Latest / Full Spectrum Cycling / Full Spectrum Cycling #217 – Show Guest Mark Peterson from Ogden Utah

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Full Spectrum Cycling #217 – Show Guest Mark Peterson from Ogden Utah · Full Spectrum Cycling

• 0:00
  [rock music] Da, da, da, da. It's like deja vu. Right. Hey, everybody.
• 0:17
  You have no idea what just happened for the last five minutes, but, uh, we were talking some stuff. Man, were we talking stuff. I know. This happened actually when, during a River West 24.
• 0:28
  JK and I did, like, a full 30, 40 minutes of shit, and we had never pushed the button. I forgot to push the button, everybody, but that's not a big deal because I don't think we actually talked about that much shit.
• 0:40
  But I said it was Bob's birthday. Yep. Happy birthday, Bob. Happy birthday, Bob. Bob Schaefer, and we talked about the impending,
• 0:49
  uh, purchase of a humongous building where there may be some bike stuff, and if it actually happens, we'll do that. What? Cut the music, man. It'll stop itself. I- See? Oh. See? It just goes away on its own.
• 1:06
  Don't even have to do anything. Man, that's a long way to wait. But we were talking. Yeah, I suppose. So it's fine. Yeah. Uh, all righty, hey, everybody. It's, uh, show number 217 here at Full Spectrum Cycling.
• 1:19
  I was gonna say Weekly Dose of Fat, but I caught myself- [laughs]... right before I said that because- Were you out with someone for his birthday? It is indeed not the Weekly Dose of Fat. It is Full Spectrum Cycling.
• 1:32
  Sure was. We're here in the... Okay, so here's something we didn't talk about before. We didn't talk about anything 'cause we weren't recording, is that freaking rain seems to follow me. Yeah, yeah. This place was l-
• 1:47
  I don't know, three to five years, no water in this place at all. Yesterday- Well-... water. Why do I have, why do I have... I, I get the window. That's fine. I understand that. Yeah. I know I'm not an idiot.
• 2:00
  I leave the windows open on occasion, and it rains. If this was not the case, it was not an open window, but it still came in there, so I'm like, I got, you know. It was serious rain. Yeah, but also where my exactly...
• 2:13
  This is 1,600 square feet. My computer is not even two feet by, you know, 15 inches. It was dripping on my computer from upstairs, third floor, through the, through the ceiling.
• 2:28
  Had nothing to do with the walls or anything, and I'm like, "What? You..." I heard this tap. Yep. Tap, tap. I'm like, "What's that dripping on?" It's dripping directly on- Your laptop... my laptop. Lid closed? No. No.
• 2:46
  [laughs] Still seems to be working. Hopefully we're, we're, we're... But yeah, so anywhere else in this whole place, I don't care about much in here, even though there's a lot of- It's bikes and stuff...
• 2:58
  well, there's a lot of cool shit in here. There is. Yeah, what if it dripped on the, you know, the salon chair? Do I care? No. No.
• 3:03
  If it dripped on the stereo, maybe, 'cause I like listening to my 91.7 WMSE badass- Right... music radio station, but- Your computer?... it didn't.
• 3:14
  It was dripping on the Confuser, and I was like, "You gotta be kidding me." I don't know how it follows me around. I must just have, like, you know... Is it Pig Pen that has the dark cloud over him- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm...
• 3:26
  and Charlie Brown all the time? Pretty sure. I mean, that's gotta be what it was. Yeah. I just have this aura where rain follows me around, and so fortunately it's not raining today, or it- It was pretty intense...
• 3:42
  we, we didn't, it was only two and a half inches. It wasn't- Yeah, my, our-... that much... my office had water coming through the floor. Okay. Well, so it wasn't an insignificant event.
• 3:51
  It was a vast amount of two inches of rain. Yeah, so that could've been- Or, you know, the short duration of time is what I'm trying to say... and, and to be fair, in this building- Be fair...
• 3:59
  it's, if it's from the northeast, it will be affected, which is semi-rare in the summer. It usually comes from the southwest.
• 4:08
  In the winter, we get it from the northeast all the time, but by that time it's usually frozen rain, which doesn't really matter that much. It's cool. Yeah. So anyway. Oh, hey. Hey, hey, Tony. Tony. Yep, yep, yep.
• 4:20
  Tony, Tony, Tony, Tony, hey, Tony. I got a thing. I gotta do this thing. I gotta push this button thing. Oh, button pushing. Hey, welcome to the radio program caller. Who do we have on the line? Hi, guys.
• 4:33
  This is Mark Peterson from Ogden, Utah. How are you guys doing? Well, he, whenever he calls in, he has such a good voice on the phone. He does, man. Doesn't he, though? He's got a great voice for calling.
• 4:42
  Welcome, Mark Peterson. You, your- I, I'm well. I'm well... your voice was made for radio. Your f- well, your face was made for radio, too, but- Aren't we... Yeah, we can all say that. [laughs] We can all say that.
• 4:53
  That is a fact. How's it going, my good brother? I, it's been a long time since we chatted on account of we were- Offline... not doing stuff for a while. What's been going on in your life? Yeah, yeah.
• 5:04
  Oh, all kinds of stuff. Uh, good things, challenging things. Um, I, I guess you might say bad things, but not really bad things. It's more like, um,
• 5:15
  things that are difficult that you don't wanna do but you have to do anyhow kinda thing. Gotcha. That make sense? Yep. Ex- extrapolate. Life. Please, please explain.
• 5:28
  Um, I, I, I find myself in a strange place right at the moment. Um, I've, I've got a great job. I've got great support.
• 5:35
  I've got everything that I need financially, emotionally, phys- or, um, not emotionally, but, uh, financially, physically. Everything around me is fine. Um, but I find myself with a lack of self-love.
• 5:50
  Like, like, I've been in such a dark place for so long that that, uh, psychology is having a hard time letting go, and it's just, um,
• 5:59
  persisting deeper and deeper into the successful phase of my life, and I find it very troubling, so I've recently seeked out counseling. Good for you. And is that, had, so y- y- this has been in the not too distant past.
• 6:14
  Are you finding that helpful yet? Um, my first, uh, counseling appointment was supposed to be for today, but I'm dyslexic, so it's for next Tuesday. [laughs] Right on. But, you know, whatever.
• 6:26
  Yeah, that's, actually that's been going around- Um, no, I'm into it... August for some reason. Yeah. No, I- I- It, it, it is, it has helped me a great deal in the past.
• 6:35
  Um, I, I, I'm not a newcomer to going and talking with someone that is professional, and I'm, I'm very much looking forward to doing it again because I have a, a series of like kind of what the fuck kind of questions, like about life, and to get other people's perspective on those questions, it's very interesting, especially when you get it from someone who's trained in, in those kinds of fields.
• 6:59
  Right on. I'm curious. I, I'm, I'm, I'm the guy that says, "I can fix myself. I don't fucking need you." Yeah, I, I often fall into that category.
• 7:08
  You know, um, and, and, and I'm probably wrong in that, but um, I don't think I need fixing. I'm pretty happy with myself. [laughs] But, but, yeah, yeah.
• 7:15
  Everybody else would say, "Yeah, you need fixing though, fucking jackass." [laughs] Mark, I, I, I have to ask you a question, Mark. Mark, are you a dog- Yeah... are you a dog guy? Oh, I love dogs.
• 7:26
  Unfortunately, I do not have a fenced yard because I, uh, I, I believe it's cruel to keep a dog inside constantly.
• 7:32
  [laughs] I think that they need to be able to, uh, go outside and spend days outside and, and be outside critters.
• 7:40
  And so it's not fair to have a dog, the kind of dog that I would like to have, which would be like a mid-sized dog. But- Oh... right now I've got two cats that are super awesome and super indifferent.
• 7:51
  [laughs] Yeah, that's what cats do. Yeah, cats- I, I was just thinking you had a dog... cat, cats could give a shit. Do- Dogs actually love you... right. Do you have a shop dog? Yeah.
• 8:01
  Um, I, I kind of don't want a little teeny dog. No, I'm saying does the shop have a dog? Oh, um, there's, there's dogs that come down to the shop, and I am around dogs quite often, and I love it.
• 8:14
  That, I- So I don't have a lack of canine presence in my life, that's for sure. Awesome. That was, that was one of my things that would help me with my stress level because I- Yeah...
• 8:22
  I love dogs, as I'm sure you've seen with- Yeah, there's something, yeah, there's a connection that you get from like that, that interaction with, with an animal. I, it, it's amazing.
• 8:33
  I, I think pets are kind of underrated in our society to a certain extent, even though everyone, everyone admits they're family, yet we kind of, they, they take a second, second
• 8:46
  row seat to everything else, you know- Sometimes... in some ways. Sometimes, yep, yep. Yeah.
• 8:53
  Well- Yeah, like people will mistreat their animals, and that kind of reflects if they're mistreating their kids, you know- Absolutely... you know what I mean? Absolutely, dude. I don't know. Absolutely. Yeah.
• 9:03
  Um, I feel that carries on to the kids, too, you know, when, when that rolls. Hey, can, can we talk about something about bikes? 'Cause- Yeah, I was gonna ask you guys- 'Cause we-... real quick first, what happened?
• 9:15
  Where'd you go? And now that you're back, what the fuck? Greg, I'll let you field that one, and then I have a compelling arti- an article as you as a bike mechanic I'm looking for input on. Yeah. Go for it.
• 9:26
  Where, where did, where did we go? Well, well, you know, in the last two months we've done some stuff, but most recently, I don't know, we've, we've been around town doing- Well, the shop got broken into... events. Yeah.
• 9:38
  He probably doesn't know that. He, he- Your shop got broken into? Oh, three times in, uh, a week. Week. Yeah. Oh my God.
• 9:47
  That was before, that was, well, be- that's why we, sort of why we kinda had a hiatus is that the shop got broken into three times over Memorial Day weekend, basically that timeframe, and we had to move- Yeah...
• 10:02
  really quickly because the owners of the building were shitheads. Mm, sorry Al, you're a shithead. Um- I'm not sorry you're a shithead, Al. I, I'm not sorry you're a shithead either. You are an asshole shithead.
• 10:12
  You're a shithead. Uh, uh, so we had, they would not do anything to secure it. They did, they're like, "Oh, blah, blah, blah, it's your problem, not ours." And so we said we're out, which we did move, and it was hasty.
• 10:25
  And I think in the end what's gonna happen is we're gonna pull back from having a retail shop for a little while
• 10:32
  and try to reassess what we're doing, uh, as far as the r- uh, we're not gonna stop doing cool custom good shit, but we're gonna stop doing it- Cool... in a retail environment. And honestly, I think,
• 10:49
  you can chime in on this, Mark, it, what you see at the shop, is that I think we're looking at four, maybe five years of serious contraction in the bike industry because the pandemic hosed everybody in a lot of different ways.
• 11:07
  Number one, people bought a lot of bikes during the pandemic, and so there is a shit ton of- Yeah... used bikes out there. Yep.
• 11:14
  Um, a shit ton of bikes that are sitting in garages not getting ridden and not going to the shop to get fixed,
• 11:21
  and the supply chain is still not back to being to the point where as a small shop, I mean, we're not a million dollar or $2 million shop or, or a big, you know, buying power concern.
• 11:33
  I can't buy parts today and have them delivered tomorrow except on Amazon. And- Yeah... I had a guy today, or well, we did his, we did his, uh, Puglsley.
• 11:44
  He wanted, uh, new hydraulic brakes instead of the old BB7s that he had. Well, I said, "Dude, you can go online right now and buy those for half of what I can buy them for from my distributor.
• 11:58
  How is that a good model for a bike business?" Right. Right. Exactly. I don't, I do- I don't get it. I, I don't understand how a shop like me is gonna stay in business.
• 12:09
  The way it's gonna stay in business is I'm not gonna have a retail presence. We're gonna do-... one-off custom jobs.
• 12:16
  We're gonna do stuff for people that know us and like us, and we're gonna do the- They like your quality bikes... we're gonna do the things that we do well.
• 12:23
  And I'm certainly not going to, um, uh, put a, you know, couple hundred thousand dollars of bikes on the floor that are gonna get devalued in a week. Right. Buy 10 different e-bikes- [laughs]...
• 12:41
  um, of varying styles, and then rent them. These are not bad, these are not bad ideas from you. Yeah, that's not a bad idea. But wait, speaking of e-bikes, you have come right into my question. As a- Oh...
• 12:56
  as a bike shop mechanic, um- And E-bike-a-holic... and E-bike-a-holic, such as myself. Very true. So- Very true... today, uh, actually it came out on the 10th of, of this month, of, of August.
• 13:09
  Um, and it's e-bike companies are fighting to be exempt from right to repair laws. Are you familiar with right to repair laws? I am not. Hang on, hang on one second, fellas. Yeah, go ahead.
• 13:22
  I've got a, a temporary inter- interruption. One moment, give me 15 seconds. Take it. Very temporary. Is that house vacant next door? It is not. Is it vacant? It is not?
• 13:32
  Okay, and you guys have lived here for a while then too, is- I've lived here for, like, 20 years. Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. Well, 'cause I'm looking at properties to rejuvenate the area. Okay. Tell that guy to take a hike.
• 13:42
  And so, there's, um- Tell him, tell him we said- Corporate buyer... take a hike. [laughs] Well, uh- Corporate buyer... I'm actually in the middle of a radio show. Um- Corporate buyer blow me...
• 13:49
  and I can't, I can't do this at the moment, but I wish you the best day. No, I just, yeah, of course. I, I, I can't tell you exactly what those guys are saying- Corporate buyer...
• 13:56
  and I'd be worried for my house or- And...... probably any of my friends. He's, he's just- Oh, okay. No, so if you're not interested in selling, I can go on my way. Oh, no worries, no worries.
• 14:01
  Yeah, yesterday is actually- Yeah, yeah Just get the fuck out, dude... very well. Have a good day. Thanks, bye. Check out Zillow, bro. Zillow. [laughs] That's your, that's your huckleberry. You- Sorry about [laughs]
• 14:10
  Dude- Some people want to buy my fucking house. That's gonna be the- Absolutely... best part- Hey, was-... of this podcast... people want to buy my house. Was he gonna give you, like, seven hundo for it or something?
• 14:17
  What the hell? Sell it for seven hundo. Oh, no, no. Get the fuck out of there. Tell him you want his first child. [laughs] Yeah. That's what I tell them when they try to get me. Exactly.
• 14:24
  Then try to rent an apartment for $2,000 a month- Right... for a one bedroom. Right. Yeah, that's crazy. So, okay. Fuck that. Um, right to repair laws are, are- Anyhow, back to the question. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
• 14:35
  Sorry, sorry about the, the delay. We were doing the right to repair- Uh, I enjoyed it... now. Yeah. Right to repair laws are basically, um,
• 14:43
  there's certain companies that want to prevent end users from repairing the products they buy from them. Apple was one of them. Y- Apple was. They are not so much anymore. Tes- Tesla was. Um,
• 14:57
  so the whole deal is, is they're, the e-bike manufacturing, and actually something that kind of bothers me, 'cause I did, I did sponsor them, but, um, [smacks lips]
• 15:06
  People For Bikes is a national trade organization- Mm-hmm... representing manufacturers. Um, they want... They're, they're using this as a guise of safety.
• 15:17
  Like, you shouldn't allow someone that doesn't know what they're doing to repair their electric bike, which I techn- Exactly...
• 15:25
  I technically agree with, but that's not the kind of person that's going to try to repair their electric bike. Right, for sure. That's exactly true.
• 15:34
  So they- Um, well, what do you guys think of a model where, where companies or, or shops, there's a sort of certification level, where you're certified to work on certain kinds of things, to give kind of a, a bonded kind of product for, for the client?
• 15:50
  You know how and when people come repair your house, they're a bonded construction worker. So whatever they do is kind of guaranteed. That's, that- What if there was something along those lines?
• 15:58
  Yeah, well- I'm, I'm fine with that. Yeah, there- But they should also offer the individual the opportunity to try it themselves. Right. And there is kind of that. Sure. Like Bo- Bosch has a bunch of training.
• 16:08
  Yamaha has a bunch of training. Shimano has a bunch of training, so that people that work on the systems in the shops know what's going on. That, that, it makes perfect sense. Yeah. The problem is- Yeah...
• 16:18
  all those companies are selling mostly through reputable shops like your own shop. Uh, not- True... not direct to consumer, like a Bafang motor or- Right... even the CY- dude, the CYC motors- Seriously...
• 16:32
  are so badass, I cannot... I can tell you- Super lightweight too... I can tell you right now, those motors are badass. Um, yes, the software's a little buggy. Yeah.
• 16:39
  Yes, things are a little, they're still a little new, but my goodness, those things are great. But, so it's just, it's the difference between going to a professional and trying to do it yourself. I get it.
• 16:54
  But not everybody- Yeah... it's like, "Oh, I can work on cars. I'm a great car mechanic." Yes, maybe, but you don't understand the torque specs on a bike.
• 17:03
  You don't understand how things are done, and you, you know, you can't just say, "Because I can work on a, a refrigerator, I can work on a bike." It doesn't make sense. Of course. Of course. But you should- True...
• 17:14
  still be able to break your own bike if you want to. Well, yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. What you got, what's, what's, what you got going on in the background there? I hear a noise. Is, are you listening to something?
• 17:24
  Yeah, yeah. Um, oh, it's Breaking Away, uh, the movie, Breaking Away. It's right on. Oh, right on. Nice.
• 17:28
  God, I love that f- So I figured, I figured that would be a good, good background thing while you guys talk- I love that movie. It's a great movie... to me. [bell dings] Oh, Ton- Oh, me too...
• 17:35
  Tony's making the dingy ding thing. Ding, ding, dingy ding, ding. Top of the hill, everybody. Hey. What you drinking, Mark? Um, I am taking a break from alcohol right now. Right on.
• 17:47
  Well, that's s- So are you having coffee?... suppressive. S- so is JK, and that's why he's not on the show today. [laughs] Oh. Well, and don't get me wrong, I'm, I'm not quitting drinking.
• 17:58
  I wanna just be completely clear about that. I, I just know that, um, in my current situation, my psychology will do better if I don't dump a bunch of, uh, depressants on it. Mm-hmm. You know?
• 18:10
  The, it just doesn't make any sense. And so just from a common sense point of view, even though they're delicious, tasty beverages that are so good- Mm. Mm, so good
• 18:21
  Something that can wait a little while in my life and I can replace with ice water or tea or- Right on... something else. You know what I mean?
• 18:28
  I'll be fine, and later on after I feel a little bit more stable, there will be one of those nights where I let loose and we get going again. Right on. Nice. Nice. What are we drink- Yeah.
• 18:37
  Tony, Tony brought the beer tonight, so I'm gonna let him- Tonight we're, um-... explain what we're drinking. We're having the, uh, Surly Logic Bomb Juicy IPA, which is really juicy. It's actually very juicy.
• 18:47
  Yeah, it's very, very, um, pineappley, I would say, or fruity. Yeah. Citrusy. You're kinda fruity. Um, I'm kinda fruity. Citrusy. Yeah, I'll say citrusy, but the nice thing is is it's only 5.5. This is good.
• 18:59
  So it's drinkable. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's not like you're drinking something eight. You can, you can kinda session it a little bit. You know? What, what's the finish like on it?
• 19:07
  Like, is it got a bitter or does it just fade- Ale-y... or is it a, like, a quiet? It's kind of an ale-y, yeah, finish. It's, it's not- To be fair- It's not n- I, I will say it's, it's, it's regular.
• 19:18
  You're not- I, yeah... getting, yeah, nothing. All right. I'll try another one and let you know. Yeah, and I have had a couple of Lagunitas before this one, so, uh, here's, here's a question for you, Mark. Sure.
• 19:26
  And, and, and this might go to the, uh, the, the, just the way the- It's definitely... way the way the brain works because you're, uh, investigating how your brain works, and- Absolutely...
• 19:37
  I don't know why people don't figure this out when they're, like, 15 how your brain works, and some people maybe do, but it's like certain things, alcohol, maybe microdosing mushrooms, maybe smoking some weed- Sure...
• 19:50
  maybe, maybe doing other things. Sure. Maybe that's what your particular body needs- Mm-hmm... or your particular physiology needs. I am- Yeah...
• 19:59
  gonna, I'm gonna investigate the microdosing of the shroomies because- Mm... I know what it is to do a lot of them and go to a show and have a really good time, but I've understood- Sure, sure...
• 20:09
  from a lot of people that it can really cut down on your anxiety level if you just do very small quantities of it, so I'm kinda curious about that.
• 20:19
  I've heard the same thing, and I encourage your exploration, and I look forward to your results. [laughs] Yes. Hey, Wendy. I'm curious. I'm going to start micro- That's my wife.
• 20:28
  Wendy, I might start microdosing pretty soon. Don't worry about it. I don't even know how you would start to find- It'll be fine... how that would happen. That's- Oh, yeah...
• 20:36
  the every, that's, the, I think, I think they might be legal here in Utah or, or on the way to being legal. I know that across the country there's a movement to make, uh, mushrooms legal. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
• 20:48
  I mean, I, like I said, I can say, like, doing a, a good quantity of them, it's definitely a thing, and I don't mind it, but it's not something I wanna do every day. Taking me back to college. Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 20:59
  You're not- Yeah... you're get, not getting a whole lot of therapeutic value from, like, seeing elves jump out of trees, you know? Yes. It's fun, but it's- Well, sometimes-... uh, super therapeutic...
• 21:07
  when they're surrounded by auras, it's awesome, though. [laughs] Yes. Right, right. No, the, the thera- But- It's, it's, so it's-... the microdosing-... it is the therapy portion... is different, though. It, it- Right...
• 21:16
  yeah, the microdosing is different. It's not, you're not tripping out. It's, it's having a, a much smaller effect, but it is having a cognizant effect on you- Yeah... from what I understand. Yeah, I'm, I've...
• 21:30
  It's also from what I understand. I don't have any first-hand experience. I'm, I'm willing to experiment. I just need to find the- I find it fascinating... just the vehicle to get, get with it.
• 21:42
  I, I switch jobs to reduce my stress. Is, is, is that something that where you could go to your doctor? No. I, I don't know. You could go to your doctor and get, get that done. Not in Wisconsin.
• 21:50
  But you have to go, like- Well, the right doctor maybe. Yeah. Doctor, you know- Feelgood? Doctor Feelgood. [laughs] Oh, yeah.
• 21:56
  Um, you know, 'cause I know that, I mean, I do still sometimes use edibles for just relaxing at night. I don't smoke- Sure... weed anymore really, except maybe after the show tonight. Yeah. Um, but- Yeah, sure...
• 22:09
  you know, it's just, I, so I got a guy that's going over to Michigan, and he can... It, they're s- super cheap. I'm like, "Let me try these things and see if they work for me."
• 22:20
  It isn't that, you know, I need to be completely out of my mind. I just need something to kinda set me a little straight sometimes, and I- Yeah. Yeah, kind of, uh-... I don't know what that thing is. It's not alcohol.
• 22:32
  I guarantee you that. Sure. Uh, it's, there's other things that would be way better. Right. Yeah, yeah. There's, it feels like, uh, through life stresses there's, like, a grip that clenches us.
• 22:44
  It, it just squeezes and squeezes and squeezes, and it's, we don't know how to release that pressure, and sometimes it takes something very unusual.
• 22:54
  And, you know, I've found oftentimes it's something that's outside of the realms of traditional [laughs] therapy- Sure, yeah... which is kind of interesting. I agree 100%. Uh,
• 23:07
  I wanna, I wanna- So I have a question for you fellas. Go ahead.
• 23:10
  Um, 'cause I, I, I, I find myself in an interesting place, and I trust you guys, and you guys inspire me, so I, I, I'm in a place where I'm, like, in writer's block. I don't know if that makes sense.
• 23:23
  I'm, I'm in a creative lull where- Mm...
• 23:27
  I just am not chasing anything and I'm feeling like I'm floating around and I'm, my wagon isn't hitched to a vehicle and I'm, I just don't know w- which, which way I'm kinda going.
• 23:40
  Thus, you know, my, my situation on a greater scale, but I guess what I'm trying to say is when you guys hit that place, that, that spot where you're like, "W- what am I doing? Where am I going, and what do I wanna be?"
• 23:55
  what have you done in the past to kind of reconcile or at least address it in a constructive way? Microdosing. [laughs] Um, I- Right? Right No, I don't know. No, I'm kidding. Obviously. Well, bike rides.
• 24:08
  No, I'm not kidding, but- No, seriously, bike rides... a little, you know, a little history about me, man, is, is I've been in IT for 32 years now,
• 24:19
  and I did, I got to a point where it just was, like, too much for me, and I'm like, "I have to leave." And I went and took a factory job and, you know, basically polished stainless steel for a year,
• 24:31
  uh, in a wh- in a brewing supply company, which I thought was also really cool- Yeah, yeah, that was kinda- You know-... nice Yeah... copacetic. But, but, you know, I needed, I needed to get away Pretty cool.
• 24:40
  Pretty cool. And then after I got away and I couldn't feel my hands for a few days and it was really a lot of physical labor, yeah, I went back to being [laughs] an IT person.
• 24:49
  [laughs] But for me, Mark, in all honesty, it's totally different because I have, um, I have, I'm really fortunate to have this daughter who's some sort of fucking super genius who, you know, is- Mm...
• 25:01
  s- is doing really insanely well at the university that I work at, and she's not even at the university I work at yet.
• 25:08
  And then on the other side of things, I have a three-year-old son who, you know, is severely ADHD, so- Terrorizer... yeah, he, he is, and he's huge. So I, my life- [laughs]...
• 25:20
  uh, you know, the, the way I have to just, I have to roll with the punches every morning, and sometimes [laughs] the punches are literally physical. Yeah. You know? [laughs] No, totally. Yeah. Y- you know.
• 25:30
  So I'm in a, you know, I'm in a really completely different, and, and also, y- don't get me wrong, extremely stressful, and you know, but, you know, I, I long for the day that I get to leave my IT job and quite honestly go work in a bike shop like you, um, so that I can- Oh, that's so beautiful, dude...
• 25:48
  you know... Oh, dude, I, I- Quit your job now. Go work in a bike shop... I can't. I got two kids to pay college for. [laughs] Yeah. Okay. I know. I know. Okay. I know. Okay. But I'm just saying.
• 25:58
  Okay, let's get Tony in a bike shop, because I have this idea about a cult- I'll join that cult... that, that revolves around people working in bike shops. [laughs] I like it already.
• 26:10
  No, it's, I mean, you know, you know the cult out by you, right? I mean, you know my family founded that cult- Yeah... that's in your area. Yeah. Uh, I, I would, I- I am familiar with them...
• 26:19
  I would like to find a way that we, not super insidious, but just through mechanics and bike shops basically start to tell the story of what's really important in life. And I, I, I wrote a m- Right...
• 26:36
  I, I wrote a missive about this a long time ago, and I gave it to my buddy Ivan, and he's like, "You're onto something here. We have to have, like, 5,000 bike shops so we can get a, an army of..."
• 26:47
  You know, it's just, but- I agree. I love it... every bike mechanic that I know pretty much has their head on straight, and what's important is,
• 27:00
  y- you know, I, I can't, I, I can't go through, like, specifics, but what's important is that you live a good life, you do good things, and you make people happy, and that just seems like- Yeah...
• 27:12
  a bike mechanic's job is to make people happy and, you know, not bitch about shit and- Right... I don't know.
• 27:19
  I, I, I'm, I'm, uh, I wish I had my- It's kinda my job too sometimes, but- I wish I had my thing here, 'cause I, I was really good.
• 27:25
  I, I, I spent some time on this because I thought maybe, you know, it might be a book at some point. I'm gonna do, like, a, an L. Ron Hubbard thing, only a different- Different kind of cult Nice. Nice... path.
• 27:36
  It's sort of- Cooler spaceships and stuff... that, that was an acid guy, though, so. Not saying you can't microdose acid either- They've been. Been... but yeah. Been. Yeah.
• 27:45
  I- if, if, if, if Jesus came back right now, he'd probably be a bike mechanic, bro. That's actually not a bad idea. I kinda like that. That's a T-shirt if ever there was one. I, I just saw a T-shirt- Jesus-...
• 27:56
  a T-shirt legend... Jesus was a bike mechanic. Right, bro. Speaking of bike mechanics and Jesus- Mm-hmm... uh, I think, so Chewie was just at Single Speed USA spreading the love- Nice... down there in Kansas City.
• 28:08
  Right on. I think he's gonna do a show. He did a show. We should have a show. We actually got a couple in the can from Chewie, but- Nice... and you know, so it's, so we do a lot of underground,
• 28:21
  off-the-edge kind of events, and I think from the outside people might go like, "Those guys are jackasses." But from the inside you go, we're, I think we're kinda doing something important, which is
• 28:36
  just, you know, get camaraderie and get like-minded people and then spread the love, the word, the love, whatever, out there. And, uh- It's a connective tissue. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. There you go. There you go.
• 28:49
  Way to, way to bring it smartly around to the actual crux of the situation. Well, I, I think it's a beautiful idea, but, but here, here we can ponder what is the best way to make it manifest?
• 29:06
  How, how do you make that materialize? And it has to be something that's organic and self-starting. Like, you drop the seed and that shit grows. Yeah. Okay, Johnny Appleseed, let's get that guy on the show next- Yeah.
• 29:17
  Yeah, that's-... because that guy-... a good way to look at it... kind of walked around and did that, basically. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I don't have the answer. May- maybe one of us needs to go mobile. [laughs] Well,
• 29:31
  35 years I am on the road. Once Wendy is retiring and we're traveling and she's like, "Oh- Yeah. Yeah... what do you think about living the van life?" I go, "Eh." Sign me up. I live the van life by myself.
• 29:45
  Pretty, pretty happy with just being in the van, but if we're gonna be on the road, we're gonna want a bigger thing, and we're gonna wanna stay in hotels- Yep... now and again. We, um, we were- Yeah...
• 29:57
  um, at my mother's inurnment this weekend, which means we were of course putting her ashes in the- An interment? In- inurnment is what it's called when it's actually someone in- In, in, oh, in an urn. Yeah, an inurnment.
• 30:09
  Gotcha. Oh, okay. And, uh, which, you know- Mm. Interesting... she, she died in 2022, but as we were leaving we- Mm... uh, we were at a p- in a parking lot, and I saw
• 30:20
  quite frankly the most bitching Mercedes [laughs] customized, like, on the road van life van with two huge electric bikes off the back.
• 30:31
  And I'm like, I looked at him, I'm like, told Molly, I'm like, "That's quarter million to 400 grand right there." Yeah, yeah. No, I, they're so- That's just unbelievable. Yes, yes.
• 30:38
  We, uh, I don't know if you guys have both seen it or not, but there's a, there's a video going around on every major social media thing about a couple of downhill racers that just built a big ass van that, I swear to God, the thing had to be 300 grand.
• 30:52
  Oh, yeah. Carries five bikes. Yeah. Got, it's got, it's got a shower. You know, it's, it's kickass. Oh, yeah, they- Yeah. But it's unrealistic- It's an RV... for the average person.
• 31:00
  It's a, yeah, it's a small RV, but even, like, even the Winnebago- Yeah... Sprinter conversion is, is quarter million. Yeah. That's fucking ridiculous. My, my minivan with my conversion cost about 48 bucks. Mm-hmm.
• 31:13
  Mm-hmm. So it's like, I- if nobody does, if, I don't know how people don't figure out, a, the old school Grand Caravan, and maybe the new ones still have it, but the stow and go seats, pull 'em out. Yep.
• 31:27
  You have so much storage. Fill up your holes with your dry goods and your clothes and you still have a flat floor, and you can put- Mm-hmm. Couple of bikes in there... a couple of bikes in there.
• 31:37
  You can get your office in there. F- but it's really, it's really one person. It's not, I mean, uh- Two people could pull that off... it could be a cozy two. Very cozy. Well, yeah, it's, uh, two, two's a challenge.
• 31:49
  That, that is a challenge because, uh, individuals, they need their own little space. They, uh, from time to time you can't be together constantly. So there's- Two, two... gotta be some kind of
• 31:59
  aspect of that reflected in it. But I, I love the idea, and what I really love about the idea is kind of that you're free. You're allowed to go from place to place. You're not tethered to a, a mortgage or a landscape.
• 32:13
  Or maybe you are, but it's, it's passive income. Now you're renting it out and you're getting money from it. Right.
• 32:19
  But you're out on your mobile self exploring the world during the age when you're really doing your accounting of what really matters in life.
• 32:27
  W- well, I think once you hit about 45, 50, um, your approach to life changes drastically. You're no longer a warrior trying to hunt down the biggest game.
• 32:37
  Now you're trying to find the meaning of everything around you, the meaning of yourself, the definition of everything.
• 32:45
  Or at the very least, maybe not the meaning, just kind of understanding it a little bit as it relates to you. Yeah.
• 32:50
  And I think that that is a whole different attitude or look at life than people in their 30s and 20s and even younger. It's radically different. Yeah, for sure. No, I, I think that's actually a good explanation. I do.
• 33:05
  I like it a lot. Oh. I like it. All right, well, Mark, thank you very much for being on the show. I think we've actually done a great job of having a good conversation. Yeah. And we're gonna- Awesome. Me too...
• 33:19
  kind of, kind of finish it off, but you're welcome anytime. I think, you know, uh, uh, we're trying to- Yeah, if you, if you ever get any vacation, why don't you come to Wisconsin?
• 33:27
  Yeah, you really gotta come here next- Oh, definitely... next July and do River West 24. Oh, you should do that. Probably the, the only- I'm, I'm, I'm coming out there... the only reason. Trust me, I'm coming out there.
• 33:35
  Wait, wait, wait. Before we do that, Mark, how old are you again? I am 53. Oh, he's not gonna quite make the geezer club. Oh, we got a couple years. 'Cause there's a new class that's called, uh, l-
• 33:48
  uh, old- Oh, not vintage. What is it? No, it starts with an L. L- older. Whatever it is. Elder. Elder class. Elder class. It's elder. Well, either way, it gives me a couple years to get in way better shape.
• 33:59
  I'll tell you guys right now, I have dumped about 3,000 miles into bikes just so far this year. Nice. Boy, I'm riding more now than I have ever in my life. Freaking fantastic.
• 34:09
  My fitness is coming together like you would not believe. In two or three years, I'm gonna be a monster. I'm poking you in the tummy.
• 34:15
  Well, to, to, to that point though, the River West 24 isn't really about being the fastest. Mm-hmm. It's about, because the way it's structured- Having the most fun... it's a, pretty much about having the most fun.
• 34:28
  And yes, you have to ride some- Ooh, party pace... you have to ride some laps, but really to win it, you have to wanna do all the bonus checkpoints. Yep. And those are fun. So yes, you need to do some laps.
• 34:40
  Do you, do you have to ring, drink shots at, at the bonus points? Some- sometimes. You have to drink shots? Sometimes. Sometimes. Awesome. Awesome. Yep. Bonus, was Bob at bonus checkpoint too this year?
• 34:49
  No, he did not make it from Cali. Oh. No, nope, nope, no. Well, it was always a Telly shot. You could just do a shot every time you came through a checkpoint there.
• 34:55
  Uh, we do an event out here, we do an event out here called Party Cross, and it's like Cycle Cross but for party people. And, um, there are, is a whiskey shortcut. Nice. And so in a race there's about 10 laps.
• 35:08
  There's about 10 laps worth of time, right? So you could take the whiskey shortcut 10 times. Nice. And, uh, we've had participants do that and knock like 10 shots of the shittiest, hottest whiskey down- Ooh...
• 35:23
  and then pedal their bikes like a monster through it. This thing was so much fun, I can't tell you. It was super not appropriate and probably, like, destructive to a lot of people's lives, but it was so much fucking fun.
• 35:35
  People blew chunks. Yeah. They had to. We, yeah, we have a- Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah... we have a similar thing here called Urban Jungle Cross where you eat chicken every lap. You do a whiskey shot. You do a shot every lap.
• 35:44
  [laughs] Uh, you might get a beer every lap. They're the, but yeah. Awesome. It's, it's, it's, it's a- Random thing... it's a tried and true, uh, recipe for a good event, for sure. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. All right, Mark.
• 35:58
  I guess ultimately what I'm getting at is we need to get together. I love you guys. I hope you guys have a great week. Thank you so much for allowing me to come on and kinda share some of my- Hey, anytime... life.
• 36:07
  Thank you. Thank you. And also giving me feedback. You know? Like, your feedback means a lot to me and I appreciate it. Love you guys. Have a great show, and I will talk to you later. All right, man. You, love you.
• 36:17
  Peace. Talk to you soon. Bye. Peace. Mark Petersen, everybody. Ogden, Utah. Uh- Great guy. Yeah. Uh, what's the name? Pronghorn. Critical Thi- Pronghorn- Yeah, Cycles...
• 36:29
  Pronghorn Cycles or Pronghorn Bikes out there, and there's a couple locations out that way. I love him 'cause he's a critl- critical thinker. He does ask- And he has some great things to think about...
• 36:38
  actually, I, so here's anybody else that wants to be on this show Here's a nice thing that he does. He asks us questions. Mm-hmm. Makes me think. Mm-hmm.
• 36:46
  Which right now is not, like, my strong point, but, um- No, you did okay... I, I appreciate that he asks questions of the expert panel of Tony Burger and, uh, and, uh, Sven. Sven is- Oh, yeah...
• 37:02
  four feet away from me. By the way, it's Tony and Sven today. [laughs] Yeah, it's no joke. You probably figured that out, but. I'm gonna guess that was easy. Um, I, so we, again, we, uh, we...
• 37:13
  So here's a couple quick things I just wanted to run through real quick. Amtrak- Oh, yeah...
• 37:20
  has cut bicycle capacity on the Hiawatha, Hiawatha, Hiawatha Service from, uh, Milwaukee to Chicago, and it actually affected a couple of teams that were coming out- Yeah, they wanna come and ride...
• 37:31
  to do the Riverwest 24. So it's like, well, you buy a ticket, you throw your bike on the train. You don't put it in a box, you just throw it on there.
• 37:38
  But because of, um, equipment shortages and shitty planning, they don't have the capacity to take very many bikes. So if y- maybe I'm not...
• 37:50
  They're coming up with this in a few months, they'll have three bikes on every car, but I'm not even sure that's enough. No.
• 37:57
  But I, I just, I mean, that was a really great thing, is to be able to throw your bike on a train, go down to Chicago, and ride home. Ride home. Yep, or ride home or whatever, yeah.
• 38:06
  Or even ride, yeah, I mean, you could ride a Sturdevant and catch the rest of it back, too. Yeah, and y- I mean, right now if you wanna come up from Chicago, you have to go to Kenosha and then ride the rest of the way.
• 38:17
  Right. On the Metra or whatever- Right... their, their train is called. So hopefully Amtrak gets that shit figured out. Oh. Uh, I went to Ghost and Amon Amarth show at, uh, Ampham. You didn't see Cleone?
• 38:34
  She didn't take your ticket? Was she there? She does that ticketing. Oh, yeah. I don't know. No, I d- I'm not even sure anybody- Wasn't it-... frisked me. It was a very good show.
• 38:43
  Those, those guys, I mean, they're, it's, Amon Amarth is, uh, Norwegian and Ghost is Swedish, and they're kickass, you know, metal, hard- hardcore metal shit. It was fucking badass. But, uh, yeah. I don't know.
• 38:57
  Thanks, Mark Peterson. Uh, I think we're gonna kinda be done today. We, we did a show and a half 'cause we got, someone forgot to turn on the thingy. [laughs] So thank you very much.
• 39:10
  Show 217 is in the can, and, uh, I guess 218 next week. Thank you very much for listening. Yeah. And, uh, bye. Bye.
• 39:20
  [upbeat rock music]