Latest / Full Spectrum Cycling / Full Spectrum Cycling #99 – Seeley Dave Schlabowske Chats Trail Grooming, Photography and Bikes

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Full Spectrum Cycling #99 – Seeley Dave Schlabowske Chats Trail Grooming, Photography and Bikes · Full Spectrum Cycling

• 0:00
  [upbeat rock music] Hey,
• 0:20
  how's it going everybody? Full Spectrum Cycling. Show number 99. 99. Last of the double digits, before we jump into the triples. Uh, no JK today.
• 0:36
  Which means- Well, maybe a JK, potentially- Oh... by, by, uh, Smell-O-Vision, or whatever that's called. He and the Mythoth are taking a little tour of the chilly Midwest in her fancy vehicle. Yeah. Vehicle.
• 0:56
  So, we got Tony Burger here. I'm here. Got Sven over here. Hey, Sven. Sven's hands are [sighs] tired from building fat bikes. [sighs] It's a rough life. They, uh, they went out the door there. Yeah.
• 1:08
  A couple, couple, couple Wednesdays went out the door today. Yeah. That's a good thing. Yeah, yeah. Uh, Scott, Scott got a medium. He already wrote back and said, "Oh, that thing fits like a glove." Nice.
• 1:23
  And he sold his Pug Ops within, like, an hour of [laughs] put- [laughs] I don't even think he had it listed yet. Nice. So Dave helped, uh, Dave helped Scott out, and me, by sending Scott our way. That was- Nice...
• 1:35
  thanks, Puck. What the... what the puck? Yeah, what the puck? Oh, man, [sighs] it is still chillier than a bejesus out there. Yeah, it's quite cold. I went down the alley on a test ride today. Mm-hmm.
• 1:48
  Do not- Go down that alley [laughs]... do not go down that alley [laughs] I didn't think that'd be a good idea. No, man, it's slicker than- Uh-huh... especially at the end where everybody tries to stop. Yeah.
• 1:57
  Yeah, you wanna aim for the white stuff, not the, uh, blackish, grayish, shiny looking stuff. My, my alley has a very rollercoaster feel to it right now. Does your alley get plowed? Nope.
• 2:09
  Somebody's been plowing this alley. We, uh, snowblow our areas out. Oh boy. Okay.
• 2:13
  There's less of snowblows- blowers, but- Well, the problem with this alley right by the shop here, and probably yours too, freaking recycling bins and garbage- Yeah, everywhere... cans. Holy mackerel, they just...
• 2:25
  You can't get them out of the way. Mm-mm. But, uh, yeah, so- And when they're frozen, they won't get picked up either, so they'll sit there for couple more weeks.
• 2:35
  And here's another thing I don't recommend out in the snow, trying to ride on your thick slicks just for the heck of it. [laughs] That's a really bad idea.
• 2:43
  Oh, I took the coaster brake clunker type bike over to the other building, and I thought, "Well, I'm just gonna ride it just a little bit, just a little bit, see what happens." Yeah. Oh. Slidey slide.
• 2:52
  Yeah, I know, that sounds like a really bad idea. Good stuff. Yeah. Do you wipe it or just- No. No, put a foot down. I don't wanna do the splits anymore though.
• 3:00
  I did that in that fountain, and my leg still hurts from that. Yeah, that's not good. Don't wanna be doing that anymore. Too old. Too old for that. You know what I'm not too old for? Electric bikes?
• 3:10
  An electric balance bike. I think I could get on one of those. No. [laughs] No, I saw that, and I'm like, "Why?" KTM too. I mean, they're- I know... they're motorcycle makers. Yeah. Crying out loud.
• 3:23
  Stacy E-Powered balance bike for kids. And it's for kids up to eight. I mean, your kid better know, my kid better know how to ride a bike by the time they're eight. Yeah, but if you got balance power,
• 3:35
  then you're- Well, then you're never gonna ride a bike. You're gonna go right from that to the electric Saunders- Scooter... powered- Motorcycle... that crazy motorcycle thing for five grand.
• 3:45
  Yeah, I don't know about that. That's just crazy. Hey, there's a link in the show notes if you feel like checking that out. There actually, there's two different sizes even. Yeah, there is. I...
• 3:55
  The next, the next thing on the list here, we're, uh, uh... Dave Schlabowski's gonna call in tonight as far as I know. That'll be a good thing. Stick around and listen to Dave talk about CANVA.
• 4:04
  And, uh, I sort of cued him up on an idea for the show, 'cause he's such a great photographer.
• 4:10
  I don't know if he'd have ti- if he had time to put anything together to kinda give our, our listener a tip or two on taking some photos out in the wild, wild world and making them good quality stuff.
• 4:23
  But, uh, maybe he'll impart some wisdom. You know, he was an AP stringer for a while, or- Oh, yeah... I don't know if he was a stringer. He might even have been on staff, I'm not sure. Oh.
• 4:32
  But he's a heck of a photog, dere hay. Yeah. And we won't even... We'll just hear him. We won't see him. We know what he looks like. Right. True that. But he is up north now.
• 4:42
  He could have, like, a big old beard and stuff we- Well, he's got the Sealy Dave thing going on, so. Oh, that's right. It's a new persona. Yeah. Um, Tony was a, a font of information.
• 4:52
  Seems a lot, a lot of it's on e-bikes here, Tony. [laughs] Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, it seems to come into my feed an awful lot for some reason. Right. Do you have a s- do you have a Google feed? Uh, it's just my phone.
• 5:01
  I mean, that's, it's tailored to everything I look at, so suddenly I get, I get stuff like this ever, all the time. So if we said, uh, you know, Rosati's Pizza, that would come up in your feed?
• 5:10
  Wouldn't that be awesome if that just showed up? Yeah. Well, doesn't your phone spy on you and listen to you? Yeah, I'm sure it does. Yeah. Yeah, probably. Speaking of pizza, did you see the guy that, uh, gave 10...
• 5:21
  In 2010, he, uh, used 10,000 Bitcoins to get two Papa John's pizzas. Today, that would be worth almost a half a billion dollars. Half a billion? Half a billion. Dollar. $495 million. [laughs] For two pizzas?
• 5:37
  For two pizzas. Papa John's isn't that good. That's my... That was the first thing I said. I don't know how many franchises you could buy. Yeah. You could probably buy the whole company for $490 million.
• 5:44
  Yeah, probably close. Although Papa John's kind of a papa dick, isn't he? Yeah, he is. He is. Yeah. He's total douche. Uh, but yeah, so how crazy is that, huh? Yeah, that's nuts-o.
• 5:53
  It was one of the first transactions with Bitcoin. That's crazy. Was it one of the Winklevoss putzes? I, I don't think it was one of them, but it was s- along that lines. But yeah.
• 6:02
  Well, people are losing Bitcoins all over the place. Oh, yeah. 200 million here, 90 million there, but what... You know. You're gonna wanna go ahead and keep your cryptocurrency current there, people Yeah, yeah.
• 6:12
  Write down your stuff. Don't put it on some sort of electronic device. Crazy stuff. Yeah, yeah. It's serious.
• 6:19
  So, um, one of the, one of the things here i- that we have a link to is the potential tax incentive for e-bikes. That's- Did you notice the acronym for it?
• 6:29
  Electric Bike Incentive Kickstart for the Environment, or E-Bike Act. Nice. [laughs] Government and their freaking acronyms. Acronyms, yeah. Hey, how, wh- who sits around and thinks that crap up? Yeah.
• 6:41
  Someone with a large vocabulary of creative words. Yeah, but 30%. 30%. That's what I saw about that. 30% tax incentive. That sounds pretty good to me. That'll get more... I think that'll get a few people out of a car.
• 6:52
  I don't know if... I, I get cars, I get doing it on a car. I don't know if I get doing it on a bike. I'm gonna do it because I want the damn 30%. Well, yeah.
• 7:03
  I mean, you're gonna have to spend 70% to make 30, but I get the, I get the idea. But that's just, like, twisting my arm when we're talking about an e-bike. [laughs] Right.
• 7:14
  Like, oh boy, I have to, you know, pull out some money for a e-bike. [laughs] Okay. I just, I lo- the acronym thing got me. That was- Yeah... pretty, pretty classic. Uh- I like it.
• 7:25
  I think it's, you know, like I said, anything to get someone out of a car for even a little bit. Yeah. If it gets more people- You know?... out of cars, that's not a bad thing. So I think I might burp. Oh, no.
• 7:36
  I might not. Maybe I'll do it later. Yeah, yeah. Uh, podcast studio stalled. No power. No power still. I don't know if we're gonna be able to do show 100 there or not.
• 7:47
  We might have to rely on old reliable here for another week. It's coming. It's just not coming fast enough. None of the people wanna work outside when it's- Wow... five below zero or- It's-...
• 7:56
  10 below zero or 14 below zero... yeah, it's been pretty crappy, man. I know. It's not Alaska where they would be doing that. Here, they're kinda chicken shits. Uh, no. I think they're smarter, that's all. [laughs] Um,
• 8:11
  had a guy come through and look at the current bike shop space the other day. Uh-huh. I said, "By cracky, if you want this, I can get outta here pretty dang quick." Yeah?
• 8:20
  We'll get to the other place and get that ramped up. Might have to do a little weekend get the hell outta here move, though. Oh, yeah. So keep, keep your weekends open around, uh, either April or May 1st.
• 8:30
  [laughs] If that comes to pass. You know, since we're doing this thing, I'd rather get over there sooner than later, but if we still gotta pay for this joint, then we might as well just keep paying for it.
• 8:41
  Yeah, and keep using it. Right. We'll see how that works. Yeah, yeah. Had Uncle Alan here yesterday working on a bike. How's Uncle Al doing? Yeah, he's doing okay. What kind of bike was he working on?
• 8:53
  He built Scott's Wednesday. Oh, nice. I actually put- That's-... together, uh, Chris's today, and that was, uh, eh, it Surly's build up nice. They use good stuff on those Surly bikes. That Surly stuff is, it works well.
• 9:07
  Nice. Sure like those Tektro brakes on those. Uh, they're- Really? They're not bad. Really? Kinda like a Shimano, only- Hydro or mechanical? Hydro. Nice.
• 9:18
  They just seem to have a little more, a little more pad release than some of the lower end Shimanos maybe. Hmm. I don't know. It's kinda weird. The table just vibrated. Uh-oh. Is there a caller? No.
• 9:30
  I think it was your phone. [laughs] Uh, yes, it was. I didn't even notice it vibrating. What's that crazy high top tube goofy bike you showed him a picture of? That Risotto or whatever it is.
• 9:44
  It, it just, why is that top tube so freaking high? I don't know. It's- Why is the battery way the hell up there?... weird. It- Oh, it's an electric bike... it's, of course it's an electric bike.
• 9:52
  See how high that battery is up on there? It's weird, huh? It's like they did everything they could to make it top-heavy. Yeah.
• 9:56
  They put the, the motor vertical, they put the battery up high, and they have the top tube that you're gonna rack your schnads on. That doesn't sound good. I don't know.
• 10:03
  It kinda looks cool, though, I guess, and it is a fat bike- Yeah... of sorts. Uh, I gotta push a button here. Yes, uh. Do, do, do, do, button pushing time. Hey, welcome to the radio program Color.
• 10:22
  Who do we have on the line? Hey, gentlemen. It's Sealy Dave. Sealy Dave. Sealy Dave. Sealy Dave is here to save the show. No, I mean save the day. I mean- [laughs] Both... no pressure, Dave. Uh, how's it going? I...
• 10:38
  Great, great. How you guys doing? Uh, we're doing well. Good. We're JK-less today. He's taking a little trip with the lady in the vehicle around, uh...
• 10:46
  I thir- Last week he was talking about going down to the Ozarks or something, which I thought, "That's not that bad an idea," but guess where they're headed? Green Bay, Madison. [laughs] And it's like, Chicago.
• 10:58
  It's like, what? Uh, I guess- [laughs]... seems- Huh... she just wants to go for- That's-... a cruise for the, for the Valentine's Day weekend. Well, you know, hey, I'm, you know, I'm a proud son of Wisconsin.
• 11:11
  There's lots of cool stuff to do here. You don't always have to go anywhere for a trip to be special. That's true. Yeah. I agree. You can come visit Campbell Land up here, uh, in the Great North Woods. Yeah.
• 11:28
  How's, uh, how's, how's conditions up there? Like, they look pretty good from what I've seen- I'm, uh-... in your photos. Yeah. You know, it's, it's, the trails are, uh, have been getting groomed regularly.
• 11:38
  They were a- all, most of our winter trails were groomed, uh, yesterday or even some this afternoon.
• 11:47
  Um, and, uh, it, they're, the cold weather has just kept everything packed pretty, pretty hard, so they're, they're riding really well. We, uh,
• 11:59
  we've had a winter where we haven't had, you know, which is typical f- for us in El Nino years, where we, we don't get a lot of snow like we had last year. Um, and, uh, but the temperatures have been great.
• 12:14
  Uh, and we've gotten a couple of s- Three significant snowfalls, you know, six, eight inches. And then a few, you know, one to three-inch dustings in between.
• 12:27
  And the temperatures have stayed cold, so everything has b- played perfectly for the groomers essentially. And whereas last year we had, you know, feet of snow, but we had great conditions.
• 12:43
  So if you were riding the, the groomed trails, they were just amazing and, and, you know, you could run five PSI and roll really fast. But if you fell off the trail, you were in three feet of snow.
• 12:55
  [laughs] And you had to sort of climb your way back up- Sure... up to the, the groomed trail.
• 13:00
  This year we haven't had that much snow, so if you do go off trail, you know, you're only in six to 10 inches of, of soft stuff. It's, it's easy to s- get back on. And, um, so yeah, it's, it's pretty much ideal.
• 13:14
  We've had, uh, you know, a little cold snap like everybody is going through right now. So we've had temps, you know, in the mornings, uh, as low as 24 below zero, uh, uh, two or three days in a row.
• 13:29
  Uh, but, you know, I mean, if, if you're actually out to...
• 13:32
  I, I got up early the first day it was supposed to be 24 below 'cause I really sort of like to always ride on the coldest day of the year and the, hit the coldest temps if I can.
• 13:42
  And, um, so I dressed for it and I went out and just rode for an hour, hour and a half on my neighborhood trails.
• 13:49
  And, uh, um, as soon as I pulled off the trail at, like, 9:30 or 10:00, two trucks were rolling up with other fat bikes on the back to the- Uh-huh... parking lot on Old OO to...
• 14:01
  Uh, people were r- ready to go at, like, 9:30. They were out there ready to ride too. It was still, you know, 15 below or 17 below by that time. Um, so it, it hasn't seemed to have dampened people's enthusiasm too much.
• 14:14
  Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah.
• 14:16
  When, uh, when they groom the trails up there, 'cause you have so many miles of them, are they using the same device for all the grooming or are there different, uh, methods that they're using? No, we have a mix.
• 14:27
  Yeah, we have a mix of stuff and a mix of sleds. So, um, uh, you know, on some of the, the bigger, wider trails you can use a, a, a wider utility sled like a Skandic.
• 14:39
  Um, but on a lot of the other trails that are narrower, uh, a lot of our trails are very narrow and have real off-camber, uh, trail tread on them.
• 14:49
  They run a l- they tend to run, like Elands, um, or, or Tundras, uh, some older Tundras. They're... And, uh, um, and then occasionally even a, uh, a, uh, a Rokon, a two-wheel drive, you know, motorcycle- Sure.
• 15:07
  Yeah... with big fat tires on it. Um, and those are real sketchy and hard to keep straight in the loose snow though. And, uh, and then we have a variety of groomers.
• 15:17
  We'll often start with, like, we take old snowmobile track when the snow's real, um, light and fluffy and, and they'll run a, a drag with that, um, just with a bunch of weights on some old snowmobile track that we sort of, like, rig up.
• 15:32
  And, and then they bring a w- a regular groomer, and we have variety of them, from Tidtex to Wildcats and stuff like that. And they fuss with the weights.
• 15:42
  They put, you know, a, a 100 pounds to 70 pounds of weights on 'em and, and they sort of change that around. It's, it's, it's not an art form, but it's definitely a, a skill that you sort of, like, learn. It's a craft.
• 15:56
  And, um, the groomers all have, you know, a lot of experience up here, so they're good at it. That said, um, stuff still happens.
• 16:06
  And, um, in, in the same way some people, like, go out and they, they s- you know, hunters look for different tracks and like, "Oh, there's a bobcat track," or, "That's a wolf track," or something, I watch for, uh, when I'm riding like, "Oh, there's a, somebody tipped a snowmobile over."
• 16:20
  Um. [laughs] So I can tell. And I ask one of our groom...
• 16:24
  And so what the groomers then have to do, you imagine you're out on the side of a steep hill and you tip your snowmobile over, um, and you, the groomer tips over with it, then they, they pull out, like, come-alongs or big ratchet straps and- Geez...
• 16:39
  and a shovel, and they, like, they, they tie that off to a tree and they, they yank the sled to try to tip it back. And then those often don't have enough
• 16:49
  cable to pull the whole sled all the way over in one pull, so they, they'll have to brace it with their shovel part way, and then they re- remove the ratchet strap and, and then cinch it up tighter so they can pull it again.
• 17:02
  It's, it's kind of a- Yikes... a big process. One of our, our head groomers...
• 17:06
  I, I just rode with a crew of guys before this podcast in the Seely Trails, um, and, uh, one of the guys was late 'cause he, he got his, uh, groomer stuck four times and had to keep getting off the snowmobile and pull it out.
• 17:20
  So it's a lot of work, and it takes some, you know, skill. Right on. How many, um, electric snowmobiles are currently being used to groom trails up there? [laughs] None.
• 17:30
  But have you seen that crazy, uh, that crazy Canadian one that, uh... God, what's it called? Um, it, it doesn't look like a regular snowmobile, but it's freaking amazing. Uh, have you guys seen it? No. It's something...
• 17:45
  I just, it just came upon me just now that the electric snowmobile might be- Yeah, I didn't think that would even be something that exists... kind of a... I'm just thinking of how much, you know, snowmobiles are
• 17:54
  s- you know, you're doing a great thing grooming, but they are still, you know, pumping out the, the fumes and whatnot. And if there was an electric one, that might be kinda interesting. Yeah.
• 18:04
  So there, there's a couple of, um, I think Canadian companies coming out with electric snowmobiles that sound pretty good, um, for, you know, the, the, um, near future.
• 18:15
  But, um, God, I wish I could find it on, on my computer real quick. Uh, those aren't out yet. I think you can pre-order 'em. Um, uh, we, we just use standard, um- Uh, you know, um,
• 18:32
  like I said, you know, mostly Scandix or Tundras.
• 18:35
  Um, and, uh, uh, I, like I said, I think we have a couple of old Alans laying around somewhere, but it's mostly Tundras and, and Scandix, and then they pull groomers, drags m- made for fat biking, uh, specifically made for, um,
• 18:53
  uh... Yeah, so I, but it... God, I can't, I wi- I wish I could, uh, I wish I could find that, that goofy Canadian,
• 19:03
  uh, I- if I, if I can, I'll find it and then I'll, uh, I'll share it with you so you can- Okay Find a way to- Put it in the-... show Yeah, I think Tony's- The show notes? Yeah, for sure.
• 19:11
  Tony's phone's probably listening to us talk about this, so it'll, it'll put it in his newsfeed. [laughs] Yeah. It's, it's, it's crazy.
• 19:19
  This thing, i- it's not in production I don't think, but it's, it's, it's just a beast. It's basically like the, the motors and the, the batteries are all in between the tread.
• 19:34
  So it's like, essentially like you get dragged behind this big heavy thing that all the weight is low. And so it's just got tremendous torque and, and everything's low, and it'll just bust through anything.
• 19:50
  It, it's just amazing. I'll, I'll find it and I'll share it with you guys so you can put it in the s- the show notes. More the Tayaga? No, it's not that. Yeah.
• 20:00
  That's, that's one of the ones, I think, that, that is actually, uh, gonna be a consumer-ready thing. Yeah This is like some crazy Canadian inventor guy that- [laughs]... you know, it, I'll, I'll s- I'll find it. But,
• 20:14
  um, say, I had a, I had a thought, um, you know, uh, about like the e-bikes for, for, um, fat bikes. Um, and, uh, I, I saw that you electrified the, the, the Schlick long tail. Yep.
• 20:30
  And I was thinking a, thinking about, you know, and used a, a Bafang, uh, bottom bracket mid-drive unit, whi- those are great. I've got one on my, my, you know, uh, long tail, um, as well. It's not a fat bike.
• 20:45
  It's just a utility, you know, long tail. But, um, I like those. But w- the limiting factor with those is, is the front chain ring.
• 20:54
  And although you've got that extra power from the, from the motor, so maybe you don't need it for a fat bike, it is nice to have regular low gearing.
• 21:05
  Our, a lot of our hills are super steep here, so you're in the, your lowest gear trying to get up 'em, um- Yeah, I can see that... you... Um, so that's a limiting factor.
• 21:17
  And then I started thinking about it, like, and all the, all the, uh, commercially available, like you, I think you guys have got a Surface 604 you've been playing around with or something like that.
• 21:27
  A- although there aren't that many of 'em, but the ones I've seen have all been hub motors in the rear. And then I thought about it, like, why not do a front hub motor on a fat bike with a throttle? That way- Yeah...
• 21:41
  you, you'd essentially have like a, like a Rogan. You know, you'd have a two-wheel drive- Exactly... fat bike. Yeah And you'd only really need that, that extra little oomph for going up hills or anything like that.
• 21:52
  So you just pull that throttle a little bit when you're going up the, the hills, and then you just, you don't need it for anything else. That's how my belt drive commuter's set up.
• 22:04
  But it's, it- With a, with a front hub With just a front hub and a three-speed belt drive rear, and the only time I use it's when I'm climbing up a hill. Otherwise it is no drag- You've got that on a fat bike?
• 22:15
  No, that's not my, just my 20- You've got that on a fat bike? It's on my 29er commuter, but I love it. Mm-hmm. I like the idea of the- Yeah, it's great, but I was just thinking- On the fat wheel...
• 22:24
  for a fat bike that- Yeah... it, it gives you that double traction, you know, on, uh, loose snow. Yeah. Um, well, one thing would be,
• 22:32
  uh, maybe using the Grin All-Axle, if you can get a spacer that will work with a 150 fork. Otherwise you could use a 135 rear motor in the front- That-... if you could find- Yeah... if you had a 135 fork- Good...
• 22:45
  'cause they're not so common anymore, but yeah. Yeah. Maybe we'll do that with that long tail. Yeah. That's got a 135 front fork on it. Go two-wheel drive. We, we could go, yeah, two-wheel drive.
• 22:56
  Uh, if you use a f- You might have to modify, you might have to modify the front fork further, 'cause I think s- a lot of those hub motors, uh, require like a, sort of like a little brace that, you know... Hmm.
• 23:08
  Yeah, a torque arm type idea. Yeah, a torque arm. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the All-Axle that, that Grin makes- Yeah... is really cool because it's a through axle, and then they have different caps for it. Yeah.
• 23:19
  So you could actually use it on, like, 180 millimeter suspension forks if [laughs] you want to. Yeah, check it out, Dave. It's, uh, it's on Grin's website. It's a pretty cool setup.
• 23:29
  You don't have to modify the forks at all really. Okay. You still mount a torque arm, of course- Uh, well-... but you don't have to butcher a fork with it.
• 23:34
  Well, yeah, the torque arm is directly built into the hub itself. Yeah, it's built, yeah. It's, it's very well thought out. It's by far the best hub motor out there, hands down.
• 23:42
  And I've had one pulling 1,800 watts already, so [laughs] they've got a lot of power if you wanna- Yeah... if you wanna do it.
• 23:49
  And their, um, their PhaseRunner motor controller can control two hubs, and it can differentiate torque. So you could put 70% in the rear or the front, and vice versa. That's really a pretty interesting system.
• 24:02
  Needs, it needs a lot more playing around with, but it's got- Yeah... a lot of potential. Okay. Well, that, yeah, that sounds cool. I'll, I'll look on that, that Grin site. Um, I've...
• 24:13
  Actually I, I've, we're kinda off the, the bike topic again, but I, I- [laughs]... I remembered the name of that, that crazy, uh, track sled thing. Hmm. It's, it's, and it's Yvon Martell is, is the wacky Canadian guy.
• 24:29
  Y-V-O-N Martell. Um, and it's an MTT 136.... is his thing, and if you, you gotta check out the videos. They're, they're pretty in- [laughs] pretty insane. [laughs] Sounds fun. They're pretty insane. Well- So anyway.
• 24:45
  Um, yeah, but, uh, back to, back to bike stuff. Um, yeah, so the conditions up here could not be better. Uh, everybody is, you know, just loving it, uh, all grins every day I run across anybody on a trail.
• 24:59
  So if anybody's considering coming up, it's supposed to start warming up next week, um, but it doesn't seem to have stopped people.
• 25:07
  Uh, the trails seem to have lots of cars with bike racks parked next to them when I go by, so. Very good.
• 25:15
  Um, I don't know that we're gonna have time to get into it today, but, uh, we briefly talked about maybe having you, I don't know if it's write an article or talk about it on another show, um, how you get such good photos.
• 25:28
  You definitely take the time to make good images when you're, when you're recording your, your adventures, and I think, uh, a lot of people, listener included, might be interested in, uh, just a few tips on, on how to get, you know, the, the most out of what you can do when you're kinda far away from home and maybe not carrying your entire big rig with you.
• 25:52
  Sure. And I, you know, I mean, I'd be happy to do that. You and I kinda, uh, brainstormed a little bit about that.
• 25:57
  I think that sort of a podcast would ideally be, uh, better suited for a video podcast where you could actually, you know, inject, uh, a shared screen and, and, you know, show some images and things like that while you're talking.
• 26:10
  I... That might be something for phase two. Yeah, possibly. But, um, from, just from a s- yeah, just from... I'd, I'd love to try to figure out something like that and, and maybe add that to like, uh...
• 26:22
  You know, we could still, you could still put that on the regular Full Spectrum, um, uh, podcast and just listen to it, but it, it'd be nice to do it along with, uh, save it on YouTube as well. Um, and, uh- Yeah, sure.
• 26:34
  It's, it's something we're working on. It- We're working on it a bit...
• 26:37
  I wanted, I've wanted to do, uh, video stuff for quite a while, and have done some, just not so much in our little neck of the woods, or our, our little bike- All right. Well, let's, let's- W- It's wintertime.
• 26:48
  We can, we can scheme on it. Yeah, for sure. [laughs] Um, put something together. Uh, I, I wanna get the Canda Country podcast going again.
• 26:55
  I, I've sort of been drinking from a fire hose up here, uh, with everything else, um, you know, in this new job as execu- executive director of the Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association, and everything from, uh, migrating QuickBooks from desktop to, you know, to, um, online and all kinds of other things I've been, you know, doing that aren't sort of like the, they're the b- behind-the-scenes things that you gotta do at, at a nonprofit, but they're not necessarily fun.
• 27:24
  Um, so I've been involved in a lot of that. Uh, but, uh, back to the photo thing. So, um, I mean, just short...
• 27:32
  Yeah, I mean, I think it's a good idea to do a s- a series on them or something like that where we talked about that.
• 27:38
  But, um, just briefly, like when I, when you see those pictures of, you know, I just took a little adventure with Cowboy and we went and explored some of the waterfalls that I do on my bike packing, my fall and summer bike packing rou- waterfall route that I'm gonna be publishing later this year, and I wanted to see how those...
• 27:56
  I thought, you know, "Hey, it's mostly gravel roads. You could actually do that route in the wintertime if you were so inclined," and I thought the waterfalls might be just as cool in the winter, and they were.
• 28:07
  Um, so we went and we explored some of them. We went up to Cornucopia and looked at Lost Creek Falls, and that's like a one and a half mile bike ride in from the parking lot to get there.
• 28:17
  Um, so we, you know, pedaled our way in, me and my dog.
• 28:20
  And, um, and then it went out to, uh, Morgan Falls, which is maybe a three-quarter of a mile ride in and, and we did that, and it was really fun to do in the winter, and the falls are...
• 28:31
  It gives you a whole new perspective on them. So I knew I was gonna do that, and I knew I was gonna wanna take photographs.
• 28:36
  So I shoot with the Sony Alpha mirrorless system, and so I just bring a 24 to 105 along with that camera, and then I have a wireless remote that's very, very easy to use. Uh, it's, it's a Sony, made for the Sony camera.
• 28:54
  It's relatively new and, um, so I don't have to hook up anything special.
• 28:58
  I just have it set up so the cameras works with the wireless remote before I leave, and then I bring a really small Manfrotto tripod that fits in my frame bag.
• 29:09
  And, uh, so I, you know, I think about it ahead of time and I think of ideas where I'm gonna do the photographs, and then, and then I, I pull out, go in, I...
• 29:21
  Cowboy wanders around for a while while I set up my tripod and the camera and then, you know, we go climb up next to the waterfall, and I've got the remote in my hand and I, I, you know, pop off 15, 20 shots.
• 29:33
  I go back and I review and make sure everything's looking good, and, and then I just pack everything back up. You know, it doesn't take very long.
• 29:40
  And then go do another spot, you know, on a gravel road with a nice view of the Lake Superior off in the distance or something like that, and I'll just set up again the tripod and Cowboy and I go out and we just do some.
• 29:51
  And I do the same thing on, uh, you know, if I go on a, a trip, uh, by myself.
• 29:57
  I'll be riding along and I, I always have a tiny tripod with me and, uh, the camera and the remote so that if I see something that looks good, I stop, I just take the time to set it up, and I ride through again.
• 30:08
  You know, this is not journalism, so- [laughs]... um, it's not like I, I'm faking something.
• 30:14
  I, um, and I, and the easiest way, though, is if you're on a ride with buddies, um, or with friends and, and then you don't have to bring the remote, the tripod and stuff like that, and you just, "Oh, this is a cool spot," and you just hop off.
• 30:28
  And I have a couple of different, uh, ways I carry my camera on the bike so that I can grab it really quickly. I've got one of those Jones bars that's got the Jones riser bars. Mm-hmm. I actually have a...
• 30:40
  And then I've got a Rockgeist bag that fits right in that Jones riser bar-
• 30:46
  And the riser bar is the key because it's got a wider space between the two bars, so you can actually slip the front element and the body of my camera into that RockIce bag, that H loop bag that they make, um, and it'll fit in there.
• 31:03
  But on a regular Jones bar, the gap between those two bars is too narrow for me to fit my full frame, you know, 24 to 105 lens through between the two bars, so it won't fit in that one.
• 31:16
  Or I've got a, a chest strap, um, that I don't like wearing backpacks, but um, I've got a chest strap that just fits over like one shoulder with a strap that, a cross strap that goes around and it's got like a little clip on it so I can just ride with my, with my camera right, right up on my left, by my left shoulder.
• 31:36
  It just sits on my, my, the, the left side of my chest. Doesn't interfere with riding at all. And that way, if I'm riding along, I can very quick, with friends, I can very quickly get it off and take pictures.
• 31:47
  'Cause if, you know, your buddies get kind of sick of it if you're the photographer, like, "Hey, can we... Stop. Can we just do this... Wait, back up, you know. Let's go do this one more time," you know? [laughs] Yeah.
• 31:57
  Didn't ask. It's not really that fashioning- Right... when a photographer's making you do something- Right... over and over again, you know? [laughs] Yeah.
• 32:04
  Well, I mean, uh, there, you've got s- you know, definitely there's a whole, a whole show or more than one show in, in some of this stuff.
• 32:10
  Um, uh, I know that a lot of people don't carry a, you know, a full frame camera or even a, even a camera at all except for their phone.
• 32:20
  And, uh, one of it, uh- Right, but you can do everything that I just said with, uh, your phone. Sure. Sure. Y- you... And it's easier. Uh, y- you, you can...
• 32:29
  They, they make remotes for phones, uh, or you can just set a self-timer, you know, on your phone. Um, but, uh...
• 32:36
  And, and y- they make very s- simple, very packable little, you know, phone holder tripod things so that you can do that sort of same thing that I do, uh, with, with your phone.
• 32:49
  Yeah, I forget what the one that I have, Gorilla maybe or something. It's a little one that clamps your phone and, and it has a quarter 20- Right...
• 32:56
  bolt on it so you can just mount it to whatever, and it, you can hold it vertical if you're a, if you're a selfie, uh- Yeah... video person, or you can do it horizontal. Uh, one thing that- Yeah...
• 33:06
  I definitely- You can a- you can also those... Y- y- you can put, you can, uh... Those Gorilla, uh, tripods, those little tiny ones with the little balls and stuff, you can, um, stick them to a tree.
• 33:18
  You know, you just wrap the legs around a tree. And if all you're hooking to it is a light little, you know, phone to take- Yeah... photographs- No problem... they hang on the tree really well.
• 33:27
  I can't do that with my- No. [laughs] Yeah... full frame, you know. It's a- It's a mirrorless camera, but the lens is big. If I, you know- Sure... um, I've gotta use real clamps and stuff to do that. Um- Yeah...
• 33:38
  I will occasionally bring those things along, um, on trips if I'm going by myself.
• 33:43
  I'll bring s- a strap and a clamp that I know I can very quickly strap to a tree so I can, I don't have to carry a tripod that I can, you know, raise up that high to get that sorta angle. Um, so yeah.
• 33:56
  Um, the other little trick that, uh, a lot of people don't think... A lot of people have trouble taking good photographs on sunny days because of all the harsh shadows. Uh, the, the key to...
• 34:09
  I've, I think my s- general rule, it's o- just a general rule, is, is shooting into the sun. So you want that sun be- Yes... you know, um, you're actually f- shooting into it. And then, um, generally I'm, I'm
• 34:26
  processing my images in an Adobe program, whether it's Lightroom or Photoshop, and most cameras now have 14 stops of, of, you know, dynamic range.
• 34:40
  So you can pull those shadows, and you can drop down those highlights, and it, it looks way better than if you try to shoot with the sun over behind you, over your shoulder, and there's all kinds of weird dramatic shadows.
• 34:54
  Right. Yeah, no, that makes sense. You know what I mean? That I... Because I, I do often see just peeking into the, the, the shot of, that you do, a, a sun up in there. Right.
• 35:05
  And if you, if you've got a, a, a camera with a, a actual lens on it that has a diaphragm in it, an aperture, then when you stop way down, you get those cool little, depending on how many leaves you've got in your diaphragm, you get those cool little like, uh, you know, sun streak things, the little sun rays that come out from that when you stop down.
• 35:25
  Yeah, very cool. Well, like I said, uh, I, I think, I mean, we can talk about some... Maybe we'll go into some specifics on some other, uh, other shows, but I like this idea 'cause, uh, I really think that- Yeah...
• 35:37
  you know, uh, when people take the time to do it right, it's just so much more appealing to read a story where the photos are actually interesting.
• 35:45
  And if you have an Instagram feed or whatever, I mean, uh, why wouldn't you want good pictures on there? So, you know. Right.
• 35:52
  Yeah, Kid Reimer's been doing a series like that recently on, on the Salsa, um, news posts and blogs.
• 35:58
  He interviewed like Logan Cox from bikepacking.com and a, a couple other guys doing a, a series of interviews with photo-centric, um, bicycle guys. Very cool. Well, I sure appreciate you calling in.
• 36:16
  You saved the show like we knew you would. B- b- but top of the hill. Oh, shit. Tony wants to do top of the hill. Just do top of the hill. Nothing. [bell ringing] Top of the hill.
• 36:24
  Yeah, I just, I thought I was getting to the top of the hill. [laughs] Um- Well, we made it. Yeah, we made it. Tony picked up, uh,
• 36:33
  well, this one's been kind of a clubhouse favorite here called Vain from right across the street, the old Black Husky Brewery. It is- 6.8 times ABV...
• 36:42
  s- just, I don't know what happens with this beer, but I, I think he's lying about that 6.8. I'm, I'm, yeah. I think it's more like 12 or something. It's just, it- I think we're gonna have Tim back on the show.
• 36:51
  What, what's it called? It's called Vain. Vain. V-A-I-N. It's his IPA. I'm, I'm not familiar with it, but I, I love- It's a pale ale... I love Tim's beers. Um-
• 36:59
  Oh Yeah, he's calling it a pale ale But even a pale ale in, in Tim's world is 7.8. I mean, it's- Yeah, it's, it's... He's claiming it's 6.8, but I think it's way higher than that Yeah, it was, it was named after- Ah...
• 37:10
  well, sh- it, it just says on the, on the can, "Shad is our rockstar dog, having run the famous Iditarod sled dog race. However, like some celebrities, he can be aloof and even arrogant at times.
• 37:20
  In fact, he really felt-" Uh-huh "... like he was better than other dogs, and he was.
• 37:25
  So Shad's arrogant in ch- in Shad's ar- arrogant spirit, we have brewed a pale ale with Citra hops that we frankly feel is better than the others." And by cracky, it is, 'cause it's- Cool...
• 37:34
  it's the only one I drink over there, unless he has one of his special beers that I really- Right... happen to like. Yeah. But, uh- Which happens once in a while Oh, I, I'm a pretty big fan of Spruce.
• 37:43
  I like his Spruce beer. Oh, yeah, for sure. Do you guys have that on tap up that way? Um, we- The Angry Minnow have it or anything like that? We do not. Uh, no, I, I have not seen Tim's beers up here.
• 37:54
  Um, uh, and I am actually, I'm, I'm... Well, I'm not ashamed to admit, but I'm, I'm n- I'm drinking a old fashioned, an o- over old, old fashioned- Hmm... made with,
• 38:08
  made with raspberries rather than cherries, and clementines rather than oranges. [laughs] Does it have... Is it a sweet? Does it have 7 Up or some such in it? Uh, well, I, I add- Is it a parasol?...
• 38:22
  a little, uh, Wisconsin maple syrup as well. Wow. Oh, boy. [laughs] Is there a parasol? [laughs] Is there a parasol? A parasol. Yeah, it's pretty tasty. It's not a beer, but it's pretty tasty.
• 38:34
  Well, there was a j- There was just a thing on one of the, I guess, WPR, one of the radio stations, about old fashioneds and how Wisconsin does them differently than everybody else in the whole entire world or country does.
• 38:45
  Right. Yeah, it's... You know, it's not rye, and there's- Yeah, most people don't have, like, our... Yeah, most people don't have our, like... You know, they don't put floaters of 7 Up or, or...
• 38:55
  You know, if you're gonna get an old fashioned down in Kentucky or something where they make bourbon, it's, it's just gonna be a bourbon drink. There's not gonna be fizzy water in it of any kind, you know? Right on.
• 39:07
  All right, Dave- There's nothing wrong with that. Hey, well, yeah, I, thanks for having me on. Um, like I said, the trails up here are great. We're... Right now, we're grooming about 65 miles of single track.
• 39:18
  Um, everything from, you know, family friendly loops at the hospital trails or the cable town trails that you can come out and have fun on with, you know, your kids and, uh, and session.
• 39:30
  Or the, you know, big fat loop, which gives you a little taste of everything. And, um, E- Esker Ridge, which is just absolutely gorgeous over by Telemark.
• 39:39
  So, uh, I encourage all your listeners, uh, get on up here while the snow is still good. Yeah, for sure. Um, are the- It's beautiful...
• 39:46
  are there actually any events happening that are, uh, either semi-organized or virtual? I know we just, uh- All right. Well, so, uh, yes, they're all happening, and they're all real.
• 39:58
  Um, the Bir- All the Birkie events have been happening. O- other events, we had the Gitchee Gumi Games or the Gitchee Gami Games.
• 40:07
  Uh, all, all the ski events have, uh, the Seeley Classic, all the ski events have happened. They've tried to change them so you're, there aren't, like, the indoor activities associated with them.
• 40:18
  And it's, like, the Birkie, you can do it virtually from wherever your s- Nordic ski area is. But a lot of people are still coming to do an actual race.
• 40:29
  So instead of, though, having 10,000 people all on the same day, they've spread it out over an entire week.
• 40:36
  So they've got, you know, the course closed for racing over, like, a week period, where, where they can spread people out more.
• 40:45
  They cut down a bunch more trees in the start area, so they have a, a bigger start area as well. And, um, yeah, fat bike races. We, uh, Kamba hasn't felt super comfortable with any of that stuff.
• 40:58
  We've got the Huge Ass course is marked up here on Seeley, so you can come do that. But that's one of the virtual things, you know, where you just have some Strava segments, um, to win.
• 41:07
  So we've been a little bit more nervous about it, um, or a little bit more cautious, I guess. But, um, but yeah, there, there's... So I... Not bike... Not too many bike events.
• 41:19
  The Bike Across the Bay event, which is just an absolute blast up, up by, uh, you know, Washburn, where that's, that's part of the Book Across the Bay where they ski and snowshoe and, um,
• 41:32
  a- across from Washburn to, uh, Ashland. And, uh, that's a really... They have a giant snow dragon out in the middle of the lake that blows fire, a- and they light the whole thing- [laughs]...
• 41:45
  with little candles and stuff. It's a really cool event. But, uh, and then there's a bike event the next morning. T- the bike event is canceled. The ski, uh, that ski event is canceled, so...
• 41:58
  But the Birkie stuff is all happening, so I expect the Fat Bike Birkie is still on. Um, the Borah Epic is scheduled for, uh, that's a June event, and that's scheduled. So registration's open and filling quickly, I hear.
• 42:12
  So if people are chomping at the bit to, to do a race, that's an earlier one that people can sign up for. There's also a Gravel Epic with that as well. And they'll do the same thing.
• 42:24
  They'll have some protocols for safety. It won't be quite the same, you know, let's all get together and party in a tiny little space in River's Eatery or something like that. Um, there'll be differences.
• 42:34
  That won't happen, but it'll still be a, an event.
• 42:37
  And honestly, they really have shown that, you know, transmission of the virus in outdoors is really, really minimal, uh, particularly if, if you're not, you know, standing in the exact same place for an extended period of time.
• 42:53
  So start areas and stuff are a little sketchy. If you're worried, keep your mask on and then, you know- Then the gun goes off, you pull your mask down and go get it, right? Right on. Good to know. All right, Dave.
• 43:08
  Well, thanks again for calling in and, uh, we'll talk to you soon. Okay, guys. All right. Thanks, Dave. Yep. Let's chat, let's chat on the photo thing. Absolutely. Okay. Bye. All right, boys. Bye.
• 43:21
  Dave Schlabowski, everybody. Dave Schlabowski. Seely Dave checking in from, uh, well, Seely, Wisconsin, up there in- Up north... Cambland. North. Uh, a lot of good stuff going on up there. Yeah, yeah.
• 43:33
  Hey, speaking of other good stuff going on, we talked about Bike Cross Bago. Don't know what's happening there 'cause it's not official. I did see another sign though that they are gonna have some things set up. Okay.
• 43:44
  That- So just their way, their way- That would be like tomorrow, the 13th? It'd be like tomorrow the 13th again, yeah, I guess. Okay.
• 43:49
  Um, the 20th Rip, Zip and Slip Minocqua, and then new to me this week is the Sweaty Yeti Alt event- Oh... which is over three days, February 26th, 27, 28. A virtual race format,
• 44:02
  um, and a fundraiser, more importantly, for Levis, uh, Mountain Trails. Um, it's on BikeReg. There's a link in the show notes. Uh, no in-person registration, but you can complete your laps any time within the three days.
• 44:16
  And if you feel it's absolutely important, Puck, to upload your laps to Strava, you may. Oh. You hear that, Puck? It is not required, however. But you do it, Puck.
• 44:26
  But, you know, I think the important thing to note here is they're still working on the trails, and there's a lot of work to be done, and they need fundraising. And by cracky, you can even
• 44:35
  send them money without having to actually go up there if you are so inclined. Mm-hmm. Check out the show notes. I think we sold all our... No, we didn't sell all our fat bikes here at the shop. Oh.
• 44:44
  There is a large Tatanka right there. There is. It's a good-looking bike, too. Yeah, it's not done yet. And, you know, we'd probably make you a pretty good deal on a Surly 604 Bore. Maybe. Like 50% over cost.
• 44:55
  [laughs] 50% over retail right now. 100%, 100% over retail. 'Cause they're so much fun. Yeah. No, I'm just kidding. We'll get you money. [laughs] Um, well, I mean, thank you very much again for spending- Oh, right on...
• 45:06
  your hard-earned time with us. And, uh- We appreciate you listening... I think, well, JK will be back next week. Show 100. Show 100. Don't know where it's gonna be, but it'll be somewhere. Bye. Bye.
• 45:18
  [upbeat music]