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Full Spectrum Cycling
Weekly Dose of Fat – 6-14-14 – with Eric Sovern – Show #8
Jun 14, 2014
Weekly Dose of Fat – 6-14-14 – with Eric Sovern – Show #8
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0:00
Weekly Dose of Fat for Saturday, June 14th, 2014, show number eight.
0:05
[upbeat music] From the Fat Bike Radio Studios in the beer capital of America, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, please welcome your hosts of the Weekly Dose of Fat, Sven and Gomez.
0:37
[upbeat music] Welcome to the radio program. This is Sven. And this is your Uncle Gomez. [speaks Spanish] The sponsor of today's radio show is the ubiquitous Surly Bikes. Surly makes bikes and parts that don't suck.
0:54
You can learn all about Surly's fabulous line of bikes, parts, and lounge wear at surlybikes.com.
1:02
And this is the part of the show where we let you know that you can find an archive of all of our shows at fatbike.com/radio, and look for us on iTunes. And look for us on the Facebook and Twitter.
1:17
I want to send out some positive vibrations to a long-time amigo of mine, Ricky De Laos. He's waiting to find out whether he's, uh, been diagnosed with Lyme disease. Ooh, Lyme disease. Quick heal fast, Ricky.
1:32
You shall be healed by the power of a gnome skull. [laughs] Welcome to show number eight. We've got one heck of a show for you, boys and girls. Sven and I are joined in the studio today by our amigo, Colin.
1:48
And- Two flies on the wall. What's up, esse? [laughs] Back flips at 5:30 in the morning. Attaboy. [laughs] Attaboy. We have Eric Sovereign as our special guest this week. He's so dreamy.
2:02
Sov will be sharing all the secrets of one of his fat bikes with us. I wonder which one that he'll choose to bring to El Mesa. We'll bring you all into the test kitchen and share a fat ball of what's cooking.
2:15
[snorts] We're bringing back [laughs] some links to share with our readers. And this week, I brought beer, so stand back. Right on. What's in the Fat Bike Radio cooler this week, Halfon? Air for George.
2:28
Um, it's Lakefront Brewing, the company I work for. It's our IPA. It's called Lakefront IPA. It's a good one, folks. Nice. Here we go. Cheers. [can bangs] Oh, man. Thunderous. [laughs] Somebody get that his height.
2:45
[laughs] All right, guys. Cheers. [swallows] Yep. It's an IPA. Yeah, it's, uh, it's a balanced yet delightfully citrusy IPA. Um- Are you reading the label? No, I'm just looking at it.
3:04
Oh, okay. [laughs] It's inspired- Staring deeply into the beer... Yeah, it's got, it's got a big eyeball on it. It's just- Yeah, it's got-... got us mind, uh- Yeah. [laughs] Oh, wow. So tell- It's, uh- Yeah, yeah...
3:12
it's, you know, it's become m- the Milwaukee local standard of IPAs. Uh, it's good deal of Cascade and Citra and Chinook hops for all you beer nerds out there. And, uh, it's a very simple malt bill.
3:29
It rings in at 6.66% alcohol. Oh, yeah. Verified by- [burps]... a laboratory. Verified by White Labs. And, uh, what do you guys think? I don't, I don't need to talk. All I can say is, [bell rings] Lakefront Brewing,
3:45
it's a, it's a, that's a plug- A-... for where Colin works. Yep, pretty much every beer they make is a good example of that style of beer.
3:53
Whether you like that particular style or not, you're gonna get a good representation of it from Lakefront. Thanks, dudes. That's, I appreciate that, that rec. Yeah.
4:01
And this is a, this is a, I don't know, what are they called? S- is it a session IPA? This is a regular, like a IPA, 'cause the alcohol is still higher- Higher, yeah... than the...
4:12
Yeah, so our session IPA is, like 4.2%, but- Much more all-day drinkable. Yeah. It is not a super hopped American style IPA. It's, no, it is an American IPA. Yeah? Um, definitely.
4:24
My f- my taste buds must be getting used to all that- Oh, I know-... all that hop... it's weird, isn't it? Yeah. But, uh, it's definitely more bitter than our session IPA.
4:33
That's one of the differences between session IPAs and regular IPAs, folks, is that a regular IPA will be more bitter than a session IPA. And more alcohol, too. Correct. All right. All right.
4:45
Next up on the Weekly Dose, we have this week's special guest, Mr. Eric Sovereign. But first, a message from our friends at 1UP USA.
4:52
[upbeat music] Whether you carry your bikes on your roof or with a hitch, the best way to get your fat bike to the trail is with a rack from 1UP USA.
5:08
1UP USA uses stainless steel hardware on their all-aluminum racks and come with a lifetime warranty. 1UP USA racks are made in the USA, right in Wisconsin.
5:20
Visit 1upusa.com for more information on the fastest loading, highest quality rack solutions. [upbeat music] You're tuned to Fat Bike Radio.
5:38
Hey, this is Kevin Breakingback from Fairbanks, Alaska. I ride Tech Fat, and I listen to Fat Bike Radio with Sven and Gomez.
5:45
Hey, all you kids out there, put your hands together and give a warm welcome to our special guest, Mr. Eric Sovereign. From surlybikes.com. Welcome to the radio program, dude man. Hey, Sav. Hi.
6:03
How's it going? Hi. [laughs] Am I... Are, did I screw it up? No, no, that was, that was fun. He was supposed to say- Hi... buenos dias, Sav, and be all Gomez-like. Yeah. So- [laughs]
6:16
There's that plan right out the window. He's not my puppet. I am, I'm nobody's puppet. So Sav, this weekend- Yeah... Jim and Tyler Burger in Decorah. Are you ready? [laughs] Are you ready for that?
6:29
Just when you try to cancel something, right? You know? Like, uh, yeah, I'm ready. Uh, the nice thing about, uh, about Decorah is that people can always show up and ride, uh, whether I want them to or not.
6:40
Uh, so, uh, you know, Dirt Burger was fun. It was a good time. Uh, I... It rained all last year and so I just got depressed about it, and we...
6:50
It, it rained like nine inches in three days and so we, we basically [laughs] sat up there and got wet. Uh, but this, this...
6:57
So this year I decided not to do it, and Jim and Tyler from Surly said, "Uh, we're coming down anyway." So I said, "Yeah, all right." But, uh, that means camping and, and they may even bring fat bicycles. There you go.
7:09
I suppose. I don't know. Is it wet, is it wet underneath the bridge, or is it campable under there? Uh, we've, we've [laughs] stopped going underneath the bridge, uh, for two reasons.
7:17
Number one, last year it was a part of the river. Uh, and, uh, as much as I hate my friends, I would hate to see them die, at least on my watch.
7:25
Uh, and number two, uh, the man shows up under the river sometimes and says, "Do you, do you got a permit for that giant fire?" [laughs] I hate when that happens. I, I- Yeah...
7:35
am part of the Decorah Volunteer Fire Department. I can have a fire wherever I want.
7:40
[laughs] You know, you'd think that you could say that and it would be cool, but, uh, you know, when it comes out a little slurry it, it doesn't work as well. [laughs] S- so you get to- This fire is fine.
7:53
There's no problems here, chief. [laughs] Well, we know that Surly makes a bunch of different fatties. Um, what are you rocking right now that, uh, is making you happy in the fat world?
8:07
I am riding, uh, I'm lucky to be riding one of the Ice Cream Trucks, and it's, it's pretty cool. I actually haven't had it that long, only, uh, a couple of weeks. Yeah, we had to- And, uh, I am enjoying it...
8:18
we had to pry the one that you guys, we had to pry the one you guys lent us out of Colin's hands. He very, very begrudgingly gave it up. We've packed it into 16 separate cartons and are sending it back to you.
8:29
[laughs] Doesn't he do everything with a certain amount of begrudgement? Yes. [laughs] Begrudgocity. You should see the guy in the brewery, completely naked except for a loincloth, brewing beer.
8:42
[laughs] I sh- I should see that? [laughs] I've seen it in my dreams, let's put it that way. Oh, boy. Well, so, uh, tell us about the Ice Cream Truck. Uh, you know, it, it's, it's a lot of fun. It...
8:55
You know, Surly, as you know, we, we didn't invent the fight, uh, the fat bike. We didn't invent the fight. [laughs] We didn't invent the fat bike. Uh, some other people did.
9:03
We actually invented the bicycle, uh, which not many people know about. Um- Well, thanks for that- So-... because a lot of people enjoy bikes... yeah, you're welcome.
9:10
But, uh, you know, I've sort of ridden, I've been around for the whole thing from Pugsley to, uh, to Moonlander to now Ice Cream Truck, and, uh, and I was, I was one of those guys...
9:20
No, I'm, I'm one of the old guys at Surly and, and I, I don't like change and I like things, like, the way they are. I think everyone should still be riding a one by one with, with cantilever brakes, you know?
9:31
Like, I'm that guy. [laughs] Um, but, but, uh, we got some guys now that do, that ride way better than we do in the sense that they can launch off of things and, and get, I think the kids call it rad. Um- There you go.
9:45
I've seen- And- I've seen Andy get rad... my, my radness has waned decades ago. But, uh, so they design all this stuff with, you know, sort of modern geometry and it's...
9:54
At first, you know, we make fun of them ruthlessly, and then the bike shows up and we're like, "Damn, [laughs] that thing is awesome." So I don't know, the Ice Cream Truck is one of the...
10:02
You know, it's a lot like the Krampus, a lot like the Instigator in the sense that, you know, you point it downhill and it feels like, uh, I feel like I know what I'm doing now, which, uh, it's taken a long time to get to.
10:13
And, you know, that's, uh, that's awesome. It's, it, it, it is a different beast entirely than Moonlander, Pugsley, all that sort of stuff.
10:21
It doesn't mean that those aren't awesome, 'cause [laughs] we'll still be selling those, uh- You can still get one. Well, you can still get one, but, uh, but it, this, it's a whole different kind of fun. And it's...
10:32
You know, it is a trail bike as opposed to, you know, a snow bike, which we sort of never called the Moonlander, Pugsley anyway. But I don't know, man, it's just, it's a different, different beast and I love it.
10:42
So this series is kind of about how inside industry guys set up their bikes. Ah. So you're probably riding a pretty early prototype. Can I, can I ask you, like, what did you throw on there for a drivetrain? Um, I...
10:58
You know, the, there's a couple of things that, uh, you know, you're, you're kind of limited to this is what you gotta pick. Our crank obviously is the, the one that fits in it- Mm-hmm...
11:08
since it's the, the internal, uh, press-in bottom bracket, and then it works with the Moonlander spindle length style crank. So it's an OD crank on there.
11:17
And then if you're gonna use the thru axle stuff, you do have to use the Shimano direct mount 10-speed thru axle compliance, uh, rear derailleur. So it's an SLX that's on there.
11:29
But it does have that little switch, I'm looking at it right now, and it goes on and off- Okay... and I love that- Is that the clutch?... little shadow thing. The shadow, yeah. The little clutchy, clutchy whatnot. Yeah.
11:39
You know, I'm, I'm totally down with the, with all the terminology. So, uh, it's, it's a 10-speed with two up front and then an XG, you know, uh, high mount direct front derailleur.
11:49
Uh, your standard SLX shift Rs, and then, uh, some Hayes, Hayes brakes. What the hell are they on the, on the stand up? Mart? Oh. [laughs] Hayes. Did you just let out air, Sav? [laughs] Choked or tail. Choked or tail.
12:02
Yeah, they stop me. Cool. And are, do you run, uh, Bud and Lou on there? Uh, you know what? I'm actually running, uh, the Big Fat Larrys right now just as a, uh, as a sort of how is this.
12:13
The, uh, Bud and Lou, obviously, uh, traction action, but, uh- And massage action... some riders like to just move a little lighter weight set of meats on there, and it's, it's fun both ways. I mean, obviously you...
12:24
You know, it's, it's sort of the same as, as on a Moonlander where, uh, you know, the traction you get from the Bud and Lou is remarkably weird- Yeah... and fun.
12:32
And then, uh, you know, the Big Fat Larry's just a little bit lighter and I wanna just kind of see how that thing goes on, on our trails and, and go it does. [laughs] Sounds good.
12:42
Well, it sounds you're really, like you're really close to a stock build on that sucker. It, it really is.
12:46
I mean, it's, uh, um, you know, it's the through axle hubs, the Salsa hubs and, and all that sort of stuff which [laughs] again, "Hey, Sav, you wanna learn how to run all this stuff?" "Yeah, uh, okay."
12:58
[laughs] Um, but it is, it's pretty stock. Salsa, stem and bar and, and, uh, all that stuff. I did, I did indulge in a dropper post for the first time in my life, which is hilarious. [laughs] Badass.
13:10
Is that, uh, a Reverb? [laughs] Uh, I went with the Infusion. Ah, okay. Which is, uh... It's actually pretty cool, you know? It goes up, it goes down. Yeah, I've heard good things about it.
13:20
Uh, I've only had it a couple of days so I, I cannot comment on its awesomeness other than it, it set up pretty easy. Very good. Well, that's, uh, good information about the bike.
13:29
Maybe I can check that out, um, at SaddleDrive 'cause I'm actually gonna be out there for that fantastic event- Oh... in Utah. Are you gonna be there with this particular bike? Uh, nobody...
13:40
They don't let me go to Utah unless it's wintertime anymore for some reason.
13:43
[laughs] Uh, I was, I was out there for the, uh, they had the Fat Bike Summit last winter and, uh, I, I, uh, I lost the straw, didn't draw the straw to go out this summer so, uh- Cool...
13:53
yeah, I gotta wait- Well, I, I do get over to the Corona now and again so hopefully I can get a look at it. We, uh, we do have, uh...
13:59
The nice thing about the prototype process too is that you, you sort of get to pick your color and mine is kind of a, a barfy, uh, green.
14:06
But the, uh, the good point is that I had a, a, uh, a pack of old Instigator stickers, like the giant Surly logo and the, all that stuff from way back in the day so I put those on there and I think it looks fetching personally.
14:20
Oh, man. [laughs] Well, you're gonna have to send us a little snapshot. Get out that, uh, flip phone- I'll, I'll take a new snapshot... and take a picture for us. Cool. Wait, did that... That got gross, didn't it?
14:31
[laughs] It's all right. We can take it. [laughs] So thanks for joining the show there, Sav. It's really good to talk with you.
14:38
I, you know, I've, I've never been happier in my life to, to talk, uh, for any length of time. And it's even was a totally G-rated performance, which surprised me. I know. Wow.
14:47
[laughs] Well, you know, I, uh, I'm, I'm hanging around with a six-year-old these days and I'll [laughs] mostly what we... He did write a story though, I can tell you, uh, about, [laughs]
14:57
about Poop Man and the Big Penis so- Oh, right on... if you, I'll, I'll, uh, I'll project print that out later and send it to you. Make sure that Facebook hears about it. Yeah, yeah. It's g- it's good stuff.
15:07
That's a, that's a proud, proud moment on the, what is the- [laughs]... second to the eve of Dad's Day. I, I kind of- All right, man. Well, thanks for talking to us. All right. Much pleasure, guys. Arrivederci, Sav. Bye.
15:19
[laughs] Sav is such a great guest. We'll have to have him back again sometime soon. Arigato gozaimashita, Sava-san.
15:26
[laughs] Next up, we're serving up a heaping helping of fat bike love in the Test Kitchen, but first, a word from our sponsors. One taste and you'll agree.
15:37
You can't find a more fresh, flavorful, first-quality product than Texas Pete Hot Sauce. Texas Pete makes history with every batch.
15:47
Try mixing Texas Pete with melted butter as a dipping sauce for your next order of shrimp and you'll agree nothing wakes up food like Texas Pete. texaspete.com You're tuned to Fat Bike Radio.
16:03
Hi, this is Tim with Reed Cycles. When I'm not building fat bikes, I'm listening to Spin and Gomez on Fat Bike Radio and drinking Oskar Blues beer. Yee-haw. [laughs] Let the good times roll.
16:17
Welcome to the Fat Bike Kitchen. With hot links. Thanks, Colin. You bring chaos from harmony.
16:26
Yeah, first up in the links this week, Gomez uncovered, um, a link at the Soma blog, Soma Fabrications blog, about the new Battle Axe fat bike. Check out a link in the show notes for information on that new fat bike.
16:40
Hey, we count ourselves lucky, very lucky, to be part of this fatbike.com radio community because it allows us to meet some really cool cats from all over the world.
16:49
From the Pacific Northwest, that would be Wade Whitmire. And Wade has a really cool event that's going on in, uh, in September out on the beaches of Washington State.
17:01
So I, uh, rang him up on the phone this week to talk to him about his event so you can put this on your calendar and maybe roll out there. Aloha, Ward. What's up?
17:12
Oh, just hanging out in Washington State here, thinking fat thoughts and, uh, looking forward to getting back over to the coast real soon. Nice. So share with our listeners your fourth annual Ocean Shores meetup.
17:27
Well, a few years ago, a few of us from around the Pacific Northwest that had met on the web, uh, one way or another, uh, decided we should get together for some beach riding and a little beer drinking and, uh, food eating, checking out each other's bikes.
17:41
You know, general fat bike fun. Oh, yeah. And, uh, this will be the fourth installment of that gathering. Nice. What's this year's dates? This year the meet will be the weekend of September 27th and 28th
17:57
and, uh, with the, uh, main group ride, as always, set for Saturday morning. So maybe share with someone who's thinking they might wanna come what are these rides like?
18:09
Well, the main ride on Saturday is, uh, basically all about getting a bunch of fat bikers together down on the beach and, uh, playing all day long.
18:19
Uh, we'll start out as a group all together and, uh, chat as we roll up the beach a bit.
18:24
But, uh, inevitably there will be faster riders that wanna pick up the pace a bit and cover some miles and, uh, likewise, uh, riders that wanna take it easy and ride more of a beachcomber pace.
18:35
So, uh, typically we'll spread out along the beach, uh, after a few miles. Nice. I'm, I'm in that beachcomber category. [laughs] That's the great thing about an out and back beach ride.
18:48
The faster riders will meet back up with the slower riders on the way back.
18:53
Then we'll all meet up later, uh, at, in the afternoon at Bennett's Fish Shack for the best fish and chips and burgers on the coast, and in my humble opinion, possibly the best fish taco on the planet, and a fine selection of beers and ales on tap, of course.
19:08
Oh, fish taco throwdown for, uh, maybe the Baja Mexico crowd. Well, thanks, Ward. Sounds like a lot of fun, man. Good luck with the event. My pleasure, Gomez. Thanks for having me on.
19:21
I'll have to get you guys out here someday. Cheers, everybody. Love the show. Keep up the good work. Take care, Ward.
19:28
You can find more information about the fourth rendition of the Ocean Shores Gathering by clicking the event link in the show notes. Sounds like a good event.
19:37
If you missed doing a full moon beach ride like the folks at Zuzu Pedals in Port Washington did last night, where they caught the peak of the illumination of the full moon, you still got a 98% full moon tonight.
19:48
So get out there and enjoy it while it lasts.
19:51
Hey, I talked with Teresa from Ventana this week and she told me that the owner of Ventana, Sherwood, is working on a fat tandem for he and his wife, and that he's dreaming up a Ventana Mountain Bikes USA dual suspension fatty.
20:06
Ah, a mouthful. He, uh, he's working on a 29-plus, I think. It hasn't quite made its way out of his head onto a drawing table yet, but, uh, we have some pretty cool stuff to look forward to from Ventana. Can you imagine
20:21
a fat or 29-plus Ventana dually? [laughs] Or a fat tandem dually. Check out the link in the show notes.
20:30
Hey, I also spoke with Jim DeGrazia at Jade Cycles and he told me that he's in production with a full carbon fat bike frame and fork that will sell under his Whisper Cycles brand. Whisper.
20:45
He's, uh, currently making a batch of 17 and 19-inch frames that should be on shore in time for this winter. Jim said the 19-inch frame should weigh in at about 1,200 grams. What does that even mean? Grams.
20:59
What are, what are grams? What are grams? That's our show for this week. Thank you all for tuning in to the Weekly Dose of Fat. Hit me up and give me the straight dope, yo.
21:09
[laughs] Or share what you'd like to see covered in our upcoming issues. If you'd like to make a guest appearance on the Weekly Dose of Fat, contact us at
[email protected]
and we'll see what we can do.
21:22
Hey, and we'd like to offer a big bucket of gratitude to our sponsor and big toe, Surly Bikes. Makers of rad shit like the new Ice Cream Truck. As well as the Pugsley, Moonlander, Krampus, and 1x1.
21:37
Thanks again to our special guest, Eric Sovereign, and be sure to tune in next week when we welcome Bill Lewis from 907 to the radio program. This week's contest was guessing the weight of Gomez's three dogs.
21:54
The winner is Joseph DeBernardo with a guest of, with a guest, a guess of 319 pounds. They were actually 316 pounds and some change. Wow. Coulda shaved off a little hair. So what do they win, Sven? A Surly Gnarred Tire.
22:11
A Borealis Fat Bikes shot glass. A Hed carbon fiber bottle opener. A Fat Bike Rah Rah limited edition Fugly embroidered cycling cap. A Fat Bike black ops patch and a New Holland brewing pint glass.
22:25
And some industrial strength Groovy Vibes. Groovy. [laughs] All Joseph has to do is contact us at
[email protected]
and we'll send out your bonus prize package. Well, that's it, folks. Thanks for listening.
22:42
See you next week. Metal! [upbeat music] Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay. [laughs] You've been listening to Fat Bike Radio's Weekly Dose of Fat. Find us on the web at fat-bike.com/radio.
23:00
We'll see you next time.
23:02
[upbeat music]
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