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Full Spectrum Cycling
Weekly Dose of Fat – Halloween Edition- Scott Chambers Interview – 10-31-14 – Show #28
Oct 31, 2014
Weekly Dose of Fat – Halloween Edition- Scott Chambers Interview – 10-31-14 – Show #28
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Transcript
0:01
This is the Weekly Dose of Fat, numero vente ocho.
0:11
[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.
0:35
Hey, this is Sven. That there's Gomez over there. [laughs] Welcome to the show. Thanks for tuning in. Joining us in the studio today is Superfly JK Livett. All right. What's up, JK? Hey. Hey. What's happening?
0:50
And today we have the honor to introduce The Zion Cyclery Orchestra, conducted by Sir Christopher Daisy. Hey, guys. [upbeat music] Our show is sponsored by Surly Bikes. Get a Surly bike and ride it however you wanna.
1:06
Learn more about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and bicycles at surlybikes.com. So what's on the today's show, J-Roc? Eh? Eh? Nothing. Nothing.
1:19
Scott Chambers from the Great Lakes Fat Bike Race Series is here to tell us about this year's lineup of the best races in the upper Midwest.
1:26
Got some fat tandem news, and we drink some beer prescribed by our new beer shaman, julio.com. Welcome to the beer segment of today's show. Let us decant our beer. [laughs] Do, do, do, do, dum. Where is that thing?
1:44
Where is it? We actually are in the, uh, Fat Bike Radio cooler today. Deep in the bowels of the cooler. All the way from Illinois [cans clanging] comes beer made in Minneapolis. Here comes Drewer. Oh, beer in cans.
2:01
I already like it. It's, uh, beer prescribed by julio.com, who, uh, lives down in Grays Lake, Illinois, in a Castle Grayskull. [laughs] All righty.
2:18
It does say that it's beer in a can [can clatters] for the glass, though. I know we're supposed to pour this, but we're, we're gonna pour it into my mouth. [laughs] Beer first. [laughs] Oh, it's dripping.
2:36
[sighs] Well, I, I always taste grapefruit. What's wrong with me? [laughs] Where are my apricots? [laughs] Need me apricots. There will- Oh... there will be no apricots in this beer for you today. I know. There's not.
2:48
You know what's crazy? Only death. A year ago, I probably would've spit this out and cried like a baby at a beer this bitter. [laughs] But I can sorta drink this now. It's got a nice finish at that does...
3:00
takes away some of the bitterness when it's kinda going away at the end of the old swallow there. So this one, this one, uh, has a beer advocate rating of 96. Uh, I'm- The-... I think I'm the fourth to work it.
3:15
[laughs] Wah. That's [laughs] pretty impressive. Four people out of 100 are stupid- [laughs]... and don't like this beer. [clears throat] Eh, I'm good with it. Yeah. All right.
3:30
It's a little too strong for Uncle Gomez's sweet candy tongue. [laughs] Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. [laughs] Oh, beer up the nose. No. Woo. Saved. Saved. Oh. Saved. [laughs] That would've made good radio, seeing that. I know.
3:48
[laughs] This beer has, uh, 6.2% alkahoozie, so you can look forward to us tripping on our words later. [laughs] And, uh- Crimson-hued ale... [laughs] Yep, I'd like to see it in a glass, I just don't have one handy.
4:04
And it comes in cans, and it's made in Minneapolis, and it's called Surly, so, uh, check it out. Surly Furious. Furious. I'm furious- Your American IPA... that we don't have a 12-pack of this. We only have these.
4:17
So we'll be back with our special guest, the ultra-sharp Scott Chambers, right after this message from Antioch Fine Wine & Liquors.
4:29
Where can you find the best beer selection in Illinois, Wisconsin, right of there on the DMZ, JK? Antioch Fine Wine & Liquors invites you to visit their beer specialist, Rick Tramke.
4:41
Rick helped all of us out with his yikes beer b- b- b- [laughs] B- b- b- beer solution, baby. [laughs] And he can do the same for you. [laughs] Antioch Liquor is located at 173 and 83 in Antioch, Illinois.
4:58
You can visit their website at antiochwine.com. You're tuned to Fat Bike Radio. This is Danny degrees from 45 North. When I'm not ripping groomed winter single track, I'm listening to Fat Bike Radio.
5:13
Hey, welcome back to the program. We've got Scott Chambers from the Great Lakes Fat Bike Race Series here on the show. Welcome to the show, Scott. Hi. Thanks for having me. Yeah. Good, good to have you, too.
5:25
I know, uh, that the Great Lake Fat Bike Series has been going on for a few years now. Can you give us a little bit of the, the history of the series and, uh, where you think it's headed?
5:34
Well, I started the series three years ago after seeing fat bike races popping up around the Great Lakes region. I, I live in Lower Michigan, and, um- Down there in the 616, folks...
5:47
I think as much as, or more than any other state, there's, there were races, about five years ago, that just started to happen. A lot of them were kind of small.
5:55
And, uh, a few years ago, I thought, "Well, you know, I'm involved in a local race here in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Um, there's some other r-...
6:04
interesting races going on and we needed a little bit of help cross-promoting them to try to give people a, you know, an idea or an umbrella to, to know what the top races were and to, and just to try to get more people out to them.
6:17
So the first year we, we had, I think, five events. Um, one of them wasn't even really a fat bike race, it was just fat bike category at a gravel road race.
6:26
Last year, I think the, the series really turned into something really substantial. Uh, we added events and all of the races last year were, were fat bike only events at great venues with great promoters.
6:40
And then this year we're, we're doing, um, a very, very similar schedule to last year and I expect the eight events on our schedule this year to be even bigger than they were last year.
6:52
You mentioned that there are fat bike only events now. Are you, um, doing anything with 29 plus or are these strictly like 3.8 sized fat bikes and larger?
7:02
Well, for the, the series, um, and scoring for the series overall, we do have a 3.7 inch tire width rule. Okay.
7:12
Um, I, I personally am a promoter of just one of the eight events, Farmer's Fat Bike Race in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and we have a similar rule for our event.
7:21
Now, um, a couple of the, the other races in the, the last year or two have allowed other tire widths.
7:29
When I drew up the original rules for the series, and each of the last two years I've talked with the promoters about updating the series, and we've all kind of agreed to stick to that tire size.
7:42
Um, and to be honest with you, I've only had really in the last two years for my own event, I think I've only had maybe two people, um, come to us and inquire about the, about narrower tire widths.
7:54
Yeah, I remember- So right now I don't see, I don't see that as a big, uh, need, but you know, if the, you know, the 29er plus thing were to kind of expand and grow and even change more, it could be something in the future.
8:08
Yeah, I remember the, the first Fat Bike Birkie they did where they actually allowed mountain bike width tires in and all I could remember from maybe the one or two of the guys that finished, which I think is all that got through there as mountain bikes, they said never again.
8:21
[laughs] So the- [laughs]... the, the wider, the wider tire. Yeah, last year, last year they didn't, they didn't do that. No, true. Uh, they had no, no trouble selling hundreds of entries for fat bike. Absolutely. No.
8:32
And so the, the Fat Bike Birkie is gonna be your season closing race, is that correct? Correct. Uh, March 7th in Cable, Wisconsin, that will be the series finale just like it was last year.
8:43
That's where we'll do the overall series awards and give away, uh, prize money and some swag. Is, uh, is Jordan gonna win it again this year or has he got some competition coming up?
8:53
Well, I think there's plenty of competition. Um- [laughs]... you know, if you look at the individual races last year, um, there's some fast, fast, uh, men and women getting into some of these events.
9:06
But you know, the real, the real thing with the series overall is that it, it's a, it's an endurance series [laughs]
9:14
not, not necessarily every individual event's an endurance event, but the, you know, the, the person who wins the series has to do well in a lot of races. Sure.
9:23
Um, the men's overall last year, I think Jordan did five of eight. In the women's series there were two women that did seven of eight. Excellent.
9:33
So, um, if you look at the w- some of the women that were right behind the top two, they did very well in individual events, but they didn't have enough events in to get the points total, uh, up a little bit higher.
9:45
So I, I suspect that, you know, you c- we could see someone who is in the top three in most events and win the overall, and that's, that's really kind of the point of a point series.
9:56
It's, it's about kind of the long haul, who's the best over the, the whole thing. Sure. Are you doing anything specific to get the, uh, the number of women racing kind of up?
10:06
I know that there's been some pretty dominant women in the series. Are, are, are you doing anything specific to promote that, the women's portion of the racing?
10:14
Well, um, the, the most I think I can do as the director or promoter of the overall series as well as the promoter, uh, for Farmer's Fat Bike Race is offer equal prizes and payouts for those female categories.
10:31
So, um- Yeah, that's a big one... at my event we give out the same number of awards to the open women as the, the open men and, um, if we're giving away any prize money or trophies, it's the same for both.
10:43
And that's the case with the series as well. Very good. Um, we... I, I'm splitting for the series overall again this year $2,500 straight down the middle, uh, half to the top five men, half to the top five women.
10:54
So it's equal across the board. Good call. Um, and then we also, um, are gonna do some prize drawings like we did last year for a OneUp USA rack, um, a set of Sarma wheels.
11:07
Those types of prizes are gonna go to eligible racers who've done at least three events, and the men and the women have the same, have the same opportunity there to win those as well.
11:17
So I think that's about all I can do as a promoter. Now my wife does a lot of these races and she... and I can say fr- from what I see her doing, she's out there really trying to recruit women.
11:30
So I think a- as on a personal note, a lot of it's really about just getting people into the sport.
11:36
You know, getting people out on the trail, showing 'em how fun it is, um, getting 'em out to local bike shop product demos, bike demos, things like that. So I think all of us involved are, are already doing that.
11:48
Sounds good. Well, I hope you have a successful series. Maybe we can, um, touch base with you midway through or something and see how the, the series is going. We're always looking- Yeah...
11:57
we're always looking for guests to tell us what's happening out there in the real fat bike world. So I appreciate you being on the show this, today, and, uh, talk to you again soon. All right. Thanks for having me. Your
12:12
Fat Bike Radio. [whistles] This is your weekly dose of fat. Hey, welcome back to the radio program.
12:22
This week, uh, one of our correspondents, Ken Blakey Shell, pointed me at a, uh, at a link over there on the MTBR tandem board where they said, "Hey, Ventana is ready to come out with their fat tandem."
12:37
So- That would be sweet... we know some folks over there, so I chatted up Teresa at the home office and she confirmed that, uh, the El Gran Jefe is gonna be available at the end of November.
12:54
They're gonna have stops for, uh, Rohloff rear ends on there. There's gonna be a 170, 177 thru axle, 190, 197 thru axle option. They're gonna come in, uh, Grinch green or Mango Tango.
13:10
That's some pretty interesting stuff right there. Yeah. What are those things gonna cost? Uh, the 170 is $1,695 and the 190 is $1,995. Right. I don't think that includes a four.
13:22
Yeah, I was wondering what they would develop that around. Would it be like a Bluto or that wouldn't be heavy duty enough maybe? I don't know. Uh, they... The, the
13:31
MTBR, so this is unconfirmed, but comes from a big tandem dealer, uh, that posted over there. He has- So it's hearsay, right?
13:40
[laughs] Well, yeah, we just haven't confirmed that they said they were- Haven't independently confirmed this info... they were working on sources for a, for a four. Sure. So, um,
13:47
this is a big, beefy, aluminum, central Cali, USA made, Downieville, just- The bomb... the bomb.
14:00
Like, the best mountain tandem made in the USA has now their fat bike tandem in the works. End of November, and the first one is gonna be for Sherwood, and then the next one is going to this, uh, this dealer, so.
14:15
And your garage is third on the list? Uh, not me. [laughs] You've had your tandem experience already, huh? Yeah.
14:21
I, I had a Santana tandem that, uh, my wife and I rode for a while, but you know, she got tired of looking at my sweaty back. [laughs] Which is, that's, that's a good thing. That's probably a good thing.
14:34
So, uh, what else have we got going on here? I don't know. We've got a lot of stuff going on in the test kitchen. We're testing a lot of gear right now. Got Chronicles and Mammoths on the way from Maxxis. Maxxis.
14:46
Very good. We have, we have, uh, those in the, in the test route too. We've, uh, we've got those Chronicles up at, up in Michigan, and the Mammoths we have a set down in Illinois is being tested. Right. Sounds good.
15:02
We've got a bunch of these links. Check it out. What were you saying, uh... [laughs] Oh, the one link that I think is cool in here is this fat bike 18-wheeler.
15:12
It's a three-wheel bike from 1986 that, man, it really looks so similar, yet so different to the fat bikes that we ride. [laughs] Yeah. Yeah. That was an interesting... We'll have a picture of that on the, on the site.
15:28
Then you got, uh, you got the Salsa thing. Ooh. Yeah. And the Fat Pursuit. There's a bunch of sites- And JP-... out there that are kind of just discovering fat biking too.
15:37
It kind of happens every year about this time, where more mainstream news type sites start looking for stories, and fat bikes seem [laughs] to fit the bill, so. Yeah. That- Fat bikes are hot now.
15:48
I got interviewed by a, uh, a reporter that was doing something for The Washington Post. That, uh, yeah, that- Will we hear that any, anytime soon? Uh, probably not. [laughs] I told her I was from the planet Nomtron.
16:01
She didn't think that was funny. [laughs] Apparently- She even wanted to know... apparently she hasn't listened to the show. Please confirm, sir, are you an earthling?
16:09
[laughs] And then- I can neither confirm nor deny [laughs] that he's an earthling. So yeah. That pretty much covers it, I guess. [laughs] Yes, yes.
16:22
Thanks again to Surly for sponsoring the radio portion of today's broadcast. Surly has a bike for you, Jack, old Jill.
16:30
They might even put you in a fashionable pair of slacks, so lay down some wolf threads and change the way you look at storm clouds on the horizon, daddy-o. Check it all out, surlybikes.com. All right. [laughs] Yeah.
16:45
[laughs] See you all next time. Adios, amigos. Bye. [outro music] You've been listening to Fat Bike Radio's weekly dose of fat. Find us on the web at fat-bike.com/radio.
17:03
We'll see you next time.
17:05
[outro music]
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