Latest / Full Spectrum Cycling / Full Spectrum Cycling #43 – Russell Jobs from DreamBikes – JK Calls In from Spain

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Full Spectrum Cycling #43 – Russell Jobs from DreamBikes – JK Calls In from Spain · Full Spectrum Cycling

• 0:00
  [upbeat music] Hey, Tony, quit touching myself. That wasn't out of question.
• 0:14
  [laughs] Hey, welcome everybody to Full Spectrum Cycling Goodness. This is show number 43, I think. Wow. And welcome to show 43. Holy cromackerel.
• 0:25
  Uh, JK is somewhere across the big pond, so we have a special guest in the, in the store studio today. He's special, all right. Yeah. [laughs] Mr. Russell Jones. Hello, sir. Hello. And of course, Tony Burton- Hello...
• 0:41
  sitting across the table, staring at the SingleSpeed USA clean canteen, beautiful pint mug there. Haven't had enough beers to speak my mind yet, but I'm- [laughs]... working on it.
• 0:55
  [laughs] So actually, we wanted to have Russell on the show for a long time, and even back into the Weekly Dose days, I was kind of going through the archives and thought, uh, that we'd at least on one show, I was gonna sort of do the way back machine thing, but turns out you really haven't been on a show yet.
• 1:10
  Well, I'm so pretty, I usually go right to video, you know. Yes. [laughs] You're really not getting the whole picture here. Jesus Christ, I'm pretty sick.
• 1:16
  [laughs] Well, you got the voice for radio and the face for radio, too. That's what my mama always said. [laughs] Cool. This is an exciting show. I'm, I'm fired up to have Russell on the show.
• 1:27
  Fired up to have Russell on the show.
• 1:28
  There's, I mean, we could probably have Russell on every show for a year and not talk about the same thing twice if we went back in time and talked about everything Russell's done in cycling, but, uh,
• 1:38
  I don't know, probably- It goes, it goes way back actually.
• 1:41
  Uh, I was talking to a few of my, uh, staff at the shop and, uh, one of them asked, um, you know, so Tony, I've been working in the bike shop for, like, 10 years
• 1:53
  and pointed out that, uh, at the end of the year, it's actually, uh, wrapping up year 32 for me in the bike industry. Holy mackerel. Speaking of shop, Russell, could you give us a little bit about it? Sure.
• 2:03
  I'm, uh, currently the general manager for Dream Bikes Milwaukee. So, uh, those who don't know what Dream Bikes is, we are
• 2:10
  a, uh, chain of nonprofit bike shops, and we have shops, uh, two in Madison, the one in Milwaukee, Rochester, New York, and Knoxville, Tennessee, and we are currently have feelers out, um, in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia as well.
• 2:27
  Nice. And so how we, uh, function is we collect donations from any source we can get of anything bicycle related, as we always tell, uh, potential donors.
• 2:39
  Take anything and everything bicycle related, bikes, parts, accessories, clothing, parts of bikes, um, even artwork. We've, uh, occasionally get posters. Uh- Nice...
• 2:52
  even we've had some, uh, one-off artworks, uh, donate to the shop. Um, unfortunately, I don't have room to display all of them, but I do have a decent collection of some posters sit in my office, all framed.
• 3:04
  If, uh, if one wanted to go to this bike shop, where would it be located here in Milwaukee? We are, we are located just north of downtown on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Drive, 2021 A.
• 3:15
  Uh, except I believe currently there's no A on the, uh, on the, uh, door. Can't really miss the sign. It says Dream Bikes on there. Dream Bikes, nice sign. Right across you from Crown Hardware.
• 3:25
  Directly across from Crown Hardware, and right next to, uh, Five Brothers Restaurant and Supply. Right. So we are the new kids on the block. Yeah.
• 3:32
  Uh, we've been there be, uh, actually, uh, April 1st will be our 10-year anniversary- Very nice... in Milwaukee, so. I noticed, uh, when I go into the shop that it's not like the typical, um, collective style bike shop.
• 3:44
  No, we, uh- Like, it looks more like a legit bike shop when you walk through the door. Yeah. That's, that's kind of the idea. Continue, Russell. [laughs] Yeah. We, uh,
• 3:53
  we, we try to keep it, uh, uh, functioning as a regular bike shop. Uh, there's two main exceptions, is almost everything in the store is donated.
• 4:01
  There are certain things we do have to purchase, locks, lights, uh, a few parts and accessories, that stuff. But, uh, 95 to 98% of our inventory itself is donated to us.
• 4:14
  Uh, so you might find a used or a new bike in there. It does happen from time to time, uh, but, uh, generally it's all used bikes.
• 4:22
  And then the other big difference is, um, our, our, our mission really is providing jobs and life training skills to Milwaukee's underserved youth.
• 4:33
  Uh, so we're very fortunate that in Milwaukee we've teamed up with Boys & Girls Club. Uh, Milwaukee has the largest Boys and Girls Club association in the country. That's a fun fact. I didn't know that. Yeah. Yeah.
• 4:43
  I was a Boys Club kid back in the old days at the Franklin Place Boys Club there. Yeah. I know. There's one at ours in Oshkosh. Yeah, big one.
• 4:49
  So, uh, so we got a program running, uh, in conjunction with the, uh, Boys & Girls Club, Bubbler Bikes, and, uh, added last year was MATC.
• 4:59
  And so what the program is, is, uh, kids who are already members of the Boys and Girls Club, they can apply.
• 5:04
  They have to be at least 14 years of age for this part, and they spend eight weeks at the Mary Ryan Boys & Girls Club in Sherman Park, which has a, uh, a small bike shop in it. Nice. Uh, they get tools, uh, stands.
• 5:18
  They have a bunch of parts. Uh, we donate them bikes stuff if they need it as well. And the kids spend eight hours a week for eight weeks, and they learn the basics of bike repair.
• 5:27
  And most of them really are, they pick a bike that's given to them, and then they learn to tear it down and rebuild it. Beautiful. So- So they take care of their own rig and they own that rig.
• 5:36
  They take care of their own rig. Right on. Um, and that way it's, uh, front to back whole, whole bike. And then they come to us when their eight weeks is up.
• 5:44
  Um, we get them, usually a group of six, anywhere from three to six kids we get out of the program at a time. And when they come by us, they, uh, they've already, you know, know some basics on bike work. Nice.
• 5:56
  And when they're by us, uh, they assist us in any way we need in running shop Um, sometimes they may get, you know, get to help a customer, but a lot of times what they'll end up doing is, uh, refurbishing bikes for our inventory.
• 6:10
  That's a lot of what they do.
• 6:11
  But they also, you know, every once in a while, one of them will surprise when I say, "Well, we need you to take out the garbage," or, you know, bathroom needs a swept, mopped, um, but- You'll, you'll find, you'll find me in the shop doing that, uh-
• 6:22
  Yeah... yeah, once in a while. It's just like a shop owner, you know? Yeah. It's, uh, you know, I've had a little pushback from time to time.
• 6:27
  I just say, "Hey, it's anything that's involved in running a bike shop-" You gotta do it... you're involved in it. Gotta wear all the hats, yep.
• 6:32
  And nobody's gonna ask you to do anything that we all haven't done ourselves. Or wouldn't do again. Yeah. So, uh, so they're by us eight hours a week for eight weeks, and, um, while they're by us, they're paid. Nice.
• 6:45
  A regular, regular paycheck, uh, every two weeks, same as my, my other staff. And when they finish up their eight weeks by us, they go on to Bubler Bike.
• 6:55
  And at Bubler, they assist them, once again, anything they need to be done at Bubler. Uh, and now- Boy, the way people treat those bikes sometimes, I, I think they probably need fairly regular repair- Yeah...
• 7:06
  [laughs] and refurbishing. The proverbial rented mule. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Ride it like you stole it or rented it. Yeah. So, uh, so they finish up their eight weeks at Bubler, once again, a paid position.
• 7:16
  Um, and then when they're done there, selected individuals have now been going to MATC, and there's an automotive program. Uh, and they'll learn, uh, some basics in body work, um, just some very basic auto stuff.
• 7:30
  Basic understanding. Yeah, and, uh, that one's sponsored by Peak Automotive. Um, that's how they're giving b- helping give back to the community.
• 7:38
  They're, they're sponsoring that part of it, so we'll have everyone, once again, they're paid.
• 7:42
  And, uh, some kids out of there, um, the, uh, Automotive Dealers of Greater Milwaukee have also agreed to employ any of the kids- That's Adam... who complete the whole program. Adam.
• 7:53
  And so kids get a chance if they c- complete the program, and if they are 18 years or old- age and out of high school, which a few of them are, they can actually, uh, pick up a job as a dealer.
• 8:03
  Usually it's a lot attendant, and can work their way up from there. Hey, ladies and gentlemen, we got a caller. What? Awesome. Should we interrupt Ru- Russell's story for a, a brief respite? Should be good.
• 8:14
  [laughs] Hey, welcome to the show caller. Who do we have on the line? Uh, hi, this is JK. [laughs] From, from where are you calling?
• 8:31
  I'm calling from Seville or Seville, España. España? It's going halfway around the world, so we got the delay thing going. What are you doing?
• 8:49
  [laughs] Hold on a second. Here, there we go. I was trying to do it, I was trying to do it with the cool Boom Bot, and it, it wasn't working out well. Well, this is working a lot better. Yeah, no doubt.
• 9:01
  [laughs] The cool Boom Bot doesn't work in Estonia. Yeah. We need, we need to hear JK. We don't wanna hear Kim. Yeah, exactly. That's why I turned the Boom Bot off.
• 9:14
  [laughs] So because of the delay, JK, just give us a quick, uh, rundown on what you're doing so we don't have to interrupt you. Uh, well, we, uh, got in here late, and, uh, almost lost our Airbnb,
• 9:32
  and then we ran into a, a Dunkin' Donuts that walked us where we're going, and ended up figuring out, and ended up taking Rumor and getting him drunk and [laughs]
• 9:46
  had a couple shots and all is well. [laughs] Good times. Good times. Good times all around. Cool. And he is actually flat.
• 9:58
  I was trying to go biking and, and when we were in Lisbon on the [static] fricking idiot. [laughs] Like straight up. [laughs] Cool, well we're- And as well as tangent Morocco...
• 10:14
  we're g- probably gonna have to catch up with you when you get back, 'cause we're not, we don't have that good a connection, JK. It's kinda like, uh, hard to- I under- I understand. Yeah. Just wanted to give a check-in.
• 10:25
  All right. Yeah. I'm just glad. Thank you. Don't have a place yet. We'll talk to you next week. All right. Keep it light, guys. Keep it light. Hail buddy. Wait, I didn't say hello. Hello, it's me. [laughs] Remember me?
• 10:42
  Kimberly. You're a little clearer than JK. Oh, there she goes. [laughs] Oh, boy. Me from Seville. All right. Keep it like that. And, and bye-bye. [laughs] Wow.
• 10:57
  Well, I guess, uh, around the world technology isn't that great when your Wi-Fi calls Yeah. Who knows what kinda... They, they might have two cans strung up between buildings or something. Yeah, right.
• 11:06
  Well, that was JK, folks, so at least he made the show this week even though he's, uh- From what, 1, uh, 1:00 AM in, uh, Estonia? Yeah. I, I don't know. I couldn't really tell where they were.
• 11:15
  I heard Seville and then Estonia, and I thought they were in, uh, Portugal somewhere. That was his initial stop was Portugal. Yeah, I know. He said he was gonna travel. Spain's right next door. Yeah. And it's time. Yeah.
• 11:25
  Yeah, maybe they're in Seville. I don't know. But hey, thanks for calling, JK. Terrorizing the Iberian Peninsula. You're all right. I don't care what we were just thinking about you.
• 11:33
  You could hit indoor and get all three. So we were, uh, we were hearing Russell talk about Dream Bikes and its mission, and got through a pretty good chunk of it. Um,
• 11:43
  it's definite- So, uh, the kids, uh, we were talking about some of them entering the automotive trades. Uh, have some of the other kids ended up actually placed in bike shops? Uh, yeah. Yes.
• 11:52
  Actually, um, with the exception of, uh, two adult employees I have by me, all my employees for the last seven years have come through that program. Um, and it's really nice as we get to, uh...
• 12:05
  You get to spend eight weeks working with a teen, so you'll have a good idea if it's gonna be a, a good mix A good match for your, for our team and stuff like that.
• 12:13
  So we'll get some good experience, um, with the teens, and so we'll hire who we can out from... We can't hire everybody we want out of there. And a few kids have gone on to work at other shops.
• 12:24
  Uh, kids have worked-- gone to work at Ben's. We've had kids, uh, go to Wheel & Sprocket, um,
• 12:32
  right over here at Fixation, and as well as, uh, Devin by me, uh, actually he went to Eric's for a while when he was a sales manager for a, a stretch. Yeah. Wow. He's now, uh, now selling ice cream. Oh.
• 12:44
  Out of a cart on Purple Door Ice Creams. Oh. And, uh- I know, right up the street. I know. Right across the street. So I get ice cream in the summer, but what I don't get is how these places stay going in the winter.
• 12:54
  It's busy when I walk by the place in the winter. Okay. Okay, maybe you're going in the winter. Thanks to my shop. What about, what about the cookie guys?
• 13:01
  The guys that make the, you know, late night chocolate chip cookies. Insomnia Cookies? How's that guy staying in business? 'Cause he's charging $40 for a fucking dozen cookies.
• 13:09
  Oh, I thought it was a front for a drug dealer or something. Oh, no, I... Unfortunately, UWM cows any other- I'm not saying your bike shop wouldn't be a good way to launder money, but- You know... but it would.
• 13:19
  That's probably been done. [laughs] It may have been. You know? May have been done in this city for all I know. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 13:26
  Um, so, um, Dream Bikes, um, is, it is a communi- It's, it's like a community training for some of these kids, um- Right... and if you're in the area, it's a good place to stop by.
• 13:40
  If you need a good bike shop quality bike, they really don't do a whole lot for, if anything, with department store bikes. Um, we do-- We get quite a few, uh, department store bikes donated to us. Okay.
• 13:52
  And, uh, we were challenged by our board of directors, I think it's four years ago now, to give, uh, give away 100 bikes a year to those in need.
• 14:02
  And since we were getting so many department store bikes, um, that really don't have a great resale value, um, you can't put, you know, $75 parts and labor into a bike and then sell it for $50.
• 14:14
  It's not a good business practice even if you are a nonprofit. Uh, so we always had a good supply of bikes, so we always thought in Milwaukee it's like, well, how can we find uses for these? And so
• 14:28
  we've hooked up with a few organizations and let them know, uh, a few of them, Salvation Army, um, a lot of, lot of religious groups. Uh, anybody who really works almost in that, uh, social worker role.
• 14:43
  If they got somebody, client, customer, even acquaintance who is, uh, struggling in life and a bike would, uh, would help them, either transportation, um,
• 14:56
  exercise, what would be it, uh, we'll see if we can, uh, match them up with a, with a bike. And that's where a lot of our department store bikes go. Great. Is they get passed on to other members of the community.
• 15:07
  Uh, it's really, uh, nice when we get somebody who, uh, you know, uh, a bike makes a difference in them. You know, they're used to, you know, either walking everywhere or taking the bus.
• 15:17
  Uh, if you're on a very limited income, bus is not cheap. No. You know? No. So it adds up for them. So, uh, a bike allows them the freedom, um, to go where they want.
• 15:26
  And we've been fortunate that, uh, another one of, uh, great Milwaukee companies, Master Tool Lock, Master, uh, Master Lock. Sorry. Milwaukee Tool, Master Lock. I don't know whatever. Whatever. Master Tool. Yeah.
• 15:38
  So Master Lock, uh, uh, passes along some basic, basic bike locks to us. And so we learned early on if you give somebody who's either homeless or living in a group home, um,
• 15:53
  a bike and no way to secure it, um, they may not have that bike for very long. So a lot of times we're able to give somebody a bike as well as a lock so they can, uh, uh, keep that bike as their own for a while.
• 16:06
  So, um, and I'm happy to say that between that and then, uh, giving away various kids bikes for different programs, uh, last year alone in Milwaukee, we, uh, gave away slightly under 700 bikes. Nice.
• 16:20
  So- Our challenge from the board of directors is 100 a year and, uh- Overachiever. [laughs] It's, uh, uh... And actually we have to, uh, we have to suspend giving bikes away usually in, uh, June, July and August.
• 16:35
  We are so busy at that time of year just trying to keep up with our repairs and our refurbishing of bikes for sale.
• 16:41
  Um, we could, um, you know, we could spend 10 to 20 hours a week in the shop just getting bikes ready for donation. Fortunately, we have to, you know, turn people away at that time of year but, um,
• 16:57
  you know, even being a nonprofit, we still need to put money in the register to- Keep the lights on... uh, keep our-- Yeah, keep the lights on and keep the teens working.
• 17:04
  Uh, they, it's very important for these teens to get that paycheck.
• 17:08
  Um, it brings back to the original question, how do we differ, you know, really from like, uh, your basic bicycle co-op or a lot of your other nonprofit bike shops around the country?
• 17:18
  Uh, we function more as a regular retail business, and the nonprofit of it comes from supplying jobs to the disadvantaged teens.
• 17:29
  Uh, so many of these teens, um, you know, give, give them the chance of, you know, "Hey, here's your employment while you're in high school. Do you want to flip burgers or would you rather work in a bike shop?"
• 17:40
  Um- It's a pretty clear option for me. Yeah. Yeah. Very clear option. Um, make them work in the bike shop. They're not just a number. They're just not somebody there to fill that shift. Uh, they're, they are individuals.
• 17:50
  Um, and we also have scholarship program. Um, I also work with kids, work around their school schedule. Uh,
• 17:58
  you know, if they wanna a-add extracurricular activities, intramurals, whatever, I encourage them, uh, simply because I tell them, uh, you, uh, you have the rest of your life to work.
• 18:09
  While you're a teenager, make sure you partake in, uh, other activities outside of work and, you know, strict classes.
• 18:16
  I tell you, every time, you know, I'm I rode a bike today with some Green Bike part-time that I went in and shopped. I love to just go there and walk around. The bikes are always different.
• 18:24
  Sometimes there's some really cool stuff. Sometimes you gotta see Russell. [laughs] Yeah, it's, uh, the, uh... I always tell people, uh, you never know what's gonna be there.
• 18:33
  Um, if I'm off for a day or two and I come back, it's interesting to see what has come in as a donation. Uh, we get everything from bikes that are really don't even roll anymore.
• 18:44
  Um, we recycle as many of those as we can. Uh, we take off whatever parts we can. Some of those are my bike bins at home. Yeah. And, uh, we use some of that.
• 18:53
  Uh, but we'll get everything from, uh, we've had people donate bikes to us that we've turned around and been able to sell for easily $1,000 or more. Yeah.
• 19:01
  Um, so- So- But most, most of the bikes, most of the adult bikes are in that, uh, 200 to $250, uh, price range. And, uh, it's just not a bike we wipe down. Uh- Oh, no...
• 19:11
  most cases we replaced all the cables, we replaced the housing. Drive train comes off, goes through the parts washer, it's reinstalled. Uh- That's great... we replace wear items as necessary.
• 19:20
  Uh, brake pads, saddle, grips, handlebar tape as necessary. So we do as much as we can to make this a bike that when you purchase it, uh, should remain trouble-free for you for, you know, good year's worth of use. Nice.
• 19:34
  So ty- typically the bikes that are i- on the floor are bike store quality bikes? Yes. Yeah, for the most part. For the most part. Yeah. Uh, occasionally- I've seen, I've seen GTs in there and Treks. Yeah.
• 19:43
  A lot, a lot of Trek Treks. Um, I like to tell people we are really, uh, uh, we are in the heart of Trek country here- For sure... so we get a lot of Treks. Um- A lot of great old US-made Treks too. Yes.
• 19:54
  Some really badass old ones. You can find yourself a 970 rolling through there once in a while. Yeah. Yeah. We, uh- 400s...
• 19:59
  I got, I got in the, uh, in the pile to get to soon, I have a, uh, an older Trek 620, the first year- Oh, wow... of the Tourery bikes before they put cantilever brakes on it. That's awesome.
• 20:09
  One year they had, uh, side pull brakes. I have one of those in back. It is tan with, uh, brown details. I got that. Beautiful bike. So [laughs] it's a sight to see. I, I- Me too, dude...
• 20:18
  I'm embarrassed to say what I paid for mine. Reynolds 531 frame. Yeah. Uh, we have a Trek 700. Uh, once again, 5, uh, 531 frame that's more of a race geometry. Uh, need to, I need to go through- Yeah... and get those.
• 20:31
  And those, we got really fortunate. Uh, about a year and a half ago I scored 100 vintage Trek road bike tires, new old stock, still bundled up. Wow.
• 20:42
  So when we restore like, you know, '83 Trek 620, I have the original tires that it was specced with to put on the bike. Mm. That's pretty cool.
• 20:50
  Uh, so I've, uh, actually had some guy come in and he was like looking, he's like, "You got brand new tires on this." 'Cause they're the original tires. And I'm like, "Yeah, I got, uh-" How's that cool...
• 21:00
  had 100 of them. So slowly been going through them. Um, we don't really sell them because we like to put them on the, uh, vintage Treks- Of course. Of course... that give it that good look. So. You know. Well.
• 21:10
  [bell ringing] Top of the hill. Top of the hill, folks. Top of the hill. Time to talk about the beer Tony and I are drinking. We can talk about the Paps that Russell's drinking too, huh? Yeah.
• 21:21
  You probably already know what that is. If it was good enough for grandpa. [laughs] That's one of my go-to beers. In fact, always one of my- I'll probably have one right after the show over at the, uh,
• 21:30
  the Watchamacallit down the street there. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good, honest working man's beer. So what's our beer today, Tony? Today- You know what? You start talking about them and I'll go get some more of them. Yeah.
• 21:39
  This is the Milwaukee Brewing Company's Hazy IPA.
• 21:44
  Um, I chose it be- for the fun fact that, uh, the original owner of the Milwaukee Brewing Company, um, Michael Bezer, along with, uh, Steve McCabe, Jim, Jim McCabe, excuse me.
• 21:58
  Uh, Mike Bezer used to live up the street here on Brattny, uh, in my friend Dan Stotz house, rest in peace, Dan. And he came downstairs when we were brewing beer. He's like, "What's that crazy smell?"
• 22:10
  And I said, "Oh, we're brewing beer." And he's like, "Can I watch?" Like, "Yeah, of course." He's like, "Can I take notes?" I'm like, "It's a free country."
• 22:18
  And it turned out he was a salesperson at the computer company I worked for. Oh. This is going back, uh, 27 or so years. Yeah, he lived right on Dousman with me. Well, not with me- Yeah...
• 22:27
  but right down the block from me for many years. Uh, and, uh, he started, I, I ran into him like a couple weeks later and I'm like, "How's it going?" He's like, "Oh, dude, I have a CO2 system set up.
• 22:38
  I've got four tap lines." I'm like, "Holy shit, you're really going to town." And couple of weeks c- maybe a couple months later, him and Jim said, "Oh, you know, we're gonna start a brewery in Milwaukee."
• 22:51
  And they, uh, you know, they, they got a million dollars worth of backing from people. They wanted $10,000 minimum investment, and I unfortunately didn't have $10,000 back then.
• 23:03
  And, uh, they opened up Milwaukee Brewing Company. You would still own your $10,000 if it went great. You're probably right. Mm-hmm. But it'd be pretty, pretty hard to do. And then the Ale House too.
• 23:12
  It was originally the Milwaukee Ale House. Yeah. They started at the Milwaukee Ale House right up the river. And the reason I bought this beer, this Hazy IPA- [laughs]...
• 23:20
  besides the price, is, um, they opened the Milwaukee Ale House and I was very excited to go and I had my first beer, and I frankly thought it was horrible.
• 23:30
  [laughs] And I was quite embarrassed that I showed him how to make his first batch of beer. And I rarely like their beer, but I will say this one is very drinkable.
• 23:38
  So, you know, uh, Mike sold out- You know, there's a beer for everybody. Right. True. Mike sold out and started some sort of kimchi farm, uh, up m- west of Milwaukee towards the Madison area.
• 23:50
  A cabbage farm making kimchi, I guess. Basically. Yeah. Burying it in the ground and everything, traditional style. Yep. He's doing very traditional style kimchis.
• 23:58
  I have lost touch with him, so maybe someone from that show will listen to it and, or this show will listen to it and contact him for me. But, uh, I've kind of lost touch with him. Hmm. Yeah.
• 24:07
  I haven't seen him for years. Yeah. His brother owns, uh, Northwood Software over in, uh, off of Capitol there. Mm-hmm. The old Capitol Nice building or something. Yep. Yep. So, uh- Yeah. How is the Hazy IPA?
• 24:19
  The Hazy IPA, first of all, is hazy, as the name implies Um, it's not a terribly bad beer at all. It's very hoppy. Um, does it give us any stats on it? Well, it's a post on the, on the web- Probably links on it...
• 24:32
  uh, link to it. I'm, uh, I'm eyeballing the label here and say M-K-E MVP, and it's got a, uh, kind of a Milwaukee Bucks flavor to it. It, yeah.
• 24:42
  If you want to look at the label there, it's got the, uh, the nice, uh, forest green and gold, and it's got the, uh, white, blue, black, and the gold stripes on the bottom there.
• 24:53
  Strange in practice, those Bucks aren't doing well this year too, huh? Yeah. Yeah. Another way to go to that fucking stadium we built. That's called an arena, sir. Whatever.
• 25:01
  Caught the gam- caught the end of the game last night, and they, uh, finished off the season series, RB, with the New York Knicks, uh, the hapless New York Knicks. Apparently so this year.
• 25:10
  They've, uh, won every game this year by an average of 28 points over the Knicks. So, um- Wow. That's what happens when you have a, a good team. Why are they called the Knicks? It's New York Knickerbockers.
• 25:21
  Knickerbockers. That's what I figured. Okay, I was just curious. That's the full name of the team. Um, if, uh, I think you hear the name Knickerbockers for the team maybe once in a blue moon, but that's about it. Mm-hmm.
• 25:32
  So this, uh, MVP beer here is 5.5%- Yeah... ABV and 60, 60 IBU. So it's right in there, the typical- Yeah... IPA type beer. It's, it's drinkable. It's drinkable. I can, I can drink that for sure. It is quite...
• 25:45
  I'll get a picture of it so we can put it on the, in the link to the notes. Let's put it on the old interwebs there. Let's see who needs more beer on the internet. It's kind of hazy. There.
• 25:53
  So we, we got, uh, we got a pretty good thing with Russell on the Dream Bikes thing. Let's talk about some other stuff, Russell. Um- Sure.
• 26:00
  One thing I'm curious about because the weather hosed us this weekend, I was sitting here waiting for 12 inches of snow instead of going to the, the Braze and Dropouts, uh, bike swap, but I assume you were there.
• 26:12
  Actually, uh, I was en route to the, uh, Braze and Dropouts, uh, bike swap with, uh,
• 26:18
  the, uh, box truck loaded down and, um, coming down a hill in Wauwatosa, had to get on the brakes hard to avoid a few other vehicles all over the road in the ice storm and, uh, got the vehicle under control, made it around the corner, right onto the on-ramp, and only discovered a short time later I had blown a brake line.
• 26:39
  Yikes. So I'm on an icy freeway, uh, high winds in a box truck, um, about six tons worth and, uh, zero brake pedal. Uh, pumped it, didn't make a difference. So, uh, lucky, uh- Frightening...
• 26:51
  my buddy Chris Cooper was, uh, riding shotgun with me. Oh, well, excellent.
• 26:55
  He was ready to bail out, tuck and roll, tuck and roll, uh, at any moment, but, uh, we just picked a nice long uphill off ramp, which was a kind of a launch at that point, and, uh,
• 27:07
  used that to slow the truck down and got on the, uh, hard on the parking brake and, uh, got her to a stop, uh, right at the Firestone. Wow.
• 27:17
  And got inside at Firestone and went to, uh, get it on the lift and, uh, that's when we found out a 22-foot length truck is actually one and a half feet too long for your standard lift at, uh, Firestone.
• 27:31
  So we had to have it towed. Uh, and then in all the ice storm and everything else going on on Saturday, uh, there was no tow trucks available, so it actually, uh, made it to its destination on Monday morning. Okay.
• 27:45
  Which is fine with us. And, uh, we'll be getting, uh, the, uh, brake lines in the front of the truck, uh, replaced. Yeah. So. Well, so you didn't make it either. Did, did not make it.
• 27:56
  Well, some of you, we were gonna play in the snow, but we got a whopping two inches, I think. Yeah. Maybe a quarter inch of ice. I got out to Meneka on Sunday. Uh- Right on...
• 28:04
  the, uh, Metro Mountain Bikers, uh, bought the, uh, the groomer, uh, and so they've been itching to use it.
• 28:12
  And so they got approval from both Meneka Park and Pleasant Valley [door closing] and, uh, Common Ground to, to groom there.
• 28:19
  And even though it was not a quality enough snow to really need a grooming, uh, they took it out and they groomed. And for most part, it was a chance to test out the groomer- Sure. Yeah... get used to using it.
• 28:31
  And, uh, they groomed the, uh, the green loop at Meneka. Um, and they didn't do the blue. They were gonna do the blue later that evening. Um, so I got a ride.
• 28:42
  I rode, uh, the blue loop, and part of it, uh, part of it is also the green loop as well. And even with two inches of snow, you could tell where they had groomed because it actually had, uh, better overall traction.
• 28:56
  Okay. Uh, so even two inches compacted- It's compacted more... two inches compact more. Nice, nice wide platform. So a little bit of traction. You could feel it, uh, feel it under the tires.
• 29:05
  Um, and that was after, you know, five or six people, uh, had already been down the trail in front of me in the ungroomed section. So, uh, real interesting on that. Yeah. I noticed across, uh, Pleasant Prairie too. Yeah.
• 29:15
  I, uh, I've yet to ride up there, so, uh, but it's, it'll be a good one. If we get the snow we're, we're looking at a three to six on Friday, Saturday. Hopefully it's 12 because they keep saying- Really? They keep- Yeah.
• 29:25
  They keep saying two to three, we'll get 12. Uh, fisherman's 12, right? Yeah, for sure. Fisherman's 12, so maybe about two inch, three to four. Yeah.
• 29:32
  It'd be nice to get a, a, a decent snow and hopefully, uh, hopefully it's of a quality that, uh, can actually get groomed and, uh- Really good...
• 29:39
  looking forward to it so many times, uh, in the last couple of years, especially here in Southeast Wisconsin. We, uh, got the royal hose job on, uh- Yeah... snow quality.
• 29:48
  So and, uh, for the listeners, uh, what were you riding this weekend? Uh, I picked up a, uh... I had a bike from the future. I actually picked up a 2020, uh, Trek Farley, uh, 9.6.
• 29:58
  I got it in, uh, late November, so it was already, uh, at that point it was still 2019, so I like to call it a bike from the future. Nice. Um, but great bike. I had the original Farley.
• 30:08
  I had the first year- Yeah, you know what? I had the very first Farley that actually was sold. First ever? First one ever. I got it in the Snack Room.
• 30:14
  I actually had it before it was available to the public, um, before they actually officially announced they had the bike. Um- Just got lucky.
• 30:22
  It's pretty funny story because yesterday the person that bought that bike from you came into the shop. Yeah. And was in buy up today, got a new Stem for that.
• 30:29
  I told him to go see about a stem because, you know, I, I don't know So I, I had the, uh, I had the original Trek Farley. Uh, I came from a Pugsley and moved on to the Trek Farley.
• 30:40
  Big improvement from the Pugsley to the Farley. Yeah. Dropped 10, easily 10 pounds. Wow. Uh, so I had a nice, uh, Farley, and I was like, "You know, it's time for a new one." Six years. So I got the, uh...
• 30:50
  I was gonna buy the, uh, the, uh, Farley 8 in a nice orange color, and, uh, out of stock my size, the only size that were sold out. So I ended up moving up to the 9.6, so I got the carbon one. Wow.
• 31:04
  Or as I like to refer to it as fiber- Carbon fiber... carbon fiber. Carbon fiber bike. Carbon fiber bikes and, uh, uh, tap it off. Then I thought, "You know what?
• 31:11
  You've already, uh, you're already stepped into the dog shed of, uh, going with a carbon fiber bike." Drop the posts.
• 31:16
  Just roll around and, uh, roll around in the carbon fiber world, and I threw carbon, uh, carbon seat, stem, handlebars, seat post on it. Interesting weight. Uh, it weighs a few pounds. I don't have a scale.
• 31:27
  It weighs what it weighs. [laughs] Uh, I don't know, 24, 25 pounds. Uh, but, uh, there's a few changes that come off with the geometry. Yeah. Uh, now it's the 27.5 wheels versus the 26. Um, so a few differences.
• 31:40
  It actually, uh, h- I think it handles a little better overall, and it doesn't quite have the, uh, same auto steer that the, uh, early Farley did, and especially the early Pugsley.
• 31:48
  They tended to, uh, really, uh, have a lot of auto steer and- Not like the Moonlander. Yeah, you find- That thing steered itself everywhere. Yeah. Oh, never in the right direction. Right. So, uh, I'm, uh...
• 32:00
  I'll give the, uh, the new Farley, I'll, you know, give it a very good passing grade, so really happy on it so far.
• 32:06
  Uh, pulled the original drivetrain and brakes off of it and, uh, put the, uh, new XP, uh, 12-speed on it, so. All right.
• 32:14
  And, uh, r- really happy with it, so, um, never thought I'd need 12, uh, 12 gears on a- You only got one up front... bike. One up front, 12 in the back, so- Is that, uh, what the Maverick came with?
• 32:25
  I like having 12 gears. Yeah. I used to- Especially on a fat bike where you're in soft conditions or, you know, just having, having... I'm not single speed on that bike. So as you said, you don't...
• 32:35
  Are you gonna use them here? Um, try using two, that's when you have problems. Yeah. So. Yeah. Yeah. So overall give it a thumbs up. Nice olive, olive drab color with a hint, a couple orange highlights on it, so. Yeah.
• 32:50
  Just like you. Just like me. Went to the salon just the other day and had them redone. Yeah. And my highlights are just gray. Yeah. I've been working on those too.
• 33:00
  So I can't believe it's already coming up on spring, believe it or not. It's only a few weeks away. Are you, uh, are you doing the sp- Do you do the spring classics here in Wisconsin?
• 33:10
  I, uh, I do a lot of the spring classics. Uh, last year I missed a bunch of them. I had a lot of work going on. Um, me and Stawski actually, uh, five, six years ago, I think we did the first purch- first batch of them.
• 33:22
  It was just a handful of us, uh, did a bunch of spring classics. That's just... In the, in Wisconsin, there's a lot of town names from across the pond, so it seems like you're in France sort of without the hills. Yeah.
• 33:34
  Well, you know, you got a lot of, uh, a lot of the Europeans, uh, the names came over, the town- And joy... Fond du Lac, Maibrizil. I don't think that that's not on the classics. No. Well, Belgium is.
• 33:46
  We go down to the town of Paris, which is really just- Town of Paris... Main Street and the other street just down the road from Muni Grove.
• 33:51
  But, uh, you go up to Door County and you, you, there's a town of Brussels and there's a big, uh, big Belgian, uh- Mikesville too. Yeah. It has nothing to do with that.
• 33:59
  But there's, uh, there's a few, uh, Belgian settlers up in the, uh, the Kewaunee and, uh, uh, Southern Door County. So you have, uh, town names. You have, uh- Grass River... there's Urin, town of Urin.
• 34:13
  [laughs] Not spelled anywhere like you think it would be. There are Flanders. You know, Brussels. Uh, it's just some really weird names. Mizzier, um, as we call Missouri. Yeah.
• 34:25
  Um, and then of course there's the, uh, in that area too, I've ridden up there quite a few times in spring, uh, you get some weird weather up there early in the year and there's the, uh, crossroads of Frog Station, Wisconsin, so.
• 34:39
  It's not near Spread Eagle, is it? No, Spread Eagle's up on the, uh- It's up by-... Michigan border... halfway up by the, the UP. Up north there by the UPers. Yeah, but the spring classics are great.
• 34:48
  You know, cook the fall winter, you know, get out and, uh, get to ride some of the roads. Unfortunately, we have very, very limited gravel in southeast Wisconsin. Did you say unfortunately? Unfortunately. Unfortunately.
• 35:01
  Unfortunately. We, we have probably some of the best terrain, uh, that, you know, gravel road ride would be awesome in, uh, our part of the state. But, uh- Well, you can thank dairy farmers for that. Yeah.
• 35:11
  They want everything paved so they could get their stuff to market quickly. It's a smart move by the state in order to protect the number one industry. Yeah.
• 35:17
  So, and they did what's been- The more important industry now... you know, easily in the '30s, uh, I believe in the 1930s they already, uh, made that law.
• 35:25
  So you, you really look back on it there and, you know, at that point the vast majority of the country was still co- county roads, uh- Country roads... was still unpaved gravel. Yeah.
• 35:35
  And Wisconsin, uh, leading the way of, uh, you know, that very progressive, um, history we have here of paving, you know, all these secondary roads. As long as there was a dairy farm on it, they were paving it.
• 35:49
  Yeah, you just have to go over to Iowa to see what would happen if that hadn't happened, and there's just beautiful gravel in Iowa all over. Yeah.
• 35:56
  And even in Illinois, even, even, even down in the great flatlands down there, um, plenty of gravel roads. Unfortunately, it's, uh, almost a grid work, uh, down there.
• 36:05
  Uh, not much in the way of rolling terrain and a lot, so that- Where all the overpasses are your hills... the overpasses there. Overha- overpass sprint down there in Illinois.
• 36:14
  Reminds me, I did a bike trip once, uh, across, uh, southern Florida and, uh, down the Keys
• 36:20
  and the, uh, only change in the elevation you got was, uh, one of the, uh, thousands of bridges down there and that, that was it. It was wide as could be. Yeah. Doesn't sound fun. Ah, it's Florida.
• 36:32
  Yeah, it's Florida, you know? Mm-hmm. Say what you want about weird Florida men in the news and everything like that.
• 36:38
  When you're down there in the Keys, you don't have to go very far, and all of a sudden you come across a bar, and you stop in, and, uh, you get a rum drink, a ru- fruity rum drink for, like, two bucks, and, uh,
• 36:48
  yeah, have one or two, get back on the bike, ride to the next town. Man, life is good. [laughs] You know, one road that connects all of them, so you can't really get lost.
• 36:54
  The only way you're gonna get lost is if you do a 180. You, you find yourself back where the bar you just left. You know, the street that Saturday, uh, horrible weather, not much snow with a lot of icy stuff.
• 37:07
  I, uh, I did have to do a little, uh, blind riding. I hopped on my bike to ride to Gathering Place Brewery, and it was coming straight at my face. So I had one eye open, and then the snow hit me in the other eye.
• 37:21
  Oh, the one that was open? There we go. And I literally had to ride for, like, try to blink it out, and I was... You know, fortunately, I'd ridden to that brewery many times. [laughs] I'm actually, uh...
• 37:30
  I'm one of those people who, uh, just about every time I'm on a bike, I wear eye protection. I had glasses on. Mm-hmm. Flying without them, but no, it just, you know, the snow was just... It was pelting.
• 37:39
  Yeah, it was a bad winter. Did you guys been down to the lakefront to see, uh, some of the damage from the, uh- It's-... storm surges? Man, I've not been down there yet, so.
• 37:46
  Yeah, lots of, uh- The south side especially... uprooted trees and... Well, you only had to go up the street to see the uprooted trees. One came right out of the ground, and they're all locust. Yeah, so, uh- Really...
• 37:56
  South Shore Park, I guess, really, uh, really took it. So, um, it's a shame. Yeah. Hopefully our, our county- Really need to mend...
• 38:03
  can find the money to, uh, you know, restore some of these great, uh, great parks we have in, uh, the city. Yeah, absolutely. Very cool.
• 38:12
  They mentioned a couple other events that are going on either this weekend coming up here, uh, or down the road a little bit that you might wanna check out.
• 38:21
  If you happen to be across the pond over by, well, by JK kinda, uh, it's the Snowbike Festival in Gstaad this weekend. It kinda sounds like a cool event.
• 38:31
  Um, they've been doing it for several years, and it's a three-day kinda stage race sort of an affair with a prologu-y kinda thing, 19k or somewhere in there, and then a 60-kilometer, like, enduro race, and then the final day is a downhill that has 1,000 meters in six miles of drop.
• 38:53
  That is awesome. On snow. That's awesome. [laughs] Wow. Yeah, I, I... If you see footage, uh, you'll find footage from the Snowbike Festival in Gstaad on, on YouTube, and it's pretty impressive. You almost have to crash.
• 39:04
  I... Some... That's amazing how fast some of those guys are going. I mean, that- That don't, but yes, I think some, most people would crash. Some people would crash. You've gotta at least do a slider once in a while.
• 39:11
  That's, that's incredible. So- I- I imagine, uh, in Gstaad, uh, there's a lot of, uh, lot of the beer going around at the end. I would imagine. Yeah. Yeah. There might be beer IDEs. So is, uh...
• 39:25
  You know, I know there's a good fatbike scene in Germany. Uh, m- much else of the, uh, European continent embracing the, uh, fatbike? Well, that's a very good question, Russell. I don't have an answer to that.
• 39:36
  Um, I'm only cursorily involved in fatbike.com and stuff like that.
• 39:43
  Um, I know that, you know, Sandman make bikes over there, and, uh, there's, there's several builders that are building fatbikes in Europe, and of course, Scandinavia's really big on it. Yeah. Just because of the weather.
• 39:55
  Yeah. Um, you know, I think, you know, w- fatbike.com gets 168 countries looking at the website, so people are interested in them all over the world. Yeah. And, um, you know, I think we're just...
• 40:08
  We're not maybe catching the local scene in, in the desert or in certain other areas, but we've certainly seen stuff in Australia and- Mm... and, uh, and many places. Sure. It's great. Yoge. Yoge all over the world.
• 40:22
  Yoge. Now, segue into fatbiking, we have a new absolutely ridiculously named bike that has come out by, uh, Luna Cycle has come out with their mid-drive electric fatbike. Mm-hmm.
• 40:40
  Belt drive. It's on their website right now pre-order, and it is called- With an eight-speed, uh, or is it five-speed SRAM NX or...? A five-speed SRAM NX belt drive.
• 40:49
  Uh, it, if you look at the componentry, e-bike, but if you look at the componentry, you get a Bluto suspension, you get hydro, dual piston hydro brakes. Mm-hmm.
• 41:01
  Um, forgetting something else other than the Gates belt drive, um, it's like $2,600. Okay. Um, and- Bosch, Bosch motor? No, it's a Bafang. Okay.
• 41:14
  And you can get it with ludicrous mode, which gets it to, uh- They're gonna get sued by Tesla saying ludicrous mode... 1300 watts. Okay. Um, it comes standard with 750.
• 41:24
  Apparently these Bafang mid-drives are, are putting the Bosches to shame. Okay. Um, but it has next to the Baby Maker, which is the, the dumbest bike name ever. I got a Baby Maker. Wanna see it? [laughs] Carrying on,
• 41:42
  they have called this bike... The Babe. Babe. Babe. Babe. B-A-B-E. Is it blue? No. It's not even a... Yeah. It, it's an acronym for what it's... And I can't remember what the- Badass Belt Electric or something.
• 41:57
  Yeah, something like that. I don't know what these, what are these dumb names are. Maybe all the good names are taken. What I, what I... I mean- Yeah...
• 42:03
  you can't just- How can you not have a, you know- You can't just say fatbike anymore... you come up with a good name. Yeah. You know. In, uh- Or A...
• 42:09
  in, uh, some of my past, uh, jobs working in the, uh, bike industry, um, I found in production actually some of the hardest thing to do is naming a product. Naming a product. Naming a product.
• 42:20
  Um, you think of a cool name, it's like, "Oh, someone's already used that." So, uh, it's, it's not, not that simple. If you get a good name on it and stuff like that- It's not Baby Maker...
• 42:29
  you pretty much have a great market. That's for sure. Yeah. Had a baby maker.
• 42:32
  You know, that is by far the dumbest, and I, I keep getting a post on Facebook about it, and every time I get the post in my feed again, I'm like, "Oh, here's the speed again. Dumbest bike name ever."
• 42:43
  And they finally responded back to me, "Well, what would you call it?" And I responded- Had a baby maker... I said, "I would res- I w- I would call it whoever put your bullhorns on this bike like this should be fired."
• 42:54
  [laughs] You know, it, it's just, it- Why don't they just call it the dick? You know? Well, or, [laughs] and Dave, Dave Lums complained and he said, "What do you call the top tube? [laughs] Ball buster."
• 43:05
  [laughs] He said, it's- Nice... you know. If, if anybody needs a ball buster, it's Dave Lums. You betcha. [coughs] So, uh, we got a lot more events.
• 43:12
  If you check out the show notes, you'll see some, but one I wanna call out specifically that's happening on Sunday the 19th is, um, Craig Smith's original- Oh, yeah... backyard fat bike time trial.
• 43:23
  It is placed down in Roscoe, Illinois. I've wanted to get down there for that. Me too. And, uh, I wa- I wanna see, uh, Dave's, um, not Dave, Craig's, I wanna see his, um- His all-wheel drive thing?
• 43:34
  His, uh, wheelchair thing. That thing is, uh, looks badass. Quite interested, so, uh, maybe Craig can put up a link to the, uh- Event... to the pictures of, uh, that. I can't remember what it's called.
• 43:44
  Yeah, we'll find something. Yeah, he, that, he waited a long time for that. It's a, uh, it's an electric all-wheel drive- All-terrain wheelchair... all-terrain wheelchair. Very, uh, very short wheel base, front to rear.
• 43:55
  Yeah. Front tires couldn't balance. I wonder if it's, uh, got a gyroscope in it like a- Hoverboard or Segway has... Hoverboard or Segway has type thing.
• 44:01
  And while we're throwing this out, you should probably put a link in to his, uh, his new album that just released, which I listened to. I was, you know, hoping he's gonna pull the Mellotrons out. Yeah.
• 44:08
  It, it's- Do a little- Yeah. His-... Mellotron... his new album is available on YouTube, and it's, it's [laughs] really good if you like that. I'll, I'll have to, uh- He's got some skill-... yeah, queue that up...
• 44:17
  that man does, let me tell you.
• 44:19
  And, uh, now Craig was one of the original electric fat bike riders because he has a, he has a condition that's not allowing his muscles to work properly anymore, so he needs all the help he can get. Yeah.
• 44:29
  But he's still out there doing it. Yep. On a heavy duty felt and- We've had a couple different electric fat bikers. He has.
• 44:35
  It, it, he welcomes people basically to his backyard and- Which is a quarry, which is gorgeous... yeah, does a time trial around there, and we'll say it's a, it's a excuse to hang out and have fun, but- And no one,
• 44:47
  no one in the world takes better records of his mileage, on what bike, how many miles he's ridden, the weather conditions. He has got a spreadsheet that will blow your mind.
• 44:59
  I've, uh, known a few people over the years who would keep, uh, you know, immaculate records of all their riding. Um, I just get out and ride, have fun. Me too. I'm fine with that.
• 45:08
  If you wanna record it, I mean, go with that as well. Yeah. Well, Google, like, popped into me with an email 'cause they're on the,
• 45:14
  on all hell the mighty Google, and gave me a whole feedback because my phone, I turned something on. Mm-hmm. And it's been tracking everywhere I've gone for the last year. [laughs] Yeah. It just turned on by itself.
• 45:25
  It's- Yeah. They claim I turned it on. No, I didn't turn mine on, and, uh, we are- It's called the timeline, and- Yeah... it sure knows where you've been.
• 45:32
  The, the great Cabal knows, uh, every, every place we go in the world nowadays, so. Yep, yep, yep. Cool. How long you spend in the bathroom. Yep.
• 45:39
  Well, uh, before we wrap this up, I got a couple quick questions for Russell. Sure. One, are you still king of the mofos? King of the Loco Mofos.
• 45:48
  So Loco Mofos is, how long has this, this group been, uh- Oh, man, I think I've been using the phrase Loco Mofos, uh, for about 20 years. So I, uh, I still have a few Loco Mofo stickers, uh, in my collection.
• 45:59
  I, uh, need to have another batch of those made. Yeah. If Katie, uh, if Katie Studo's listening, I might have to, uh, have you make me another batch of Loco Mofo stickers.
• 46:07
  Yeah, it's a loose, a loose-knit group of guys and gals- Yeah... that just, that ride bikes and have fun all over, all over Milwaukee. Well, all over all over. Yeah. Just ride and have fun.
• 46:17
  And we kind of talked about this before the show, but whatever happened to Life in the Rusty Tool Shed? Life in the Rusty Tool Shed.
• 46:24
  I had a, I had a blog about biking and life in general, and it was called Life in the Rusty Tool Shed, and, uh, ran that for numerous years. Um, got some good feedback on it.
• 46:35
  I got a little bored with it, and I let it go, and I got a notice. You know, I got the email notice that, uh, my, uh, uh, rights to the name of lifeintherustytoolshed.com were- Your domain name...
• 46:47
  my domain was coming up for renewal, and I thought, "Well, who's gonna, who wants something called Life in the Rusty Tool Shed?" Right? Somebody did, didn't they?
• 46:56
  And, uh, within, uh, within days, there was then a Japanese porn site. Oh, nice. Oh, yes. Yes, I'm at, uh- Yeah, it's great. [laughs] Lifeintherustytoolshed.com. So.
• 47:12
  That's funny, 'cause I was bowling on, uh, Monday in my league and at the Falcon Bowl and was using the restroom, and I looked up and there was a website that just said www.thethickair.com.
• 47:23
  Uh, so of course I had to check it out, and yeah, it's some bizarre Asian site that had virtually no English.
• 47:30
  I imagine, uh, making use of the way back machine, some of the, uh, some of the, uh, original blog can still be pulled up somewhere. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe you can get it back. I don't see it coming up anymore, so.
• 47:40
  Right. Eh. My old domain was Bad Rabbit. If it's worth it, I'll grab it. And now I've turned into a porn site. Yeah, may, maybe I'll grab it, so. Yep. There you go. Uh, yeah.
• 47:48
  I could buy that one, and I could also get, you know, idliketoslapdonaldtrump.com, but, uh, you know, the Secret Service might be calling for that. Right. They were here yesterday, so. They, they were here yesterday.
• 47:57
  I, uh, had to drive down past the, uh, the arena yesterday on a later meeting, and, uh,
• 48:04
  uh, I got to show a few, uh, a few of the vendors down there already at, you know, 11:30 in the morning, uh, you know, show them that n- they were number one. Yeah. So.
• 48:13
  [laughs] Well, if you wanna check th- there's a pretty great article already on Shepherd Express by, uh, T... His last name is Kupas. He's written a bunch of books about, like, preppers and- Mm-hmm...
• 48:24
  you know, uh, he, he's pretty, he, he's a guy who lives in the neighborhood.
• 48:29
  He does the paranormal conference and stuff, and his, his- Play-by-play yesterday on Facebook about, you know, "Holy shit, he's talking about lights again. That's why he looks orange."
• 48:40
  And I mean, he just drums up the same crap at every... You know, but that's what these people live for. The article's pretty good, though.
• 48:48
  I, I wanna know, uh, know exactly what's in his diet that makes him have to flush the toilet, you know, 15 to 20 times. Yeah, guy's got lead shit, man. You know, I've, I've had- Yeah.
• 48:57
  I've had a couple double flushers in my lifetime, but I don't think I've ever had anything- Like eight, seven... even go three. You know? It's if, you know, three, you're like, "Jesus Christ." [laughs] You little turd.
• 49:08
  Are you that full of it that you gotta flush 15 to 20 times? Well, he eats at Burger King every day or something, doesn't he? Or McDonald's. All right. You know? This isn't about him. No. It's about us. It's about us.
• 49:19
  [laughs] Us riding bikes. And in fact, I- On his back... don't have to flush 15 to 20 times. Yeah. Me neither. Very good.
• 49:26
  Well, sorry JK was gone, but I'm glad Russell was able to- I'm glad you guys had me here, so we were trying to get you here four months ago. Yeah, I was. I was. And, uh- Working on it...
• 49:35
  contacts or whatever, so anytime you guys want me to come back, I can come back, you know. You can come back whenever you want. Stop by, close by, so. Yeah. Anytime. You guys are in the same place.
• 49:43
  There's plenty of, uh, fodder in your past bike life history that we can talk about. We- 32 years in the bike industry, so. We didn't follow through half of it. And he's only 40, ladies and gentlemen. He's 40.
• 49:52
  [laughs] I'm only 40 for the, uh, 15th time, so. All right, everybody. Thanks for listening, and come back next week. Okay. JK will be back, and who knows what other crazy guests we'll have.
• 50:02
  It's your date, Blunts, if you're listening. Yep. [laughs] Ouch. Pretty good chance he actually is listening too. That's what's great about that. Yeah. You know, if he can pry himself away from- And he would think it
• 50:21
  was David who got us here. Yeah. He's probably already Facebook, "I'll kill you, Bax." [laughs] Shut up, Meg. Shut up, Meg. Metalica. Jay fucking Blunts. EFL, man. Yeah, EFL.
• 50:36
  He is, he really is the Frank Gallagher of Milwaukee outs. I just got the check we never see him anymore. Yeah.
• 50:41
  Means he's busy up in Rat Town. We are sorry, but the show has ended