a, "Well, you don't know anybody on the team, so here's six people and you guys are a team."
37:25
That's right, that's right. I don't know what that- that's called, 'cause this is what's great about our organization. Something that I have to...
37:30
What I, what I love and am most proud about our organization is we give everybody, all the organizers have full reign to organize their committee any way that they see fit.
37:41
I'm not on the competition committee, so they organized it and they told me what it was. So you and I are kind of learning that together. Right. Sure. But I think, was that mixed nuts they called it?
37:50
I, [laughs] I don't recall the name. I just remember the reaction. And then a- almost everybody, with one minor exception I think, was super cool about it. They're like, "Oh yeah.
37:58
Well, hey, good to meet you," blah, blah, blah. Sure, sure. I mean, yeah, as you said before, not everybody is in this to win this in the going fast kind of a, a, a method.
38:06
It's in it to win it as, as friends and camaraderie and- Well, but I, I have to say though that why someone's upset isn't always necessarily because of competition. We've also created a tradition.
38:17
And people have their tradition, just like grandma's, uh, macaroni and cheese, and you're like, "Grandma's not bringing the macaroni and cheese this year? That's a shocker," and they're really upset.
38:28
So s- I know the people that were waiting in the park to sign up for this event, and then at the last minute we sprung it on them that they had to be on the same team.
38:35
The remaining people had to all be on one, on different, on teams. So I wanna make sure that's clear to anybody that's listening. Um, and I think they were a little bit upset because, man, hey, this isn't the tradition.
38:44
I, my team is Bill, s- Sam, and Tom, and Joe. We've been doing it for 13 years, and now you're making me go with these people I don't know. I'm not ready for this change of, of tradition. Okay. Yeah.
38:54
I, uh, people get out of their comfort zone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, another tradition that's been going on forever, I can see a couple on you, is the, is the tattoo for the- [laughs]...
39:03
for, which is a, a bonus stop, and gives, still give you five laps? Uh, y- yeah, that is the same. Uh, w- we, when we debate, when we get together and we debate, points is our number one, uh, point of contention.
39:20
There's a spectrum. We, you used this ear- earlier, the spectrum. [laughs] The full spectrum spectrum. On one end, on one end... Yes, yes. Right. On one end of the spectrum, it's a competition. We need to respect points.
39:30
It's all about points. Why do you call it a race if it's not about points and people racing and winning? The other end of the spectrum, points are irrelevant. They don't matter.
39:38
Like when you're playing pinball and you get a million points. It's... And, and pinball, by the way, has exaggerated these points, right, over the years?
39:46
[laughs] Yeah, I remember playing Williams, uh, mechanicals that were, "Woo, I'm up to, uh, 1,200 points already-" Yeah. Right, right... "and I got an extra ball already. Nice." But now it's 12 million- Right, right.
39:54
For sure... and you get an extra ball. And, and that, and that, and so points don't matter. We need to get people off of this addiction of points. And there's a spectrum there. We're constantly debating about
40:04
the points and bonuses. I do organize the bonuses, uh, but they're points I gotta confirm. But, um, but I also wanna say one more thing about what's an important history of this event.
40:16
Um, when we first started it, the only thing we could relate this to, I mean, of course we have the Baja 1000 we were trying to emulate in many ways. We had courier racing. Alley Cats. Alley Cats. Yeah.
40:29
That was really popular 13 years ago. If you, you know, good-looking, shape, you know, not shape, like, in shape- Messenger type... messenger type, smoking hand-rolled cigarettes with a six-pack of Pabst in your bag.
40:44
Probably a bag that can hold a 30-pack too. [laughs] Yes. And, uh- Like-... you had a little walkie-talkie. That's super sexy and cool. And those Alley Cat races are kind of what we copied, so to speak.
40:56
And our clientele at that time was also a white, hipster, young clientele. And for a long time, maybe four years, we never really questioned that clientele. We were kinda
41:10
angry at that clientele or, like, put them through abuse, you know? [laughs] Hence the tattoo and the sh- and the head shaving and, uh- Yeah... the ridicule. And we would still do it and we would ridicule them.
41:21
But then we started to realize that we, we needed to be more inclusive. And, um, I remember my last haircut, the last time we had the haircut bonus. Um, I'm in there running it, and it was mean.
41:35
People would say, "I got a wedding tomorrow," and that would be even more reason to, like, shave their eyebrows, you know? [laughs] Like, yeah, can you do everything but leave my beard alone? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
41:43
It's like, well, you know, you know what you're going for then. And then [laughs] right. And then, I'm not saying I'm proud of that, by the way.
41:48
I tried to reign that in, but it just, like, the energy just took over the space. And anyway, we finally had a crew, you know, of about, uh, six A- African American women that sat down and were trembling.
42:00
Like, man, a haircut to the Black community means so much different. And that w- it was humbling for me to be like, "Oh, yes, of course." It was... Not, not that I was sorry, you know, but I had those kind of feelings.
42:13
But we need to change some things to make this more inclusive. Copy. So- That sounds good... uh, you asked about the tattoo. [laughs] By the way, real quick, one more final thing. This year Dwayne is not coming.
42:23
Do, do you have the tattoo? Are you into that? I, I don't.
42:25
I did it four years and I didn't do it the fifth because that was, I gotta get a tattoo, which I don't have any tattoos at all, except for where I stabbed myself with a pencil in second grade or somewhere in there.
42:33
It's still there. PencilTattoo.com. If it's not taken yet, you guys, somebody should make that soon. Um, so, uh, I've been photographing it for the last couple years.
42:42
I've been providing team bikes for people here and there. All right. Do, do you race? I have. All right. I don't anymore. And, and exactly why would you do this? [laughs] Why would you want to do this?
42:52
I've, I've already been on the podium. Yeah. So I don't need to do it again.
42:55
I mean, that's great being up there with the ice, you know, numbers and getting sprayed by champagne, but I'd rather see other people do it, and I like, uh, participating by being there for people if they need help and being, uh, being able to, to record it with the, with the camera, so.
43:10
Yeah. We have many, um, people that have converted, purged themself of competition, if you will, um, where they started out being kinda jerks to us. Points gotta be straight.
43:23
They're there to compete, they're blowing red lights. Now they've tried volunteering and they love that so much more, so much more fulfilling. Yeah, absolutely.
43:32
Volunteering is certainly a big aspect, otherwise the event would never happen without... How many volunteers do you have? W- well, uh, well, we have 920 right now. I just had a meeting.
43:42
920 volunteers, but that's not fair because many of them are also riders. So, um- Yeah, you can work like an hour, two-hour stints...
43:53
Well, 'cause in order to guarantee a spot in next year, you have to volunteer two hours this year. So of those 920, most of them are probably also riders. Right. Okay. Yeah. I know, I mean, I know Tony is. He's a...
44:07
You know Tony Berger. Tony Berger is, I think, a great example of someone that started out competing, you know, competing fiercely, gonna win it, gonna do my best,
44:17
kinda give like a little bit of a pain in the ass, if I can say that on a podcast. [laughs] Sure. He's gonna be on the show later tonight, so. He does. He's one of the co-hosts, ladies and gentlemen.
44:24
[laughs] And then, and then, and then he converted to being a volunteer, a great volunteer, a huge advocate, and I, I'm gonna, dare I say, he's more satisfied on this end of things.
44:36
I think he, he talks about the 24 more than anyone I know. I mean, I don't know that he's the one that talks the most about it, but he certainly, uh, is very proud to be part of it.
44:44
He's proud that, that it happens in his neighborhood, our neighborhood. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, and, uh, I, I... You know, you just, you can't...
44:52
The energy that he has for it, and it's not just this week either, it's all year long, you know. He talks about it all year because it's, this is something people look forward to.
45:00
Like, when this is over at 7:00 PM tomorrow, 'cause we're, the show goes on on Friday, um,
45:06
people are gonna be already looking forward to how they can be here next year and make sure that they're in and, you know- Yeah... just so they can participate again.
45:14
It's, it, it's important to a lot of people for a lot of different reasons, but, uh, I certainly look forward to it myself. Yeah. I, I appreciate, I appreciate that.
45:22
Let me, let me say this, I'm gonna go back a little philosophical and I'm gonna highlight what you just said. Uh, last year I took the year off.
45:29
It was the greatest thing I could have done to, to be rejuvenated for this year and to appreciate what it is, being out in the community and no one really knowing who I, who I am and riding some laps and really appreciating it without the weight and responsibility of,
45:44
of things going wrong. Well, you've, you've taken on some other responsibilities outside the 24. I've seen you at a lot of motorcycle events lately, and, uh- [laughs]...
45:53
so I know it's not like you've given up on the getting fun things going, but. I, I'm, I, I'm searching, uh... I'm gonna go a little bit deeper here, not that anybody cares, and you can edit this part out. [laughs] Uh,
46:06
uh, since I was in my teens, "Hey, everybody, let's go to Taco Bell," for example, and I'd clap my hands, and three, four people are like, "Let's do that."
46:15
So we'd jump in the car and we'd go, and there's energy, and I'm excited by this energy that I've created. Um, that's a bad example.
46:23
But, "Hey, let's do this 24 bicycle race," and I got some people to clap and like, "Let's do this. Yes, let's do this," and there's a great excitement. "Hey, let's do a indoor motorcycle race at the arena."
46:32
"Yeah, let's do that." There's some clapping and some excitement. And I got a hockey league, and the same thing. "Let's do a hockey league where all the teams are rated and the players have to switch teams."
46:41
"Yeah, let's do that thing." There's some clapping, some excitement. And I have an insatiable desire to continue to, to do these communal, uh, these communal events that people are excited about.
46:54
I, the, the thing you did last year at Bradford Beach was, uh, fantastic. I don't know how much you had to do with it. I know it was a, a big part of, uh, organizing the event. Uh, yeah, so there- Motorcycle oriented...
47:06
there was this, so on the beach there was a motorcycle race on the beach, uh, Harley Davidson, um... So let's just switch real quick.
47:12
Harley Davidson has found a niche, or not Harley Davidson per se, but a niche of hooligan racing has developed- Absolutely... which is, uh, modern, uh, modern twins, and they did a race on the beach, Bradford Beach.
47:23
So Harley had some organizers that, um, created a track that they didn't know could, could work or not. They put those giant machines out. Were you there? Yeah, yeah. They pressed it, and, um,
47:36
and so that event was totally on their own, and if they would've told me that and like, "Jeremy, can you plan this?" I would've said, "Hell no. This can't be done. You're crazy. This is ridiculous."
47:47
Uh, but at the last minute they asked me, um, 'cause I don't know if they know the, the culture of the racers.
47:54
And, and particularly I think why I have a good niche in that is that I'm able to, um, uh, talk with television. So I can talk with the riders and the television and they appreciate me for that.
48:05
So you can edit that part out, but I- [laughs]... thanks for letting me talk about it.
48:08
[laughs] No, no, it's just, uh, a lot of interesting stuff comes out of Jeremy, folks, and, uh, certainly the River West 24 is one of the, the ones that a lot of people, uh, know about.
48:19
Um, I, I think, uh, since this thing is happening over the next day, um, maybe come back in a couple weeks and kinda do a wrap-up on this thing and tell us how your experience was, uh, you know, maybe rile up the troops for volunteering for next year and...
48:33
Yeah. Yeah. Uh, I, well, first off I got, I told you this off camera, off mic. This is a guilty pleasure to be able to talk about something that I'm so passionate about and that anybody cares. Uh,
48:46
but let me say this about the race. I don't have many memories. Someone just asked me, "What's your favorite memory?" And you need sleep to make memories, and I don't have much sleep, so it's difficult for me to...
48:57
Some memories, they all blend together. So when we do meet, and well, they'll come back and have a burger here and I'll rib on them a little bit, uh, to have them, to have them come back and, uh, we'll put this together.
49:10
But to talk about it, I may not really remember this event more than the last. It's, uh, it's pretty intense being up that long and... And one more thing, people like...
49:22
I hear them complain, "Man, I've been up for 24 hours." The organizers, the 12 or so of us that are, that really feel the heat of this event, you know, we'll be up a long 48 hours. You know, we'll be up really long time.
49:36
There's a lot that the beginning, you know, hours before you get there and hours after you leave, dare I say days before you get there, days before you leave, we're organizing, putting stuff together, garbage cans, all the infrastructure of that.
49:49
That's not by any means a brag, it's just that a reminder that we are an all-volunteer organization, and doing this event for 12 years, put it in perspective to anybody else, is like throwing a wedding.
50:00
I was just thinking- I think it's obvious... about how, how my wedding went so fast and I don't remember anything about it almost. [laughs] Sure. Yes, exactly.
50:06
But, but also, but what you do remember, I'm suspecting, is the nine months of planning- Oh, yeah... of the, the dinner and the dishes and the color of the flowers.
50:16
We're doing that every year, um, and it's a tremendous amount of, uh, strain on our family and ourselves. So my point is, go easy on us with the complaining in the, in the, in the...
50:26
I don't know, the, the, uh, the- Negative vibes morality... the negative vibes. [laughs] That's right. Very well said. Yes, yes. Well, I, I hope it goes well, Jeremy.
50:34
I, I know that you have a, a meeting to get to, like even tonight still, uh, to, to get this thing wrapped up for the year, and thanks very much for coming in. Yeah, thank you so much for having me, and this is- Yeah...
50:44
a beautiful space that you have here. I'm glad I was able to, to, to, to witness it, to see it. Well, I hope our, uh, listener appreciates everything you had to say. Okay. Well, thank you. Thank you. All right, man.
50:53
Hey, thanks very much, Jeremy. That was awesome. [laughs] Um, yeah, I, I these... We, we haven't done, I think on this show ever, a pre-recorded segment, have we? I don't believe so.
51:03
That was kind of the old way to do things. Now we're more like just wing it. But, uh, well, um, Jeremy had stuff to do and so we, we did a thing a little earlier today, and he, he's an interesting guy.
51:14
His brain works in a way that a lot of other, other people's don't, and it's super interesting to hear what he had to say about a lot of things, the 24 in general, but other, other things he's doing.
51:23
Is the, is the Powder Horn still going? Yep, that was a good question. Yeah, I think it is, which was... We talked about that some also, but- It's, it's weird that, that, um,
51:33
you know, like when, uh, Almanzo and all the, you know, DIY sort of gravel, like Enduro gravel things happened, a bunch of people jumped on that and started doing similar things.
51:45
River West 24 was the first, uh, community, you know, a 24-hour community bike ride like that. Yeah, I think the Powder Horn might have preceded it in a way. Really? Yeah. No. No. Oh.
51:54
They, they modeled it completely after the River West 24. Yeah, I totally... Well, let's listen to what Jeremy has to say. Oh, see we- Excuse me. Um- Now we need to listen to the pre-recorded?
52:02
Yeah, let's, let's go back and ‑ Okay. You're, you're, you're showing your hand, guys. [laughs] Well, he already talked... Wait a second, he already talked about it, 'cause that's what he ‑ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
52:09
But I'm- But I didn't listen to that... my point is, like it's weird that, that more people, more communities haven't tried to do something like that, 'cause it's, it's such a incredible event.
52:18
It, it's a really fun ti- It's a lot of work, though. Right. I, I think, you know- Yeah. Uh, it's true. Yeah, there's one in... There's another, there's a 12-hour in Rockford. Yep, which spun off of this.
52:27
Which spun off of this. That's Dirty Dan's. With... Yeah, right. But I, I think- And then the, uh, Warsaw is a 400. Is that- The Warsaw 24 though is totally different. Yeah. It's- Yeah. That's a women's race.
52:36
That's definitely a race. That's a, that's a mountain bike race. Yeah. Oh, it is? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's mountain bike. I had this- Well, no, I, I, I- Yeah. I'm just saying, I've been like trying to be coarse.
52:44
Just, just to throw this out there. Like finish this, finish the 24 here- You know. Then we go up there. Yeah. That was a- We do... that was an idea one year. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. That's a terrible idea.
52:51
It's a great idea. It's a terrible idea. Well- Finish the 24- Yeah... have a, have a, have a van waiting.
52:55
When you're like 24 hours of sleep deprived, somebody offers that up, it's like- It would be okay to be like- "Okay, yeah, I don't care. I'm not-...
53:02
but the last thing I wanna do is spend 24 hours riding around this neighborhood and then try to go mountain bike.
53:08
Well- Yeah, but you're only gonna do like the final 12, six or 12 hours, 'cause it's, it starts at noon on Saturday- I wasn't aware-... I think... it was a mountain bike... or whatever it was.
53:16
Anyway, the idea was to do it like the- They just said, "Go, go." Okay, maybe. Yeah.
53:20
For, for those people that are listening though that don't know what the River West 24 is, you really need to come to River West this weekend, because it's- Which is happening right now.
53:29
It's happening like right now- Right now. As you're... Unless you listened to this podcast this morning. Yeah. But all night long, people are out cheering you on, and it's gonna be gorgeous weather this year.
53:39
You know, it's low of 68, I think they're saying now, or 65. Humboldt Avenue is gonna be butts to guts all the way down the trail. There's gonna be people cheering you. It's, it's absolutely stunning. That's great.
53:51
I, I did- That's why I take doses. See, we should've listened to the Jeremy thing first, then we could just- Oh... talk about all of what he said, 'cause everything was good. Yeah.
53:59
Your name only comes up four or five times. Mine? [laughs] I have no idea what you're talking about. All right. Yeah. So- So what I need to do, and I've figured it out for this, is I wanna have a pump on...
54:15
I don't wanna have my backpack during the 24, so I'm gonna duct tape my- Nips. Yeah, that too. Uh, my pump right to my top tube, 'cause I'm not gonna need it- Hopefully.
54:31
[laughs] Why not just not- But it'll be there... bring it? I mean, the furthest you're gonna have to walk on this if you go to Flag- I have separation anxiety [laughs] with a lot of my damn gear.
54:42
I wanna be like- I- I don't wanna be that guy that's like, "Oh, oh, oh, oh." Mike is t- Mike is trying- I don't have-... to get rid of his backpack somewhat. Yes. I'm not riding with a backpack this year.
54:50
Well, he, no, I've- But he rode with a backpack for 10 years on his back. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And slept with it, so it's- I might, yeah... minus with my, minus my security blanket and, I mean, this
55:01
fanny pack is kinda holding on. [laughs] Dave, you're, you're- I'm a troubled man, Dave... JK, you're not- Get out of here... anywhere far [laughs] that was great.
55:12
[laughs] You're not anywhere, like, too far away from anyone you know on this course. I know, I know, I know, but I'm just mentally pack- This is totally mental... I'm mentally packing for, uh-
55:22
Why don't you just strap it to your helmet? What? Just duct tape your, your pump to your helmet. All right. You can be the Unicarn. Why not? Oh, hello. [laughs] We've got it.
55:33
People can't see me pointing, but that's a great idea. It's happening. I like it. So it's a good idea if I product- I have, I-... the Unicarn helmet. I have bacon- There's a pump built right in...
55:42
I have bacon duct tape, so shit, that's happening. [laughs] [laughs] Da- Dave's looking around going, "What the hell are you guys talking about?" [laughs] What have we digressed into? What, what the? What the hell?
55:53
Is anyone wearing a tu- a, a tutu this year on the... Well, I'm officially not racing, so. But you'll be riding. I'll be riding. It's, it's not a race. Streets aren't closed. It isn't a race. Anyone can ride.
56:06
Yes, I will be rolling. But I'm just soloing. I haven't even decided how long the shop's gonna be open that day. I think we're just gonna play it by ear.
56:13
'Cause that's, I haven't talked, I haven't talked to her recently, but does anyone know if Lindsay's gonna do it again? I do not know, and I- She signed up again...
56:20
if I had my laptop handy and my login, I could certainly tell you. I, I guess she's not. She's one and done. She's over it. She, she, she crushed it. That's enough. Move on. Hey. I got another challenge to- Right?
56:30
Oh, yeah... once you're on the podium, why do you wanna go back? Oh, yeah. That was like- She's, she's beyond- Just, just take it easy... but she is beyond- Just don't worry about it... she is beyond on the podium.
56:37
[laughs] Yeah. That's the furthest any racer has ever ridden in that 24-hour race. That's, that's something to be said. Lin- Lindsay, Lindsay Creative, if you're listening, you're, you're everybody's hero. Yeah. My hero.
56:51
Right on. Dave, you got anything else you wanna chat about while you're here? Are you... You said you're gonna be a regular now. What, what do you got planned? Well, yeah, well, I'll- [laughs]... you know what?
56:59
I'll do that next little section and, you know, try to keep people informed about stuff like that. Good. And, um, and yeah, I'm happy to jump in here and, uh, chat with you guys anytime you want. I- Good.
57:11
Now that you have nothing else to do. Yeah, I don't... [laughs] I, I just- [laughs] This is me embracing retirement. [laughs] I, I assume your, your photo documentation of this is gonna be something to behold as well.
57:22
I am. I'm, I'm doing that as well. Yeah, I haven't- Amen... processed all the images yet and stuff like that, but, uh, yeah, I'll have all that stuff up and you gotta do that for bikepacking.com as well, so. Right.
57:30
That's one of the, it's one of the things- Does processing images mean you haven't downloaded to your laptop yet? Well, there's a lot more to... than just downloading.
57:37
I, I see you in, like, a dark room and it's like, you know... No, I don't do the dark room anymore. Yeah. I still have the gear though if you wanna play. No. [laughs] I, I just pulled out...
57:46
My daughter's going on a trip to do, uh, things with, uh, related to Ansel Adams and to my father who was a Ansel Adams, uh, student, and, uh, I pulled out all my old Nikon stuff and said, "You might want this lens and this lens," 'cause she wants to do some of it on film and most of it on digital.
58:01
Oh. But, um, I thought, "Well, there's a reason why I haven't pulled this stuff out for 20 years." [laughs] Yeah. Well, I, you know, I mean, I, I get why, why people wanna do the analog, the, the film stuff.
58:14
I, I understand it. I, I appreciate it, but as a guy who, you know, at a Packer game souped 350 rolls of film every freaking Packer game and- Oof... you know, I mean, I'm, I'm done in the dark room. I've- I,
58:29
I'm with you. [laughs] It just sounds horrible. So I, I do think for those- 300 rolls of film every Packer game. And how many, how many hours in the dark room is that?
58:37
It's- I mean, we were do- we were done with everything by, by the time the game was done. 'Cause- It was just rolling like this... the film goes to the processing. Yeah.
58:45
And then, well, actually an hour or two after the game was done because you had... You know? So you'd, you'd shoot the first quarter and then you'd go back in and- Drop it off... somebody would have to go back in.
58:53
Some guys had to s- we had to stay out. Some, if you were lucky, you got to stay out and shoot the whole time, otherwise you had to go back in and soup.
59:00
Every Bucs game, every Brewers game, you know, I, I, I've- Fun stuff... I've done, I've- I like having been there in the past. I've dumped so- I've done my time and [laughs]...
59:10
so many noxious chemicals down the drain, I just... You know? The digital thing is also way more environmentally friendly.
59:16
I, you know, one thing that I like about having been a film guy for so many years before digital is that I'm still picky about shots, so I don't just- Yeah...
59:24
I don't just randomly burn off 100 shots 'cause I can and then have to spend the time going through them. That's me.
59:29
It's still picking and planning and trying to make a decent image out of something before it gets to the computer. Yeah.
59:37
Well, I've switched to all mirrorless stuff now, so it's lighter and smaller, but, um, so my, my kit is a lot easier to take on bikepacking trips. Very good. Well, I...
59:46
It was one of the things Dave mentioned about, uh, bikepacking was how much the, uh, the quality of the images on the site are something that- Yeah... really makes it a decent thing for, uh, people to check out.
59:56
I was talking to, uh, uh, Ben Welnick from, uh, Mountain Bike Radio, um, last time I was up at Cable and, uh, and he, we, he, I, we were talking about bikepacking.com and when it came out he was like, he's like,
1:00:09
"I, I thought, like, oh, what company's, what company's paying for this?"
1:00:12
What, you know, he thought it was a QBP thing or s- 'cause it came out and it was, like, so great looking and I was like, I, I had the exact same thought. I went, "All right, this is, like, groomed.
1:00:21
This is, like, a Q product or something that they paid," but no, Logan's just freaking ridiculously good and now he's got a bunch of cool partners that he works with, um- Including Dave...
1:00:32
Lucas from B- uh, well, no, I'm not one of his inner circle. I know. It's, like, Lucas from, you know, Bunion Velo if you remember that, that printed thing. That was a great product that Lucas put out. Oh, yeah.
1:00:42
I have the, uh, I have the, uh, Bad Brains T-shirt inspired. Yeah. Yeah, there's a s- there's a- and a, and a handful of other, um, really, really talented writers and photographers and writers Good things.
1:00:58
All right, folks. Well, thank you very much for listening to our little, uh, little show here. Full Spectrum Cycling Podcast number 21, I believe. Oh, wow. We- Old enough to drink. Yeah. [laughs] We can go into the bars.
1:01:09
Legally. Now we can- Yeah... now we can go across the street and have another Dogfather. Dogfather. Black Husky. Uh, we'll be back here in two weeks. Uh, we'll be back from Michigan.
1:01:20
What else will be happening in a couple weeks? Are you gonna try to get the ladies in to talk about their first year experience of the Riverwest 24, Haley and- Yeah, sure... Haley and Lindsay? We'll g- yeah. There we go.
1:01:29
They might want to talk about it. That's a good idea. That's, that's a better idea than I had all day. [laughs] Um, yeah, we might have some other special guests here in the studio.
1:01:37
But, uh, thanks Steve for being in today. Yeah. Always happy to join. And, uh- Brady Street, Brady Street Fest. Oh. When you hear this, boom, boom, boom, 7:00, White Mystery on the far east end.
1:01:49
You will not be disappointed. And don't forget, we're going way into the future, but I believe it's August 22nd. Who might be coming to town again? I don't know. Daikaiju. Daikaiju. Daikaiju. Attacks Milwaukee. Golf.
1:02:03
[laughs] Technically it's South Milwaukee, but whatever. Close enough. All righty. All right. Thanks, folks. Saturday 7:00, White Mystery. 717-727-2453. Don't come dressed. Friday, 7:00 PM, Riverwest 24.
1:02:17
Leave us a message. Come again when you can't stay so long. Da, da, da, da, da, da, da.
1:02:20
[outro music]
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