Latest / Full Spectrum Cycling / Weekly Dose of Fat Radio – Show #77 – Special Guest Ben Popp from the 45NRTH Fat Bike Birkie, Presented by Freewheel

Transcript

Weekly Dose of Fat Radio – Show #77 – Special Guest Ben Popp from the 45NRTH Fat Bike Birkie, Presented by Freewheel · Full Spectrum Cycling

• 0:00
  Weekly Dose of Fat, show number 77 for Friday, October 23rd, 2015.
• 0:06
  [upbeat music] La la la la la la, sing a happy song.
• 0:29
  It's the Weekly Dose of Fat with your Smurfy-est of pals, Papa Sven and Gargle. James on the ax in the background. Howdy-do, folks, it's Sven. Los Smurfos.
• 0:45
  Welcome to the All That Glitters Is Not Smurfy version of the Weekly Dose of Fat. It's my privilege to introduce the inspiration for Madonna's pop hit Lucky Star, Mr. JK Levine.
• 0:59
  I am the starlight, star bright, the star she saw that night. Yeah. Did you wish you may? Wish I might?
• 1:07
  Fat Bike Radio and the Weekly Dose of Fat is sponsored by Surly Bikes, and show number 77 is brought to you by Surly's new eight and 24-pack racks. That's a lot of numbers. No math. I d- I don't bike the math.
• 1:23
  Well, you can check out all of Surly's bicycle doodads and time machines at surlybikes.com. So wait, why do we call this meeting of the Gnome Council?
• 1:34
  Well, we'll be talking with our Smurfy goodnesses of the Fat Bike Berkey with the Executive Director, Ben Popp. We'll take calls from our Smurfy listeners about this week's Smurfy question. Smurf.
• 1:50
  We share fat and Smurf bike news in the Fatty Farms Field Smurf. Smurf. We may just be smurfing provocative European swimwear.
• 2:02
  And speaking of sling Smurfy things, this just in from Smurfapore- Singapore... Singapore. The Singapore sl- [laughs] will now be referred to as koala coolers with a Smurfy Z.
• 2:21
  Man, I don't know how that Smurf bit worked. [laughs] I thought it was pretty Smurfy. It was Smurfalicious. I'm tired of talking. Speaking of Smurfy- [laughs] I, I need a beer. [laughs] Oh. Clink. Cheers.
• 2:34
  [laughs] Hey, how many, um, Smurfs actually have beards? Papa Smurf is a beard. Papa Smurf has a beard, and so does JK, Gomez and, uh, and Sven, and even James. All- we're all bearded today.
• 2:47
  Beards are making a comeback here at Fat Bike Radio. Oh. I, I, I'll, I'll say I'm still mustachy. [laughs] Yeah. Well, there's still stubble. It's an alleged beard. [laughs] It's a, it's a beard in training.
• 2:59
  And, uh, yeah. I guess, uh, I'm- So it's, it's also Marty McFly Day, right? Yeah, yeah, I guess this is the day he went into in the future. Oh, it's where he went back, Marty. [laughs] It's- Yeah, yeah.
• 3:12
  At 4:29 PM, I believe, is when they popped through the, uh, the time warp. Yes, and the Cubs won the World Series. Yeah, that's not gonna happen. And then they happened again. That's weird,
• 3:24
  'cause they're in the playoffs. Well, yeah. They didn't say, "Oh, they're in the NLDS about to be eliminated." Then and only then. Hey, we do have a caller on the line. Oh.
• 3:37
  Should we, uh, take a quick break here, and then we'll grab the caller and see what's up? All right, sounds good. James can take us out with a little riffing over there.
• 3:50
  [upbeat music] Hey, this is Kevin Breakingback from Fairbanks, Alaska. I ride Tech Fat, and I listen to Fat Bike Radio with Sven and Gomez.
• 4:08
  [upbeat music] Up in the Great White North, they make bikes for every trail and every season. RSD guarantees you'll have a smoking good time carving lines with their Fatty Mayor.
• 4:21
  Next season, the big guy gets new builds with an optional Bluto fork up front, one by 11 setups, and new colors, too. The most playful Fatty on the market still clocks in under 30 pounds for less than two grand.
• 4:34
  Or talk to your RSD bike dealer about any of the trick new options, and always keep the rubber side down. You're tuned, you're tuned to Fat Bike Radio, Fat Bike Radio.
• 4:49
  [upbeat music] Cool. Hello. Hey, welcome back to the show. We're on the phone with... Dun dun dun da. Travis.
• 5:07
  Travis calling from the AK. Travis, my man. What's up, dude? How you guys been? Just, uh, getting ready to take a phone call from Mr.
• 5:18
  Ben Popp up there at the Fat Bike Berkey so you can, uh, start making your travel plans. Yeah, we've just been missing you- Awesome... terribly.
• 5:25
  I think that's, that's why I've been blue, why I've had to go on those long, lonely rides by myself. Yeah, as a matter of fact- Yeah? Yeah... you wanna hang on the line, Travis, while we talk to Mr. Ben? Yeah, sure.
• 5:39
  Cool. All right. Hey, welcome to Fat Bike Radio. Who do we have on the line? Hey, this is Ben Popp from, uh, the Berkey. There's Ben. We were just, uh, we were just talking about you briefly there- Yeah... with Mr.
• 5:50
  Travis from Alaska. He's one of our Fat Bike ambassadors from up there. He's gonna just hang out in the background and try to free up his itinerary. So welcome to the show, Ben. [laughs] Fantastic.
• 6:01
  You know, it's good stuff. We're, uh, we saw our first few, uh, snowflakes here in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, so we're- It's coming before you know it. Uh, winter's on its way. Super.
• 6:12
  So what's your, what's your official position up there at the Fatbike Birkie so our listeners can, uh, can get the cred of the man we're talking to?
• 6:19
  [laughs] So I'm the executive director of the American Birkebeiner, which is, of course, the, uh, the Fatbike Birkie, but then also the Birkebeiner ski race, and then we have a marathon in the fall, and, uh, and a few other events.
• 6:33
  And so- Cool... as scary as it may be, it's, that's, that's the story. So you know all about putting on races with lots of people in them. Absolutely.
• 6:42
  You know, it's, it's kind of exciting because, I mean, you have something like the ski race, the Birkebeiner, which is now up to about 13,000 folks, uh, ski racing.
• 6:51
  But the thing about the Fatbike Birkie, which is this will only be my, uh, uh, second year, third year coming up, that, uh, you know, it's growing so fast.
• 7:02
  And obviously, uh, Hayward in northern Wisconsin and, and the CAMBA, the single track, the mountain bike trails are growing super fast.
• 7:11
  But the fat bike thing here is, is really exciting, and it's actually the thing that's growing the fastest in this area. And this year, uh, there'll be about 50 miles of groomed single track this winter- Wow...
• 7:24
  with Birkie and CAMBA, the mountain bike association up here. So it's exciting to sort of see this growth, 'cause it's going way faster than anything else, and, uh, keeps us on our toes, that's for sure. Well, very cool.
• 7:37
  Now, this year at the Fatbike Birkie, there's going to be a new start/finish area, right? Yeah. You know, Telemark is sort of in flux, as many people know, where we started the la- the, the resort. Mm-hmm.
• 7:51
  Um, where we started the last few years. And this year there's actually gonna be a large ski race going on there at the same time for g- Junior Nationals, which is sort of the best junior skiers, uh, from around the US.
• 8:05
  Oh, cool. And, um, so it, it affects just the very start line where we had started before right at the lodge. Right.
• 8:12
  And so we started talking with, uh, some of the fat bikers here and, and a bunch of the mountain bikers and said, "Hey, you know what, what if we were, did a lot, or something similar to the Short and Fat like Gary does for the, uh, Fat Tire- Sure...
• 8:25
  Festival, and, um, what if we started in downtown Cable? Um, you know, the businesses are there. There, it's just kind of an super cool vibe. Oh, yeah.
• 8:34
  And rolled down Randy Sack and got on the Birkie trail and, and did the race, and then rolled back into Cable.
• 8:40
  And they were super excited about it, so we went to, um, town board and a few of the folks here and they said, "Hey, we'd love to have you in downtown Cable." So- Very cool...
• 8:49
  yeah, we just, uh, just finished up some of the details and, uh, so it'll be, changes the distances a little bit. Um, actually the long race now goes up to about 48 and a half kilometers. Right on. Yeah, that's great.
• 9:02
  Cool. And the short one'll be about 22.
• 9:05
  So it'll be a, it'll be a good event, and I think it's gonna create a little bit better start, 'cause we have about almost a mile or so on the, on the road, Randy Sack Road, as they roll out. Mm-hmm.
• 9:14
  And just, just to give it a little bit better, smoother start, and then onto the ski trail. Wow, that's cool. And now there's a new, uh, there's a new crit on Friday night too that precedes the Birkie, right? Well, yeah.
• 9:27
  So, you know, we just thought, you know, look at, here's, here's this, there's 1,000 people coming to do fat bike racing- Mm-hmm... in northern Wisconsin. Mm-hmm.
• 9:35
  And it's great that Saturday is, um, you know, there's a ton of, uh, racing going on, but why- let's try and make it, uh, a little bit more. And, and, uh, Kevin Eichaug, uh, the Freewheel owner- Mm-hmm...
• 9:49
  said, "Hey, what if we put on a crit?" And so we looked at downtown Cable, and where we figured out a course that, uh, well, you know, it'll end up being about four and a half or five minutes in duration- Mm-hmm...
• 10:01
  as a loop. Mm-hmm. And so the expo and the bib registration and all that's gonna be right in downtown Cable, and, and there's enough room to put on this fat bike crit. So we're gonna be able to on Friday evening.
• 10:16
  And, uh, there'll be a novice crit that'll be at 4:30, and then a lot of people bring kids, of course, and we thought, you know, it's, it's important to try and get as many people involved as possible and families, and so there'll be a kids' crit as well.
• 10:27
  Oh, man. Yeah, you gotta do li- uh, Strider bikes or something. Yeah, Strider bike crit. [laughs] I would love to see Strider bike racing. And, uh, so we'll, we'll see. In the streets of Cable.
• 10:36
  We're hoping to get a, a little, uh, purse together so that, uh, you know, 200 or 300 bucks, um, for the winners of each of the events, and so that hopefully we can...
• 10:45
  We'll likely have to limit the field a, a little bit smaller this year for the crit. Mm-hmm. Just we don't want it to be a bad experience and just suck. So- Oh, I think it'll be a great thing for, uh-...
• 10:57
  we're thinking a little bit smaller field... for par- for people that wanna come and look at it too, uh, spectators. You know?
• 11:02
  So our listeners should be, uh, packing their cowbells and going up there on Friday night to watch the, uh, you know, the elite, the more elite racers go head-to-head at this, uh, at this Friday night crit.
• 11:17
  Do you have a title for that, for that event, or is it just the Fatbike Birkie Crit? You know, right now it's still the Expert Crit At 5:30 PM. [laughs] Gotcha. [laughs] There you go. So we don't yet.
• 11:27
  And it's gonna likely be, uh, 25 minutes plus one lap, so it'll be, uh- Oh, nice... you know, pretty short and sweet. And, uh, you know, we don't wanna get them too tired before Saturday morning, and, uh- Oh, no.
• 11:40
  [laughs] Well, that, that sounds cool. And then after, uh, after everything, uh, winds down there in downtown, then we're gonna have an after party at the sawmill with the trail folks there, the CAMBA folks, and- Yep...
• 11:57
  fatbike.com's gonna help out, help host that party and- Sven and Gomez live in your neighborhood. There you go. Then we're gonna MC a little bit and, uh, I don't know, bust out some rhymes. Maybe we'll bring-
• 12:09
  Drop the bass. [laughs] Drop the bass. Drop the bass. Have some, have lots of prizes. Yeah, bring, bring the prize wagon in, so. And then do, do you, do you guys have anything on the agenda for Sunday, Ben?
• 12:20
  You know, uh, Sunday there's always, um, the exact schedule is not set up yet, but typically, and we will again this year, lead, um, there'll be five or six different group rides that'll go out. Mm-hmm.
• 12:33
  Um, a lot of the guys that come in and race are willing to lead rides Sunday morning. Oh, cool. Um, I know there's a group of the head guys that are for sure gonna be doing, uh, doing two or three rides.
• 12:43
  There'll be a single track ride. Um, there'll be one on one of the North End ski trails or the Birkie- Mm-hmm... trail. Mm-hmm. And, um, so there'll be a group rides, uh,
• 12:53
  leading out of, uh, Cable and Seelye, um, Sunday morning so that people can go out and, you know, ride for an hour and a half or two after, uh, after doing a little throw down on Saturday and enjoy the, uh, enjoy the Northwoods.
• 13:06
  Well, cool. We're going to, uh, we're gonna pick out one of those rides and make it the fun ride. [laughs] Of course. With- There's gotta be a fun ride... [laughs] with Sven and Gomez, uh, at the back of the pack.
• 13:19
  Yeah, yeah. [laughs] Well, you know, it, races- I'll be your Sven... need coverage from, from the rear as well. [laughs] For sure.
• 13:25
  So, um, we talked some before about the race distance changing a little bit, getting a little longer. Have, uh, what have you decided to do on, uh, entry limits for the, for both of the, the fat bike events on Saturday?
• 13:37
  Yeah, so the, the entry limit in total is 1,000, and we're actually, uh, we're just updating it. It's getting pretty close. We're at about 700 or something like that right now. Mm-hmm.
• 13:48
  And, um, it'll end up being about 600 and 400 based on the percentages right now. And one of the things that, that the downtown start Cable, and Cable gives us is two completely separate courses from- Oh, nice...
• 14:01
  um, everything but about the first six kilometers.
• 14:04
  And last year it was hard because the last, um, about 8K were on a combined course and it was, it got greasy and slippery, and it was, it was, it was pretty tricky for those, uh, long riders coming in.
• 14:15
  So this way, um, we're gonna have, um, hopefully actually lower numbers on each of the different courses so that it, hopefully the integrity of the snow hangs in there and it doesn't get too dicey and slippery.
• 14:27
  Um, so it looks like right now about 400 in the short race and 600 in the long races is kind of how the percentages are breaking out.
• 14:34
  So are the, are the shared sections of the trail more at the beginning of the race, then? Right. That's- Yeah, right at the very beginning. They are. Okay. Yeah. They're, exactly.
• 14:41
  They're at the beginning so that, and especially as people are coming back and they're tired, um, they're gonna be on separate courses that'll hold. You know, they'll still be firm and not, uh, ridden on by...
• 14:50
  You know, that was the problem last year, the long course, as they rode back in, a majority of the short course guys had already ridden it in, and then it was,
• 14:59
  as you remember, greasy and slippery and broken down, and it got a little dicey there [laughs] on the way back in. Right. Oh, yeah. So hopefully- We, we, we actually-... by separating the courses, uh, yeah...
• 15:08
  we interviewed both, uh, Will Ross and Ned Overend about it, and so we got the full story. And it- They were kind of giggling about it a little bit, though... it was, it was the, the, the rough- [laughs]...
• 15:18
  the rough course at the end really was kind of advantage Will Ross, because he's from Alaska and they don't ride on groomed stuff.
• 15:24
  They ride on just snow machine packed stuff, and it, uh, it was a course for the young man that day. Yep. Yeah. So, uh, we, uh- Yep, yep...
• 15:35
  we really appreciate your time calling us and being on the show and bringing the Fatbike Birkie.
• 15:40
  We both look forward to coming up and covering it and getting some interviews and giving you a big old sweaty hug sometime that weekend. [laughs] Maybe a high five or two. And of course there's- I love it, love it.
• 15:53
  Well, thank you, guys, and, uh, look forward to seeing you in the Northwoods, uh, sooner than later. Right on, Ben. We've got, uh, we'll have your- All right...
• 16:00
  website link in the notes, and people can get all their information there at the, uh- Get registered... the Birkie website and get registered, 'cause it sounds like it's going really fast. It is, it is.
• 16:10
  Well, thank you, guys. Have a good, uh, have a good one. Thanks, Ben. All right, man. All right. Bye-bye. Thank you. We'll be right back with next week's call-in question after a word from our sponsors.
• 16:23
  [upbeat music] When it comes to fat bikes, Zion Cyclery in Zion, Illinois, has you covered.
• 16:34
  They stock fatties from Surly, Salsa, 907, Borealis, and Trek, as well as everything from 45 NRTH.
• 16:43
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• 16:54
  So come, make a day of it. Call 847-746-2200 or visit zioncyclery.com. You're tuned to Fat Bike Radio.
• 17:13
  And we are back. Hey, JK, what is next week's call-in question? Unless Travis has a better one. [laughs] Yeah. It's, you're on the, you're in the, you're on the on deck circle, Travis.
• 17:27
  Right, Travis, in the next 15 to 20 seconds, think of a question- [laughs]... in case ours is, [laughs] gets the thumbs down. Ours sucks 'cause I've, uh- Samsquanch.
• 17:38
  What would you do if you met one face to face, on steed or off steed? If you or know and have seen the Samsquanch, please call and talk to us. We'll be in the shed.
• 17:54
  Call us next Wednesday from 8:00 to 9:00 Central Standard to 818-918-2453, and let's discuss it. Live and on tape and stuff. [laughs] Live in front of a live studio ostrich.
• 18:10
  So is that a, is that a dumbass question, Travis? Uh, it's about Sasquatch, man. [laughs] No, that's great. All right, we're going with it. All right. If you ran into a Samsquanch in the woods What would you do?
• 18:23
  Would you take his, what is that, a jack link or something away from him? See, I would see, like- Messing with Sam Squanch... are you, are you a girl Sam Squanch or are you a boy Sam Squanch? I'd use my bike. Boom.
• 18:33
  [laughs] I might, like, give a girl Sam Squanch an epilady or something and then run, but a man Sam Squanch, [laughs] I might just- You are so handsome looking today. [laughs] You look really nice today, Mr. Sam Squanch.
• 18:48
  All right. So Travis, Travis, tell me true, what would you, what kind of tradition would you suggest we adopt for Global Fat Bike Day? [sighs] That's, uh, that's a tough one, man.
• 19:03
  That's the, the- I haven't really thought about it at all. I'm gonna say, you know, I assume it already is in a lot of places. Bonfires and beer seem like a good tradition. Bonfire- Kinda anywhere anytime...
• 19:12
  that's a good idea. See, now that's- Yeah... that's, that's, that's good sense. Yeah. That's what I, that's... You know, it's probably cold there in Alaska, so a bonfire would be a nice idea. It's cold in the summer.
• 19:24
  And it's just cool. Yeah. [laughs] Plus, you get to burn stuff. Burn stuff. Exactly. All right, bonfire. Add that to the list. What's, uh, what's happening up there besides thinking about Global Fat Bike Day traditions?
• 19:39
  Oh, I got the, uh, I got the bike in the shop, getting the Bluto put on. Nice. So, uh, that's, uh, pretty big in my fat bike world, and I actually have got to go down and, uh, test ride the Skookum today. Oh, yeah? Nice.
• 19:52
  Tell us about it. And that was a really... Yeah, that is a really nice ride. Very lively. Yeah, I thought it was a lot of fun. I didn't get to ride it. Maybe you will someday. Maybe. [laughs] [laughs] Maybe.
• 20:10
  So is yours on order? Are you getting the green one or the white one? [laughs] Uh, I don't... Yeah, that's not in the budget right now. I think the wife would kill me if I came home with a Skookum.
• 20:24
  [laughs] But it's Skookum money. I'll give you Skookum upside the head. This is the plus one. [laughs] I needed my bike plus one. This is my bike plus one. [laughs] Well. Right. And, yeah- Are we-...
• 20:36
  she could get jealous, and I'd have to go buy her one. Oh, well. So just plan ahead and have two of them. [laughs] Yeah. Bill. [laughs] It was so- Strategic budgeting there... look, honey, we're more in debt.
• 20:49
  [laughs] Yeah. We're having more fun. But- But it's worth it... we got cool rides. So are we gonna slide on into the Smurfy Farm Field Report? Might as well. Let's all slide on down.
• 21:03
  This particular week's Smurfy Farm Field Report is sponsored by Uncle Dick's Speed Slip. Check out Uncle Richard Dick and all of his friends at uncledicksbikeshop.com. Uncle Dick, he's, he's ri- he's- He's our man.
• 21:18
  If he can't do it, no one can. [laughs] He's ripping off the roof. And James came in, and he tore it up at the beginning of the show.
• 21:25
  Yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna try and feature James another couple of shows down the road when we get our technical chops all in a row. Holy crud. That, he ripped it up. Yep.
• 21:38
  Speaking of ripping it up, hey, man, I've been, uh, riding this Richie Commando that came in for testing. Oh, my God, I like that bike. I eat chihuahua.
• 21:49
  And it came- I know you coveted it since we've seen it in various guises. Well, and I, and I actually rode it at the outdoor demo, and I was like, "Hey, this bike is for me."
• 21:58
  You know, I was like, all right, that was my favorite thing that I rode. And then I brought it to my home trail, and it was just like, [imitates tires screeching] [laughs] Yeah.
• 22:08
  It was like, oh, man, this thing is just such a ripper. Holy crap. I can't wait to get, like, just easy-rolling, medium-knob tires on there. 'Cause there's a Larry on the front and a Nate on the back.
• 22:21
  Nate's, like, super knobby. Larry's not quite- Not so knobby... not quite enough knob, but I tell you what, I learned this week, it was like, man, there's nothing wrong with a Larry. Larry just- Ever... rolls. Yep.
• 22:34
  Does pretty well in the front. Mm-hmm. So I've been running about eight and a half PSI, and the thing is just, it, I don't get any tire rub.
• 22:43
  I don't get any crank rub, you know, because it's a lightweight, steel, Richie Logic tubed bike. So I was a little concerned that I would have too much heft for it, but it is compliant but not flexy.
• 22:57
  Uh- Made for the new svelte Gomez... not, not noodly. Yeah, well, I am, I am lighter. You're becoming sveltificated. I'm trying. Um- Well, it's back to... [laughs] Am I looking at the Polaroid? Back to the future.
• 23:10
  You're fading away, Gomez. [laughs] You're fading away. Oh, my God, but you can, you can still smell me. Um, so I really like that bike. So more- S-... more testing to come.
• 23:21
  We're gonna, we're gonna put it in the studio next week, and you'll see a, uh, product spotlight after we take some glam shots of it. Glam. 'Cause it is pretty damn good-looking too. Right on.
• 23:31
  But you should, you guys should be checking out our Instagram feed. It's, uh, #F-A-T-B-I-K-E-D-O-T-C-O-M, fatbike.com all spelled out, #fatbike.com, all those letters. Do it once and it works out. Yeah.
• 23:48
  It, I put up stuff all the time of what we're testing, and you get kind of a sneak peek of what we're doing. Sneak peek. All right.
• 23:55
  Well, I was looking around at links today, and I ran across this thing from, uh, some market research firm called NPD, big outfit that does all kinds of market research on big companies and even industries like the biking industry, and one of the things they highlighted was that fat bike tire sales are up 600% since 2013.
• 24:17
  Man. Is, that's a lot. That is a lot. Lots of people are buying fat bike tires. I assume that means they have fat bikes to put them on as well. I got fat stacks of fat tires- [laughs]... in my garage.
• 24:28
  But you know what I got fat stacks of? Are my Larrys and steel bead Endos. And even an Endo or two, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, I still run those Endos on the beach.
• 24:38
  Did, Travis, did you ever, uh, did you ever come through the Endo era, when the Endomorph was your tire of choice? [laughs] No. No. You're a second- No, I've never been there... you're a second gen fat biker.
• 24:50
  So the first tire you rode were those Ground Controls, and those tires are just killer. Those tires are great. Yeah, I love that tire.
• 24:59
  It'll be interesting to see what that Fast Track or whatever, that four-inch tire they got coming out. I know. Yeah. We'll be, we'll be getting a set of those on, uh, we'll be testing an S-Works Fat Boy,
• 25:11
  so we have to, we have to, I don't know, find somebody worthy of riding something like that. Somebody worthy. Yeah. Let me know if you need help. [laughs] Travis. Travis. In the, in the lower 40. On my knee.
• 25:24
  You give and you give and you give, Travis. You know, that's why we love you. [laughs] That's why we missed you so much over these past few weeks. So, uh- Yeah, yeah. Lower back went out, and then- Oh, God...
• 25:37
  I was out of town on a long-ass project. Yeah. There was not much bike time, but just getting back to it this week. Cool. So here in Wisconsin, the, the, some things have been, uh, revealed.
• 25:49
  There's a three-race series called Snow Crown Wisconsin Fat Bike Race Series that our buddy George Kopitz up there at Broken Spoke is running. Those look pretty cool.
• 26:00
  Yeah, he did a great job with the, uh, the Shell Track already, so- Right. Right, right... he puts on a good race. And he also announced his Global Fat Bike Day celebration at the Love Shack up there in Traverse.
• 26:12
  I understand- Traverse... there may be two Love Shacks if there's [laughs] enough participants. Yeah. You know, I'm, I'm, I'm thinking that's where I'm gonna end up this year. Traverse, that was, it's a good time.
• 26:20
  Just steer clear of drunken Dave and- Well, yeah- [laughs]... that's always, that's, that's always sage advice. Yeah, yeah. Drunken Dave. He does get a bit weepy. [laughs] No, I'm just kidding. Um- [laughs]
• 26:33
  The other link that I thought was really cool in here is Boo Bicycles, the Zen of Boo, that whole woodworking deal, so that's James over there that does all the bamboo work, talking about bamboo.
• 26:45
  I see we got into the links. Talking. I get it. Yeah, yeah. We're rolling through the links. [laughs] I was like, "Where are we?" We're doing linkage. 'Cause we're, we're, we're waiting for a phone call, right?
• 26:54
  Waiting for a phone call. But, uh, the other thing here is this, uh, this trailer for Off the Beaten Path.
• 27:05
  Anthony from First Tracks Productions sent us a sneak peek of this, and I think this is gonna be one killer movie. I can't wait to see this. I, I watched the first few seconds of it.
• 27:16
  I gotta check out the trailer, but, uh, your description of it makes me wanna watch the trailer. Yeah. It's, you know, Pat Smage and, uh, other really elite athletes riding in Iceland and Moab, and it's well done. Cool.
• 27:32
  So we'll be featuring some of the stills from that, and we're working with First Tracks Productions to help promote this film. It's really gonna be something special. Check out the trailer. Yeah.
• 27:45
  Hey, we actually got some plus bike links this week, too. Nice. Yeah, right? I, there's a, there's a bike from, I think they're called Hartley in the UK, the Demi Porker. Demi Porker.
• 27:56
  It reminded me a lot of my Zaskar race bike- Oh, yeah... the triple triangle design. Oh, yeah. But it's really a cool-looking bike. It's got some, uh, utility bike-esque stuff. It's built on 27 plus tires, and
• 28:09
  I just think it's cool. It was specially made for someone, but I would take a look at it anyway 'cause it's drool-worthy.
• 28:14
  I've been talking to Preston from Vee Tire about getting some of his, uh, the Vee Tire plus bike tires in for testing. I specifically mentioned the Bulldozer 29 plus tire as something that-
• 28:27
  Could make it onto your Krampus? Yeah. That, that, that tire intrigues me. I know that, uh, it's, it's not always been reviewed very well, but I always thought for the rear, that thing just was a roller. Right on.
• 28:44
  What do we got coming up on the site next week for stories? Well, my Washington story is about half-hatched. Uh, all my photos are finally [laughs] in one folder, and, uh, I think I remember everybody's name.
• 29:00
  [laughs] Just kidding. I just know your name. Yeah. So, uh, all of that, all that's going to be... and, you know, it d- it takes time to write a story that you really care about- Right. For sure...
• 29:10
  and that is, is more complex. And I, you know, I, I, I left my heart in Washington State, and a lot of brain cells. But, uh, yeah, we got that coming in.
• 29:22
  We have the Advocate Cycles Watchman review that is also, uh- You have that one in Colorado? Right. Right. Yeah. I, I rode that bike for a month, all in Colorado and, and in Wisconsin and in Utah, and, uh,
• 29:36
  that will be coming up. And then you have the, uh, first look at that- Maybe [laughs]... big green machine. It, it was delayed this week. Yeah. I did make a couple changes to it already.
• 29:46
  I took the front rack off, uh, and then I put a five-inch Dillinger 5 on it on the front. Mm-hmm. I'm gonna put one on the back, too.
• 29:54
  Getting it ready to try some of this idea of grooming when we get our first snow, but- Killer... I love those tires anyway. Mm-hmm. And the stock tires are serviceable, but, uh, I'd rather have Dilly 5s on there, so
• 30:06
  it may change shape and form as we move forward. Indeed. So I'm, uh, I'm thinking about tearing down Otis while I'm riding this Commando, and well, first of all, my s- [laughs] It just sounds so- [laughs]
• 30:22
  Tearing down Otis... so, so wrong, man Leave Otis alone And the commando portion of it, too. Yeah. Yeah. That [laughs] Waltz Commando. [laughs] I'm doing this Waltz Commando. So my seat post is frozen inside my frame.
• 30:38
  So- [laughs] Jesus... first of all, I gotta get, I gotta get that unstuck, and then maybe the bike will end up being purple is what I'm trying to say. Sounds good. But, uh,
• 30:49
  Schmenser over there is, uh, our engineer, Schmenser, [laughs] is telling us that we got a call. Hey, welcome to the program. Hello. Who do we have on the line? Hi, this is Sean calling from New York.
• 31:01
  Sean, we've been waiting for you to call, bro. How are you? How are you? Sean is here to answer the question of the week with our little pre-arranged dealy bob. So go ahead, answer the question of the week.
• 31:19
  Well, w- We should probably tell him what the question is... tell him what the question of the week is first, yeah. What new tradition should we invent for Global Fat Bike Day? All right. Well, here's my thought.
• 31:30
  I think that last year, my wife and I, we came up with a little something we call Singletrack Give Back.
• 31:37
  And what that is is it's an opportunity to bring, uh, bicyclists, um, who, you know, like to ride singletrack, fat bikes, whatever, bring them together, and when they come together to join a ride, um, they bring a toy, or a canned food item, or a school product, or something like that, that they, they, they then donate.
• 32:01
  Um, we then collect these, my wife and I, we then collect these, and we take them and give them to, uh, local charitable organizations.
• 32:10
  And last year, we just missed the mark of Global Fat Bike Day by a couple, couple days because we had just come up with the idea, but we were able to pull it together a few days after. It was December 10th of last year.
• 32:23
  And, uh, we asked for riders to come with toys, uh, which we then donated to Toys for Tots. And we were able to collect 67 toys, uh, for that one particular event. So you were saying about, uh, Toys for Tots.
• 32:38
  So your suggestion, and our suggestion, is going to be that people, at least in the US, adopt a toy drive.
• 32:47
  And it's v- purely voluntary, but we're going to, we're gonna do a, a contest to, uh, make it worth your while to do this toy drive.
• 32:57
  And Toys for Tots collects toys so that underprivileged children and children of military families will-- are guaranteed to have toys under the tree, because there are kids in America that would face the holidays with nothing, no gifts under the tree.
• 33:17
  And I, I, I think that... It never happened to me. I always had gifts under the tree, and I feel fortunate, and I know that I can afford a toy, and I think that many of us could afford a toy.
• 33:29
  And who doesn't love to go to a toy store?
• 33:31
  So when you're gonna go to your Global Fat Bike Day, if you're the guy that organizes Global Fat Bike Day, we're going to run a contest, and the guy, the man or woman that runs the Global Fat Bike Day toy drive that gets the most toys wins a medium Surly Moonlander
• 33:52
  Special Ops, which is the green and yellow John Deere. Uh, can't change sizes. You have to have the medium. Uh, the runner-up is gonna- Awesome...
• 34:01
  the runner-up is gonna win a OneUp USA two-bike rack for a two-inch hitch rack, so all the way up to five-inch fat bikes. It's a awesome rack. Uh, and third place is gonna get a prize package from Bontrager.
• 34:16
  They weren't quite sure what they, uh, had for us in, for prizes, but it's been, gonna be really good, because- At, at least tires already, for sure. Yeah, at least tires already, right.
• 34:27
  Um, so we're going to run that, and we're gonna have a story next week which will feature links to the story we did on Sean's Singletrack Give Back, uh, from last year, and it will talk and give you links, uh, of how you can organize this and work with Toys for Tots.
• 34:49
  Now, have you found out anything? Toys for Tots is run by the US Marines. That's, that's correct, and they're in 50 states, Puerto Rico, and, uh, District of Columbia, so, uh, they're pretty much everywhere.
• 35:04
  And I think just to point out one thing, I mean, the reason that, you know, we, we, I think we went with Singletrack Give Back was so that it kind of, you know, left it kind of, um, vague in terms of are you doing something for a holiday or whatever, so it means that you can apply it to whenever or wherever.
• 35:21
  So, you know, if you're somebody that doesn't necessarily cel- you know, celebrate Christmas, um, there's still kids out there and people that are in need.
• 35:29
  So it still provides an opportunity to go out and have fun with your friends on fat bikes and still do something good for, uh, you know, the, the people in either the US or, or globally that are in need. Right.
• 35:40
  And it's purely voluntary. Not every Global Fat Bike Day has to have this. It's just something nice, charitable, and who can argue with giving toys to kids in need? You know, we're not gonna give rich kids toys.
• 35:56
  They already have a bunch of toys. [laughs] It's, these are gonna be the, you know- That would be, it, yeah. [laughs] Yeah. That's Bizzaroland. Kid- Thanks...
• 36:03
  there are kids, you know, with parents in prison and God knows what, so people who need help. So we're gonna try and help them, and that's going to be a, a good thing.
• 36:13
  And Sean is the cat that ca- kinda came up with the idea. And there was actually, uh, Derek Nobleman, uh, ran one of these last year, too, as, as well, right? He did.
• 36:24
  And, uh, I actually just talked to him a little bit ago, uh, at Fitzgerald Bicycles in Idaho, just asking if it was, you know, cool if I mentioned him.
• 36:32
  But yeah, he reached out to me, um, a couple days after we did ours, and he was able to pull a single-track gift back together. We did ours on December 10th. He was able to pull one together by December 17th.
• 36:42
  And my wife Janae and I were fortunate enough to be able to attend when they were bringing all the toys back to Cycle-Haven, which was his bike shop out on Long Island before moving out to, uh, Idaho and taking over Fitzgerald's, and they had well over 100 toys, uh, that, you know, they just were able to, you know, pull it together that quick and do that much good.
• 37:02
  Yeah, that's very cool. And, uh, I did get confirmation from him that he's gonna be, he's gonna be doing it again out at Fitzgerald's this year in Idaho.
• 37:08
  Now, have you had any, uh, luck putting together any other international organizations, like, for riders over in Europe, or should people just find a charity, an orphanage, or something that, uh, for these toys to find a good home outside of the US?
• 37:26
  My recommendation, you know, if you're, if you're in the US, um, you know, go to toysfor tots.org. Um, there is a dropdown box that, uh, asks you which state you're in, and then it goes from there. Mm-hmm.
• 37:37
  And that will, uh, help you figure out where your toys need to go or who you need to contact. Um, obviously, Toys for Tots not being, uh, a global thing, um, but we have many global riders out there.
• 37:49
  Uh, I would say, you know, reach out to, you know, your local charitable organization, uh, orphanage, um, what, what have you, uh, and ask them, you know, what you can do to help them.
• 38:00
  You know, maybe, maybe they need toys and food, or toys and school, school products. Mm-hmm. So you can kind of mix and match and, uh, do something really good out there.
• 38:09
  Well, that, that's, that's good advice, or a children's hospital or something like that would be a good- Absolutely... a good place to start. Well, we are gonna have- No limit...
• 38:17
  all the details in, uh, in a post next week on the site, and we will revisit this in, uh, the coming weeks every week to encourage people to... People to... Collect toys.
• 38:35
  [laughs] It's like [laughs] where? [laughs] I was waiting for some- I know. I-... a revelation. I know. There was no revelation. [laughs] Oh, I thought you had gas or something. For real? [laughs] God, God. Really?
• 38:49
  His Lordship's brain, so small. Anyway, so, uh, thanks for calling. You g- do you have any other questions for us, Sean? No, I just wanna say, you know, thanks for all that you guys do.
• 39:00
  Um, and I really appreciate you supporting this and getting the word out, and, uh, really look forward to seeing, you know, what, what we make of this.
• 39:07
  And, uh, like to thank everybody that, you know, you were able to get to, uh, give some, uh, really cool prizes, uh, to, you know, award people for, you know, good behavior. It's kind of a nice incentive. Yeah.
• 39:19
  So thank you. Certainly 1UP USA and Bontrager so far. And, uh, you know, if any other- Gomez isn't done yet. Yeah.
• 39:25
  [laughs] If any of, uh, our sponsors are out there listening, and they listen to the show, and they wanna be part of this, I mean, who wouldn't wanna be a part of giving poor kids toys during the holidays?
• 39:37
  Um- Absolutely... you can just contact me at gomez@fat-bike.com. And look for that post next week. Sean, thanks for coming up with a great idea. As soon as I heard this- Kudos, man... I was like- For sure...
• 39:49
  bam, we gotta do this. So, uh- Oh, thank you... let's collect a bunch of toys and spread the joy. Absolutely. All right, dude. Thank you. Thanks for calling in. All right. We'll see ya. And- You got it.
• 40:02
  Thank you for your time... we do have another caller on the line. Sweet. Welcome to the show, caller. Who do we have on the line? Hey, what's up, friends? It's Evan. Hey, Evan. Evan, what's up, my brother? Uh-oh.
• 40:18
  Evan just went away. [laughs] Bye, Evan. Bye, Evan. [laughs] Bye, Evan. [laughs] Hey, call back, Evan. Yeah, call back. I, I don't know what happened to Evan. I know Travis is still there. I, I muted him.
• 40:26
  I didn't know if Travis was thumping around in the garage opening beer cans or what, but- [laughs] Rummaging through-... he's-... the neighbor's garbage cans... yeah, he's back now. Yeah. And I...
• 40:35
  You know who else is back? Evan. Evan. Evan's back. [laughs] Did Evan- Hey. Hey. Was that on me? [laughs] No, man, that was probably on me. I was probably trying to turn the volume up, and then I just hung up on you. Oh.
• 40:48
  Nice. Dear Evan. See, see how he treats us. He waits 10 minutes to just hang up. [laughs] That's dedication. Welcome to the show, Evan. Yeah, yeah.
• 40:56
  And I was get- I was getting petrol too, so it's probably not safe to fill up the car, shitty chat. Oh, pshaw.
• 41:02
  [laughs] Yeah, you know, there was a thing, actually, there was a thing on, uh, on Car Talk- I'll just tell you-... about that very thing- Sure... when I think cell phones were still in boxes. Mm-hmm.
• 41:10
  They, they had some lady call in and ask, "Is it... If you have... Are talking on a cell phone by a gas pump, is it gonna blow up?" And they're like, "No." It's the s- "May- but may, but maybe." But maybe. So [laughs]
• 41:21
  they were very non-committal about that today. Absolutely not, but possibly. But it could happen. [laughs] So Evan, uh, have you called to answer the question of the week? No. No. [laughs] I didn't.
• 41:37
  I called, I called to talk to you, Gomez. Oh, nice. I ran in- I ran into somebody you met who lives in Twin Lake. Oh, yeah. Bike mechanic by the name of Chris. Oh, yeah, yeah. I know that dude. Yeah.
• 41:50
  He was, he was chitty-chattin' me up, uh, with Tyrone over at SLP, and, uh, he was saying that you went into his shop and met his boss, and you had quite the encounter. Oh, I- It was quite the tale...
• 42:05
  I'm, I am a charmer, aren't I? [laughs] [laughs] Yeah. Chris will r- remain nameless, but, uh, it was, it was a good, it was a good story. Oh, yeah. He goes, "You my new Gomez."
• 42:18
  I'm like, "Oh, yeah, I've, I've heard of said gentleman." [laughs] Yeah, I don't, I don't think the owner- Yeah... of that shop, like, like, bowed and kissed my ring, so I, I gave him a few syllables.
• 42:30
  [laughs] [laughs] Something like that. Uh, was that how it was told to you? Absolutely. [laughs] Don't you know who I am, man? [laughs] Hey, I'm- Yeah...
• 42:43
  coming in here and I'm buying this sealant, man Do you know who I am, man? The least you should do is, you know... I don't know You don't know me? [laughs] Well, good God, sir. Yeah. Well- Oh, fantastic.
• 42:57
  [clears throat] Oh, and I've got no follow-up. I got no follow-up for choice for Todd, man. No? Yeah, that's a pretty good one.
• 43:03
  I can't- I don't know if you can really top that I still like my idea of the passing of the Endo, though. Well, that could be another, another- Oh... facet.
• 43:11
  A multifaceted tradition, but- I'm having my third freaking ginger dice. Ginger ale. I'm keeping my eye on you. [laughs] Yeah, Evan. Yeah, it's all- I'm deep, deep- I got a fantastic tradition for you.
• 43:26
  It's just ride at the back of the pack and hang out for a minute, and it'll be good tradition. I don't know. Well, that's a good tradition is that everybody spends some time at the back of the pack hanging out.
• 43:37
  I think that's a good tradition. A lot of people try and blast up the front and turn it into a race. It's like, well, most of the fun happens at the back. A race for DFO. Yeah.
• 43:45
  [laughs] And then it would be some sort of weird recycling Indian run thing where people in the front are going to the back and people from the back are becoming the front. That's sounding a lot like a pace line to me.
• 43:57
  Oh, my God. Yeah. No pace line. Very slow, melodic, chaotic. I've been on a couple like that where it's just like, "Oh, everyone space out a little bit." I know. Just a little. Global Fat Bike Day. Just a little.
• 44:11
  But, uh, yeah, no- Everybody space out... everybody space out... everybody's got their room. You need more- [coughs] You need, like, ATM space, everybody. So Julio was bending my ear on the old text machine about, uh...
• 44:23
  He was upset about winter festival happening on Global Fat Bike Day at, at Kettle. And I was like, "Damn, more power to him, man." Just add fat bikes to the mix and stir. Yeah. [laughs] It's all good. Yeah.
• 44:41
  So how does that connect in any way? Uh-oh, your audio's going janky, brohams. Goddamn it. That's because I'm out in the middle of fucking nowhere, Wisconsin, like- [laughs] Spoken like a true- Sh-... son of Chicago.
• 44:59
  [laughs] Should we look west and wait for the smoke signals? [laughs] Poof, poof, poof. [laughs] Exactly how many games- Poof... do the Cubs have to lose to be out of our hair for the year? Uh-oh.
• 45:10
  Uh, you see where we started? [laughs] Who the fuck, who the fuck are the Cubs? [laughs] We started a gang war. Who the fuck, who the fuck cares?
• 45:17
  I, I, you know, I can appreciate the enthusiasm for the baseball person, but that ain't my fucking cup of tea, man. But damn it, Marty, they- [laughs]... they predicted it in Back to the Future II.
• 45:30
  And we're on a different timeline where the Cubs are losing in the NLCS, ah. Well- Yeah. It's, it's- Yes... art imitating reality, reality imitating art. Which is it, Marty? Well, if they win, I call, I call a fix.
• 45:48
  Really? [laughs] Yeah. Wow. We all know it's fixed anyway. It's all, it's all- It's entertainment... played- Dance, puppets, dance... yeah, it's puppet entertainment [sings] Sports entertainment.
• 46:00
  So dude, are you going to- How do you, uh, how can-... uh, are you gonna g- get up early on Saturday morning and listen to the, uh, new episode of Fat Camp with, uh, Ken and Andy over there? Hmm? Hmm?
• 46:12
  Y- yeah, ab- absolutely. I re-listen to Fat Camp because I can't take it all in at one time. People love that show. It's too much information. You know what? I think- It's good. I enjoy it...
• 46:21
  I think that I'm, I'm comfortable enough to say I, I think I love Andy. [laughs] Andy's my favorite. After... [laughs] Whoa, wait, no. After- [laughs]
• 46:33
  After that, like, six sentence of weirdness that you just spouted out before- [laughs] I'm sure you're... That's a simple one. [laughs] Six sentence. [laughs] What are you talking about? I was being perfect sense.
• 46:53
  [laughs] Till- Right... James started jingling on that damn guitar, and it blew my mind, man. [laughs] I don't know what any of you people are talking about right now. [laughs] All right. I- Oh, my God.
• 47:06
  [laughs] I'm operating a motor vehicle right now. [laughs] I better not be on your level. [laughs] So are you gonna call in and talk about Samsquanch next week? That's our question. Sure.
• 47:19
  It w- it- What, what- The question is, what would you do if you met Samsquanch, and, uh, why? [laughs] Why? What would you do if you met Samsquanch? My question would be, like, are you a girl Samsquanch?
• 47:32
  Are you a boy Samsquanch? I would wanna sex the Samsquanch. [laughs] How about you? Come on. Oh, what's n- That's next week's question... next week's, next week's question. Well, let's just stop you right there and say?
• 47:44
  Oh, yeah, yeah. I, yeah, no, I got it. I would give him my bike. I don't know. Oh, you would give him your bike? He would just take it. He can ride. We have to go for a ride, Evan, and you have to ride this Commando.
• 47:59
  Oh, yeah. [laughs] You have to ride this... This is where grammar and inflection works very good. [laughs] You have to ride this Commando, or you have to ride this Commando. You have to ride this Commando.
• 48:12
  [laughs] Now there's a bike called a Commando. I'm gonna have to edit this Commando. [laughs] Yeah, you're gonna have to ride this Commando. [laughs] You're just gonna have to. It's... You are gonna...
• 48:25
  You're g- you're gonna flip, dude. [laughs] JK loves it so. There's no- Oh, shit. What... I got, I gotta cruise out there one of these days. Mm. I gotta meet JK. [laughs] He seems like an interesting individual. Yes.
• 48:38
  You know, don't you guys ride on Wednesday nights or something, though? I ride whenever I can. I- Oh, well, me too... yeah, you know. But don't you have, like, a regular, uh, what's, what's your little group called?
• 48:51
  No, no. There's no regular. No? There's no regular group. There's, it's, it's the usual suspects. It's- Oh, that's it. The Usual Suspects... it's, it's the unusual. It's the Unusual Suspects. Unusual Suspects. Yeah.
• 49:03
  All right. Well, someday you'll have to bust away from them- It-... and come and come to the big city. It was just me and, uh, Mr. Byron- Oh, yeah...
• 49:13
  this one evening doing some, uh, some night riding at, uh, Silver Lake. It was fucking awesome, man. Oh, yeah. The trails are just- Went to the new south run... bomb right there.
• 49:23
  The new stuff they cut in is, is, is pretty sweet. Yeah. They just keep on adding great stuff. They do. Well, listen, we're going to, uh, we're going to wrap this up, so you keep it real and, uh,
• 49:40
  we're gonna move right on and say thanks again to Surly for sponsoring the radio portion of today's broadcast. Surly makes bikes and parts that don't suck. Learn more at surlybikes.com.
• 49:53
  Join us next week when the question of the week is, what would you do if you saw a damn Samsquanch? [laughs] Plus, you can call in and pimp your local fat bike race.
• 50:06
  It's a good opportunity for you to throw down the gauntlet and get your friends to come out and join the fun. Call 818-918-2453 anytime, day or night. Leave us a message.
• 50:16
  You know, that's the perfect opportunity to throw down the gauntlet. On one of those messages, be like, "Gomez, you're a fat ass. I could beat you with one arm tied behind my back." And then- Again... we race.
• 50:29
  [laughs] And I do the tying. And, uh, don't forget that it's the time of year to post your rides, races, gatherings, demos, uh, Samsquanch sightings, all that type of stuff on our event calendar.
• 50:42
  There'll be a link to that in the show notes. Somebody should check that now and again. Yeah. I pr- [laughs] Well, it, it might take a day or two to get your, uh, event approved by the button-pushing approval people.
• 50:54
  Indeed. And see those two sexy bastards at the bottom of our show notes? That's Ken and Andy. Be sure to tune in tomorrow and listen to the new episode of Fat Camp
• 51:07
  with Ken and Andy chewing the fat with a gaggle of truck engineers about bikes and science. No two Shatner. A gaggle of truck engineers about bikes and science.
• 51:25
  And Shatner. [laughs] Say bye. Yeah. Adios, amigos. We're, we're done. Go have some fun on your bike. You've been listening to Fat Bike Radio's weekly dose of fat.
• 51:40
  Find us on the web at fat-bike.com/radio. We'll see you next time.
• 51:50
  [outro music]