Latest / Full Spectrum Cycling / Weekly Dose of Fat Radio – Show #44 – Heather Best Interview

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Weekly Dose of Fat Radio – Show #44 – Heather Best Interview · Full Spectrum Cycling

• 0:00
  Weekly Dose of Phat, show number 44 for Friday, February 20th, 2015.
• 0:07
  [upbeat music] It's time once again to assault your ear holes from our homemade pillow and sofa cushion fort housed in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood.
• 0:31
  It's a Weekly Dose of Phat with your hosts Sven and Gomez. The Weekly Dose of Phat, show number Epsilon Peach for Friday, Gret Wilily Gold from Venus. [laughs] And joining us in the studio today is Mr. JK Livin. Hey.
• 0:49
  How could we host this spectacular radio experience without our musical director Chris Daisy and the Phat Bike Radio Band? Hey, guys.
• 0:59
  [siren blaring] Dig it there, kittens and catons, this show is sponsored by the Surly Junk Strap. It don't be dancing on your head, daddy-o. It does, uh, what it says, and it says what it does.
• 1:10
  It straps your junk to your Hepsteed. You know you and Surly been thick as molasses pie since I don't know from when, and I wouldn't... damned if I do know. Learn more at surlybikes.com.
• 1:22
  Hey, JK, what do we have on the show this week? We're gonna have a lot of stuff on the show. Special guest and ITI world record holder, Heather Best. Got three guys with beers and beards. And stuff. And stuffs.
• 1:37
  Assalaska tales from the Gomez, as well as Phat Nat's coverage from the Gomez. Plus, we're gonna give a go at taking call-in guests during the show this week. Yeah, and stuff. Exciting. Yeah.
• 1:53
  So this is the Beards and Beer, Beards and Beer, Beards and Beer, Beards and Beer segment. So I, uh, brought both Sven and JK beard oil from the wilds of Alaska- Yeah, yeah...
• 2:04
  containing gnome oil and wolverine pheromones that drive all the womens in Milwaukee wild. Mm-hmm. Maybe all the- Tested... maybe all the- Field tested. [laughs] Field tested today. It's made by Kapo's Alaska Beard Oil.
• 2:18
  I chose the apricot- Apricot... and pine infused 907 Bushcraft Cut for the manly lumberjack JK, and the cinnamon and spruce inspired Kenai Fire for the cosmopolitan Sven. Oh, that's the fucking way she goes, boys.
• 2:36
  [laughs] Chrome some of that beard product to your beard, eh? And speaking of the beards... Beard contest coming up. Yeah, next March. Or next March, next month. This, this month, March. This March.
• 2:47
  This March month coming up. Yeah. [laughs] All those Ms. [laughs] On the Ides of March. On the Ides. The 15th of March at The Uptowner, a little bar that, uh, that I like.
• 2:56
  Right over here in the Riverwest neighb- They're bike, bike-friendly over there at The Uptowner. Indeed. So what's, what's the deal with the contest? This is the local contest we're talking about. Yes. Okay.
• 3:05
  It's, uh, uh, their third annual Super Beard Contest. We should do- Seven categories... we should do, like, some sort of live broadcast from The Uptowner. At least a man on the street interview with the beard winners.
• 3:15
  Mm-hmm. [laughs] Yeah, they have all- Beards and beer... they have all kinds of
• 3:22
  funky categories with very large descriptions off their, uh, Facebook, uh, event page, so you can kind of figure out exactly where you would fit if you were to be a participant, which is free, and you get some sort of swag entry prize just for going up there and-
• 3:40
  Showing your beard... showing your beard and- One can only assume that, you know-... getting on the catwalk and having a good time... the normal, the normal freestyle rules of bearding apply.
• 3:48
  [laughs] Only for the partial beard category. Hey, uh, we're gonna do- Excuse me... we're gonna do the Ice Beard Contest, but we only have one rule: it's gotta have ice on it. That's true.
• 3:58
  So that's actually, through the, through the site, we got... Gomez is working on prizes already.
• 4:03
  Oh, yeah, we already actually have prizes from our title sponsor, those boys up at Surly, who, uh, we're gonna talk a little bit about maybe later in the show about... We're, we're actually going up there. Yeah.
• 4:14
  I think we have a date tomorrow night. We're going to Minneapolis. [singing] Speaking of Minneapolis, what do we got for beer there, uh, Grape Ape? [laughs] I found apricot beer.
• 4:30
  [laughs] I was walking through, and I just happened to look, and it was Point Brewery Apricadabra. It's a apricot wheat ale. It's a seasonal. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
• 4:43
  I was like, "I, mm" I almost bought it at the moment, but I figured I had to wait until Gomez was back into his studio. What's the, what's the Bible of, of, of beer say about this one? There's n- it's a tabula rasa.
• 4:55
  Absolutely clean slate. Nobody has really... There's been two ratings of people submitting it. Well, maybe we should log on, and we should... Well, there'll be five ratings after this. Exactly. [laughs] We could... Yes.
• 5:06
  Everyone, you can affect change. If you go to The Beer Advocate- I'm gonna pop mine right now- Well, if you-... as a matter of fact... it, it has- Give me that lighter, dude...
• 5:14
  it has a very, uh- Or give me that opener, dude... apricoty nose, if I'm going to speak in the parlance of... [coughs] Whoa. [laughs] That's got a nose, all right. [laughs] Hey, I'm- I'm afraid to taste this now.
• 5:27
  [laughs] I'm coming up, I'm coming off being sick, and I haven't even put this in my mouth yet. [laughs] All right, I'm taking my swig. Oh, cripes. [laughs] They had to- That's, that's-...
• 5:39
  they had to make an apricot beer, did they? That's totally somewhere between a cleaning product [laughs] and a urinal cake. [laughs] Ah.
• 5:48
  I, well, I think if you knew you liked apricot and you wanted a wheat beer, you're probably on the hunt for it. It's not my style. No. So I couldn't tell you if it's a good example of it or not.
• 5:57
  I've, I've had, I've had beers like this where they just kinda drop the juice into another- Yeah, I don't take fruit in my beer very often. I, I- This is what it says. It says it's ale with apricot added, juice added.
• 6:06
  Yeah. Yeah. There's, like, there's raspberries and strawberries and other- Yeah. I've had, like, the strawberry- Eh... blonde and s- I mean, I know what I- Maybe in the summer when it's 100 out...
• 6:14
  I mean, I know what you're, I know what you're in for Oh, I know what I'm in for. [laughs] Yes, I'm in your ears and commanding. Um, [laughs]
• 6:24
  but i- you know, it, it's like the, you know, any kind of a fruit infused thing. Hey, guess what? We've got a caller on the line. No doubt.
• 6:31
  We could, uh, we could go check out what, if our caller's ever had an apricot beer. Yeah. Let's, let's check in with them and see, uh, what they have to say about apricot beer. Welcome caller, who do we have on the line?
• 6:44
  This is Daniel Dietrich from Sheboygan, Wisconsin. [laughs] Hey, Dan. What's up, Dan? How are you? Doing well. How are you? Good. Good, good. Yeah, I just got, uh...
• 6:55
  Gomez kind of gave me an invitation to give you guys a call and shoot the breeze a while, so- Hey, man... here I am. You don't need an invitation. You can call whenever you want. I sent you one anyway.
• 7:04
  [laughs] Yeah, 'cause that's just the way he is. [laughs] Hey, Dan, have you ever- Oh... have you ever had an apricot beer before? We're drinking an apricot A- Apricotabra from Point right now.
• 7:15
  You know, there, there are, th- there's certain flavors in this world that just have no- [laughs]... use of being in a beer, and I think apricot is one of them. I, I agree with you, absolutely.
• 7:26
  Yeah, fruit in the beer, I, even... This is especially egregious. [laughs] Yeah, it's just, it, it just contradicts each other, I think. How's, uh, fat biking going up by you guys this year? Get...
• 7:41
  That last snow, you must have got about a foot or so, huh? I think it was about eight or nine inches. Yeah, it, it was... It's going, it's going well. Um, you know, we've been kinda lax on the snow overall,
• 7:54
  so e- even all the skiers have been biking. It's just the only thing you can do, and- Yeah... you know, when we got the snow, then, then the skiers kinda grab the skis and head out in the woods.
• 8:04
  But, I mean, we've been, we've been having some pretty, pretty good sized groups going on. Our Tuesday, Tuesday night ride, um, went up to 15, 20 bikes that night. Super. And we're talking at four or five degrees.
• 8:19
  This la- um, Tuesday night here we went out and we had about seven or eight guys, you know, all in the single digits and- Yeah, we went from, uh- And, uh-... we went from Harrington Beach North a couple weeks ago, and
• 8:31
  it was that day that was the 50 mile an hour winds, so w- we didn't go super far, but it was, the conditions were really good. Yeah. Yeah, you know, we've been, we've been,
• 8:41
  ironically, not on the beach as much as we have been, uh, the w- you know, with the water level so far up. Yeah. Right. Yeah, for sure. It's kind of...
• 8:51
  It, it, it's pushed us, it's kinda pushed us over to the, you know, w-
• 8:56
  y- you know, obviously we're going down the beach and there's private property, [laughs] you know, along the beach down here by us, and a lot of these beach houses are pretty close to the beach. Wow.
• 9:08
  So we're pushed up till we're like [laughs] hiding within 20 feet of somebody's, you know, bedroom picture window or something. It's just kinda crazy. But, um- It's iced. Is it iced over?
• 9:19
  You know, we, we've probably been, uh- Is it iced over pretty good? It is. Yeah, okay. It is.
• 9:23
  I mean, it's iced over quite a bit, and that actually helps us 'cause it keeps, it keeps the waves back and we kinda will ride on that crunchy, you know, ice formation ice and it just kinda helps it.
• 9:34
  But, but, you know, we've been, like any other area, we've been, you know, our, our wooded trails have been developing, y- you know, quite nicely this year.
• 9:45
  In fact, you know, I was just talking to someone today that I went to, um, our local park here, Evergreen Park, where we have our WARS race and all the things going on. Yeah.
• 9:54
  And I rode, we rode it last night and it's, it's [laughs] kinda nice that it is so well ridden in, you know, that it was, it was great riding.
• 10:04
  And in the past, if I wanted a good, you know, a good woods trail, I practically had to ride it in myself because- Yeah... it was just a handful of us out. Well, it's great there's a lot more people out there.
• 10:12
  Hey, hey- Strength in numbers, man... yeah, speaking of people out there, we actually got, uh, Heather Best on the line. We're gonna go to her. And, uh- Okay... thanks for calling in, Dan.
• 10:20
  She's our special guest this week. Right on. Thanks for calling, Dan. All right, we'll talk to you soon. Talk to you again, Dan. Thanks. See ya. Thanks. Bye.
• 10:30
  Yeah, we'll be right back with our special guest, Heather Best. You're once again listening to Fat Bike Radio. Hey, kids. Uncle Dick's Bead Slip works great on fat bikes, tubed or tubeless, and vintage beadless rims.
• 10:44
  Just use a little dab on trouble spots and get your tire mounted faster and easier. Uncle Dick's is compatible with all rims, tires and sealants.
• 10:54
  And here's the best news of all: the three ounce tin of slip is now only $10.50. 10 fiddy. And comes with an application brush and a cool sticker. You gotta know, Uncle D has changed a lot of tires in his day.
• 11:09
  His slip will get you or your customers out riding fast. Check it out at uncledicksbikeshop.com. Please welcome to the radio show the women's ITI champion and world record holder, Heather Best.
• 11:23
  Welcome to the show, Heather. Thanks, guys. I think that title sounds a little inflated, but we'll just roll with it.
• 11:28
  [laughs] Heather has joined us on the program to talk about her preparations for the Iditarod Trail Invitational, AKA, the ITI.
• 11:39
  Uh, first we should congratulate Heather on last year's world record win of the 350 mile category.
• 11:46
  And we have to send congratulations out to Heather's husband, Jeff Holtle, for his men's 1,000 mile world record this year.
• 11:52
  Again, guys, thanks, but I have to say, in both cases, I think we were prepared, but we were really handed some pretty phenomenal trail conditions. So I heard that the ITI this year will be run on a different course.
• 12:05
  Can you, uh, maybe fill our cu- or [laughs] not our customers. Yeah. Fill our listeners [laughs] in on that. Wish they were customers.
• 12:12
  Um, actually, it's actually gonna be run on the identically same trail as last year, which is the traditional Iditarod Trail. The dogs team, the dog teams are moving north though.
• 12:22
  They are moving up to Fairbanks where we haven't had, um, a rainy winter and we have the snow pack still.
• 12:28
  So they've changed the dogs off the traditional Iditarod Trail and they're setting up a different route, mostly along large rivers while the, uh, human-powered race is gonna go out of Knik as usual.
• 12:38
  And actually, the Nome-bound folks were supposed to go on the southern route like the dogs this year, but now that there will be no southern route 'cause the dogs aren't gonna be going there, they're gonna be heading to Nome on the northern route just like last year.
• 12:50
  That's pretty cool. Tell us about what you do to prepare for a 350-mile ultra.
• 12:56
  Well, mostly I just ride my bike a lot and I try and piece together a few big multi-day rides and then additionally I ride when I don't really want to, kind of like when it's 40 below.
• 13:07
  And then I spend a lot of time fretting over gear, drop bags, things of that nature I suppose. So last weekend you were up, uh, you did the White Mountains 100 course, right, with Kevin and a couple other people?
• 13:21
  Yeah, something like that.
• 13:23
  Jeff and I rode from our house on trails all the way out to the White Mountains and spent a night in a cabin with some friends and then the next day we headed out on the 100-mile loop and had a 30-mile head start on Kevin and he kind of slowly caught up with us through the day.
• 13:37
  And then, um, we stayed another night in the White Mountains and then, uh, rode home the next day via trails while Kevin just did the 100-mile loop in one day. Cool.
• 13:46
  And then so just for our listeners, kind of how many hours in the saddle is that and approximately how many miles? First day was like 52 miles and about eight hours.
• 13:57
  The second day, Jeff and I only pulled off 60 miles that day 'cause the trails were really slow and that was in probably like 10 to 12 hours riding.
• 14:06
  And then the last day, about 45 miles and I think about seven hours to come home. So do you do all- But the trail conditions out on the White Mountains loop were, were kind of not ideal.
• 14:19
  I mean, during the race they'd be much, much faster- Yeah... for 100 miles.
• 14:24
  So when you're training, do you carry a good portion of the gear that you're going to, uh, use during the race or do you try and simulate those loads or do you just ride what, with what you need that day?
• 14:38
  Well, we were riding fully packed for the three-day trip this time and I carried a lighter weight bag than I would carry in the ITI 'cause we were sleeping inside cabins and I didn't want to be in a 20-below bag indoors where it was heated.
• 14:49
  But Jeff was carrying all of his, you know, normal ITI gear and I had most of my gear, just not the exact components that I would use for outdoor bivvying and stuff like that, so.
• 15:00
  So last year you, uh, rode last, last year, sorry, on a titanium fatback. Are you riding the same back, bike this year or have you, uh, have you gotten one of the new Corvus carbons?
• 15:12
  I have not gotten a new Corvus and that's not because I don't want a new Corvus.
• 15:17
  That is because I'm riding the same titanium fatback as last year 'cause it's a custom bike that was made for me and I'm kind of have some freakish proportions so,
• 15:26
  um, I don't fit super well on a medium frame 'cause my legs are too long and there's too much seat post sticking out. But on a large frame I'm kind of stretched out over the top too and so, um, [bell rings]
• 15:36
  I'm just sticking with a frame that fits me. Well, Heather, the bell indicates the start of the lightning round of the interview. Please answer the following five questions muy rapidamente. Best drop bag snack?
• 15:51
  Uh, that's a moving target, but I'll go with dark chocolate peanut butter cups. Ooh. Mukluks or wolf hammers? Uh, neither for me, but gun to my head, I'll say mukluks. All right. [laughs] Brad Pitt or George Clooney?
• 16:06
  Depends on the day or the role. Oh. [laughs] Groomed or ungroomed? Ungroomed, but a recent pass by a dog team is a plus. And the final question of the lightning round. Your favorite fat bike tire for the ITI?
• 16:22
  Dillinger 4. Very good. Well, we really have enjoyed having you on the show, Heather. Yeah, Heather, buenas suerte for the ITI coming up here in a couple of weeks. Thanks, guys.
• 16:33
  Let's just hope we're riding more than we're pushing. [laughs] All right. Thanks again, Heather, for being on the show. Thanks for having me, guys. You're tuned to Fat Bike Radio.
• 16:46
  Hey, fat bikers, this is Chris Daisy from Zion Cyclery. Most of the time I listen to heavy metal, but sometimes I listen to Sven and Gomez on Fat Bike Radio.
• 17:05
  Hey, quit playing with yourself. It's the Weekly Dose of Fat. Welcome back to the radio program.
• 17:13
  Hey, uh, last week Gomez went from Alaska to Utah for the Fat Natz, so let's, uh, start out this week's Weekly Dose with a little check in with Uncle G.
• 17:23
  So many of you might have read, I followed a, I filed a sit rep on my fat bike festival out there in Homer on Monday, but also spent some time in Anchorage visiting Fatback 907 and Revelate Designs.
• 17:38
  There's some really sweet things going on up there in Anchorage. So I'm gonna start out with 907. Uh, Bill Fleming up there and I met when I picked up my- You had one of his bikes for the ride... long bike.
• 17:50
  Reminds me, so nice. Yeah, the Tuscan Drive Gates carbon drive Rohloff bike You've had a Rohloff before, so you weren't, you weren't totally surprised with what the Rohloff is? That bike rode sweet, man, on the beach.
• 18:02
  Those are great. I got one too. I love it. I love it so very much. [laughs] So, you know, Bill was holding his cards kinda close to his chest and- Like- He basically-...
• 18:13
  two suspension bike close to his chest or- [laughs] Well, you know, we all saw this, their suspension bike at, at Interbike. Right, yeah, for sure.
• 18:20
  And they're- It's not like it's great, is it they're working on one, for sure. Yeah, they're, they're in development, and they really don't want to bring it out until it's really dialed and ready to go.
• 18:32
  But, uh, I might have talked them into, uh, bringing Harrison down there and Bill, and maybe racing them against the, uh, the Turner and the Foes and the 11nine, and anybody else that comes out with one.
• 18:48
  Like, uh, Sea Otter had a- Sea Otter... Rohloff course to do that. Yeah. Yeah, they have dual slalom and downhill- Yep... and cross-country. Fat bikes are good.
• 18:55
  And a lot of people don't know that 907 also has an online bike shop, very similar URL to ours. It is a, it is fatbikes.com, with an S on the end and no- And no dash in the middle... and no dash.
• 19:08
  And, uh, they are carrying the new Foes Mutts dual suspension bike, and they got an exclusive paint and decal set that is an Alaskan flag motif that they're gonna be selling as complete bikes coming up real soon.
• 19:25
  Lots of activity up there in Alaska. Well, I went to Fatback, and of course, Greg always has what he calls a shop ride when I come in town, and we rode a little bit.
• 19:36
  And, ugh, I was com- uh, I just did not have a good night. I was even more lame than usual, which is just pretty horrible.
• 19:46
  [laughs] But they took me out for a little ride, and they didn't laugh at me or, you know, leave me out there to die. [laughs] Hey, uh, we have a caller on the line. Uh- Oh, cool...
• 19:55
  should we take a call and s- have them ask you a question about Alaska? Sure. I mean, yeah, it's all up to you. Absolutely. Hello? Welcome to the radio program, caller. Who do we have on the line? Ernesto. Ernesto.
• 20:07
  Hey, Ernesto. ¿Cómo está ustedes? [laughs] We're talking to Uncle Gomez here about his recent Alaska trip. Uh, do you have a question for Gomez about his recent trip to Alaska? Yes.
• 20:23
  Uh, was there enough, uh, powdery snow? Did you have much more snow than we have here in the Midwest? It was actually less snow than what we have here, in both, uh- Oh... Anchorage and Homer.
• 20:36
  Plenty of ice, though, in Homer. Uh, y- yeah, ice, ice is good for fat biking if it's a little crushy. I, I had- I do have another question from... I have another question for Mr. Gomez. Thank... Well, s- take it now.
• 20:49
  Thank you. Di- did you, uh, wear a diaper while you were up there? No diapers. No diapers. I j- I used the diaper wipes, though. [laughs] Oh, well, that's good.
• 21:00
  [laughs] Yeah, you gotta, gotta k- gotta keep the, gotta keep the undercarriage clean. You gotta keep your gnome clean. Yeah, gotta- [laughs] Yeah. You know what I'm talking about. You know what I'm talking about.
• 21:09
  [laughs] Yeah. Should we, should we, uh, take another call? My mother- Ernesto, we're gonna take another call, brother. We got them piling up like 747s over O'Hare in a snowstorm. Yes. Thank you, and goodbye.
• 21:22
  Thanks, Ernesto. [laughs] Bye. Hey. Hello. Welcome to the radio program. Who do we have on the line? This is Mr. Thad Carson calling from Kansas City. Oh, my God, radio terrorism. [laughs] How does- That is correct.
• 21:40
  How's it going down there? So, uh, what, uh, what rating do we have to stay at here during this conversation? Are we, uh, PG-13? Are we triple X? What, where are we? I believe, I believe we are rated explicit.
• 21:50
  Yeah, we're explicit in iTunes, so if, if that doesn't say what we can do, I don't know what does. So basically medical terms like- Explicit in iTunes... vulva or, uh, you know- Vulva. [laughs] Right. Right.
• 22:04
  And so, so- Yeah, I had, uh, one, one of, one of my girlfriends in college drove a golden Volvo. Really? Yeah. Nice Volvo. Mm-hmm. So, uh, do you have a question for Gomez about his recent trip to Alaska?
• 22:17
  Or, or have you called us to sing the song of your people? [clears throat] No, I, my, my skin flute is out of tune, so, uh, I have no questions about, uh, Alaska. [laughs] All right.
• 22:29
  I, I absolutely, I absolutely despise Alaska, other than, uh, I think I know one person in Alaska, Jordan Blackson, um, who is lamenting the fact that he has to wear shorts on his commute because they have no snow and, uh, too warm of temperatures, or something to that, something to that effect.
• 22:46
  That's, uh, global warming, I understand. [laughs] Right, and since I was in Arizona last, Arizona last week riding fat bikes when it was, uh, 82 degrees, that's, that's by far the better situation in my book.
• 23:00
  Was that, uh, Single Speed Arizona? Yes, it was. How did- Absolutely... how did the fat bike contingent hold up under the, uh, the assault of the desert? [laughs] Actually, there's quite a few fat bikers.
• 23:12
  I mean, um, I, I pretty much ride all 29 plus now, um, as did, uh, White Mike, uh, that, you know, I went with and rode with. A lot of 29 plus this year, surprisingly.
• 23:24
  Even after last year, I rode my Jones, uh, 29 plus last year, and, uh, there was a vast majority of people on, on, uh, 29 plus this year, which, which is really the perfect for desert stuff.
• 23:37
  Um, it wasn't too sandy, just super rocky and, uh, loose. I'm just- So-... I'm curious about something. I've just got, I'm, I got curious while I was listening to this great description of a place to ride.
• 23:47
  How did we get from Alaska to Arizona? I know. [laughs] I didn't even notice the plane landed And who knew, who knew that Thad... Is it Thad or is it Tad? Ah, it doesn't matter. Uh- Just Thad [laughs] Thad, yeah.
• 24:00
  [laughs] Who knew he was such- Oh, the, uh, oh, the name- Who knew he was such a name dropper? We need Chewy on here to straighten this guy out. [laughs] Oh, just giving, just giving you a hard time. All right, man.
• 24:10
  Do you have anything else you wanna say? Did, did I drop names? Have I dropped names already? [laughs] I, I, I can start. I mean- [laughs] No. Oh, White Mike. Yes. That's who I'm talking about. White Mike.
• 24:21
  [laughs] That's the, that's the only name that needs to be dropped right there. Right there. All right. Excellent. That, that gets you in... That, that will get you into every red carpet event you need to be at.
• 24:29
  That's what I'm talking about, my man. All right. Well, um, Gomez- Yeah, no, I- Gomez has some information about the fat bike NATS we're gonna get to I'm... I, I just have- And-... one more question for Thad, though.
• 24:39
  You go Have you ever had apricot-flavored beer? You know, after that Budweiser commercial during the, uh, the Super Bowl, I, you know, I'm just gonna drink, drink Bud from now on.
• 24:52
  [laughs] It convinced me to, it convinced me to, it convinced me that craft beer is just, is complete shit, you know? You are- So, no, right now- You are a fucking rebel... right now I am drinking a, uh- Yeah...
• 25:03
  I'm drinking an Orabele from Great Divide Brewery. Um, no, I'll try pretty much any, any beer, but, uh, fruit beer, eh, just depends. All right. Thanks for calling in, man. Yeah. Talk to you later. You bet, man.
• 25:14
  Have a good night. So you want to, uh, talk about Fat Nats a little bit, let these callers listening in, uh, just sit and listen for a little while? I wasn't done with my Fatback thing.
• 25:23
  Yeah, just kinda go- went o- it went off script there, yeah. [laughs] I know, so, so back to Fatback, they're working on a strapless, uh, frame bag. I like strapless things. For their- Strapless things are good...
• 25:33
  for their... It's actually not strapless. It has one strap on it where the zipper pulls across, but it, it- So it's like a brazer kinda. Yeah.
• 25:41
  [laughs] It, it, it bolts into where the cable hangers are and where the water bottle bosses are with a strip of plastic, and... [laughs] Sorry. [laughs] JK is freaking out. [laughs] Apricot beer.
• 25:56
  Did you just- I- Did you just think about a hooker with, with- [laughs] It's kinda growing on me a little bit. I don't know. Yeah. You were painting a word picture there, brother, I gotta say.
• 26:06
  [laughs] I don't know where- And, you know, Greg is working on some other stuff that's all on the QT, but in the meantime, you can keep up with their, with their ambassadors.
• 26:18
  Did you guys all see the video that we, uh, just hosted of, uh, Pat Smage? Uh, he, he threw a quick- He's, he's-... edit together and he's- He's the trials, he does trials. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. He's seven time
• 26:29
  national- A- AMA National Motorcycle Trials champion. Right, right. And he's dabbling in the fat bike trials riding, uh, his fat bike. By, if by, if by dabbling you mean, like, killing it, yeah. [laughs] Yeah. Yeah.
• 26:40
  He dabbles, little bits. That was a kick-ass video. I had to throw it up. There was a Real Fat Tuesday, too, this, uh, this Tuesday. So- Yes, that's true. They actually have, uh...
• 26:51
  Ray's Indoor Mountain Bike Park had free, if you had a time machine- [burps]... go back and get it back then- Yes... Fat Tuesday, but they also have it coming up again on Saturday if you miss it.
• 26:59
  If you're riding a fat bike, Ray's Indoor Mountain Bike Park in Milwaukee. And Cleveland. And Cleveland. And Cleveland. Well, there you go. Free. Oh, JK, uh, JK had that. That's one of JK's links.
• 27:08
  I've never been to the Cleveland one. Linky dink, motherfucker. Yeah. [laughs] So we're gonna have to talk about that later. [laughs] So, uh- [laughs]...
• 27:15
  the third place that we visited, my compadre and I, Zach Brown, who, uh, hung out with me up there. Hopefully, uh, Zach will call tonight. That'd be sweet. He, he could.
• 27:26
  He may be one of the callers stacking up in the queue right now. I don't know. Right now. So- We'll take, we'll take a call in a couple minutes- Yeah... and, uh, see where we're at.
• 27:32
  So Eric Parsons up there at Revelate Designs, he moved into a new commercial space, larger, nice lighting. He's got... It's, it's just so much more spacious than his, than his old spot.
• 27:45
  So we stopped by to talk to him, and then we took some pictures of the strapless bag that he's been working on with, with Greg over at Fatback. But then he showed us stuff that we can't really talk about. Oh, boy.
• 27:57
  We're gonna keep secrets again? But he... There was just prototypes everywhere, just... And we were like, "Oh, what's this? What's this?" And he's like, "Oh, I'm doing this with this and this with that." Yeah.
• 28:06
  You know, it's- Well, I mean, if you have a bike, if you're a bike manufacturer, I think you want to accessorize them, so going to a guy like Revelate to do it, I wouldn't be surprised if he's got his fingers in the pie a couple of times.
• 28:17
  And he is... He, he's an innovator, man. Absolutely. The, the stuff that I was, that I saw there, I was like, "Oh, yeah. Well, everybody needs that." [laughs] So- All right. Let's, uh...
• 28:29
  But before we get to the Fat Nats, are we done with Alaska? Yeah, we're, we're through Alaska. We could take a call, take a call here. We'll, uh- Yeah... see if, see if they've- Sounds good...
• 28:35
  they've got a, an Alaska question for you while we wrap this up. Hey, it's Jordan Wakely. Jordan Wakely, welcome to the program. Hey, Jordan. It's Gomez.
• 28:45
  Thanks for waiting and, and hanging out on the line listening to us banter. How's it going? Doing good. Real good.
• 28:52
  So I know I sent you a message today, and I wanted you to come on and tell everybody how it felt to be a bad mofo on a fat bike. I can't believe it, dude.
• 29:02
  Your first Arrowhead 135, and you win in a four-person sprint, man. Unbelievable. Congratulations. Thank you. How did that feel? It had to be, like, an amazing thing. You've been working pretty hard for a long time.
• 29:16
  Tell, tell me what it felt like. Yeah. I mean, it felt real good. Um, you know, I've looked up to, uh, JP and Todd and Tim, Kevin.
• 29:25
  I've looked up to all them guys since I've started riding a fat bike, and, uh, to just be able to ride a bike with those guys for 15 hours was...
• 29:32
  I mean, that's something I'll never forget, and to win was, uh, it's just still unbelievable in my, in my head. Yeah. Now, so the time, uh, 15 hours-ish is what it was this time? Yep.
• 29:44
  And then how did that compare with some past years? How were the conditions? Was it, uh, was it a fast course?
• 29:49
  Um, we, the farther south we went on the course, the, uh, the more snow they got, so I mean, there was times we were pushing through three, four inches of fresh powder. Ooh, that sounds fun. Yeah, but it was warm.
• 30:01
  I mean, it started out at, uh, 20 degrees, so i- that made it pretty nice. Right on So how much time did you spend... Uh, go through the, the checkpoints.
• 30:11
  How much time did you spend at each checkpoint, and were there any game playing going on with people trying to, uh, trying to get out, in and out fast, or how did that go?
• 30:21
  Uh, the first checkpoint at mile 35, uh, we didn't even stop. We just, we checked in, gave them our number, and kept on a-trucking. Uh, mile 72 or so at Mill George's, I was in a cabin, so we went in and got some food.
• 30:34
  Good call. And actually they weren't ready for us. They, they had no idea we were gonna show up, and, uh,
• 30:39
  uh, five of us went in there together and, uh, actually JP was in there, and he, he kinda snuck out on us, and- [laughs]... you know, I seen him take off, so I wasn't ready, but I had to go, so I, I took off after him.
• 30:50
  Yeah, you can't get a guy like him ahead of you too far or you're gonna be chasing taillight the whole day, so yep, gotta do what's necessary. Exactly. I was worried about it and, uh- [laughs]...
• 31:00
  come to find out it, it happened, so Those are the little games that those veterans play. It's like, "Oh, just wait till the guy goes into the bathroom and then scoot." [laughs] I've, I've heard this before. Yeah.
• 31:12
  Really it's c- it's called catch them with their pants down. [laughs] So all right, man. Well, thanks for calling in. No problem. Yeah, Jordan, I, I really appreciate you calling in. You have...
• 31:23
  Uh, now are you engaged to this pretty girl I see, uh, on Facebook with you all the time? No, no, she's just, uh, a girlfriend. She's a girlfriend. You gotta be careful. I thought, "Jordan's got a pretty girlfriend.
• 31:35
  He's not gonna be fast anymore," but you proved me wrong, bro. [laughs] Yeah. So that's, that's, uh, why- It's motivation... I call you the baddest mother on fat bike. [laughs] All right. Hey, let's...
• 31:45
  You wanna take a- another call? Uh, Jordan, we're gonna take another call. All right. Thanks, man. See you, Jordan. Thanks. You're tuned to Fat Bike Radio. Welcome to the radio program. Who do we have on the line?
• 32:00
  Hey, this is Mike McColden, just got back from Minneapolis for the Frozen 40. Mike. Hey, Mike. Why didn't you stay up there for Frost Bike? It's, like, next weekend.
• 32:09
  [laughs] Yeah, the little humans in my house probably wouldn't miss me. Uh-huh. That's why. [laughs] Yeah, that's what...
• 32:14
  [laughs] Yeah, that's why I couldn't go to the Frozen 40 was because I go to Minneapolis this weekend, the kids get lonely and so does the wife. Yeah. So you raced the Frozen 40, right?
• 32:25
  I wouldn't call what I do racing, but I entered it and tried- I, I've raced with Mike before. Yeah. I've raced with you. You race. I know how you race. [laughs] Have you ever had apricot beer before, Mike?
• 32:38
  [laughs] It's just- I don't think that I- You couldn't really know if you have or you haven't. Yeah. Oh, you'd remember this. Oh, yeah, you would. This is not something- And I, and I, I am...
• 32:47
  I, I hate to say it, I'm gonna have to- another one because I don't wanna get good until this stuff is gone. [laughs] It's the nar, dude. Ah, some people might like this.
• 32:59
  I can sim- I- I'm, it may be a good example of the beer, but- I'm getting used to it. I'm getting used to it simply because I've had two of them. Right. Exactly. [laughs] So Mike, Mike is- [laughs]
• 33:08
  A lot of our listeners might know, but might not know, but Mike is one of our Bike Black Ribbon test pilots. And a heck of a photographer, too. Oh, yeah. He's got the good eye. Why, thank you. I try.
• 33:20
  And is a student of the ancient art of kung fu, right? Why, yes. All right. That is super badass. And you will see, I have a nice, uh, Fu Manchu mustache made out of ice- Oh, [laughs] right... from the Frozen 40.
• 33:37
  Actually- Dude, dude, it looked, it looked like you had- It, uh-... an ice dildo coming off your chin. [laughs] I saw those pictures. [laughs] So you are entering the ice beard contest, then, I assume?
• 33:49
  Yeah, the, the ice- I didn't know there was one, but I will have to. Oh, wow. Hey, guys, there's an ice beard contest going on. There's an ice beard contest.
• 33:54
  Just, uh, take a picture of your icy beard, email it to sven@fat-bike.com, and, uh, we'll probably come up with some pretty cool stuff. It's, like, Surly stuff and whatnot. Tell him we got rims and tires at least.
• 34:05
  Yeah, so... And, uh, you know, with- Oh, yeah... for the ladies out there- I think, uh- For the ladies out there, [laughs] you can strap one on. Exactly. Strap it on. As long as it has ice, though. Yeah.
• 34:15
  I know, uh, my buddy Ice, ice is the key to this contest. He's only got- For the ladies out there, we actually have a prize- He's got, uh, his, uh, his beard's growing a little sideways... this Rush to Glory. Oh, yeah.
• 34:23
  Yeah, uh, the next lady that calls in is going to win Rebecca Rusch's Rush to Glory book, custom signed with a snarky comment to the guys at fatbike.com. Exactly.
• 34:33
  [laughs] Well, but I asked her to make the snarky comment. Well, that was nice. Nice of her. Do I get my call back, my pocket bait? Nice her to, nice of her to let you dominate her like that. [laughs] No.
• 34:41
  Real women, no tucking. [laughs] No taping, no tucking. [laughs] No cross-dressing, no pre-op, no post-op transsexuals. We'll have a special contest for GLAMBA coming up here sometime this summer.
• 34:54
  I, I could just imagine the calls we're gonna get now.
• 34:57
  [laughs] [laughs] So Michael, back on your Minneapolis trip, did you ever hook up with our friends from Framed Bikes and get that Bluto strapped on your, uh, on your- ♪ Strap-ons ♪... Framed Alaskan that you're testing?
• 35:10
  ♪ Strap-ons ♪ I grabbed the, I grabbed the Bluto and the Maxxis tires, and I'm gonna... For, I wasn't sure what snow to expect, so I left them off the bike for that event. Uh-huh.
• 35:21
  And, uh, those are going on this week- Ah, man. Oh, it's great... to see how they're gonna, how they'll look on some green trails. [bell ringing] Beer stop. Beer stop. Beer stop right now.
• 35:32
  You should, uh, you should probably have a beer. Could I have a fluffer beer, Irene? Yeah. Hey, uh, hey, Mike, have you ever had an apricot beer? Did we already ask you this? We already asked him. [laughs] Oh, no, no.
• 35:41
  Have you had one since- I just keep-... we last asked you? [laughs] Well, I keep asking it every about five minutes just to make sure [laughs] that it gets asked.
• 35:46
  Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight? No, I think you had, I think you had mine. This is what it feels like. [laughs] Yeah. All right, man.
• 35:54
  Well, we do have another caller on the line, so we're gonna let you go, and we're gonna catch up with somebody who's having fun somewhere else. Yeah. Mike, thanks for calling in- All right...
• 36:01
  and we'll look forward to your report on the Bluto on the front of that Framed Alaskan aluminum that you're testing for us. Yeah. Anytime you have something interesting to talk about, uh, give us a shout.
• 36:12
  We're always on 8:00 to 9:00 Wednesday nights Central Time. I will do that. Call us. You don't have to wait for an engraved invitation like you got today, but- [laughs] Yeah, with money...
• 36:20
  you know, don't be surprised if, if we don't, uh, track you down otherwise. Now we have your number. I'm just gonna call you. No, just kidding. [laughs] All right. Thanks again. All right, guys.
• 36:32
  Have a good one All right, bye. [sings] We got another caller on the line. Hey. Who do we have talking to us now? I think that might be me. I'm Katie from, um, Grays Lake, Illinois. Hi, Katie. Katie. Hi.
• 36:47
  Guess what Katie just won as our female caller of the hour? Yeah. You just won an autographed copy of Rebecca Rush's Rush to Glory. Um- Ooh. She autographed it custom- Ooh... at Gomez's dominating request- [laughs]
• 37:02
  Ooh... to, uh, to poke fun at the guys at Fatbike.com. So it's an heirloom quality book. I think Rebecca Rush- Ooh, I'm gonna treasure it... could honestly kick my ass. [laughs] Uphill, especially.
• 37:12
  [laughs] Uh, any, any, any, any- Uphill, for sure... which way. In kung fu, in arm wrestling- That's awesome... I don't know about, I don't know about Indian leg wrestling. I'm awfully good at that. Staring contest.
• 37:23
  [laughs] [laughs] Or no, that's how I got signed. Swearing in foreign languages contest. Yeah, so do you- Everything... do you have a question for Gomez? Actually, I know why Katie's calling.
• 37:34
  [laughs] I know why Katie's calling. Yeah, he knows why I'm calling. Katie- I'm calling to tell you guys... Yeah. Katie, th- you went for your first- Go on... fat bike ride this weekend, right? I did.
• 37:47
  I went for my very, very first fat bike ride this weekend. That sounds very special. And I'm, I'm sold. Yeah, it was, it was huge.
• 37:55
  You know, once, once, once you go fat, you never go back, like they say, so- It was huge... I'm sold. It was so much fun. It was huge. [laughs] Didn't it remind you of- No, it was great. It was a great time...
• 38:05
  you know, horsey rides on Uncle Gomez's lap? [laughs] [laughs] Just kidding. It was. It was a lot like that, right. [laughs] Yes. About eight heads. Almost exactly like that, to an amazing degree. [laughs] Yeah.
• 38:20
  W- we, we would, we would put that kind of stuff on our site, but then that would explain everything to everybody, and then we'd have nothing else to say. So- That's true. We can't give away all the secrets. Right.
• 38:30
  So, uh, you were riding Norm's Taxi Driver, uh, 907, right? I was. I was, 'cause we're, we're like the same size. Yeah, got out there. It was a nice ride.
• 38:42
  It's 8:34 at Fatbike.com I, mean, I, I've never r- ridden a bike, so. [laughs] Hmm? That's just- Okay, do we just had to, we just had to- That's just fun being here...
• 38:49
  due to, due to FCC rules, we need to station identify every 20 minutes, so I just plastered it right over you. And we'll be here queuing you up all night. [laughs] Yeah, we're super pro here. Look at that Super pro.
• 39:01
  So what kind of fat bike do you think, uh, do you think you're gonna get for yourself? Um, I am not sure. I, you know, so that was the first time I was on that one.
• 39:10
  Um, I've looked at the, the Surly, like, the Pugsley, but I really, I'm, I'm just admiring them all now, so- There's 100-... there's a whole new world I have to look at...
• 39:19
  it's $150 off for fans of Surly Pugsleys right now. So if you, uh, go online to their- Ooh... site, you can get $150 certificate to take to your local, uh, Surly dealer.
• 39:30
  I, I don't know the exact rules and regulations, but I'm pretty sure you'll find them on the site. It's complete, yeah, complete bikes. Yeah, as long as it's a Surly complete bike. Yeah. It's a Surly complete. Okay.
• 39:36
  But, but it's a cool thing. And it doesn't actually even have to be a Pugsley. You could buy a Steamroller or what, you know- Ice Cream Truck Okay. Whatever you want. Yeah, for sure. Oh, yeah. O- okay. Okay.
• 39:44
  Stop me when I'm [laughs] messing with you. Yeah, it, it's gonna be a whole new world of shopping now, so we'll, we'll figure that out. Yeah, it comes out, it comes in purple too. Very exciting.
• 39:52
  And you don't have to keep it a single speed. Purple. Purple. Purple? Okay. There's nothing more badass than purple, ever. Purple, purple's pretty badass. Pink is pretty badass too, so- Um. Undecided there.
• 40:05
  [laughs] Very good. All right. So, yeah, it was fun. Thanks for calling in, Katie. I, I'm sold. Thank you. We'll talk to you soon. All right.
• 40:12
  Okay, Katie, we're gonna give you a call back a little later and get some information on how to get- Okay... this Rebecca Rush Road to Glory book to you. Yeah. Oh my God, I won. I forgot about that. Totally. Yeah.
• 40:21
  That was like the first thing that happened on the call. Yeah. [laughs] I know. I know. That's crazy. I just, yeah, welcome. All right. Well, then I'll look forward to hearing back from you. Okay. Thanks. Bye.
• 40:30
  See you, Katie. All right, take care, guys. Bye. Bye. [sings] We're pushing buttons and stuff should be happening. Welcome to the radio program. Hello. Who do I have on the line? This is Charlie Tree. Charlie.
• 40:44
  Charlie Tree. I saw your name earlier today somewhere. Is it Charlie T- Oh, you sent me a message... ah, that was Gomez, yeah. That was Gomez. That's what- We, we [laughs] you do say Tree, correct? Charlie Tree?
• 40:55
  I say Tree, yeah. Okay, very good, 'cause you know- But not the, the rest of the world seems to say Try, but, uh- There is no Try, there is only Tree... I say Tree. Tree. Yeah.
• 41:04
  It's a number that comes after two and before four. Couple of two, tree. Tree. I got it. We got it. What do you got, Charlie? Oh, just calling to call and say hi.
• 41:15
  Getting excited, uh, leaving in a week to go up to Alaska and race Iditarod. Yeah. Wowzers, yeah. I heard that we just were, uh, talking to Heather Best and the conditions up there seem like they're not the best.
• 41:28
  Oh, really? What was she saying? [laughs] You c- you can just regurgitate everything she said.
• 41:32
  [laughs] She was very, very non-committal about the conditions, except to say that some of the routes were a little different. Yeah.
• 41:40
  Well, that the bikes were actually gonna follow the traditional route- Oh, but the dogs are not... but the dogs were not. So the dogs will not be there. 'Cause they have that lack of snow- Yeah... basically up there.
• 41:47
  I was up, uh, I was up the- Oh, yeah... the week before last, and they have less snow than we have in Wisconsin. Yeah, last year, uh, there was a good 30-mile section that was all dirt, so- But you gotta keep rolling...
• 42:00
  it was, that was fun. It was like mountain biking.
• 42:01
  Well, Charlie, I w- I reached out to you today 'cause for one, we, we have never talked and we have never gotten to meet, and I kinda, like, left your sponsor, 907, off when I reported your, uh, your top five placing there in the Arrowhead 135.
• 42:18
  So I wanted to say sorry for that, and, uh, you know, 907 and Charlie Tree and Fatbike.com, we're like, we're like all in the, all on the same team, so we'd love to hear more from you, and, uh, that's, that's why we invited you to come on the show.
• 42:35
  Well, w- w- [laughs] all right, what do you want me to say? Did you just totally stroke him off, or what? Dude, I think- [laughs]... in, in January. [laughs] No, it'll be awesome to hear just, uh, your experiences.
• 42:45
  I, I got a, I got a h- I've got a healthy ego that always needs feeding, so it's always welcome.
• 42:51
  So- Well, dude, you know, it's just you're in the game and, uh, w- we like to cover the game, so it's, it's good to talk to you and, uh, I hope this isn't the last time. Speaking of covering the game- Yeah...
• 43:01
  didn't you cover the Fat Bike Nats? I did. What do you think about Fat Bike Nats, Charlie? Oh. I need- I'm not a big fan. [laughs] Not a big fan? It always starts with a sigh whenever somebody asks that question.
• 43:16
  [laughs] And that's all right. You know, if, if- That's fine... if- You know, racers, what- If, if they'd given any attention to fat biking before this, I'd, you know...
• 43:23
  You know, I'm, I'm not- I don't have a problem with them having a national championship.
• 43:27
  It's the fact that, you know, there's, as far as I know, there hasn't been a sanctioned USA Cycling fat bike race out there, then all of a sudden have a championship at... I don't know. Yeah. It doesn't seem right.
• 43:39
  No, I, I, I, I, I hear your sentiment 100%, you know, 'cause we were at the, the Fat Bike Birkie last year when the, they claimed the Fat Bike National thing, and it's happening again this year.
• 43:50
  And, uh, I think it's kind of like boxing. You can, there's different sanctioning bodies. You go to the one that appeals to the kind of racing or riding you wanna do.
• 43:57
  I think USA Cycling's a little more organized and competitive, uh, whereas while the Birkie- Oh, yeah...
• 44:03
  is competitive, the 98% of the people that are riding it are doing it as an adventure more than a competitive endeavor. Right.
• 44:13
  And, I mean, you look at the National Championship- 'Cause they don't give, they don't give away 63 Stars and Stripes jerseys. [laughs] Yeah.
• 44:17
  And there, there, there were a lot of Stars and Stripes jerseys given away at Fat Nats. And- I would... I'm gonna tell you this, this would've been the year, if you wanted to win a Stars and Stripes jersey- Right...
• 44:25
  this would've been the year to do it because- Yeah...
• 44:28
  either there's gonna be a lot more people or the alternatives And all, all you had to do was ride 12 miles as a, as a girl on a single speed fat bike, and boom, National Championship. There was nobody.
• 44:39
  I think that's still- Yeah... an accomplishment, for sure. And, and, oh, yeah. It should not be diminished by- Oh, yeah... stripping her of her Stars and Stripes jersey. [laughs] And you know what?
• 44:45
  Here's, here's the thing is, like, the market is going to decide whether this is a viable thing for USA Cycling, and the, the market will speak. The, the fat bike community- The market has spoken... will have a- 750-...
• 45:00
  say... participants at the Fat Bike Birkie. [laughs] [coughs] Right. All right. Well, we'll see if they do it next year. So what else, Charlie? What do you got?
• 45:07
  Yeah, and there's, like, there's what, what, 12 professional bikers that ac- actually showed up? But anyways. Yeah, there were, there were, there were 18- Um-... on the roster, but not all of them showed.
• 45:16
  Well, having your name on the roster is important for your sponsors. But it was pretty cool that Ned won, man. So- That was cool... yeah, it, uh, yeah, that's pretty cool. He's a cool guy.
• 45:26
  We saw him win last year at the Birkie. Oh, what else is new? It was great. Yeah, what else is new, Charlie? I did not. Oh, what else is new? I was, I was thinking, you, you, we were just talking to Heather Buess.
• 45:36
  I was actually thinking there should be some competition, uh, a couple competition, 'cause you got Jay Petervary going the long route to Iditarod this year. Oh. Oh, yeah. Oh, really? That's actually a great idea.
• 45:46
  I, I, I was told O- Oateley's doing the, the long route, and then you got Heather, Heather and Tracy doing the short route. Oh, king and queen- They've got to do it on some type of cookie... of the ITI. Yeah.
• 45:56
  It's like split tandem racing. [laughs] It's a tandem class- That, that, you know, all, all four-... but you're on separate bikes... yep, there you go. All four of them are, you know, super strong, and
• 46:06
  they can combine scores in some kind of overall GC category. Yep, that's a good idea, Charlie. Yeah, I like it.
• 46:12
  You should s- you should sanction that event and become a sanctioning body, and, uh, uh, sell that idea to USA Cycling. [laughs] I, I think that'd be perfect.
• 46:23
  Well, you- I wanna see a fat bike Birkie do what, uh, Moab did... you gotta retire somehow. You're gonna need a, you're gonna need a good nest egg to retire, so, uh, yeah.
• 46:29
  You know, speaking of the sanction, I wanna see fat, the Fat Bike Birkie do what, uh, Moab did when they had the 24-hour world championship there, and then there's a whole, uh, there's a competition as far as world...
• 46:39
  So they started calling themselves the Intergalactic Championship. Oh, yeah. Oh, the, the folks up at the- Like super galactic, bubble plastic, mm, ch, ch, ch, ch...
• 46:45
  the Talkeetna Trio already have called themselves the, uh, Intergalactic Championship. The, the, first the World Championship- Well, the Pug-... then the Intergalactic.
• 46:53
  Well, you know, the Pugsley Worlds have been going on for, like- That's true... eight years now, so there was already a world championship out there. I actually attended it twice. Yeah? I even rode in part of it once.
• 47:02
  [laughs] This is the way I look at it, is there's always room for Jello, man. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. You're more likely to get that at Pugsley Worlds than at any other Fat Bike World Championship out there.
• 47:12
  [laughs] Jello shots at, at Pugsley World Championships. But- You know, it's the same day as the Fat Bike Birkie this year, unfortunately. Yeah. So it's like, "Can I race over there? Can they do it on Sunday?"
• 47:21
  But, uh, no. But, you know, the, the, the market's gonna sort all that out. It's gonna be sorted out by who attends, and who will pay the entrance fee, and who's in it for the long run.
• 47:33
  And the people that are in it for the long run, I think, are the people that are, like, that's their l- lifestyle. It's still a bottom-up community. It's still- But when Volkswagen-... a grassroots...
• 47:43
  brings five people to cover the Fat- Oh, yeah... Bike Nationals with their quadcopter and everything- Right, Volkswagen hired a five-person film crew... they, one, five-person team to f- of, of, of- A producer...
• 47:54
  producers... a director- Yeah... a cameraman- Not biking producers... a second cameraman, and a, uh, drone pilot... drone pilot, which I think is, by the way, the job of the future. It used to be plastics. Drone pilot.
• 48:04
  Used to be plastics. Now it's drone pilot. Damn right. Charlie Tri- I got a, I got a little bit of a lead up on everybody... Charlie Tree, you should probably, uh, start flying drones.
• 48:13
  You know, what, those, uh, people from Volkswagen, instead of, uh, filming it, they should've raced it. A couple of them could've won the jerseys. [laughs] You're probably right. You're probably right, my man.
• 48:23
  They had a stack of medals up there. All right, man. Well, we're gonna get back to, uh, finishing our nonstop coverage from cover to cover.
• 48:32
  But, uh, give us a call anytime and let us know how it's going out there, how you're preparing, how a race went, anything at all. I'm sure our listeners would be very interested to hear. Yeah.
• 48:42
  It's really good to meet you, Charlie. Oh, good. And, uh, good luck up there on the, uh, Iditarod Trail. Yeah. Thank you very much. You guys have a good one. All right, take care, babe. Bye. We'll talk later. Bye.
• 48:53
  Take, take care, babe. [laughs] What the- So do we have anything else to talk about at Fat Bike Nats? I think we kind of mixed in a few things, but I saw... Well, besides Ned winning.
• 49:04
  Ned won, man, and he's almost 60, and he looked so good. I'm telling you, I, I may have revealed the secret though, 'cause nobody else was modifying their tires like his tires.
• 49:17
  His, his ground controls, the, the center knobs had to be an eighth of an inch tall, like, like two millimeters instead of four millimeters. Oof. Yeah, he did that last year at the Birkie too. Right.
• 49:29
  I, that's what I remembered- It, it doesn't hurt that-... from it and I kicked myself for a whole year. [laughs] I didn't get a picture of it, so that was my big mistake.
• 49:35
  It doesn't hurt that he trains a lot, and he just is, is an amazing physical specimen. Yeah. Absolutely. So who else did some meddling over there at the, uh, the, the Fat Bike Nats? Well, uh, Travis Brown took third.
• 49:50
  Right on. And Travis, Travis sometimes comes to Wisconsin and he was... He said, "Dude, when I come to Wisconsin, you and Sven gotta take me out for a beach ride," so- Beach ride... you know, stay tuned for that.
• 50:02
  We'll be, uh, we'll be doing a little beach riding with Travis Brown. We gotta do some beach investigating to see what we can actually still use. That's what we gotta do, 'cause I- Well, we gotta probably-...
• 50:11
  haven't been on the beach in two weeks. [laughs]... get Travis to carry maybe a case of beer and, uh- Gotta handicap him somehow. Yeah.
• 50:17
  We gotta, we gotta do something to his bike and maybe fill his inner tubes with water. Give him, like, a gallon of sealant in his, uh, tubeless tubes. Something. Tubeless tubes.
• 50:29
  Did we already, we already talked about both beard contests, right? We didn't leave out anything except that we still don't have a real big, uh- Don't we? I don't know. How do you say it?
• 50:38
  Uh, we don't have a big plan yet, 'cause I'm doing it. I plan, like, you know, when it comes to me. So by March 31st, send your picture of your beard with ice to sven@fat-bike.com.
• 50:49
  And don't worry, Gomez is, uh, back in this contest of, with prizes. I actually have prizes sitting in the bed of my hot rod pickup truck- Hot rod... waiting for you.
• 51:00
  We should take some pictures with that, with the fat bikes next year. Yeah. Yeah. I think we should- I like taking pictures of cars.
• 51:06
  They're super hard to shoot a car well, so I'd like to just practice on somebody's car that I'm, isn't gonna go somewhere where somebody else might see it, so yeah. [laughs] We should do that. What else we got?
• 51:17
  We got links? We got some links this week. JK's got something here about, uh, testing out some fun. Are you gonna have fun? Am I testing out some fun? Testing out some fun ways in Milwaukee. Testing.
• 51:30
  [laughs] That's what you're gonna do. [laughs] You're gonna take your beard out and you're going to test out the ice beard theory. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's- 'Cause it's gonna be, like, eight below, right?
• 51:37
  Yeah, for the next, like, 48 hours pretty much. Yeah. And I've- We're gonna be driving in a car up to Minneapolis, [laughs] so, uh- You sons of bitches. [laughs]... there, is there...
• 51:45
  Hey, is there, is there biking in our future tomorrow or it's Friday? Uh, we should definitely bring a bike. Oh, I'm bringing a bike. I just don't know when we're riding and where yet.
• 51:53
  Well, no, if you're gonna be driving- Friday-... all you have to do is be- Friday during the day for sure somewhere... drinking- And-... whatever beverage, and then roll the window down, stick your head out. Oh.
• 52:03
  [laughs] The, all right. Snap. The point of the ice beard contest- Instagram... is to- Hashtag... actually do it on a fat bike. [laughs] It is not [laughs] sticking your head out the window of a car, man.
• 52:15
  Yes, but- Come on, man. There's... Okay, do I have to actually make rules for this thing? I thought it was just gonna be fun, but- No, I'm... Yes So I think, so I think Thursday- All right.
• 52:20
  So there are no rules as long as there's ice on a beard.
• 52:23
  I don't care if you stick your head out the window or dangle from an airplane 'cause you fell out of the landing gear when you're, you know, smuggling yourself into the country. Get a ice beard picture,
• 52:33
  send it to fatbike.com and we'll- [laughs]... enter you in the contest. Well, I was just saying as an example, 'cause that's what I'm gonna be doing. [laughs] [laughs] You're taking it so damn literal.
• 52:41
  F- falling out of an airplane? Whoa. Yeah, buddy. [laughs] You know, people do fall out of the landing gear of airplanes every once in a while. Every once in a while. You know what doesn't fall out of there? Fat bikes.
• 52:52
  They've- No... you never hear of a fat bike falling out of an airplane. I don't know. Last week, a MacBook Air fell out of an airplane 1,000 feet in the air and landed on the ground and still worked. It was- I'm sure...
• 53:02
  smashed up some, but it worked. It was- Wow... it was in the news, folks. It's, uh- It's in the news... if I saw it on the internet, so it gotta be true. It had to be alive. [laughs] So can we do links now?
• 53:17
  Now we got the links. Da, da, da, da, da, da. Das linkages. Um, there's a thing on here about Hayward, Wis- Wisconsin looking at allowing fat bikes on groomed trails.
• 53:27
  That's actually pretty interesting, 'cause they already let them on trails. [laughs] They got 34- Yeah... miles of trails.
• 53:32
  They got a, like a 10-mile loop and then an 11-mile out and back or 12-mile out and back or something.
• 53:37
  It all adds up to 34 miles, and that's going right out of, uh, the Sawmill Saloon area there in Seeley, where they're gonna have the CAMBA fatbike.com Fat Bike Birkie after party with some level of prizes and things and raffling stuff off.
• 53:53
  And even if it's just salt from the bottom of my shoe, I swear to God we're gonna have some prizes up in there. Hallelujah.
• 54:00
  [laughs] If you're at the Fat Bike Birkie, make sure you go to the fatbike.com CAMBA after party event at Seeley Sawmill Saloon. You know what?
• 54:10
  They, they took 10 bucks off my rooms [laughs] 'cause I said, "You know, I'm gonna stay by you and we're doing that party." 'Cause they're nice people. Nice. 10 bucks.
• 54:18
  [laughs] Shit, I'm gonna go buy myself a 12-pack of Coors Light. [laughs] Hey, I- Hey, how'd, how'd you know that was my favorite beer? You know what?
• 54:27
  Craigslist, this Craigslist [laughs] link I have in here, it's a guy that is, wants to trade a, you know, a full-size cougar taxidermy on a boulder- Oh, yes...
• 54:39
  for, for either a fat bike- Not, not like a Mercury Cougar, but an actual- Or-... alive cougar... or, or like his, his- Formerly alive... his horny wife that likes to have sex with younger men. Wife?
• 54:48
  That would, that would be, uh, 66 for me now. [laughs] The rock base is detachable, I'm reading. Exactly.
• 54:54
  [laughs] So he would like to trade, trade this, this giant pussy, giant stuffed pussy, for either a fat bike or a 1911. And for the folks, it's not just a year, it's also a, uh, Colt hand...
• 55:07
  You know, it's a semi-automatic, uh,.45 caliber handgun. We talked about global warming, we might as well talk about handguns. So there you go You know, this is what happens when you folks don't call in.
• 55:20
  [laughs] We're left to our own devices. It'd be way better if we just took calls and let o- other people run the show. [laughs] Here we have a link, we have a link in our links that contradicts our- A link in our links.
• 55:32
  [laughs] A link in our links, that contradicts our guest, that talks about the start of the Fairbanks, uh, start of the Iditarod moving to Fairbanks, but it's kinda split. Yeah.
• 55:40
  It's like the dogs are moving to Fairbanks. The dogs are moving. And- Make those dogs go somewhere else Do you think dogs are, dog sleds are a bigger story than, uh, fat bikes now?
• 55:48
  Well, it's been going on longer, and it's more traditional by far, so, you know, I think there's been an interest in the Iditarod for a long time as a sled dog race.
• 55:57
  The interloper fat bikers just came and had fun instead, instead of making it look like a lot of work with dogs. Yeah. There's, th- they fly now. Hate mail can be sent to- [laughs] To then Sven@fat-bike.com.
• 56:11
  I'd like to dedicate this show to my wife's dog, Bodhisattva. He passed away, uh, last week. Oh, no. Sorry. He was, he was named after the, uh, Tibetan Buddhist god of enlightenment- Bodhisattva...
• 56:26
  and tranquility, the Bodhisattva. Bodhisattva. And I, I learned a lot from that dog, man. [sings] I, I loved that dog, and so this is to you, Buddy. Losing a dog's tough, man. I feel for you. Man, yeah.
• 56:39
  Ripped my heart out, dude. I always thought the- So-... the Bodhi was, uh, a Point Break reference. Oh, wow. But he had seen a Bodhi. [laughs] It is. That, that- Just had to bring it [laughs]...
• 56:49
  that, that character- That's actually where it needs to go... that character was named after the Tibetan god of- So A squared equals B squared equals C And, and also, and also Gomez's dog. Exactly. Ergo,
• 57:00
  Patrick Swayze is Gomez's dog. [laughs] Patrick Swayze is my spirit animal. Patrick Swayze. With the spirit world.
• 57:12
  [laughs] So our next big field trip, Sven, is to Scotland to visit Bruce. Oh, he's checking in with a lot of, a lot of stuff this year. [laughs] This week, this month, he's got, like, four out this week.
• 57:26
  The one that caught my eye was just the, the DIY fat bike wash stand.
• 57:29
  I, it's, the design basic idea has been out there before with PVC tubes, but refresher that everybody needs a wash stand, especially if they have a fat bike. They're not the cleanest animals in the stable.
• 57:40
  [laughs] And especially if you ride with salt water, man, you gotta get that salt off your- Oh, God, it's been... Well, I've been salting the heck out of my front walk, and even that, you know?
• 57:49
  You know what I'm riding in Scotland? Scotland. I'm riding a Boo-lossal. That's right, bamboo and f- carbon fiber. Carbon fiber. Carbon fiber. [laughs] Carbon fiber. I see another contest coming.
• 58:03
  It is who gets a cooler fat bike in Scotland, Gomez or Sven? Oh. And I think the companies ought to just- Yeah... this is a throw down, man. Dude, well, I already got, I've, I have locked in.
• 58:12
  I, I guarantee to w- ride mine at least on the beach and at least to a bar. [laughs] If nothing more than that, that's what I will do. I can guarantee you those things.
• 58:20
  I think, I think that Bruce will run us through the ringer. He'd be like, "Oh." Well, he sure rides a lot more than I do lately. [laughs] I mean, what, being s- Gomez, you girly piece of turf. Anyway.
• 58:33
  [laughs] Just, yeah, just- Oh, for crying out loud. Yeah. Can you believe we killed a whole hour here? I can believe it. And we, yeah, we killed a whole hour.
• 58:43
  Yeah, last weekend, went to Madison to see Local H from Zion, Illinois, which I was having- Zion... total realizations when we went down about a month ago. And huffed asbestos on the beach. And I was... [laughs] Yeah.
• 58:57
  Yeah. I was like, I'm like- How sweet... "That's Princess Corner. That's Local H. Hee, hee, hee, hee." [laughs] So I, I- [laughs] Nah. Yeah. And Zeno just went, like, "Dude, you're still talking about that?" Bob.
• 59:07
  [laughs] I apologize, let him come. Um, but I was out, uh, in Madison this past weekend. Mm-hmm.
• 59:13
  And this guy at the bar just goes, "Well, they're gonna be riding these fat bikes around the state capital tomorrow for Winterfest." And I'm like, "I don't know about this." Dirt derby up the capital.
• 59:24
  They have, like, a, a cyclocross scene that they run out there. Yeah. Well, it was, uh, uh, cross-country skiing- Mm-hmm... and they had those, uh, grooves. Yep, classic style. Yeah. Boom, boom, and all around the, uh,
• 59:37
  all around the state capital of Wisconsin, by the way. Wis- Um- [laughs] Wisconsin. Say it with me. And, uh, like, later in the night, it started at 8:00, and I was getting the hell out of dodge, and, and
• 59:50
  I was gonna stick around, but [laughs] it was really interesting, 'cause they, they took, like, it's two lanes of traffic.
• 59:56
  They took one of those lanes, dropped a whole shitload of snow all the way around, gridded it down. Probably came from Scott Walker's office. [laughs] Boom, boom, boom, boom. I was impressed, 'cause I was right there
• 1:00:08
  12 hours earlier, and there was nothing going on. God makes it snow at the state capital of Wisconsin, because- Only in one lane... he's been called down by the man in power. Did, uh- Yes. [laughs]...
• 1:00:17
  did the standard rules of, uh, freestyle beard growing, uh, apply in that? Well, what was interesting is when I s- Well, w-... I looked at it, and I, I couldn't figure this out.
• 1:00:27
  And all of a sudden it was, it, it's listed as the US Fat Bike Criterion National Championships. Was it sponsored by USA Cycling? You know, I mean, how, I mean, how many... I, I, I- Uh-huh...
• 1:00:37
  can't believe, like, that many words just would, like, escape my radar, your radar, anyone's radar. Right, right. So I don't know if they were just, had to make something up. I think- [laughs] Or something like that.
• 1:00:48
  Like, boop, where, va-va-voom. Madison's like a- Let's just, let's just, like, throw a- Madison's like an alternate dimension... a shitload of words. [laughs] Another time and dimension, the Twilight Zone.
• 1:00:56
  They're, they're out there. You know what you made me think about, though, is one of these links, is there is a US Beach Racing Championship. Yes, it, and I was trying to figure out how to get down there.
• 1:01:06
  US Open Beach Fat Bike Championships. Yeah. Each, y- I dropped the ball. I was gonna write a story about it. I got it started. You jump in your car. It's awesome. You gotta see the place where they're gonna do it.
• 1:01:15
  I talked to, uh, I think his name is Stewart, pretty sure It's right at Wright's Beach, man. Yeah Right where they, right where they invented flight No, this is a- well, it's called Wright's Beach, but it's actually...
• 1:01:24
  I asked him about that- Yeah... 'cause they're like, "Can I go to the memorial, too?" He goes, "Oh, hey, John," or whatever the guy's name was, "How far is it up to Wright Memorial?"
• 1:01:30
  He goes, "I don't know, about four hours or something." [laughs] Oh, really? It's, like, on another one of the curvy zoom parts of it. Cool But it's on the Outer Banks.
• 1:01:38
  He's got a plan to do, like, an all Outer Banks tour with- Oh, yeah... with, with a couple of ferries- He can totally be done... to jump between them and stuff. Yep I'm, dude, I mean, on- Packraft...
• 1:01:48
  as long as it's after June 16th or something. Packraft Or packraft. You could do, you could do everything Maybe, with ocean freighters coming by and aircraft carriers and ponies, wild ponies. [laughs] Wild ponies.
• 1:02:00
  [laughs] Aha. Wild horses- Wild... yeah... couldn't drag me away. Can you believe we killed another hour at, or more here on the radio program? You know what this show needs?
• 1:02:09
  Do, do we have anybody to thank for this freaking show? Thanks again to Surly for sponsoring the radio portion of today's broadcast. You ain't got no time for no jibber-jabber.
• 1:02:19
  I pity the fool that don't save with a Surly Superfan coupon. 150 bucks. 150 bucks off any Surly complete bike from your local Surly slinger, sucka. Use it before April Fools' Day, April 4th, you crazy fools.
• 1:02:34
  April 1st, fool. [laughs] What else? I pity the fool don't know when April Fools' Day is. [laughs] You hear that, amigos? Surlybikes.com Treat your mama well. Shit right. That's your bike calling you.
• 1:02:46
  You've been listening to Fat Bike Radio's weekly dose of fat. Find us on the web at fat-bike.com/radio. We'll see you next time.
• 1:02:59
  [upbeat music]