Latest / Full Spectrum Cycling / Full Spectrum Cycling #177 – Guest Michael “59” Neubauer’s RAGBRAI 2022 Report and More!

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Full Spectrum Cycling #177 – Guest Michael “59” Neubauer’s RAGBRAI 2022 Report and More! · Full Spectrum Cycling

• 0:00
  What? What? What? What? [upbeat music] Good day, everybody.
• 0:16
  It's Full Spectrum Cycling, show number 177. Yeah. Here in the white room with black curtains and a hummy air conditioner studio. It's just that ambient, like, cool white noise that just makes you feel good.
• 0:30
  Kind of like the crunchiness of the garlic beef stick. [laughs] Yes. Delicious. [laughs] Don't mind if I- All right, everybody. We got JK. Yeah. [laughs] Thank you. We got Tony. Mm-hmm.
• 0:42
  And joining us in the studio this week, Michael. Yes. How's it going, Michael? Michael's a new guest, never been on the show before. First time guest. Uh, how's it going? It's going really well.
• 0:51
  I mean, I biked here, so it's a perfect day. Right. It was very nice out there today. A little, little beautiful out. Mm-hmm. I d- I, hey, I did some good Majella-ing. [laughs] Majella-ing? Majella-ing. Okay. Navigating.
• 1:08
  Come on. I mean, this is not the easiest place to find out. Ma- Majella-ing. I get you. I follow you. Mm-hmm.
• 1:15
  You had to l- so yeah, it's not that e- well, now that Michael's been here, it's gonna be a lot easier to find next time. Oh yeah, that's... of course. Well, that's what I'm saying, but I mean, like, yeah.
• 1:24
  It's like- Yeah, just, yeah, go through the parking lot and keep going. Go, go- Through the parking lot... wait, past the log pile. [laughs] Don't forget the log pile. Yeah.
• 1:32
  Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of, yeah, I mean, there is a lot of, like, middle- To the right of the log pile... well, like- Yes...
• 1:37
  middle Wisconsin things like, "Hey, you remember where, you know, uh, you know, they had that dairy shack on the sideline? Oh, yeah, no, not anymore, but yeah." Well, don't- Where it was then- Remember where that is?
• 1:50
  You take a left. No, no. Where- [laughs] Remember where that was? Don't turn there. Yeah. You go past that. Your instructions were great, though.
• 1:55
  I pulled up, and you're like, "Look for the man on the phone smoking," and then- Yes... yeah, to the, to the left, to east, and then I was looking around at buildings, and you're like, "Hey," and you're just waving.
• 2:03
  [laughs] So it was perfect. Google couldn't pick that up. Right. [laughs] Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
• 2:07
  Well, soon there, soon enough there will be signage, and then everybody will find the place, and then it won't be any fun anymore, so. Mm-hmm. Aw. Waah, waah, waah.
• 2:15
  [laughs] Kind of like, uh, Wheel & Sprocket down on the south side, for instance. [laughs] Everybody knows where it is. Is it any fun? I don't know. I guess I've had fun there at times.
• 2:24
  Eh, they never replaced my Diamondback Silver Streak 'cause the, the frame cracked two days after I bought it, and they were really kind of bitches about that in 1987. Wow. There you go. And I really, and I really...
• 2:40
  Hey, you wanna talk about holding a fucking grudge? Yep. Well, it wasn't that wa- No, that's been stick- It wasn't too long ago... that, that's been sticking- No... around for a bit. It was yesterday.
• 2:48
  Speaking of which- Were you even alive? [laughs] Um, you know, I was probably in thought. [laughs] I was c- I was conceptualized. [laughs] Yeah. [laughs] Somewhere.
• 2:58
  Speaking of holding grudges, how long do you think people are gonna hold grudges about that Hank Aaron State Trail being closed- Oh... over there by Summerfest? Without notice at all. Yeah. Like l- That's pretty crazy...
• 3:06
  literally, that- No. Security, really? There's a lot of links in the show notes to the- Dude, it's just a bunch of d- mm, mm, mm, mm. That's like the, I don't know. I, I have many thoughts, and we could go onto a s-
• 3:22
  like 12 minute rant I could go. Do we have 12 minutes? We don't. [laughs] We could. Not with Michael's rant today. Oh, for fuck's sake. [laughs] I mean, here it comes. Yeah. Mm. And action. What?
• 3:34
  Yeah, so the whole thing is that it happened- Just take bike cops, go back and forth- The day of... back and forth, da, da, da. Yeah. Problem solved. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think it's...
• 3:42
  So you know, here's the thing: That's a bike path. How come all the roads around it aren't closed? Yeah. If they're- And if they were closed- How come the airspace over it's not closed?...
• 3:50
  doesn't it make it easier for someone that wants to maybe do something bad? 'Cause no one's gonna see them. Oh, and your alt route is- Not probably... to put you onto fucking Greenfield? Right, right.
• 4:00
  One of the, yeah, that's, that's putting your life in your own hands. I mean, that's like how... Yeah. During all that bullshittery traffic? I went to high school at Pihi. XI. XI. I am a pope. Your wife is a lady pope.
• 4:13
  I know. [laughs] Sacrilegious still. All right. So, uh- [laughs] Let's, let's, uh, let's groove, groove on our guest a little bit here, man, Michael. Michael, JK Michael- Michael...
• 4:26
  and Michael M- Michael Michael, uh, met somewhere at some east side establishment and got to bike talking. And, uh, JK, why don't you, uh, take it away. This is Michael. Michael, introduce yourself.
• 4:41
  [laughs] Yeah, well, okay. I'm, uh- That's the easiest way... [laughs] I am in fact Michael, as they've been saying. I did meet JK and Mike over at, um, N- the Nomad.
• 4:49
  You were biking, and then we just got to talking about biking over time. And then, um, did we talk about RAGBRAI before I left or after I left? After... Oh, uh- Well, when I got back... a little before... but I got back.
• 4:59
  And I was like, "What the hell? Really? Did you say that?" But I, I might have been slightly in the spirit world, but.
• 5:06
  Well, yeah, I think, well, regardless, yeah, so we, we got to talking about RAGBRAI I think a little bit beforehand, and then, um, I think we caught up about it when I got back and just- Yeah... how, how fun it truly is.
• 5:16
  I mean, it's magnificent. So you did the whole of the RAGBRAI this year? I did. This is my, this was my ninth year. Right on. Nice. Yeah. Do you do it with a team?
• 5:23
  So I do it with, uh, with several teams very, like fluidly, if you will. So I s- I started at 15, and I absolutely hated it. My p- my dad made me go, and I despised it- [laughs]... my first year.
• 5:35
  Probably a good idea, don't take the boy at his 16 age and he'll hate it, right? Right. Yeah. Yeah.
• 5:39
  Yeah, I absolutely despised it, and I, I don't think I really liked it until, like three years in that I really started liking it. Um- Was that when you could start having beer? Yeah, around then, yeah.
• 5:48
  [laughs] Or at least, at least sneaking them a little bit every now and again. Right. Right, right. I started looking a little bit older than 15. Beer a mile, man. It's just- Yeah, which helped... it's a slice of bread.
• 5:56
  Come on, now. Exactly. I mean, that's pretty much all it is. It's, I think I just was catching up on some info, and it was 33 million beers roughly estimated consumed on RAGBRAI this, this season. [laughs] Wow. Yeah.
• 6:06
  Love it. So what, what was your record for a day? 59. Wow. What? That's closing in on pretty good- That's incredible... sucking them down. Well, I mean, I- I mean, I, I know I did it m- in the '90s, and we were- Yeah...
• 6:18
  in, I was in that zone, 50-ish a day, 40, 50. You're just... It's beer one. Well, I'm glad that you, you're at least on my side. I met a lot of people, 'cause I, I put a few- [laughs] [laughs]
• 6:29
  A lot of people were meeting me, and then I got two names on the ride. I got Beer Mike and I got 59, and those are the two names that I, I kinda got called by several teams I'd pass.
• 6:37
  And, um, k- to con- give you, like, the con or, uh, the context of how 59 happened was I put...
• 6:43
  Well, a- again, I said I met Mike at The Nomad, and I, I told the owner of Nomad about it and he gave me his old kit, and I put that on and I rode with a, a Coleman cooler on my back filled with PBR, and I'd just hand out beer the whole ride.
• 6:55
  And so it got to the point where- Hey, I'd be riding right next to him the whole way. Damn right... ex- [laughs] exactly.
• 6:58
  So a lot of people catch up to me, and I'd hand them one and we'd crack it with our teeth on the bike, and we'd pour it down and we'd throw it on our, you know, on our little water ca- uh, caddy, and we'd just keep going.
• 7:07
  And I did that every time someone asked, or I'd pull over every time someone asked. And so they add up over time. Right, right. And you're stopping at all the slip and slides, the farmers.
• 7:14
  It's a humanitarian effort at that stage as far as I'm concerned. I was doing a service, I think. Yeah. Yeah. We need to keep them people up. Yeah. Yeah. You need those carbs mid-hill. Right.
• 7:20
  I mean, people, people would laugh at you. You're, like, struggling on the hill. You pull a beer out, you crack it, you, you get... You know, it's like, uh, Popeye's spinach when you're on the middle stuff there. Yeah.
• 7:27
  I normally have, like... Well, like, last night I had a 12-pack. I did not have, but I... Like, for organized rides, I will have a pound of bacon- Yep... cooked and ready to be given. You were telling me that.
• 7:39
  How did that start? Peppered bacon. Yeah. It's delicious. Well, it's 'cause you tried, uh, everything else that is just transportable, and that one just works out the best. Ba- bacon, bacon [laughs] is the best. Yeah.
• 7:50
  Yeah. Oven baked bacon too. It's not- Yeah, yeah. It's flat. So it's flat and nice and crunchy. Yeah. So it's nice and crunchy. Little less greasy. Dried out. Yeah. Right, right. There you go. He does a fine job of it.
• 7:58
  We follow him often. Right. [laughs] So the, the route this year, was it north, central, or south? It was north, the northern route. Okay.
• 8:04
  It was, um, it was, uh, probably what a lot of, uh, veterans I guess you would say would call an easier route. 462 miles, not a lot of climb. There was a mandatory, uh, century this year though.
• 8:17
  Oh, that's unusual, 'cause usually it's an optional one. It's like an 85- Yeah... mile day and you can tack on that extra loop for the century if you really want to. Oh, yeah. Absolutely.
• 8:24
  Yeah, so mandatory century this year. Mandatory. It's usually, like, six- like, anywhere between 40 and 60 day, and then the, they do, like, the... You know, they make up the difference for the loop.
• 8:33
  But I gotta say, if they didn't make it mandatory, I don't think I would ever do that Karas Century loop. Wow. I don't, I don't think...
• 8:37
  I've never done it in the eight years, and this is my ninth year, and they made me do it, so I finally got my patch. [laughs] And, uh- Oh, cool... it's probably my first and last, I think. That was a brutal, brutal day.
• 8:46
  [laughs] Yeah. What are, what are you riding for a bike? So I have a Trek, um, a, a Madone AR 5, which was my first year- Don't know what that is. Oh, it's, it's nice. It's- Is it a road bike? It's a road bike. Yeah.
• 8:56
  Okay. Is that the... Is it made out of carpet fiber? [laughs] Is it, is, is- It's a mix, I think, of aluminum and carbon. Yeah. Gotcha. We were talking about it the other day. Hell yeah. Yeah. It was like... It...
• 9:05
  No, it's not... I can't, like, like, pick it up and, like, it's gonna land into the, uh, ceiling. Like, it's not, it's not helium filled. Exactly. Like, but yeah. Al- It's heavier than it looks for sure...
• 9:17
  alu- aluminium. Well, you don't need a race bike on RAGBRAI. You need something that's comfortable- Right, right... and can, you know, suck up some miles- Some miles... and be comfy, for sure.
• 9:23
  Well, something that can, like, take a hit. I... To me is what my thought is on that. Like, oh shit. Even a skid out or whatever. Yeah. For sure. I mean, my first bike I did- Or some, like, idiot.
• 9:35
  And enough human beings on any ride, there's gonna be a dick. Depending on who's still out there, you know? Right, right.
• 9:42
  When, when, when the road is blocked by slow-moving Cat 1 racers and you have to bash through them to get around- Oh, gosh... you gotta have a bike that can get through there. Yeah.
• 9:49
  [laughs] Or y- yeah, you got Lance in your pocket going like, "Dude." [laughs] I mean, this year there was a lot- Can it just-... a lot less... There's a lot of newbies, but the newbies who came, they invested money.
• 10:00
  I mean, on my first couple years, I would meet people like myself who were, like, one, two years, three years in, and they'd have 30 pound bikes or mountain bikes, or they're, they're doing, like, um...
• 10:09
  Some guys would bring BMXs and stuff, and- Oh my God. That's insane. Oh, there's- Why don't you jump in for a day or two? Holy cow, we're already at the top of what hill? Which hill are we...
• 10:17
  What was the highest hill on the RAGBRAI route? Uh, 3,000 feet of climb. It was on the last day, I think. 3,000. Of course. Saves it for the end. Yeah.
• 10:24
  When you get towards the, the northeast corner of Iowa, there's a lot more hills over there. Yeah, it was brutal. That day was... It was the last day. I mean, everyone's tired, and there was a two-mile hill. I...
• 10:33
  Like, absolutely n- no exaggeration. Everyone thought that, uh- On a three-mile hill... everyone was lying. Three-mile hill What was the, what was the, uh, the final town this year? Uh, Lansing.
• 10:42
  So we did, um- Oh, right on. That's a good town. It's right where the, the... There's a riverboat there you can go down- Did you do a two-mile climb? So yeah, it was a two-mile climb. That's a good town...
• 10:49
  and, uh, I don't know what the grade was. If I was riding with, uh, with one of the teams, they're really into that. Which, you know, we got so sidetracked from your question, which was do I ride with a team. Oh, yeah.
• 10:58
  And I, and I started out with, um, you know- [laughs]... meeting people on this, uh, you know, on this charter that I did. And then over time, I would meet several different teams.
• 11:07
  So right now I, I ride with this team, uh, Team Pedal Faster, which they... They're the funniest people I've ever met. S- Filled with some of the nicest people I've ever met, and it's, uh, "Ride hard or ride home alone."
• 11:17
  And then it says, "Riding home alone since 2002," which- Nice. [laughs]... is so funny. Such a great, great mix of people, and they, they care, but they don't... You know, it's RAGBRAI. It's not a race.
• 11:27
  It's a ride, and so- Sure. Ta-da... they're, they're good people. Just like the River West 24. Except for the people- Yes... that make a race out of it. I mean, there- Well. [laughs] No, no.
• 11:35
  If you place people one, two, three, it's technically a race, isn't it? Yeah, I guess there's no real- I think that's what they said... there's no real awards for getting in first...
• 11:41
  so there is that little ceremony of that. But whatever, it's a ride. I think R- RAGBRAI's a race against yourself. It's a mental challenge. It's- Same thing. You know, it's can you do this? Yeah, there you go.
• 11:50
  And, and it's challenging yourself. A lot of people use it to, uh, either come off of Ironmans or go into Ironmans. Sure. I'm sure you guys know that. I am Ironman. I call those people fools. [laughs] Oh, God.
• 12:00
  Ba-ba, ba-ba, ba-ba. So I, I know I've mentioned this on the show before, but a good buddy of mine, Scott Dixon, has actually done RAGBRAI in one day. In one day?
• 12:06
  Started at the Missouri, rode 500 miles in 24 hours, and finished at the Mississippi. That's- And he was... I don't know if that's the year that he was...
• 12:13
  He did Paris-Brest-Paris many times And he's actually won Paris-Brest-Paris, which is a 700 and some mile race non-stop. So he was like...
• 12:22
  I don't know if he was training for it or coming off it or tapering or going into it or whatever, but that was a lot of years ago. But still, there's, there's just, there's interesting people out there.
• 12:31
  That's incredible. Yeah. I can't imagine doing that. [laughs] What do you- How do you, how do you train for that? Well, he- Incredible... okay, so- He rides every day...
• 12:36
  I think we've talked about this before, but he rode for 40 years straight, never missing a day, and rode up around 25,000 miles a year. Oh, my God. So again- That's-...
• 12:46
  six, that's eight hours a day on a bike every single day you're alive... that's passion. Yeah. I mean, that's- Yeah. God, his poor- Thank you, Jesus... his poor ass. He may be a little touched in the brain. Right.
• 12:54
  Yeah, there's some ADHD or something going on there. Oh, yeah. That's the only way you're pulling something like that off.
• 12:58
  When, when, when I, when I had to go to work every day, and then I had to go home for lunch every day, and then come back to work every day. And then leave work and then go to the bar, and then take that- Every day...
• 13:11
  every day like that, I had a 10-mile loop every day, every day. Now I'm trying to recapture that every day, every day. When this guy's- I like that idea... yeah. Yeah, I'd, I would like to do that again, too.
• 13:22
  I think, I think, uh- I mean, I mean, I, I try to do an every day, every day of- All this... 10 miles. Sure. And it just turns out to be in like, like today, [laughs] like, oh shit. All right.
• 13:34
  Well, I gotta drop off some nice cold hams down here. Something refreshing. [laughs] And then I'm like, okay, well, I'll stop at Uptown. Oh, I gotta stop at Swinging Door and get my damn Weenie Wednesday on.
• 13:50
  I'm sorry it's Friday, but Weenie Wednesday- Well, sure... is what it means. That's the show beer, so you should crack it open and have a sample with us because- Yeah, as we've- Yeah... as we- Well, yeah... did roll it.
• 13:57
  That's right... we already did the dingy dingy. Yeah, we did the dingy dingy thing, but. So the show beer today- Reminder... I actually picked this up last week, and we didn't even drink it then, is- Oh, strong buzz...
• 14:04
  the new, um, Double Dry Hopped Cosmic Logic Simcoe from over there at Amorphic Brewing right across the- We can, we can throw a rock at it... right across the, uh- We wouldn't, but... what do you call it there?
• 14:14
  The parking lot, the, the log pile, the, the- Building next to it. Oh. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. The, the rumor was there was a man on a phone smoking a cigarette. I'm familiar. I passed it. Yeah, on the way in. It was funny.
• 14:24
  When I, when I dropped off the hams earlier, um, cross promotion, I guess. [laughs] But whatever. Um, a dude was dropping off another, like, five [laughs] fucking logs. [laughs] Oh, man. There's more logs.
• 14:38
  Well, you know what? They're not supposed to- And it was just like-... drop any more damn logs off... beep, beep, beep. And I'm like- Nope. No, logs are supposed to be leaving now... I'm like, "Well, where?" Oh, really?
• 14:45
  Is he moving? I don't know. No. They can't drop any more off though, 'cause they're taking over the freaking property. Yeah. Well, it- So anyway, well, this is- Well, they dropped four off this morning. Over...
• 14:54
  out of my- It's only a 6.3 alcohol by volume on this here, uh- Yeah, no, yeah... DDH Cosmic Logic. Oh. Double dry hopped hazy IPA. The grist is Pilsner, malted oats, malted wheat, honey malt- What do you s-...
• 15:06
  and Carafoam. The hops are Citra, Simcoe, Idaho 7 and Cascade, and you got your Cosmic Punch yeast. You say the double- Pretty damn good... the double hop, you make me feel like- Double dry...
• 15:17
  it's gon- Well, you make me feel like somebody double drunk. Mm-mm. Yeah, that's more when you get into the- You know?... it's, yeah. I d- I- Like Torpedo IPA from, uh- Mm. The Imperial It's 6.3. You haven't seen-...
• 15:29
  here in Nevada, where it's just- If it says Imperial on it, you're gonna wanna take a step back. Yeah, I think so. [laughs] Lakefront just introduced a new one, and I'm like, nope.
• 15:37
  I don't care how delicious it is, I do not drink- Dude, I know a guy-... Torpedo IPAs... I, I, [laughs] I know a guy I- They fall down beer. I know a guy. [laughs] I know a guy.
• 15:45
  I know a guy, and I know he's gonna be one of those that's in the, uh, My Turn thing. Oh, yeah, yeah. It, it- And it will be terrifyingly interesting to f- what his b- It'll be like-... what his b-...
• 16:03
  12 and half percent... what, what, yeah, what his brew's gonna be. Are you talking about Lakefront? Yeah. Yeah, the My Turn series.
• 16:07
  It's gonna be like s- So I mean, for those that don't know, Mi- It's gonna be like some, like, gnarly barley wine, like- Sure... ah.
• 16:12
  Explain what My Turn is because nobody even knows what the hell you're talking about if they don't know what a My Turn is. Well, they have to listen to all of the podcasts.
• 16:19
  Yeah, you gotta go back and listen to all the shows. But My Turn is that each person at the brewery gets a chance to brew their own concoction. Oh, I've heard of this. From Lakefront Brewy- And then they release it...
• 16:30
  Brewy. Brewy. Brewy. Lakefront Brew- [laughs] Y'all motherfucking sweet. Got the idea. Yeah, y'all motherfucking sweet Jesus. [laughs] Yeah. [laughs] Yeah. Collins was really good.
• 16:44
  I had to take a, uh, an, a Benadryl before I drank it 'cause it's wheat. Wheat. Uh- But I survived. Mm-hmm. And it was pretty tasty. Very good. I still have the, uh, six-pack folded up.
• 17:02
  It's Collin, man. It's Eric Collin. Yeah. I ain't gonna... Yeah. All right. Let's get back on that RAGBRAI ride. All right. Oh, yeah. And we're back.
• 17:10
  Just, uh, so, uh, M- Michael, uh, w- it was seven days essentially, right? Eight days of travel, seven days of biking. Right. Yeah. And so what stood out in your mind f- from that whole long period of riding your bike?
• 17:23
  Was it being on the bike? Was it events that happened along the way? Was there a drag ride stop? Were there people heckling in ditches? What kinda- Corn... kinda stood out? Um, you know, I think- Corn.
• 17:34
  I think out of- Knee high by the Fourth of July. [laughs] I mean, it's, it's always the s- it's al- I hate to say it's always the same 'cause there's, it's, every day is different, right? Every year is different.
• 17:42
  But I think what's changing and what stood out this year is they're progressing. So for a long time it was an older crowd. It always has been. I mean, it's 49 years old. Next year it'll be 50.
• 17:52
  A lot of these people have done almost all of them. And now this year's the first year I've ridden it.
• 17:56
  Maybe I haven't been paying attention, but it's the first year that I've seen a lot of really young teams, and I see a lot of these events-... catering to it. So Iowa Craft Beer Tent's there every year.
• 18:06
  That's when you stop and you get your punches, and they have all these different beers. I mean, we were joking about 6.3 and all these higher beers, which I always thought the Iowa Craft Beer Tent was hilarious.
• 18:14
  You're, you bike 40 miles and they have a stop, and you can get a 12% beer. [laughs] And then just sit there and pass out on the hill. Right. For sure, yeah. [laughs] And, um, they're doing stuff like, they're...
• 18:23
  Shout out to them, they're doing cool, innovative things with all these young people creating teams where you can raise your flag up.
• 18:28
  You can have one made and submit it to them, and then you can raise your flag up so then people riding on your team can, when your flag's risen, can see that someone at your team or many people from your team are there, and then people can stop and congregate.
• 18:38
  And then, of course, they had a lot more team bus parties. And honestly, the cops have, uh, the sheriffs have really dialed down how much they care. I think a couple years- [laughs] Oh. Yeah. That's beautiful.
• 18:47
  I don't, I don't think they cared a lot- Yeah... back in the olden times. They may have ramped that up- Yeah... a little bit. Yeah.
• 18:51
  When I was a kid, it wa- it was, uh [laughs] it was rough for a little bit, so I didn't notice the first two or three years 'cause I didn't really drink at all. I just rattled out the miles, 'cause I was 15, 16, 17.
• 19:00
  And then 18 when I, you know, my dad let me sneak beers here and there 'cause we're, you know, we're riding. It's not a big deal, uh, in the middle of nowhere. Beer a mile. Beer a mile.
• 19:07
  Like, the, one of those memories that stood out to me was, uh, we were at the Iowa Beer Bus, not the Iowa Craft Beer Tent, and the, those, all the sheriffs waited.
• 19:15
  And this is before that the b- beer bus needed a permit to be on property. They could just do it on the side of the, on the road.
• 19:21
  And they waited until everyone got a beer, and then they went down and made everyone pour them out, and they kicked everyone out, and we all had to keep going to the town. [laughs] And they would scream at everybody. Oh.
• 19:28
  Wow. Yeah. So, like, they, there was a couple years- Yes... where they would just, like, and these sheriffs would yell at you like, "You think you can come to my town, on my highway, in my county and, and do this?"
• 19:36
  Like, "We're gonna shut you guys down." Just angry. Like, "Just wait. There won't be RAGBRAI anymore." I think I was, like, 18 when that happened. And- Wow.
• 19:42
  'Cause, you know, I mean, the organizers, at least in the olden days, certainly spent the time to get the towns on board. I mean, you're bringing- Well, the towns make money...
• 19:49
  a minimum of 10,000 people, and usually a lot more because- Well, you can't get every town on board... there's, you've gotta get every town on board because it's s- it's such a part of their- Barely even [laughs]...
• 19:57
  some of the towns, that's, that's a third of their, their tourist income is that one week a year. Yeah. And you, you very rarely meet any locals who are against RAGBRAI.
• 20:06
  I've met a few Iowa locals who, um, who actually work at the, the Nomad, and they were telling me, uh, you know, they're from Iowa and they were saying like- Hmm... "You know, we hate it. It's, it's horrible.
• 20:15
  So much work goes into it and it never pays off." And I, it's hard for me to imagine that doing the ride... I mean, 33 million beers, that's just what was paid for in towns.
• 20:22
  That doesn't even count for farmers giving out free beer, people buying it at gas stations along the way. So I imagine that's a low-end number. And that's- Yeah... that's beer income alone. Right. Yeah, yeah.
• 20:32
  You know, just towns prepackaging. I think someone's bitter. Buy- So 33 million- Yeah... in dollars for beer. No, it- No, 33 million beers. Wow, that seems like a lot of beers for 10,000 people.
• 20:40
  17,000 regist- or a little over 17,000 registered riders this year, but that's not accounting for day riders. Yeah. Why is Bob in masks?
• 20:46
  Yeah, that's a lot of, that's a lot of registered 'cause they used to cap it at 10,000, so. I mean, I rode one year where it was 20. Yeah. I mean, I think 2012 was- I know that-... something like that...
• 20:53
  I would say 20 is an average day just because people... I'd, I hadn't paid for it for years. Yeah. I'd just ride on it. There's unregistered riders. Yeah, certainly. There's also day riders. Yeah.
• 21:01
  And I, I think that 17,000 number comes from week-long registered riders. Right. Greg, were you part of the- Who's Greg? Sven, were you part of [laughs] the other, uh, the anti- Oh, we did anti-RAGBRAI. Anti- Oh, yeah.
• 21:14
  Anti-BRAI. Yeah, that was a, uh, a Captain and Chewy effect there at some point- There you go... where- Uh-huh. That happened... and there's also, you know, ride, just ride the roads 10 miles north of the actual route.
• 21:23
  Mm-hmm. So you're kind of, like, doing the peripheral RAGBRAI. You're not actually in the scrum so much. Yeah.
• 21:29
  Or you could go down there for a day of sitting in a ditch with a 75-pack or whatever you can get of beer and heckling everybody as they go by. You know, that's awesome.
• 21:37
  [laughs] And then you escape back to the north or the south. Oh, you know what else stood out to me this year was there was a lot of rollerbladers, a lot of bladers out there this year. Right on.
• 21:46
  Which is always really cool to see, but we were having a conversation in Mason City after the 105 day, 'cause it was really hilly that day. And when I say it was hilly, it was so you'd spend...
• 21:54
  There was one hill that was just, you were approaching it and it was like you were gonna look up and touch the hand of God. It was like you were just going straight up, man. It was horrible. Horrible.
• 22:03
  But you got one of those at least every year. And, um, on the other side of it, you went down for miles. Fast. And I just can't imagine what that would be like on blades. 'Cause I was going down on- Oh, yeah [laughs]...
• 22:13
  my, yeah, my, my speedometer's telling me I was going, like, 45, and I was still hitting the brake. You, you're hauling ass on those things. Yeah. Yeah. You're hauling ass. You're just, yeah.
• 22:19
  You just keep- If you, if you get a chance to go into Gutenberg, if they come in from the north, it, it would be a last day sh- stop.
• 22:26
  It's at least a two and a half mile hill, and that's a 55 mile an hour hill, and your eyes are watering so much you can't even really see, but you're giggling so hard 'cause you're just going so fast.
• 22:35
  [laughs] Oh, it's so fun. It's just like- Yeah. But- It's super sweet What is it, uh, it, uh, by Mar- uh, off the military trail in Mar- Mount Horrible?
• 22:45
  That Mount, Mount whatever that they have this big- By the Blue Mounds? Blue Mound. By the Blue Mounds? Yes. The big, big tall thing. So, oh, man, I'm riding my bike as far up as I possibly can.
• 23:01
  That shit, that grade gets like this. That's pretty gruesome on a- I mean, I shit you not. You just run out of gears. I mean, you're just, there's no- No. I mean, no. Even walking it.
• 23:10
  [laughs] It was just like, uh, this, this is... No, no, no, no, no, no. And I was just like, "Um, all right, Kim, go down there." Then you just push the button and you get to the top.
• 23:20
  [laughs] Well, no, I, like, get to the bottom of the hill and hit the button. [laughs] And hit record, [laughs] and you say like, just like- Just... totally rip it on the way down.
• 23:28
  Well, we have hills like that, like, in LA. And I was like, but it was so hello. [laughs] Um, the, uh, [laughs] the, it was just like- The official recorder- But it was so awesome...
• 23:39
  of the Full Spectrum Cycling Podcast- And well, there-... Mr. Tony Molé... there you go. So on, on your- I'm telling you, this is a quality event, Michael. I'm thoroughly enjoying it.
• 23:47
  On, on your, on your bike- [laughs]... uh, are you riding a double in the front? No. Well, yeah, it's two by... What is it? Two by 11. We were talking about this the other day. What is it? Yeah. Yeah.
• 23:56
  We were, we, we just had this conversation, yeah, 'cause I know so little about my bike. It's my first- [laughs] It's... Well, it's funny 'cause it was a gift from my father because I always got a RAGBRAI and he just...
• 24:05
  I r- I used to ride in this old, heavy KHS. You know, it was still a great road bike, but it was probably the first iteration of aero carbon, if not one of the very, very f-... few that came out in the beginning.
• 24:14
  They don't make it anymore What, what do you consider heavy, out of curiosity? For- Is it the one- For a road bike or a bike in general? Is it the one that you brought here?
• 24:20
  For a bike, you know, a bike that you wanna ride. For a bike I wanna ride? I think 20, over 20 pounds is heavy. I mean- Is it the bike that you brought here today? I have no bike under 20 pounds.
• 24:28
  I have no bike under 20 pounds. I don't think so. Really? Yeah, no. Yeah... that's, that's the newest one. That one is- That is not- Oh, we gotta take a picture of his bike when we- The, the, the Viking West-...
• 24:35
  get out of this sweatbox of a podcast studio. [laughs] Yeah. Yo.
• 24:39
  But the one I used to ride was significantly heavier, and my, my sister's boyfriend actually rode it this year for RAGBRAI 'cause he didn't have a, a bike to ride.
• 24:45
  And, you know, it's a good bike, but the difference is night and day, and I think that that's what really matters. And, um,
• 24:51
  you know, this was my first year riding it for RAGBRAI, so I don't know a lot about my bike and I should know more, but it was in storage for two years. I didn't train at all for RAGBRAI.
• 25:00
  We just decided we were gonna go. I took it out of storage after two years. 'Cause COVID hit, you know, I was moving around a lot, and then it's just... Like, I, I had to get...
• 25:06
  When I took it out of storage, the tires were completely flat from just being in storage. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Had to go get a tune-up, new tires, and, you know, so I don't... I wish I knew more.
• 25:13
  I, all I know is that it's, it's nice, and it was better than any RAGBRAI I've done so far. Okay. Yeah. So. So, uh, besides riding RAGBRAI, what's your cycling like on a normal year?
• 25:25
  Are you out there commuting or just playing around? So, I, it was a little bit of both. So, uh, when I lived in Minneapolis, I lived there for two years, and that's when I got, I first got that bike.
• 25:35
  The- Did you meet Z-Dog there? [laughs] I was waiting for it. Jesus H. Christ. What's the H stand for? Uh, Jesus. Jesus Jesus Christ. [laughs] Jesus. No, my, my backpack with my Jesus knife is over here. No, no. Okay.
• 25:51
  So, on, on a- Sorry... besides the Ragbrai portion of the one week a year that you do that- Um- Have you ever done the River West 24? I've, so, no. No, 'cause you're on RAGBRAI. I'm on RAGBRAI. I got home.
• 26:01
  So I, I got home at... Man, we could've been home a lot earlier, but that's a different story.
• 26:05
  But we got home at, like, 10:00, 9:35, 10:00 maybe, something around there, and, uh, the River West 24 was going on and so was Brady Street Festival, and I live right, right off Brady, so I couldn't even go home.
• 26:16
  I went to a friend's house and stayed there. It was just a hectic day, and I really, I wish I didn't have to decide between the two because I would love to do the River West 24.
• 26:24
  My friend explained to me what it is and how it goes, and I've never even got to see it. I'm only, I've only lived in Milwaukee for four months. I'm from the suburbs- Well, here's a, here's a plan because-...
• 26:31
  of here, but... of the f- so it's 50 years for RAGBRAI next year, and in the past I've done the first few days of that, and then come down the 24. Mm-hmm. So it's kinda like you were saying with the triathlon.
• 26:41
  You're kinda training for the 24 by riding a few days of RAGBRAI, and then you come here and- I know...
• 26:47
  you know, so if you ride, like, three-quarters of it and you come here and you start on Friday at 7:00, and Saturday at 7:00 you're done, and you could almost go back and run the last day right to the river if you wanted to, but.
• 26:55
  I might c- next year- [laughs]... if, if it lines up like that again- It's all up to you... which it probably will 'cause it's always the last week of July- Well, same thing with the 24... it's every year. Yeah.
• 27:02
  It's always the last weekend of July. I'll probably have to deeply consider bailing on the end of RAGBRAI.
• 27:06
  You know, I've done nine, but the thing is, it probably can't be next year 'cause not only is that my 10th, that's the 50th anniversary. Yeah, you should probably do that. So I- You should probably do that...
• 27:13
  I feel like I can't miss- Well, you should go do that too, at least part of it... I can't, at least part of it. It's the 50th year.
• 27:18
  So I, I feel like maybe next year won't be my year for the River West 24, but the following for sure. I'm bummed we sold our bus way a long time ago, 'cause having a bus is really nice. Plus- This-...
• 27:27
  when you get to be- This was my midlife's- Like, if you're-... midlife crisis. Like, I got my first tattoo He was so excited. He was so excited to c- to just show everyone that tattoo. Yeah? In my house. Yeah.
• 27:35
  Oh, oh really? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In the middle of our street. Oh. I am just saying. That was on my RAGBRAI playlist.
• 27:42
  So having, so having a bus is awesome because once, you know, if you, if you, like, had a really crappy day, it's super hot or you're dehydrated or whatever, you drive the bus, and then you're like, everybody else is happy that someone drove the bus 'cause it's at the next town, so.
• 27:53
  I did recently learn that that's how... I always wondered, and I, someone, you know, I should have asked earlier, recently taught me that, that it's, uh, you just cycle through the team. Right. Yeah.
• 28:01
  Who, who, who drives- Who's driving the bus... which makes total sense. I mean, if I'd given any- Well-... modicum of thought to it, I would've put two and two together... sometimes people hire a driver.
• 28:06
  I mean, but it's, you know, the, the bus driver sets the tents up and does all the stuff to get people a place, and, you know, you do that one day out of the seven, and you're, you're a hero for that day. Yeah.
• 28:17
  Because every- who wants to come in after 60, 70, or 100 miles and go through all their crap, set their tent up, you know? Right. Whatever.
• 28:24
  And, and when it's all ready to go and you get there and you go, "Does anybody have any beer tickets?" And they're like, "Yep." So. [laughs] Yeah, right.
• 28:31
  I mean, that's, I started, um, so when I first started going, speaking of tents and how horrible that is, I mean, it is, and it's, it's not like it's an easy task or a hard task. It's just you're tired, right?
• 28:40
  So in the beginning I used to go with my sister and my dad, and my dad, you know, in our charter, it, the, we had this joke that everyone called us. We had this Taj Mahal of tents.
• 28:48
  It was, this thing had rooms and dividers. It had a closet with a bar and you could hang clothes. It was ridiculous, and it took forever to put up. Oh, the Goblet of f- or the- Those, like, you know those giant-...
• 28:56
  the Harry Potter- Those, yeah, like those giant Colemans-... thing? Like, oh, hey... where, like, you literally had rooms- Yeah, there's three rooms. Yeah. Yeah, literally had rooms...
• 29:01
  I know exactly what you're talking about.
• 29:02
  And it took, like, an hour and a half to put up, and it was because my dad is, you know, he's 6'3", 6'4", and he had this rule when we went to RAGBRAI, it was his idea too to even go, was that if we're gonna get a tent, I wanna be able to stand up in it.
• 29:14
  And I'm like, "This is ridiculous." Yeah, you're huge. So after- Sure. Like, yeah, he's a monster. So after three or, you know, four years of doing that- I mean, I'm a tough pull on that one. Yeah.
• 29:23
  [laughs] I mean, I will say, work aside, I'm only 5'8". It was nice to have a spacious tent like that. Yeah.
• 29:29
  [laughs] But after so many years of doing it, when I, I think it was 17 or 18, I think maybe 18, probably closer toward 19, was when I asked, like, "Hey, I'll still come. I'll still help you set up your tent."
• 29:39
  But I want my own tent. "But I'm gonna bring my own now." [laughs] And I, I brought, you know, I started bringing a, you know, a two-person Coleman where it's two poles, up in 60 seconds. Right.
• 29:45
  And it was the greatest decision I think I ever made. Yes. Speaking of tents, I don't think I've ever had a tent that weighs more than five pounds. Right. More?
• 29:52
  So if you're carrying a very heavy tent on your bike and your bike is light, and I have a very heavy bike and my tent is light- Light... then- You're kinda evening yourself out... you're kinda evening yourself out.
• 29:59
  I gotta say, I'm pampered. I've never carried any of my equipment on my bike. I have a charter that carries it- [sighs]... from the- Yeah, uh, definitely a good way to go... from town to town to town. Yeah. For sure.
• 30:07
  That's co- Yeah. That's like credit card touring, man. Oh, come on. No, that's when you stay in the hotel 10 miles away. Yeah, that's, that's worse. Well, I know, but still, it's pretty close to the same. Oh.
• 30:17
  Girls, girls, girls. [laughs]Hey, we've got a- See ya. We've got a couple more things to blather about here, uh, just real quick. Uh, after 11 years- What?... Zuzu Pedals is no longer- Mm...
• 30:28
  going to be conducting- Mm... business up there in Port Washington. Oh, really? Yeah. 30% off all bikes right now.
• 30:33
  No more- Yeah, I think through August 20th is, and then it's by appointment after that, so if you wanna- No more, uh... Well, I, I know Miguel was not working there anymore. At 30%? No. But- Wow.
• 30:43
  Yeah, it could be more on the last few days of the closing- Yeah, incredible... depending on what they have left. They have good bikes. They were a Specialized dealer and Fuji and such and such, and Specialized.
• 30:51
  And very... Well- I think it's sad because they- They were very yoga centric. My [laughs] That's true. At the, at the beach ride- No, they, they really were... uh, we ran into a man, a
• 31:02
  husband and wife, and he said, "Yeah, just so you guys know, Zuzu Pedals has 30% off." He's like, "I just bought a tandem." Oh, for sure. I'm like, "How strong is your, w- is your relationship with your wife?" Oh, God.
• 31:12
  Oh. The coordination. I, I could not, could never, yeah. There's no way I'd ride my- Especially on ragra, you see so many people- Ride with my wife on a tandem, that would be not a- She...
• 31:18
  And the same day, okay- Sorry, Wendy...
• 31:20
  not only does this lady, does this dude tell me about his tandem, we get back from riding on the beach and two dudes roll up on a tandem, and I look down at it and okay, it's a commotion breakaway.
• 31:33
  And then I look again and it's belt drive, front to rear, and- Then... Rohloff. I'm like, "Oh my God." 30% off of that would be a good deal. Yeah. 'Cause that's like $3,500 is- At least that... or more.
• 31:48
  Or yeah, that was more. 30% off. With the breakaways, yeah, that's like 5,000. That's, that's the percent off, not how much it costs. [laughs] Right, [laughs] exactly. And- Fushimi is gonna close at the end of August.
• 31:56
  What? Who? Fushimi, the unlimited sushi place. Oh. Oh. By the old crank daddies. Yeah. Okay. Mm. The place that like- I've never ever been there... it's amazing that... What? Never been in it? I don't know.
• 32:10
  I mean- Just blew Mike's mind. Yeah. I don't sushi. Yeah. Yeah. I do, but not in No- That's why they- I don't sushi in Milwaukee... that's why they're going out of goddamn business... no, why?
• 32:17
  Not an ocean within like 1800 miles of here, so. Right. Very secret one. Yeah. Dude, you pay like 20 bucks and they just keep feeding you that. What are you actually eating, though? He doesn't know. Rice. Worms.
• 32:27
  Rice and worms. Rice. Worms and rice and- Rice and worms. Maggots, Michael. And on- Maggots. Oh, I can finally use that to someone named Michael. Maggots, Michael. There's two Michaels. You're eating maggots. Yes.
• 32:38
  You're eating maggots. Michael Michael. Wow. All right. One of the greatest names ever. Here's another one, a reminder. Oh, by the way, I mean, you wanna talk about fake Michael bullshit? Hold on, hold on, hold on.
• 32:45
  Reminder. [laughs] It'll be, uh, night work, Night Rider. Good night. Reminder. Night reminder. That's right, Michael. [laughs] Night rider. Rest in peace, what's his face? All right, Ketch. He was The Void. Ketch.
• 33:01
  Was he? Somebody was Kit. All right. Ar. Matt Gates. Yeah.
• 33:05
  Uh, just wanted to remind everybody that we do have both episodes of the River West 24 Radio Radio checkpoint out there that you should listen to, and it is really- They're hilarious... entertaining. I just, I...
• 33:16
  It was way better than I thought it was when we were doing it. [laughs] I was like, "Oh, this is gonna suck so bad." I can't believe how many people told me it was their favorite checkpoint.
• 33:25
  I, I've heard many people say- That, that's-..."Oh, this was really fun"-... makes me so happy... or whatever, whatever. Yeah, it was good. Um, so those are both posted on the fullspectrumcycling.com website.
• 33:35
  We are getting, earlier than I expected, some ice cream trucks. We got a couple small, a medium, and a large. If anybody wants an ice cream truck, hit us up because there are no more coming. Right.
• 33:45
  We're gonna get the, the very, the very what's we're gonna get. They're coming soon. So hit us up because, uh, yeah. You don't wanna miss out on a fat bike for the winter, dudes. Yep. Nope. Bear down the corner.
• 33:56
  And before we sign off, say thanks to Michael for being here. Thanks, Michael. Yeah. We should talk a lot more about RAGBRAI, 'cause we only had- Yeah... this one little half hour to do it.
• 34:05
  But guess who's coming to X-Ray Arcade on September 10th? Daikaiju. Daikaiju- No... is coming. What day is that? September s- Saturday, September 10th. Yes. [laughs] Oh.
• 34:17
  So Casey, RF Buchanan wants to go and- My, my, my, my birthday hangover day. Oh. Yeah. My birthday hangover day. That makes me so happy. Yeah. That makes 2022. That makes- All right. So Daikaiju, everybody, X-Ray Arcade.
• 34:31
  You gotta go. It's an 8:00 PM show too- You will never miss them again... so you don't have to waste your whole evening there. Yeah. It's a 45-minute show. You're in, you're out. Yeah. You don't worry about it.
• 34:38
  And you will never miss them again. Fuck you. [laughs] Oh, man. Oh. All right. Well, Michael, thank you very much for joining us. Definitely. Thanks for having me. And Michael JK, thank you very much for...
• 34:47
  We turned his mic off already, so. Whatever. [laughs] Na, na, na, na, na. Tony next week, everybody. Thank you very much for listening.
• 34:54
  Uh, don't forget about Single Spreed, Sh- Shringle, Shringle Spreed USA is coming up in two weeks, so Decorah, Iowa. Get there, get there. You're gonna wanna go there and check that out if you can. Yeah. 10-4, 19, over.
• 35:07
  Na, na neer, na neer, na neer.
• 35:10
  [outro music]