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Full Spectrum Cycling
Weekly Dose of Fat – 6-21-14 – with Kevin Breitenbach – Radio Show #9
Jun 21, 2014
Weekly Dose of Fat – 6-21-14 – with Kevin Breitenbach – Radio Show #9
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0:00
One, two, one, two. Is this shit on? This is the Weekly Dose of Fat for Saturday, June 21st, 2014, show number nine.
0:10
[upbeat electronic 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.
0:44
Welcome to the radio program. This is Sven. And this is Uncle Gomez. Beaming to you around the globe on the fatbike.com radio network. Why is Surly Bikes our show sponsor? Because we said so.
0:59
The good folks at Surly wish you happy trails. [speaks foreign language] Every visit to surlybikes.com is like a warm, fuzzy internet hug. Look for Fat Bike Radio at the mall and stuff, and on the iTunes.
1:15
And look for us on Facebook and Twitter. Let's start the show by giving it up for the Fat Bike Radio band, and their leader, Chris Daisy. Chris isn't just a Fat Bike Radio band leader, he also runs the Zion Cyclery.
1:31
Hey, guys. [siren blaring] He's quite an artist as well. Don't we have a T-shirt in the pipeline that Chris did the art for? Yeah, Andy's doing the color separations on it now. Design is totally badass.
1:47
Plus, we're donating a portion of every order to CORBA, which is the local trail group that's building 14 miles of single track that'll be groomed for fat bikes in the winter over there in Kenosha County, eh?
2:00
That's at, uh, Silver Lake Park? Yeah. That's- Not too far from where I'm located right now. Right on. We're going to take pre-orders on this shirt design.
2:10
What's basically gonna happen is we're gonna open it up for 30 days. You're gonna be able to pre-order the shirt. We're gonna do one big batch of printing, and then we'll send them all out to you.
2:20
So all you gotta do is be patient, send in your money, and you'll get an awesome T-shirt. Yeah. This thing is cool looking, and it'll raise a little money for, uh, some new trails that Uncle Gomez gets to ride.
2:31
[laughs] Very good. [laughs] This week's contest was to guess where the, where in the world you were. So should we tell them your, uh, location right now? Eh, I don't know. Let's announce it later in the show.
2:43
Oh, such a tease. That's how we, uh, that's how we rig you in to listen to the rest of the show. Y- yeah, you're gonna have to wait till the end to find out.
2:52
So since I'm in, uh, Wisconsin and you're in the mysterious beach location X, how are we gonna handle the beer segment? Well, I guess we could just fake it with sound effects.
3:04
Well, I'm just gonna drink what's in the fridge. What do you got? Ah, sounds like a good idea. I'm drinking a Bell's Oberon from the dorm-sized fridge in my motel room. What are you drinking?
3:17
Well, last night, in anticipation of today's show, I have to say I made a special trip to the good liquor store across the border there in Illinois, and I picked up a four-pack of Ayinger Celebrator. It's a doppelbock.
3:34
It's the beer that comes with a little toy goat on every bottle. [laughs] Again with the goats and the beer. You gotta love it. Ready to do 'em? Let's do it. [bottles opening] [laughs] All right. Cheers.
3:51
Cheers. Eh, where's Colin when we need him? Yeah. Where's all that... I can't believe we let him get away with... He said some sort of flowery [laughs] thing last week.
4:05
When I listened to the show, I was like, "I can't believe we let him get away with saying, like-" [laughs]... fragrant bouquet.
4:11
Fragrant bouq- I was, I thought he was just reading the label, but the eye had him, if I remember correctly. Uh, exactly. Yep. So yeah. I just, I was thinking about this Oberon.
4:20
It's, it's a beer I drink pretty often, uh, especially in the summer. It's got a little citrusy taste to it and is, it's kind of a good one for quaffing when you're a little bit parched.
4:30
But, you know, I'm hundreds if not a thousand miles away from the brewery. And, you know, the brewery is really just across the lake from where I live, but I, I, I've sought it out here and I'm sucking one down.
4:42
Well, yeah, and I'm, I'm drinking a German beer from, uh, from Bavaria. Ayinger's this small, little, really old, old, old brewery in Bavaria. But the, uh, bocks are strong German lagers.
4:56
A doppelbock is an extra strong German lager. And that's why- Check... the, the label on this has, like, two, two really manly, like, on steroids goats. [laughs] Does it, is it higher alcohol content? Yeah.
5:13
Higher- As a doppelbock? Yeah. Higher alcohol and darker, and stronger. Stronger. Make you strong. This is how it get- You have to go all the way to, you have to go down into Illinois to get your German beer.
5:25
That's right. This will get me through the rest of the show. And on with the rest of the show. What have we got coming up? Next.
5:35
Next up on the Weekly Dose, we have this week's special guest, world record holder and the winner of this year's 350 mile Iditarod Trail Invitational, Kevin Breitenbach.
5:46
But first, a message from our amigos from Borealis Fat Bikes. Hi, I'm Adam. And I'm Steve. And we're the guys that bring you Borealis Fat Bikes. Borealis is the industry leader in carbon fat frames and components.
5:58
And we designed our new Borealis Echo frame to work perfectly with the RockShox Bluto fork, and we hope you get to try one soon Check us out and all of our products at borealisbikes.com.
6:07
And please visit us at one of our upcoming demo events for free rides and to drink some beer. You're tuned to Fat Bike Radio. Hi, this is Eric from Surly. Beanbag chairs, lava lamps, pintos.
6:24
Those things and more on Fat Bike Radio with Gomez instead. Welcome back. Last week, Gomez got ITI champ Kevin Breitenbach on the telephone for a little chat about his Fatback Corvus.
6:36
So, ladies and gentlemen, please give a big round of applause and a big Fat Bike Radio hug to Senor Kevin Breitenbach. [cheering] Kevin, how are you, bro?
6:54
It's been a long time. I'm doing pretty good. How you doing, Gomez? Doing really good. So- Excellent... wanted to congratulate you on winning the ITI and setting a new record. Man, that's unbelievable.
7:08
It's, [laughs] I was thinking today, it's like, it's hard to believe that the 350 mile winner of the ITI is the, is like, the sprinter. [laughs] It, it, it was a bit like a sprint. Uh, yeah, no, I appreciate that.
7:23
Thank you. I still am trying to kind of figure out how to, how to feel about that, that whole race. So yeah, it's been, it's something else.
7:32
Well, I, that's, that's kind of my, my first question is now that you've had a little time to have it soak in, uh, maybe you could tell our listeners how winning the Iditarod Trail Invitational and setting the new record has impacted you, uh, and maybe your family.
7:48
Um, you know, it's been, it has been a while, and I still, in all honesty, I've had a hard time really kind of wrapping my head around it.
7:56
I, I kind of ride bikes around with my daughter, or I'll go for bike rides with friends, and I'll think like, "Oh, this is what the guy that set the record on the ITI does for training."
8:05
And it's just weird to think that stuff, that kind of, uh, maybe I know something, but I, I really don't. I know next to nothing. Um- [laughs]...
8:13
but, uh, it, I g- I guess the way it's affected me and, um, is then suddenly people kind of care what I have to say, um, without even knowing me.
8:22
So, um, that kind of makes it a little intimidating that, uh, you know, people look to you for, for advice that sometimes you frankly don't believe, um, you've got the experience to give, so. Credibility of a champion.
8:35
That, that's true. That's true. But it's still, you know, I mean, I guess what's, you know, it's, it's fun still trying to feel like you can...
8:41
But there's, there's still so much that you don't know, and especially with that race, I, I think that, uh, you know, apparently I figured out how to race it in 2014, and I'm, I'm pretty...
8:52
I think I'm already concerned I have no idea what I'm doing for 2015. You know? [laughs] That's, that's the kind of race that is. It's, uh- Yeah, it's a monster...
8:58
it's a year to year sort of thing, and I was, I was fortunate enough to figure it out this past year. I can only imagine. Um, I- Yeah... I can only imagine. Maybe someday I'll get up there for that race, cheer you on.
9:10
I'll be that, I'll be that guy covered in- You'll be [laughs]... in furs [laughs] "You know, I saw Gomez like two days ago. That was awesome."
9:18
[laughs] Yeah, you'll still, it'll, you know, the, the sight of you will spur me on. That'll be good. [laughs] All of us. So I bet our, our, uh, listeners would love to hear about your Fatback Corvus Carbon.
9:30
Let me, uh, let me walk you through the systems and maybe you can tell them about your, uh, your race bike. Obviously it's a- Sure... it's a Fatback Corvus Carbon frame and fork, right? Yes. Yep. How- Full Fatback.
9:45
It's just, uh, yeah, full carbon frame, fork, and, uh, and hoops, so. Oh, nice. How the heck- Yep, yep... does Greg Matias get his bikes to ride so nice when they're loaded with gear? It's amazing.
10:00
Yeah, you know, I got on that bike, um, Greg got me that bike, uh, a couple, maybe three weeks or so before the race, and, um, going from titanium to, to, to Corvus, it was, it was a little bit of getting used to.
10:14
But, uh, leading up to the race the last couple weeks, I just rode with it loaded, and I mean, good Lord, yeah, it's, when,
10:21
you know, when those bikes are set up loaded, they, they kind of feel like riding a regular fat bike, you know, just bare bones. And, uh, I was... Carbon's magical, and um, I, I'm just thrilled to be on one.
10:35
I'm flattered to be on one. Cool. So. What are you using for a drive train on your, uh, on your race bike? I do, um, I, that was another thing to get, to get used to right before the race.
10:47
Uh, um, a little bit nerve-wracking, but it's so damn simple. I'm doing the, I'm doing XL one with a grip shift, and um, first time I did, uh, done one by 11, and uh, I love it. Yeah. Super simple.
10:58
I, I've ridden it here and there, and I really like it too. You know? And everyone seems to be, uh, just stoked with that setup. What do you, uh, what do you like to run for bar stem, seat post?
11:11
What's your favorite accoutrement there? My, my favorite are the ones that I own already. Those tend to be free. So, um, I just kind of swap, uh, bars and stem over.
11:22
I just had a, I've always run FSA SLK stuff, um, just carbon, um, uh, carbon seat posts, carbon, carbon handlebars, keep things, keep the cold out and um, keep the vibrations down.
11:34
So that's kind of what I've always run, just zero offset seat posts and like an 80 mil stem. What tires did you run for the ITI? Um, Dillinger, which were, oh man, those were the way to go this year, so. Cool. Yeah.
11:48
Uh, an- anyone that was in Alaska this, this past winter knows how valuable those tires can be. Oh, man, I, and I saw so many Dillingers when I was in Alaska. We hardly see any here- Lucky... in the Midwest.
12:01
Yeah, it, it was, it was unreal. There was a photo that went around, Tim Burnston out on Slattman Lake.... at Shop of Fury.
12:11
I think within a week of that picture going out, I sold something like 12 sets of Dillinger's, and they were going, they just sold out everywhere.
12:18
Um, they were, you know, even 2013 and stuff they weren't around much, but gosh they were sure useful up in the state this year. Cool. And are you running Fatback hubs on that, on your wheels? Uh- On your carbon wheels?
12:34
What's that? What kind of hubs are you running on your wheels? Um, yeah, I'm running Fatbacks. Uh, so it's all 190. Um, and so I'm running their, uh, Hadley hubs, which are, oh God, they're sex for years.
12:47
They're fantastic. [laughs] Nice. So, um, always... I had those set up on my Ti Fatback, and now it's great to have them on the, the Corvus too. And you, uh, you used
12:57
some of, uh, our buddy Tup Tup's new bags, Becker Sewing and Design bags on your championship bike, right? I did. I did, yeah.
13:05
Um, Tupper, you know, Jeff Oatley and I got those bikes in town, and I think within three days Tupper had us, um, frame bags, and, uh, the more time I've had with that bag...
13:18
Now there, there's, you know, Greg designed that frame so that the triangle was just huge and, and it is. With my 18-inch frame, I can fit 18 beers in my frame bag. Nice.
13:28
And, um, man, that's a party bike if you want it to be. [laughs] So. Very good. But yeah, Tupper makes, he makes great stuff, and he does a lot of things for Jeff and I up here, and it's always appreciated.
13:37
He's a great guy. Yeah. I, I really like Tupper. Someday, someday we're gonna meet. We'll, uh, we'll all three- Oh... we'll all three go to the brewery there in Fairbanks someday.
13:47
Well, if you're up for single speeds, I thought I, I thought I heard you were gonna be up for Single Speed World Championships in Anchorage, so maybe I'll try and get him to go down to that. Well, that'll be awesome.
13:55
I think he'll be down there. Cool. Um- Yep... I just got a couple more questions. How old were you when you started riding fat bikes? Gosh, I, I just started riding...
14:04
I had, uh, I got my titanium Fatback, I, it was actually Jeff Oatley's old one, um, back in two thou- just in 2012. Um, so I was kind of late to the game of fat bikes for considering Fairbanks.
14:17
Um, but I've been, you know, Fairbanks is basically eight months of the year winter, so I've been winter riding since about 2002, 2002, 2003. Um- Got you... and, uh, I did a lot of races.
14:30
I did a number of races just on a regular 26-inch mountain bike and then a 29er, and then, um, I kind of fell into a good group of guys with Greg and Jeff, and, um, Greg set me up with Jeff's old Fatback and man, I never looked back.
14:45
That's cool. So when you first started racing, who were the guys that maybe you looked up to or emulated? You know what I, I, the first race I did was back in '09.
14:55
Um, I did the, the Susitna 100, and I got spanked, I mean, just mentally and physically and e- everything about it.
15:03
Um, I think Greg, Greg won that year, and I think he beat me by almost 30 hours, and I just didn't have a clue what I was doing, and I didn't really know anyone in the scene.
15:12
Um, after that though, really, you know, Jeff Oatley's up here in Fairbanks, and I started, I got the chance to ride with him a couple times and just try and soak up everything I could from him, and since then we've just become great friends over the past four or five years and, you know, I was fortunate to have someone like him around to, to- Yeah...
15:31
to kind of explain how things work really regularly. So, um, you know- Hmm... that's been a, that's been probably one of my biggest assets period with winter racing, is having Jeff around.
15:40
Yeah, what a great resource to have right in your own town, in your backyard, on the same, on the same kind of bike and whatnot, so- Yeah... very cool.
15:48
You know, there, yeah, the, there's a ride that I went on this past winter about a month before the ITI, and it was, uh, it was me and Jeff and Tim Burnston and Heather Bast.
15:59
We were all out for a ride for about a 90-mile ride, and I've looked back on a picture from that ride and been like, "Damn, like, how do I fall in with these sort of people?"
16:08
You know, it's kind of, um, sometimes you're just fortunate. Yeah. So. Yeah, yeah. And Tim is such a nice guy, man. So- Oh, it, it's ridiculous. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.
16:18
Um, what's your favorite thing to do when you're not on the bike? Gosh, that's a great question. Uh, I hang out with my daughter a ton.
16:24
I've got, she just turned six years old, and she'll be super proud to tell you that constantly. [laughs] That's cute.
16:29
Um, so her, it's kind of, she's kind of my life outside off of a bike, and even when I'm on a bike we, we kind of ride bikes kind of together. That's the,
16:38
you know, I, I think probably along with a lot of your listeners, you know, I have a hard time actually not thinking about being on a bike. So, uh, other than that I'm just a dad mostly.
16:47
I split firewood and I hang out with my girl and, and that's that. Yeah, that's a, that's a beautiful thing, man.
16:53
I see, I see the photos of you and your daughter with her on the tag-along, and it looks like you're having a great time. Oh man, she's rad. Yeah, whenever she goes to dad she's like, "I'm not hurt. Don't worry.
17:03
I'm not complaining." Like, she just wants to ride more and more, and, um, it's exciting to see, you know?
17:08
Like, you just, when you're riding bikes around with a little kid, you really remember why you ride bikes, just because it's been fun since day one, you know? Like- Hell yeah...
17:16
four years old and you can think back to it, and I, I, you know, speaking for myself, I just don't honestly think much has changed for me since that [laughs], so. Absolutely. There you go, folks.
17:25
The winner of the ITI rides for fun. Okay. Yeah, well, what a crazy concept. Yep. [laughs] Rides for fun and rides for speed too, but- Well, that's fun too.
17:37
I mean, usually the faster you go, the more fun it ends up being. Yeah. So, you know, there's, there, there's that. Yeah.
17:42
I used to joke that I, I started race- I really started racing when my daughter was born, and people would ask me why I raced and I was just like, "Well, I got a daughter and my latest are at home, and they want me to be back as fast as I can be, so I figured I'd start racing."
17:55
[laughs] It's a way to get out for as long as you can and go as fast as you can, so. Well, right on. Well, I appreciate you coming on the show.
18:03
We'll, uh, we'll have to hook up and go for a little ride and have some beers in July at the World Championships. Yep. Single Speed World Championships. Yeah, that'd, that'd be great. Thanks for the call, Gilman.
18:12
Yeah, I'll be down in, I'll be down going across the Midwest in August too, so maybe we can hook up down there and drink some beers, but, um- Talk to you as always, and I, I really appreciate the call No problem at all.
18:23
All right, thanks, Kevin. You're tuned to Fat Bike Radio. Hi, this is Paul Ellis from Pent Cycling, and our company dogs listen to Sven and Gomez on Fat Bike Radio. These dogs howl at Gomez like he's our mailman.
18:40
[smooth instrumental music] You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? Sarma's got a set of wheels in the pipeline for us to test.
18:54
It's their Niran 100 millimeter carbon rim, laced to the Sarma 190 and 135 hubs. And that's on the heels of this week's announcement, premiered on fatbike.com, about the first carbon 29 plus rim.
19:12
Excellent. Uh, Stans came out with their Hugo rim this week, called the Hugo 52 for a 52 millimeter wide profile. We saw the prototype way back at Interbike.
19:23
In fact, [gentle instrumental music] word from, uh, Bob, the sales manager at Stans, was that it was so important to Stan himself that he was at Interbike specifically to talk about that rim and get feedback on it.
19:35
They went back to the, uh, labs and m- modified and improved the rim and, and now they released it at press camp just this past week. We put up a story yesterday on the site about it.
19:45
Uh, interesting thing about it is it's initially, as soon as it comes out, it's gonna be available in 26 inch, 27.5, or 650B for you old folks, and 29er, again, or 700C for you old folks.
20:00
Uh, word from Bob is it will be available in October. Look for a link to the article in the show notes. So Niner introduced this week a steel 29 plus bike called the ROS 9+.
20:14
That bike was wearing a set of those Stans Hugo rims and a set of Surly Nards. You know, I, uh, I ride a steel Niner MCR 29er bike.
20:27
If the 29 plus rides like that sweet steel bike, then that could be something very good. Wearing Surly Nards. Does anyone else think we need a wider variety of 29 plus tires? Well, they're coming.
20:43
The rumor mill is beginning to churn and it's just [laughs] summer's just started, so look for a lot more coming down the pike. Ah, the interwebs.
20:52
Well, I'll tell you this, our lead story next week on the site is an introduction to Mood Men. They're from Fort Collins. I'll be stopping out there on my trip, by the way, in, uh, about a month.
21:03
Yeah, they mentioned that, uh, you should ping them, but they're going to Single Speed World, so you gotta get there on, uh, a day early or something. You bet. All right.
21:13
Colin also is gonna lay down a review of the Truck next week, and later in the week, Andy provides his two cents on the Echo. That's all next week at bcsportas.com.
21:25
My crystal ball is telling me about some big news coming from 45 North and Frame Bikes as well. Oh, yeah. Well, that's our show this week. Thank you all for tuning in. The Weekly Dose of Fat is sponsored by Surly Bikes.
21:43
Surly Bikes are available at better bicycle retailers across 'Merica. And around the globe. Visit them at Surly Bikes dot com. Surly Bikes dot com. Yeah, that was very beautiful.
21:59
[laughs] This week's contest was guessing where the hell Sven, that's me, was for the show taping, and Darryl Gillespie from Kingston, Ontario, Canada, guessed Brevard, North Carolina. Pretty close.
22:14
I'm actually on Cape Cod in North Truro, and he's this week's big winner. Go Canada. What does he win, Sven? [laughs] A Borealis Fat Bikes T-shirt. A fatbike.com Black Ops patch and secret decoder ring.
22:30
An ultra swank Head carbon fiber and steel bottle opener. A Vee Tire Bulldozar, 120 TPI folding bead badass mofo tire. A Yeti Von Evil sticker. A belch.
22:50
[laughs] You're supposed to burp there, but [laughs] I've lost the, I've lost the ability to burp on, on, uh, on cue. Oh, okay. Oh, there you go. A Belch Gear pint glass.
23:01
[laughs] A Milwaukee Messenger Invitational T-shirt, size extra large. And a fabulous limited edition One Up USA can koozie, autographed by your fatbike.com hosts, Sven und Gomez.
23:17
All of these prizes delivered right to your door as part of our special prize package, worth about a half a dozen goats. Congratulations, Darryl.
23:29
All Darryl has to do is contact us at
[email protected]
and we'll send out your bonus prize package.
23:39
So now that you all know where I am, give me a few days, maybe a week or two, and I'll be writing up several stories on the s- site about where I've been.
23:47
I've learned, among other things, that rain is good for research, things may get worse for fat biking in some areas before they get better, and having a friend named Bob is a good thing. Bob. Bob.
23:59
Thanks to everyone for listening, and thanks to Kevin Breitenbach for being our guest. Excellent. Thanks, Kevin. See you guys next week. Later, dudes. Bye. You've been listening to Fat Bike Radio's Weekly Dose of Fat.
24:16
[upbeat instrumental music] Find us on the web at fat-bike.com/radio. We'll see you next time.
24:26
[upbeat instrumental music]
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