Latest / Clydesdale Media Podcast / Rob Davis | The Athletes of the 2024 Legends Masters CrossFit Games

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Rob Davis | The Athletes of the 2024 Legends Masters CrossFit Games · Clydesdale Media Podcast

0:10
I was born to kill it.
0:16
I was meant to win.
0:17
I am down and willing,
0:19
so I will find a way.
0:20
It took a minute,
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now it didn't happen right away.
0:23
When it get hot in the kitchen,
0:24
you decide to stay.
0:25
That's how a winner's made.
0:27
Stick a fork in the hater on my dick.
0:35
What's going on everybody.
0:37
Welcome to the class.
0:38
No media podcast.
0:39
We're highlighting the
0:41
athletes of the 2024
0:43
legends masters CrossFit games.
0:46
And I am honored to have with me today,
0:48
Rob Davis, Rob, how are you doing?
0:50
I'm doing great.
0:51
How are you doing?
0:53
Good.
0:53
Good.
0:54
So this is your second time
0:56
going to the games.
0:57
Yes.
0:58
Yes.
1:00
Uh, last year was quite an experience.
1:02
I spent years trying to get there.
1:04
So, uh,
1:06
So, yeah,
1:06
I was real impressed with the
1:09
whole show last year with
1:12
them changing things this year.
1:13
I'm curious to see how this comes out.
1:16
Yeah.
1:17
So you're in the 55 to
1:19
59-year-old division?
1:21
Yes.
1:22
Yeah.
1:23
And you were last year as well?
1:25
Yes.
1:27
And finished sixth?
1:28
Yes.
1:28
Yes.
1:30
So when you got to Madison,
1:33
what was the coolest part
1:34
about being a CrossFit Games athlete?
1:39
It was all cool.
1:40
I mean, the whole nine yards.
1:43
They go in and, you know,
1:44
they took us back in a
1:45
locker room and it's like, you know,
1:47
this is yours.
1:49
And, man, we walked out of there with,
1:53
you wouldn't have believed this stuff.
1:55
Shoot, you know.
1:56
four or five pairs of shoes,
1:58
all kinds of outfits, backpacks, you know,
2:01
gym bags.
2:04
They laid out the red carpet last year.
2:09
And then, you know, where we're training,
2:14
the younger pros are in
2:15
there training also.
2:17
So just, you know,
2:18
I'm doing snatches next to
2:20
Brent Fikowski.
2:21
You know, that was pretty cool.
2:24
Did you lift more than him?
2:25
No, no, I did not.
2:27
No.
2:28
And actually, it's funny.
2:32
We had they had a standard
2:34
on the kettlebells where
2:35
you had to keep your arms
2:36
straight last year.
2:38
And so I'm watching him over there.
2:41
He's trying every way you
2:42
can think of to shorten the move,
2:44
to change the move,
2:46
to give himself an advantage.
2:48
And, man, they put a lot into it.
2:51
Yeah, yeah.
2:52
That's why they call him the professor,
2:54
right?
2:54
Yes, yes.
2:56
He's trying to figure out all the angles.
2:59
And, you know,
3:00
it was funny seeing some of these,
3:03
you know, elite athletes in there.
3:06
You know,
3:06
last year they had to spin around the bar,
3:08
the bar overs.
3:10
And there were a couple of
3:12
athletes that just could not get it.
3:15
And you could see the stress
3:17
in their faces as they
3:18
headed out to the WOD.
3:20
uh,
3:20
they must not have had much warning
3:22
that that was coming.
3:23
And so, yeah,
3:26
the whole experience last year was,
3:28
was good.
3:30
Did you enjoy the warmup
3:32
area more than the,
3:33
than the competition floor
3:35
or probably the competition floor was,
3:37
was the best part.
3:39
Uh, you know, I, I,
3:41
I liked competing in the Coliseum.
3:44
That was, that was very cool.
3:46
Uh, out on the field, uh,
3:51
That was not my best workout.
3:54
So, of course,
3:55
the workouts I did the best
3:57
on were my favorite.
3:59
Right, of course.
4:00
And I think Amanda, I won Amanda,
4:05
and that was out on the field.
4:07
So that was a good one for me.
4:08
But it was 100 degrees out there.
4:11
It was tough.
4:12
It was.
4:13
I was out there filming,
4:14
and that jerrycan workout where –
4:18
you did wasn't it burpees
4:20
around the the pig and then
4:22
you had to go like the
4:23
jerry cans around the cones
4:25
yes that was that one was
4:27
crazy it was it was and uh
4:32
you know we had to work out
4:33
with the deadlifts and uh
4:35
sled pull and I can't even
4:38
remember what all was in it
4:39
now but but I uh I tore ham
4:42
I already had a hamstring
4:44
that was bothering me and
4:46
uh I tore hamstring on that one and that
4:48
that, uh, that,
4:51
that cost me one or two
4:52
places on the weekend.
4:54
So that, that sucked.
4:56
Yeah.
4:56
So what kind of athlete do
4:58
you consider yourself to be?
4:59
Uh, I've been doing this a long time, so,
5:05
uh, I'm one that doesn't quit.
5:06
Uh, you know, I, I, uh,
5:12
I trained on my own for a couple of years,
5:16
and I got stuck in the top 100,
5:19
like in around 84th spot,
5:23
and just couldn't seem to get past it.
5:26
And talked to the guy that
5:28
owned CrossFit 9 Degrees, and he's like,
5:32
you know,
5:32
I think we can do something with this.
5:34
And he's made me a better athlete.
5:37
He got me in here, and
5:39
And, you know,
5:39
we made the top 10 last year
5:41
and qualified 16th this year.
5:44
So it's going coming here to
5:49
train has been a huge plus for me.
5:52
I am a year older this year.
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I'm curious to see.
5:56
I see there's a lot of young guys,
5:57
younger guys coming in and
6:00
several of them I have competed with.
6:02
And there's going to be some
6:04
tough guys out there this year.
6:06
As there was.
6:07
Yeah.
6:08
Jeffrey Birchfield asks, how old is Rob?
6:12
I'm 56.
6:14
56.
6:15
Yes.
6:16
So you're still kind of in
6:17
that like baby end of the 55.
6:19
Yes.
6:20
Yes.
6:21
Yes.
6:22
But I'll tell you what,
6:24
every year makes a difference.
6:27
Once you get up, you know,
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I'm going to say over 50.
6:30
You know, when I was in the 50 to 54,
6:34
I was struggling with those
6:35
guys when I was 54.
6:38
And then I came into the 55 to 60,
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55 to 59.
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And I had a good year last year.
6:46
And hopefully we're going to
6:48
have a good year this year.
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And I don't know.
6:51
We'll see what happens next year.
6:54
Yeah.
6:54
I think one of the weird
6:56
things is I think online
6:58
competitions are tough to
6:59
know whether those,
7:01
those rankings are valid, right?
7:03
Oh yes.
7:04
Especially on a blind leaderboard.
7:06
Right.
7:07
It's not till you get to
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like a live competition
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where you have people
7:11
beside you that you find
7:13
out truly what kind of an
7:14
athlete you are.
7:15
Yes.
7:16
Totally agree with you.
7:17
Uh, and, and, and there's some, uh,
7:21
there were some tough guys
7:22
there last year that, uh,
7:24
You know,
7:24
I think we all earn each other's respect.
7:27
You know, by the end of the weekend,
7:31
you know, you're all pretty much friends.
7:33
You know who's good at what
7:34
and who's not good at what.
7:36
And, you know, John Kim and I,
7:40
we have became pretty good
7:44
friends after the games last year.
7:49
It's got to be weird because
7:51
there were only 10 that
7:52
went to the games last year.
7:53
Yes.
7:54
And you're always corralled together.
7:56
You spend the entire weekend
7:58
just the 10 of you.
8:00
Yes.
8:01
And you see who is stressed,
8:03
who handles stress well, and who doesn't.
8:07
Yeah.
8:09
You think you handle it well?
8:12
No.
8:13
I can handle stress in short spurts.
8:18
I can't handle heavy stress
8:20
day in and day out.
8:24
Yeah.
8:26
I think that's a pretty good
8:28
assessment of how I feel too.
8:30
Yeah.
8:31
So I watched a video you did,
8:34
I think with Nine Degree,
8:37
and you talked about it
8:40
took till you were 40 to
8:41
get your shit together.
8:43
Yes.
8:43
Yes, it did.
8:44
So in what respect?
8:48
Uh, you know, I, uh, I, I, I,
8:54
I didn't do any training for years.
8:58
Uh, I was self-employed, uh, you know,
9:02
married and divorced, lost my business,
9:07
uh, you know, drinking, partying,
9:09
carrying on, uh,
9:12
And then, I don't know,
9:13
I decided to get my shit
9:15
together and and close my business,
9:18
which was doing badly anyway.
9:21
You know,
9:22
it kind of started going downhill
9:23
as as my marriage dissolved.
9:28
And then, you know,
9:30
I went and got a job and
9:31
started going to the gym
9:35
and started powerlifting.
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I was.
9:38
I'd done powerlifting for
9:39
three or four years before
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I started doing CrossFit.
9:44
And, you know,
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I just got my shit together.
9:50
You know, I got up, I had a plan,
9:51
and every day I went and
9:53
tried to do better and be better.
9:57
And I still do the same thing.
9:59
You know, I get up every day,
10:00
I spend two to four hours training,
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and then I go to work.
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CrossFit has a way of doing that,
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doesn't it?
10:07
It does.
10:08
It does.
10:09
And you know, it, it,
10:11
it didn't only help the
10:12
aspect of my physical fitness.
10:14
It helped me be a better
10:15
person to be honest with you.
10:19
It's that community you
10:20
surround yourself with, right?
10:22
Yeah.
10:22
Even when you're trained
10:23
alone for a while.
10:24
Birds of a feather.
10:26
Yep.
10:28
And when you're,
10:28
when the birds of a feather
10:30
are doing the right thing
10:31
helps you do the right thing.
10:33
Yes.
10:34
Yes.
10:34
I think a lot of people in
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the CrossFit world are,
10:37
uh have addictive
10:38
personalities uh and you
10:41
know whatever they're doing
10:43
be good or bad they're
10:44
gonna they're gonna do it
10:46
you know best they can yeah
10:51
so you're you're a you're a
10:52
husband again and you and
10:53
you're a dad and a
10:54
grandfather yes I'm a
10:56
grandfather twice now yeah
11:00
yes uh who all you take into alabama
11:04
It would probably be my wife.
11:06
And then I have a cousin in
11:10
Florida that texts last
11:11
night and wanted to know
11:12
what days her and her
11:14
daughter should come up.
11:16
So I will have a couple of fans there.
11:20
Yeah.
11:21
What do you – are you
11:23
excited for your
11:23
grandchildren to see out
11:24
there on the floor?
11:26
They're still very young.
11:28
The oldest one is not three yet, you know.
11:35
Yeah, hopefully eventually he does,
11:38
but I don't think they're
11:42
going to show up to Alabama
11:44
and spend three days in that atmosphere.
11:48
Yeah.
11:50
Jeffrey Birchfield said, that's cool.
11:52
I have five grandkids.
11:53
Wow.
11:56
Yes.
11:58
So you're also a machinist.
12:00
Yes, yes.
12:01
Have been.
12:02
You know, I told you I was self-employed.
12:04
Automotive machine shops,
12:06
what I grew up doing,
12:08
boring blocks and
12:10
reconditioned cylinder heads.
12:11
And now I work at a place
12:14
called Major Tool and
12:15
Machine where I run a gantry mill.
12:19
In the 80s,
12:20
it was the largest gantry mill
12:22
in the world.
12:23
So I make some pretty big stuff.
12:27
That's cool.
12:28
That's what my dad did.
12:29
My dad did that 45 years.
12:32
You know, it's funny.
12:36
Used to,
12:36
you made a living being a machinist,
12:38
but in today's world and
12:41
the way it's became,
12:42
people that can work with their hands,
12:44
we make a pretty good living now.
12:47
Yeah.
12:48
You know, everybody went to college and,
12:52
you know, they're book smart,
12:53
but it just doesn't seem to
12:55
make it to their hands anymore.
12:56
And the old guys that grew up, you know,
13:01
working with their hands,
13:02
I never dreamed would be valuable.
13:06
Right.
13:07
Try to hire a plumber or an electrician.
13:09
Yes, I know.
13:11
Same thing.
13:11
Well,
13:12
even your air conditioning guys make
13:14
a great living now.
13:15
Yeah.
13:16
You know,
13:19
anything you do with your hands there,
13:21
you know, most people can't do it.
13:23
And used to everybody worked
13:25
on their own stuff.
13:27
Yeah.
13:28
I actually worked for the
13:28
state of Ohio and one of
13:29
our big programs is apprenticeships, uh,
13:32
trying to get people into
13:33
the trades because it's so hard.
13:35
Yes.
13:36
They're going into the high
13:37
schools and recruiting showing, Hey,
13:39
you don't need college debt.
13:41
As are we, we are too, from where I work,
13:44
we have a big machinist
13:46
thing every year and they
13:47
go around to the high schools and, uh,
13:50
trying to get people into
13:51
machinist and welding.
13:54
You need, you need them both.
13:56
And then on the other end of it, you know,
13:58
the, the, uh, the technical stuff, the,
14:01
the it stuff, they're,
14:03
they're getting to where
14:04
they want to run machines without people,
14:07
you know, they, they want to,
14:08
they want to run things lights out.
14:11
You still have to have a guy there do it.
14:14
Yeah.
14:15
They tried to do that where
14:16
my dad worked and it always failed.
14:18
Yes, so far.
14:20
I think there will always be
14:21
a market for one-of-a-kind parts.
14:25
If you're making a million
14:26
of something or thousands of something,
14:28
you might be able to find a
14:29
way to run that with lights out.
14:32
If you're making one-of-a-kind parts,
14:35
especially big parts,
14:38
we're making a lot of stuff
14:39
for NASA that goes to outer space,
14:41
and that's big.
14:44
You might make 10 or 12 of them,
14:45
and that's it.
14:48
Yeah, that's funny.
14:49
My dad made miners, the parts for miners,
14:54
so coal or salt that were remote control,
14:58
and they would go into a
15:00
mine and dig without any
15:02
man having to go into that
15:03
dangerous... Yes.
15:05
Well, we did.
15:08
We're not right now.
15:09
We did a lot of, like,
15:10
ground turbine generators, you know, big,
15:13
great big generators for...
15:17
companies like that.
15:19
Yeah.
15:21
So do the guys in the shop
15:22
know what you do for a hobby?
15:24
Yes.
15:25
Yes.
15:25
Most, most, most of them do.
15:27
I mean, we have,
15:28
we have approximately 500
15:30
people that work there,
15:31
so I don't know everyone, but,
15:34
but I work second shift and
15:35
pretty much everybody on
15:37
second shift sees me, you know,
15:39
I go in to eat and they're like, you know,
15:41
look at that spread, you know, every day.
15:43
Cause I, you know, I count my macros and,
15:46
And, you know,
15:48
I try to get just like the
15:50
guy you had on the other day.
15:52
I try to eat right.
15:53
I try to sleep right.
15:53
I try to train right.
15:55
I try to live right.
15:58
But, yes, everyone there knows.
16:03
Some people are fans.
16:04
Some people aren't.
16:05
I've had guys go, you know, well,
16:06
you don't do that CrossFit, do you?
16:11
Are they going to watch you on the stream?
16:15
uh you know I i would assume
16:17
that they will they tried
16:19
last year and you know how
16:21
the stream was for the
16:22
masters last year yeah that
16:24
was bad and uh so I had a
16:28
got a lot last year like
16:29
man we we tried to you know
16:31
we tried to watch we
16:32
couldn't couldn't find it
16:34
and uh zach at crossfit
16:37
nine degrees he he he uh
16:39
live streamed all the workouts
16:42
which was a big help for me
16:44
and the people at work.
16:47
But I'm sure somebody will
16:49
try to tune in and let
16:51
everybody know what's going on.
16:53
Well,
16:53
this year you got the A-team calling it.
16:56
Yes.
16:57
And I'm pretty excited about that,
17:00
to be honest with you.
17:01
So I hope I can go out there and do well.
17:04
I'd hate for my wife and my
17:05
cousin to see me do badly.
17:07
And then Sean Woodward, is that it?
17:12
Woodland.
17:12
Woodland.
17:13
And then him have to say bad
17:16
things about me.
17:17
That would just be a nightmare.
17:19
Yeah.
17:21
Yeah, well,
17:22
hopefully you have a good
17:22
weekend and you get the good stuff, man.
17:24
Yes, yes, let's hope.
17:27
There's no feeling like an
17:29
event win at the CrossFit Games.
17:31
But I am curious to see what
17:33
the feel is when we get there.
17:35
I hope it feels like the
17:36
games and doesn't feel like
17:39
just another competition.
17:42
Yeah,
17:42
I've heard that the venue is awesome.
17:44
Great.
17:44
I haven't seen it yet.
17:46
Are you going to be there?
17:47
I am.
17:49
Cool.
17:51
Yeah,
17:51
we're going to be there filming a
17:53
behind the scenes.
17:54
Nice.
17:56
And we'll release it after it's all over.
17:58
But Ellie Hiller and myself
18:00
will be back in the warm-up area,
18:02
just chatting with you guys,
18:04
getting the vibe of the day.
18:05
And then we'll have a couple
18:07
videographers out front
18:09
catching some of the action on the floor.
18:11
Nice.
18:13
Well, that sounds good.
18:16
Yeah.
18:17
Yeah.
18:18
Trying to do something just
18:19
like the elite athletes get, um,
18:22
when they do their stuff.
18:23
So what are your expectations this year?
18:26
You,
18:26
you hoping to finish up around the
18:29
podium or do you not know?
18:31
Well, you know,
18:31
my coach has been on me
18:32
like all year about, Hey,
18:34
you need to train like
18:35
you're going to win.
18:37
Uh, so, you know,
18:39
he wants me to go with the attitude.
18:40
I'm going to win.
18:41
Uh,
18:44
You know,
18:44
last year I was just happy to be there,
18:47
and I'm not going to lie.
18:48
I'm happy to be here just to
18:50
be there this year.
18:51
Yeah, I'd like to be up front,
18:55
but we'll just have to wait
18:57
and see how it works out.
18:58
I've fought some injuries this year,
19:01
and I can't say I'm 100%,
19:05
but I'm as tough as I was last year.
19:07
I like it.
19:10
Do you have to train
19:11
different as you get older?
19:13
Yes.
19:15
Yes.
19:16
You know,
19:16
you do what you can because some
19:20
days your body doesn't,
19:21
doesn't do what it used to.
19:24
And I'm guilty of really
19:26
pushing myself hard and
19:28
then paying for it for a couple of days.
19:31
And, you know, as you get older,
19:33
you learn not to do that,
19:35
but you still end up doing it,
19:37
especially right now,
19:37
getting close to the games.
19:39
You know, I,
19:40
I worked my butt off all weekend.
19:42
We were
19:43
we were out, uh,
19:45
paddle boarding and then kayaking.
19:47
And then I was in gym, you know,
19:50
six hours each day.
19:51
Uh,
19:53
so I trained my butt off all weekend and,
19:56
uh, and paid for it yesterday.
19:58
My,
19:58
my list showed that I trained too hard
20:01
this weekend yesterday.
20:03
And, uh, but today was a good day.
20:05
We, we done a couple of good wads and, uh,
20:08
we had one that was, uh,
20:11
18-minute, 25 double-unders,
20:14
five wall-facing handstand push-ups,
20:16
300-meter run.
20:19
So for any of my age group watching,
20:21
I was right at nine rounds.
20:25
Nice.
20:25
That's where I'm at right now.
20:30
So, Mike,
20:33
I guess if you had to have like
20:35
one home run workout, what would it be?
20:39
It would have handstand walks, uh,
20:44
handstand pushups, uh,
20:48
probably some running in it.
20:50
Uh, okay.
20:54
Yeah.
20:54
Maybe some muscle ups.
20:56
I'm not great at the ring muscle ups.
20:58
I'm pretty good on the bar muscle ups.
21:01
Uh,
21:02
Skills,
21:04
usually the skills are my better things.
21:08
I am not a great Olympic lifter.
21:12
I weigh 165 pounds.
21:17
I struggle on the heavy cleans.
21:20
225, 230 is about my max.
21:26
That's not where I would like to be.
21:30
In reality, that's where I am.
21:33
So you said on the weekend
21:34
you did six hours in the
21:35
gym plus a bunch of stuff outside.
21:37
Do you try to get more in on
21:40
the weekends because you
21:40
have to work during the week?
21:42
What I do is each day I have
21:47
a competitor workout and my
21:50
class workouts every day.
21:52
And depending on what life
21:53
throws at me through the week,
21:56
what I don't get done
21:57
during the week I do on the weekends.
22:00
And and last week was a very busy week.
22:04
And and then we threw in the
22:08
paddle boarding and the
22:09
kayaking on sat on Sunday.
22:14
We threw that in for Sunday.
22:16
So I was in here doing
22:19
barbell because I have a
22:20
workout on Saturday, too.
22:22
So Saturday I done barbell
22:24
and then I started doing the stuff,
22:26
my competitor workouts that
22:27
I didn't finish through the week.
22:29
And then Sunday I was out on
22:32
the lake and then in the
22:34
gym doing the rest of the
22:35
competitor workouts.
22:37
So I got everything in, but it's,
22:40
it's a lot.
22:42
Does anybody else in your family CrossFit?
22:45
No, no, no, no.
22:49
I wish I, I wish some of them would had,
22:51
um,
22:52
You know, my dad worked his butt off,
22:56
and then my brother,
22:59
he has no desire to train.
23:07
He lives his life,
23:08
but it doesn't have any
23:10
training involved in it.
23:11
Yeah.
23:13
Wife doesn't CrossFit?
23:16
No, my wife does, yes.
23:18
Okay.
23:18
Yes.
23:19
Yes.
23:19
Yes.
23:20
She makes it to class a
23:21
couple of times a week.
23:23
And then we moved out here
23:26
to this area during COVID.
23:29
And, you know, they closed the gyms down.
23:31
So so I bought I moved,
23:34
got five acres and a house
23:35
and a barn and put a rig in
23:38
my barn and trained there
23:40
for a couple of years.
23:42
And so if she doesn't come here,
23:45
she trained to own.
23:46
We have a pretty nice setup there.
23:49
At least you guys get to
23:50
spend a little bit of time
23:51
together doing a class one.
23:54
Uh, sometimes, sometimes, uh, we, uh, we,
23:58
we don't look at it the same way.
24:02
You know, my wife is like,
24:04
just eat the cake, Rob.
24:08
Yeah.
24:08
I, uh,
24:10
my wife and I can never be partners
24:11
in a workout because we
24:14
just look at things differently.
24:16
Yes, same here.
24:18
Same here.
24:19
We look at it.
24:20
She doesn't have a
24:20
competitive bone in her body.
24:23
Exact same.
24:25
I want to win,
24:26
and she just wants to get through it.
24:29
Yep, exactly.
24:32
Well, I can't wait to meet you in person,
24:34
Rob, down there in Birmingham.
24:35
I look forward to meeting you, too.
24:37
We'll be hanging out there and, again,
24:39
doing that behind the scenes.
24:41
So something to look back on
24:43
after the weekend's over.
24:45
Yes, and let's hope it's a good one.
24:48
Yeah.
24:50
With that, guys,
24:51
thank you so much for being here.
24:53
Thank you to Rob for being here,
24:54
and we'll see everybody
24:55
next time on Clydesdale Media Podcast.
24:58
Bye, guys.
24:59
Hey, thanks for having me.