Latest / Full Spectrum Cycling / Weekly Dose of Fat Show #88 – Interview With Dave Weins and Fat-bike Worlds Talk

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Weekly Dose of Fat Show #88 – Interview With Dave Weins and Fat-bike Worlds Talk · Full Spectrum Cycling

• 0:00
  Weekly Dose of Fat, show number 88 for Friday, January 8th, 2016.
• 0:05
  [laughs] Merry New Year.
• 0:22
  [laughs] Beef jerky time. It is time for the hosts of tonight's show at the pavilion, Sven and Gomez. Welcome to the show, everybody. Good evening, and welcome to the show.
• 0:38
  Please, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our humble studio Mr. JK Living. Booyah, booyah, booyah, ha. Booyah, booyah, booyah, ha. [laughs] Fat Bike Radio [laughs] and the Weekly Dose of Fat is sponsored by Surly Bikes.
• 0:53
  Learn more at surlybikes.com. Well, Mr. Booyah, booyah, booyah, what's on the show this week? We start the show with the event of the week. We welcome Dave Wiens.
• 1:06
  Next week's calling question, spoiler alert, it's the best fat bike of 2015 question. We award the grand prize in our video contest with Becker sewing and precision beer drinking. And mouse clicking.
• 1:21
  [laughs] And pop-ups blocking my computer's ops. Pop-ups. Pop-ups. Banner ads. Ah, we take calls from our listeners and maybe learn something about beard styling and maintenance.
• 1:33
  We check in with the Fatty Farm field report brought to you by the Winter Rush Fat Bike Series, the Michigan State Fat Bike Championships, and the 2017 USA Cycling Fat Bike National Championships.
• 1:44
  And finally- It's time for the Fat Bike event of the week. The event of the week is the Ullr Bike in Breckenridge, Colorado on January 15th.
• 1:57
  For every event detail, visit mavsports.com or click on the link in the show notes. What i- what is this, uh, Ullr Bike thing anyway? It's part of the 53rd annual Ullr Fest, which sounds like just this crazy good time.
• 2:13
  Back in the '50s, they burnt all their old skis and prayed for powder and got new skis and just had a wild whipping ass party. They have a parade that anybody can be in. It gets crazy.
• 2:30
  So this year, because of the Ullr Bike, the Borealis RV will be in it, the Reeb Cycles people will be in it. Um, you know, everything- We, we could be in it if we were there. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
• 2:42
  So this is, uh, this is pangalactic mountain town antics. Uh, I was told it just gets super crazy.
• 2:51
  So they used to burn the skis, but now they burn everybody's old, uh, Christmas tree, so you can imagine how that goes up. Oh, those things are- Tinder... awesome when they go.
• 3:00
  [laughs] Yeah, I don't think burning modern skis would be a good idea. Back when they were still using, uh- Planks... barrel, barrel staves or whatever, uh- Yeah... probably okay 'cause they were wood. [laughs] Right.
• 3:12
  Modern chemicals, chemical fires, bad. Bad for the environment. That would be a class D fire for- And that's, and these would be real natural Christmas trees.
• 3:20
  We could, we could call Tom and ask him what we'd have to put that out with. The artificial Christmas tree burning, you wouldn't be really solving a, a, a thing. Yeah, you know, that's...
• 3:28
  So the race itself, [bell ringing] the race itself is actually a, uh, multiple lap race. So hey, hey, top of the hill, boys. Hey, top of the hill, boys. Cheers. We'll talk more about that race in just a second.
• 3:38
  [laughs] Bam. [can opening] Gulp. Oh. Fanta, why are you so delicious? So the, so the actual, the actual race portion of the event is?
• 3:50
  Uh, it's held on Friday, and it is a multiple lap arrangement on some Nordic trails where it's, uh, it's spectator friendly.
• 4:03
  The group goes by the grandstands two different places, kind of near the start, finish. So there must be some sort of a, maybe there's an over, I don't- A, a figure eight race of death... a fly over.
• 4:14
  Um, but it's, uh, it's gonna be a good time.
• 4:18
  And the, uh, Chris and his wife, uh, were last year's actually Ullr Fest king and queen, so he has a, uh, he has a big Viking helmet that he has to present to the, this year's king, which I think Spinner Ryerson should go out there and, uh, he'd be in the running totally.
• 4:36
  So, so is the, is the king for next year then responsible for putting the party on? Maybe. I don't know. Yeah. Kinda like a Gnome Fest thing. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That would be a good idea.
• 4:45
  We should get a big helmet for Gnome Fest. Hey, we got a caller on the line from- Oh, yeah... up there Anchorage, Alaska way. Let's talk to, uh... How's it going? Good. How you guys doing? S- sounds like T- T- T. Travis.
• 5:00
  T. Travis, what's happening? Yes, sir, it is. Happy holidays, belated. Thank you. Yes, you too. Thank you very much. Yeah, you're, you're a sight for sore ears.
• 5:09
  I've been, uh, been hankering for some Travis, so sp- sing us a few syllables. Oh, man, it's, uh, dismal days in Anchorage again.
• 5:20
  Another warm rainstorm went through, wiped out pretty much all the snowpack again, and all the trails are just death ice.
• 5:29
  Yeah, I saw that picture you sent when you said that the, uh, the race, uh, the Frosty Bottom was gonna be postponed because of the icy conditions. Yeah. They, they pushed it to, to next weekend, and, uh,
• 5:44
  so we got a chance of snow coming through this, hopefully this weekend and into next week. And if that doesn't happen, I imagine they might have to push it back again.
• 5:55
  We actually have some pretty- Yeah, they came, uh-... kick-ass snow conditions here. Yeah, we've had good snow for, oh, a couple weeks now. Yeah. And it's, uh, it- Awesome...
• 6:04
  I'm telling you right now, we have crust conditions that are un-freaking-believable. I was [laughs] riding corn fields today, just like I could ride anywhere, bro. It was awesome. Awesome sauce.
• 6:18
  But it weren't like the, it would have been better if I would have had a polar bear on a gold chain. That's all I have to say. Oh, everything's better with a polar bear on a gold chain. Well, yeah. There you go.
• 6:28
  So do you know who our, uh, guest this week is gonna be? Uh, right, it was Dave Wiens. Dave Wiens. Can you imagine that?
• 6:35
  They're having the, uh, Fat Bike Worlds right in his backyard there in Crested Butte, and we're gonna talk to him in just a little bit here. Yeah. Dave is, uh, part of the- Awesome... Topeak racing program.
• 6:46
  They gave him some grips one year, and then suddenly he's on the team. He's, uh, he brings a lot of experience. Oh, yeah. He, he is a, he's a mountain bike Hall of Famer. And then- I believe he was inducted in 2000.
• 6:58
  Mm, yeah. Somewhere around there. Yep. I, I read Wikipedia today. You did? It, it told me everything. [laughs] Isn't that, you can, you could just go in and change stuff? I was gonna do one about, uh, JK. Really? Yeah.
• 7:11
  JK Living? A radio and news personality from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mr. JK Living. Once placed eighth place in the eight-inch or less freestyle beard competition down there at the, uh- Uptowner, um- Uptowner.
• 7:27
  I, I don't s- Never on the podium. I don't see me entering this year. I had a master plan, and it just [laughs] not... The beard is not cooperating, or rather my scissors are getting too close to my face too often.
• 7:37
  [laughs] You got the, you got the, you got the billy goat thing going, man. I don't get the whole big gouge triangle thing going. You mean a willy goat? Like a, like a willy goat, not a billy goat.
• 7:46
  Like, yeah, a willy goat. All right. See? It's like a little double unicorn. [laughs] Just gonna turn into a Linda Belcher. It's an important but subtle difference. Can't do anything about it. Completely.
• 7:56
  It's not a dog, it's a w-mucker. [laughs] Is that a word? W-buther c-cord? So Travis, how are those Dillies working on the icy conditions with the studs in them? It's kind of, uh, it's sketchy enough out there right now.
• 8:12
  It's kind of a don't turn, don't lean, and try to just stay as flat as you can type of affair. They're, they're working good. Um, I'm still able to ride, and without them I don't even think I'd wanna try. Oh, no.
• 8:24
  [laughs] So, yeah. Not, not when it's wet and icy, yucky. Yeah. You just put a piece of coal- Yeah... between your butt cheeks before you go for a ride.
• 8:31
  So, in a worst case scenario, as ice ages, yeah, it can, you know, as it gets older it tends to get a little texture to it and not so slick. But, uh, yeah, it's pretty greasy out there right now.
• 8:40
  I just got back in from a ride, and yeah, a lot of the hills that I can normally make it up, I had to get off the trail, go into the woods and walk up them. Mm. Wow.
• 8:49
  Well, we don't have any ice along the lake here yet, so we're waiting for that since it was 38 degrees today. Yeah. And, uh, but, but it's gonna get down to negative two on, uh, Sunday night, so. Yay.
• 9:02
  [clapping] So we will- Negative two. We- Do the negative two dance. We're, we're gonna do a- Brr. We're gonna do a studded tire shoot-out. Pa-kow. Pa-tow. All right. So what, what tires are gonna be in the studded tire?
• 9:15
  I, I already have the, uh- Dilly fours... I got those on my Ape right now. Okay. So the, and w- you always put them on skinny rims, though. Do you got them in 80s or anything? Uh- 45s? Maybe. 50s?
• 9:26
  I got them on, I got them on 46 right now. 69s? 47s? Hey, with all this talk about stuff, we should take a quick break here and, uh, when we come back, we're gonna have Mr. Dave Wiens on the line.
• 9:37
  So I heard you need a fat bike. Come to Zion Cyclery in Zion, Illinois. We have all brands, Trek, Borealis, Salsa, Felt, Surly, and more. Yo, we have all the cold weather gears by 45 NRTH and Bontrager.
• 9:54
  Keep those fingers and toes nice and toasty. We fix bikes also, so you have any problem, brakes, gears, suspension, we have the best mechanics in town. So yeah, visit us at zioncyclery.com.
• 10:14
  You're tuned to Fat Bike Radio. Hey, everybody, we're back. Dave Wiens is the two-time US National Mountain Bike Champion. He's a six-time winner of the Leadville 100.
• 10:29
  He defeated the likes of Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis along the way. Please welcome to the show, Mountain Bike Hall of Famer, Mr. Dave Wiens, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for having me, guys. Yeah, man.
• 10:41
  Hey, awesome to have you on the show.
• 10:43
  The reason that we have you on the show is they decided to hold the Fat Bike World Championships right in your backyard there in Crested Butte, and we heard that you just got your first fat bike and you just did your first race.
• 10:54
  How'd all that stuff go? It's been, it's been really fun. You know, I've been, uh, I've been lusting after fast, fat bikes ever since they came out.
• 11:03
  And, um, the company that I'm associated with on the Topeak-Ergon team is Canyon- Mm-hmm... out of Germany, and they have a, a fat bike called the Canyon Dude. Awesome name. And, uh, one of those... Yeah.
• 11:15
  [laughs] Yeah, the Germans, uh, they, they get pretty into the, the naming thing, obviously. Um, but it showed up on my doorstep this fall, and, uh, I put it together right away.
• 11:26
  And, uh, at, at first there wasn't any snow around here and, uh, it was tough because there was a lot of enthusiasm. The shops are full of fat bikes. A lot of people are buying them.
• 11:35
  Uh, tons of enthusiasm, but we didn't have the snow. And I remember going out and kind of riding it on the, the trails and, and finally we got some snow and, uh, I got to get out on it quite a bit.
• 11:46
  But, uh, it's just a blast. I really, I really like it. And then, yeah, I went over to Breckenridge and did a, a little race called the Fat Bike Open. Wanted to see what that was all about. And, um, it was a gas.
• 11:57
  Uh, I really had a good time. It was on a Nordic, uh, Nordic area, and the conditions were kind of punchy.
• 12:03
  So you'd be going along and everything would be good, and then all of a sudden you'd see some- Some, some deep, uh, cavernous tracks and- [laughs] As the race went on, it was a three or four lap affair, uh, some of the corners got pretty, pretty interesting and, uh, at one point I'm just flying down this hill in a group of three and, and just took a little sweeper to the left and just lost [laughs] that front wheel, like I'm sure all of you have experienced, and the next thing you know, you know, I'm just sliding along the snow on my head.
• 12:29
  [laughs] [laughs] Not too much I could've done about that. Um, but it's, it's interesting, the whole, the whole traction game and- Yeah...
• 12:38
  and, uh, you know, finding a good line through some of those soft turns, and it's, it's very compelling, it's very challenging, and, uh, that race was a, it was a great experience.
• 12:48
  Uh, although my head about popped off, there were some, some fast guys there, a guy named Brad Bingham from Steamboat and, uh- Oh, yeah, we know Brad...
• 12:56
  a guy named Taylor Sheldon, um, I think he was riding for, um, uh, Tokyo Joe's, and there was a point where those guys decided that they wanted to go.
• 13:06
  And, and I don't even think they were going their hardest, but I couldn't believe how, how hard they went, and that's the thing.
• 13:11
  I've been, I'd been riding my bike quite a bit, but I'd just go out and I'd, I had this area that was north-facing and had some snow on it, and I just kept riding this obscure trail. I was the only one using it.
• 13:22
  Pretty long loop from Gunnison, and, um, it, it was the best snow that we had at that time. This was back in early December. But I wouldn't do any of that high-end stuff. I don't do it anymore.
• 13:31
  So those guys, I couldn't believe how, how fast they could pedal, and I think that's what is gonna happen at Worlds this year. You know, it's gonna be...
• 13:38
  It's not maybe gonna be quite as, as small a field as it's been in the past.
• 13:42
  Not that it's been small, but I think that there's a ton of interest now and, and, uh, fast riders are gonna be coming out of the woodwork for, for these fat bike races. Yeah, man. Yeah.
• 13:51
  So when you're, when you're preparing for this, when you're riding the, the Dude, uh, are you messing with tire pressures a lot?
• 13:57
  'Cause, you know, with the, with the big volume of the tire, obviously that has a lot to do with, with how much traction you have and whatnot. Yeah, a little bit. Um, it's, it's interesting. And [laughs]
• 14:08
  I hope I'm not the first person to do this, and I feel really stupid, but, you know, I just started riding the thing and I was like, "Oh, you know, it's a fat bike. These things don't get flat tires."
• 14:17
  And, uh, I was a long way from home on a, a, a melted trail that was rocky, and, and I pinched a tube and next thing you know I got a flat front tire, and I'm a long way from home. I had to push.
• 14:29
  Luckily it was a pretty nice day, it wasn't terribly cold, and I had to walk a, a long way before I finally got a cell signal and I called my son and I had him come pick me up.
• 14:37
  Um, so, but as far as the tire pressure goes, it's, it's interesting. Uh, I have a, a Topeak pump on order that's, uh, for a fat bike, but I'll put a gauge on it.
• 14:47
  I know the, the gauge isn't really very helpful, [laughs] is what I found out. [laughs] Uh, 'cause I put in, you know, eight or 10 pumps and the thing didn't even move.
• 14:55
  But, so I, just by feel I'm trying to, uh, to, to get an understanding of how it works, but I'm so new to it that I don't really have that, that good feel yet to, to know when I press on my tire if that's...
• 15:06
  I mean, of course it feels quite soft, but, uh, I feel like the tire pressure thing is, is a pretty big deal and- Oh, yeah...
• 15:12
  sometimes you're probably gonna run them h- harder and, and obviously in softer conditions you're gonna r- want to run them a l- lot softer.
• 15:18
  But almost feels like there could be a bit of a, almost a waxing element to that.
• 15:22
  Like, if you nail the tire pressure just right, you're gonna find that perfect, uh, fine line between giving it a good traction that you need and also having a pretty fast, uh, fast rolling setup. Is that accurate?
• 15:32
  Yeah, it- Absolutely... de- it definitely depends on the conditions.
• 15:35
  That's what, you know, however many different kinds of snow and different kinds of conditions there are, you know, those variations in tire pressure from seven or eight pounds to 10 or 12 pounds, that's a huge range and it covers a lot of different conditions.
• 15:48
  And once you get that thumb thing going, 'cause, you know, even a miser gauge is, is only reasonably accurate at those really low pressures, but when you can poke your tire and go, "Well, this snow feels about like this much thumb pressure on, on my tire," you know?
• 16:03
  Well, I don't use my thumb, though. What do you use? I, I s- Hey... I sit on my tire. I like hump my tire. Oh, [laughs] yeah. [laughs] That's right, he does- I, I- He does the bumpity bump on his tire...
• 16:11
  yeah, I sit on my tire and, and that's how I tell. And I, and I wanna be able to take my, my tread and, and flatten it out, especially in snow. So, um, I don't know. You'll, you'll get a feel for it. So, uh- Yeah...
• 16:26
  we, uh, we wanna know the local knowledge of, uh, what's gonna go down there for Fat Bike Worlds in Crested Butte. Can you tell us a little bit about, uh, the week-long events?
• 16:38
  I mean, I, I'm, I'm gonna be there for eight days. I'm psyched about it. Yikes. Watch out, Crested Butte. Yeah. [laughs] There's, there's a, a ton of things going on.
• 16:48
  Uh, I don't know if you guys have talked to the, the mastermind behind this whole thing, owned Dave Och- Oh, yeah... uh, with the Crested Butte Chamber. Sure. But, um, he's got all kinds of things lined up.
• 16:59
  Uh, the, the bike race, um, is obviously sort of the reason that everybody's coming, but, uh, there's other races, uh, on the weekdays leading up. There's a fat bike summit, a big advocacy summit.
• 17:11
  Uh, Gary Sokal from, from QBP and lots of other expertise in the world of fat biking are gonna, um, you know, rally and hold, hold meetings and, uh, there's gonna be a lot of good education going on.
• 17:22
  I know that, uh, fat biking's a hot topic in this valley, as it is probably in, in a lot of valleys with, um, these, the, the use on trails and, uh, how it affects Nordic skiing and, and, you know, whether or not they're, I don't know, welcome is the right word, but there, there's certainly some controversy swirling around, um, with them.
• 17:40
  Oh, yeah, just to manage the, the, any potential trail conflicts, et cetera. Yeah, we're, we're, we're, we stay abreast of all of the advocacy issues and support all of those, those efforts as well. Yeah.
• 17:52
  Dave, you're a, you are a skier, right? Do you do the cross-country thing in the winter? Oh, you bet. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no, I'm, I'm, uh, a, a Nordic skier.
• 18:01
  Not, not, not huge, but I like to get out and do it, and we've got our local mountain biking area, Hartman Rocks, here, uh, near Gunnison on BLM public lands.
• 18:09
  And they, we have a local Nordic club and they set track out there for skate skiing and also classic. And they don't have any problem with fat bikes whatsoever, uh, until the conditions are soft and, and then- Uh-huh...
• 18:21
  the fat bikes start leaving some, some, um, you know, deeper tracks in there. And, and, uh, then of course the Nordic skiers get a little bit bummed about that. But at the same time, they're multiple use tracks.
• 18:31
  They're, it's not like a Nordic center where it's exclusive, you know, for Nordic use. People can walk on them, take dogs on them, snowshoe on them.
• 18:38
  If you have a snowmobile, you can go out there and ride your sled on them, and that makes all kinds of- [laughs]... crazy tracks on them.
• 18:43
  So I think it's, I think it's all gonna work out and, and I tell you what, I'm, I'm just watching our local news on television last night, but it's 9 News out of Denver.
• 18:50
  It's, it's, um, you know, pretty big, uh, Rocky Mountain Region news. Mm-hmm. And they talked about, "Next time you're out on the trail in the winter, you're gonna see something new," and I knew exactly what was coming.
• 19:02
  And, uh, it was a feature on fat biking. Mm. And so it's definitely hitting, hitting the mainstream and, um, people are, people are digging it.
• 19:10
  And they talked, this, this news story was just about the Forest Service and, and them kind of, not wrestling with it, but just trying to...
• 19:17
  Um, right now they're, they're locked out from, from use on most trails because of a, a regulation that didn't have anything to do with them.
• 19:25
  It was just the Forest Service saying, you know, "No bikes on trails in the winter," something like that.
• 19:29
  But, uh, you know, the word from this story was that the Forest Service is looking for opportunities and, and they need to be because these bikes are popping up everywhere.
• 19:37
  It's just, it's just phenomenal to see the growth. So as a, as an experienced Nordic skier, you, you talked a little bit about how when the conditions get, you know, warmer, that the fat bikes leave tracks.
• 19:49
  In those warmer conditions, w- would Nordic skiers still be able to use the trails, or are they just so soft that even skiing on them would be kind of like meh?
• 19:58
  No, and, you know, and, and the, and the soft conditions could be because it's warm, it could be even because it's cold. It could be pockets of sugary snow.
• 20:07
  You, there's just different, different reasons that, um, that the fat bikes or even Nordic skis will dig in more.
• 20:14
  Uh, and then what happens with snow is that whenever you, you, you change it somehow, it sets up really hard.
• 20:21
  So it might have been a soft area and a f- or, or if you go out there on your fat bike or even on your skis right after they've groomed, that snow is still really soft and it hasn't set up yet.
• 20:30
  Uh, and then after an hour or two, it just sets up like concrete in a lot of cases, and then those, those tracks, whatever they happen to be, get, um, you know, they get sort of cemented in. But I think there...
• 20:43
  Yeah, and I love Nordic skiing, but maybe some people in that community, just like in the hiking community, have some, uh, misconceptions about the fat bikes.
• 20:50
  And, and, um, you know, I hear in other places they're, they're pretty open to sharing and, and you know, we were racing on the Nordic trails over in Breckenridge, and there's another race over there, uh, next weekend called Ulerbike, uh, at the same Nordic center.
• 21:04
  So it almost sounds like, uh, some of the Nordic centers are embracing the fat biking. Yeah, the Nordic center- I, I think there's one in-...
• 21:10
  there in, in, in Breckenridge actually allows fat bikes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I was talking to Chris from Ulerfest, the Ulerbike event today. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He says hi.
• 21:22
  Yeah, speaking of, uh, uh, places that are letting fat bikes on, I read recently that, that Crested Butte Mountain Resort is allowing fat bikes to do, you know, up like the, like the skin up guys on the skis, they're allowing them to go before or after hours and, uh, and ride on the hill.
• 21:38
  What do, what do you know about that? Yeah, I just heard that they, they, they made that decision and it, it's a new decision and, uh, and I applaud it. I think it's a, it's a, it's a great idea.
• 21:47
  I know people have been riding, you know, some of the, the guys who've had fat bikes for years have been riding up there at night quite a bit.
• 21:53
  And it, it just was one of those things where I don't think they even really cared too much about it and they stayed out of the way of the grooming equipment.
• 21:59
  But that's a, that's a, that would be [laughs] just a kick, uh, to go riding up there.
• 22:03
  I haven't had the opportunity to, to do it yet, but I really applaud Crested Butte Mountain Resort for doing that and, and they've also, I don't know if Ox has told you, but they've, um, given a huge area up called the North Village where they've allowed, uh, us to set exclusive fat bike tracks.
• 22:19
  Oh, cool. I say us, I'm not actually grooming up there, but Ox has been out there and the, the loop I saw on Google Earth just looks phenomenal and, and I know this area where they are.
• 22:26
  And so they've got the, the groomer and the sled and they're going out and, and, uh, they're grooming, uh, a pretty, a pretty good sized loop up there, which... So there's really getting to be a lot of opportunities.
• 22:37
  I think that's the, the biggest thing in my mind is we, we kind of wanna share the Nordic trails, but we kind of wanna have our own trails.
• 22:45
  I don't get that excited about going out and riding on the Nordic trails because it feels as if we're riding on this big, big dirt road. Right. Which is, which is okay.
• 22:52
  Um, but Ox just sent me a picture of what those Rohkom dirt bikes- Oh, yeah... you guys familiar with those? Oh, yeah. Yeah. [laughs] Here in the Midwest, man, we, we groom single tracks, so. Yeah, definitely. Twisty.
• 23:02
  Well, that's really what- Tight, rocky stuff... that's what I'm excited about Great stuff I'm excited about some of those opportunities, um, if we can do it on, on, uh, some of the trails around here.
• 23:12
  Well, we don't get... I mean, they get ridiculous amounts of snow up in Crested Butte. It's really soft. Um, so they have some challenges up there to even find trails in the wintertime. [laughs] Yeah, sure.
• 23:21
  But our trails around here right now, we've probably got a foot of snow everywhere, maybe a little bit more, and that's a pretty groomable amount. And, uh, I'd love to see the single track.
• 23:30
  And that's why, uh, that, those rides I was telling you about where I just kept back, going back and doing that, it's called the Aberdeen Loop, you know, day after day is, it was so much fun because it was single track.
• 23:39
  And every day I went, I put one more set of tracks down and- Right.
• 23:43
  Yeah, earning those turns, man, it's like- You know, I'm, I'm an old school, old school fat biker in that I tried riding out in the snow, or I would ride on the snow a lot years ago back in the '90s, uh, when I was still living in Gunnison and trying to train for, for mountain bike racing.
• 23:57
  I'd go out to the Harvin's area, and this was before they were, were grooming, and people would drive out there. And you guys know how sweet, um, you know, the packed, uh, from, from automobiles, it gets great. Oh, yeah.
• 24:08
  Really good packed snow, cold snow, very good traction. Um, and I even bought a, I didn't even have a four-wheel drive at that time. I bought a four-wheel, a four, four-wheel drive truck-...
• 24:17
  pack Hartman's out- [laughs]... so that I could go out there and ride my bike. Nice.
• 24:20
  Because people would, th- there's one trail that people walk up to this upper road, and if I could just r- drive my truck around, and I was almost, I call it [laughs] this is funny, do you ever seed an area?
• 24:34
  I called it seeding an area. I would go back and forth with the fat bike to pack the snow so it looked like it had been ridden a lot. Mm-hmm. So then people that came out on fat bikes would turn down that trail. Oh.
• 24:44
  [laughs] And they- Such a good idea... it would get bad really quickly because I hadn't ridden the trail that many times, and I'd made it look like 30 or 40 bikes had been on it.
• 24:51
  [laughs] So to, to, to convince them to go down it and ride it one more time so we could work at getting it packed, and you guys know that, when, you know, y- you need, we need traffic sometimes to pack the trails too.
• 25:03
  Sure. You want, you want the other fat bikers out there, but, um, yeah. So, so were these, were these some of those world championship tactics you used when you were a mountain bike racer, little tricksies like that?
• 25:13
  [laughs] But I guess what reminded me of that is, as I was seeding the roads out there by driving my truck on it, because they'd be on tracks, and I felt like if I go out there and if I drive it once or twice, then I'm gonna put tracks down and more people are gonna go driving out there, and eventually I'm gonna get this thing nice and packed down so I can ride my bike on it.
• 25:30
  Okay. Um, but that was such a kick back in those days, and I mean, this was, this was early mid-'90s, and I'd get all bundled up and I'd ride up these, these roads.
• 25:39
  And then, like I said, people would walk up this one single track. It was only about, you know, three-quarters of a mile long, and there was a four or 500-foot descent.
• 25:46
  And you know that, the, the walking path is, what is it? It's about 18 inches wide. Mm-hmm.
• 25:50
  It's, it's packed by foot, and so then it's, it's concave, and if you fall off the edges of it, it gets really hard to get back up on it.
• 25:58
  And, uh, I just remember it was a hoot flying down that thing, and I had some big, fat tires on my bike. I think they were 2.5. 2.2s. [laughs] Yeah, yeah.
• 26:09
  I mean, I was, uh, we, we had Panaracer, and I was trying to get the biggest, fattest, maybe it wasn't even a 2.5. Yeah. It was maybe a pipe dream, but, uh, you know- Panaracer Spike was my, my friend back then. Yeah.
• 26:20
  Yeah. Well, what's, what's fat, what was fat then is now the skinny bike, and, uh- Yeah...
• 26:27
  there's, there's plenty of time to ride the skinny bike, but now we're in fat bike season, so, um- And you guys have a race coming up there, I hear. Yeah, the, the Fat Bike Worlds. It's gonna be the fat bike- Yeah...
• 26:40
  event and festival of the year. Uh, and I think it's not just gonna be racing.
• 26:44
  They're gonna have the fun side of things covered, and, uh, you guys, uh, all of our listeners out there, you should pack your bags and join Dave and I at Fat Bike Worlds in Crested Butte.
• 26:56
  Yeah, I think there's direct flights out of all the major hubs. Yeah, yeah. You can call your travel agent and, uh, book your flight. Yeah. Yeah, you know, you can fly into Gunnison. Mm-hmm.
• 27:05
  Uh, there's direct non-stops from Dallas, Houston, Denver. You can fly into Montrose, which is about 70 miles away. There's also, uh, great flights into Grand Junction, and, um, that's about a two-and-a-half-hour drive.
• 27:18
  And then of course Denver is, uh, more like four hours, but all kinds of, uh, options to get in here. And, and you're right, they're gonna have the fun stuff covered.
• 27:26
  If there's one thing Crested Butte knows how to do, it's throw a party. And, uh, I don't know if you guys have heard, but Ox lined up, uh, a band. Led Zeppelin's gonna be there. Led Zeppelin. Nice.
• 27:36
  They're, uh, they're actually, like, uh, their dressing room is the Borealis RV, I heard. [laughs] Steve was pretty psyched about that. I, I think so. I'm, uh, I'm, I'm excited to, to check that band out.
• 27:50
  They sound like a lot of fun. Hey, Dave, I know we talked a little bit before about your, your Topeak, uh, alignment, and that's one of your kind of part-time jobby things.
• 27:58
  You've got another part-time job over there at, uh, Western State Colorado, uh, College or, was it university or college? Yeah, it's, it's called Western State Colorado University. Okay.
• 28:08
  And, uh, I know it in- Well, what I was wondering, I mean, I know you're kind of involved in the, in the mountain bike team there. Are they gonna get a fat bike racing team going?
• 28:16
  Uh, you know, the only way to get one of those... I, I don't think anybody on the team actually has a fat bike.
• 28:22
  You know, fat bikes and college students, they don't go together that well right now because college students are all broke, and it's a stretch for them to have one mountain bike.
• 28:33
  [laughs] You know, the fat bike is kind of a, a quiver, a quiver thing. I honestly don't know that any of the, uh, the students have fat bikes and, and, uh... But there's a, there's a chance.
• 28:43
  There's a couple of guys, uh, you know, Ryan Trimble, he's a freshman. He's, he loves any kind of bike racing. If he could find a bike, he would, uh, he'll do the race.
• 28:51
  Uh, a lot of the- Maybe one'll fall off the Borealis trailer. Yeah. [laughs] Yeah, there you go.
• 28:56
  [laughs] And, and there, there's a, there's a couple more that might do it, but, you know, we've got, um, just a handful of what we call endurance riders, and we have, uh, uh, quite a few gravity riders, and of course the gravity guys wouldn't be interested in doing any fat biking, uh, at least not the kind at the Worlds are gonna have.
• 29:12
  But yeah, there's a, there's a chance we could see a couple of those Western guys and girls out there. Um, I need to do some work on that and see.
• 29:19
  You know, a lot of them switch gears right now and, and they're, uh, they, they're skiers, whether they're Nordic skiers, ski mountaineering, Alpine racers, um, big mountain free ride.
• 29:28
  So that's part of the, the mountain sports program is, is, um, mountain biking in the fall, and then it used to be there wasn't, [laughs] there weren't fat bikes, so you could put your bike away and, and get the skis and snowboards out.
• 29:40
  But anymore now, uh, we're able to ride year-round, which is pretty cool. Yeah, absolutely. Well, all right, man.
• 29:47
  Thanks for taking the time to talk to us about Fat Bike Worlds, and, uh, a little bit about what you're up to. I know Gomez is headed out that way. You bet.
• 29:55
  Yeah, so we'll, uh- Yeah, I look, I look forward to meeting you guys. We'll get to, uh, hang out and ride bikes and have some fun. Maybe, uh, you know, some bicycle rodeo events or, uh, you know, tomfoolery.
• 30:10
  Some mountain town- Yeah... mayhem. [laughs] It's gonna be fun. All right. Thanks again, Dave. We'll t- catch you next time. Thanks for having me, guys. All right, man. See ya. Bye. Bye-bye.
• 30:23
  Hey, Dave Wiens, ladies and gentlemen. That guy's a legend No doubt And he's gonna play fat bikes in Crested Butte, Colorado He's opening for Led Zeppelin at the Worlds [laughs]
• 30:36
  Hey, uh, we got another caller on the line All Zeppelin. All Zeppelin W- welcome- Yeah... welcome to the radio program, uh, Mr. John. How are you doing? I'm doing fine. How are you doing? Good.
• 30:47
  Uh, this is John Murphy calling in from up there, uh, Bayfield way.
• 30:52
  Uh, we just did a story on the site about them grooming some trails up there, and I said, uh, "John, why don't you call into the show and just tell our listeners a little bit about what's going on?"
• 31:00
  So- In the deets, man... uh, a- and he actually did it, so here- Welcome- So here he is... welcome to the radio show. This is All Spanish Talk All the Time. Just kidding. It's Fat Bike Radio. Yeah.
• 31:11
  Well, we're, uh, we're getting pretty busy up here with the fat biking. Uh, we started getting the Bayfield area, uh, involved in fat biking about two years ago, and it's just boomed.
• 31:25
  And, uh, we got all ages and all genders riding fat bikes up here.
• 31:31
  We started riding, uh, out on the ice with, uh, studded, uh, 29ers or your, your, your common mountain bikes, and then everybody started showing up with fat bikes because y- even though you're out on the ice, you still get a lot of snow.
• 31:45
  And even with stud tires, if you don't have a fat tire, you're not gonna stay on top of that snow.
• 31:50
  And so we're right next to 21 islands, they're all national park, and so we'll ride out to the islands and do some fun stuff and so once the numbers got increased, we got, uh, Mount Ashmore Bay's a ski resort up there, and we talked them into, uh, having the single track trails, which CAMBA's built up there, to do a single track, uh, mou- uh, fat bike trail.
• 32:16
  And so we got a Rokon, uh, two-wheel drive motorcycle pulling the groomer. Mm-hmm. And, uh, it's been [laughs]
• 32:24
  it's been a heck of a workout grooming out there, but we got a 28-inch wide, uh, single track out there, and it's a rollercoaster ride. Cool. Uh, it's- How many miles of trail have you groomed?
• 32:34
  It's, uh, seven miles- Oh, that's killer...
• 32:36
  and with, uh, basically one big loop and then there's a smaller loop that's, uh, about two and a half miles long, and so once you get out there and you wanna keep going, you can just repeat it, but it's, I mean, some great downhill, but you have to earn it.
• 32:51
  [laughs] Yeah. Cool. You gotta get up before you can go down. Oh, yeah.
• 32:55
  I was just up in Cuyuna, and, uh, there's a lot of great groomed trail there, and, uh, quite a bit of climbing, but man, just unbelievably great swoopy downhill. So yeah, groomed- Yeah...
• 33:10
  groomed single track is where it's at. In Bayfield, man, you should have a pretty darn good, as long as you've got the Canadian air coming in, man, you should be good for snow and, uh- Oh, yeah, we're set.
• 33:22
  Do you go out there and, uh- Quite a few people out there... do you go out there and touch your toe on the national park with your, with your toe while you're on the bike and say, "Ah, I'm breaking the law"?
• 33:34
  Breaking the law. Breaking the law. [laughs] Or do you just ride- [laughs] Or do you just ride on the ice around the island? National treasure out there. [laughs] Just ride on the ice and taunt the rangers? Yeah.
• 33:45
  Now, you can get out to the other islands and, and ride around without, you know, being on the island, but where they're watching and scrutinizing is those sea caves out there. Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 33:56
  And, uh, we're, we've been working with them because the bikes, of course, showed up out there, and i- it's just, you know, more like anything else when it comes to these national parks, it's just hard to change policy without a whole lot of research and rigamarole.
• 34:12
  Right. Rigamarole. But, uh, they're on board. Yeah. There you go. Red tape, you name it. Yep. But- Yep. So, uh, Mount Ashwabe, groomed trails. Mount Ashwabe. Ac- uh, Mount Ashwaubomay. Ashwaubomay, that's how you say it.
• 34:27
  Yep. Let's just change the pronunciation- And then I guess, uh, we got, uh-... every time we say it. [laughs] Yeah. It's still the same place. Mount Abalone.
• 34:34
  Just call up John, he'll tell you the secret handshake and X marks the spot. So we, you should probably, uh, send Sven here some sort of link to your trails. Did we actually write- Yeah, we already have a story on it...
• 34:45
  basically published a story about it already. Oh, we did. We're on top of stuff. Yeah. In fact, I sent you a video. I went up there and rode like a madman.
• 34:53
  Of course, everybody that saw it, they go, "Oh, you sped up the, the film." I said, "No, that's actual speed." [laughs] We'll, we'll throw a link to that in the show notes. And the two people wipe out.
• 35:03
  We'll have to actually slow it down so- [laughs]... regular people will be able to see you, John. [laughs] And anybody that's got motion sickness, you know, or- Oh, it's one of those videos? Don't watch it.
• 35:15
  [laughs] Dude, yeah, I can't watch those things. It's like, all of a sudden- Yeah... oh, oh no. Oh, yeah. So thanks for calling in to the show, John. You've been, uh, you've been the best caller so far.
• 35:28
  W- m- b- Oh, well, great. Can I plug the three events coming up? Sure. Sure. Plug away. Okay. First one, January 23rd, this month, two weeks away, will be the, uh, Double Donut Derby.
• 35:43
  It's, uh, two loops out there at Mount Ashwaubomay. Just a small section of it's gonna be the groomed single track. The rest is gonna be all groomed cross-country ski trail. Mm-hmm.
• 35:52
  And the reason why is because it's a race, you need room to pass. Pass, sure. And so- And the winner gets two donuts? They...
• 35:59
  Well, you know, that's funny because we had a local bakery place, they made those, two gigantic donuts. Oh. And they interlocked them. It looked like, like a modified Olympic ring.
• 36:09
  [laughs] You're talking to a fat guy here- And, uh-... and, you know, the, so I might have to go up there and- Donuts... you know, donut. Donuts. Come on.
• 36:16
  And, and then after the race, anybody that wants to go ride the single track, they can go ahead because that will all be groomed, too, so they can have fun for the whole day- Nice...
• 36:25
  instead of just doing, like, a two-hour race. So that's coming up. And then, uh, y- of course we have the Book Across the Bay, which is a big cross-country ski across the ice- Mm-hmm... from Washburn out to Ashland.
• 36:39
  We're going to have a Bike Across the Bay, and that's gonna be February 23rd, and that's a Saturday afternoon, and it's going to go 15 miles across that Lake Superior ice. Yikes. Hopefully with a tailwind.
• 36:52
  [laughs] And hopefully with at- Yeah, and thick ice... least some ice. And thick ice, yeah. [laughs] Yeah, how's it going up there for that so far [laughs]? Well, w- I've actually, uh, just left Ashland.
• 37:02
  That's about 30 minutes away from Bayfield, and the ice shanties are out there already. Oh, nice. Yeah. Oh, good. Yeah. D- do you have polar bears there? So they're there. No, just kidding.
• 37:11
  I know you don't have polar bears there. You got that cool iron pier out there in Ashland. That's gone. Is it gone? God, I- Yeah. Ugh. The, well, all they got is the slab now going out there. Hmm.
• 37:25
  And, uh- And they're still trying to figure out what they're gonna do with it, if they're gonna make that some type of park or whatever. And then you got a n- you got a third event?
• 37:33
  The third event's coming up in March, and I'm not exactly sure which day, but it's going to be another Bike Across the Ice. I think it's March 14th, and that's gonna be out of Bayfield.
• 37:46
  Uh, it's during the Winter Fest, and so you can go to the Bayfield Rec Center and bring up the information on that.
• 37:53
  And that's going fr- uh, basically down the ice road, if we're going to have an ice road this year- [laughs]... because the ice has been slow on the northern part of the peninsula here.
• 38:03
  And they'll go out to Madeline Island, a loop on Madeline Island, and back. Wow, cool. Ooh, that sounds fun. You should do, you should do an ultra-marathon that goes from Bayfield to Mackinac Island all on the ice.
• 38:14
  That would be awesome. That would be a long one [laughs]. I know. But you get ice fish along the way for- I don't think I could make it through... for nourishment. No. [laughs] Yeah, icicles. Icicles and perch.
• 38:30
  You could- Yeah. Yeah. Oh, and whitefish. We gotta have our whitefish. Whitefish. Oh, yeah. Okay. And a fish boil. There you are. [laughs] All right, John. Well, John- Thanks very much... that's too cool, man.
• 38:40
  I'm coming up- Well, thanks guys. I'm gonna come up and see you. And, uh, you know, just keep the light on for us. We'll be the ones- Sure.
• 38:46
  Uh, I'm a member of the North Coast Cycling Association, so if you got any questions, uh, I do, uh, work on the website.
• 38:54
  I'm a webmaster for their website, so if you have any questions or anything, you can get ahold of me at any time through there, too. And I got extra fat bikes.
• 39:02
  If anybody w- is in the area and they wanna jump on one, I got 'em. Right. John's your man. John's your man. If he can't do it, no one can. Thanks for calling, dude. Exactly. All right, John. Okay. Don't be a stranger.
• 39:12
  Thank you. Call back someday. Yep, thanks for calling. See you. I will. I'll keep bugging you. [laughs] All right. Sounds good, John. We love it. Bye. See you later. Take care. All right. Well, let's take a break here.
• 39:22
  And, uh, when we come back... Then what? I don't know. Next week's call-in question after a word from Uncle Nick's Bead Slip. Show your rim some romance with Uncle Nick's Bead Slip.
• 39:37
  Pro bike jocks know time is money, and wrestling with a tight and stubborn tire bead on a slick set of new carbon hoops is history with just a light application of Uncle Nick's Bead Slip.
• 39:50
  Uncle Nick's Bead Slip is the official bead preparation solution of Fat Rod Magazine. Fat Rod Magazine. You're tuned to Fat Bike Radio. And we're back. JK, what shall we discuss on next week's show?
• 40:07
  Next week we want to revisit the Fat Bike of the Year episode. Yeah, so next week we'd like you to call in with your choice for the Fat Bike of the Year 2015. Call 818- [laughs] A lot of them...
• 40:21
  918-2453 between 8:00 and 9:00 PM Central Standard Time. You can actually call us anytime, but- I think somebody did call us and left us a message. We'll have to see what that's all about. Oh?
• 40:38
  And you know what that means. [glass clinks] Oh. Top of the hill. Top of the hill. [laughs] Cheers, boys. And that marks- Oh, decent...
• 40:50
  the entrance to the Fatty Farm Field Report-a-mente. Aye, aye, aye.
• 41:03
  Well, this week's Fatty Farm Field Report is presented by the Winter Rush Fat Bike Series.
• 41:09
  Winter Rush is the home of the Michigan State Fat Bike Championships and will be your hosts of the 2017 USA Cycling Fat Bike National Championships.
• 41:18
  For more information, click the Winter Rush banner [laughs] located next to the Fat Bike VIP lounge right there in your show notes, or you can always visit winterrush.com. All right, there's another hill.
• 41:35
  [laughs] These go all day. And at the, at the top of the hill is the Becker Bag Sewing Contest. This week we award the bag to the best video.
• 41:49
  Mr., uh, Tupper Becker reviewed and or chose entries at will and picked Mr. Jeffrey Price. Yeah, I think it was, uh, he won, Jeff Price. That's what I'm saying. Jeff won. Jeff won. Yeah, yeah. Isn't that what I'm saying?
• 42:04
  What did I say? I... Do, was I con- See what I'm saying? That's what I'm saying.... contradicting what you, what you were saying? [laughs] No, I'm saying- [laughs] I don't know. What'd I say? I don't know.
• 42:11
  So, uh- The winner is- We're gonna have a Becker 40 Below bag going out to Jeff, uh, via Her Majesty's Royal Mail Service. He lives over there in, was he in Wales? Wales. Or Sc- North Wales... Wales, I believe. Wales.
• 42:24
  You know, there's a, there's- Is that the one that has the dragon on the flag? I don't know, but- 'Cause I think that was, uh, somebody- I think that's Flanders. [laughs]Stupid sexy Flanders.
• 42:35
  [laughs] I, I used to have a- [laughs] I, when I used to race the RC sail planes- Yeah... one of the best spots in the world is in Wales. Mm. And I wanted to go there then. Now I have two reasons to go to Wales.
• 42:46
  And Jeff actually won over, over Bruce. Bruce made the video? It's like Wales over Scotland. It was all UK blah, blah, blah. Yeah, it does have a f- [laughs] Dragon? Dragon. [laughs] Knew it. [laughs] Knew it.
• 43:03
  It lives in the, it lives in the hill. [laughs] That information came- Oh... courtesy of Adrian. Courtesy of who? Adrian. Adrian. Adrian. Adrian. He's not from Wales. I don't know. He likes Wales. Yeah, he likes Flipper.
• 43:17
  He likes that, he likes that there's a- He likes Flipper, too... Flipper. He likes other aquatic animals. [laughs] Well, I just didn't realize that there was a dragon on the- You brought it up. And you stuck it.
• 43:25
  All right, Adrian. [laughs] Way to go, Adrian. Way to go. [laughs] So what about next week's contest, JK, man, Lang, Bag? [laughs] Next week, Tupper has assigned an essay contest. Essay? That's right.
• 43:40
  The written word shall be judged by the Fat Bike Radio staff for originality, flavor, and fat bike content. Extra credit will be given to essays that mention gnomes and the role they play in the fat bike culture.
• 43:53
  Send your essay- Essay... to Gomez@fatbike.com with the words, "Read this, Tupper" as the subject. You have until midnight on Tuesday, January 12th to enter to win our last 40 Below bag. Read this, Tupper.
• 44:11
  Tupper. Read this. Read this, eh? [laughs] Oh, so let's talk about, uh, all the fun and frolic we had during holiday break, or holiday hiatus. Hiatus. Yeah. We had the office party there- That we did... down there.
• 44:26
  That's how it- And, uh- That's how it all started. [laughs] [laughs] What, what with the two stops at White Castle and all. Oh, yes.
• 44:34
  [laughs] See, you almost like, you almost like did it to yourself, but it'd be- Oh, that was a week after that at least. Oh. [laughs] Yeah, I, I, I was ill and for a, a decent portion of the hiatus. Which is a bummer.
• 44:47
  Yeah, it was. Yeah, the day after the, uh, party, went on the, uh, Fixation, uh, fat bike group ride number two. Uh-huh. Yeah, fat bike. South of southern part of Milwaukee, going through some,
• 45:01
  uh, Milwaukee County parks and little bit of beach, little bit of single track. You get down there at the Grant Park Beach? Yeah. I, I don't know which.
• 45:09
  [laughs] It was like three different parks, and, like, I always get those sequenced out. There's like Gorham, uh, Grant, and do you remember Sheridan? Sheridan. Sheridan. Sheridan. Seven- I can't remember... Bridges.
• 45:19
  Probably rode through there. Mm-hmm. Yeah. 'Cause we stopped at Pavilion. Pavilion, Pavilion, Pavilion, ha. Ha.
• 45:25
  [laughs] And then on New Year's Day, we did the polar, polar bear plunge, go down to Bradford Beach here in fair Milwaukee, and rode up and down Bradford and out to the breakwater, hung out, went up St.
• 45:40
  Marys Hill, which- Huh?... not down. No. Not down this time. Went up, which is good because of all the, how it's nice and crunchy, so you can actually go up all the way.
• 45:52
  And you're not likely to do a shoulder injury on the way up. No. No. Uh, no, no, no, not at all. JK- We're, we're at the five-year anniversary. Yes, five-year anniversary of putting my plate and screws into my clavicle.
• 46:04
  Yeah. Nice. Ay caramba. Oh, caramba. It's fun. I went on a beach ride with Mr., uh, Mr. Mike from Zuzu up there at the Harrington Beach area, uh, the Sunday after Christmas, I think.
• 46:16
  I think it's when you guys were playing down at, uh, Illinois. Mm-hmm, Fatter, Fatter By The Lake. Could've been Saturday. I don't know. It's all a big blur. [laughs] Fatter, how was Fatter By The Lake?
• 46:25
  They got in the Chicago Tribune. I know. They, uh- I didn't see a Gomez picture. Yeah, th- uh, you know, they probably didn't, the camera didn't survive or something to capture.
• 46:37
  So, uh, yeah, I d- I did the Fatter By The Lake. That was Otis' first ride back with the, uh- Otis, yeah... Christmas miracle of, uh, Otis being, being reborned there as a purple bike.
• 46:51
  It's much more photogenic than when it was just naked aluminum. It's true. It gives good camera. [laughs] True story. And now, today, purple pedals from Race Face came in.
• 47:03
  You'll see those on our Instagram feed here very soon. [laughs] Gram. But I, I have been riding a lot since, uh, I, I got Otis back, man, and that's a big deal. Uh, snow came.
• 47:19
  We had, now sus- we have now sustaina- sustainable snow. I took a trip up to Cuyuna up there with Fatty Lumpkin, and we stayed in a yurt for a couple of days and- [yawns]... rode. Uh-oh, I'm boring Sven. He's yawning.
• 47:33
  No, he's just catching his breath. [laughs] 'Cause I- Or were you robbing? 'Cause, 'cause- Or were you robbing or- [bell ringing] I'm at the top of the hill again. [laughs] Criminy, it's these hills. Oh, yeah.
• 47:44
  Yeah, it's weird. So Cuyuna was, uh... How do you, how do you say cool in Cuyuna language? I, I don't know. It was really good, though. 38 miles of groomed trail and lots of up and down.
• 47:55
  And, ugh, man, if you've been to Fruita, Colorado and ridden the Kessel Run, they have Kessel Run in snow there. 25.5. It was- Less than 12. Yeah. Less than 12. Less than 12.5.
• 48:08
  Um, and on my way back from the, uh, Cuyuna journey, after I dropped Fatty back off there in the Twin Cities, Manny, riding the Manny, we rode bikes, uh, and stayed in a, in a yurt up there.
• 48:23
  Uh, then on the way home, we, I did a nice long loop at Lavis, and that's the picture that you said recently. Oh, very, very, very nice.
• 48:31
  It was a beautiful sunny day, and, uh, it was real fat biking- Cuyuna was surreal fat biking, perfect grooming, everything just flat and lovely and hardly rutted up at all.
• 48:43
  And then got to Levis and it had been raged on all weekend, and it was like a Monday, and it- there were spots that, that were like pretty rough, uh, but had been refrozen and, uh, it, it was good.
• 48:57
  It was, it was a good, more rustic, more real fat biking adventure in my retro, you know- Retro fat bike mode... w- world according to Gomez. Yeah. Not just super, super slick groomed- Yeah, and then I went home-...
• 49:11
  rollercoaster ride... [laughs] and came to Silver Lake, and conditions right now in southern Wisconsin are unbelievably good crust riding. Crusty. If you have a fat bike, don't go to a trail, just go to a farm field.
• 49:26
  You'll be able to ride everything, dude, it's unreal. Speaking of riding everything, we got Dave Lunz on the line. Hello. Hello Davey Dave. What's up? Howdy. Hey, Dave. I- isn't this the same weekend as Frost Bike?
• 49:43
  [laughs] I don't know. [laughs] Yeah, you are. [laughs] Son of a bitch. [laughs] Uh, what are you guys out riding? Yeah. Yeah, we're at Alpha. We're doing Beer 2 Lap. Oh, out at Alpha Trail? Yep. Nice.
• 49:59
  How are the condi- Yeah... how are the conditions out there on the, uh, on the Alpha Trail? Well, as Uncle Gomez was just saying, it's spectacular. It's fucking hard packed as heck and, yeah. Is that Cha- Yeah...
• 50:11
  is that Chad with you? Yeah. Oh, sure. You bet, guy. That's Chad back there. Um, uh, what's it called? Uh, Scott was here earlier. Scott Melser, yes. Melser? Yeah, Melser. Yeah, that's- Nice... that, yeah.
• 50:23
  [laughs] Uh, what's his name again? [laughs] [laughs] So, uh, so- Um, he had to take off... do you have studs in your tire there, stud? I do. I got a few more for you.
• 50:37
  They came in the, uh, came in the shop order today, so. Oh, man. Awesome. Yeah, um, I still had the studs on from New Year's Day.
• 50:45
  Um, and it's, uh, pretty good out here actually, 'cause it's really hard packed and there's some icy sections, and I think they helped me a couple of times. Yeah, I've been slipping and sliding a little bit. Right on.
• 50:56
  It's all good. We're good. Hey, when are we, when are we gonna go to Decorah and raise hell and ride bikes? Um, not for PWC, 'cause it's not there this year from what I understand.
• 51:07
  I heard there might be like a secret, uh, secret handshake event there coming up, so you should probably, uh- [laughs] Well, now that you just said that to our millions of listeners, I don't think- Well, I didn't say when-...
• 51:16
  it's gonna be-... I just said where. You can go to Decorah and hang out all winter- Well, show up every weekend and-... and wait, wait for us to come. Who says we- [laughs] Some of us don't have to work during the week.
• 51:26
  Nerdic Fest maybe weekend. [laughs] But don't tell Lunz about it. Yeah, let's not tell Dave. Hey, Chad- Oh, wait... Chad's invited, but not Dave. [laughs] Yeah. [laughs] Yeah, I was talking to Chad.
• 51:37
  I, I'll just go away and tear up trucks. All right, Chad wants a truck. Right on. All right, we got another call, guys. Have fun out there. All right, have fun. All right, bye guys. Bye. See ya.
• 51:48
  Dave sounds amazingly sober. I, I was thinking he was kind of half sloshed. [laughs] He's been, he's been drunk. [laughs] It's funny, we have the exact opposite.
• 51:57
  Or maybe I- That's because you're used to him, you're used to him... or maybe I was being really sarcastic. [laughs] Hey, hey, Old Bear, I, I, I got you on the line here. What's happening? Hey, nothing much.
• 52:08
  Just wanted to call up and say thank you for getting the shirt to me in time. It's my pride and joy. Oh, yeah, yeah. Your son gave you the money for the shirt, didn't he? Yeah. Nice. Nice, man. It was, it was so sweet.
• 52:22
  I mean, I wear it all the way, all the round over here at the home and... Well, the only shirts I wear are the Two Bit. I wear a Surly shirt, I wear a Twobitbikes.com and the Bear shirt. Very good.
• 52:34
  Well, they gotta, gotta throw them in the wash once in a while, so you gotta switch them up. Yeah, I do. They get washed almost every other day. [laughs] How's, uh- Yeah, so-... how's conditions down there for riding?
• 52:49
  Dry right now. No snow yet. They're talking about snow this weekend, but that's typical of Missouri. You know, we don't get a lot of, awful lot of snow.
• 52:57
  You're, you're not in any of the danger zone for flooding there, are you? No. We're, we're up, oh, about 1,100 feet here. Ah, right. Now that'd be a pretty up, a pretty high river to get up there to [laughs]
• 53:09
  Lake the Ozarks. Well, this one road by us did flood and closed down Highway 44. Um, Ru- Rubadoo Creek. But they had a big flood by St.
• 53:20
  Louis that closed down 44, and my one friend got trapped on the other side and was there for three days, so. Oh, man. But, uh, I've been riding. We've been getting out. Um, bundling up.
• 53:34
  You know, we get 40-degree days and that's, you know, flannel, insulated flannel shirt, long sleeve T-shirt and then a T-shirt over that. Wear the helmet and get out there and ride.
• 53:45
  Had, had a really good ride and those tires, oh my goodness. The other day I was, I was doing 12 miles an hour on the, on a trail over there just, I was just pushing it for all it was worth.
• 53:57
  I mean, those tires just, just grab and they, they don't let go. A lot better than the missions. Yeah, glad you like them. Yeah. That sounds cool. We've been, uh, we- Yeah, my buddy-...
• 54:09
  we were just talking about the riding that we were doing over the holiday. Yep. Here, all of us been getting out.
• 54:15
  Yeah, I, I, I saw that, that write-up in, I mean, thing about that ride you did, that you did, Gomez, out there in the West. Oh, yeah, in Washington. It was neat. That was a fun weekend. That, uh, that sunset shot,
• 54:30
  my wife and I go, "Oh, we were just there." [laughs] Yeah, believe it. That, that, that was the very first click of the shutter. That was the first picture I took of the trip. So, you know- Wow...
• 54:43
  it, uh, a- and it got better from there. It was, it was better. You can hear that, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. [laughs] Yeah. I got, I got some pictures I'm gonna be putting on the, uh, Fat Biking and Health this Friday.
• 54:55
  Oh, yeah? Um, from Global Fat Bike Day. Oh, cool. We had a dinner here at the home, and I declared it for my family Global Fat Bike Day dinner. And one of the aides dressed up as an elf, and I told her she was a gnome.
• 55:11
  [laughs] So I could joke her up. Ah, you make, you make the, the Gomez very happy. That's, uh, y- you gotta make- You know, gno- gnomes are an important part of a fat biker's diet. Any gnome. [laughs] But, uh- So true.
• 55:27
  So true. So, uh, you're gonna have to try and enter our contest next week. We have an essay contest. You'll have to, uh- An essay contest? Yeah, an essay contest. Um- Hmm.
• 55:41
  And there's, uh, then there's bonus points for, uh, for including, uh, gnomes into the, uh, into the, uh, story, so. Really? Yeah. What's the, what's the topic of the essay? Just has to be, uh, fat bike-related.
• 55:53
  Fat bike-oriented Yeah. And Tupper Becker is- Oh, great... is the guy who's gonna judge it. I c- I c- I c- I can write my ode to black bikes. Oh, yeah, there you go. There you go. That's the, that's a good one.
• 56:06
  I, I started on a black bike, and I'm still on a black bike. Yeah, I have a couple of 'em. You know, they came in oyster, you know. And I have a purple bike. Started on a 16-inch Schwinn with hard rubber tires.
• 56:18
  Yeah, I think my first little Schwinn, my first 20-inch Schwinn was, but it had pneumatic tires, was black. Yes. And I turned it into a Stingray. Yep, mine was all black. And then- Then I went to a black...
• 56:29
  Well, I went to an Evans. I can't... If you remember what Evans were, they were sold in some store up there in Illinois. And my grandfather got me one of those. It was red, but I painted it black [laughs] Painted black.
• 56:43
  Like your Cadillac, huh? I wanna paint it black. Oh, we're having, they're doing Mick Jagger imi- [laughs] imitations in here.
• 56:51
  So all of a sudden, like, uh, they, they're pouring, they're pouring 7 Up on the stage- Oh, um-... and wearing platform shoes. It's, it's, it's madness. [laughs] I know he's doing that on purpose. [laughs] Th- this?
• 57:04
  Yeah. [laughs] Oh. He, he's like- Oh. Do I have to mail my essay to you, or how can I do it? Um, your machine doesn't take text, does it? Um, I dunno.
• 57:21
  I dunno. You could, um- I could- You could recite it... I could mail it to you. You could recite it as a voicemail. [laughs] You could do a reading. I could, yeah. Yeah. Call, just call the- Yeah...
• 57:32
  the 818-918-2453 and, and do a reading and leave a voicemail. Yeah, spoken word, that would be- Okay... that would be, be a, you know. Okay. Uh- I'll write, I'll start writing it just tomorrow and- All right...
• 57:45
  recording p- probably Sunday. What's, what's the prize gonna be? It's a, uh, Becker 40 Below bag, so you'll be able to bring- Ooh... some iced teas or, uh, some delicious orange Fanta. Fanta soda. Fanta.
• 58:00
  Which is what I'm never- Dr Pepper. Oh, Dr Pepper, the sweet one. Diet Dr Pepper Cherry. Oh, hey, that's- I can't drink the straight stuff anymore. That's... No, I never do. I'm, I'm, I'm all diet all the time. All diet.
• 58:14
  I did have a Sprecher root beer today. Well, I'm, uh- Did you? Just 'cause I want- I'm, I'm a, I'm a diabetic, so- I'm, I'm, I'm-... it's a battle all the time... I think I'm learning to be a diabetic.
• 58:23
  [laughs] I'm, I'm training. I'm in, I'm a diabetic in training. I'm pre-diabetic. I'm training to be one. [laughs] It's not a laughing matter. You guys, you guys are big like me. It, it runs in my family. You know? So.
• 58:33
  You guys are big like me, so. I'm, I'm working on trying- Well, that's gotta be- I'm trying to s- I'm trying to slim down now. I am, uh- I am, too.
• 58:43
  That's why I'm getting out and riding more because I got here in the, in the, in the retirement suites and it was like, "Oh, all this good food." Uh, didn't do my waistline any good.
• 58:54
  [laughs] Yeah, now I have to- So I'm being very careful... I have to look at food just as fuel. Made out little Colorado is playing Mr. Ranger to my Yogi Bear, to my old bear.
• 59:03
  [laughs] He's, he's, he's monitoring what I eat. Oh. He's a pretty, pretty good dude. Yeah. All right, old bear. Well, we gotta- Okay, thank you... we, we gotta finish this puppy up here. Yeah. Okay.
• 59:16
  So, uh- If I ever get a chance, um, my son's got a company and he needs a couple stickers. Could, you think you could float me a couple stickers down this way? Oh, sure. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
• 59:27
  You still have old bear's address? I'm sure I do. All right. Just I'll get the address from Greg 'cause I, I think I'm the keeper- Oh... the, of the stickers. You probably have some, though, too. Uh, I dunno.
• 59:37
  You probably have the newer ones. I do have the newest ones. All right, old bear. So I'll, I'll get that, uh- We'll, we'll make that happen... I'll get that address.
• 59:43
  We'll send you some stickers and, uh- Give us three or four months. We'll probably get... [laughs] Oh, yeah, I might bring 'em down 'cause I'm gonna- Yeah... I'm gonna come down and go riding down there.
• 59:51
  You and I are gonna go ride that park, and you're gonna probably kick my ass, and- Yeah... and, uh- Well, I won't kick your ass. And then- Well, not with my knees...
• 1:00:00
  and then, and then we'll have a Diet, uh, Dr Pepper and sit on the porch. Cherry. Cherry. [laughs] Have you seen the- Cherry. Have you seen these- Sit out under the cherry blossoms and-... cherries? I bet you- Lemon.
• 1:00:12
  What? I bet you with, with [laughs] I bet you with my gift of gab, uh, we'll have the nurses rubbing our feet and getting us drinks, and it'll be just a big party. It'll be... [laughs] Yeah, I'm out.
• 1:00:28
  And you'll have to meet Mama Bear. Oh? You'll have to meet my wife. Oh. She's Mama Bear, and you'll have to meet Cubbie Sean. Absolutely.
• 1:00:36
  If, if you ever get down there on the, on the thread, go ahead and post if you're having a struggle with weight. Go ahead, post your struggle. We support people. All right.
• 1:00:48
  I, I have- Life's a big struggle for the fat biking effort... I have, I, I have the, uh, I have Oprah on my side, Weight Watchers. That's, that's my, that's my gig. Oh, no. Yeah, me and Oprah. You doing Weight Watchers?
• 1:00:59
  What's that? Mr. Jim's nodding his head. [laughs] [laughs] Mr. Jim's working on a fat trike for, uh, for one of our guys that owns a restaurant. Yeah, that's gonna be- It's gonna be pretty cool... he just, uh,
• 1:01:13
  he, he did an add-a-dick to me to a, to a fat bike. [laughs] And, but, but the dick is a extra wheel in this case. Well, it's extra fat tires, too.
• 1:01:25
  [laughs] I hate to get medically and technical and all mechanical on you at this juncture in the show. I mean, we're practically on overtime here, but- Uh, we're, we're on overtime... this is what's going down.
• 1:01:37
  We are going to- After hours... ride a fat trike in the hallway. We have links, but we don't care. Thanks to Surly. We are out of here. This is the first show of the year.
• 1:01:48
  Old Bear and Travis- We're going to ride a trike... get on and ride. We're gonna go ride a trike. [upbeat music] See you, see you next week. All right, see you guys.
• 1:01:58
  You've been listening to Fat Bike Radio's weekly dose of fat. Find us on the web at fat-bike.com/radio. We'll see you next time.
• 1:02:12
  [upbeat music]