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Full Spectrum Cycling
The Weekly Dose of Fat Show 123 – Interview with Nate as in the guy the Surly Nate Tire Was Named After
Feb 24, 2017
The Weekly Dose of Fat Show 123 – Interview with Nate as in the guy the Surly Nate Tire Was Named After
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0:00
The Weekly Dose of Fat, show number 123 for Friday, February 24th, 2017. Fat Tire Bike is your ride!
0:11
[upbeat music] Dearly beloved, loved and beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called fat bike.
0:28
Occasionally electric, fatbike.com means forever, and that's a mighty long time, but I'm here to tell you there's something else, the weekly dose of fat. Where you can always see the sun, day and- We're rambling now...
0:42
night. [laughs] Hey, welcome to the radio program. Uh, Sven here. We got in the studio today a special guest, inimitable Mr. Chris Zito. Hello. We got our color guy, JK Livin. I'm over here with the color.
0:58
[laughs] And also- That's the back of the bus.
1:02
[laughs] Well, while we, while we may make him sit there for a while until we get to him later, we also have Nick hanging out in the studio, who is currently the points leader in the Huge Ass Fat Bike Series.
1:12
We're gonna do some talking with Nick. Welcome, Nick. Thank you, sir. Glad to be here. Right on. So what do we do next? I don't know. We probably talk about what's gonna be on the show.
1:23
We start the show with the event of the week. We welcome Nate as our, as special guest. We share links from all over the interwebs. We check in with the Fatty Farm Field Report, where we talk with Nick Holzum. Nick.
1:36
Right here? Nick. What up, Nick? [laughs] Leader. That's you, Nick. That's you, Nick. In the Huge Ass Fat Bike Race Series and in our special segment, we share our next new hot cycling trend.
1:49
Or talk something political or- Something... I don't know, something'll come up. I'm really excited today to talk to Nate Melinda. He's our special guest this week.
1:59
He's the, the lad that, uh, the Nate fat knobby tire is named after. Yeah, this is a cool- He's a g- an old, old friend... it's a cool for having him on the show. It's an old friend, and, uh, he's a hell of a guy.
2:11
I can't wait to talk to him. You guys are gonna love him. He's one of those gentle giant types. [laughs] I'm, I'm looking forward to it. He's got, he's got the greatest man raj ever. He's just a s- s- a solid dude.
2:23
Right on. Can't, can't wait. Uh, meanwhile... The Fat Bike event of the week this week is the Dogman Challenge in Charlevoix, Michigan. I mostly, I, I- Oh, did you s- did you s- phonetically spell that?
2:37
[laughs] Yes, because [laughs] it was driving me nuts. That's up there at the- As the Frenchman do... it's way up at the top, up by Petoskey and stuff.
2:45
So I figured, well, you know, maybe they'll have snow up there, 'cause it was freaking 74 degrees here today. [laughs] And it's like, really? So hopefully they have some snow.
2:56
Uh, the main reason that I, I picked the Dogman Challenge, which is actually Saturday, the 25th of February, is, uh, because of the name. I just thought it was a cool name, and it has a really good logo. Yeah.
3:08
But what it is, is a two-hour winter endurance event held entirely on the multi-use trails around Mount McS- S- Stabba, can you, can you say that? Recreation Area and- [laughs] Not unless it's phonetically.
3:22
No, I probably should have phonetically done that. And North Point Nature Preserve- McSwab, McSwabba... in Charlevoix- McSwabba... Michigan. So check that out at dogmanchallenge.net. Oh yeah, that was you.
3:34
[laughs] Check it out at dogmanchallenge.net. Right on. [laughs] Well, you know, with it being 74 degrees, 68 yesterday- Every day is a little punchy...
3:45
65 on Saturday, it's been, it's, I, I mean, Nick's probably seen this. It's been, uh, well, warm and no snow. So I know there's a lot of races scheduled for this coming weekend.
3:55
Maybe, you know, check out their website, make sure that it's actually happening, or if it's happening in a different form, or what's, what's going on, because, uh, this is unusual that it's this warm. [laughs] Mm-hmm.
4:07
It's gorgeous. I, I would say fuck paying people to go r- ride your bike, and come to Milwaukee, and we'll get some beer and go to the beach, and do a nice long ride on the beach, maybe a bonfire.
4:17
Maybe go down to the urban jungle. That's still accessible. Oh, I was down there breaking bottles the other day with Patrick Ziegel. I thought I- Oh. You know what?
4:24
I s- I thought I saw Pat Ziegel walking by my house today. Oh. But it was a dude with like a, a... He was putting inserts in the door, Forester- Yeah... uh, whatever, some tree service.
4:34
I'm like, "That looks just like Pat. Did he get a new job or what?" No. He's, he's still at Trek. But yeah, we were down actually looking at, uh, scouting out Jungle Cross 6 this past weekend. He was in town. Yeah.
4:47
Well, as long as we still have the access to it, let's use it. We'll have to get him on the air, him and, uh, his uncle Paul, who's the, the top dog at Surly, who they...
4:56
We have to talk about their, uh, Arrowhead 135 experiences. They both did it and completed it this year. That's- Paul's done it a couple times... fantastic. Yeah, we should get them on the air. Hey, we got a caller.
5:09
Wel- welcome to the radio program. What do we have on the line, caller? Good evening, gentlemen. Travis. What's up, Travis? Paul's Motor Freak. Oh, yeah. How's it going? Good, man. Good.
5:20
Um, sorry to hear about your lack of snow. I wish I could send you, uh, you know, about 500 million metric tons of it- [laughs]... 'cause we got extra to spare here. Right on.
5:31
Well, yeah, you're one of the few places- And, and-... that actually has snow, I think, right now. Yeah, yeah. We're feeling your pain, man.
5:37
You know, we just had three really crappy winters in a row, so, uh, it's good to see the white stuff back, and hopefully, uh, some more hits down there before the Ol' Berkey. Yeah. Well, I'm not saying 74 is crappy.
5:49
I'm actually pretty happy. [laughs] It was very nice out today. [laughs] I thoroughly enjoyed it. Did you get out and ride today, Nick? Yeah. Yeah. Of course. Why not? Why wouldn't you? Right.
5:59
[laughs] So, um, Travis, uh, we're gonna talk to you later in the show about your, um, uh, the event that you guys have coming up there, but you had mentioned that you did your first race in 25 years.
6:10
Can you, can you tell us a little bit about that experience? The, uh, the race is the Ice River Rampage, uh, it's held at the Eagle River Nature Center.
6:21
Uh, Eagle River's just a little town, you know, 10 minutes north of Anchorage. And you can't, like, kinda like the Birkie, you can't ride their trails 364 days of the year.
6:31
So it's the one day that they actually let you on their trails.
6:34
So, uh, it- and it's a, it's a, it's a tight, uh, really beautiful valley with a river running straight up the middle of it, and just towering peaks all around you. The scenery's great.
6:46
And, uh, the race started at the nature center, and got to ride some of their trails before they put us out on the river, and then we raced down the Eagle River, and then back up the river, past where we entered, and, uh, then jumped back into the forest and returned to the nature center.
7:02
And it w- it was a great track. It was chilly. It was, it was two degrees at the start. But, uh, we had great snow, and they had it, had, they, uh, ran snow machines over the course, so it was, it was packed good.
7:14
Right on. Did you see any bar? Nah. Nope, didn't see any bars. No. We're- Just, just saw a bunch of, you know, fast people on fat bikes passing me. [laughs] Were, were, w- were you packing just in case? Bears. No.
7:28
He said bears. No, they're, they're, they're asleep. Yeah, they're all hibernating. I wasn't, uh, I wasn't concerned about bear right now, yeah. So were, were these ski trails- Wanna make sure you don't, uh-...
7:36
you were racing on? What's that? Were they ski trails you were racing on? Nah, nah. Some, uh, most of the race was actually on the river itself.
7:45
Uh, and then, uh, the parts that weren't were on what I, I guess I'd call multi-use trails.
7:51
You know, they do, they do, uh, snow machine them in, but in the winter people are skiing and hiking them, and then in the summer they're hiking trails only. All right, man.
7:59
You guys, you guys in the lower 48, a snow machine's actually called a snowmobile down here. Yeah, yeah. No, I know. It's a snow machine, guys. [laughs] Oh, oh, oh, I'm sorry. Yeah.
8:08
[laughs] Hey, y'all, you know Travis is coming down here. You're, you're still gonna make the trip regardless of the weather, right?
8:14
Well, y- you know, I was talking with Gomez about it last week and, uh, it's a giant question mark as far as if, you know, what conditions are.
8:25
'Cause when I was talking to Gomez, he was telling me, you know, a big part of my trip was the Birkie itself, and then of course a couple days on that, uh, on those Kamba trails was the plan.
8:36
So if everything's closed, man, we might actually cancel and go to the Talkeetna Trio. And if we cancel, we can get out of everything except the, uh, house that we had rented in Hayward, so we'd take a hit on that.
8:50
But I'm planning on coming, and I'm praying for snow. And I, you know, looking at the forecast, they were saying, seeing temps dropping and possibly six inches of snow up there tonight, so. Yeah, yeah.
9:01
Um- They're looking at, you know, hopefully getting some between now and the actual, uh, the Fat Bike Birkie. They're more worried about the, the ski version being, uh, you know, snowy enough. But, um,
9:12
you know, man, we'd love to have you obviously. There's still plenty of stuff to do on fat bikes here.
9:16
But I totally understand making a trip like that from Anchorage to here, if, if it's not what you're looking for, for the experience, man. Come next year. Yeah. Oh, you bet. Yeah.
9:25
If we, if we ain't canceled this year, I will be back next year. Long as I'm breathing and on the right side of the grass, I'll be there. Right on. That's all. Well, thanks, Z. [laughs] Okay. Hey, uh, you know what?
9:40
We should talk a little bit about this beer that Nick brought in. We got, uh- What is that? This is, um, it, Bull Falls the brewery? Yes. Right on. He brought us a couple of cans of, uh, I got Midnight Star Lager. Yep.
9:54
Yeah. And what's the other one over there? This one's a Hopworthy India pale ale. Nick's from up, uh, Wausau way, which is kind of central Wisconsin area. Rib Mountain. Yes. Right on. So is this a pretty new brewery?
10:07
That is not a pleasant smell. [sighs] I know. Thank you. [laughs] Um- That was only a belch. [laughs] I think the brewery's, um, maybe... Yeah, it's pretty new, five or six years.
10:20
The name comes from the name of, uh, the original name of the city, uh, Bull Falls, and Mosinee was once known as Little Bull Falls. So they opened up their, uh- I did not know that... their German style beer.
10:33
Um, a lot of, uh, recipes, they're, they're old. I don't know where they got them from. This is very good. This is, uh, a, like a dark, what do they call it? A schweitz beer or something. Schwarz beer.
10:42
I, m- my German's kinda rusty, but, uh- Schwarz... it's dark and, and very, um... Yeah, it's kinda chewy. Well, yeah. Yeah, kinda chewy. And also a little bit, uh, burnt tasting, which is, I like that in a beer.
10:55
A little oaky. Yeah, yeah, they're good stuff. Have a swallow. Oh, thank you. Oh, he's drinking his Miller High Life, the champagne of beers. [laughs] It's easy. You can have 30 of them and still ride your bike home.
11:10
[laughs] Travis, are you sitting in the garage? Yeah. [coughs] Sorry about that. [laughs] [coughs] Yeah. Oh, yeah. [laughs] Yeah. Travis makes us think, think every day that it's- Travis, what's your local beer up there?
11:24
... it's legal up there now. Oh, yeah. Yeah, right. Uh, my, you know, my go-to in Anchorage has been, uh, King Street IPA. Been on a run of that. It's a local, uh, locally brewed.
11:37
We, we got a lot of good breweries in Alaska, in Anchorage. There's lots of good micro stuff to sample and try, but, uh- Is, is there a High Life up there? Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah, we drink some High Life, man. All right.
11:48
Hey, y'all, y'all always- It's on the map... y'all always gotta have a High Life for a low life, man. That's right. [laughs] Yeah. We even, we even got Old English 800. Cool.
11:59
All right, it's time for, it's time for Zito to have some pull and, and get Nate to call in. Nate. All right, I'll, I'll call him right now. Why don't you sext him and see if he's ready to give us a shout? Yeah.
12:09
Hey, hey, while, uh, while, uh, Zito's doing that, let's take a quick break here. And, um, when we come back, hopefully we've got, uh, we've got Nate on the line. So I heard you need a fat bike.
12:20
Come to Zion Cyclery in Zion, Illinois. We have all brands: Trek, Borealis, Salsa, Felt, Surly, and more. Yo, we have all the cold weather gears by 45NRTH and Bunduga.
12:35
Keep those fingers and toes nice and toasty. We fix bikes also, so you have any problem, brakes, gears, suspension, we have the best mechanics in town. So yeah, visit us at zioncyclery.com.
12:55
You're tuned to Fat Bike Radio. Hey, welcome back to the radio program, everybody. Hey, during that break when, uh, when Mr. Zito was doing his magic on the phone, we've got Nate on the line.
13:11
No, yeah, that's- Tell, tell us who Nate is 'cause- That's just not Nate, that's Nate Molenda.
13:14
He's the guy that, you know, all those Surly tires with Darryl, Nate, Larry, you always wonder how the hell did they name those? Well, the Nate is named after Nate Molenda. One hell of a guy. He's kind of the test...
13:26
Not, not on the clock test monkey for Surly. They give him stuff to try and break, and he sometimes does it. But, uh- Right... the tire, the tire, Nate's a kinda- Yeah, I mean, he's the unofficial ambassador. Yes.
13:39
And he looks kinda like the tire, too. I mean, the tire is like, looks a lot like Nate. It's just big, and dark, and hairy, and gnarly. Well, right on. Welcome to the show, Nate. Glad to have you on. Uh,
13:50
Zito s- sings your praises all over the place. I just wanted to, uh, make sure that you feel welcome and you're, you can talk about whatever you wanna talk about. Thanks a lot, guys.
14:01
Yeah, Nate, I wanna know- Thanks a lot, man. I really appreciate it... tell, tell everybody how, how it came about that you got a tire named after you.
14:09
Well, um, a long time ago, a bunch of buddies of mine worked for a little bike company, and it was kinda small back then, Surly Bikes.
14:16
Um, four of my good friends worked there, uh, S- Eric Sovereign, Andy Corson, Dave Gray, and my best friend for a long, long time, Nick Sandy. And, um, basically they just, they designed the bikes.
14:30
I got to see 'em before everybody else, and I started riding them and riding them hard.
14:36
It started with the Karate Monkey for me, and I just started breaking stuff, and they figured I weigh, I usually weigh in around 260, 270, but I ride like a bat out of hell, and I break stuff.
14:48
And so they, they gave me, uh, they started kinda giving me parts, figuring that, you know, there's military spec and then there's Nate spec. [laughs] Basically. Find the margins, right?
14:59
And I just, uh, yeah, and I just like to ride. Yeah, I ride, I just like to ride hard, but all my buddies are little fast guys, and to keep up with those people, you gotta ride hard, so.
15:09
By little fast, you mean like 180, 190, 6'2", 190? [laughs] Yeah. I mean, compared to you. Yeah. Nate is a, Nate is a gentle giant.
15:18
I, I just thought it would- Yeah, I'm a little- I thought it would be worth noting, Nate, that, uh, while we were on break, we also brought, uh, Mr.
15:24
Ron Moffitt into the, the conversation, and he's holding his tongue back there, but maybe, uh, Ron- [laughs] Ron, say hey to Nate. Nate, say hey to Ron. I think we've all slept in the same bed before.
15:34
[laughs] He's, he's, he's a liar. He's a liar. Don't believe anything he says. [laughs] [laughs] I slept with Nate with more than I have any of the rest of you guys, I think.
15:44
That's, that's- And we both snore the same, too... and that's heartening, Ron. Thank you. [laughs] And you're right, he is lying. Wait, am I lying?
15:52
[laughs] And I just, and I wanna say, too, whoever said he's holding his tongue, that's an impossibility if it's Ron Moffitt. [laughs] Well, I was gonna tell you the real reason the tires were named after him.
16:04
[laughs] Because, because they, because they fit on his head. [laughs] And they go, "Look, it's Nate's head." [laughs] Yep. It's, yep, I, it is true.
16:15
I, they gave me one of the tires, and I cut it, and I made a little helmet out of it so that I could look like a road warrior. I've, I've seen that. That's very good. I might even have a picture of that.
16:25
Nate, you've been doing this for a long time. Obviously you came across the fat bikes, uh, through Surly and, and Nick and Da- Grayboy. What was the reaction people gave you when you first started riding fat bikes?
16:37
Well, you know, when, when I first ri- rode 'em, whenever you saw the, the tire tracks, you knew exactly who had been there before you. It wasn't like, you know, it wasn't like it is now by any way, way, shape, or form.
16:50
You know, I mean, it was always- Right, you saw one tread and you're like, "Oh, Grayboy was here."
16:54
It was always the same, the common, the common question, usually the common questions were, you know, "And how heavy is it? And is it really slow?" You know?
17:02
And people would always say, "Oh, I couldn't imagine ever having a bike that big." Yeah. And what are they doing now? Yeah. What are those guys doing now? Yeah.
17:09
Well, every person I've ever let ride my fat bike, and it's been a lot of people, they always come back and say the same thing, "It's much faster and much lighter than I thought it was." [laughs] Yep, yep, absolutely.
17:18
You know, it's kinda weird. You know? When you get the geometry right for those big tires, they really still handle like bicycles. It's kinda odd. I, I- It's crazy... I don't even understand. It's crazy.
17:27
Yeah, I, um- And you're still asking that question. You know? Yeah, I'm still, you know, I don't know.
17:31
I, I mean, the Pugsley, I rode the Pugsley, I rode the Pugsley forever, and, you know, I thought it kinda rode like a truck when I first got it, but I just thought that that was the characteristics of a fat bike, you know?
17:43
And then as they slowly changed the geometry and they got bigger tires, the first time I rode the Moonlander, I thought, "Oh no, this is gonna be a Pugsley killer," you know, because, I mean, who would want a skinny, a skinny fat bike when you can have the fattest tire fat bike?
17:57
Right. Right. You know? You sold me on the Moonlander. Yeah. And then, and then, you know, when the Ice Cream Truck came along, it was more of- Hello...
18:05
the Moonlander and the Pugsley were more like, more, more like for winter riding. And when the Ice Cream Truck came along, it changed the aspect, for me at least, of fat bike riding.
18:17
I mean, I still rode my fat bikes in the summertime 'cause I like to, but this made it almost more like a trail bike, a fat bike trail bike. You know, and, and I love the ice cream truck.
18:27
I, I ride, I ride the hell out of that thing, and I ride the hell out of that Big Fat Dummy too. That thing tears ass. I love it. I love that bike. That, that, that's the, the new- Oh, yeah.
18:38
I mean- That's the newest, uh, Surly entry into the fat bike fray is the Big Fat Dummy. The Big Fat Dummy. Which is a long tail fat bike.
18:46
Does it still use the, um, Extra Cycle, uh, style, uh, add-ons to it just like the original Big Dummy?
18:53
Um, it, it does, uh, it does use the, yeah, the plugins are the same except the wide loaders to fit the rear tire in, they extended out the, the rear, um, horizontal plugins a little further.
19:07
So if you wanted to do a plugin on the horizontal side, you'd have to get a custom side one, but the uprights are the same. Right on. They're just wider. That, yeah, that's- Yeah, it's got...
19:16
definitely one of the most kickass bikes. Totally. Let me tell you, I've been riding... The first ti- the first time I saw the thing, I fell in love with it. Dave Gregg came down.
19:25
Uh, me and a buddy of mine were spearing carp down at Lake Nokomis, and Dave c- Dave came down to do some, do some spearing with us, and he brought his Big Fat Dummy, and I rode that thing, and the minute I rode it, I fell in love with it.
19:38
I thought, "This is awesome." That had to be a couple years ago, huh? Oh. Yeah, that was probably two and a half years ago now, I believe. Yeah, that was probably in his garage when I was taking pictures.
19:48
[laughs] Well, I remember, I remember in one of the, uh, actually I think the first Pugsley World Championship in Decorah, there was a guy who had custom welded a normal Big Dummy to take fat bike tires. Right.
20:01
And it was sketchy, and it was- Yep... it was garage, and you're like, "Oh, that's so badass." Who was it? Chewie? [laughs] Chewie knows- Uh... Chewie knows who that was. I can't, I, uh,
20:13
and I, I t- and I'm trying to remember it. I can't think of the guy's name or offhand, but he w- he did it up at, uh, at Norton's place at Peacock Groove is where he did the welding on it, right? Oh, all right.
20:22
I don't know. I, I have no idea. I can't think of his name, though. Now, I remember, Chewie, you were sweeper on the first Pugsley, Pugsley Worlds, weren't you? Yeah.
20:29
I got, I've got a fat tandem that, uh, Tiso made for us. Oh, yeah. That, that Greg had something to do with. Mighta. Yeah, he d- he- Was that a Slick? Mighta...
20:36
well, I, the, Tom, Tom before his passing untimely did do two, um, also long tail fat bikes, of which I still have one, and, uh, the other one is down with, um, uh, at World of Bikes down in, uh, Iowa City.
20:51
But, uh, yeah, he did a fat tandem for Ron. [laughs] Yeah. It was badass. That's pretty sweet. Nate, are you- Yeah, it was... look for... Oh, I'm sorry, Ron. Nate, are you in your garage right now?
21:03
[laughs] Am I in my garage right now? Yeah. Nope, I'm deep in my basement. Huddle- huddled quietly down in my basement, man. Wh- what do you have in your hands? But, uh, getting ready to go out to the garage.
21:11
What's in your hands? Uh, a little, a little, a little metal guy. All right. It's a, it's a family show. A little metal tool. All right. All right. A Jethro tool. A modified Jethro tool.
21:20
I thought I heard someone swinging a bat. Yeah. No, no, no, that was my, that was my Jethro tool. [laughs] All right. Modified. [laughs] What else you got for us, Nate? Um, let me think.
21:35
[laughs] Oh, we're gonna fall asleep now. I... Dude, I'm done. [laughs] If you ever look at the side of the Nate tire, it says, uh, "Deep fried meat meatpalooza" on the side of the tire.
21:52
Yeah, meat cups. On the bead line. Yeah, right, right, yes. Remember that night we, we invented the meat cup? It was, uh- It's, it's hidden when it's on the rim, right? Right. It's in the bead line.
21:59
We were in Nate's garage on a Wednesday night ride, and he's
22:03
using a, a little s- electric handheld saw to cut venison for us, and we're heating it with screwdrivers in front of his, his, uh, fishing warmers, the, the ice fishing warmers.
22:16
And then Nate's like, "Wait, let's fire up the deep fryer." So we fire up the deep fryer, and as you fried, deep fried these little sausages, they turned into little cups, and then we started putting whiskey in them.
22:28
[laughs] And he'd do a little shot, and he'd eat the shot glass. It was the, it was the whiskey cup. That was the deep fried meat. Wow. I, I feel a franchise coming out around the country- [laughs]...
22:37
of these little deep fried- Meat cups... sausage cups. Meat cups. And one of the byproducts of making meat cups was meat dust. It was kinda like sawdust, but it was- Yeah... meat, meat dust.
22:47
I have pictures of that too somewhere. Of meat dust. Yeah. Remember meat dust? [laughs] Yes, I do remember the meat dust.
22:55
[laughs] But yeah, I, I remember the, the, the whiskey shots and the meat cups were the, were the highlight of that night. That was a good one. Then we did a, then we got a derby.
23:04
Remember we got the derby going inside the garage too. Yeah, and the garage doesn't big. With, with Steve. It's only like a two-car, two-and-a-half car garage. You know, I got the, I got the garage Mahal, man.
23:14
Yeah, he does have the garage Mahal. Nate's got it set up. He's got a workbench, canoes, kayaks, scuba gear, camping gear, hunting gear. All right.
23:23
Uh, this just brought to mind something real interesting 'cause w- uh, also, uh, Nate, we got Travis from Anchorage on the line too.
23:29
He's been very quiet in the background, but Travis' garage is also semi-famous, so I wonder if we could have, like, a garage off or something. A garage off. Yeah. A garage off. Like, my garage is this.
23:41
[laughs] My garage is that. Yeah. Yeah. So- For sure... I mean, do you just use the garage because- C- can we do it on the website? [laughs] I don't know. There, there's gotta be... Can't we do it right now?
23:50
Send us pictures. Oh, yeah. Give me, give, give me the top three things of your garage, uh, Travis. Fat bikes, skis, snowboards. All right. Nate? Um, full bike shop, 18 bikes, and a pop-up camper. Ooh.
24:08
Ah, wait, wait, I, I'm, hold on a second. I'm gonna- Wait, hold on a second. You got it, man. Uh, hold on a second. Hold it. Hold it. Hold on a second. And we haven't even got Moffitt in on this yet.
24:15
He, he didn't say anything about the deep fryer, the fridge that's always stocked with beer- [laughs]... the stereo system. It's Nate's ga- I could live in Nate's garage. Probably have lived in Nate's garage.
24:26
Uh, well, you know. You have lived in Nate's garage, yeah. You haven't lived- Yeah, he's definitely-...
24:30
you haven't lived 'til you've been in Nate's garage You know, Moffat probably has a nice garage too, except he probably has a hot rod in there or something- He does... taking up all the space.
24:38
Well, there's a, there's a, there's a 10-speed Flying Magnum- No, he leave that to his kid. Yeah, he's got... Camden's got my rat rod, 'cause I bought a Dodge pickup instead. I got a '62 Dodge pickup in there.
24:47
I got a- [laughs]... '66 Nova. I got... Or, uh, a Rambler. I've got... But in my bike shop right now, there is single-speed titanium frame, a bamboo frame, a moon lander. That's for bikes. Did you just say bamboo frame?
25:05
Yeah. Somebody, a guy in town here was in Cambodia, and he brought a frame back for me to build for him. He thought it was the coolest thing ever. It weighs about 132 pounds. I watched you kick your own ass.
25:15
[laughs] Oh, my God, this thing is hideous. Did you say a 132? Oh, but you know what else is good that nobody else has got? I've got a jukebox. That's right. Oh. Ron does have the jukebox. I've got a working...
25:24
And I've got a working hairdryer. I mean, come on. [laughs] You see the picture. So, I think that's all. Don't try to top that, Ron. You got a freaking bamboo frame. All I got is this stupid shop mat.
25:34
[laughs] The jukebox. Nate's got that whole Apple system set up in his garage. I'm telling you. It's, it's right next to the titanium frame that I'll never build, either.
25:42
[laughs] Hey, hey, say it with, say it with me, everybody. Steel is real. Steel is real. Steel is real. Steel is real. Ti is fine, though. Yeah. Word. Ask the coach, man. Yeah, ask the coach.
25:54
Hey, does anybody have a 10-speed quick link handy? I'm missing one. [laughs] Here, let me check my bag. Hold on. This is, uh, this is cyber, cyber checking. Uh- Yep, I got one. I'll- I was just checking that steel.
26:07
I got one. I'll send it to you. I'll mail it over. Thanks. I need it. I'm, I, I'm half a wheel... I'm half a link short for the weekend. I think I need one of those coins.
26:16
What's that coin all about that Chewy was handing out? Oh. You don't have one of Chewy's coins? No. Huh? I don't know. You might get a coin one of these days. You, you kind...
26:24
You know, I, I was thinking you were taking over the show and we wouldn't have to listen to those other two guys anymore, but- They're all still here... obviously that didn't go as planned.
26:30
Uh, it, well, the show is Gomez-free. I know it. Definitely. So, you know. Nah, dude, Gomez adds a great... I love it when Gomez is on, man. [laughs] And I'm not taking over any shows.
26:39
He's, he's, he's spreading his wings. He's, uh, spreading the Gomez far and wide. I had an awesome ride. Hey, Nate, and, uh, a- and all of you, Travis, you're coming to town. Chewy, you guys gotta get up here.
26:50
Lake Michigan is so pure right now. We were down there the other day. It was like a, a pond. Crystal clear. It was just absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous, and just such a great, chill ride.
27:02
We had four guys go out of four different levels, and we all just kinda spaced out on the beach. And then one guy would wait up.
27:10
We'd have a Derby, stop in to have our beer and, and talk smart, and then, uh, get back on our bikes. And everyone would kinda go on their way and take their own lines around.
27:20
It was great obstacles and great water riding. It was fun. It was gor- gorgeous. It was, it was, it was the most fun I've had on the beach since I've been back here.
27:28
When I first came back and the water was really low, but you guys gotta get down here, man. It, it didn't hurt that it was 65 degrees in February, did it? [laughs] No, that was a big plus.
27:38
[laughs] Although the 23-degree water. Yeah, that was good [laughs] Yeah, the water's still chill. Hey, is anybody going to the Eddy this weekend? Uh, I am not. I... You know why?
27:47
'Cause Split Lip Rayfield's in Milwaukee, and there's a beach here, too. Oh, I heard that. Yep. Bring it down. Come on. [laughs] Lucky bastard. Come on. Who's coming? Chewy? Well, hopefully.
28:01
I'm coaching a hockey game, so I won't be going to the race, but- All right... there's always that outside chance. Yeah, but Split Lip Rayfield.
28:07
No, but I'm gonna see them, I'm gonna see them in June over at the Blue Ox, man. Okay, Nate. That's where I'm seeing them. Hey, let me tell you though, I wanna give you guys a little...
28:16
I wanna do a little plug for some super wheels, man. All right. A little me plug. All right? So I just... Outta... Just, I thought this year, this year, I did this upgrade to my ice, ice cream truck.
28:27
I got some of these carbon wheels from HED. Oh. Oh, okay. Yeah, it sounds like a plug, but it's not a plug. It, it- Yeah, never talk to me again. But, but, no, let, let me tell you, it is by far...
28:38
I thought it was gonna be, uh, like, just a nice swing, you know, kind of a upgrade, but let me tell you guys, it's the fucking shit. It is the shit. It is, it is by far made my ice cream truck so much faster. Whoa.
28:52
And, you know, and, you know, you guys... The, that guys who know me know that I'm not like a, I'm not a bike- Yeah, you're built for comfort, Nate...
28:58
bike person, but I am- You're definitely built for comfort, not for speed, and if you're saying faster, that's, that, that's big. Dude, I'm, I'm, I'm saying substantially faster. All right?
29:07
And, and I'm not a, I'm not a bike, glam bike person, but I wanted to, I wanted to... You know, I was looking at the weight that they, that the stuff removes, and I thought, "All right, I'll give it a shot."
29:18
You know, really, what the weight was removed was, like, a heavy after-a-night-of-drinking turd, but, um- [laughs]...
29:25
but still, I, I gave it a shot, man, and let me tell you, it, it makes a huge, it makes a huge freaking difference- That's great... taking that weight out of those wheels, man. So Nate, did you go with the- You know?
29:35
Did you go with the 100s or the 80s? What size rim did you go with from HED? I went with the 100s. Right on. Because if you're gonna go, go big. Go big. Yeah. You know? Yeah.
29:43
You know, and, a- and, and our, uh, our, our absent, uh, Nomez is, is no s- uh, small person his own damn self, and he's been beating on those, uh, 100 millimeter HEDs for probably two and a half years.
29:56
I think he had one of the first six sets out there or something. Somehow he, he- Wow. He finagled that... he, he finagled that, and it's still his favorite wheeled set as well.
30:06
And, and, you know, those guys are right down the road from you in Minnesota there in, uh, uh, Little Canada, I believe. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's just up, just a little, just a little north of the city.
30:16
And let me tell you, I'm rocking some, um...
30:18
Or I'm rocking the buds, uh, tubeless on there, and they were a little bit of a bitch to get set up, but after they locked up, they're, they're, they've been solid, man, even though it's not a tubeless tire.
30:30
Let me get, let me get this straight. You're running HEDs, you're running carbon fiber wheels and tubeless tires. What do you wear, freaking Lycra at the same time, though, Nate? What's happening?
30:38
[laughs] I know, I knew you were gonna say that, Chewy. That's why I said, man, that's why I said, "You guys know that I'm not that person." Oh, oh, wait, wait. That...
30:43
Wait, wait The question is, did you pay for the wheels? I know you, Nate. I don't know what to do with you anymore. [laughs] If he paid for the wheels, that's one thing. If they gave them to him, it's another.
30:53
No, no, no. I got a, I got a super deal. Good for you. I got a, I got a everybody loves Nate deal. All right, good. [laughs] Did Reed have anything to do with that? Yeah. I know Nate- Be kind to Nate... the mechanic.
31:05
He's a funny man. He's a dick. Nate, did, Nate, did- [laughs] N- Hey, Nate, did Reed have anything to do with that deal? Uh, no but Zeno did, man. All right.
31:13
Just our one-on-one and Reed, and Reed built the wheels for me. All right. So yeah, Gene came through. You know, I'm not saying that Gene comes through all the time, because you guys all know Gene... Yeah, I got that.
31:23
I got that. I got that. If there's one thing you can count on- I got that... is you can't count on Gene. Yeah, Gene, he got that though. I got that. I got that. Hey, speaking of Gino- He sucks...
31:29
I, I, I was kind of curious, because, uh, we, uh, JK and Gomez and I went up there for a, a, a deal. Uh, what the hell were we up there for? Oh, Freewheel's, uh, Winter Bike Expo- Yeah. Oh, yeah...
31:41
when they, when they, when they had it just before, uh... They didn't have any snow then either, and, um, we did, we did make- Yeah, I know that guy... we, we made... What?
31:49
We made a trek over to Gino's place, and they were still in the middle of remodeling even though it should've been done like a month and a half ago, and we didn't get to go in One on One, uh, that time.
31:59
You didn't miss much, dude. [laughs] It's a hell hole. So is, is, is, is the shop back- It's a bunch of- Is it back open again now, officially open from the remodel? How long ago were you there?
32:09
Yeah, it's really, it looks really nice in there. It was, or before Christmas. No, it's really, really nice. This year? But really the only- No, before Christmas last year- Yeah...
32:15
because Christmas this year hasn't happened yet. Well, all right. [laughs] But I don't know what the... [laughs] Yeah. No, they were remodeling the coffee shop area, I believe- Yeah, I forgot. Yeah...
32:26
and, uh, it was, uh- It was James...
32:27
it was a little bit longer than it should've been or could've been or might've been or would've been and, uh, we showed up all ready for coffee and there ain't no coffee in the goddamn place.
32:36
[laughs] My, my daughter's- Yeah, it was beautiful in there now... planning on going to the University of Minnesota, so I had to, I had to run around there and see how bike-friendly Minas- Minneapolis actually is.
32:44
Dude, it's the best bike-friendly city in the country. Ooh, could I get that in writing? Uh, dude. Oh, I don't... Well, and because... Hey, Zeno. Yeah, guy.
32:51
Speaking of which- Yeah, don't be haters down there in Milwaukee, you know? When we talking- [laughs] Zeno, what do you think of, what do you think of it compared to Melbourne? Uh, it's different. It's different.
33:00
Mel- It, it... Well, it's similar, but Melbourne's a lot more people, but it is very much the same. Melbourne, they've got that weird hook turn where you gotta, when you wanna go left- Yep...
33:10
you pull over to the right and then let the cars go and then you go after the car. It's, it's crazy, but, uh- Isn't Melbourne like 62 degrees all year long? That is, but, but- It is. It's not, it's not below zero.
33:21
The battle, the battle between Seattle and... The battle between Portland and Minneapolis for who's best, I think Portland's totally out of it.
33:26
It's between Minneapolis and Melbourne, because Melbourne kicked ass when we were down there. And Milwaukee. Yeah, well- City of the world. Well- [laughs] City of the world.
33:33
I, well, there's other cities- Portland doesn't even get acknowledged like their cars, man. That's what the Portland- [laughs] The Portland people are nice. They stop at stop signs and shit.
33:41
But, and- In Minneapolis- And their weather is not even as-... we don't wanna be recognized... not even close to being as gnarly as it is in Minneapolis.
33:47
It's, and ev- the, the amount of people that ride year-round there- No, because Minneapolis, we wanna jump off curbs and stuff. We don't wanna, we don't want, we don't wanna stop for stop signs. We wanna...
33:54
You know, I, I ride a bike so I can go through stop signs, and when cars roll up next to me and say, "Hey, you went through that stop sign," I say, "You know what? I do it in my car, too." Yeah.
34:03
[laughs] You know what I say? I say, "Yeah, and I'm getting paid to do it." [laughs] I, I, I always like the adage, "No cop, no stop." [laughs] All right. Anyway, Minneapolis is a great, great cycling culture.
34:16
Uh, you brought up One on One and, and it's, that's the hub of the cycling culture, the hub of the Minneapolis MAFA, mafia.
34:24
Chewy, you've spent a lot of time with that crew, and it's, they're, it's a wor- a, a group of world-class dudes who just, from all aspects of cycling, who...
34:34
It's, a- a- and, and this, when, when, when an event goes on, the roadies show up, the messenger kids show up, the BMX kids show up. You know, it's the tall bike- Zeno. Zeno. Yeah, guy. Stop. Chewy. Zeno, stop.
34:46
They're not gonna let you back in town anyway. [laughs] I don't care how you want. They are not letting you back into town. He's been ex-communicated. I was just up there. I was just up there not long ago. Yeah. Oh, man.
34:56
And the guys are still looking for you. [laughs] Come here, guy. But it's a great riding town. Yeah, we got some great culture here, man. I don't, I don't like to, I don't like to toot it.
35:05
I love to hear Zeno say it, you know? It is. I miss it all the time. But, uh, you know, I don't like to...
35:10
But, you know, but, but, you know, things like the Stooper Bowl where no matter it's, you know, 20 below zero or 32 degrees, you know, even if you're not running it, people from Minneapolis show up just because they don't want people from other, you know, other states and countries to come here and think that we're pussies.
35:26
You know? So I mean, everybody just shows up, and I think, yeah, like Zeno says, people band together. They come out for, they come out for bike stuff here. You know?
35:34
And it's everyone from every aspect- I'll give you this. As soon as about 30 degrees hit, it becomes like biking on the moon.
35:40
But, [laughs] but you know, as soon as it goes above 30, it's like bikers are like roaches, man. They all come out. [laughs] Absolutely. [laughs] Yeah, wait till it's 74 and then everybody and their, you know,
35:52
mother is out on their bike in the middle of February. It's crazy. Hey, how about, how about a weather check on, from all the guys we're, uh, talking to? We got one in Iowa, one in Minnesota, one in Alaska.
36:02
There's four of us here. How's the weather over there, Mike? [laughs] All right, all right, all right. [laughs] It was 74 degrees today. Uh, well, what about you guys?
36:11
Travis, what, what was it like up in Anchorage today? Oh, we're about, sitting about 20 degrees.
36:16
I'd say probably at least two feet of base on the ground with, uh, six inches of fresh on top of that we got this week, so- Send, send it down for the Berky... it's looking good for some old fat biking.
36:29
54 degrees and no snow on the ground here in Minneapolis. Right on. Did you say 34? And, and in Rochester, too. 54? Yeah, 54. 54. 50, 57 in Rochester today. Hey, you know what? I- Oh...
36:40
you don't hear about Rochester very often. Nobody really talks about it, 'cause really all that's there is the Mayo, right?
36:46
It's the only thing that happens, but there was an NPR show on last week about how they're trying to diversify up there in Rochester. Do you know anything about that, Ron?
36:55
Well, well, well, they're, they're trying to spend, they're trying to make it so that it's, it's called Destination Medical Center and that they're trying to redo the entire downtown of Rochester and make it a, uh, a medical destination, whatever the hell that means.
37:11
Like, like you're gonna have- Like a Mi-... Mickey Mouse and stuff or what? Like a Ep- Epcot Hospital or something? Yeah.
37:16
[laughs] They're actually, they're actually looking at, we've got a little area that there's actually a fat bike race held this weekend out at the Boy Scout camp, and they're actually looking at doing sort of the Wausau lettuce thing where they're gonna put in a chalet and cross-country skiing and snowshoeing and fat biking.
37:31
They've already got it planned for that, so they're, um- Mm-hmm... so for once in our life we're actually, there's a possibility- Good thing we're on a box... we're actually gonna have a decent trail system over here.
37:40
Um, there's not a lot of places to put one- Okay... but the one that we'll be able to put in'll be great. Okay, well let's just back this up a little bit. Did you just, did you guys all just hear that?
37:47
They're gonna have a race at the Boy Scouts. Fat bike race at the Boy Scouts. We've come, we've come that far on fat biking- Oh, come on... to have a race at the Boy Scouts. [laughs] I was, I was gonna do that for years.
38:00
Hey, I, I'll ride a bike with anyone. No, it's awesome. It's awesome, man. If you- I'm just saying, it's, it's crazy that it's come to that, man. Just from, from way back when, it's just crazy, you know?
38:10
Well, that's because there's a mountain bike, there's a fat bike race every, there's two to three every weekend.
38:14
I mean, or every day on the weekend, actually, so it's only natural that everybody and their brother are getting in on it. So it's awesome, man. Oh, that's kickass. [laughs] That's awesome, yeah.
38:25
Hey- Well, it's good to get the Scouts and the kids involved, right? I've got a silly unscripted idea here. Well, should we maybe talk to our interviewee? Well, let's take a break.
38:34
[laughs] And then we'll come back and we will talk to Mr. Nick Holzum.
38:38
And, uh, if you clowns can keep your, uh, your, your voices down for just a minute and we can talk to Nick, we'll let you stay on the line, otherwise I'm gonna put you in the mute chamber. Well, you stay there.
38:50
Stay there and just be quiet. We'll be right back. And then we can ad lib.
38:53
[bird cawing] [upbeat music] Tune in next week when Fat Bike Radio is proud to announce the Pirate Satellite Network premiere of the Black Ribbon Bike Hour.
39:09
Our new show stars members of the Bike Black Ribbon Society that together explore the seedy underbelly of bicycle subculture. It is the Black Ribbon Bike Hour. Be ready for anything.
39:26
You're tuned to Fat Bike Radio. Hey, welcome back to the radio program, everybody. Uh, we've got, uh, Mr. Nick Holzum here in the studio.
39:37
I think you might've heard him make a, a chirp or two back there over at, uh, earlier in the show.
39:42
Uh, Nick is currently the points leader in the Huge Ass Fat Bike Series, which is one of our, uh, bike shops in the area is sponsoring it, called Wheel & Sprocket. Uh, Nick, welcome back.
39:54
Well, well, welcome, 'cause we welcomed you before, but we're welcoming you again now. Hey, thank you very much. Glad to be here. So how the heck did we get you in this place?
40:02
Well, first of all, Nate lives in the area, so that was pretty easy. I think Gomez contacted you and, uh- Yeah, he reached out to me on Facebook and it kinda surprised me one morning.
40:11
I wasn't too sure, uh, what was this all about, but, uh- Had no idea you were a celebrity, did you? Not really, no. Um, yeah, but totally stoked and glad to be here and spend some time with you guys. Right on.
40:23
So, you know, I mean, obviously you've been listening to the banter back and forth about some guys that have been doing this for a long time. How long have you been riding a fat bike?
40:30
Um, uh, this has been kinda my second winter back at it. Um, actually, my first fat bike was in 2013. I had, uh, the Surly Pugsley with the Nate tires on it, and then, um- Nate tires...
40:44
yeah, I got a little discouraged- Thank you... after that season, just 'cause, um, there wasn't a lot of stuff happening yet, um, up in Wausau.
40:50
It was kinda just when things were getting started and conditions were pretty variable.
40:54
So, um, moved down to Milwaukee in 2014 and met some people down here who were really into fat biking and, uh, kinda twisted my arm to get one again and, um, back at it now, so. All right.
41:09
Well, hey, well, well, were you, were you, were you racing other kinda bikes before you started racing fat bikes? Yeah. Um, I did, uh, mountain bike racing.
41:16
Um, I did the, the WAR Series for about three years and kinda, um, got into that and kinda burnt out on that after a while.
41:24
Moved up to elite category and kinda, you know, stayed, um, overall finish spot pretty consistent for three years.
41:30
So I was like, "Eh, I'm gonna take a break for a little bit," and, um, yeah, since I moved to Milwaukee I've been getting back into racing a little bit more now. And, um, yeah, prior to that, um, more BMX.
41:42
That's kinda my big background. All right.
41:43
Um, started doing that when I was real young and, um, you know, pulling, uh, shifters and derailleurs off mountain bikes and jumping them over dirt jumps in my backyard, that kinda thing.
41:53
And, um, just kinda came a point to where, you know, I was, uh- So-...
41:58
going upside down and spinning and stuff and, um, crashing a little bit too much, not being able to get up as quick as I used to, so then I switched to, to mountain bikes and- Cool... the rest of the stuff, so. Cool.
42:08
Did you ever roll single speeds? Um, well, yeah. Uh- BMXes are all single speed. Yeah. That's what I mean, like- Jerking my arm... like I mean mountain bike- [laughs]... mountain biking or fat biking. Yeah.
42:19
I bought a, I bought a single speed. I was gonna do a spingle, a single speed race, uh, a while back, and that actually turned into my polo bike. All right. 'Cause I do a little bit of polo.
42:28
Not so much this year, but a little bit of polo down at the Washington Park there. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
42:33
So you mentioned that you did the WAR Series, which I don't know if it's still the biggest, like, statewide series in the country, but there's 800 people going to these things.
42:42
When you went from the WAR Series into racing fat bikes, what did you, was, did you see a culture change? What kinda, what- Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, big difference. Um, the Huge Ass Series is just, it's fun at every race.
42:54
There's, um, you know, uh- Bonus points for dressing up and, and doing silly things. You got the Hammerschlagen. Um, the, the wars, it's, um, it's a great series. They produce high quality racers. Um, it's real focused.
43:07
Um- Is there booze involved? Uh, there are, there is booze involved. Um- Sweet. [laughs] Yeah, it's, um, it's a good time. They got their own beer. It's excellent now. Um, uh, it was a doppelbock, I think.
43:18
And- All right... yeah, they let you drink while you're racing, so. Oh, good. I don't know. Well, why wouldn't they? Exactly. [laughs] Yeah, it's, it's just, it's been really fun.
43:26
Pretty sure Ron and Nate have never raced a race where they allowed booze a haul at it. Why? Well, Nate, weren't you on the cover of New York Times- Well-...
43:35
or something, handing out, uh, or a New York Times article about world single speeds, handing out a beer to someone? Or were you just holding a sign?
43:42
Yeah, I handed up a beer to a pregnant lady, and I was in a pink mini skirt. Yeah. Hey, another guy that's been in The New York Times for fat biking.
43:48
I don't know, besides Nate and myself, I'm not sure who else might have been, uh, in The New York Times for fat biking. I don't know. I didn't know you were. Oh, it's a g- it was beautiful.
43:57
The guy came to Milwaukee with his video camera to do a thing, and he, they thought this was a big deal, and we went out and rode the river trail here a little bit.
44:06
And he didn't ride, so he was with the camera and following me. And then we get done with, like, two hours and it's, like, two degrees out, and I get in my car to drive him back and the fucking car won't start. Nice.
44:17
So he and I had to sit in the car for, like, two hours, 'cause it was a shitty day and people were just, everybody was stuck, and AAA couldn't come for, like, two hours.
44:24
So he and I sat in my car [laughs] for two hours and rapped, and it's like, "I'm gonna be in New York Times." And I, he goes, "Well, I don't know ab- but, yeah, probably, but," uh, so. Did you take, did he take the pot?
44:36
[laughs] I don't think I offered him the pot. All right. But anyway, we were talking to Nick. I, I diverged from, uh, the, of the, uh, s- the script again.
44:43
But, uh, yeah, so I mean, you know, w- when we've all been riding since the, almost the last century on fat bikes, and you're kinda new to it, so what, what do you see?
44:56
How are these fat bike people compared to these other people you've been riding with the whole time? Oh, they're just, uh, laid back, out for a good time. It's really fun. It's, um, yeah, it's something different.
45:07
Um, I know we talked about it earlier today. Um, you know, just a different feeling. It's, um, you know, a lot of people think it's slow and that, but it's really just, um, opens up a lot of terrain you can ride.
45:17
It's a good time. So with the weather this year, how many races have been, like, what we would consider traditional winter races with actual snow versus- Yeah, this, this season-... not so much... is not so good.
45:29
Um, last season I think was a little bit better. Definitely, uh, big advantage to have some studded tires out there. Everybody needs studs. Yeah.
45:36
Do you, do you use a studded tire, like, uh, factory studded, or do you use grip studs? No, I actually, um, I don't have studs. I gotta get some. [laughs] No, you don't. No, you don't. No?
45:47
Nate, how many studs are on your... Oh, no, no, Nate made his own studded tires. Uh, no. I made my own studded tires. There's only one stud on my bike. [laughs] The sun rises on top.
45:58
I actually studded a BMX pair, like, eight years ago, what, or a long time ago.
46:03
They were, like, three-quarter-inch screws that I put through on the inside, and I made it about, uh, 15 minutes before I got a flat, but that was my first go at, uh, studded tires. That was a blast.
46:13
I'm still saying studs down on the beach are the bomb when we actually have ice. I- yeah. The bomb, son. All right. I like that. When you're on your end- I like taking the, I like pushing the edges...
46:23
when you're on your end- I like pushing the edges. You'll see. I- Not, not this year, though, 'cause it's 74 degrees today. [laughs] Yeah. And we had a great beach ride. I'm telling you guys, gotta get up here.
46:33
The lake is in rare form. Ron has been saying he's gonna come up here forever. He's Betty Crocker, big talker. It's over. It's not up, it's over.
46:42
Hey, do you guys have a, do you guys, uh, a, a- I'm thinking about coming, I think I'm, I think I'm gonna come down there for that fa- fat tire festival you guys do.
46:48
No, you're coming down for Urban Jungle Cross before that, dude. Right on. There's gonna be, come, one coming up in the spring. What is that? You gotta bring Brauer and Trevor with you, too.
46:57
So, uh, uh, Nate- I heard you guys got a wicked, I hear you guys got a wicked urban cross there. Yeah, we do. It's, it's bitching. Hey, Nate, you've been doing this for a long time.
47:05
You've had a lot of experience with fat bikes, and, uh, Nick's been doing this for a couple of years and is a fast guy, and he's racing now. Uh, w- do you have a question for him?
47:13
You got any, uh, uh, words of wisdom or, uh, anything like that? Well, I'm just, what are you, what are you riding now, Nick, for a race bike?
47:21
Something that's real, real big and fat, or just a, kind of the mid-fat, or what? It's like a, it's a mid-fat. It's, uh, just a stock Farley 7. That's all I got is, um, stock. Completely stock.
47:31
And that's running, you're running 26 by, like, four tires? Yeah, 26 by 4.7. Ooh, the bigger tire. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they're, yeah, they're pretty big. Right on. What kind of rim? I'm just curious.
47:41
What, what's the rim setup on that? Are you doing the 100 or are you using, like, the 80s? Those got the, uh, yeah, the 80, the Mulefoot 80s. They're good. It's good in most conditions.
47:49
Like I said, there's been a variety of terrain, uh, this race season, and, you know, just changing the tire pressure has been able to keep me pretty much in the game. So yeah, I'm fairly happy with that bike.
48:00
It's pretty good. Ron? Ron? Yeah, it's just amazing how that pressure, pressure really controls the ride of that bike, does- isn't it? Yeah.
48:07
Um, yeah, you always gotta check it for every ride, and check it, uh, even as you're going before the race starts, make sure it's dialed in or... Down you go. Yeah, right on. Right on.
48:17
Nate, you know about going down, don't you? [laughs] Hey, you know- It's a family show, jegang... I'm the master of that. I didn't mean it like that. I, when I used to show up here- Yeah...
48:26
from Minneapolis, people would go, "How come you're all scraped up every time you show up?" I'm like, "'Cause there's a Wednesday night every week in Minneapolis." Yeah. Mm-hmm. I'm a professional.
48:34
I can drop, roll, and stop with the best of them. Hey. I can't believe- [laughs] Sorry... we went through a whole freaking hour already. Are you guys, is that, are you kidding me? [laughs] Time flies.
48:44
Well, we haven't even gotten through some of the other bullshit we normally do on this show, like the links, which there's a bunch of them this week. I would go ahead and check out that Tasmania one.
48:54
Holy mackerel- Yeah, that's spectacular... are there some pictures on there. Now I'm pissed we didn't go through there. Yeah. Well, somebody will have to go through there later on.
49:03
It's not like I'm trying to get rid of everybody. We got plenty of time here, but, uh- Yeah... I can't believe how, uh, how great it is having good guests on the show. It's amazing.
49:13
[laughs] They must be talking about you, Nick. [laughs] [laughs] Nick's like, "I w- I sat in the studio for- I had a question... and I only got to talk for five minutes. I don't understand."
49:22
[laughs] Yeah, I got a question for Nick. Yeah. Nick, do you have a 10, 10-speed quick link handy? I do. [laughs] I do. Yeah. Let me pass it over to you.
49:33
[laughs] I still haven't found that fucking thing and I'm still looking. I, I got a question for Chewy and Nate and, uh, Travis. Uh, we'll start with Travis first. C- uh, are you still there, Travis? Yeah, yeah.
49:45
What's the most fun you've ever had on your fat bike? The most fun I've ever had? Man, that's a big question. Right off the top of my head- A- and Nate too, you're next, so think about it...
49:54
I'm gonna have to say the, the Big Fat, the Big Fat Bike Festival in Homer, Alaska last year.
50:00
Uh, rode the beach, 16 mile beach ride from Anchor Point back to Homer, and, uh, started off cool and by the afternoon it was like 45 degrees, which in Alaska is T-shirt weather. A beautiful, sunny day.
50:15
Now, was that a race or was that just a bunch of people chilling and riding and drinking beers and carrying on? Nah, that's just a, yeah, just a group ride, cocktails, flasks- Yeah... bubblers.
50:27
There, i- it was all going on. Right on. And what about you, uh, uh, Nate Melendo? What's, what's, what's the best fat bike ride you've ever done, or the most fun you've ever had on a fat bike?
50:37
I think, uh, we, we do a bike thing up here called the Snowball's Chance in Hell- [laughs] Oh, really?... Dash for Cold Hard Cash. The Snowy Dash- And, uh, I guess if you-... for Cold Hard Cash.
50:47
[laughs] And it'd be, it'd be, we get together and we kinda bike around and we're crazy people doing figure eights and drilling holes in the ice and stuff.
50:56
And then riding back from there one, one time it was a snowfall and it was probably about eight or nine inches of snow on the ground, and, and I, I dropped the ski on my, I put the ski off my ski bike onto the back of the bob trailer and we rode, we just moshed it all the way home, hammered.
51:12
Probably about two PSI in our tires and I think probably even though it sucked, that was probably the best ride, you know, being with an hombre after a fun time with some buddies- Ah... and just moshing it home.
51:24
You mean struggling home when you're drunk. Yeah, that's the best time on a b- on a fat bike. That's m- moshing. Yeah, speaking of moshing- I was doing the mosh pitting... Moffitt, what's your, what's your- [laughs]...
51:33
what's the most fun you've ever had on a, on a fat bike, Chewy? I have to say it was either the second or third Pug of the World Championship and doing it on a tandem with Dave Lunz. [laughs] That was fucking awesome.
51:46
Oh, dude, did you hear, did you hear what happened to Dave, Ron? We took turn, we took turns riding it. We took turns being the captain. Oh my God, we had such a good time. That was a blast. That's good.
51:57
Well- I'm not gonna lie, that's the better part of it. Yeah. Wow, with Dave Lunz. You had that much fun with Dave Lunz? Yeah. Well, I kept him on the back most of the time so I didn't have to listen to him.
52:05
Well, s- [laughs]... speaking of Dave, did you hear that he just had a little accident at work? I don't know if, if you follow the Facebook, he- Yeah, can you pull- You may have seen.
52:13
I don't do the Facebook thing anymore so much, but, uh, yeah.
52:16
Hey, I hope Dave gets better, 'cause he had a 15-foot fall on the job and it, it's, uh, it's a, it's a wonder he's still walking upright like a simian that he is. Oh, geez. So. Yeah, it doesn't sound good.
52:30
Hope Dave gets better. No, I, I, well, I, I took him out on Saturday. We, he's doing better for sure. Yeah.
52:36
But, uh, yeah, he was working on a ship and through negligence, thank God, there's lawyers here 'cause Dave needs a, a payday on this, he fell through something that should have been solid and, and 15 feet down and landed on his feet and then his back, which is bad news.
52:53
Yeah. That hurts. Damn. So. Well, he'll be back on the back of your bike soon enough. Nurse. Nurse. Nurse, please. Shut up, my brother. Can I have another one, Mother?
53:06
Hey, you know what, we do have to make another little quick shout-out to, uh- Doctor... uh, we have to actually put the way back machine in motion to show number 122.
53:16
Uh, we talked to four out of the five winners of our contest and, uh, we gave away some prize packages, but we weren't able to get in touch with our fifth place winner, or actually just our fifth winner.
53:27
I don't think we did places. It's just, like, five winners. Devin Marsh.
53:32
Devin was, uh, he's stationed over in Germany, so we couldn't get him on the phone, but we wanna thank him for his service and make sure that he knows his prize package is on the way via the US mail.
53:44
Devin's prize package includes Charlie the Bikemonger's Grendel Butter, bead slip from Uncle Dick, and soft goods from fat bike companies like RSD Bikes, Broken Spoke Bike Studio, Hed, Bontrager, Frame Bikes, and the friendly folks at Surly Bikes.
54:00
Right on. Hey- Da, da, da, da, dun...
54:03
I think we'll, we had this whole other thing, or this all things political thing, but I think we'll just get into this next time we do a show, because we have, like, a whole nother show here. [laughs] Yeah, right.
54:13
But, uh, before we go, uh, let's just, let's just say, uh, Travis, uh, final thoughts. We're gonna, we're gonna send you on your way. Sounds good. Big, uh, big weekend up here in Anchorage.
54:26
We got, uh, uh, the Fat Bike Summit on Friday. Uh, Gary Sogquist is up, and that's gonna be at REI from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM.
54:36
And then on Saturday at 3:30 PM, the Big Fat Ride, uh, starting on, uh, Fourth Avenue right after the sled dog racers go, uh, wrap their thing up. So it's kinda cool. It's part of the Fur Rondy Winter Festival here.
54:51
Staging will be between E and F Street. Uh, and then there's an after party with, uh, some brews and raffles. Cool raffles, man. They're giving away a Surly.
55:00
I'm not sure which- Certainly they're giving away, but, uh, giving away a bike, a bunch of good swag, tires, frame bags, all kinds of cool stuff, from 4:00 to 6:00 PM at the Brown Bag, uh, Sandwich Company on Third Avenue.
55:15
And then on Sunday, [clears throat] the kickoff of the ITI at 2:00 PM, Knik Bar, Wasilla, Alaska. Be there. Right on.
55:24
So if people actually wanna race fat bikes in the snow, sounds like, uh, Alaska's the place to be, man [laughs] [laughs] Goldfine. Right on, Travis.
55:34
That's the, the, you know, last two, last two winters, races were getting canceled and moved and shifted all over the place, so it's a good year. So you... So the... Are they gonna use the traditional course now?
55:46
The ITI is, yeah. The dogs are, uh, the sled dogs are going to Fairbanks, but, uh, the ITI is starting the traditional route, uh, out at Knik Bar. Um, and they're...
55:59
the only change is, um, instead of going over Rainy Pass, they're gonna through Tarmeghan Pass and come out on Hell's Gate, and that's gonna cha- that's gonna add I think like 35, 35 miles to the course.
56:12
But, um, Rainy Pass, oddly enough, they just don't have much snow there right now, and the ice bridges aren't formed in the Dalzell Gorge.
56:21
So that's the only reroute that's going on this year, and the course, yeah, you know, we got stacks of snow, so it's gonna be, uh, a much more traditional ITI.
56:31
It'll be interesting to see if anybody makes McGrath in, uh, under three days this year. Do you have a prediction for who's gonna take the, uh, the big trophy? Man, I gotta always put my money on Tim Bernsten. Right on.
56:44
Yeah, he w- he, Susitna, he was second, wasn't he, or something? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a, that's a warm-up. Yeah. That's a warm-up race for him. Right on, Travis, always great to- Yeah... have you on the show, man.
56:56
Cool, man. We'll, uh, hey- Hopefully we'll see you down there next week... uh, planning on seeing you guys in a couple weeks. Yeah, that'd be awesome. Cool, Travis, talk to you next time.
57:06
Be, be tried on, be tried on Wednesday, Zito. You betcha. Right on, man, you got it. All right, man. Talk to you later. All right, later, guys. Mr. Moffett, you got any final words for our studio audience?
57:18
Um, the next time I talk to you I'll have the results from the Pugsley World Championship for you. All right. And, and it's, um... Yeah, I'll have the results for you and... Wait a minute. When is that?
57:30
Yes, I gotta go back to work. I found my part. W- when, when's the Pugsley- [laughs] When, when's the Pugsley World Championships? None of your business. Yeah, you can't... Yeah, you can't, no.
57:39
[laughs] You'll get- There i- You'll get the results when you see them Hey, hey, what about, hey, what about- As far as you know, there is no Pugsley World Championship [laughs] What about the, what about the Snowball's Chance in Hell?
57:47
Is there any word on that, Melinda? No, it's still, it's still being kept under wraps. All right. There's no snow to be had. Hell, hell, you know, hell is here, man. There's no snow [laughs] Is, is the lake frozen?
58:00
No, the lakes are all unstable up here, man. People are going through left and right. All right. They want everybody to stay off the ice now. Good, good. There, there's your safety tip for the day. You know.
58:09
Stay off the ice, jackasses. It's 74 freaking degrees outside. Yeah. Hey, Nate- Weak in the gene pool... thank you very much for being on the show, Nate.
58:19
Uh, I know that it's been a little bit of chaotic, but, uh- I love hearing your voice, dude... awesome. I love hearing your voice, Nate... over talk you guys. No, you didn't. You were good, Nate. I love you, man.
58:30
Hey, you're welcome to call any time. We'll, we'll have you on again. Yeah. Dude's- Right on, man. Right on. I appreciate that... one of the most solid dudes I ever met in my life. Right on. See you, Nate.
58:39
All right, man. Rubber side down. Yeah, guy [laughs] All right, and Nick, our studio guest, who just got to sit here and listen to everybody else jaw [laughs] no. So, um- It's all good...
58:51
he, he, well, he got to see the inner workings of the Fat Bike Radio, uh- Crap... train. [laughs] Got anything else you wanna talk about? Ugh. No. Uh- No... thanks. [laughs] No. Thank, thank you.
59:05
Thank you very much for, uh, having me in here and, uh, drinking my beer, and by the way- When's the snow coming back? I do have to say- When does the snow come back?...
59:12
this, this Midnight Star lager is some good stuff. Uh, uh, theoretically, this weekend. Ugh, man. So how many more races do you have theoretically in the series?
59:21
Uh, we've got, we've got one left at, uh, the Southern Kales Jamir. So do you think you're in luck- Oh, dude... or do you, are you, are you duking it out with- That's a smoker...
59:28
are you duking it out with somebody to, uh, take, take the- Um, actually, the battle for second place is pretty interesting. A buddy of mine and, um, I think two other guys might have a shot at it.
59:38
Um, I'm sitting all right. Are you untouchable? Um, yeah. Un- I'm untouchable... touchable. So if you didn't race today- Ding, dee, dee, don't touch this... this, this last one, could you win? Don't, don't touch this...
59:47
there's a couple fast guys. If I could get ahead of them, uh, that might change things, uh, change some things up for that race, so I don't know. Well, what if you sat out the race, could you still win? Yeah.
59:57
Yeah, pretty much that. Oh, boy. Yeah. [laughs] It's, it's time to start smoking weed again, dude. [laughs] Ask Hollywood. Ask Hollywood. We should've b- we should get him on the line, dude. Oh. Holy crow.
1:00:07
When we do Hollywood, we'll have to do racing through the Haba Trail. Yeah. Well, he's going, I think he's going to the Swami, too. Well, that'll be a- Or not the Swami... that'll be a- The, the Berkey...
1:00:16
that'll be a race on fire roads. That'll be fun. The Berkey, uh- That'll be a lot of fun. You know, people that would traditionally- Are you Berkey-ing? Yeah. Yeah. All right, excellent. First time, yeah.
1:00:23
So people that would- Do you know Andy Freestyler? Uh, no. Angry Andy? Oh. I don't know Andy. Oh, you will. Okay. [laughs] So people that would- He's a great guy...
1:00:30
traditionally do well at the Berkey, if there's no snow, it's gonna be a whole different race. If they're gonna race fire roads- And mud, man... it's gonna be a-... it's a different game... totally different race.
1:00:39
Totally different game. We'll see. It's gonna be interesting. I, you know, they're gonna race... Whether they race the ski race or not, we don't know. Yeah. But the bike race will happen regardless.
1:00:49
It may not happen on snow, or it may.
1:00:51
But there's definitely roads up there, and by the way, 100 miles an hour in an Acura going sideways with four-foot snow banks on the side of you is just the baddest-ass thing you can do up there. But there's no snow.
1:01:01
Next to, right, next to fat bike racing. I don't know, dude. Crashing cars is fun. Crashing cars. We can still race them on the road, but there gonna be bikes up in there. I saw one Tuesday.
1:01:14
I was gonna go ahead and tell y'all that our show this evening has been brought to you by the bikes, parts, and chaos of Surly Bikes, and if we didn't have chaos today, I don't know when we did.
1:01:23
[laughs] Learn more at surlybikes.com. Call 818-918-2453 anytime, day or night, and leave us a message, you know? Right on. Hey, we've added some more product to our store. Uh, Mr.
1:01:38
Chris from Zion Cyclery has a new shirt that's... It's a Zion Cyclery shirt, but he's, uh, agreed to co-brand it with us. [bell ringing] And, uh, there you go.
1:01:48
[laughs] And, hey, wait, sound effects are the baddest-ass thing in the world. [bell ringing] There you go. Uh, check it out.
1:01:54
We'll have it up there in a, in, in a, in a day or a week or whenever we decide to get around to it, but, uh, do check out the store. We do appreciate your support. Check us out on Instagram. [laughs] Till then.
1:02:10
You've been listening to Fat Bike Radio's Weekly Dose of Fat. Find us on the web at fat-bike.com/radio. We'll see you next time.
1:02:24
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