Latest / Full Spectrum Cycling / Weekly Dose of Fat Radio – Show #46 – ITI Winner John Lackey Interview

Transcript

Weekly Dose of Fat Radio – Show #46 – ITI Winner John Lackey Interview · Full Spectrum Cycling

• 0:00
  Weekly Dose of Fat, show number 46 for Friday, March 6th, 2015.
• 0:04
  [upbeat music] And now, ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, Fatbike.com Circus proudly presents your Weekly Dose of Fat.
• 0:30
  Broadcast from the Fat Bike Radio studios in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, it is my pleasure to introduce to you the fantabulous Sven and Gomez. Bienvenidos, amigos.
• 0:43
  Yo soy Tio Gomez, and across the news desk from me is the one and only Sven Hammer. Hello, everybody. [laughs] We've got, uh, JK Living in the studio over there today. Yeah, I hear there's a new store called Moderation.
• 0:59
  They have everything in there. This week's show- [laughs]... sponsored by the sleek bicycle stylings of Surly. Surly's chief weapon is surprise. Surprise and fear. Fear and surprise.
• 1:13
  Surly's two weapons are fear and surprise. And freedom of expression. Surly's three prime weapons, fear, surprise and freedom of expression. And groovy dance moves. Nobody expects the Surly inquisition.
• 1:27
  Learn more at surlybikes.com. N- all right, JK, what do we have in store for our audience this week? This week's to-do list includes the new world record holder and ITI 350 men's champion, John Lackey.
• 1:43
  We will have beer and then beards. We also have Sean Spencer, who is hosting the US Open Beach Championships in North Cackalacky next weekend. We fart in your general direction.
• 1:57
  Uncle Dick is gonna drop by and give away some bead slip to our listeners. I see, I see Uncle Dick right there. I see too. I'm looking at the screen, man. [laughs] I'm looking at Dick. Breaking the fourth wall.
• 2:09
  [laughs] We have a tasty assortment of mixed links and berries from around the web, and we'll be taking calls and dropping six-pack containers at 818-918-2453.
• 2:25
  That number again is 818-918-2453. So yeah, baby, it's beer segment. Beer. Beer. Beards and beer. And you know what? Uncle Dick is here. [bell ringing] Top of the hill. Hey. Thank you very much.
• 2:39
  We invited Uncle Dick to come by because we needed somebody to bring us beer and fruit. Yeah. Good job, Uncle Dick. And he came through in spades, man. Ooh. It's, uh, he brought some sort of chocolatey deliciousness.
• 2:49
  Southern Tier Chocolat. And he also brought, like, a little clementine orange. Cutie. Which is also, I guess, called a cutie now. [laughs] But those two things- Hey, cutie... this sounds [laughs] [laughs]
• 3:02
  This sounds like super weird, but beer and, and oranges, little tiny oranges. Well, chocolate and oranges especially. Yeah. Chocolate beer and oranges.
• 3:13
  Reminds me of that old 31 Flavors flavor, mandarin chocolate sherbet. Oh, no. Mm-mm. That was badass. So- So it's not the official beer of the show, but good call, dude. This is a- Yeah...
• 3:25
  this thing gets a 95 on the old beer advocacy advocate site. Yeah. Uncle Di- Uncle Dick taught me a new trick. [laughs] Telling you. All righty, then. So th- our, our actual frontline beer that we're going to...
• 3:42
  We already had one, is Founder's Black something. Black Rye. Black Rye. This comes straight from the, uh, julio.com sellers. Beer advocate gave it a 90 or a 91. 7.5% alcohol, breezy.
• 4:00
  [laughs] So let's- As you can audibly tell. [laughs] [laughs] That was a total, that was a total Foster Brooks thing. [laughs] Oh, that was Jack Elam that was the Fr- Dr. Proctor, right?
• 4:13
  Not Foster Brooks, in, uh, Smokey and the Bandit. Yes. Dr. Proctor. He's all like, "Oh." [laughs] But Foster Brooks made a whole career of doing nothing but just showing up and doing a fake drunk.
• 4:26
  He was, like, some big network, uh, bigwig. He was, like, the pres-dent. He, well, he did a good job of being drunk, whether he was drunk or not. [laughs] The Dudley Moore syndrome. Oh, man. That is so chocolatey.
• 4:40
  We're on to the rye now. Oh, sorry. Enough with the chocolate. Did someone, did- You have to chase... did someone want to play mother? [laughs] Hey. So we should cheers this. We should clink this all together. Clink.
• 4:52
  Ka-blat, ka-blat, ka-blat. Clink. Cheers and beers. So this is some sort of, like, dark toasty ale you said, right? Dry hopped dark ale brewed with rye. He's reading, he's reading the label. I'm reading the label.
• 5:07
  But it, there, it does have- They have so much info on it... it's got a lot of, uh, uh, roastiness to it. Earthy. Earthy. Earthy. Earthy and roasty. So- Not fruity and complex and apricot-y...
• 5:17
  should we take, should we take a call for Uncle Dick? Let's take a call for Uncle Dick. Welcome, caller. Who do we have on the line? That was a big- Uh, this is Quark. Quark? Calling from up in the AK up there?
• 5:31
  Are you calling from the AK? Uh, yeah. It's a relay from, uh, Deep Space Nine. This is Quark, drinking Andorian ale. [laughs] Very good. L- looking for profits.
• 5:43
  So are, this is, like, Quark, like, the sub- subatomic particle? That's 10% talking, baby. Uh. [laughs] Uh, the Star Trek Quark, maybe? Star Trek reference, yeah. Oh. The post Spock. Oh, he had some big ears.
• 5:58
  Rest in peace. That guy had some ears and stuff. Yeah. Rest in peace, Spock. Leonard Nimoy. So do you have a, do you have a, uh, do you have a question for Uncle Dick? Maybe a tubeless question- Um-...
• 6:09
  or do you guys go tubeless in, in Andromeda? Yeah, I mean, uh, yeah, what's his, uh, tubeless setup?
• 6:14
  I mean, I've been going tubeless on my, uh, Zero Gravity fat bikes here for a couple years now, and if he's got an easier way to make it happen, that'd be awesome.
• 6:24
  Uh, tubeless is the way of the future, and there's much profit in it, and, uh, that's all I care about, is profit. Yeah, I can, uh... We can answer a couple questions.
• 6:33
  You know, the last thing I really, you know, want people to do is to slather this all over the bead itself to ease, you know, insulation, because everybody's running these r- really low pressures, from 29er, 29er plus to fat bikes.
• 6:51
  Realistically, if you've got some speed and you've got some skill, and you, you, you know, you come G-ing through a turn, you're gonna burp your tire. Burp. Burp. What I always tell people is- Burp... you know,
• 7:04
  it's really, it's really an aid to help get the, you know, where you have those stubborn situations at home or in a shop, and- I got a stubborn situation at home, all right?
• 7:14
  [laughs] And you wanna just pa- you wanna slather it up- Burp... and paint it on in the troubled areas.
• 7:20
  I'm not the smallest guy and I run, like, 24, you know, some pounds in, like, a 29er, 29er plus, and you will burp your tire. So, you know, I, I always tell people, you know, use it, use it with caution.
• 7:33
  We use it in the shop a lot, and it's definitely when you've got a tire that's just not setting square in the bead and, and getting nice and even when you, when you roll it and look down at the tire.
• 7:42
  It really helps pop that little- That little spot out... yeah. And it's, you know, it's compatible with all sealants. Um- So, so it's helping to, it's helping to set the bead, and it's also to prevent burps as well?
• 7:52
  Is that what you're saying? No, I actually think if you, you know, you really want, you really want your bead to be seated tight, right? Right.
• 8:00
  So if you're just piling this stuff on, you're asking for, you're asking for a problem if you're really, like, mocking through a high speed turn or something and you got low pressure. I think it's really- Right...
• 8:10
  for me personally, always tell people, "You put it where you need it." Now, if you're installing tu- Okay...
• 8:16
  if you're in- installing tubeless, right, it is problematic if you can't get the bead to drop in and seat properly, okay?
• 8:26
  So if the bead doesn't, if the bead doesn't seat properly, you got sealant passing through the gap. Everybody's frustrated, you know? Yeah. You know, and sealant's- It's a mess... shooting all over the place.
• 8:36
  So, um, I think there's other things going on. You know, I think people's, pe- people gotta look at the bead itself. There's flashing on a tire, right, from production. Except for Van Halgas. Right.
• 8:48
  And you've gotta trim that flashing. Right. You've gotta make, you've gotta look for burrs in the rim.
• 8:53
  You gotta, you kinda gotta look at, you know, all the, all the various little, you know, the tire, the rim, the ris- your rim strip properly put together.
• 9:01
  So, you know, Uncle Dick's isn't just gonna flo- swoop in and solve everything. It's...
• 9:05
  But it really helps with all these cross-compatible rims, tires, sealants, uh, you know, rim strips and, you know, and all the variables. So it's, it's kind of a, it's kind of a nice little Band-Aid. And you know what?
• 9:17
  Just for calling in- It's like a Bengay... we're gonna- Bengay for your tire... we're, we're gonna send you a tin. Is it, uh, flammable? Oh, is it flammable? [laughs] It is not flammable. It's not flammable.
• 9:28
  But you know what we're gonna do? Okay.
• 9:29
  Is we're going to pack up some of our, uh, Uncle Dick's into a small tin, put a sticker and a application brush with it, send it to you out there in Andromeda galalalaxy, and, uh, you can, you can, uh, check it out.
• 9:45
  Yeah, we'll give you a call a little bit later. Absolutely.
• 9:46
  We'll collect up your information, or just send your information in along with your phone number to sven@fat-bike.com and remind us you won this on the show, and we'll get it out to you. All right, dude.
• 9:58
  We got another call. Sweet. Thanks, guys. Yeah. Rock on. Thanks for calling in, buddy. Cheers. Yep. See you guys. Hey, who's on the line? Hi, this is Sean from Wilmington, North Carolina. Not in the snow.
• 10:10
  [laughs] Right on, Sean. How are you doing? Doing great out here. How are you guys? Doing good. We got Uncle Dick in the studio, JK, Gomez. Even Tony's lurking around in the back there.
• 10:21
  We got, we got all sorts of stuff going on today. [laughs] Awesome. I, I got a little, I got a little feedback from you from something. You got a radio on or something? What do you got going on there, Sean?
• 10:31
  Turn down your God damn radio. Oh. [laughs] Ah, you- No radio... right on. That's bad. So, uh, Sean is hosting- Is it better now? Uh, yeah, sounds better.
• 10:44
  Uh, Sean's hosting the USN Beach Open down there in North Carolina next weekend. Awesome.
• 10:49
  Sean, g- give us a little heads-up about fat biking in your area first, and then we'll just talk a little bit about the, uh, the, the event. Yeah. Well, we, uh, a little slow in catching on, I think.
• 11:00
  There's been a few guys in the, in the area that have been riding for a while, and just triathlons and paddleboarding and, you know, all the road stuff that's so big here.
• 11:09
  And we just kinda started looking at the beaches, and we've got a bunch of islands that are uninhabited and started riding those, and kinda, it just caught on. So it's a good thing. Right on.
• 11:23
  Yeah, I actually spent some time down there last spring and rode around, and no one knew what a fat bike was, and everybody told me, "There's no way you'll be able to ride that bike on the beach, son."
• 11:33
  And everything was rideable. It was totally awesome. I saw sharks, stingrays- Yeah, I saw-... a narwhal. Narwhal? [laughs] Narwhal. Just kidding about the narwhal. Okay. The unicorn, though. Narwhal.
• 11:46
  But, uh, I gotta, I gotta say one thing. There's a big drop here. I, I, I went to your website and you said it's the first beach race of its kind.
• 11:54
  I hate to burst your bubble, bud, but I ran one three years ago, maybe five years ago. I don't know. We ran one here on, on Lake Michigan. Where, where? But, uh- Oh, yeah... we didn't have saltwater. Oh.
• 12:05
  And- That's fresh water. Exactly. No, no sharks either. Yeah. No sharks. It's a saltwater race. Saltwater race. It was a, it was a shark-free zone.
• 12:13
  [laughs] You got this whole tradition- Maybe you have to wait this year... of, uh, of ri- of riding cars on the beach out there. So, you know?
• 12:21
  Yeah, that, that happens and that's, there's a section where there's, uh, trucks that drive up and down. They're patrol trucks for the lifeguard and stuff, so that'll make it kinda fun getting in and out of those ruts.
• 12:32
  Um, but yeah, it's just, uh, you know, hard sand, soft sand. We're designing it more like a cyclocross type course. Mm-hmm. Kinda trying to make it spectator friendly.
• 12:41
  Um, Red Wing jumped on board, and they're gonna send girls with Red Bull and stuff, so might be interesting. Very cool. They're gonna buy Jack Daniel Red Bull. [laughs] Yeah. So that, the, the, I looked at the area.
• 12:54
  I was trying to figure out how to get down there, 'cause you were generous enough to say, "Hey, man, come on down. We'll, we'll hook you up."
• 12:59
  But, uh, not gonna work out this year, but I, I'm fully intending on being there next year.
• 13:04
  The area where you have the race and the hotel that it's actually kind of, uh, headquartered out of looks like it's on a spit or a, a small barrier island. That's exactly.
• 13:14
  It's, uh, Wrightsville Beach is a barrier island. And so the, the hotel is, it's pretty neat. It's on the sound and the ocean side.
• 13:21
  The, the beach itself is eight miles long, and so we're gonna do some rides after the race, you know, a long ride, a night ride the night after the race and then the next morning.
• 13:31
  Um, and then there's a guy that has a boat that will take us over. He's, he'd haul it this year, but next year the plan is to have it available to a, another island, which is eight miles long, and just ride that.
• 13:44
  And there's nobody that lives there. It's uninhabited and just kinda cool birds and neat scenery. So that's something that you can only access- Great... by boat, right? You, you'd put your bike on the boat.
• 13:53
  You jump from one island to the next. Correct. That sounds really cool. Yeah. Or, or pack raft. You could actually pack raft from- Pack raft... from- In the ocean... yeah. Yeah, yeah.
• 14:02
  But it's ocean that's- If you time it right in the inlets, you can hit the current right, and you could, you could do that.
• 14:08
  You could literally, you could pack raft the whole, all the North Carolina shore for that matter. That'd be cool.
• 14:13
  Yeah, South Core Bank, man, that was the place that I went to that it was like, "Oh, this is fat bike heaven." You could come here and just- Yeah... squat forever.
• 14:24
  I, I've ridden as far south as Cape Cod on the, uh, Atlantic [laughs] shoreline so far. So I definitely have to get down that way. I got sand fly bites though. I slept in the, on the beach and- Anytime. Right on.
• 14:36
  Well, I hope you have a good event, Sean. Thanks for, uh, calling in. We'll have a link to the event in the show notes, and, uh, I know it's going off next weekend.
• 14:43
  Uh, good luck, and, uh, give us a report after the event. Let us know how it turned out. We absolutely will. I appreciate, appreciate you guys' support, and, uh, yeah, if anybody's down this direction, send them by.
• 14:54
  We're experimenting with different tubeless. I heard you guys saw about that, just had tubeless setups and different things and different rim strips and glitter and all that good stuff here lately.
• 15:04
  So it's a- Glitter and glycol... fun time. [laughs] Yeah, you know what we're gonna do? We're gonna send you a tin of bead slip and a sample of Sven's brain tissue. Yeah. [laughs] That and 10 bucks- Send, we'll, uh-...
• 15:16
  will get you a, a pack of chewing gum. [laughs] All right, so you got that going for you at least- That was-... from your, from your little, uh, radio experiment here.
• 15:26
  To- Tony's making all sorts of fucking- That's awesome... noise in the background over there. [laughs] It isn't fucking noise. [laughs] It is, uh, cooler noise. [laughs] Everyone knows fucking noise is cooler noise.
• 15:35
  He's, he, he got a call from the wife. He's heading out with his, uh, with his loaner set of wheels.
• 15:40
  Somebody jacked Tony's set of fat bike wheels off his bike in the middle of the day, believe it or not, in front of his daughter's school. I mean, how, how much shittier can you get?
• 15:50
  Maybe we should have a telethon for Tony. That's bad. Telethon for Tony. Next week- Yeah, you gotta move out of that hood... next week, Tony, telethon for Tony. [laughs] Have a great night, guys. Thanks. Thanks, Tony.
• 15:59
  When is Sean's event? Because if we have time I could get him, if he needs some, you know, counsel, can, uh, some prizes. Oh, Uncle Dick's, uh, offering up- He could, yeah...
• 16:06
  maybe some prizes for your, uh, for your race there. It's March 27th, right? That would be huge. We'll, uh- Uh, next weekend, March 14th. It's, uh, 14th. Get Tony something as a loaner. Oh, it's the 14th.
• 16:16
  Eh, you still got a week. Yeah, he can contact me- Yeah... through uncledicksbikeshop.com. We'll, we'll take up a collection to, uh, get him a new set of wheels as well after the event.
• 16:24
  We'll, we'll work on Tony, but, uh- [laughs]... Uncle, Uncle Dick will send you some stuff for prizes for the event. Just, uh, get ahold of Rich at Uncle Dick's- Un- Uncle Dick's Bike Shop... Bike Shop. Dot com.
• 16:32
  Uncledicksbikeshop.com. We'll have a link in the show notes for that too. Perfect. Right on, Sean. I'll tweet that out. Well, we're gonna get back- Thank you, guys... to our beer discussion. Thanks for calling in.
• 16:40
  Hope you have a good event. Perfect. Talk to y'all soon. Bye. See ya. Bye. Bye-bye. We're at the top of the hill. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Beer stop already? Beer stop again. What do you mean already?
• 16:53
  [clears throat] Beer stop, ladies and germs. Uh, I need a cough button. [laughs] [clears throat] You mean- Or a, or a laugh, a laugh button... you push the button and it coughs?
• 17:05
  Just point- Or when you're coughing you push the button and it cuts you off? Or just point at me and I'll cough for you. [laughs] Oh. Oh, oh. A, a cough slave, a cough peasant. [laughs] It's good to be the king.
• 17:21
  That is, uh, actually on the second go-round, I like that beer. Thankshulio.com for your recommendation. Indeed. And now we're actually in the beard segment of Beards and Beer. Beards and Beards. Beards and Beards.
• 17:33
  Me too, uh- Beards and Beards and Beards and Beards... be- be- beards and Beards. Pizza, beer, Beards and Beards and Beards and Beards. There, there are actually four Beards in here today. I know. We, uh- Huh...
• 17:39
  have you ever used beard oil there, Uncle Dick? No, a little mustache wax though. There you go. Few, few years back. The mustache wax kinda got me, 'cause you're like, "How'd they get that shit out of there?"
• 17:49
  So I had to kinda read up, and, like, you're supposed to use your fingernail. I got no fingernails, so I had to use a penny. Penny? Yeah.
• 17:54
  Got it and then you work it in and get it nice and warm, and then it's all ooh, man. Never know where that penny's been, though.
• 18:00
  [laughs] I only bought, I only bought mustache wax for the- I know where it was right before I used it... cool little, for that little, the cool little comb. Little baby little comb.
• 18:11
  I lost my little baby comb after one day. [hums] First time. I still have it. Well, actually, I, I thought I'd brought it- My baby comb... maybe, but I already lost it- Maybe your-... on the way here... baby comb. Mm.
• 18:18
  That, uh, penny comment made a lot of sense Thanks, Rich And you can see his Uncle Dick's in your mustache [laughs] That might be an idea But Quark is still hanging out and listening to the radio show.
• 18:31
  [laughs] He's talking to us from outer space, folks I know, dude He's, he's getting his money's worth, that guy [laughs] No doubt. There was another voice, and I was like, "Shit, I really do have voices in my head."
• 18:43
  [laughs] What's happening? I almost had, I almost had JK living with beer up his nose. Almost. Almost. Oh. Yeah, that would've been good. Almost So, uh, Gomez brought back, uh,
• 18:53
  Gomez brought back JK and I beard oil from up in Alaska there from Capo's. And- Capo's... Capo's. Yeah And I, I did slather that stuff on. I tried the, the, uh, the comb method, and I like it. It's cool.
• 19:07
  It does- I was just, I was just scared of... I didn't know how to apply it at first You put it on your hand- It smells like medicine, dude... and then you put it in your beard.
• 19:15
  No, I put it on a comb, and then I combed it through. Did you watch the- I was just gonna over he- no, I didn't watch anything Did you watch the video with the naked guy in it?
• 19:22
  The, the best way is kinda like- No, I didn't watch the video. I, I-... you rub one out, and then you put it in your mustache Rub one out [laughs] You rub one out, and it's in your mustache.
• 19:29
  It, it's got an ear dropper Normally, normally. Yeah. Yeah, it comes with a dropper for a reason, so you can meter it out, because that- I wanna, I wanna put my head down like this That's, well, that's- Yeah...
• 19:36
  that's why I felt like I needed to- You meter it out... put it on a comb or something. It, it seemed- Yeah, it actually aids in getting it on the comb, for sure... it seemed like a, like a science to it. Yeah. And, yeah.
• 19:45
  And- That's the way I do it. I put it on a comb- I was listening to you... and then I comb it in. I just- 'Cause I got a lot of beard. Yeah. I just never thought about it.
• 19:52
  I just, like s- put water on it and woop, woop, woop. We're trying, we're trying to, you know, get, get JK- Get me out of a dark age [laughs]... on the podium for this beard contest.
• 20:03
  [laughs] And I'm, I'm- I've been on the podium- [laughs]... but I haven't stayed on the podium is the problem I, I'm just preaching product, product, product. [laughs] You sound like a girl when you say product.
• 20:13
  The problem is if you get too much, if you get too much oil and stuff in your beard and your mustache, the ice isn't gonna stick, so it's gonna be counterproductive. I'll see. And that'll work against you.
• 20:22
  And that, that brings us to the whole ice beard. See, the, the, the contest that JK's going into is in a bar. It's like full-on- It's a-...
• 20:31
  uh, the, the- Freestyle rules apply for partial beard competition- Freestyle beard rules apply... that I'm gonna be involved in But, I mean, Sven- Can't have any jewelry or adornments...
• 20:39
  Sven'll tell us about the, uh, about the ice beard contest. Yeah, yeah, that's going really well. Uh, uh, we sh- you shoot us a shot of that frozen beard. Send it to sven@fatbike.com with "ice beard" in the subject line.
• 20:53
  You've got until March 31st, so couple more weeks out there. We've got some great prizes from our friends at Surly, including Marge Lite rims and Nate ultralight tires. I'll have a link to that in the show notes.
• 21:05
  Uh- And locally-... you start moving on it quick, because it's starting to warm up a little bit Yeah, it's gonna be 40 all next week. I mean, you'll have to come out. Do not.
• 21:14
  [laughs] You just have to go to the frozen food section- Yeah, it's like spring time on here... of your local, uh, supermarket and just hang out in there Look at your weather bug or whatever, leather weather face. Yeah.
• 21:24
  [laughs] Your weather leather face. Get a, get a weather face. Get a weather leather face. A w- a leather face. Well, this has been a fabulous, fabulous visit with Uncle Dick. Mm. Mm. We really appreciate you coming out.
• 21:35
  It's, yeah, it's fantastic. You wanna hang around? We're gonna have to do a commercial break and a station ID and all that stuff here pretty soon. I, I would. But hang out in the studio. I would love to participate.
• 21:44
  Right on. We're gonna be back with the, uh, Weekly Dose of Fat right after this.
• 21:49
  [upbeat music] Whether you carry your bikes on your roof or with a hitch, the best way to get your fat bike to the trail is with a rack from 1UP USA.
• 22:05
  1UP USA uses stainless steel hardware on their all-aluminum racks and come with a lifetime warranty. 1UP USA racks are made in the USA, right in Wisconsin.
• 22:17
  Visit 1upusa.com for more information on the fastest loading, highest quality rack solutions. This is Ned Over in, and I listen to the Weekly Dose of Fat on Fat Bike Radio.
• 22:34
  Hey, welcome back to the program, ladies and gentlemen. Here's Sven with the little fat bike funskis, courtesy of Madge from our outreach department down at the home office in Freeland Pack, Indiana. Take it away, Sven.
• 22:47
  Yeah. Well, Adam won our snow dance contest and then built up a badass set of wheels, and then, this is the part that really kicks ass, he sent us a picture back. Aw. So- Aw. [laughs] Ooh, aw.
• 23:00
  So we're gonna have that on the site. It'll be at the top. It'll be the most prominent thing on the show notes. And we have John Lackey calling in. We're gonna go ahead and talk to John right about now. Word. Word. Word.
• 23:16
  Can you hear me? Hey, John. How are you? Welcome to the show. Hey, thank you. So congratulations on the big win in the ITI 350 and setting the world record. [laughs] Thank you. Thank you. It was a, it was a good one.
• 23:32
  Yeah. It was a good year. So John- Fast Corvus... our, uh, our audience wants to know about your race bike, your, uh, special edition pink Corvus from Greg and the boys at Fatback. Back. Back. Back. It's okay.
• 23:48
  Absolutely. It's, uh, it's a rocket ship, man. That's, uh, it's an amazing bike.
• 23:54
  It, it's the, like you said, the Corvus from Fatback, and they hooked me up with, uh, the Fat- Fatback wheels and the carbon rims and, um, all outfitted with Revelate, uh, bags.
• 24:07
  And it, it, it's a beautiful machine, man, and it, it [audio distorts] that course. It was perfect. It sounds like you have the Beastie Boys going on in the background. [laughs] Yeah, it's, it's a bit loud in here.
• 24:22
  There's all the racers coming in and out, and, uh, we got [laughs] Yeah, all sorts of stuff going on here [laughs] Cool, man. So what kind of tires did you run?
• 24:32
  Uh, I was running the Dillinger 5s, and that was pretty much the consensus. I think that 90% of the people in the race were running the studded Dillinger 5s.
• 24:39
  It was, it was icy out here, really quite icy, sketchy in spots. Um, so studs were almost mandatory.
• 24:48
  Yeah, we were gonna kinda check in with you on the lack of snow, so how did that affect the course conditions from what you might have seen in years past? Uh, you know, it w- it was fast, but it was really bumpy.
• 24:58
  Um, the rivers coming up the, at the start of the race here on the Yetna and the, and the Susitna, and, and both of those were, uh,
• 25:07
  i- it was slushy the week before, and then it froze down, so it was a, just rutted, kinda chunky ice that it w- it was fast, but not super fun just 'cause you really had to pick your line the whole time, and you had to be very attentive just otherwise it'd, it'd kick you off the bike.
• 25:20
  And it, uh, right at the start, Kevin Breidenbach got, got knocked off a bike by, he got threatened, just it, it bucked him and dislocated his middle finger on his left hand, and it was pointing sideways. Ooh.
• 25:33
  Uh, he almost had to drop out of the race because of it. Yeah, it was disgusting. Almost. It was, um, it, it looked nasty [laughs]. Almost, yeah, he, he came back and got second, so he did okay. [laughs] Yeah.
• 25:47
  So what part of the race did you end up catching up with, uh, Andrew Komotowski? Um, so Andrew took off out of Rainy Pass Lodge and, uh, hit the pass before everybody else.
• 26:00
  He didn't take a, a long rest at Rainy Pass and just took off, and we, uh, there was, uh, let's see, six of us all together, and we kinda sat down, and I wanted a little rest, so I laid my head down for a half hour.
• 26:10
  Didn't get any sleep, but at least got to rest my legs. And then, and then Kevin and I both took off essentially the same time from Rainy Pass and headed, uh, up and over.
• 26:20
  And we could see Andrew was, uh, we couldn't see him up the way, but we were just watching his track as we were coming in. He was, his track was looking strong.
• 26:26
  He was riding up pretty steep hills, and it was, it was pretty impressive.
• 26:29
  We got into Roan, um, about 35 miles past Rainy Pass Lodge, which is, you know, you up and over pass down into Roan, and Andrew had stopped there for 13 minutes.
• 26:40
  He took a bratwurst on the bike and took off, is what we, uh, that was the report from the, uh, from the tech point. [laughs] So we [laughs] looked at each other and- Damn mustard...
• 26:48
  Kevin Breidenbach and I looked at each other and said, "Well, crap, this guy is flying. I, I think he's got a plan. I think he knows what he's doing," and, uh, we were pretty scared at that point. So, uh,
• 26:59
  so I said to Kevin, "I, I, I, I'm gonna ride as hard as I possibly can until I get to McGrath, and if I catch Andrew, I catch him, and if I don't, he can ride. He's, he'd earned it, you know?"
• 27:09
  So, uh, I took off out of Roan, and about halfway into Nikolai, so about another s- uh, 60 miles down the trail, uh, I finally caught up with him, and, and he was starting to waver then.
• 27:20
  And, and at that point, after I passed him, I made sure to pass him pretty good [laughs]. [laughs] So, uh, he- Call him out...
• 27:27
  he, he was pretty tired though, and, uh, and, and he took a rest on the side of the trail at that point, um, and just recouped.
• 27:32
  And, I mean, kudos to him because I think that, I mean, he was going for quite a long way from Rainy Pass to there, and, and he took, like, two hours and, and he finished str- super strong. I mean, there was
• 27:45
  just that rest, and then he came back and came back right behind Kevin right into the finish, so. So you- It was a hell of a race...
• 27:53
  so you mentioned that, uh, Kevin had a, a little injury with the dislocated finger at, on this race. You had a herniated disc last year. How was coming back from that injury and then getting back- I did...
• 28:04
  into it, uh, uh, this year? How did that go? Uh, it was a long process. I was, um, planning on going to the, uh, Rovaniemi 150 race in Finland last year, and, and I went, uh, but I didn't get to race.
• 28:17
  My wife raced it, and she won the women's category. And so from February last year, I was off the bike all the way through, um, uh, June, which is the longest time I've been off the bike for two decades.
• 28:32
  Um, uh, yeah, so then I was recovering, and my, it wasn't until late in the summer this last summer that I could actually put good, long rides in, um, get on the bike for, you know, my long weekend eight-hour kinda rides.
• 28:44
  So it, it, it was, it was motivating, is what it was. I mean, I, I had a whole winter last winter where I couldn't race. I couldn't do anything, and, uh, it, it, it, it made me hungry for it, is what it did.
• 28:58
  And, uh, I, I'm, I'm happy that my back held up. My back's quite sore right now, but, you know, it, it, it made it, so [laughs] that's all I can ask. Yeah. Made it, made it in style and in world record time.
• 29:10
  Really amazing performance out there, John. Thank you. We really, uh, we really, we're kinda speechless. I, I just can't believe that, uh, that that's what people are, are saying about the, the, about the new record.
• 29:22
  350 miles in less than 48 hours- Pretty incredible... is just incredible. It seems like that's the, that's the new norm these days, that every, every year something like [laughs] that happens. They keep breaking them.
• 29:33
  We're gonna have to break one day next year [laughs]. You know, one of these winters is gonna come, and there's gonna be six days of pushing the bike, and it's, it's gonna seem normal again.
• 29:44
  [laughs] Well, we really appreciate having you on the show, John. Oh, you're welcome [laughs]. Man, it's, uh, just an incredible, uh, honor to, uh, to talk to someone so soon after they finish such an epic effort.
• 29:58
  It was like Greg wanted me to call you right away, and I was like, "Man, the guy's been up for 48 hours straight." [laughs] I would be right for the bed. [laughs] I would, they, they wouldn't wake me for three days, but.
• 30:11
  Exactly. But, uh, he, he said that after that kind of effort, he's like, he won't be able to sleep. He'll be all still running at full steam. So we really appreciate you coming on the show. Yeah, yeah.
• 30:24
  Thanks for, thanks for calling, and, uh, thanks for having me [laughs]. Right on, man. Can't wait to, uh, meet you in person. All right.
• 30:31
  We're, uh, we're gonna come up maybe to the ITI next year and, uh, help out at one of those checkpoints, so. Where bribes are not out of the question. Absolutely. That'd be great. Great to see you out there. Cool, John.
• 30:45
  Have a good one. Thanks for calling in. All right. Yep, take care, guys. Right on, man. John Lackey. John Lackey.
• 30:53
  Just fresh from winning the ITI up in Alaska, takes time to talk to us humble servants at the Fat Bike World. I know. He won on Tues- early Tuesday morning, and this is Wednesday night. Right on.
• 31:04
  Oddly enough, we have another caller on the line. No way. Do you think we should Uncle Dick the hell out of him? Let's Uncle Dick that guy. Yeah. [laughs] Get him. Welcome to the radio program.
• 31:18
  Who do we have on the line? Hey, it's Mike McColgan, defending PWC champion from Florida. [laughs] Oh, Mike is going up to defend his axe. Dude. I'm gonna axe you.
• 31:29
  Sorry, all those things- Are you gonna, are you gonna win again? I hope so, 'cause the, we, the champ determines the, the bike games, so I'm kind of leaning towards jousting with pool nu- pool noodles. Oh.
• 31:40
  Jousting with pool noodles. You know, the one with the, uh, the little light-up ball and the, uh, the, the mallets was really good, but, uh, I do like jousting. I know bucket ball, man. Oh, bucket ball's not bad.
• 31:51
  Bucket ball's pretty badass. I'm a big fan of bucket ball. So- It might be, uh, bucket ball to thin it out, and then the, the winning bucket ball team jousts- [laughs]... for the full-on axe.
• 32:02
  Hey, you're the champion, man. You make the rules. Yeah. So do you have any questions for, for Uncle Dick here? But after listening to John, I feel horribly inadequate. Uh, I don't know.
• 32:11
  I didn't know I was gonna talk to Uncle Dick. [laughs] Hey, uh, Mike, did you, uh- I did... get a, did you get a chance to look at the, uh, the course layout that O'Gara put up on, uh- [laughs]... the, the website today?
• 32:23
  I don't know if you know all the trails in Decorah, but he, he laid it out pretty good what the course is gonna be, so if you can decipher all of that, uh, gibberish with, uh, with captains and, and- [laughs]...
• 32:33
  and, and public TV and up past a Dead Rat Pass and all that stuff, I think you'll know what [laughs] the course is gonna be like. With Captain Cap'n and Grandy. Yeah.
• 32:42
  Just shortcut the course and go to- Oh, they have their own language...
• 32:45
  to Toppling Goliath Brewery, and they have a nice outdoor little area there that you'd be able to strip down to your, to your sports bra [laughs] and your bibs- Well, I believe-... and, and sun yourself...
• 32:58
  I believe last, was it- Or run some kids... Mike, was, was it- Oh, I see. [laughs] It was just last year that Mike and I, uh, uh, didn't run the actual race portion of it, did the PWC
• 33:10
  feats of strength, and he came away champion. Champion. And you're representing, uh- Yeah, I did my part with Chewie and just kind of hung back and made sure that, that all the, the DSL guys and the racers were all safe.
• 33:21
  [laughs] That's very, uh, generous of you with your time. Indeed. Yeah. So you're gonna, you're gonna be the fatbike.com representative at PWC since Sven is going to something called Fat Bike Birkie. Yeah, I don't know.
• 33:37
  It's up there in northern Wisconsin. I'm not even sure what it is. It's, it's, uh, 750 people. You'd think somebody would've heard about it by now. I'm going to Bike Fashion Week- [laughs]...
• 33:46
  in Paris, France, or the North American Handled Bicycle Show, which is kind of like- Is that in Louisville? [laughs] Louisville. Very, very similar. Louisville on the catwalk. [laughs] There will be- Yeah...
• 33:59
  a lot of sexy bikes. I hear, uh, Chris Chance is coming back with, uh, Fat Chance. No doubt. Do you think he's gonna make a fat bike, or is he just gonna stick with them skinny tire things they made back in the '80s?
• 34:08
  I don't know. Well, you'll find out shortly then, won't you? [laughs] Exactly. I can't wait till- Is he gonna make, like, a half fat for this one? [laughs] Perhaps. I'm thinking of bringing my Krampus.
• 34:20
  That's the bike I'm bringing down there. Wait, what? 'Cause it's, there's no snow in Louisville. True that. I, uh- Woo, woo... apparently there's, like, a 12-mile, uh, mountain bike trail underground there. Oh. Oh, shit.
• 34:34
  Yeah, that sounds pretty good. That sound in the salt mines? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'd do that stuff. Oh, yeah. That's where, that's where Steven Seagal found all that [laughs]
• 34:42
  all that, all that nuclear waste or nerve gas or whatever it was. Before he started slap fighting somebody. Yeah. [laughs] That was where I, that was where I trained Steven Seagal. Yeah.
• 34:52
  Well, if you run across Steven Seagal, you're judo, right, Mike? And he is, uh, aikido or- I'm a little bit, I-... or sukido... I claim a little bit of everything.
• 35:01
  So you're gonna do sukido or aikido with, uh- He doesn't-... with Steven? He doesn't scare me. I can outrun him. [laughs] Well, anymore, for sure. Yeah. He, he's gotten a little, gotten a little rounder in his old age.
• 35:13
  That's all right, though. Yeah, he's putting all that weight on with that spray-on hair. [laughs] [coughs] Wait, he's got spray-on hair? See, that's where that cough of mine- You could have that...
• 35:24
  would come in, come in handy. Cough. So, McColgan- Yeah, he, yeah, like, he sprays it. He's spraying his bald spot. Oh. I thought that was Bruce Willis before he became, like, the shaved head guy.
• 35:36
  He probably did it, too. He did it. He did it. All right. Well, you know, represent fatbike.com with, uh, with, uh, I don't know, that certain aplomb that- Pith and vinegar [laughs] Pith and vinegar. Plus- I shall...
• 35:52
  plus Uncle, Uncle Dick- There will, there will be jousting one way or the other... is gonna be happy to send you a tin of Uncle Dick's Bead Slip. Yeah, man, you try this Bead Slip, I'm telling you- I-...
• 36:02
  two kids become seven kids in no time. No time. That, that's not, that's not appealing to me. [laughs] Well- I have two kids, and I didn't have gray hair before I had two kids. Hmm.
• 36:18
  And the one's already asking for a fat bike. [laughs] You must oblige. My youngest, my youngest is 23, and he's going to study chimpanzees in Africa. Chimpanzees ride fat bikes.
• 36:30
  [coughs] Yeah, so That's, that's in your future, bro Does he want, does he wanna bring a four-year-old home? Is he gonna say hey to- [laughs] Does he wanna bring a four-year-old home?
• 36:37
  Is he gonna say hey to Jane Goodall up in there? That's, he's going to the preserve where Jane Goodall first studied chimpanzees. Did he just say he's gonna bring a four-year-old home? [laughs] No, yes.
• 36:49
  If my son wanted to bring a- If he, he bring, he brings the, the young one... bring his four-year-old-... directly approach to the monkey behavior... to go study the chimps. It, it's a PG show there, Dick. Yeah.
• 36:57
  Chimps, chimps will, uh, will bite your fingers off if you let them. [laughs] That's all I have to say about chimps. They go fingers, they go genitals too. Fingers, genitals. They go, ah, ur, ouch, oh.
• 37:08
  The chimps in Jumanji were really cool. That was a great movie with chimps. Robin Williams. Well, the ch- the chimpanzees. Robin Williams, not so much. Whatever. Chimpanzees. He's like a chimp. He's [laughs] hilarious.
• 37:19
  Amy is the good gorilla. [laughs] Amy- Congo. Congo reference We have Quark on the line with us still from AK. [laughs] Oh, and before I go, I just wanna say that, that chick that answers your phone sounds hot.
• 37:33
  [laughs] Oh, she, a lot of people think that she's totally into them. Yeah, Mike has already made a date with her, but, uh, I don't know if he's come through with it or not. I, yeah, I have no idea. Mike Gyper type.
• 37:44
  Right, right. Not Little Mike. I don't know. That chick is hot. She sounds so sexy. That chick is so into me. [laughs] We can change it to a male voice if you want. Hey, you wanna stick around for some links? Yeah.
• 37:54
  We've got some linky dinks here. We got, uh, we got Tony Lund. He's over, from over there in the old country. Came over here, but before that, he was training for the ITI. [laughs] Well, now he's racing in the ITI.
• 38:09
  Yeah, he's probably done with... G- I actually read that he and some other guy, Charlie Tree maybe- Oh... came in together.
• 38:18
  Charlie had that great idea of the, uh, the, the, the short and the long, uh, king and queen of the ITI. Heather Best killed it, dude. I know.
• 38:29
  But Tracy came in second, so you know, maybe, maybe Jay will pull it out, take first. Maybe Jeff will take second. You don't know. And then there's style points. How do you work all that out? Mm-hmm. Matching fat bikes.
• 38:43
  Oh, yes. Well, for sure. Yeah, I, I think they, I think they would- Fat Panda... that would, like, equal out because both the Peter Veres are gonna be riding Salsas,
• 38:53
  and both the, the Oatley and Best are both on fat backs, but, uh, one Corvus and one Sweet Lynskey made Taiwan. I don't know. I don't know if a Salsa makes a bike that could beat that, that pair. Not possible.
• 39:08
  Yeah, that's pretty- Mike. [laughs] Not possible. Hey, uh, this, uh, this, this Salamandre video that we're gonna have a link to, I'll even embed that video in the, uh, show notes.
• 39:20
  They're, those guys make fat bikes over in France, make some really sweet stuff. We've had a couple of their bikes on the show. This is Jan, Jan from France. Jan, he makes some really sweet b- I, I can't do French.
• 39:28
  I can't. JK- [French accent] Hon, hon, hon... hook me up with French. [French accent] Hon, hon, hon, hon. [laughs] [French accent] For sooth. [normal voice] Hon, hon, hon, hon. I went English and French at the same time.
• 39:37
  And then JK has, has his links... Uh, uh, wait, every time I look at them, there's fewer of them. [laughs] Are they, are they- Oh... are they dying off? Yeah. No, not at all. No, they was just open numbers at times.
• 39:49
  [laughs] Open numbers. I, I have my own math system. Yes, exactly. Uh, yeah, there was a, a link off the, uh, Wisconsin Bike Fed site about, uh, this, uh, pharmacist in Fitchburg that started doing delivery.
• 40:06
  Uh, his wife got him a Surly ice cream truck for Christmas, and- [singing] Stop me when I'm passing by. [laughs] Oh, my- [singing] How much babies I will see. Perfect excuse to, "Oh, I gotta make a delivery."
• 40:17
  [laughs] Well, it, that was the thing. He like, it, it- [singing] To satisfy...
• 40:21
  in the, uh, link, you know, you could just tell, just listening to it, was going like, "I just, I don't need an excuse to go riding around on this thing. I make excuses to go ride around on this thing."
• 40:34
  [laughs] And does he bring OxyContins to my house? [laughs] Because that'd be really sweet.
• 40:39
  Fitchburg, you got the state mental institution right there, and the Military Ridge Trail, [laughs] which, like, goes right from there. Um- You know, you know your state of Wisconsin. Apparently.
• 40:51
  [laughs] 'Cause I don't know damn, uh, nothing about Fitchburg. [laughs] Mental institution. Ugh. Well, so speaking of mental institutions, we got this, uh- We, we've got Uncle Dick in the studio.
• 41:02
  [laughs] We got this Mike Howarth, uh, cat from the UK. This guy, I'm telling you, unbelievable pictures.
• 41:14
  He always has some sort of South American llama or yak that has a, some different name in all of his posts. Llama? Llama. This one was in, uh- Llama... this is Peru. Yeah. Peru. Yeah. No, Ecuador. Oh, Ecuador.
• 41:28
  E- Ecuador. Ecuador. And then, uh, beyond that, we got the Pugsy Worlds. We got the Enchanted Fight, Fat Bike Stomp. I mean, I can almost talk.
• 41:40
  [laughs] And we, uh, have the Frosty Fat number six report from those guys out there in, uh, Wasatch Front. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The, uh, what are those guys called? The Fat Bike Brigade. Brigade.
• 41:52
  [laughs] Yeah, Doc and, uh, his three brothers. Sleepy. [laughs] Those guys are great. I, I met them out at the, uh, the, the summit. They were very, very nice. The hell- And then- What the hell is his shoe doing?
• 42:05
  [laughs] And then just for, just for my friend Sven, the shoe king of Milwaukee. Shoe king. He loves shoes. And he's always been- I have more than Imelda Marcos... he's been looking for a shoe just like this.
• 42:18
  I saw this, I was like, "Damn, boy." I'll give you the picture in the link, but I won't buy the shoe for him. [laughs] That's what I'll do for- Maybe, well, it's from Finland.
• 42:27
  Maybe Tony Lund can, uh, hook me up with a pair. Yeah. Maybe Tony Lund will, uh, will test a pair. That'd be sweet. They look nice.
• 42:34
  It looks like what I'm looking for, something that keeps your feet warm and dry Especially when we're splashing through and breaking through ice and all sorts of stuff and it looks good. Yeah.
• 42:44
  I think shoe manufacturers are starting to come around to the fact that it isn't just skiing in the wintertime. People snowshoe, they run, they frolic, they... There's snow gymnastics now.
• 42:56
  There's rhythmic snow gymnastics. [laughs] We frolic in snow. Dance, dance, my angels of the ice, dance. And look, there's, there's... I turn around, and now there's, there's a report from Jill.
• 43:12
  Yes, Jill had a day one ITI report so far. Uh, her, her boyfriend runs. Do, do, do, do, do, do, that guy runs a lot. Mm. She's done it on a fat bike before. She's run it.
• 43:24
  I think she's riding a fat bike to spectate this year, but- Cool... she has one of the old, the original Mootzes that, uh- Oh... wheel builder man- Yeah, uh, Mike Curiak... Mike Curiak- Oh, there it go...
• 43:35
  it was his bike. They call it Snoots now, for some reason. Good, good old friend of mine, Mike Curiak. Mike Curiak. Really? Oh, yeah. I hope he's listening. Hey, Mike. Hey. Yeah, Mike's a cool cat.
• 43:43
  I, I really respect a lot of his viewpoints on shit. You know, um, if you go back before this all was going on, you know, he was really, for me, was like the early- Oh, yeah...
• 43:55
  the first wave of the fat bike guys doing the, uh, the IditaBike and things of that. And I think he's in Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, or he was an inductee. Really? Yeah, he's a, he's, he's got a long history.
• 44:07
  A super special guy, and I think, unfortunately, he was so early, he missed the, uh, he missed the internet, the interweb. Yeah. You know what I mean? He, he really didn't...
• 44:17
  He was there, but there just wasn't these types of avenues, 'cause I think he- We should have Mike on the show. He's still building wheels out there. Oh, yeah. He still makes some of the best wheels in the world.
• 44:26
  Yep, Placemine 29. Yep, exactly. Yeah. And he's got, he's got a real down-to-earth... You know, like most early adopters do. They just- Yeah... have been there, done that, and all of this is silly.
• 44:41
  So before we wrap this up, should we see what else Mike's got on his mind? Mike, what's happening?
• 44:47
  I just want to say I feel really inadequate [clears throat] after listening to, uh, the guy from the ITI talk about racing the ITI. [laughs] Hey, the Pugsley Wor- the Pugsley- I feel like, I feel like less of a man...
• 44:58
  the Pugsley Worlds are every bit the competition that the ITI is, just in a different vein. You wanna feel better? Yeah. Compare yourself- 350 miles in two days... compare yourself to me.
• 45:07
  I'm gonna smack somebody with a noodle in the face. [laughs] It's the same thing. I walked up a set of stairs today. [laughs] Got my windshield replaced.
• 45:18
  Oh, you'll have a clear view on the way down to the, uh, NABS show. Oh. [beep] Oh, God. Oh, God. Eee. Is that the destroy button? That wasn't me. I didn't do it. That the cough button? [laughs] Boonk.
• 45:31
  All right, Quark, you got anything else you wanna add before we sign off this [laughs] freaking waste of an hour of everybody's time? No, I'm good. [laughs] Thanks, guys. Sounds fun.
• 45:45
  [laughs] Uh, I'm not making the duck sounds. [laughs] [laughs] I'm not making duck sounds. Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack. [laughs] [laughs] Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack. Oh my God.
• 46:03
  Thanks again- No, that's my uncle, Doug... to Surly for sponsoring the radio portion of today's broadcast. Quack, quack. Yay, Surly. Yay, Surly.
• 46:12
  Surly bicycles are sold at better bicycle retailers and service centers on Earth and other recognized alternate dimensions. Mm, boy, we've- Right on, Deep Space Nine. [laughs] Deep Space. Deep Space Nine.
• 46:27
  All right, kids. So- Ah... you hear that? That's your bike calling. Go ride it. It likes it when you ride it. We're out of here. Bye bye. Adios.
• 46:38
  [upbeat music] You've been listening to Fat Bike Radio's Weekly Dose of Fat. Find us on the web at fat-bike.com/radio. We'll see you next time.
• 46:52
  [upbeat music]