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Weekly Dose of Fat Radio – Show #82 – Special Guest Max Wussler From The Snow Bike Festival in Gstaad!
Nov 27, 2015
Weekly Dose of Fat Radio – Show #82 – Special Guest Max Wussler From The Snow Bike Festival in Gstaad!
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0:00
Weekly Dose of Fat, show number 82 for Friday, November 27th, 2015.
0:06
[upbeat music] Please welcome the hosts of tonight's post-tryptophan-induced- Actually, pre-tryptophan...
0:24
discussion of all things fat bike with your hosts, Sven and Gomez. Great. Welcome to the show, everybody. Good evening, and welcome to the show.
0:38
[laughs] Please, ladies and gentlemens over there, welcome to our humble studio, Mr. JK Livin. Okay, I'm a little slow today. Figuratively switched to Sanka, so kind of free, free associating thing.
0:50
[laughs] So I might be doubling up my words with- You're apologizing in advance or something. Yes, yes Your, your words and conceptualization. Yes. [laughs] Well- I have put down the cigarette. [laughs] Yeah.
1:01
And it's making it... There's an anxiety guy [laughs] running around in here. So JK might not be his usual reserved and calm self. Exactly. Right. Little boisterous, maybe. [laughs] Who knows?
1:15
Hey, Fat Bike Radio and the Weekly Dose of Fat are sponsored by the Surly Bikes. This week's show is sponsored by the Ice Cream Truck Ops. Spinner is testing one right now. Hallelujah, brothers. Surly Bikes.
1:30
Learn more at surlybikes.com. Surly Bikes. Surly Bikes. That's what's, part of what's on this week's show is Surly Bikes. Surly Bikes. What else is going on this evening on the radio program?
1:41
We start the show with the event of the week. Yeah, the week. We welcome Max Wissler from the Snow Bike Festival of Gstaad. What, Switzerland? Switzerland. Switzerland. Schweizerland.
1:55
Next week's secret word will reveal itself at some point in the show. We award the first caller that names the Fat Bike Seven Dwarves from last week's show a fabulous prize package from- After-... Surly Bikes...
2:07
8:30 PM, call in to win 8:30 PM, yum, yum. We take calls from our listeners and maybe they'll drop the knowledge upon us. Knowledge.
2:17
We explore the polar ice caps of the Fatty Farm Field Report, brought to you today by Fatback Bikes of Alaska. And finally, inly, inly, inly- It's time for the Fat Bike Event of the Week...
2:31
the Event of the Week is Global Fat Bike Day around the globe. Globe. Globe. Globe. Globe. So we have a list. We have an event sheet here, and I'm gonna name off some of these crazy places all the way around the world.
2:47
Our man, you know, bike pack ribbon test pilot and our European Bureau Chief, Jeff Price, up there in, uh, North Wales. He's- North Wales... North Wales in the UK, Australia, Canada- Estonia...
3:02
[laughs] Sweden, the Philippines- Winnipeg... Finland, Ogden, Utah. Of course, out there, Mark Peterson's probably gonna be there, the most luxuriant beard in all of fat biking.
3:18
[laughs] [laughs] Uh, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Cleveland, Ohio. Königsbrück. I think that's Germany. Wyoming. Uh, New York. Yeah, they just been kind of coming in at a steady pace and- Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
3:36
Gloucestershire in the UK. So we still have a whole week to go. We could get more on this list. I know, and Big Tom in Winnipeg, Manitoba there in Canada. Hey, welcome, Tom. [laughs] He's not here. Oh, I know.
3:53
He's just having a global- I know he's having-... fat bike day... I'm, he's, I'm welcoming, welcoming him through the radio. [laughs] Right, Tom. Radio. Radio. We got France, La Mureoise. I'm sure I just murdered that.
4:03
Like you mentioned, Estonia. Wouldn't you just like to go to Estonia and get all Estoned? [laughs] And, uh, Paris, Ontario. So I think that's in Canada as well. Wow, that's a list. There's even more, even more.
4:19
But, uh, hey, I gotta say cheers. Top of the hill. [bell ringing] Top of the hill, boys. Top of the hill. All of you people- Oh, yeah... out there- Wink, wink... lions...
4:28
who haven't, uh, put your name on the list, don't worry. Just go out and ride on Global Fat Bike Day. But if you wanna put it on there, that'd be cool. It is all about the ride, man. It's the magic of riding that bike.
4:40
Yeah, yeah. The magic. I like that sort of thing. So, uh, our for real section comes from Ewan Pennington from, uh, Australia. For real? What? [laughs] For real. For real. Uh, he shared this, uh, Gizmag Moochs bike.
4:57
Not a Moochs, a Moochs. And- Mooch... yeah, just click on that and be ready for the duck-billed platypus of fat bikes. It's freaky. I couldn't look at it all that long. Yeah. It...
5:11
Don't, don't look directly into its eyes. [laughs] Hey, let's take a quick break here before we talk to special guest, Max Wissler, from the Snow Bike Festival in Gstaad.
5:25
[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.
5:41
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.
5:53
Visit 1upusa.com for more information on the fastest loading, highest quality rack solution. You're tuned to Fat Bike Radio
6:10
Hey, welcome back to the radio program. We've got Max Wessler from the Snowbike Festival in Gstaad over there in Switzerland on the line. Welcome to the show, Max. Hi, guys. How are you doing? Doing great.
6:23
Uh, you know, we, we played a little, little tag trying to, uh, to hook up with you, and I'm glad we finally got to talk about, uh, the Snowbike Festival over there.
6:32
Uh, before we get kind of into the meat of the festival and the, and the activities and events and whatnot, I just wanted to, you know, check in with you and, and find out maybe what the fat bike scene is like in Europe at this time, what kind of led you to this little path of, of having a festival there in, in Gstaad.
6:48
Yeah. Um, well, it's, it's, to be honest, it's still an emerging market.
6:53
It's obviously, um, slowly coming over from North America and, um, the, the main issue why it's still small is there's few formal events, which is one of the reasons we set up this, um, Snowbike Festival, to offer fat bikers in Europe the chance to exercise their sport, which they really haven't had before, before this event.
7:13
And, um, more and more winter destinations such as Gstaad and other cities in, um, in Switzerland are adding winter biking, snow biking to their offering.
7:25
So in addition to the traditional winter sports of skiing and snowboarding, they will also open up their, um, trails for mountain bikers, fat bikers, and other snow bikers. Yeah. It sounds, sounds good.
7:40
I know that, uh, you know, the, the, the web is alive with a lot of, uh, of news from European fat biking.
7:46
Uh, it seems like there's a lot of pockets here and there, and it's just starting to really kind of pick up maybe, uh, a couple years behind what's going on over here.
7:53
But, uh, I think this is kind of a breakout year for Europe it seems like. Yeah. It does, it does seem so.
8:00
I think those, the, the small pockets of, um, groups you're talking about there, they're slowly finding their way together to form, yeah, bigger events rather than, you know, just cycling on your own, which is fun, but then at one point you wanna, you know, you wanna test yourselves or have some fun as a big group of people in an event like this.
8:20
Yeah. Right on. Um, well, in preparation to talk to you, I just did a little research. I've never been over to Gstaad, so I kinda had to do a little, a little checking.
8:28
It looks beautiful, and part of what I, what I found was that, uh, Julie Andrews had called the area, "The last paradise in a crazy world," and I was just, uh, wondering if you could tell our listeners a little bit about the Gstaad area, what it's like, why would Julie Andrews call it the last paradise in a crazy world?
8:45
I think she's... I mean, she's definitely right with that statement. I definitely know where she's coming from.
8:50
Um, if you imagine your stereotypical image of Switzerland, the snow-covered chalets, the small villages nestled in between the tall mountains and the ski slopes, that is pretty much what Gstaad is.
9:03
It's a combi- The area is a combination of five valleys, and, uh, Gstaad being the main village where most of the, the biggest village as well where our event is taking place.
9:14
And it's really, yeah, like I said, these, these chalets, it's snow-covered. You know, you're almost guaranteed snow every winter. And, um, I think when she said the last paradise as well, she... You...
9:28
It's about a two, a two-hour drive into this valley, and you, you get away from, you know, that, that busy city life, and it's just a wellness. It's a, it's like a wellness destination. It's calm. It's nice.
9:43
And I think, uh, contradicting her quote a bit, we're bringing a bit of the crazy world back to Gstaad with this festival- [laughs]... and with the fat bikers. [laughs] Crazy fat bikers descending on Gstaad.
9:57
So, um- Yeah.
9:58
[laughs] So let's talk a little bit more specifically about the Snowbike Festival itself, the actual, um, the actual festival, uh, event location and maybe a little bit about what you kind of plan to have going on. Yeah.
10:14
As the name suggests, it's not, other than it being a snow bike race, it's a, it's a festival which includes more aspects than just the race.
10:22
So on one hand, from the racing side, we have a fun ride, which is a one-day event aimed more at, you know, the local public in which people who aren't too engaged in fat biking or snow biking in general to give them an opportunity to race, which this race happens on the Sunday.
10:41
And then we have the three-day stage race, which is the main event, and that includes four stages spread across those three days. Um, the, uh, on Friday there's the first stage.
10:55
Each stage will last between two to four hours and usually has about 1,000 meters of, um, altitude gain with a lot of fun downhills on ski slopes because those are usually reserved for skiers, but we've gotten exclusive access to those.
11:12
So for the downhills you'll be, uh, racing where the skiers usually race. Nice. Um, yeah, it is, it should be quite cool. Quite cool and quite fun. And the second day, the Saturday, we'll have two races.
11:25
So in the morning we'll have one of the normal stages again, again between two and four hours.
11:30
In the evening we have, uh, the race that riders from last year really said that was their favorite race, and it's the Rocky Mountain Eliminator race,
11:38
which is a night race happening under floodlights on a small ski slope, and it'll probably be four, four to six riders in each heat racing against each other with the fastest progressing through the rounds up until our final.
11:53
And, um, so it's really a head-to-head fight and, um, it's really fun and the atmosphere there under the floodlights, it's really, it's really something special. Yeah. That sounds great. And then we wrap it up... It is.
12:05
It is indeed. And we wrap it up on the Sunday with another stage, um, again, probably around three, three to four hours, wrapping up the festival on a, on a high note. Very cool. I, I- Yeah...
12:19
uh, uh, we don't have a whole lot of those multiple day fat bike specific races here in the US yet. Usually, if you're doing a multi-day race, it's in conjunction with a typical mountain bike race or something like that.
12:30
But, uh, it seems like it's definitely an area where Europe has kind of changed the way racing goes with having these multi-day stage races a little more, uh, spreading it out over multiple days. Yeah.
12:44
I think it also gives you a chance to experience the location because, because Gstaad is, is, is a really special place to visit. You don't wanna just spend a day there. You can spend the entire week.
12:56
We also offer, um, um, offer you to stay extra days after, and if you, if you, um... You can obviously use... Luckily, 'cause Gstaad is, um, has made their trails available throughout the winter.
13:09
You can come early, ride your bike, enjoy the trails, then race and then stay another week if you really want to.
13:16
So if a person wanted- And I think that- If, if a person wanted to get there, how is it, how easy is it to actually get to the event site?
13:24
Um, I mean, from, from North America, um, if you're flying into Switzerland, there'll be flights into Zurich Airport from most, um, major US and Canadian airports.
13:36
And from there, the Swiss public transport will take care of you. It'll take about two and a half hours by train, and it's, it's simple and, and ve- very straightforward to reach. Cool. It, uh...
13:50
How, how is bike travel on the, uh, the Swiss, uh, public system? Can you just jump on with your bike and jump off at the end with your bike ready to ride? Yeah, you can take your bike along.
14:01
On some journeys you'll have to, you'll have to pay for a ticket for your bike pretty much, but, uh, there's no issues with taking your bikes on trains there. Cool. Uh- They, they have the facilities for that. Yeah.
14:14
All right. Well, so what, what can you tell me about how the en- how to enter the event and, and do you have different entry packages for the event? Yeah.
14:22
We've got, um, the first, the basic entry package we have is the, uh, race pass entry. This one simply includes entry for the race.
14:32
That'll include lunch and dinner at the, um, rider village, your rider accreditation, participation in the stage race, um, you'll have access to all the rider zones and the swimming pools.
14:43
You'll get a finisher's medal, a Gstaad guest card, which will get you into swimming pools and so on, different, um, public facilities within Gstaad, and a small gift pack filled with small goodies from our sponsors.
14:57
And then we also have, um, that package including accommodation, and you've got, uh, a host of, um, different, um, accommodation packages.
15:08
So you'll have a silver pass, which is the basic package in a three-star tourist traveler type hotel, the golden pass in four-star hotels, and our platinum pass if you wanna stay in a five-star hotel. Gotcha.
15:23
S- so all, all of these packages are pretty clearly explained on the website? Exactly.
15:28
If you head to our website and you click on stage race, you'll see entry packages, and you can have a look there with the, the entry prices as well, the current prices.
15:39
We're currently still offering early bird prices, which are substantially lower than the normal rates. So if you go check those out, you can see, uh, which package is best for you. Yeah.
15:50
We'll just remind people now, uh, we, we'll remind them at the end of the conversation too, but that's snowbikefestival.com.
15:56
You can go there and check out more information about, uh, how to actually get to the event and packages available. I also noticed you even have- Yeah...
16:05
uh, if you don't wanna bring a bike because, uh, the traveling from North America with a bike on the airlines these days is getting kind of expensive, uh, people can actually rent fat bikes there. That's it. Yeah.
16:15
We've got, um, uh, quite a few fat bikes from models from Bikes brand and from Rocky Mountain Bicycles, and you can just, uh, opt in and rent those for a small extra charge and then that'll be available to you from the beginning of that week before the event until well after the event.
16:36
Right on. And we're looking at the, the main event running from January 21st to the 24th, but, uh- Exactly.
16:44
People will- But I'm just gonna say that, uh, you know, just being there for a few days, maybe people wanna stretch it out on either end of that for sure. That's it.
16:53
So our accommodation packages also include additional night options in which you can extend your stay by three nights before or, or after the event, or you can do both.
17:05
So you can extend it by six days in total, and those are also options you can, uh, opt into during the registration process. You can bring along a supporter.
17:15
So if you want to travel along with the entire family, we have options, um, to facilitate for your wife, your husband, your kids, whoever you wanna bring along. Very good. All right.
17:27
Is there, uh, is there anything more you wanna tell us about the event? Um, I mean, we also have, um, on the evening after the, uh, Rock Eliminator, we'll have a snow bike party.
17:38
It'll be like your typical upright ski party, but it'll be the upright bike party.
17:44
And, um, we also have an expo hosted inside the rider village where a host of different brands such as Rocky Mountain Bicycles, Vite Tire, uh, Lake Shoes, and a couple others will be showcasing their product for you to test and, um, if you want to, to purchase as well.
18:02
Very good. Well, uh- Yeah... sounds great. Again, if, if people wanna learn more information about this, snowbikefestival.com, and, uh- That's it. Yeah... really appreciate you taking the time to be on the show.
18:16
It is great. Uh, one more final mention from me.
18:19
For those, um, interested in purchasing a fat bike, for those just getting into the sport now, uh, if you purchase a fat bike from Rocky Mountain Bicycle, from an official Rocky Mountain Bicycle vendor before the end of this year, you will receive a 300, um, Swiss francs discount on all of our entry packages.
18:37
Wow. Well, that sounds pretty good. I'm not sure what a Swiss franc is worth these days, but that sounds pretty impressive. [laughs] It's one-to-one, so- Oh, okay. Very good...
18:46
nearly one-to-one, so you're looking at a good discount. [laughs] Yeah. Excellent. Well, uh, again, Max, thanks for being on the show, and, uh, good luck with the event. Thank you very much.
18:54
I know that, uh, o- well, one thing we talked about before we got going with the show was, um, that your routes, you're gonna be introducing those, uh, shortly on the website. Is that coming up next week? Indeed, yeah.
19:07
We've, um, gotten final confirmation of the route, and we'll be publishing those, um, next week on Facebook and on our website. Okay. Cool. Well, uh, keep in touch with us.
19:20
I know this event is still a couple months off, so, uh, we'll, we'll make sure to mention it again, uh, closer, right after the, right after the holidays.
19:26
Maybe we can, uh, touch base again and, and see if there's anything that's, that's changed or, uh, additions to the event. Will do. That sounds fantastic. All right. Thanks a lot. Well, have a good evening, Max.
19:38
Thanks again for calling. You too. Bye-bye. Bye. Hey, we'll be right back with next week's call-in question after a word from our sponsors. Hey, so listen up. This is your brain. La, la, la-la-la-la. Sing a happy song.
19:56
La, la, la-la-la-la. Smurf the whole day long. And this is your brain on plusbikes.com. [upbeat rock music] Any questions?
20:12
You're tuned to Fat Bike Radio. Hey, we are back. We actually got a caller on the line. Ray? Yeah. Hey. I'm gonna go click in over there- Uh-huh... kind of slow-like, but, uh, welcome to the radio program.
20:27
Who do we have on the line? Who do you think? It's Old Bear. Oh, there's Old Bear. [laughs] Yeah. I don't have my fancy thing that didn't work very well to tell me who was calling turned on today, so- Oh.
20:40
[laughs] It, it would just tell me you're calling from Rolla, Missouri, but, uh- Yeah, 'cause I'm probably the only one who calls from Rolla. [laughs] But you know what? I know d- I know Dan Ferman.
20:52
It's kind of crazy- Oh, I know... that- I know... that owns the shop down there. So Old Bear- Yeah, he's-... what do you want Samsquanch to bring you for Easter, or Santa to bring you for Kwanzaa, or-
21:07
For, uh, Chris- Kwanza-hanukkah? [laughs] Kwanzahanukkah. Uh- Yeah I don't know. Maybe a new bike. All right. [laughs] What are you, what are you thinking? Are you thinking a Wednesday?
21:19
Well- I know you were, you were, uh, you were saying you really like the Wednesday... maybe a Wednesday. It's a good one. I really like the Wednesday, and I'm also in love with the Black Barrel. Oh, yeah. You know?
21:29
I rode that bike. That bike rides sweet. Greg loves that. Yeah. It's- We've been getting a lot of good bikes in for testing.
21:34
Yeah, well- A lot of the newer bikes are really, all of them are pretty good performers that, you know- Yeah... you're not running into the real odd duck- Yeah... like you used to. True that.
21:43
Which is kind of sad in a way. [laughs] It's easier to write a review of a good bike. Well, okay. I'll tell you what though. I, I really, really, really...
21:53
I read an article in a, in a ma- a book that I got, uh- Mm-hmm... from Salsa called Adventure By Bike. Mm-hmm. And they have a big thing about the Brule River up there in northern Minnesota
22:05
where they ri- where they rode across it. It was really neat. Mm-hmm. It was really neat. Got it. And I kind of fell in love with that.
22:13
Plus they got, they got that, that, uh, bear grease T-shirt, you know, with the b- big black bear on it, on a fat bike. [laughs] Yeah. We're gonna have T-shirts- I actually might get-... for, uh, Christmas Yeah.
22:24
[laughs] Yeah. We're gonna, uh- Ooh... we're gonna open up our Small Business Saturday shop and, uh, offer- Ooh... something to, uh, to put under the tree for your favorite fat biker. That is true.
22:39
I, I, I couldn't ever catch your... I know it's too early to mention the, uh, the seven names, but I got a caveat to it, though. All right. I, I, I would...
22:52
You would list the names and you'd say, "And they all took care of Princess Snow White until Prince Surly shook her awake. 'Hey, you. Yeah, you. The snow's fallen. Let's ride.'" [laughs] All right, man.
23:08
He's exercising the creative juices. I know. It's kind of like he's making his own skit. [laughs] I was an English major in college. I can't help it. [laughs] That's very cool. So- I dig it, man.
23:20
That's, uh- But anyway, um-... that's one of my favorite parts of the show... you guy- guys get, you guys getting any snow up north there yet? Yep. Couple days' worth. About five inches maybe where I am.
23:30
Yeah, but now it's all melting. Yep. It's all gone now. All gone. I also saw your, uh, Fat, Fat Bike TV. I, I was on the internet over at my buddy's house. Oh, nice. He likes those easy go. His name's Matt.
23:45
He's gonna get a fat bike next summer. Cool. Very nice. 'Cause right now he's on a fixed income and he's saving. He gets a car, then he'll get a fat bike. I think you gotta do it the opposite way around, but- [laughs]...
23:56
you get a fat bike. Nice. Uh- So what'd you think? What'd you think of us on the tiny screen? And he, and his little daughter just loves your show. [laughs] Mm-hmm. Right on. So what'd you think of us on the tiny screen?
24:09
It was neat. It was neat. Cool. I'm, uh, I'm working, I'm taking acting lessons [laughs] And, uh, I'm thinking about going to charm school And, you know, you can look forward to show number two very soon. Oh, yeah.
24:22
I'm just waiting to confirm a couple of minor details and it'll be up there, and then we just did show number three today, so you got lots to look forward to. Oh, show number three, I really come out of my shell.
24:34
[laughs] We dropped that thing in one take, yo. That's right. That's right. But we had, we had a lot of prep time. You know, we, we lived on the, we lived on the street as, I don't know, bloggers for a while.
24:48
Lived on the street? Sometimes I ride my bike on the street. I did yesterday in the melty, meltiness. It was, uh- Yeah, I, l- before I got hit with this bug, I got a bug right now. Yeah. So it's really bad.
25:02
I got out and I had rode, I went down to Lions Club Park, put in four laps and rode back home. Mm-hmm. It was a total of 23.7 miles. Dude, that's an awesome ride.
25:12
I get in here and the nurse, you know, they check my blood sugar before dinner. Mm-hmm. My blood sugar had dropped to 77. Uh-oh, that's not good. They said, "You better eat something quick."
25:23
So they gave me some sweet rattles. Yeah, you gotta bring some, some, uh, dried fruit or- Yeah... something with you. Granola bar or- A little snack at- Yeah... halfway point. Yeah. And some water.
25:33
That's cool that you're- For sure... getting out and putting in those kind of miles. The other thing is I stopped, I stopped at Matt's on the way back and I had, I had a regular soda, a Dr. Pepper Cherry. I love Dr.
25:44
Pepper Cherry. Nice. That's my, that's my drink of choice since I can't drink alcohol anymore. Uh-huh. And I, I had one of those and it didn't raise my blood sugar at all. Huh. Of course, I labored up a hill, which
25:58
we got a hill over here that's about a 30 foot, ah, not 30, about a 20 degree angle and it's- Oh man, yeah, I know the hills there... quite long. Yeah.
26:06
This one's on the east edge of town, coming out of town and, uh, going up 10th Street, and it's just, it's a killer. And it goes for about, oh, I'd...
26:18
You know how hills in Missouri compare to hills like in Wisconsin even? Here we have short, steep hills. Up north, up, up by Hayward where I, you know, grew up in the summers- Mm-hmm...
26:33
they're nice and gentle, rolling hills. Right. Oh, yeah. But down here, forget it. [laughs] And down there the hills are bigger.
26:41
You know, I, I've, you know, where you ride there on the Berryman, there's a couple of 800-foot elevation climbs, so. Oh, I know. Yeah. I haven't been out there, you know, since last, well, March I think. Mm-hmm.
26:57
'Cause I, you know, I've been too busy, you know, taking care of the wife and I just really got into riding the Lions Club Park. It's 4.2 miles, you know, in like, and it's a big loop.
27:10
But I've been seeing deer out there and stuff, you know, and, and, uh, Steve Ford, get healthy and get, get better quick.
27:17
Yeah, I, I, I put a blurb out on him on, uh, Fat Bike and Health asking people to take care, you know, to watch for deer and- Oh, yeah... [laughs] Oh yeah, Steve Forest. I, yep, I, now it's starting to compute.
27:30
[laughs] Sorry. Hey, you know who else, uh, we should send a healing vibe out to, uh, to Jules from Surly. She crashed her bike and, uh, bruised her brain. She had a- Ouch... concussion and- Oh...
27:44
you know, she did a blog about it. She had a brain injury? That's how I know.
27:47
Uh, well, she just had a concussion and it's, uh, it's one of those, it's one of those things that are very difficult to, uh, explain how the recovery, how it all works. So she wrote a blog about it.
28:02
So feel better, Jules. And, uh, yeah, I guess- Yeah, I write about you guys on my thread, too. [laughs] Thank you. Yeah, thanks.
28:12
Sometimes, sometimes when I start my thread I say, "It's brought to you by the kind folks at Fat Bike Radio- Oh, nice... Fatbike.com." That's where all those new listeners are coming from.
28:23
[laughs] I, I'm constantly walking around here in the home and people see the shirts and they go, "What's a fat bike?" And I have to wheel the bike out of the room and go show them. Oh, that's pretty cool.
28:33
'Cause we keep my bike in my room. You should get a, you should get a, a bike shop open in the center there. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. [laughs] I would say that part of, uh- Go ahead.
28:43
I was saying part of what we do here is, like, we are like fat bike evangelists and, you know, it's a, it's a pretty easy sell. All you have to do is have somebody- Wow...
28:53
take it for a little spin, and man, they come back with that, you said it last week, with that seven-year-old's grin. You know? That's- Yeah, they got that grin and they go, "I want one."
29:03
[laughs] In fact, I had, I had a lady stop by today, Kim. She's a case manager at the local hospital and she visited me a few times when I had had my stroke and stuff, and she came in here today just to see me.
29:19
You know, I was out over here visiting another, another patient. Mm-hmm. And she came in here and she saw my bike and she took down... 'Cause
29:28
unfortunately, certain local bike shops don't stock fat bikes, and she wants one. And I told her the easiest way to get one if you don't wanna travel and you wanna save some money is go to Bikes Direct and look at...
29:41
Oh, there you go. I shouldn't have said that. [laughs] But go to that place- Oops, you did it again... and check- Yep... check, check out, check out their, check out their bikes, 'cause,
29:51
you know, 'cause we live in the middle of nowhere. Are you saying Big Dan in Rolla doesn't have fat bikes on the floor? I'm gonna give him such a hard time. He has one, and it's like a two-year-old model. Yeah.
30:03
Well, Old Bear, we've got a couple other callers on the line and some more show to get to. Do you wanna listen for a little bit? Yeah, I'm gonna listen. All right. We might catch up- Probably... with you in a little bit.
30:13
We gotta just roll right through this bad puppy. See you later, Old Bear. All right. We'll probably talk to you later on. [laughs] See you later. Okay. [laughs]Um, hello and stuff. Who do we have on the line?
30:25
Happy fucking Thanksgiving. [laughs] Happy Thanksgiving to you. I, I, I'm doing my Carnac imitation. Uh, Travis? True that. How you guys doing? Good. Good, good.
30:43
What's been happening? All of our snow is almost completely gone. Ours too. I need a fat man and Ronan up here immediately. [laughs] Yeah, ours didn't last long.
30:53
We didn't get that much anyway, but it's gone, pretty much. I- we got, we got a good nine, 10 inches- Ooh... and nobody ever complains about that. Nope.
31:03
[laughs] Yeah, we got hit with the Pineapple Express this week, and, uh- Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah... it's been up in the- So did Gomez... mid, mid-40s. [laughs] [laughs] Not that kind of Pineapple Express.
31:17
Oh, what kind of Pineapple Express you talking about? [laughs] I think it's, like, custard at Gillies or something. [laughs] My man. So Anchorage is all in the, uh, the thaw phase, eh?
31:36
All sloppy and- Yeah, we got, got this big, warm soaker coming through. And then, uh, yeah, we're... Last weekend we got...
31:43
We were up to, we had seven inches of new snow last weekend, and rolling around on a good, you know, five to 10-inch base, depending on where you're riding.
31:52
And, uh, yeah, we're down to pretty much, I got, uh, green grass in my front yard, back yard again. Oh, crap. And, uh, went out for a ride today, and we're down to about a half inch of slush.
32:04
I did a granny gear grinder for about two hours, so yeah. That's not bad, though. But we're supposed to drop cold this weekend, and hopefully get a shot of snow on the backside of this, this thing, so- Yeah...
32:17
yeah, I mean, Global Fat Bike Day is in, like, what? 10, 11 days. Yeah. You better get on that. Hey, so I, I just have a question. Are the moose in the rut right now? How does that work? Where, where's, where- Nah. No?
32:29
They're out of it. They're just kinda... I think the rut's pretty much over. Yeah. They're just kinda wandering about. Oddly enough, uh, yeah, I found a moose leg when I was out riding today. Huh. Wow.
32:41
So- Somebody, somebody just left it lying there? Yeah, like a, uh, a lower part of a moose leg. Hmm. Must've been somebody discarding some scraps from hunting season, I guess. [laughs] Wow.
32:53
So, um, you sent me that little video thing. I put a link, uh, to that in the show notes, just so you know, about your ride that you took- Oh, cool. Yeah, yeah... out there with your buddy, Al, and whatnot.
33:01
Kincaid, man, I rode Ki- Kin- uh, Kincaid a couple of times. Sweet trails. And like you said, real nice and flowy. Yeah, it's fantastic. Yeah, very nice and flowy. There's, there's some really cool features out there.
33:15
Yeah, I mean, th- uh, the last weekend, they, we had enough snow. They were able to groom it and, uh, groom the single track. Run a, um, I think a snow machine with a tire that they run through there. Mm-hmm, right.
33:25
And, uh, so I was all excited to get out there with the long holiday weekend, and yeah, we got almost all of our snow's gone. It's gonna be melty. So, uh- Yeah...
33:33
have you dropped in the Skookums are in stock now, but that's probably down in Bend. But I bet you they have Skookums [clears throat] at Speedway. Have you stopped in and, uh, thrown a leg over that bike yet?
33:48
Yeah, like a month ago, yeah, I got to go in and test ride one they had set up. They didn't have them in stock, but they had one in-house to test ride. Well, they're in stock now, bro. Yeah, that, that was a great bike.
33:59
So, you know, just, uh, just take one of those credit card applications that comes in the mail every day. [laughs] Fill one of those out, Skook them. Skook them. Skook them.
34:11
And then you should probably, I don't know, head over and get a Team 907 between your legs, too. 18 pounds of shivering gazelle-like fat bike. Gazelle-like fat bike?
34:26
How can you- You'll have to, uh, include the wife's credit application in as well for that bike. [laughs] Right. I like the way you think, Gomez. [laughs] Just saying, nothing's too good for Travis.
34:38
When there's no food on the table, I'm gonna blame it on you. [laughs] But, I... But this TV evangelist told me [laughs] if I'd just fill out the credit card application... Yeah, don't do that.
34:51
Don't, don't do what I say. It's comedy. Sort of. [laughs] It's supposed to be funny. [laughs] So what else is going on, my man? It... Seriously, go check out one of those, the, one of those Team Whiteouts.
35:07
Ask them- Yeah, you know, I got to- Ask them if you can- I got to look at it. I didn't get to test ride it. I was in there a couple weeks ago.
35:13
[laughs] They had one set up, and, uh, Jamie was jumping on it and flying out the door, so- Oh... I didn't wanna hold him up.
35:19
I got, you know, I got the kid in the shop, said, "Yeah, you can go ahead and pick it up, man." So I went over and, you know, got to pick it up and feel how amazingly light it was. Mm-hmm.
35:28
I think the Whiteout's out of the budget for this year. Yeah. [laughs] Yeah. [laughs] All right, man, we got another caller. Let's, uh... You wanna just hang out for a minute? Yeah, sure.
35:40
Let's hook, hook up this next caller. Bump, bump, bump. [laughs] I just did the hookup thing. [clears throat] Welcome to Fat Bike Radio. Hey, what's up, gentlemen? It's Evan. How are you guys doing? Evan. Evan. Evan.
35:57
Evan. Y- you don't live in Evansville, do you? 'Cause that'd be cool. [laughs] Be like, "This is my town." He lives in- "I own it."
36:05
He, he lives in, I can't say, 'cause that would be, like, that would be wrong, wouldn't it? Well- If I said, "But I know where you live, man" "I know where you live." [laughs] "And I've seen where you sleep."
36:16
So, Evan- [laughs]... my good man, my lord, what sayeth thee? On my way home from work. Thought I'd give you a shout, wish you all a, a happy Thanksgiving- Nice.
36:32
Do you have a, an answer for the question of the week? Yeah. If I could ask for anything from my, my sand switch- Yeah, for Easter... Father Christmas- Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm...
36:42
I, I, I was debating, I was going back and forth between I would want a Wednesday or I would want a Watchman. I think I would go with the Watchman. Oh. Oh, yeah. And those are available soon, I believe.
36:56
Oh, they're available now. They're avail- They're available. [laughs] That's very soon then. They're available very soon. So would you go with the turquoisey one or the gray one, like the sample bike that, that you rode?
37:08
No, that gray. That gray was, that was on time. Yeah. That was a great, great looking bike. I think I would go for the titanium Watchman. [laughs] Yeah. That was a trick question. That's a question. Well,
37:23
thanks for sitting on Santa's lap. Now get out of here, kid. You'll shoot your eye out. Just kidding. How's that Heller treating you? I love...
37:33
Dude, it, those, those Juggernaut, uh, those Juggernaut tires, those were pretty sweet. We were out on the snowmobile trails- Mm-hmm... uh, that day of the big snow, the next day. Mm-hmm. And, uh, I en- I enjoyed it.
37:45
And that, that carbon frame, man, that thing howls. It is wild. I know. It feels different than a steel or aluminum bike. It's- Yeah, it, it really does.
37:58
But it's- And the last day of dirt that we had at Kettle- Mm-hmm... that was a lot of fun, too. Just, uh, you could just hop around- Oh, th- the ride that you and I did- It-... that was a blast. Yeah. Uh, good fun.
38:11
All right, dude. Well, you, uh, thanks for calling in to Fat Bike Radio. Yeah. And, uh, what are you doing this weekend? Thanks for having me. Let's, let's go, let's go riding somewhere.
38:21
Let's go ride bikes and, uh, pretend to raise hell and stuff. Yeah. Like almost raise hell. Sounds like a- Get on the verge of raising hell... fantastic idea. All right. I'll raise it. Okay.
38:34
Well, maybe we have your people call my people and, uh, then Julio can arrange all of the accoutrement. Yeah, let's set, set something up. Set something up. All right. You guys have a great evening. All right. Bye.
38:49
Thanks. See you, Evan. Later. You're tuned to Fat Bike Radio. Guess what? We're back. [laughs] I think we were gonna- We're back... we were gonna talk about next week's call-in question.
39:04
I think that's about what we've not gotten to yet. That's right. Next week we'll be asking: What are you planning for your Global Fat Bike Day celebration?
39:16
Call in next week Wednesday from 8:00 to 9:00 Central to 818-918-2453. That's 818-918-BIKE. We had a question last week for this week, too, right? [laughs] So we've been talking to some of our callers. Future past tense.
39:33
Ah. We'll probably talk to some more callers about, uh, what do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas or Hanukkah or what- whatever, you know. What you want. What you want.
39:41
Sit on the fat man's lap and tell him what- 'Tis the season to ask for gifts... your dreams. [laughs] Give me them. So, uh- Which puts us dangerously close from the precipice- [clears throat]...
39:54
that is the largest cliff known to man. Never get it to save. Is that, is that where the Fatty Farm Field Report resides? That is at the precipice of- At the top of the mountain... we are pitched.
40:08
Well, this week's- At the mountain... Fatty Farm Field Report is presented by Fat Back Bikes of Alaska. Alaska. Check out the all new Skookum Fat Bike at fatbackbikes.com. All right, the lines are officially open
40:22
for the contest. Th- Let's, uh, let's talk a little bit about some stuff while we wait for that, uh, first caller. All right. We should come up for a, uh, secret word for next week's show,
40:35
like, so people can call in and win more stuff. How about pizza shuttle? Oh, yeah. [laughs] We got pizza from Pizza Shuttle. Pizza shuttle. We got pizza shuttle today. Maybe that will be it, pizza shuttle.
40:48
Yes, it feels- So, uh, the first caller for, that, uh, calls in after 8:30 with a fa- Central... we'll, that, yeah, Central Time, will win a fabulous prize package. Uh, tell the folks what they're gonna win, Don Pardo.
41:03
Something fabulous, like it says. Maybe something from Borealis, probably an Abus Messenger bag and some other stuff. I think there's a, a Chumba USA hoodie in there. Yeah, pretty sure you're right.
41:18
Uh, there might even be some Surly limited edition playing cards still available this time. Very nice. So we'll put a nice little package together. All you have to do is remember whatever that secret word was.
41:34
I've already forgotten. And- Pizza shuttle. [laughs] I didn't really rem- I didn't really forget. I was pretending. I was acting. Yeah, well you- Lesbian, Jesus... convincing. What? Oh. Never mind. Never mind.
41:49
[laughs] Hey, you know what else we have going that, uh [laughs]... There goes Jake again. Uh, we have the Global Fat Bike Day Toys for Tots fricking, uh, contest. Oh, yeah.
42:02
We just, uh, talked about how many different places it was. Yeah. So if- How many of them are doing it Toys for Tots? I don't know. I know Sean'll be doing it with Toys for Tots. Out there in New York. Yeah.
42:18
And, uh, also, we already talked to Travis, and here's, here is the video that came off of him riding at Kincaid. Hey, this is the first caller after 8:30, after I cleared the boards. [laughs] Who do we have on the line?
42:35
Buenos dias. [laughs] What do you think? Oh, there he is. I had to push the button again. Hey, thank you for calling. Uh, you're the first caller after 8:30. I cleared the boards completely. Who do I have on the line?
42:50
[laughs] What? Travis, was that you again? Yeah. Yeah. Well, you're the lucky winner because I cleared the lines completely. Oh, he doesn't win quite yet. Come on. He's- He's, he's gotta, he's gotta say the, the names.
43:03
Oh, right. He gets a chance to win. You win a chance to- [laughs] You'll... You try. You, you, you won the chance to try first. So Travis, welcome to the show. There we go.
43:15
Please tell us the names of the Fatback Seven Dwarves. Seven Dwarves. [sighs] I do not know this. [sings] Do, do, do, do, do, do, do. [laughs] You don't know?
43:31
Uh, Stinky, Fatty. Ooh. Sweaty. Mm-hmm. [laughs] Getting warmer. Well, eh, time's up. All right. Next caller. Travis, we still love you.
43:48
And, uh, I don't know. Keep on, keep on truckin', bro. That's what we say in the trucking business. Yeah. [laughs] Keep on truckin'. Rubber duck. [laughs] All right, Travis. We'll talk to you later.
44:05
We got another caller. [laughs] All right. Later, guys. Okay, bye. Clocker truck. WFAT. [laughs] Tell us the seven dwarf names. Ooh, that was, like, pro wrestling. It's me. It's Colbert again.
44:19
[laughs] Colbert, do you know... Did... You said you couldn't get it, right? I couldn't get 'em. I had, like, Greasy, Squeezy, uh- Cheesy. [laughs] Squeezy. Uh, I don't know. All right.
44:37
Well, we got a couple other callers. We're gonna try and get this, uh- All right. We're gonna go to our next caller... contest awarded to our next caller on the line. This is like The Mc- fricking Radio Genius here.
44:46
[laughs] Yeah, you're a genius all right. [laughs] Hey, welcome to the show. Who do we have on the line? Uh, my name is Ryan. Hey, Ryan. Hey.
44:55
Did you guys already do the giveaway for the, uh, the Seven Dwarves of, um- Nope. You are-... Fatback's business? Right now we're giving away the opportunity to try and say all of those names.
45:06
[laughs] You are in the driver's seat. Tell us the seven names. Oh. Well, 'cause, like, I came out into the snow to, to call, 'cause we're getting some snow here in Colorado. So, um, I think I got 'em. I think it's, uh,
45:21
Oly, Sandy, maybe Knobby. Mm-hmm. Gnarly, Fatty. Mm-hmm. And Wrench? That's not all of them, but you... Those are all on the list. Yes. You're missing- Oh, I'm missing one? You're missing two that I can think of.
45:37
No, he, I caught- Two... I caught all of them except for one. Okay. All right. Oh. Oh, let me, let me go again. Let me go again. Hold on one more. Fatty, Gnarly, Knobby, Sandy, Surly, and Wrench. And one more.
45:51
And one more. And one more. Oh, my gosh. You're so close. Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. Didn't you say you're outside? Oh, I'm trying to mentor a guess. What's that? Did- didn't you say you're outside? I am.
46:05
It's, it's snowy out here. Ah, it's not... It's close, though. [laughs] Slushy. Slushy. Oh, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Oh, you're the big winner, my friend. Yeah. Right on. Slushy was it, man. I...
46:18
How did I miss Slushy? [laughs] It's like I missed Ohio when I do- Wow... naming the 50 states, so. Fatty, Slushy, Knobby, Gnarly, Sandy, Surly, and Wrench. Congratulations, man. And Wrench.
46:28
I like the way you said it best. Yeah, that was- We, we have a fabulous prize package from Surly. It's kind of a, a his-and-hers package.
46:36
Do you have a missus, uh, that's in the picture, or- I do, but she, she didn't get to go out with me tonight. So she's home sick, so she'll be glad to hear that she's, uh, she's getting something. All right.
46:47
If you two, if you g- [laughs] if, if you- [laughs] Sorry. That didn't come out right. [laughs] If you two actually get into a fight over the socks, I can intervene and counsel you.
47:01
You know, you can always switch the socks around. You wear them on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. She wears them Tuesday, Thursday. Don't let this ruin your relationship, so. All right.
47:11
No, I, I got Surly, Surly socks for my birthday last year. So she'll probably get the socks. All right. Well, that is, that is a nice gesture on your part. Noble gesture. And indeed. We...
47:21
I, I think we've chosen well our winner. Yes, we have. Well, thanks so much, man. I couldn't believe when Ryan won, won last week.
47:28
I was listening live at the dinner table, um, me and my wife and my stepdaughter, and, you know, to the poor names. And [laughs] was just like, "Uh, what are you listening to?"
47:37
I was like, "Well, they're giving stuff away, sweetie." [laughs] And now she's a big winner, so. Yeah. And she... We couldn't believe it when you said that the winner was Ryan. I was like, "See? It could've been me."
47:49
Yeah. It was you- And this-... and lo and behold... and this week it were you. Yeah. Well, thanks for calling, man. All right. Well- And congratulations... yeah. Thank you guys for doing the show. Ah, you're welcome.
47:59
We have a- Thank you... we have a ton of fun. I just w- I just was crying. Ton of fun. Crying, I was laughing so hard. We have fun. I know. I know. I know. That, that was last week, too.
48:09
We were, we were laughing at you crying laughing. [laughs] At least I waited until, uh, like, halfway through the- 10 minutes into the show... [laughs] last week. Yeah. It was right ov- right at the beginning. Yeah.
48:19
But it's JK. I blame JK. [laughs] He makes me laugh. All right. Well- Okay... thanks for, thanks for doing the show, guys. All right. Get that out to you soon. All right. Have fun with it. Thanks for calling. Yep.
48:29
We'll see ya. Bye. Have a good one. You too. Well, there you go. There you go. We gave away some stuff We have a huge winner. We had huge winners on the show today. Uh, you know what you were gonna talk about, don't you?
48:41
Yeah. Uh- An- Anthony and his First Tracks Production production. Right.
48:45
He's, uh, w- I've been talking to him about, uh, sh- having a showing of the, uh, Off the Beaten Path movie at our Fat Bike Birkie after party, right? Gala event. Indeed.
48:57
So we're setting that up, but, uh, in those conversations, he mentioned that he had done a, uh, film for Nevada Tourism, and also gave me a link to the story behind it, which is here in the show notes, and it is just rad.
49:15
I mean, great shots of he and his pooch on the Flume Trail in Lake Tahoe. Fat bikes and dogs- Yeah... go together like- Hell yeah... most good stuff. And Pat Smage rocking the nose wheelie.
49:28
It's, uh, it's, it's picturesque and awesomely delicious. So check that out. And, uh, what else we got? Where, were we going to, uh, wear- Linkland? Oh- Linkland? Lens- We're gonna wear Flair depants and go to Linkland.
49:43
Yes. [laughs] Lens a lot. [laughs] Yeah, we got links in there. There's, uh- Yeah, there's a race series in Utah. When I was out at nationals, I met one of the cats from this Frosty Fat Bike series.
49:57
He seems like a good man, and he's got some, uh, pretty cool-looking races going on. We got a link to that in the show notes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, some of our friends have checked in. I just, some updates from Jobu.
50:09
Uh, uh- A heartwarming story- Yes... of a man who had his, uh, uh, had, this man whose- Pugsley... yeah... his Pugsley stolen... Pugsley returned to him... while he was getting chemo. Yeah, and then he got it back.
50:21
And then he got it back. So good guys win. Yeah. And speaking of the good guys winning, fat bikes are pretty popular. [laughs] Be a winner, ride a fat bike. You too can be in mainstream media coverage. That's right.
50:36
Become an expert like me. These bikes are fun. They never really say that, though. I coined, they don't use my t- my term I coined. What's that? Like, snowshoes for bikes. Oh, I remember that. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
50:51
That was gold, baby, gold. Well, maybe, uh, that will be probably over the door in the- [laughs]... Sven Hammer Museum. Yeah. Yep. I got a doghouse just about big [laughs] enough to house that puppy.
51:06
[laughs] Well, JK, times like this when I like to say thanks again to Surly for sponsoring the radio- [laughs] Why's he do that?
51:20
[laughs] You just look at him. [laughs] You don't even have to say anything. [laughs] So there. I'd leave the show last week. [laughs] Oh, my God.
51:37
It was your line anyway. [laughs] That's why I was like- [laughs] I was sneaking it in there. That's what she said. I didn't know where to go next.
51:46
[laughs] Thanks again to Surly for sponsoring the radio portion of today's broadcast. Surly is, as Surly just did. [laughs] Learn more at surlybikes.com. Surly bikes, parts, chaos.
52:06
Join us next week when the question is, what are you planning for your global Fat Bike Day celebration? Call 818-918-2453 anytime, day, night. [laughs] After night. [laughs] Before morning,
52:24
pre, post, pre and mid-morning. [laughs] Pre, after. [laughs] After you eat, before you eat, before- [laughs] These guys are killing me. All right, bye. Bye. Bye. So long. That's your bike calling you, "Go, run, ride.
52:42
Ah!" [upbeat music] 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.
52:58
[upbeat music]
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