Latest / B 4EVA Kool "Race A Motorcycle" Podcast / NomadOn2wheels updates Rex about the Red Bull Romaniacs race in S5 Ep 27

Transcript

NomadOn2wheels updates Rex about the Red Bull Romaniacs race in S5 Ep 27 · B 4EVA Kool "Race A Motorcycle" Podcast

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Listen to the Be Forever Cool podcast.
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My name is Rex 45. We got Nomad on two wheels in
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the building again. What's going on brother?
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How you doing? I'm good, man.
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I'm good man. Glad to be to be back on the
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show, man. Definitely, definitely.
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Nice, nice to have you back and, and, and you know, get caught up
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and stuff like that. I saw your post on social medias
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and me social media and, and so I kind of have a little bit of
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idea. It looks like you're having a
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lot of fun on 2. Wheels over there.
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Yeah, so, so, you know, I think last night you on the show, it
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was right before the Romaniac race and stuff like that, the
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Red Bull race. So let's kind of let's talk
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about, you know, just jump into that, like getting your bike
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back together and stuff like that after traveling for a few
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years on it. Like, you know, what was that
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like? And and then you know, the the
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preparation and also I think I think at one time you would post
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that you might not make it so to the race.
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So let's talk about like that, what happened there and, and how
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you got through it and stuff like that.
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Yeah, I mean, so yeah, we still, we, like I said, we left off.
1:03
I was in Netherlands, as a matter of fact, I was in
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Netherlands preparing the bike for the race.
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And yeah, there was a lot going on because I had to order parts.
1:13
I had to, you know, just things needed to align with, with
1:17
timing and, and, and getting parts for the bike.
1:21
And then also I had to make a decision whether or not I was
1:23
going to have the bike towed to the race or if I'm going to ride
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to the race because I was in Netherlands and the race was in
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Romania. So which is, I mean, that's a
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good 25 hours of riding away. So yes, I mean, at the end of
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the day, I was able to to make the deadline to leave on time.
1:48
The parts finally came in and I finally got the bike back
1:51
together. And yeah, and it was, it was, it
1:55
was woof. It was like right at the nick of
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time that I was able to get the stuff together.
2:01
And then the guy Bob, Bob Bob's Bike Shop helped me so much with
2:06
everything and he helped me get the parts and get the things
2:10
that I need. Like I was going crazy looking
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for four tubes. I couldn't find 4 tubes and he
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was fine. He just sent a message out and,
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and was able to get someone who was able to sell ME4 tubes that
2:19
are just out of nowhere. So because my forks were
2:23
brutally damaged, they they needed to be replaced.
2:27
So. You're going to get a job at
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Yamaha R&D. Yeah.
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Yeah, exactly. So there was a little bit of
2:34
stress building up to the race and then, you know, once I had
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the bike ready and it was like, OK, clearly I'm going to ride
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the bike there, I'm not going to get it towed.
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I knew I was running a little bit of a risk.
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Oh, there was also one thing that I needed to get, which was
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a 2.5 rear rim. Generally the real rear rim that
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I have was I think it's a three 3.5 I believe, OK, but I needed
3:02
to run a 2.5 rear rim to put moose in the tire in the rear
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tire. So and the moose is like, I'm
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not too sure if you're familiar with moose's, but it's like that
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that rubber foam that goes inside the tubes inside the
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tire. So that's you don't have to run
3:19
inner tubes and you don't have to worry about pumping, putting
3:22
air in it. So and because it's off road and
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it's a heavy bike, you can get pinch flats if you have if you
3:30
have tubes in it. So the ideal thing to run would
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be moose. Unfortunately, I was unable to
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get Moose because I didn't have the right size rim.
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Got you. I didn't have the right size rim
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because I was on a massive budget, which I don't recommend
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doing this race on a budget, but if you have to, then you have
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to. So I was on a budget and it
3:55
would to buy a whole new rim. You know, I'm looking at a good
3:59
1200. Yeah.
4:01
Oh, yeah, yeah. I, I I got some rooms coming now
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I know. Moose, Yeah, plus the moose and
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the new tire. And I mean, and then you're
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looking at another like 1500. I mean, you're looking at a
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total of about 1500. So it wasn't in the budget.
4:16
And I knew that I was riding, riding the Romaniacs on tubes
4:23
and it would be a risk that it would.
4:26
So let me ask, after doing all the stuff that you did to the
4:29
bike and after being on a bike for a few years, what did that
4:32
bike feel like when you rolled it out of Bob's garage?
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Oh man, that is Honestly, I turned it into a completely
4:42
different motorcycle. I dropped the nose off I I took
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out about 25 to 30 lbs off of it.
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Wow. It felt like the biggest dirt
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bike ever. Like it was just, it was just a
4:57
massive dirt bike. It handled completely
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differently. It just didn't handle like a big
5:01
bike anymore. It took me some time to get used
5:05
to it and I didn't have enough time to get used to it.
5:09
I only did like a small little dirt run through the dirt,
5:14
through the mud, sand, but no mountain climbing.
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I didn't do any mountain climbing.
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That's all Romaniacs is all mountains.
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So I didn't do any uphills or downhills.
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So I had to to really try to get used to that bike in a very
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short amount of time because it felt completely different,
5:35
completely different. So but when I rolled it out
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though, it was like, wow, I mean, I feel like I can just it
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was so light. I can just dude like it just and
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these adventure bikes are they're heavy, you know, they're
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big bikes up. So, but my when I what I did to
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it, I really, really shaved off a lot of weight and it made it.
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Catchy, do you? Do you think if you knew what
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you knew now, you would have done it when you first got on
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the road just to save some weight?
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For travel wise, no, I probably would have just used a different
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bike. OK, yeah, I mean, even though
6:13
the bike is like one of the most reliable bikes out there, I do.
6:18
I'm a I'm a massive fan of weight savings now.
6:22
I've always have been, but I think now I'm even more a big
6:26
fan of weight savings. And it's just like if you're
6:29
going to use this bike to travel, then you, you know, it's
6:36
tough to use it as a travel and also a race bike, a race bike.
6:41
So because it's a big bike, it's top heavy.
6:44
It's it can be very heavy to pick up when you drop it because
6:47
you will drop it. And yeah, I just think that, you
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know, when you try to mix the two of racing and travel, it can
6:56
be very, very difficult because, you know, you want a light bike
6:59
for racing, but you also want the reliable bike to be on the
7:04
road and travel with, you know, and but yeah, I mean, I think I
7:09
could possibly travel with this bike, but it's just, and there's
7:12
no big windshield on there. So the wind just smacked me in
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the face. Is I got to be different.
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There's some, there's some, there's some creature comforts
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that I, I would, I would miss if I just use this for the road as
7:24
well. So.
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Got you. Now you said if you had to do it
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again you would pick a different bike.
7:29
What would it be as far as the, the the travel?
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Because I think I I know you need more than one bike.
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There's a reason why I have 6 bikes because like one yeah do
7:39
everything. Yeah.
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And The thing is like, now I know what kind of traveler I am
7:44
and I love to go off road. So if I were also, if I were to
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do this travel all over again, I would probably do more like 80%
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off road. OK, I.
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Did a lot of pavement riding but I would have been a lot more
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dirt. With that being said, I
7:59
definitely would have gotten to choose a lighter bike.
8:03
Something like maybe I was looking at the a JPP R7 which is
8:10
a punching frame. That's a thumper so it's like
8:14
one single cylinder. I mean the KTM, the KTM like.
8:22
Seven O 1 or. No, then the Husqvarna, the
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Husqvarna, the Husqvarna seven O 1, not so much.
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I probably would go for more for KTM like 690 or something or.
8:34
OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Yeah, now the now they have the, now they have the the Kobe, the
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Kobe 800. So that's I.
8:43
Don't know that brand that's yeah, it's.
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Chinese and it's hitting the market real hard right now.
8:48
So it's like the light, the lightest bike right now that's
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adventure bike. So for racing and yeah, nice.
8:56
I mean, I, I I'm not too sure which one I would get.
8:59
I'm I'm on the market right now just looking around trying to
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see what's going to come out for 2026.
9:04
OK. If I don't find anything then
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I'll probably go back to obtainerate that.
9:08
I have an old one though, like a 2021.
9:11
You got you. Yeah, because they've they've
9:13
done so many electronics now to it.
9:15
And then just like I don't like the electronics, right?
9:17
Yeah. That's interesting.
9:19
So so you got the bike back together, you had to ride to
9:23
Romania, 25 hours of riding on a different feeling bike all
9:28
together. Like halfway through the ride
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were you like, man, I wish I had the windshield.
9:38
Yeah, Oh my gosh. I think, I think when I hit
9:40
Germany it was just, oh, it was brutal.
9:44
Like it was just cold and wet. I'm like, isn't it summertime
9:48
right now? I'm thinking to myself like, why
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is this weather so shitty? It's just, it's just cold and
9:53
wet the like the entire time I was in Germany for what, roughly
9:56
about 3 days? Yeah.
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And the entire time I was like, maybe the sun came out maybe
10:02
twice and went back to grey clouds and it was just cold and
10:07
wet and just. And I was just getting hit with
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all the rain and. Oh my gosh.
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I mean, I had rain gear, but, and then the wind, the wind is
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just, it's brutal. Yeah, 'cause usually, you know,
10:21
on adventure bikes you have a windscreen and you, you have
10:24
the, the wind buffing that goes hopefully goes over the head,
10:27
right? You don't have to deal with
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anything. And it's, and it's actually a
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massive difference because yeah, yeah.
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Because you don't feel the wind blasting in your face.
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That's the first thing. And it's almost like everything
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in the cockpit feels like, like there's like nice air in that
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area, you know, like, especially if it's a little chilly.
10:47
Yeah. When it's when it's hitting you
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in the face, it's like, you know, you're.
10:51
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you get more
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fatigue quicker, yeah. Yeah, exactly, exactly I.
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Had two naked bikes and and my first bike was a naked bike and
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I felt it and when I got on my sport bike with a windshield
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that was better I got a second naked bike and was there again
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and I and I was like I was after that I was done I haven't had
11:11
another naked bike and like all my bikes had windshields after
11:15
that because. Like you'll get used to it, but.
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You don't want to drive. You don't want to ride 25 hours.
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I mean, it's one thing if you drive in, you know, 100 miles on
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a naked bike and maybe 150 miles on a naked bike.
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But anything over that man, you like you got to be in really
11:30
good shape to just get off the bike and like feel like moving.
11:34
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely not.
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Not fun. Not a fun experience.
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So, so I, you know, I hate you there.
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So OK, so you, you did the 25 hours of writing you got to the
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Romaniacs. What was that like?
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What is the I don't even want to say track or the area like the
11:53
the community like or was it like pulling up and and and
11:57
getting through registration, all that fun stuff?
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Yeah, man, I mean for those who don't know, the, the the
12:03
Romaniacs is written through the Carpathian Mountains, which is
12:07
like all in Romania and stuff. So it's all massive mountains up
12:12
hills. It's not a particular, I mean it
12:14
is a tract, it's mapped out. But you know, when you get there
12:20
it's like you start seeing all the different race teams and you
12:25
see all the professional racers. Like it's all pros, like a lot
12:28
of professionals. Even in my class there was like
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there was 3 or 4 professional racers.
12:33
Wow, and you know, you see like guys, you see legends there, you
12:38
know, and you're like, dude, like this guy.
12:40
I don't see this guy on TV like just like, you know, which is
12:45
really cool. And and then the vibe in the
12:48
atmosphere was absolutely phenomenal.
12:51
Like I felt, I felt like I have to keep doing this for the rest
12:57
of my life. That's how I felt like I have to
12:59
get I cannot miss it every year. I have to, I can't miss it one
13:03
year. I have to keep doing this
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because it was just like, everybody was like super cool.
13:11
Everybody was just on a different wavelength.
13:14
And it was just, it just, it was so much explosion and there was
13:16
so much excitement. And you know, you do the
13:19
prologue and you see the guys hopping over the logs and all
13:21
the stuff and it, it just like when you see the pros go and
13:25
you're like, dude, these guys are really, really, you see guys
13:27
on my bike, my side's bike doing all kinds of crazy shit.
13:31
And you're just like, what in the world, man?
13:33
It's it's just wild. I also met like a lot of really
13:39
cool people. So the, you know, I became
13:42
friends with like four or five guys that, you know, we pretty
13:45
much created a team now. Like we, we're like, you know,
13:48
like, let's do this every year. Let's rent out a place.
13:52
They have their mechanic. I'll bring the mechanic.
13:54
We have two mechanics for both, for all five of us and just
13:59
we'll do it the right way. You know, I think, well, for me,
14:02
I felt like I did. I was a bit unprepared.
14:03
But yeah, we'll talk about that. Yeah, You know, that's, listen,
14:08
it's always like that. You know, I remember the first
14:11
time going to the track and racing and stuff like that.
14:14
It it's you're always, I think even if you had a catalog of
14:18
everything you needed to get and and you brought everything with
14:20
you, you'll still be under prepared because guys would be
14:23
looking at like, you don't need that.
14:24
You don't. Yeah, this will break after like
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3 laps. Yeah, yeah.
14:31
And it's crazy because when I got there, people looking at me,
14:34
they're like, are you racing? I'm like, yeah.
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And I was like, you don't have a how'd you get here?
14:42
So you're like, you have New York place.
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Did you ship it to, Did you ship it here?
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He's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
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I rode my bike from New York, from from Boston to get here.
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And they're like, what? They just, they couldn't even
14:59
process it. It was just like, listen.
15:00
Your story, your story's one of the craziest stories, bro.
15:03
I'm telling you, it's it's wild. Yeah.
15:05
They're like, you're racing this bike, the one that you just rode
15:08
from the United States, like, yeah.
15:10
And it was like, they're just looking at me like, wow, like
15:14
no, and this can't be. So I've got a lot of that
15:18
because if you look, you can see all the flags on my bike and
15:21
people, and you see the New York plates and everyone.
15:24
It's like, you really took this from the States is like, yeah.
15:29
And Africa. And then they're like, what?
15:36
It's like, yeah, I've been doing this for 2 1/2 years, man.
15:38
And they like, you know, there's a flight that I get you here in
15:41
60. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
15:42
And then there were people that were like, wait a minute, I
15:44
heard about you. I heard about you.
15:46
Yeah. So like.
15:49
That's what's up. So yeah, you're, you're like a
15:52
celebrity as well getting around.
15:56
So all right, so you're there, you're meeting people and stuff
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like that, you know, like, you know, what are you, you know, at
16:03
what point you see, obviously now you know, you'll go back
16:05
again for every year if you can at like, at what point did all
16:09
that sink in for you? Like, you know, after you're
16:13
registered, after your first run at something like, you know,
16:16
like, you know, or just the fact that, you know, you know, when
16:19
did you take a minute just to soak it all in, right?
16:21
Because you know, it's one thing to say here, you're when you're
16:23
back in New York or Boston and say, Hey, I'm going to do all
16:26
these things right here and X, this is this is where I'm going
16:29
to get to, right? I mean, a lot of people do that,
16:31
you know, every every day in life, right?
16:33
So like, you know, when, when, when or has it sunk in?
16:37
But you know, you know. When did that sink in for you?
16:41
I mean, it's sunk in when I got to when I started actually
16:46
walking the prologue. So I don't know if you've ever
16:51
watched the Romaniacs, The prologue has this really
16:54
challenging section. Well, the prologue is this kind
16:58
of challenging thing where there's, you know, man made logs
17:01
and tires and things like that and you have to hop over them
17:05
and and you see people like crashing and flipping over and,
17:08
you know, just getting complete annihilated on it.
17:12
And the day before the prologue, you're allowed to go and walk
17:16
the prologue. And as I'm walking the prologue
17:19
and I'm like, and I get to the top of like one of the ramps and
17:23
I'm like, I look around. I'm like, I cannot believe that
17:26
I'm here right now. It is like, 'cause like the
17:30
prologue you see on social media, you see it on TV all the
17:33
time and you see like all the top guys, the pole Taurus, you
17:37
know, doing stuff on the Tenerife on the prologue.
17:40
And you're just like, you see the logs that they're hopping
17:42
over and you're just like, I'm like, damn, I can't believe that
17:47
I'm here right now. I really cannot believe that I'm
17:49
here right now. But interestingly enough, I was
17:54
never nervous, I think because I had so much stress building up
18:04
to get there. And at the end when I was when I
18:09
got there, I was just like, like it took me this long to get
18:15
here. I went through a lot of stuff to
18:17
get here, a lot of made some good choices, made some bad
18:22
choices, some choices that I some things happened that I
18:25
couldn't really control. And there was some stressful
18:28
moments leading up to this. And I think when I got there, I
18:31
just like all that stress was just gone.
18:34
And I think at that time I was thinking to myself, like, I I'm
18:40
here. So I don't care how I do.
18:42
I don't even care if like I do the prologue crash and I can't
18:45
do the rest of the race. I kind of just like, just like,
18:48
I mean, I mean, yeah. So I worked so hard to get
18:51
there. It would be a bummer if
18:52
something like that happened, but I think at the time that was
18:56
kind of the mindset. I was just like, all right, I'm
18:58
just going to do my best and just hope for the best and see
19:01
what happens because. You said stressful moments, but
19:05
it, you know, from my side and just you look on the show, I
19:08
would say stressful months, yeah.
19:12
Yeah, man, there were sometimes, man, there was definitely
19:14
sometimes. And I, you know, I think once I
19:18
once I had gotten there and, and I did realize that I was there,
19:23
I think I was just kind of like, well, no turning back now.
19:28
I'm here. We're doing this.
19:29
So you signed up for it, you're here.
19:33
And yeah, I mean, I just, I just made the best of it, so.
19:37
So let's talk about the race a little bit.
19:40
How like you know, what makes up the the overall race.
19:44
I assume this stages you know like what are the stages like
19:47
and a rough idea of how many miles you have to cover it to
19:51
complete it. Yeah.
19:53
So I would say there's still this four days, five days total,
20:01
the 5th, the 5th is the prologue or the first day is the
20:04
prologue. Then you have 4 off road days
20:09
out of the four off road days, you have one marathon stage.
20:13
So, so the first day, you know. Pretty much, you know, because
20:21
it's well, you get the prologue and then once you do well on the
20:25
prologue, that will put you in a position that you're going to,
20:29
to, to start. Now it's good to start in the
20:32
beginning because the dirt in the mud starts to get piled up,
20:37
which I've learned. While the dirt starts piling up,
20:42
the roots start getting kicked up, the rocks start getting
20:44
kicked up so that all the hill climbs and things like that
20:47
become more challenging when you are in when you're in behind.
20:51
Yeah. So you want to you actually want
20:53
to get a good place to start when you when you start to race.
20:57
But yeah, I mean, the first, everyone goes to the first day.
20:59
The second day is actually the beginning of the marathon stage.
21:02
So you do what they do is they, you, you ride to a hotel, right?
21:12
You're right. You do the race and you get to
21:13
the, get to a hotel and you're not allowed, your crew is not
21:17
allowed to work on your bike. Only you are allowed to work on
21:20
your bike at that time. So people, everyone's like, you
21:23
know, doing, doing all the, the, the, the minor adjustments and
21:27
things like that on the, on the, on the break of the, of the
21:30
marathon stage. And then the next day you wake
21:33
up and you continue the marathon stage and it comes back to where
21:37
you started. And then the 4th day is the 4th
21:41
day. That's the 4th off road day.
21:43
Usually at the end of the off road day, you have a massive
21:46
hill climb to do in front of everyone.
21:48
That's if you've ever watched it, There's people that go up
21:50
this extremely, extremely steep hill that it's like everyone is
21:57
getting halfway up and the bike is going right and they're going
22:00
left. So there are there are people
22:04
that definitely do make it up there.
22:06
I would say the majority of the people don't make it up there,
22:09
up that hill. And yeah, you just see the bike
22:13
come tumbling back down the hill.
22:16
I I assume that's the little, that's the last race of the day,
22:18
because when your bike tumbles back down, you got to get
22:20
repaired, right? That is the last of it.
22:22
That is it like that is the hill climb.
22:24
You have to get through that in order to complete the race.
22:32
Wow. And then yeah.
22:35
And then after that, it's just a big party.
22:36
Who? Doesn't like a party?
22:40
Master party man. So, yeah, so let's let's talk
22:45
about the stages and like, how did you, did you think you were
22:50
prepared? 75% prepared, you know, like,
22:56
you know, afterwards, you know, like how, how you're like, OK,
22:59
these are the things I need to work on next time or, or like,
23:02
you know, going through what was it like?
23:04
Yeah, so getting there and realizing, I would say after the
23:07
first day, I realized a lot of things.
23:11
I realized number one, my bike wasn't was barely prepared.
23:16
I mean, I did a lot of preparation.
23:18
I spent a lot of money, spent a lot of time getting the bike
23:21
ready. I would say there are a few
23:24
things that I could have definitely done differently.
23:27
Number one was the rim getting a smaller rim so I can get the
23:31
Moose having more tires. I only had I had two rear tires
23:40
and 1 front tire. I would like to have a rear tire
23:46
for the first day, get a new rear tire for the second day, do
23:51
the Marathon Sage, and then get a rear tire for the 4th 4th day.
23:55
Wow SO3 rear tires does that. When you say rear tires, that
23:58
rear tire and rim just tire. No, just tires, Just tires.
24:02
Just tires. And probably run different
24:06
mousses in there, like softer mousses, things like that.
24:11
Yeah. So that's probably the biggest
24:13
regret was just not getting us a more narrow rim and putting
24:17
Moose in the rear tire. Physically.
24:22
Physically, man, yeah, let's just say I had no time to to
24:29
work out. I had no time to train.
24:31
I didn't train. I knew it was going to be
24:32
physically demanding, but I did not have time to really to work
24:39
out the way that I'm supposed to.
24:42
Yeah, I could have worked out in the Netherlands, but that was
24:45
just like 2 weeks. Right.
24:48
And that wouldn't have been nowhere near enough to what I
24:50
was getting myself into. My muscles started cramping, I
24:53
would probably say every single major muscle in my body.
24:58
That's like hamstrings, quads, glutes.
25:02
Shoulders. Yeah, biceps, all these triceps,
25:06
everything started to completely seize up on me.
25:11
I've never had that where it was all seizing up at the same time.
25:15
Never had that and I drank so much water, I drank so much
25:19
electrolytes. I just, I had everything and I
25:24
the first day I was like, I couldn't like my, my hands would
25:28
cramp like this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
25:30
I couldn't. I had to.
25:32
I had to. I couldn't.
25:36
I couldn't control my muscles. Yeah, my arm, it was like this.
25:40
And I had to actually push it down because I couldn't, it was,
25:44
it was seizing up and I can see the muscle like just pulsing.
25:48
And then the hamstrings would just like if I sat down, my
25:51
hamstring would hurt. If I stood up, my biceps would
25:54
hurt. So it was just, I couldn't like
25:56
I would say like 75% through the first day.
25:59
I was like, I was done. Like I was, I was cooked.
26:03
I was like, this is, I don't know how I'm going to do it.
26:07
It's just like. And that's frustrating, man.
26:12
I mean, I've had that, you know, early on racing, not working out
26:16
and, you know, having my muscles, my arm muscles fail on
26:19
me on a bike, you know, grabbing a front brake and I'm just
26:21
falling on a tank because I can't hold myself up.
26:24
Yeah. And and that and that when you
26:26
when you, when you sit in and you know, you got time off and
26:29
you're thinking it's like, and it's like there's no quick fix.
26:31
Yeah, yeah. You just got to push through it.
26:34
You just got to push through it. That's it, man.
26:38
Yeah. So I would say yeah, my my
26:43
muscle endurance was just was was was brutal as far as like my
26:49
energy goes and my heart rate and breathing.
26:52
I think that was fine, but it just might the problem was just
26:57
my muscle. I had so much muscle fatigue and
27:00
the bike was definitely could have been a little bit better
27:05
with the bike and getting things getting more of a duration with
27:08
it. So that was the first day, the
27:12
second day. So the first day I didn't
27:14
finish. Oh, and so there was a time on
27:19
the first day where I, my I stopped to grab water, all
27:23
right, and I put my right foot down.
27:26
So I was kind of on a slight embankment and I put my foot
27:30
down to, you know, to stand up on the bike or to sit down on
27:34
the bike, whatever. And I'm taking water.
27:38
And then I went to put my foot down and then and the embankment
27:40
was too, too low. Yeah.
27:43
So it just the bike just started tipping over.
27:47
So it tipped over and it landed right on the brake lever.
27:51
Aw, man. And then I just saw the brake
27:53
lever like over there and I'm like, this is not good.
27:58
Yeah, I don't have a front brake lever.
28:01
So then I so the bike landed with the wheels facing up and
28:04
the, and the handlebars without low.
28:06
So now I had to like figure out how to get the bike up because
28:10
whenever it's like, you know, whenever the handlebars are
28:12
lower than the the the wheels, it's just a nightmare trying to
28:16
lift the bike. So I'm like, OK, well, let me go
28:19
on the other side of the bike and lift the bike and flip it
28:21
over to the other side and let the wheels be down there on the
28:24
hill. And now the So now I can, yeah.
28:28
So I had to figure out how to do, how to brake without or how
28:32
to ride without front brakes. And I'm like, there's no way
28:36
that I can ride this bike without front brakes.
28:38
Didn't you have a lot of practice in Africa?
28:40
There's no way the the hill climbs or the down the descends.
28:47
Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, way too crazy, like, and
28:50
I'm talking like they're crazy to the point where you get there
28:52
and you just you just look straight down and you just like,
28:54
I have to go down this and you just like, yeah, you got to go
28:57
down that. There was no way I would have
28:59
been able to complete the the race with the.
29:02
Right. So, OK, so at that point you,
29:03
you took yourself out. Well, I didn't, I actually, I
29:08
got to, I did probably another like 25% of the race without
29:13
the, without the front brake. And I got, I got to a hill climb
29:18
and then and I saw one of my friends and he's he, he, he had
29:21
burnt his hill, his clutch up on that hill climb.
29:25
So he's like, that hill is fucking insane.
29:27
You're going to go up it, go to the right, stay the right
29:29
because it's going to curve to the left.
29:30
And he's like, it's a, it's an insane hill climb.
29:34
And I told him I was like, dude, I had no front brake.
29:36
And he looks at me and he's like, dude, you can't do this
29:39
race with the front. Brake and.
29:41
The work. So then I was like, OK, I got to
29:43
fix. I got to figure this out.
29:44
So then I looked to see what tools I have because I brought
29:46
like a bag of tools. I have a vice grips like the
29:50
mini ones. So then I just like, you know
29:53
what, I tighten it up as much as I can on it and I, you know, got
29:57
it. I'm like, I'm going to just
29:59
clamp it down as tight as I can so that I have a little bit of a
30:02
lever. So I'm like, OK, this works.
30:06
So I make it up the hill and I keep going, but the problem is
30:10
that that brake lever over time or the the vice grips over time
30:14
are going to get a little bit loose.
30:16
Yeah. That's what was happening.
30:17
It was getting loose so that when I when I pulled in the
30:20
brakes it would it would collapse a little bit.
30:23
You know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
30:25
So eventually get to a point where the brakes don't work
30:28
anymore and I actually undo it and then put it cleanly.
30:32
Yeah. So I had to keep doing that.
30:36
And it was just, it was also making me a bit more skeptical
30:39
about going down some of the hills and.
30:42
As it should. So I was, yeah.
30:44
So I was taking my time and I knew that I was just making time
30:49
as I was getting to the checkpoints.
30:51
Right. Because they were giving you
30:53
time as you get there. And I'm like, oh, oh, man, Like,
30:56
I don't know, man. I don't know how I'm going to
30:57
make this because I, I keep just making it to the checkpoints.
31:02
And then it got to the point where I timed out.
31:04
So actually if something happened, I have a time off, my
31:08
GPS died. I had to stop and change the
31:10
battery. I think that's really when that
31:13
when that happened, that's when I realized like I'm probably
31:17
going to time off right now to the GPS.
31:20
Right. Me like 10 minutes to to to
31:22
change the battery in the GPS. Wow.
31:25
Yeah, because I couldn't get it out of the case.
31:29
So tired, right? Yeah, I'm like, I'm like trying
31:31
to grab it and my, my forearms are spazzing up and I'm like
31:35
trying to like open. Then I get like my tool and I'm
31:38
screwdriver and I'm like like prying it open.
31:41
It's just. Yeah, that's that's the worst
31:44
when you're when you're tired and you know it.
31:48
I've gone through situations like that.
31:49
Well, I've gone through situations where I would not
31:51
race when something happened and then had to learn to fight
31:54
through stuff. And when you fighting through
31:57
it, man, it's yeah, I don't know.
31:59
There's, there's. You always get to a.
32:01
For me, it's just like, should I just call it?
32:04
Yeah. In my mind, then you got to,
32:06
then you got to, you know, push that out and keep pushing
32:09
forward. And it's, and it's, it's, it's
32:13
crazy because the simplest things just take, you know, so
32:15
long to do because, you know, you got all this adrenaline, you
32:19
know, you really thinking about getting back on the race.
32:21
And and so you're not really concentrating on what you're
32:24
doing, you know what I mean? You're just trying to do it and
32:26
it and it tends to make it worse.
32:29
But, you know, and I'll ask about this a little bit later.
32:31
As far as, you know, what you've learned with the experience.
32:35
But, you know, you got through the the you timed out in that
32:37
stage. Yeah.
32:39
And So what does that mean? And were you able to go race the
32:42
next day? Yeah.
32:44
So if you if you get if you did not finish twice, then you get
32:52
to disqualified. So, so I had one more
32:55
opportunity. So the second day.
32:59
So yeah, so that was the first day timed out.
33:00
The second day I was like, OK, I'm ready.
33:06
I think the first day I was, I just wasn't, I wasn't mentally
33:11
there. Yeah, yeah, I was ready to do
33:13
it, but I just wasn't mentally there.
33:16
I, I felt so much better on the second day.
33:19
Second day, I'm like, OK, we're going to get this.
33:22
We're going to do this right. We're going to relax.
33:24
We're not going to fatigue our muscles.
33:26
We're going to, you know, and also the first day.
33:30
I know it's a race, but I felt like I didn't take it as a race
33:36
because I was kind of taking my time at moments.
33:40
Sightseeing and. And yeah, it it just, I was
33:43
just, I was kind of taking my time, especially after I broke
33:47
the front brake. Glover I didn't really like, I
33:50
wasn't like, all right, it's a it's a race, you know.
33:56
But the second day I was like, dude, this is a race.
33:58
Like I need to like get on it. I don't want to, I don't want to
34:03
time out again and I want him. I want to complete at least one
34:07
day at his race because a lot of times people don't complete the
34:10
race. So, so the second day I lined
34:14
up, I had to start in the position a little bit further
34:17
back because of the do not finish the first day, which was
34:23
fine. I, I didn't mind that.
34:25
So I was kind of more in the back end of of the race and I
34:30
was doing well. I was, I was making good time.
34:34
I was keeping pace with a friend of mine and we were kind of in
34:40
it together until like we lost each other.
34:44
And then there was a section where it was very fast pace.
34:49
It's kind of lazy on. So it's called a lazy on section
34:52
where like it's just kind of like you're just on a road, kind
34:58
of a wide road and you can just take that fast pace.
35:03
But The thing is, it's fast pace, but there was a lot of
35:09
rocks, a lot of baby heads that are stinking around.
35:13
And that entire time I was thinking to myself, like, I
35:17
probably am going to get a flat tire here on the rear because
35:21
I've aired down to about 2019 PSI And because I have a heavy
35:30
bike, it's going to smack one of these rocks that rim tube like
35:34
it's going to pitch a tube. So I'm riding and I just say
35:38
bang, bang. I'm just like hit in the rear
35:40
and I'm like, Oh my gosh, this is going to be bad.
35:42
I know this tire is going to go flat.
35:45
I'm going to get a pinch tube. And then right after that
35:50
section, when I get to the paved Rd., my bike's just, he's just
35:55
swiggling around and I'm like, Oh my gosh, like this can't be.
36:00
And I'm like, OK, I haven't. Like I have an electric pump and
36:04
I have a spare tube. So I pull over the side of the
36:08
road and I go to put air in the tire to just to see what's going
36:15
on, to see like where it is or whatever.
36:17
Maybe I can just patch the tube and just call it a day and the
36:23
pump doesn't work. So the pump doesn't work.
36:27
This will go to back to what did I learn?
36:30
Yeah, don't bring an electric pump with you on these races.
36:36
But yeah, the pump didn't work. And I was just devastated.
36:39
I was just like, I don't even know what I'm going to do now.
36:41
So I'm hoping that maybe someone had a pump.
36:44
So what I did was I just rode the bike to the next checkpoint
36:47
and stayed there. And maybe someone will pass by
36:52
that has an electric pump or a hand pump or something.
36:55
So what I did was I got there, I took the wheel off the bike,
36:58
took the tube out, took everything off just in case
37:01
someone came by and someone did come by and they gave me a pump.
37:08
It worked for about 3-4 minutes. I put everything together, put
37:14
the bike together, put the wheel on because he gave me the he had
37:17
two pumps. Ironically, he had two pumps on
37:19
him. There he goes.
37:20
Traveler 2 pumps here. Traveler 2.
37:24
Yeah, so he took off and he left me with one.
37:28
He's like, I don't know how much use is in there, but, you know,
37:30
just good luck. So I was like, OK, so that pump
37:33
did and it didn't. It didn't.
37:35
It died on me. So then I had to call for at
37:40
this point it was probably like an hour, hour and a half that
37:44
I'm losing and I'm no way I'm going to make this time if I do
37:48
get this fixed. So I just called the toe for the
37:54
race and they brought me to the service point service team where
37:59
like all the teams were. And then the people on the teams
38:03
in the booth were really good in the in the in the in the teams.
38:07
The people at the service point were really cool.
38:08
All the teams in the service point were awesome.
38:11
They helped me out. They're like, what do you need?
38:13
You have a flat tire here. Just put the bike up on the
38:16
stands. Let's see what we can do.
38:18
But no one had no one had tubes. Wow.
38:21
No one had tubes because everyone uses moose.
38:23
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
38:24
When they're like, they look at me like you have tubes.
38:27
And I was like, yeah, like, why? You know, I rode here on this
38:33
bike from Boston. When I told him that I rode the
38:37
bike from the United States, they're like, that's awesome,
38:43
you're my new hero. But again, why don't you have
38:46
tubes? Why don't you have tubes?
38:47
Again, it's just like. So let me ask, do you think it
38:51
would have made sense for you to put Moose in while traveling,
38:56
you know, from Boston all the way, or you think the tube, like
38:59
for regular travel, would be the way to go?
39:01
Tubes are the way to go. Moose is only for something like
39:09
racing. Got you.
39:10
Yeah, it's, I mean it's you can just have moose in there if
39:14
you're going to do like, you know, your if you're doing a lot
39:17
of off road stuff. Like a lot of adventure stuff.
39:19
Yeah, yeah, but to go on a pavement and go hit the, hit the
39:23
hit the road at like, you know, 100 miles an hour, 80 miles an
39:26
hour, 90 miles an hour, you know, you're, you're going to
39:30
shred the moose in like 2 days. Oh, OK.
39:32
Yeah. So like, it's just, it's kind of
39:35
pointless on the for the pavement.
39:37
But if you, if you, if you decide to travel and you want to
39:40
say your travels are all like 95% dirt, then you can get
39:45
moose. But the problem is that moose is
39:48
not everywhere. That's that is not available
39:52
everywhere. A tube is very easy to find,
39:55
right? Moose.
39:56
I mean, I would think if I'm going through Africa, the only
39:58
places where I'm going to find moose are like South Africa,
40:02
maybe Senegal, possibly Namibia. But that's pretty much about it.
40:11
Maybe Nigeria in like Lagos or something, but like you're not
40:15
finding moose anywhere in Africa like that.
40:18
So it's just not just not available.
40:21
They always use tubes. So, so, so at that point, you
40:26
are, you're out of the race when you on the second day, I saw
40:33
some of your posts. I don't know how much of it you
40:35
want to talk about, but like, you know, or, or re litigate, I
40:38
guess, you know, but talk a little bit in your words.
40:42
You know, how it was and what you were feeling.
40:45
You know, the community seemed to have rallied around you and,
40:49
and brought your spirits back up.
40:51
So which is always beautiful and, and the motorcycle
40:53
community is, is huge for that. But like, you know what what you
40:56
know? What were you feeling at the
40:58
time? Yeah, I mean, I was, I was quite
41:01
disappointed. I was quite disappointed.
41:03
I it really, it hit me pretty hard.
41:07
But you the first day didn't. I would say the first day hit me
41:10
hard when I didn't finish, when I didn't, when I timed out, when
41:15
they told me I timed out, it hit me really hard.
41:17
It was like the reality check, you know, it was like, dude,
41:21
you're here, you know, like, let's go, you know, like what
41:24
are you doing? You know, So that's why the
41:28
second day I was, I was, I was so ready for it.
41:31
And, and I think at the time I, I was, I was, I was so ready to,
41:38
to make it to the third stage, right, to make it to the
41:41
marathon stage. Right.
41:42
Yeah. But you know, when, when my tire
41:49
went flat, I I was just thought I was devastated.
41:53
And then when I made the call, you know, when I had to pick up
41:56
the phone and make the call and I just, I said to myself, I was
42:00
like, I can't believe that I just, I just destroyed my, my
42:04
chances of finishing this race. And there was a lot of factors.
42:10
There were a lot of factors that contributed again, the
42:13
preparation, there was a little bit of lack of preparation.
42:18
And there are plenty things that I would definitely do
42:23
differently. But, you know, I mean, like the
42:28
feeling. I I love being there, all right?
42:31
I love the the camaraderie and the people and the people that I
42:34
met and the team team guys that I met.
42:39
The experience learning so much, talking to some of the pros.
42:45
Yeah, I mean, the overall experience was absolutely
42:48
incredible. And I think, you know,
42:50
regardless if I didn't finish or not, I think the fact that I got
42:56
there was like the highlight in itself.
42:59
And I think that's what most people were trying to drill into
43:03
my head. Like, dude, like you just wrote
43:05
you, you just wrote here. You wrote all the way to Romania
43:10
to complete, to compete in one of the toughest and dual races
43:13
in the world, right? So, you know, yeah, that's
43:17
definitely something to be proud of.
43:18
Of course, you know, yeah. But in the moment, you don't see
43:21
it because you're, you're, you got, you know, tunnel vision on
43:25
and you just think, you know, all like any human you we always
43:28
thinking of all the bad thing when 1 bad thing happened.
43:30
We think of everything else in that moment.
43:33
And we're just thinking about that.
43:34
And we're not thinking about all the positives until time passes
43:37
or, you know, people come around you to kind of remind you that
43:41
like, listen, this is still a success, right?
43:43
You know, which is, you know, again, right after anything
43:47
that's it's hard to see that, right?
43:49
So, you know, how quickly was it for you to, you know, the steam
43:53
to wear away and, and get back to a point where you're looking
43:55
at like, OK, this is a success. And I'm going to come back every
43:58
every year. Yeah, I think, I think that
44:01
happened when I was packing up and I was packing the bike up.
44:07
And when I started packing the bike up, I noticed that everyone
44:13
was leaving and everyone was loading their bikes in the back
44:17
of the van, in the back of the truck, on a trailer.
44:22
I'm just some people had other people loading their bike up for
44:24
them. Yeah, I'm just throwing bags on
44:27
my bike and people are watching me.
44:29
They're like, where are you going now?
44:34
Like, wait, what is going on? Like you just, you just came
44:37
here racing, now you're just going to ride off.
44:39
It's just he was like, yeah. And then he's kind of just like,
44:43
like this is just this is crazy. And then they're just like,
44:46
where you going? I'm like, well, I gotta get back
44:48
to the Netherlands And. And he's like, you know, this is
44:50
like really crazy, really incredible, right?
44:53
Like you rode here and you competed in the race.
44:56
OK yeah. You didn't do as well as you
44:57
wanted to do. But then they just kind of like,
45:00
and now here you are just packing the bags and you're
45:03
biking now you're just taking off again as if like, you know,
45:06
like everyone's got like their, their massive van and they got
45:09
the. Tire machines, everything.
45:12
They're throwing everything in there they got and they're just
45:14
like, yeah, they're just going back, going back to, you know,
45:17
where they where they're from and and like here I am like my
45:22
travels are still continuing. Yeah, yeah, no, that's pretty
45:25
dope. And again, in the moment it's
45:27
hard to see that. But like from us watching you do
45:30
it, man, it is, it is definitely incredible.
45:32
And you know, I, I suspect, you know, other people are going to,
45:37
might start showing up and stuff like this on their bike or, or
45:40
just, you know, just travelling further on their bike because a
45:43
lot of people, you know, may not do over 200 miles on their bike
45:46
in a day, much less to, to do a lot more.
45:49
Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely, definitely.
45:51
I think, I think, you know, I've kind of set a little bit of a
45:56
bar. You know, I was like people
45:58
like, you know, of achievements and, and I just like, OK, like
46:01
I'm, I'm actually, yeah, starting to get pretty proud of
46:05
the fact that I was able to make it there despite all the stuff
46:08
that I was going through at the time before, before I got there.
46:12
And I think that I that's when I really started to become a bit
46:16
more, I'm more proud of myself for actually doing it and, and
46:19
accomplishing it. So.
46:21
Mister man, you survived going around all the way around the
46:25
world, but Jesus Christ, man, many continents and you know,
46:30
and you know not, you know, obviously you know from prior
46:33
shows you mentioned, you know, getting malaria and you know
46:36
stuff and you know, so it's not, it wasn't a completely pain.
46:40
Free. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
46:43
Huge. So, I mean, so I guess when
46:45
you're packing up, you're like, OK, I'm going to do this again.
46:49
So like, have you already start planning the trip?
46:51
You already start planning for next year's race?
46:53
What does that look like? Yeah.
46:56
So for next year's race, I mean, obviously there's a lot of
46:59
things that, you know, I learned this time around that for next
47:03
year I need to figure out. I think just probably are you
47:09
probably going to ask the question what, what, what did I
47:11
learn? So in the First things first,
47:16
it's just not riding there. That's that's the first thing.
47:20
Is this not riding the bike riding?
47:24
From the parking lot is it? Yeah, yeah.
47:27
So the plan is to get do it proper.
47:31
Also have a mechanic get a van. And because my bike is already,
47:39
I would say it's about 75% what I want it to be.
47:44
As far as like putting money into it, it won't cost me that
47:49
much to get the bike to where I where I want it, where I exactly
47:53
where I want it to be. The suspension is there, you
47:58
know, I've made it light already.
48:04
Yeah, the ergonomics are fine. Maybe I need to get the
48:06
different handlebars. I need to get a rear rim,
48:11
obviously 2.5, but you know, for the most part, there's not
48:17
really much I need to do as far as prepping the bike.
48:20
I think it's it's almost there. And I think that what I would
48:24
probably do is because I have I met this crew and we're like,
48:30
you know, there's like five of us, five or six of us.
48:32
We're all like there's, there's social media influence.
48:35
I'm not a social media influence.
48:36
They they are like they, they got like 20,000 and above
48:40
followers and things like that. So I'm like peanuts to those
48:45
people when it comes to it. But they, they recognized me,
48:47
they knew who I was. They were like, Oh yeah.
48:49
So so we all ended up kind of just like becoming like really
48:53
good friends. So we, we planned for next year
48:55
to, to, to rent out a spot and have like a little garage area
49:00
and having the mechanics work on the bike instead of having to
49:05
always go into the like the pit area to fix the bike and stuff
49:11
like that. So I can, you know, when the
49:16
race is over, we can bring in the bring the bikes to the
49:19
location, have the mechanics on it bringing spare parts.
49:24
I didn't bring, I didn't bring any spare parts, which is crazy.
49:28
People just kind of like you didn't bring spare parts.
49:30
I'm like, no, what happens when you break something?
49:34
Because this is like, you're going to break something.
49:37
Like something is going to break.
49:39
And I'm just like, I'll be fine. Yeah.
49:44
So I'm. Gonna have to get a 3D printer
49:46
man. Yeah, exactly, man.
49:49
So, yeah. So spare parts, definitely.
49:53
I'll rent. I'll buy a van, have a mechanic.
49:58
Yeah. And I just.
49:58
I think we'll work out like crazy.
50:01
I'll train. I mean, I always I'm a workout a
50:03
hog anyways. It's just these past 2 1/2 years
50:06
I haven't really been able to do shit so.
50:09
I was gonna I was gonna ask about workout and and so, you
50:13
know, for me, when I had when I realized I was out of shape or I
50:18
needed to be in better, I was out of shape.
50:19
I was out of shape, you know, I end up running the marathon the
50:23
following year. And, and so I, I, I trained like
50:27
I was running a marathon and, and after running a marathon and
50:29
racing, I, I, I started to train as if I'm running a marathon
50:34
just for the endurance part of it and stuff like that.
50:36
So, you know, you work out a lot, you train a lot, but like,
50:38
what will that look like? Are you training like you're
50:41
you're going to go, you know, martial art contest, boxing
50:44
contest, like you know, to play basketball like you know how,
50:48
how, how insane is your workout going to be?
50:52
Yeah, so that's a good question. So my my background in general
50:55
is boxing and, and martial arts, but mostly, mostly boxing.
51:02
A boxing workout is absolutely perfect for this because it's
51:06
it's in sprints. So it's it's like Sprint
51:11
training. So it's like you calm, you calm,
51:13
you calm your heart rate and then you speed up and then you
51:17
calm, you calm, you calm and then boom, there's a lot of leg
51:22
training for boxing, hamstrings, quads, things like that because
51:26
you're, you're constantly bending your knees.
51:32
And then, yeah, and a lot of sprints.
51:33
I don't, I'm not a huge fan of just jogging for sprints and
51:41
then just just weight training things like, you know, deadlifts
51:47
because you're going to be lifting your bike, you know, you
51:51
try to do as many functional. Oh, and balance, balance in
51:55
equilibrium, I think is probably the most important.
51:59
It's the most important because or if your core is weak, you're
52:03
going to have weak balance. And if your core is weak and
52:08
you're going through the forest, you're going through the woods,
52:12
you're going over roots, you're going over dirt, you're going
52:14
over sand, you're, you're slowly climbing obstacles, things like
52:18
that, things that require you to sit still on the bike while
52:21
while you're up on the bike. Core is very, very, very
52:27
important. And also as far as training with
52:31
the bike, a lot more hill climbs, a lot more throttle
52:36
control stuff. I think my throttle control is
52:38
actually pretty good. Throttle and and clutch meaning.
52:41
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I need to learn how to do
52:45
things like lift the front wheel as I'm stationary and just kind
52:50
of rotate the bike around. Wow, lift the front and just.
52:54
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I can do it on a bicycle
52:57
BMX. Yeah, I, I don't know if you, I
53:01
don't know if you know trials bikes.
53:04
Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
53:05
Yeah. So trials is the absolute 100%
53:10
best thing that you can do to train for this race.
53:13
Gotcha. That is, that is, that is the
53:14
best. Is that which as that's that's
53:16
what's going to my next question.
53:18
What kind of bike training are you going to do?
53:20
You know, as well to like what do you think you need to work
53:24
on? You know, so I assume you're
53:26
probably going to have to get a trial bike and, and kind of, you
53:30
know, hang out in the woods for the next year.
53:32
Definitely definitely the plan is to get a trials bike here in
53:38
Portugal or maybe even in Spain, but most likely Portugal and
53:43
yeah and go north and just start and go and do take like courses.
53:49
They have like trials clubs and things like that.
53:53
If I can do that man, if I could in a trials bike is only like
53:59
2000 euros. I can buy one for a very, very
54:02
cheap an older model right thing brand new or anything like that.
54:06
I can just get a crap one and just use that for just small
54:11
little things because you don't really the woods like crazy.
54:15
You just you're like literally you have like a rock hair, a
54:18
rock hair, a rock there, a tire here.
54:21
And then you just do this course over and over and over again.
54:25
You know, you don't need like crazy woods.
54:27
So I can just have like a my own little stationary area and and
54:30
just how to just do balance and static riding.
54:34
So. Got you.
54:36
Now you didn't finish before we wrap up.
54:39
You didn't finish the race, but you know and you know, and after
54:45
you know, having some time, you realize it was successful.
54:48
Do you think if you finished the race, would it still feel the
54:53
same way or you know and, and, and it's hard because you don't
54:56
know, but like, since you have already gone through the stage,
54:59
like next year, is it just, do you want to finish the race or
55:03
do you want to place high enough in, in the in the in the
55:07
standings at the end? Yeah, I want to finish the race.
55:15
I definitely want to finish the race.
55:18
You know, I mean, not finishing was obviously that was a little
55:23
bit of a disappointment, but at the same time, if I had finished
55:29
it would have been the icing on the cake for me, you know.
55:35
But again, just getting there and achieving the goal of
55:38
getting there is is one thing, but finishing is a whole nother
55:42
ball game, especially when doing it all yourself.
55:45
Yeah, you, you are your own mechanic.
55:48
You don't have all the spare parts and you are doing it on a
55:52
budget. So there were a lot of things
55:54
that were a lot of factors that were like this could be tough,
55:58
right, right. Get it done, but it's going to
56:01
be a very difficult journey. So but again, finishing would
56:05
have been 100% absolutely the icing on the cake.
56:09
But you know we can't have it all, right?
56:11
Right, right. Yeah, No, I mean, you know, I
56:13
think the way the universe works too.
56:16
I mean, like I said, you've accomplished a lot and you know,
56:18
for it's, I think it's few people in, in, in your
56:22
situations. Would you know, you know, the
56:25
Rudy stories or these stories that somebody show up with their
56:28
own on the, on the car or bike they're racing or whatever
56:31
they're doing and, and, and go through the whole field and,
56:35
and, and come out on top. It's usually kind of like you
56:37
get there, you see what it's like, you know what to expect
56:40
next year. You come back and you know, you
56:43
talk about the Isle of Man TT like that for, you know, people
56:46
are going for Year 5 is when they finally start to get quick.
56:51
You know what I mean? Because they learned in the
56:52
track. So, you know, do you feel like
56:55
you will get up to speed in the next year quick enough to to
57:01
like really, you know, push yourself next year?
57:03
That's a good question because I obviously a year is first of all
57:08
year is not a long time it's only a lot.
57:13
It's only a long time if all I do is just ride every day yeah
57:17
and and and train every day, but we all know we got to work.
57:22
You know we're not we're not we're not pros at this we're not
57:25
sponsored. So we that's not our job is not
57:27
to just practice and train so we can get better.
57:29
I think just because of the next step, because the fact that I
57:35
actually have to go back to the States and make some money, it's
57:39
it's gonna, it's gonna take a big chunk of time out of my out
57:43
of my training. Right, right.
57:45
So, you know, I think do I have enough time?
57:52
I have enough time to get better?
57:57
Do I have enough time to complete and and and do this and
58:03
and do and and actually finish? I believe so.
58:06
I think what will happen is after I work and I'll come back
58:11
to the Europe, I think I'm just going to dedicate all the time,
58:17
most of the time to just training.
58:18
So that's everyday. That will be everyday.
58:21
I mean you're looking at April, May, June.
58:25
So you're looking at roughly March, if I, if I'm done working
58:31
in March and I come back to this to, to, to Europe in March, that
58:37
would be good because then I have March, April, May, June and
58:41
then the races in July, right, right.
58:43
I can train four to five days a week, you know, just by, you
58:50
know, those days. And I think it'll be significant
58:54
amount of training. Yeah, I mean, you know, and even
58:57
if you can get a, a bike over here in the States to kind of
59:00
just keep the feel, right. You know, you don't necessarily
59:03
have to go too far, but just to keep the feel.
59:05
Because, you know, I was talking to someone about the, about
59:09
their race because they just raced this past weekend and they
59:12
were beating themselves up. And it's just like, listen man,
59:14
my best racing was in 21 where I had like 21 rounds.
59:18
When you're doing, you know, when when you're on a bike a
59:20
lot, you're going to be faster. It's just, it's really hard to
59:24
be, you know, maybe the top guys can take months off and jump on
59:28
a bike and be, you know, 2 seconds off the best time and
59:31
stuff like that. But for the rest of us, we kind
59:33
of need seat time. There's a reason why, you know,
59:35
LeBron James, hold the basketball every day, not take
59:39
time off. So do you think you'd, you know,
59:42
maybe get a small bike here and, and just to, just to keep riding
59:45
and keep practicing the technical stuff?
59:47
Yeah, so I was actually thinking about just kind of getting like
59:51
a an enduro bike in the States, but I just don't know where I
59:57
would keep it because I need a place where it's got mountains.
1:00:02
So it would have to be somewhere like along the Rockies, you
1:00:07
know, Colorado or something, or even like New Hampshire area,
1:00:16
but it wherever, wherever I need to.
1:00:21
Wherever I want to ride, it needs to be in a location where
1:00:25
this mountains it has to because that's that's the best training
1:00:28
I can do. And I know finance is a huge
1:00:31
thing and I'm just as we're talking, I'm thinking is there's
1:00:34
enough off court, you know, dirt training academies for lack of
1:00:39
better world schools and stuff like that.
1:00:41
So a lot of stuff you may just have to fly in and just ride
1:00:44
their bike and fly out for the weekend or, or four days or a
1:00:48
week or whatever. So you may not even have to own
1:00:52
a bike. You just got to figure out
1:00:54
schedule wise what lines up and and show up.
1:00:57
And also I also want to do as much practice on the bike that
1:01:02
I'm going to race because again, I mean, I ran into that problem
1:01:08
where I complete modified my bike and made all it made it
1:01:12
super light and made the handling pretty different and I
1:01:14
had to learn how to ride that bike all over again.
1:01:16
It was it was literally I felt like I just learned I was
1:01:19
learning how to how to do hill climbs with it on the first day.
1:01:23
So it was like it just felt so different.
1:01:26
The bike felt completely weird. It felt like I was going to flip
1:01:29
over the handlebars. It felt like like it's the
1:01:32
handling, like it was the way that it was moving and how light
1:01:34
it was nimble and it just felt like a big dirt bike.
1:01:38
So I think I need to get more sea time on that bike as well.
1:01:42
Got you. Got you.
1:01:44
Well, I mean, I can keep going, but I think this is a good place
1:01:47
to wrap up. And until next time, man, I
1:01:52
really appreciate you coming on and taking the time.
1:01:54
And we'll definitely connect when you get in the States for
1:01:58
sure, man, I appreciate it. Sounds good man.
1:02:00
Thank you so much for having me man.
1:02:02
Love being on the show, brother. Like likewise Nomad on two
1:02:05
wheels. My name is Rex 45.
1:02:07
It's to be forever. Cool podcast peace.