Cycling Oklahoma
We will talk about everything cycling in Oklahoma. We cover races, athletes, bike industry, local gossip and everything fun that has to do with 2 wheels.
Cycling Oklahoma
From Control Towers to Mountain Trails - Jon Denton
This episode features Jon Denton, who shares his unique journey from military life to becoming a passionate cyclist and bike shop owner. We explore themes of family, resilience, and the enduring spirit of community through cycling while honoring the memory of Jon's son, Corey.
• Jon's path to cycling through unique experiences
• The challenges and joys of raising a family in cycling
• Remembering Corey and how he influenced many lives
• The role of Buchanan Bicycles in the local community
• Future plans for youth scholarships and cycling initiatives
• Reflections on the personal growth and connection cycling brings
Instagram @suweede
Facebook @Buchanan Bicycles
What is up? Cycling Oklahoma. Thank you so so much for tuning in for another episode, so happy to have this one in the books. I've been chasing John for a really long time to get this done and, as a lot of the guests, they're like I don't really have a lot to talk about, and then when we start talking it all starts coming out. So there's some good stories in here to hear how John got started in cycling. It's not the same traditional route that a lot of the other fast dudes uh follow. He came to it a little later in life and, uh, like, actually lived a life raising family and all those kinds of things and career, um, while getting into cycling. So it's a really fun story. Uh, we hear about John's uh moves from around the country and, uh, how him and his wonderful wife met and kind of, you know, raising their family and getting their kids into cycling. And we talk about Corey a little bit, which is so great to keep his memory alive and to talk about how Corey got into cycling and kind of some of their memories that they had together. So it's very touching. It's a great, great episode. I was very appreciative of John and Julia sitting down and talking with me and sharing their story and their memories of Corey. It's a very special episode, so I hope you enjoy this one.
Speaker 1:We have a link where you can order a jersey that we talk about. You can just order it off of Buchanan uh, their Facebook page. Get ahold of them. Uh, there will be pictures uh of that on their Facebook page. So you know, support them. The money's going to a really great cause. Uh, to be determined of how they're going to get that to where it's going to go, but uh, they're. They're given back to the community through Buchanan bicycles. John purchased the business a a couple years ago and, just like all local bike shops, they're struggling to stay relevant in this direct-to-consumer world. But, man, this bike shop is so cool Buchanan's if you haven't been in, it is the old school neighborhood bike shop. It has got so much history inside of it. It's in Norman, on Campus Corner, so if you're in the area, just stop by and say hi, check out the shop. It's got that old school feel and vibe and I absolutely loved it sitting down in their shop and talking to them.
Speaker 1:So thank you so much for tuning in to this episode. As always, please check out CyclingOklahomacom and we'll continue to try to roll out some new videos this springtime and get those shot and get those done. So if you have ideas, you have suggestions of episodes or routes we should feature, please let me know on that, send me your route so we can update and keep new things live on the website and keep things fresh. I just want to say thank you guys so much for tuning in and listen. Without you guys, this doesn't exist and doesn't go forward. So we want to continue to grow our amazing cycling community in Oklahoma and I hope you uh appreciate this episode and any suggestions and ideas you have. I'm open and if we can do them, we will do our best to put them into action, to make it live. So thanks again. Go check out cycling Oklahomacom, check out Buchanan bicycles uh, the jerseys that they have that are honoring Corey and everything that he represented, and what they're doing with those funds is going to be really, really fun to watch and how they continue to grow cycling among the juniors in our wonderful state is going to be really fun and exciting to watch. So thanks again for tuning in and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 1:All right, john, we're officially live. I have bugged you. I tell it. I say this most time like, oh, I've been trying to get you for a long time, but I really truly have been trying to get you for sure since you bought the shop Right, at least that time, yeah, so maybe longer, I'm not really sure. So when I got the message the other day on Facebook said let's just get this crap over with. Here we are, I'm excited about it so, and I haven't been in Buchanan's in a really really long time, so it was really nice to come in and see the place again. So a lot of things to cover. I think we can go a lot of different angles with this, but I think we start with an intro of kind of where you grew up and how you got into riding bikes. I think we just start there.
Speaker 2:Okay yeah, okay yeah, yeah. So I've listened to all your podcasts so far to date. I need to.
Speaker 1:You're the one.
Speaker 2:I appreciate that Now that now that I'm on the hot seat, your brain's going shutting down completely blank.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no so.
Speaker 2:I, I, I guess, like most people who you've interviewed and we ride with and stuff. We've probably all ridden since I can remember California, when I was as far back as I can remember riding bikes out there, and then in Louisiana, when my parents moved to Louisiana second grade or so we all rode. We would do wheelie.
Speaker 1:you know the banana seeds twins and stuff and we do wheelie contests to see how far we could go and saw a great meme the other day was talking about the cool kid in the neighborhood who could ride a wheelie and I was like that was not me.
Speaker 2:I could. I was maybe third best of our group. I mean the one kid across the street, his name Steve Peterson. He could ride around the block and it seems like forever and just go. I got like three-quarters of the way around at one point and then you know, we would do the jumps, just like you see in the memes. You know back in the 70s and stuff and brick with a piece of plywood and shout up. You know, oh, I had some terrible crashes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that never what a little kid thinks of as like a cool ramp. It's not a good idea.
Speaker 2:No, and then my dad got me, so we rode. My dad got me a motor, an ST90, honda ST90. Okay, they used to use them at the Avondale shipyards because that's where he worked, but he got me one. The gas tank's under the seat, so it looks like a girl's bike, a motorcycle right, it looked like a sissy bike, if you will. Back in the day, everybody else has these little 125s and everything. We would go to the church. There was a Catholic church that had a big backyard, if you will, and a big loop. We would go and we could ride, race each other on the motorcycles that's awesome and we would go in circles. It couldn't have been more than an eighth of a mile loop, I don't know, but it was very small. Anyway, we'd go in circles and we had our helmets on. We didn't ride with helmets on the bikes, right, but my motorcycle we did, and uh, that's even kind of surprising that you had a helmet on motorcycle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, well, that's a good thing I did, because I probably wouldn't be here. My dad actually come out to watch us and we were ripping and I come around to turn and the only technical spot was through a little, not even a creek bed, it was just a little dip, maybe 12 inches, and I washed out and the kid behind me ran over my head, my helmet. I could feel the helmet squeeze in and everything and it took a chunk about oh, half inch out of my helmet. That would have been my head. Yeah, you know, my dad didn't even be, he was by the pickup and I still remember this as a memory. But he just kind of looked over at me, kind of waiting to see if I was going to get up.
Speaker 3:He ain't coming to help.
Speaker 2:I'm getting up, so I got up and started racing again.
Speaker 1:I guess that's a good way to learn. Learn the limit of them tires.
Speaker 2:Yeah, shut us down from that. We weren't able to do that for too long. We did one or two summers, I guess. So we rode bikes and then, right after high school, I joined the military so did you graduate high school in louisiana yeah, a place called marrero, uh, john eric. John eric high school in marrero. Okay, about 10 minutes from new orleans. Okay, yeah, and so, um, I rode a motorcycle to high school as well one summer.
Speaker 1:Oh one summer see this is what happens? They just start coming back once. You start going once I rode my bike.
Speaker 2:I got to ride my bike because I failed biology and you got to uh-huh so good spin to uh, right, and if julia could look at the map we could look at how far it was. I swear it was a mile ride, but it was probably three miles to the ice Uphill both ways.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And no helmet, 10 speed drop bar bike, you know thing. And uh, I had to go for a month and a half and it didn't matter, I had to go and I got strong legs. Man, if I'd have known that there was a thing of cycling, racing stuff, it would have been great. And there was none of that stuff, I didn't do. Bmx this is before bmx really took off. Okay, well, it shouldn't have been. It would have been the early 80s, 81 it's not in your area.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know that's what these guys locally like malott and you know charles, you know long and all those guys, they talk about the bmx. But like I grew up in el reno, 30 minutes away, i've've never I mean I rad when I was a little kid. The movie was amazing and you know, you see, like the movies of them, I'm like I didn't know a person. It didn't know it existed. I didn't even know it was a thing that you could race BMX in Oklahoma. So it wasn't like in your group. You didn't even know it existed. Yeah, um, I didn't know it was a thing.
Speaker 2:And so yeah, and then, of course, about a year after high school, I graduated when I was 17. I went in early, I guess, but not that I was smart, I was just started early.
Speaker 1:Just tell people it was because you were smart. They don't know, they can't check.
Speaker 2:My ASVAB scores. Going in the Air Force got me into security police. That was a terrible job. So you went to the Air Force. Yeah, I did four years in the Air Force and so I was a cop. And this recruiter saw this dumb sucker kid come in. I put all my jobs I did all. Requested nine of 10. They give you 10 options to pick from. Everything was electronics. I had this little hobby thing where I would do electronics projects and so I'm like all right, but the 10th one I put law enforcement.
Speaker 1:That's the one you got.
Speaker 2:Why the fuck did I put that? I don't know, but I did. It's like wow, we can put you in security police. And he gave me a coupon for a free Popeye's dinner.
Speaker 1:Sold Signing bonuses are better than pepper chicken now.
Speaker 2:That was the stupidest thing. I spent more years trying to get out of it.
Speaker 1:Did you get stationed anywhere? Good, at least.
Speaker 2:Osan, korea. That's pretty good. That was my second station. My first duty station was mount from the air force base in great falls, montana that's a big change.
Speaker 1:That was huge man.
Speaker 2:You went from new orleans to montana, yeah and so in my my basic training started in february in san antonio, which wasn't bad yeah, that's the best time of year to do that but it was I.
Speaker 2:They put me through all like a bunch of special training, like all. So I didn't finish out of san antonio fort, sam, houston area until august. Oh wow, yeah, my six weeks of boot camp. Like most air force people, mine was six months. Wow, I was stupid. They saw this. I went through m60 gunner school, I went through airbase ground defense, extra shooting, all kinds of different stuff, and the whole time I'm trying to get out of it.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:I finally had a chief master sergeant pull me in his office like Airman, you can either go to the brig or you can do what you signed up to do. Got it me eat up, sort of, and uh, actually had a. After one of the exercises I had a, uh, he was a air force guy but he was army ranger, trained okay, and so he was. He was a ranger but he pulls me to the side. He's like you want to go to ranger school, airman, like but I want more training.
Speaker 2:I want to get out of here right, everything would change for sure, but and so, anyway, um went through all that, and so they sent me to maelstrom again. All my requests you know where I wanted to go was not anywhere north. I'm southern, yeah, so to speak, california, louisiana, send me just the spot let's send you to montana, that'll be great.
Speaker 2:So I get there in august. Cool, it's warm a little bit. I don't have a car. I'm like walking around september 14th I guess, somewhere I think it was 14 freaking blizzard hits, I mean snow, like holy crap. I didn't have, I didn't even have a coat. Oh my, my gosh In.
Speaker 1:September In.
Speaker 2:September Dumping and so I had to walk to the BX, like, ran to the BX, bought a ski jacket. My first one was like $120, everything I had and that was an eye-opener man. It's like holy crap.
Speaker 1:And you were there for how long? Just over a year, and then you got to go to. Korea, which is cool. Yeah, so you were there. For how long? Just over a year, and then you got to go to Korea, which is cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was interesting, um, when we got there. Well, when I say interesting, I drank a lot yeah. Sounds like military life you know, 20 years old, um 85, 86 timeframe, Um, and just like not a place. Well, but they have to send the young guys.
Speaker 3:I was actually one of the older young guys and the younger guys were terrible.
Speaker 2:We had to take care of the young guys because they would drink way more than us and it's like, well, you're older, but anyway. And so we get there. Of course, I'm still security police, right, and they have this thing called EST, which is like a SWAT team, emergency service team, and because I shot so good, I was one of two snipers, went in training. That's kind of back in training, interesting at least. So I was one of two snipers and they asked me if I wanted to be on it and I'm like, well, sure, cause I'm like, you know, do something Right.
Speaker 2:But I've always been kind of competitive in that respect, right, so I guess that's why I get to the cycling stuff. But, and so we trained, we did the EST stuff, we got to shoot more, shoot with a pistol, and then I made expert with the pistol as well as the rifle and stuff like that, and so to me it was fun and did that for a year or so. And if I'd have been a little smarter well, I don't know about that If I'd have done some other different things different, I probably wouldn't be here because I would have gone to the special forces and tried for that again but it didn't. And been a lifer and had a completely different life.
Speaker 2:It changed where I know where my trajectory of life changed, because I was walking the flight line one day in Korea freezing my ass off because it's cold in Osan. I don't know what the latitude is, but it's somewhere up around South Dakota, but I think. But anyway, I'm walking around the C5. You know what the latitude is, but it's somewhere up around South Dakota is what I think, but anyway, I'm walking around a C-5. You know what a C-5 is? A big cargo plane. By the way, it's 243 steps to walk around, because I counted multiple times and I look up and I see this tower with the glass and everything up top there and these guys with their feet up there. It was nice and warm. Like what the hell is that? So I go and check and that's the air traffic controllers. Okay, that's what I wanted to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's way better than this.
Speaker 2:I just want to get out of the freaking cold, yeah. So I started putting in for it and they wouldn't. But they wouldn't let me prostrate and they said we were short, like no, you're not. There was order of aircraft controllers by five times. There was a shortage ultimate real bad. But security had like a 0.5 shortage number, whatever it was really minuscule. So they wouldn't let me cross train and pissed me off. And so they they said and then they sent me back to stateside, to ellsworth North tier again, not South where every place I didn't even put North tier right, nothing. So they sent me back stateside and we met, but um, but they wouldn't let me cross train, and so I I knew I was getting out at that point, but I didn't know what I was going to do. So I joined the guard and at one oh, I know how we got to Washington when I was at Malmstrom.
Speaker 2:I have a bunch of family in Canada, okay, in fact my mom's on my mom's side I'm is all Canadian. I could have dual citizenship if I had done the paperwork at one point. Anyway, I drove on one of my two weeks vacation. I drove from Great Falls up to Nelson, british Columbia, and through Spokane. It was beautiful, that place was awesome Back then. I don't know what it's like now. When I got done with the four years and they wouldn't let me cross train, I told them to cancel my job reservation when I'm getting out. I moved to Spokane, washington, instead of Louisiana. I didn't know anybody, just the recruiter, oh my gosh. And uh and this by this point I had met Julie, so so we were dating.
Speaker 1:And so you guys had met whenever you came back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when I got yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, or you better, she's eyeballing you. You better get this information right. So, yeah, so.
Speaker 2:I got that let's see 86, because it's November of 87. Yeah, because I got out in February of 88. Anyway, and so we met in Rapid City, but where I would work in the missile field was about five miles from her house.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Where their house is still miles from her house, okay, where their house is still, and so, um, anyway, it was just we met through some friends. My friend that I worked with, his girlfriend, knew her and we met, and so um.
Speaker 2:So when you moved to washington, she go with you later okay yeah but it was, yeah, so I had to find a place too. I mean I didn't know anything, but back then you could, I mean you could. Actually it was yeah, so I had to find a place too. I mean I didn't know anything, but back then you could, I mean you could. Actually it was livable, you could work and make a, find a. So I found a cheap ass apartment and um, and we made it work. Um, I did live in Canada for a while. I would cross the border all the time.
Speaker 1:You can't do that now Right, just freewheeling it, just doing whatever yeah.
Speaker 3:A lot of different situations.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's nice. I've only been up in that area once we went. Actually, that's where I bought my van. I bought it from a guy in Seattle, so I flew up there and that's a fun story, it's not. It's funny now. It wasn't funny then. But me and Lindsay had just kind of started dating like just like kind of like two months and be like. I said, hey, I just I don't even know if we've been together too much, I would say maybe like a month and I was like I found this van. Is there any chance you want to go with me to get it?
Speaker 1:and she's like okay, I'm like either, this girl's like the coolest girl ever or something's wrong with her, because I wouldn't have gone right and I so we flew to Seattle and picked up the van and drove back and that's the first, only time I've been in sea. I've been to port or oregon a couple times, but never see it was. Washington was beautiful. Yeah, like I need, I want to go up there and spend like time travel in washington.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I love it up there, so so beautiful but it's considered a desert like once you get like in the east side, yeah, yeah, like high plains, kind of high desert all the way to spokane interesting, I've heard that.
Speaker 1:I've seen like that area.
Speaker 2:But I've heard that yeah, and so I joined the guard there and, uh, so this is the long path, winding path for you to get the bike shop on the ship. So bear with me if anybody's listening, and so um, yeah, so how long were you in washington?
Speaker 2:uh, we lived there five years, three, was it, only three. You can speak, is that all? So we so, yeah, 88 we, because we bought, we'd gotten a little motel that if you touch the sink and the stove you would drop out and shock yourself. And she'd get up at night and shout. It was an old motel with cinder block walls. That was the insulation.
Speaker 1:Wait, you guys were staying there, Uh-huh okay.
Speaker 2:We got there in February. Wait, that was after we got back from ground radio school, so that was in 89. But in 88. We got there in February. Uh-huh Wait, that was after we got back from ground radio school, so that was in the 80., 89., 89. Okay. But in 88, we got there. We were staying on Adams Road in that other wonder apartment, okay.
Speaker 2:So I got out of the Air Force and I joined the Guard. Uh-huh, and I was waiting for a tech school to go into ground radio. They didn't air traffic control spots at the time. Okay, that's, that's right. But I'm like I still want to be an air traffic controller. But listen, but we can't yet. But you can go to ground radio school until we find a slot for you, okay, all right, what is that electronics? Oh cool, we'll do electronics. So that was. I got out in february from the air force, february 27th actually, and then, like the end of february, and then march, april, may, june, I think I went in June, right, yeah, because I graduated in December. The school was six months long.
Speaker 1:This is for the ground radio, school Ground radio, is that right?
Speaker 3:And if I wanted to go along so for her.
Speaker 1:I had to get married. So you guys got married in 88? Okay, gotcha, man, man, she's put up with you for a long time it's like, give this. Um, yeah, give this lady here, goodness gracious, okay, um, we should have brought the decent. You should give her whatever she wants at this point. Um, so you're. So you're there.
Speaker 2:You go through the, uh, ground control school, so basically, radio is all okay, traffic control was used to talk on. Okay, put it on the ground side, gotcha, um. And so, um, I did all it went. May have been a little bit later than june, but um, I was just thinking why I got I got fired from a grocery store during that time Because I went back to pick her up and he said the little 19-year-old butthead manager is like you need to be back to work tomorrow. I'm like I ain't going to be here, tomorrow I'm going to South Dakota.
Speaker 2:I'll be back the next day. He fired me it was worth it I had to pay back like two weeks worth of unemployment.
Speaker 1:It all worked out just fine. Anyway, did you eventually get into air traffic control? I did Through the military.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I did ground radio for three years. I got certified, trained.
Speaker 1:You were there in Washington doing that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we spoke at Washington and so I got into a job at a local shop installing car radios and cell phones when the bricks were in the trunk like huge, and so I was doing that. We did that for three years, yeah, what.
Speaker 3:What do?
Speaker 2:you mean though?
Speaker 3:We went to Bluxy. Yeah, that was Biloxi yeah, we got Corey went to Biloxi again and then we went to Michigan and then we came back from New York at UPS goodness, you guys moved all over the place.
Speaker 2:Oh because, because then we got so we were there until 95 when Sarah was born in 95, so we were in Washington until 95? We didn't yeah.
Speaker 1:Back and forth.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we were all around why?
Speaker 1:Biloxi.
Speaker 2:Biloxi is where the tech school. So for so in 89 or 88, the grounds the tech school for the electronics shop was there, and then roughly 99, went to OCCC. We got our associate's degree. I got my associate's degree in avionics. Okay, thought I wanted to do electronics Lasted about six months under. Once I started working on airplanes. I'm like no hell, no.
Speaker 1:So you were in Oklahoma City at this point? No, oh, you're still in Spokane.
Speaker 2:Still in Spokane. Okay, and so an opening came open for air traffic in 91. Okay.
Speaker 1:And we had bought our house.
Speaker 2:We bought a house in the place of all places, green acres. Oh, that's wonderful. It's halfway between spokane and court lane, okay, oh yeah. And they had a river path, beautiful area way down. They have a river that goes from spokane to court lane. And, um, I did ride. At one time we took my bike into town. We rode from the college, we were going to school and I rode back. It was like 23 miles to our house on the road path.
Speaker 1:I thought I was gonna die. I was gonna say, and you thought, like man I'm, I think I basically rode the tour to france it was?
Speaker 1:it was on a swin high plains with the bio pace uh-huh, miserable, miserable so freaking bad my legs are so bad, I never did it so this whole entire time that you were in your military life and you guys are in Spokane you're doing all this stuff, did you ride at all at this point or you just kind of had been like moved on to other things, just kind of yeah.
Speaker 3:We got moved on and we said we're going to get by.
Speaker 1:Ori was born when 1990. 1990.
Speaker 3:Okay, two.
Speaker 2:When I bought the high planes in 93.
Speaker 3:The Schwinn's.
Speaker 2:The Schwinn's the.
Speaker 3:Schwinn's and we had a carry-along. The airplane movie had come out. No, the river runs through it. Okay, and the whole time we're riding with Corey along the river, he's like we're going to drown.
Speaker 1:We're going to drown. So is Corey your oldest? Yes, okay, corey's your oldest. He was born in 90. And you guys were in Washington, so bikes were like in the family, like for recreational purposes and for fun and just kind of around yeah.
Speaker 2:We pulled the trailer with him in it, right yeah.
Speaker 1:And it was just kind of like a part of daily life whenever you use them Right.
Speaker 2:It wasn't like racing or into it or anything like that no, we'd come up to Mount Spokane, had an event one year with Hans Ray and there was some downhill stuff. There was the trials. Hans Ray happened to be there. I can't remember who his main competition was, but we watched them. That would have been in a little bit. Cory was a baby, I mean not a baby, but he was old enough to ride. That would have been 95. Said Sarah.
Speaker 1:Your other kids were born when.
Speaker 2:Sarah was born in 95. Okay, okay, 98. 95, 98. So I got the job change to go to air traffic in 91, I want to say 92? 91. And so I went back down to tech school in Biloxi for four months for air traffic again. And then I went to Selfridge Air National Guard base for a year to train. Okay, Meanwhile somebody's renting our house out while we're doing this. Come to find out they were having parties. We're called so many times. It's like a renting situation.
Speaker 1:When we got back, our neighbors were so pissed.
Speaker 2:Like we're so glad you're back.
Speaker 1:So where did you guys go? From Spokane To.
Speaker 2:South Dakota. I don't know what the hell happened, but we're at home. We're at your home visiting family, and they had a shop there. It's called Scotchman Industries. They sell machinery all over the world and using electronics and stuff, and I don't know why we were thinking about moving back there. But we did so. I went in and applied.
Speaker 1:They had another scene, went through all this air traffic stuff. You've been chasing this forever. You finally get it, and then you, but, but well, I get it, I get it so so we went back to south dakota.
Speaker 2:I was still in the guard, but I couldn't get a full-time job as a controller in the guard, so it was just weekend duty, so I was actually traveling every month to go back to my training, gotcha.
Speaker 3:Sarah, we were working five part-time jobs.
Speaker 1:So you had four part-time jobs at this point Finish in college and you had kids and you had four part-time jobs at this point Finished in college and you had kids and you had college and you were pregnant with another one.
Speaker 2:I was working at the car radio shop doing installments. This sounds terrible. This sounds like a. No, I was working at the avionics shop in the morning, UPS in the evening, Air National Guard on the weekends.
Speaker 3:They were coming on the weekend because they had to go to fresh duty. Then I had a job and I looked at someone.
Speaker 1:Then you had two part-time jobs and you had two kids, or one pregnant with another one, gosh.
Speaker 2:Occasionally I would go back to the car shop and do some installs if I needed to. I had the four. You're insane. I lasted about a month. To be honest, I was wore out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, sounds like it so this is all, while you're back in South Dakota.
Speaker 1:Oh, in Spokane, Okay yeah.
Speaker 3:Being your mom Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So we yeah, Like okay, easier life we just go back to South. Dakota and chill Just be typical.
Speaker 2:But my boss there drove me batshit crazy and I lasted five months maybe and I called my guard uh, chief controller or whatever. I'm like dude, send me TDY, I don't care where, anywhere, something he's like. I was like, do we have any? And I knew all this time there's, there's, they're opening guard bases, take guard bases, were taking over FAA airship towers Okay, right, and I knew that was happening, but favors had to be made and paid and all that kind of stuff and so, like I don't care where, send me somewhere. So I got to go to Tazar, hungary.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Interesting One of the most guys were going for two months, I got to go for six.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, how was it? Because I was.
Speaker 1:Was it terrible? It was not.
Speaker 2:Okay yeah, this was an old base, old Russian base. Oh, okay yeah, hungarians had taken back, but it was.
Speaker 1:So very modern and very nice. Oh man, Great accommodations.
Speaker 2:Our tents Dirt floor tents Initially, third floor tents initially. When we first got there, yeah, and we got wood floor tents and then, um, and we were living high on the hog on wood floor tents and so that was so you're there for six months.
Speaker 1:She's back here with two kiddos yep, yeah, but she was, you were at home though she was with her parents, like in south dakota, so you had some help, okay, gotcha, yeah, and then still no bikes in this. At this point, you're just trying to survive, yeah, yeah. You're just trying to survive at this point, yeah, and just try to make life work. So how much longer did you stay in the military?
Speaker 2:so, um, short answer is I did 21 years. Oh, okay, so that was probably would have been about the 10 year mark. Oh, wow, yeah, at that point, 12 at that point. And so I did. I was in the guard and I'm at Hungary and, uh, you know, they tried to the the chief controller and stuff there in Hungary tried to keep me, take my orders away to come back. They wanted to extend me. I'm like, no, this is July, I'm out, I'm going to disappear tomorrow. Even if I'm on a plane, you're not going to find me. I'm going home. And because I was like I was training all the final controllers and all kinds of stuff, anyway, so they let me go. And I got back home and I called my chief control. I'm like, all right, I did my duty.
Speaker 1:Give me a normal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I knew we were moving to Cheyenne. So they opened up the tower, they took over the tower in Cheyenne, wyoming, and so I'm like, all right, show up. I showed up in Cheyenne, wyoming, for a guy that Cheyenne we had this. Yeah, oh so federal funding cut our air traffic control squadron and they moved to Cheyenne, to the Wyoming Guard Gotcha, and so I went from the Washington Guard to the Wyoming Guard Gotcha and so they needed to fill those positions.
Speaker 1:After. This guy that was in New Orleans that said I don't want to go north, lived his entire career in the north. This didn't work out as planned.
Speaker 2:They got me into Cheyenne and I went over there and I was good. A lot of the stuff I'm not telling is that I was an asshole for most of my military actually all of my military career, in fact.
Speaker 1:people now I was going to say it depends on who you ask. I don't know if anybody thinks you grew out of this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sarcastic, oh, I get it, whatever. But, fun of things when you weren't supposed to.
Speaker 1:I did that the other day and it did not go over well. It was a great buddy of mine who's a very devout Catholic. We just came out of a funeral. I made a. I thought it was a hilarious Catholic joke. He didn't think it was as funny as I did, so I was like, okay, foot and mouth, I'm going to move on from this situation. I think I'm funny a lot of times, others don't. So I get that.
Speaker 2:I've been there. Yeah, sometimes I have to watch myself. Yeah, I get it, got the shaman and I became a controller.
Speaker 1:Tower controller okay and no no, I was radar I was radar was it everything that you because that's what you wanted to do. Once you finally achieved it, were you like man, this is what I wanted to do. I'm excited about this.
Speaker 2:I enjoyed doing it, but my ultimate goal was to get into the FAA and do that, not just DOD, not the military because, I was tired of the military, but it was good money, it was a decent pay.
Speaker 2:But I get bored, easy sort of. And so I'm a radar air traffic controller working the traffic and it's a slow facility, nothing major, but the most airplanes I ever had was 13. And it was like that was awesome. I'm working, we were working, it was great.
Speaker 2:My assist guy is I'm working the scope and he's pulling radar contact, radar contact, all this kind of crap. And he said it like four times before I talked to the first plane and blah, blah, blah. It went through the whole system deal. So I did that. It was just a slow area. So I asked to become a tower controller, which is totally different than the radar. It's different. They're like well, we don't have anybody to train you, you have to train yourself. Essentially, I'm like okay, okay, and so on my days off I would go work in the tower and do the book work and sit and watch and listen and then get on the mic when I could, and eventually became a dual rated controller okay um wow, and so, man, from the guy that wasn't smart enough to do anything besides, rest people to an air traffic controller, which is like a super stressful, sophisticated situation.
Speaker 2:So what I like to tell people is, when they ask me if it's stressful, I tell them to this day it's only stressful if you let them touch.
Speaker 1:That's when it gets real stressful. Other than that, it's just managing. Yeah, that's when it gets real stressful. Other than that, it's just managing. Uh-huh, and when they touch have you asked me if my controller is not Well, did any of them touch? Well then, that sounds like a win. Self-average Well, that seems like a VR enough.
Speaker 2:So I mean, what's that movie Not Tin Cup, when the air traveler, Billy, Bob Thornton and the controllers? The only part about that movie was when it's at the beginning, when they're showing them like thinking in the 3D thing and their minds and stuff. That kind of to me is kind of how it works Right.
Speaker 1:The rest of that show was junk, I mean as someone, I'm sure it's the same questions you always get. But, like, in the chaos of like managing all the things that are going on at one time, is it just become routine or does it become like every day is like. This is because you can't have an off day. I mean, it's like a, like a doctor, you can't have an off day.
Speaker 2:The worst thing slow, like when you only had a plane and a car, believe it or not. Like we're two planes, like what just happened. We almost had a near miss on two because you just, yeah, you're lazy, you're lax, etc. It's busy, it's not like, it's not like, oh, I gotta go do this again. No, you're like, you're kind of, you're in it, you're kind of pumped for it.
Speaker 1:yeah, you're focused. Yeah, and in it it was. So is that what you did for the rest of your career? No, so wait, when did you get to Oklahoma? Let's get to there 2005. So you got to Oklahoma. Were you still doing the air traffic at that point?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I finally got a job offer from the.
Speaker 2:FAA and about four of us four controllers got offers to the FAA to go to flight service, which is not an air traffic position but it's talking to planes and doing weather briefings and crap like that. Okay, but I thought it would be a backdoor to get into becoming a controller in the FAA at the time. It wasn't, it was just a dead end, and so I got in. But I had to move to Utah. Okay, and so I got in, but I had to move to Utah. Okay, my commander was pissed. I went from an E-7. She was going to bus me to an E-7. Six, okay, uh, yeah, because of I'm moving, I'm left her in a lurch and all this kind of stuff, and so like, okay, I guess I ain't staying in the Wyoming guard.
Speaker 1:So I called Utah guard recruiter like I need a job, so move to there.
Speaker 2:So we moved to Cedar city in 2000. Was it 2000?
Speaker 1:Yeah 2000.
Speaker 2:And uh, that was it 2000 yeah, 2000 and uh that's where you fell back with the bike.
Speaker 2:That's where we got with the bikes. It was only after we realized that none of our kids would get could play with other kids when we didn't fit in and so on. And I was getting pretty heavy. I was well for me, I was weighing 185, I'm feeling sluggish and blah, so. So I said I got to do something. I had my old Swin High Plains rigid biopace piece of crap bike and I signed up for a mountain bike race in January 99 or 2000.
Speaker 1:2000, I guess, and totally just on a whim, like out of nowhere, you decided to do a bike race. Yep.
Speaker 3:Huh.
Speaker 1:That's not usually what people decide to do when they're like I'm bored, I think I'm gonna go do something short. Yeah, I get bored easy. But so I signed up. It was a seven mile race, a random thing to pick to go do. When you think about it, you're just like, oh, I'm gonna go pick golf balls or I'm gonna go get a tennis racket or I'm gonna go to the gym. It's not, I'm gonna go do a mountain bike race. Yeah, sure, why not?
Speaker 2:I mean, good thing you did it, it was and it was. It was so freaking hard it was. In st george, utah, there's only seven mile loop for the beginners for us, and, um, I want to say it was 700 feet or so of climbing the first four miles and then you get to go back down right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but we've never been on a bike. That's brutal.
Speaker 2:It was, it was, but the trail was so fun, like just riding along, we would go down and practice. I gave myself a month to train for it. Okay, 30 days, why not? Sure, and so um, and we, we and I test rode the hook and I got third oh nice, freaking. Third, and I was hooked.
Speaker 2:Yeah, then we're all then then I got it like I gotta get, I gotta. I'm dying. This thing's killing me. I need a fork, I need some suspension. So I bought a elastomer fork 150 bucks. I had like that much travel, you know, like a hitch of travel 20 mil travel it's like living in the life of luxury now, Awesome.
Speaker 1:And I've raced them for a season, I think a whole season. I can't imagine how miserable that was in Utah. Oh my gosh, the trails were great. Yeah, I can imagine, but I can't imagine basically a no-suspension bike on Utah trails.
Speaker 2:I think it hurt so bad. I forgot because I don't know, I don't remember what it was like.
Speaker 1:But you were also younger and it was so much fun, you just like blocked it out. Well, you don't when you don't know, you don't know. So when you're like oh, I went from no suspension to 30 mils 20 mils of spin.
Speaker 2:This is great. So I that season on the on the schwinn and we were talking like, could I do better with a better bike and stuff, and I didn't want to spend a thousand dollars for a mountain bike, right, you know, a full suspension or whatever she she bought me. Christmas comes around and I end up getting a gary fisher sugar three plus sixteen hundred dollar bike. Did it make me faster?
Speaker 1:no, no, no but man, you felt good it was so fast except chain suck with a triple chain ring my first bike that I bought was a used, uh felt road bike and it had the triple. I didn't know, I didn't have a clue I mean, I didn't get into this world until like not long ago compared to most and so but it had a triple on it and I was like this is great, this is the best thing. Why does nobody, why does nobody else around me have three gears? You guys are dumb, yeah, like you have. I have so many more options and I'm gonna use them all yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was a bad idea it dropped. Spend like 120 cadence and go like four yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So um I, and then that next year I raced. Was it still beginner, or did I? I didn't move the sport yet, but I was still still 180, like 170. And then, like I got serious into it and I started training, training more, I dropped 30 pounds in one year. I went to 155, but I really didn't know how to train.
Speaker 2:A lot of these guys on your podcast with other guys. I didn't know how to train there's no coaches I just dropped the weight, but I also dropped any semblance of power. I was at the back of the pack. I was getting crushed by these guys in the sport category, whatever. I kept coming back and kept coming back and then, um, by the time we left, we'd been there almost five years, the last season. Um, I was pretty.
Speaker 2:I was back, moving back towards the front, but cory had, like, cory had gotten into the racing and we had gotten tyler and sarah into racing. Tyler was about six, sarah was about nine. Okay, when we left with eight or nine, because remember when she went out to st george race on. So we sent sarah out on a race in st george, like their races, the same, the same same course. I did, of course, you did st george race, but it was like two and a half miles. Okay, she's on a 16 inch single speed Walmart, oh my gosh. And she, they start them off. There's like 10 little girls, 10 little kids, boys and girls, and they go. They have to go up about 20 yards, make a right-hand turn.
Speaker 1:And then like Huffy Hill yeah, like Huffy Hill yeah.
Speaker 2:And she's on a 60s and so that's a lot of little pedal strokes.
Speaker 2:So they say go, she's the first one to turn. And then by the time she makes the turn she's the last one, everybody you know, because she was just pecking. And then we're watching her and it's like she's gone just pedaling, the sad guys behind her and like half the kids start coming around and she start, you know, it's like a half hour come by, not even seeing her coming down to one section. So I go backwards on the course and like pop, get to where she's going to pop over. And sure enough, there she is and I did just long having my best time.
Speaker 2:She gets on and it's down. Coaster break only, break only. Oh yeah, she's going. And the next thing I know, I mean she's supermanning off the bike. Oh my god, I just felt so bad, they got behind me like she's, she's, gets up, she's crying a little bit and I'm like you're okay, brush her off. Like come on, and we're back to the flats kind of section. Like you're okay, come on, let's get to the finish. The guy looks at me. He's like you're leaving her, like yep oh, my god, I went to the finish line.
Speaker 2:My heart hurt so bad. She made it. She made it, uh-huh and everybody's watching another one yeah, oh, she came in third for the season. Oh nice she took third because because she was at every race, right, yeah, a couple, the boys always beat her, you know, right, good for her and keep coming back so yeah all the people who watched her go, or there's clapping her on when she came back in.
Speaker 2:Well, she probably loved that. That's great. It's just a little guy, you know. He did the really really short courses and stuff, but then cory had gotten into it at this point not tyler, he didn't race that year though, no, and then gotten into it at this point, not Tyler he didn't race that year, though no.
Speaker 1:And then Corey had at this point had kind of gotten eaten up with it as well.
Speaker 2:A couple of years. Yeah, he was doing by the time we left. He was one of the fastest. He was kicking my butt for sure, but he was getting to the point where, um, there was him and one other kid.
Speaker 1:And he would have been how old at this point 12., 12, 12, 13. Yeah, it was him and one other kid, we're usually one and two, okay, so he was into us and now it's a family fair Like the whole crew is on the trails.
Speaker 2:So I got a job for, you know, retired from the guard, got out of that stuff, a whole different job. So and they were cut. Oh, the reason we moved to Oklahoma was my FAA job was being cut and so, um, I knew a couple of guys here in Oklahoma city, you know, called in. I didn't call favors, I begged basically like hey can I get a job? And so, and I didn't like shift work anymore, so I got in as a terpster what we call terps, procedure development for aircraft and uh, here we are and so, um, but when we moved here, our first race was elk city, me and cory. It was muddy. Tommy duvall's on the start line with us and he's just talking his shitty talks all the time. Like who is this guy? Shut up, man, we're about, you know, I'm just in my head and trying to, you know, figure this out.
Speaker 2:So, muddy, peanut butter mud oh yeah, city, for sure it was so, oh my god, and then we did the race 11 miles, this sucks.
Speaker 1:I was like I wasn't sure I was gonna yeah nothing, no crunching, no doubt.
Speaker 2:You know, it's all down the whole way.
Speaker 1:I think I got yeah, I'm sure you came from like the St George area, which is ridiculously gorgeous and so much fun trails, and your first event is Elk City, where it's kind of red dirt like St George. But that's about the end of the comparison. You know, one of the things that I know, I one of the things that I remember. So I think it was the first time I met you or that I remember meeting you was whenever I went and pre-road at Elk city when we had that first. They had that first race out there, maybe I don't know, like seven, eight years, seven years ago, I don't know it was and I left my car door open in the parking lot. That was me.
Speaker 2:I left my car door open in the parking lot and I get back to it.
Speaker 1:And you guys were. You were sitting in the car or you were, and I don't know if you'd put a note on my car. You came over and told me or something like, hey, dipshit, you left the door open while you went and rode. I was like, oh my gosh, these people were so nice. I don't know. That was when I first that's my first time meeting you. That, I remember, was because, yeah, save the day for sure. Yeah, so that was my first Elk City experience. So what did you guys think whenever you got to Oklahoma? Was it like, eh, it's kind of like what I thought it was going to be, or was it just like man, what did we get ourselves into?
Speaker 2:Well, so Utah wasn't as inviting a community back then as, like, I think my community here now is Like I'll tell people all the time you want to come hang out under my tent, come hang out under my tent. Back then we were I wouldn't say we were outcasts, but we were just kind of loners.
Speaker 1:Right. When you came into the community. Huh here, oh out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah Right, yeah Right. So you got noticed, you kind of weren't, you're kind of by yourself, you just kind of sat by yourself, which we're okay with, I mean.
Speaker 1:But it's kind of how the cycling scene is here Not the dirt as much, but the roadside for sure, unless you're plugged in. That's how I get that.
Speaker 2:When we got here, we just expected the same. We just kept to ourselves. The first year I don't even remember Other than that race that first year, elk City I don't remember any of the other races, how I did, or nothing. Then somehow we got hooked up with Pro Bike and we got on. John, I think, asked us if we wanted to, or somebody asked us if we wanted to ride with them or be on their team for the Tour de Dirt, I'm like sure. And so we won that year.
Speaker 2:Mine and Corey's names on the plaque on that cup, kids Cup. Then we helped start or get Kids Cup going going, or we helped started or kept it going. Huh, mark wharton yeah and so.
Speaker 1:So you guys got kind of got plugged into the scene like, yeah, right off the bat.
Speaker 2:Yeah, by 2006, by the next year? Yeah, in fact I was very white, I was the turn of dirt race director kind of thing, but I had no, I had no, I don't want to say authority, but right I had nothing you were affiliated with anything and just oef had every had control of everything.
Speaker 2:I had no money, I had no control of nothing, right? And it was just like, oh, this is kind of thing. And then so I mentioned earlier ray and I you know I was I was trying to make some changes through the, through the race scene, and, oh my goodness, the promoters were killing, they were so pissed Like you're killing us, you're trying to break us and all you know this is bullshit and I'm like dude, I'm just trying to offer suggestions and and I'm I don't remember what it was with me and Ray, but something you were assigned a tag, a tag.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:And as you came through, you could race with the finish line, and then they Okay, they would pull a tag.
Speaker 1:Okay, oh, so that was your like lap timer.
Speaker 2:No, no, no.
Speaker 1:Just finish time. Okay yeah, it was just like a tag system. Uh-huh, fill out that card just cut it out.
Speaker 3:It's just like a tag system. You got here and you had to stop Fill out that card. You had to finish and you had to fill out the card.
Speaker 2:Remember filling out the cards.
Speaker 1:I wasn't here for that stuff.
Speaker 2:So when you got here, you'd race and you'd be dead when you fill out these cards. What I was proposing was to do all the back-end stuff on the front-end. You just pull the tag your name, what's what.
Speaker 1:That makes total sense. What? Group you're in everything, but it did cost a little extra right, because you had the tearaways at the bottom of the race numbers.
Speaker 2:It's just a tag, like a pull tag, a strip, just a strip by itself. Oh, okay, and so, anyway it. But Ray, I can't remember being Ray. We got into a little bit of an argument about it. He might not even remember, but it was funny Now that I think back of it. But back then he was a hothead and I was kind of a hothead Stupid, but we raced at Keystone. Anyway, I didn't race him but he was, but anyway. So I gave it up. I'm like I'm done 2007,. I'm out. I got no control of it. Screw this.
Speaker 2:And that was about the time too that Corey stopped racing, but also the same time that Tyler and Sarah got into soccer. Okay, so we went, we're out of the cycling scene. Okay, Just that quick. Two years, Okay, so time goes by 2017, 2016,. Corey comes back home and I'm just now starting riding back, getting back and riding. They're done with soccer, the two young ones and I'm back on the bike just for exercise. I hadn't even started a race or nothing, but Corey had come back home from what he was doing and he asked about something or other. I can't remember exactly what, or maybe I asked him you want to go for a bike ride. He could not go from home to Blanchard, which was a 10-mile, 20-mile round trip he couldn't make it.
Speaker 1:We had to turn around and find a place.
Speaker 2:But he took off, Got the bug again and then he said let's go to do Medicine Park. His first race back was Medicine Park and he won it that year. I came in dead last.
Speaker 1:How the times have changed Pops. This ain't happening again. There's too much pride on the line. I got Kevin Coleman to coach me for that summer.
Speaker 2:I came back and I won every race, I think in the fall when you ever beat him again who Corey?
Speaker 1:no, corey. No no, corey. Yeah, no, that was it. The ship had sailed. Yep, no, you didn't beat him back then, Whatever he was in, that was it? Yeah, he was fast, if you could just do some things. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Do that in a lot of things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, whenever he was in it, he was in it. He was good yeah, for sure, I can't remember if it was Cat 1.
Speaker 2:No, it wasn't the in it he was good. Yeah for sure. I can't remember. Was it his Cat 1? No, it wasn't the pro race. He did sign up to go pro but it was one of his first Cat 1 races. I think it was Palo Duro and he was going out there. I think that race was going to have who's the gravel guy Ornseal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, payson.
Speaker 2:And I think he was just out there all the time. Mm, that was one of the I think his first cat. One races, yeah. Category.
Speaker 1:Cause me and my brother would go out there every year and we would just all cause we'd see we knew these names and we'd see them out there.
Speaker 2:I was so freaking nervous, we're talking about that time and stuff, and then we're friends and uh, like dude, if you, if you don't mind, will you talk to Corey and just tell you know, whatever, I don't know what. So I don't know if Ray did or not, but Corey never told me or anything but, but he went out there and I think he got 11th 10th or 11th.
Speaker 2:That and so he was doing better. But he got flustered and he let some kid screw him up and you know you get mad and you screw up, but anyway I was excited and proud for him the whole bit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that event has always pulled in really solid talent and I kind of took a big dip and then I went last year again and it was back to legit. Legit Because Aaron McDaniel, who you know, you guys know him. So Aaron, I mean he's so fast. I want to say he finished like eight or 10 or something like that last year. Like I mean then the dude's fast and he got like close to 10th. And then Lauren I can't think of her last name, she's married to a pro cyclist or he's a gravel guy, Steven and maybe Lauren Stevens, but she was and had full ef kit you know canondale bike, like the whole thing, is standing on start line next to me this past year.
Speaker 1:I'm like this, this woman's the real deal. This isn't like, I bought this kit online. I'm like and then, um, of course I was way off the back and my brother's like um, she was the first one through. Like the section where you guys cross the road halfway through your first lap, she was there, she was in first. I was like man, she was killing all those ladies. I think he's like no, she was first over everybody.
Speaker 1:I'm like oh my God. So now it's pulling in men and women that are like that. It's deep fields, it's awesome. Anybody that hasn't ridden Palo Duro has to go. It's the best.
Speaker 2:It is a great trail Without having to go all the way back to Utah. Oh, it's very similar to that.
Speaker 1:For sure. Yeah, I'm going to ride Moab this year for the first time ever, and so I'm super excited to get. It'll be my first time to ride in Utah.
Speaker 2:Don't do the corn trail.
Speaker 1:I don't have a choice. It's a three-day race, so, whatever, whatever is on, there is what I'm doing. Oh, it's a race. Moab Rocks is what it's called. It's a three-day stage race.
Speaker 2:So I don't know what trails I'm doing Portage or Portable Trail, I can't remember. It's basically a cliffside deal where you have to walk half of it.
Speaker 1:Oh, I don't think that's on there. I hope that's not on there because I don't do well with that.
Speaker 2:The Tour of canyonlands. So when we before we left utah's set, we did it two years um cory. Cory cory's race was an outback on the gravel road. It wasn't much of a mountain bike race for him both times because he was a little bitty still.
Speaker 1:He was 10, 9 or 10, but it was a 23, 24-mile loop it wasn't that long, but for me it was significant 25 miles on a mountain bike in Moab can be long.
Speaker 2:So it started out just outside of Moab. We grabbed a lot of gravel road, we're going to Harrow Pass or Harrow Pass whatever, and then Jackson Hole, and then it comes around. Street trails put together and then it hits Jacob's Ladder, which is a 400-foot vertical climb Like you're a hike-a-bike, like rock step, rock, step, rock step All the way to the top of a massive back trail, which is downhill. By the time you get to that.
Speaker 2:I was just coasting down a massive back and I couldn't get to the once. I got down to the bottom of Massaback. You have to go down through this creek and maybe a 10-foot climb out. I couldn't climb, I couldn't get out, I walked up, I'm sitting there, everything's on the road and I'm sitting there with my legs straight out.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's the worst peg leg I was like are you okay, man?
Speaker 2:There's nothing I can do so finally, you know, stiff-legged up the other side, that's the worst and close to the finish, because it's downhill to the finish, thank god. And I think I was like two hours and 40, two hours, 45 minutes for this race, whatever the distance was. I don't remember exactly, but so we did it the next year and I trained for it. I knocked off 30 solid minutes. Two hours and 15 minutes. You know what? My placing was? The exact same, oh my gosh, like 20th place.
Speaker 1:I'm like what the hell? Good thing you trained so hard. I trained hard man.
Speaker 2:Then the race, somebody got killed. The next year A car pulled out on a kid on a downhill and so they shut it off.
Speaker 1:But because there was an open road, gotcha so once you guys were back in oklahoma you decided to get back into race and cory's off like racing full blast. Now you're in the late 20 teens and you guys are like full in again at this point. Back into the bikes, yeah, and then your racing career. At that point, I mean, you've been super competitive for a long time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I go to races, I do the competitive things. I just have to, like I said I get bored so I need something to. I got to find a reason to do something. I, you know, like these guys, like Barrett Davis and these other guys, can you just go out and ride and be fast and get faster and faster, without having a goal, if you will, other than other than being fast?
Speaker 1:I got to have something I can't just go ride for.
Speaker 2:I wish I'd started sooner. I could have been, you know, I could have been so waiting to get my pro call up, you know anytime now, as soon as they start that senior tour, you're there yeah, so we were all in. You know this, last few years we've been going hard at it. It's been fun, and I'm just working at the fa and then covid hit and you know that kind of messed a few things up.
Speaker 2:But um, I mean racing single speed has been awesome for so that's one of the things I wanted to talk to you about yeah, so to in your cycling.
Speaker 1:What I don't get the single speed like it makes. I understand if, like you have that as a bike because you want to go out and have fun and it's just something different and it's like this is going to be a completely different experience on this trail with a single speed compared to a geared bike. I get that why you would choose that as like the bike. I don't get that.
Speaker 2:So I can't remember why I did it no six. I did it no six in this guy Perry camera. His name in Tulsa, perry, perry, perry. But anyway, he beat me for the season and I was riding an old red line rigid. But I don't remember how I got into it.
Speaker 1:I think I just wanted to do it so that I could learn pedal strokes and just get better yeah, much better rider the fields were big in the fields were big and the single speed or in the geared bike, like in true yeah, I don was about the thing I don't think the problem is now the single speed is all the super fast dudes that don't want to ride geared bikes anymore.
Speaker 1:It's not like oh, you don't want to do that, just come do that. No, now it's like I don't want to do single speed because those guys are like real fast, yeah, so I mean single speed here is real fast and there's only a few of you guys and you're all real fast.
Speaker 2:There's only a few of you guys and you're all real fast.
Speaker 1:I mean. I'm almost 60 now Wait, oh, I am 60 old man no. I don't know.
Speaker 2:Why did you go single speed? Oh yeah, so yeah. So that was the year that you sag jack. The price is up the season pass to 110, I think, okay. And I was like, screw this, I'm like I'll do one day passes, I'm only gonna do tour de dirt, I'm not gonna go out of state. And so, yeah, I didn't want to do cat one and have to be a pay license and race David Herrera, the best guy. He came out of nowhere, it seems like. But anyway, and I think Corey White was kind of pressuring me a little bit, I know you used to race, but it was primarily because USAC jacked it to 110 from 75, I think.
Speaker 1:And so anyway, um, you just decided to single speed, so you didn't have to do that.
Speaker 2:I just so I converted that and I'm like, all right, let's go and um racing those guys and cory and one day licenses.
Speaker 3:It was ten dollars then.
Speaker 1:I think now it's more right they've changed, I don't know, and so and it's so funny because because single speed guys, they always tell me the same story oh man, it's simple, you get rid of the stuff, it's just, you don't have to think about things. But single speed dudes are the most into gearing and gears than anybody I know. And when I go to a race I just like talk hey bud, what have you been doing? And single speed guys are over there geeking out Like what are you running? Oh yeah, I wrote this and I ran. And they're like talking about all the tech and the gear and I'm like you guys got into this.
Speaker 1:To be simple, you guys have been jacking with your bikes for like three days. You're ready for this event. I just like showed up, yeah, cause you guys are all even at Skip on the. This is not a race thing. You guys are out there and talking about and adjusting something. Whoever brought a single speed that night is trying to fix something, because something's not. And I'm like it's Thursday nights, yeah on the Thursday night ride.
Speaker 1:Somebody's always jacking with the single speed before we ride, because the chain's loose or they change the gears or something's different. I'm like.
Speaker 1:It's not simple, it is fun, it is hard at times it would be fun to have one to play around on. For sure. I don't know how in the world guys do like real like courses, like going to, I mean like medicine park or somewhere that has like, or if you're in utah, like doing a real travel places like medicine park tricky because, um you, you know, when you get to the flat sections you're spun out.
Speaker 2:You've got to gear for the climbs, Otherwise you're walking and then you're way off the back, Right, you won't be there. So that's tricky. Corey Weiss really got it dialed in. I think every one of us like next race.
Speaker 1:I would bet you he would say everybody calls him or texts him like dude, what do we got to run? Because he's got it, I mean he's. That's the thing is he know it because he knows the trails. If you took him to like a, trail he'd never ridden.
Speaker 2:Would he be like I have no idea? Well, yeah, we all do that on initial till. We go on and see it. Now that I've done it for the last few years, I would like, if it was a trail I didn't know, if I knew it was hilly, I'd probably run a 19 or 20 just before anything. If it was somebody said it's mostly flat or something, I'd probably run a 17 or 16 and then hopefully you know if you get stuck on a climb while you're screwed right, but so when you go to an event that you've never ridden before, do you just take like four or five gears, yep, and just see what happens?
Speaker 1:yeah, to pre-ride it and see what happens, yeah.
Speaker 2:Maybe change that one. You know, if you've got time, hit a lap and then, depending on how long the laps are, et cetera. But you know, yeah, I've got in my toolboxes probably 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21.
Speaker 1:You know you can. You don't have to just keep changing them out. I know I always whenever we do, and I've told you this before, I'll just speak it to the world. But I love when I see that you show up on a single speed for the Thursday night race, because then I can ride with you every time when I'm like cause we always take off and I don't pay attention.
Speaker 1:And then, if you usually get in front of me off the start, and when I look down and see a single speed, I'm like thank God, Cause this is going to be fun, Cause we usually like race, race and you'll like there's like some of the tactics, because we're pretty close when you're on the single speed, when you're on gears and we get to the flat section that's straight, then you shift and I'm screwed, Cause that's where you attack me and I never can recover by the time we get back to the parts that I can like stay with you on. And so when we're on the straight parts that's when I can like catch up to you, because you dropped me on the other stuff and then the straight parts, I'm like, oh, thank God, I can get back up there. And so over the course of like that 40 minutes you wear down enough that I can kind of just stay with you. But when you have gears I can never catch back up in the straights and so it kills me.
Speaker 2:So yeah, when we do these, those skip things, I'll. I'll go out sometimes and say I'm not going to go hard Next thing. We, you know we start. Never seen you not go hard out there.
Speaker 2:But where it really changed for me was when I went to nationals, cause Corey went that one year and he got fourth and that really got me fired up. And so those dudes start are so good Like I. I got a front row call up. Everybody else on the front row was a former national champ. Oh my gosh, the only reason I got a front row call up was because my points that year for USAC, my races. I was so nervous, I was so like the picture you can't see it, but I was shaking. It was not cold, I was so nervous, but we took off. It was so fast, so hard, that by the time we got to the single track we had to climb a little bit of the start ski slope area and then come back down. And I was sitting in fifth or sixth and we were probably going 35-ish down in the single track hauling ass and the first three guys were already pulling away from my second three.
Speaker 3:Then I broke my boa on my shoe.
Speaker 1:Like wearing a flip-flop. Oh man, Game over.
Speaker 2:I come around to the start-finish area and Corey's like Corey had driven out what's going on, I broke my boa again. I did it at two national races.
Speaker 1:Oh no. What are the chances? Marathon?
Speaker 2:Nats the year before broke the other boa. Oh, my gosh, oh yeah, that's random. Yeah Well, yeah, it's like he was so mad at me. He's like you got to take care of your shit.
Speaker 1:Yes, dad.
Speaker 2:But in Arkansas I had brought two pairs of shoes, and so I was at the other end, at the far end, and I had broke the boa, and so I had to go downhill and make it back and he had called or somehow got back there and had my second pair of shoes, perfect, so just put the one on.
Speaker 3:So I'm going to need two pairs.
Speaker 2:I finished the race mid pack, right, but no, that started Snowshoe, west Virginia. God, those guys, it was so fast, amazing I mean. And so when I came back, I haven't been nervous on the start line since then. I wish I had done that years and I can tell everybody everybody I talk to now like you got to do a big race sometime, that you'll get rid of butterflies. You'll see just how fast people are. And then you want to worry about our local races, right? Um, because like I go out there now we're just bsing and stuff. But I would be so nervous. You know our local races, um, I'd burn so much energy before the race.
Speaker 1:but now, it's just like well.
Speaker 1:I think, everybody, no matter what level you are and what sport you do, and because I just pull off my experience from golf Right, but you need to go do like a real event with real people that are real good, like what you think is good in Oklahoma, and it doesn't matter what it is, we have good guys in every sport. We have good people at that. They're good in oklahoma. And then if you go to like a nationals, like a real nationals, yeah, with like the real people in the real field, and you're like, huh, that's what fast looks like. Or in golf, like that's what good looks like, it's completely different than what you think it is. You've got to get out of here.
Speaker 3:Yes, you have to pedal the whole freaking trip, the whole time, don't get in uphills.
Speaker 1:It's shocking that you can be a good mountain biker from Oklahoma. I have a little experience in that, but I've said it several times on here when me and Sax went to Cape last mean, I couldn't climb for anything. He climbed fine, I sunk like. But I do that on the road. I'm terrible.
Speaker 1:But when we were going downhills, like everybody was in our way, I'm like, how are we the fast ones? And if there was like a tight single track cause there's a lot of gravel there there if there was just a good, flat, flowy single track section, like, we couldn't like, seriously, people get out of our way. Why are you so just go like what is happening? But it's because it's like our trails here and you could do it. But like, yeah, and but people there like, and I was like who would have ever thought we'd be like the good on single track? Like we're better than well in the area that we were the field you know, like we were better than almost everybody around. No, we never got passed on flat single track or on downhills. Very rarely got passed.
Speaker 2:So the trails here build a certain skill set but definitely lacking certain skill sets.
Speaker 1:And so we recently I mean I probably didn't really get into mountain biking until probably, like, um, I probably didn't really get into mountain biking until probably, like I don't even know maybe very late 20 teens is when I got into it because I did multi-sport from like 07 0607, it's kind of when I got into that world all the way up until and I dabbled here and there but I did, um, some exterra stuff and I kind of didn't really know what I was doing.
Speaker 1:That was like the mid teens and stuff. But I didn't get like full blast dirt until like.
Speaker 2:So I was listening to the podcast with Ray and like you were asking, how did you know Ray, how did you, how do you, how are you so good through the trails and you know Chris trying to catch up, et cetera, and I I can, like I've had guys ask me that Like I, just I try to flow right.
Speaker 2:And I've had a couple stories One in Arkansas, the one race I can't remember out of Attila the Hunt and the one section it was downhill. We're just flying, flowing and I'm passing guys left and right and one dude yells out dude, you are so smooth and all that stuff, like it made me feel good. But I'm like I don't know how I do. I mean it just, I've always, I've always been not afraid to just go yeah, that's a big piece of it, just the confidence to just trust it.
Speaker 2:There was a point where it did I did have, I was afraid, and I'll get to that in a minute, but but um, the, the, I forgot where I was going with it now. But anyway, we're doing where.
Speaker 1:I got, because going downhill I don't have the confidence, so I'm going to hold on to some brakes a little bit.
Speaker 2:So we were in a race, yeah, okay, so talk about not being afraid. I was in a race in Ogden, utah, I think it was, and back then it was Norba. It wasden, utah, I think it was, and there was. So back then, like it was Norba, it was beginner sport expert and then pro, right or semi-pro and pro. A pro guy had caught me or lapped me on the top of the ski, climb right and we get to downhill and I stayed on his ass on the downhill able to downhill with him guy.
Speaker 2:Uh-huh, we hit the flats. It was like he turned on turbo, like what the fuck. Just what just happened yeah, and he's gone, okay, but I could downhill and so that's, and cory would stay with me and he we would. We could just fly, david, and he had less fear than I, david heard, did that to me at thunderbird one time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we went, we did the relay. Oh yeah, he was, me and Troy were doing it against him and whoever he was with we were like one and two we were, and he was happened to be on my leg this time and we went through that, first like twisty things. Then we got to the fire road and it was like a real long fire over it. I don't know what he did, but by the time we, by the time I got close to the end of that fire road, he was so far out of sight that I'm like it's like he turned on an e-bike, but I'm chasing them.
Speaker 1:It's like oh it's insane but it's the same thing that happened to you. You're like, oh, I got this, and then, yeah, I didn't yeah chasing. Yeah, so, yeah. So the downhill has always been something you've been handling, you've.
Speaker 2:It's just been a natural just seemed to come natural and I can't explain it. You know it's hard to teach it.
Speaker 1:I think so. I think it is. There is a natural gift there, for sure. Yeah, like it's. It's a different kind of athleticism too it's. It's interesting to watch, because when you see somebody do it, you're like, they're just so.
Speaker 2:And I'm still not that good. I don't think I'm still that good Like following guys like Ray and now and Drummond has gotten really good, I mean obviously.
Speaker 1:But that's such a nether level, yeah, that's a whole other level. A whole other level National champs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would like to. Maybe I thought about maybe wanting to be one one day, but I don't think that's going to happen.
Speaker 1:There's age groups.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 1:There's age groups. Somebody's got to win the old guy category. That's what I'm hoping. That I'm hoping. That's what I'm hoping. I'm hoping I can just outlive everybody, and then I got it. It's my only strategy that I have working for me. Yeah, so well, before we get done with this, I want to lead into how the hell you ended up as a bike shop owner.
Speaker 2:So COVID hit, we're working from home teleworking and I, you know, that was the year I won state for the next um. That was the year I won state for the next single speed.
Speaker 1:also, I saw your tour de dirt jerseys in there. How many do you have? I only have two. The others are.
Speaker 2:Corey's Okay, gotcha.
Speaker 1:How many did he?
Speaker 2:have? He had two as well? Okay, gotcha, yeah, I think, and one of them is Tyler's, from a cyclocross event that he got a jersey for, but he was the only rider it was one of, but, and so yeah, so yeah, covid hit and we're working from home, teleworking, blah, blah, blah. And the COVID ends, and I'm talking about going back to the office.
Speaker 3:I'm like I'm not going back to the office.
Speaker 2:I had 30 years federal service time. I think I'm going to retire. And I just found out that Tobum had had the bike shop up for sale for about a year at that point, and so I talked to Julie hey, so if I retire, what am I going to do? She's like you know, I think, but you want to buy a bike shop. She's like you ain't staying home. We talked about it for a bit.
Speaker 1:That was your selling point.
Speaker 2:There Got some funding, put it together, staying home, and we talked about it for a bit. You know that was your selling point there got some funding and we didn't get funding. We put it together, but the deal together and took out a loan and all kinds of stuff and so and tobin's been great. I mean he comes in. I think he's actually comes in to check, make sure I'm not screwing things up actually, so it's open if you're listening doing now whatever he wants, okay so he's not working, he doesn't.
Speaker 2:He does work. He just does different things. A little of everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, but yeah, he comes in. And he just came back today Came and washed his bike. He was down at the came out of Galveston or something. I think he had to rinse the sand off his bike or something.
Speaker 1:So when did you buy the?
Speaker 2:shop March of 22, I think, so this will be three years. I've had it for three years, but I started, so I hadn't retired from the FAA, but it was December December 1st in fact of 21, that I started putting in. I would get up and work on the computer for the FAA at 6 am, work till noon, come over here 12.30, work till 6, every day until March.
Speaker 1:So I was interning learning retail again and all this shit and everything and uh, it's shocking how much crap there is to a bike shop it was the first month, first year was so stressful, like beyond stressful, and and you know, it's just you don't think about it because when you walk into a bike shop you're like, oh, I just need to get a bottle cage.
Speaker 1:So you just go get a bottle cage, but you have to pick out which bottle cage you're going to have on the wall, because there's only 847 options that you could have to hang on your wall, and then of course, you run out of the one that the one person wants, and then, yeah, then you got to buy seats and tools and tubes, and there's just so many skews and picking.
Speaker 2:and now you know, back in the day, when Freddie started, it was just road bikes there was you got a road bike, you didn't get a mountain bike. You didn't get a gravel bike.
Speaker 3:You didn't get a mountain bike Freddie gave you.
Speaker 2:you got whatever he gave you kind of thing. Then Tobin came and switched it.
Speaker 1:Because he's the one that kind of made it more of a mountain bike shop.
Speaker 2:Tobin made it mountain bike. I lean towards mountain bikes. So yeah, I do the mountain bikes and I carry a few roads and I can get stuff too.
Speaker 1:And so your main brands that you carry here. We talked a little bit beforehand, but just to tell everybody, else, kind of what Buchanan's has.
Speaker 2:what do you guys have? Specialized is my primary bike brand. I do have a couple of pivots in the store and some Santa Cruz, but don't tell anybody, I don't know. Those are the three major brands that I can get for now. But Specialized is what I really lean to. It's what I race on. It's still what I ride on. My Epic is fantastic. I mean I've tried the Pivot, the Mach 4, and stuff like that and they do okay, but I still keep coming back to the Epic. I do have some cheaper brands for the college kids RetroSpec, and I can get Salsa and Surly and all that kind of stuff. But my shop is only roughly 1,500 square feet so I don't have. I've got to be careful what I bring in.
Speaker 1:You can get it, you may not have it. Sure how much of your business is college kids? Because you were right on Campus Corner compared to riders.
Speaker 2:It's probably really not that much college, maybe only 40% versus regular adults and community.
Speaker 1:Do the college kids ride and commute on their bikes as much as they did?
Speaker 2:It's gotten so bad. There's so much theft, yeah, and the university's not doing much to help out with it. They could put up fenced areas where they can swipe their cards, maybe, let's say, fifty thousand dollars per gated thing or whatever, I don't know. But kids could have bikes, but a lot of them are going to scooters.
Speaker 1:Oh, so they can take them into their dorm rooms and that kind of stuff. So there's getting less and less bikes on campus.
Speaker 2:Oh yes, Rich Humbley used to tell me that the racks would be so full he couldn't park his bike. Now the racks are empty.
Speaker 1:Really. Yeah, I mean that's what I remember coming down here is going to a game or something and it's like bikes attached to bikes, because it was like just a huge pile of metal there were so many bikes.
Speaker 2:I think the last game that happened in the fall like three or four bikes were stolen during the game.
Speaker 1:That's too bad. That makes it tough. Have you guys ever had issues here For theft in the store? No, yeah, I mean hopefully, hopefully, not, but nothing like crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, wow. And then so you're all, cameras and all the stuff right.
Speaker 1:So your, your college kids, are just kind of here and there kind of, but you actually do serve more of the just general population.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I get I mean from all over. I get people from people from Texas actually come up. I've had calls from Tulsa. A guy bought a Stumpy from me from Tulsa.
Speaker 1:How has the bike business been as far as expectation and reality, because I know how it was for me, so I want to hear how it was for you or how it is for you. This might be the part where it gets edited. That's exactly what I was getting ready to say. We can edit whatever we need to.
Speaker 2:I mean to get it out there. So, people, I don't know if people think that bike shop owners are millionaires. They probably are. If they start with 2 million, they become a millionaire and then sell their bike shop.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know something like that.
Speaker 2:But since I've owned it, I've had a few businessmen, when I was looking to buy it, say I mean now is not a good time, don't go into this business. Hindsight probably weren't wrong. It's been a tough go. I mean I'm not going to lie, I'm not going to sugarcoat it, but I'm doing okay, and by that I mean breaking even if you will. And everybody says, if you're breaking even right now, you're, you're doing good. Yeah, um, there has been about five bike shops in the region closed in the past year.
Speaker 1:Um, throughout the area um and and with the shop. Is it just because you see more? You see like the cycling world slowing down, or is it more just like the direct consumer piece of it and the internet piece of it, or it's a lot of everything, consumer, the whole thing like specializes in Trek and you know those guys going direct-to-consumer Canyon, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:It's hurting us. You know bike shops and stuff.
Speaker 1:Well, and it's so hard whenever and this is something that a lot of people don't think about or know about, and we talked about it briefly before we started recording was like the manufacturers of products they would much rather sell a direct-to-consumer, because they're going to make more money, which is common sense, but they're going to squeeze, the margins are going to be so thin for the retailer, but not necessarily on their end. So, and a perfect example, I'll give one of my own, like if I would sell a trainer because we've got one in front of me, you sell a trainer. Well, they're like a $500 trainer. They're only maybe 50 bucks of margin in it. I'm like well, I don't want to put $450 just sitting on my floor to make $50. That is really hard. That doesn't add up to me.
Speaker 2:A lot of bike shops are still recovering from covid because they have a lot of them. They some of them had been forced to. You know, if you want to stay, tier one, etc. Yeah, they're sitting on a lot of stuff that now those brands have reduced prices to the point that's below what they paid their pricing four years ago.
Speaker 1:You know I had that happen to me a couple times on, like because I'd stocked quite a bit shoes and stuff like that, yeah, and then they put them on cause they're rolling out the new model the next year and I'm like, well, okay, now you're selling it for less than what I pay, or for what I paid, you know, or something like that. And you're like, and then somebody comes in and is like, hey, can you get this to me on sale? It's kind of a. It puts the retailers in a tough spot.
Speaker 2:So it's slowly getting better, but only because of time and we're moving away from that whole area. The chain is finally getting opened back up, yeah, and the prices there's still. There's still products from 2023 and 22 on the websites that you know. You can find Right, which puts if you find, you know might be in somebody's bike shop, in the warehouse or whatever.
Speaker 1:Yeah for sure. Which puts if you find you know might be in somebody's bike shop, in the warehouse or whatever, yeah for sure. Do you? Are you enjoying it and staying in the cycling community in a different way? Because at this point you've kind of done all pieces of?
Speaker 2:the cycling community. Yeah, so it's been. That's, that's the heart I mean. Yes, I'm enjoying it, Otherwise I wouldn't be doing it. I could, I could.
Speaker 1:I don't know if I should say this, but so you don't have to be here if you don't want to be.
Speaker 2:You have options as a contractor doing the TURP stuff for the you know the flight procedure stuff they can. Yeah, it's considerably more than I'm doing for the show and I would Well that some of that stuff is stressful too at certain times. But it can be. But I enjoy doing this and yes, I know sometimes I've I've been told you got to you had, you got a bad report from so-and-so you. You were an asshole that day in the shop Like it's retail. It's hard to be on all the time and I and yes.
Speaker 2:I know I need to be, I need to be the punching bag, and you know who you are. Who told me that?
Speaker 1:you just got to take it.
Speaker 2:Right and I get very difficult.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I've, I've learned over the last three years and I do the best I can, and you know I'm probably the worst has been since October. I mean, the first year was pretty tough and I I'm like, okay, I pulled myself out of that stupidity. And then, since October in fact, I blew up one day and I apologize, I can't remember the gentleman's name, but he came in and he was asking stuff and it was right after the accident, of course, and I probably shouldn't have even been in the shop, I should not have been here and I lost it Understandable, I think for anybody that knows any surrounding circumstances would understand and give a pass to that situation, and I think that's a perfect example.
Speaker 1:It's like man, you just don't know what somebody's dealing with today, Like whatever it is. So I think that's a perfect example. It's like man, you just don't know what somebody's dealing with today, like whatever it is. So I think that's a perfect example of that situation. You just don't know how are you guys and we don't have to get into it. But I know our small Oklahoma city and definitely Oklahoma community that's been so committed to you guys and your family and, you know, been involved with your family Gosh at this point almost 20 years. How's everything been for you guys the past few months? We got to do a couple little rides together that were freaking awesome. The one at Draper was so fun. The one at Skip that night we had that time trial thing was amazing. I think people would, and you can share what you want to share and don't share, and we can edit whatever we want to edit, but I would say, on a human side, how are you guys?
Speaker 3:We're doing, you're doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I get it, that's fair.
Speaker 2:It's a, it's been like a for me anyway. Um, I get you know, there's good days and then there's um a lot of times I'm just kind of numb.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so, um, but I, I get on the, I have to do something, I get on the trainer or whatever. It might be stupid, it's not stupid, but but, um, where I need to burn off energy or something, um, what was the?
Speaker 1:that's a fair deal, because then it becomes a habit.
Speaker 2:If anybody could. My daughter said we'd be drugs for two months.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a fair deal. Well, okay, let's talk about this, because I think this is a great way to spin a terrible situation into something that's pretty beautiful. You guys made jerseys, um, and I had you explain to me cause I picked one up, um, so, and I'll post one. I'll put one in the in the show notes and we'll put one whenever we post this, cause I want people to see them. Um, they can come down here and buy them from you guys. You guys can order sizes and all that kind of stuff, whatever, um, but going through the symbolism on the jerseys, I would love to explain that, cause, when people see them, I would love for them to know the story, um, so I kind of want to go through that and then talk about what you guys are doing with this. Isn't just a? Hey, we had this situation happen to us. Now, come, come give us money.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I want people to know the story about these jerseys, cause they may not, so they're. They're pink and black, so let's just start from the top. So the pink I learned the story the other day, which was great, so where does the pink come from?
Speaker 2:okay, so and I had forgotten, but julia had to remind me. But he, when he was working that bike one the what?
Speaker 1:oh, is this in here? This is the picture. Is the pink pink in here? Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, you go ahead.
Speaker 2:So he was working at Bike One and we have to do all this training through Shimano, sram et cetera and stuff like that. I guess he had I've got a pair of bars back there I won through a drawing. So he won a helmet through Shimano, right Bontrager helmet or something. Maybe not Bontrager, it doesn't matter, but it came in and it was like a $200, $300 helmet, but it was pink. He's like I don't know if I can wear this, and so he didn't wear it for a while. Put it up, yeah. And finally he's like I'll just make it, I'm just going to own it. And so he started wearing it and it became, you know, hashtag. I was going to say hashtag Team Pink.
Speaker 1:Team Pink and Pink is faster.
Speaker 2:Stuff like that.
Speaker 2:That's him and Kai Cordes, kai Cordes, kai Cordes, so yeah we came back about the same time Kai Kortes and Stephen Kortes started right and so we met them. We didn't actually really meet them, but they're in some pictures of us, our pictures at Medicine Park. And so, Steve Kortes and Kai, they've been great man, they helped, they took care of us and took care of Corey at times. So you know they helped me out when my youngest son, Tyler, got stuck down in medicine. You know, freaking Scott, They've been good friends, yeah, and so anyway, but so he's been wearing the pink helmet.
Speaker 2:He started wearing that pink helmet and just owned it, if you will, and then almost every piece of gear he had after had some kind of pink accent.
Speaker 1:Okay, I noticed like the pink. He's got the pink jersey on the back picture there. Was there something else I saw? I think there was pink on the handlebars. Yeah, little accents of pink everywhere. That was on a road bike. He's even got pink tape is what it is on the bar tape. The bar tape is black, but the tape that holds it on is pink.
Speaker 3:When he was mountain biking.
Speaker 1:You could see where he was yeah, yeah it was great for you, you could see follow along and see where he was at. I love that. And so the team pink became his thing. Yeah, just yeah. So I got, I got pink socks last night.
Speaker 2:But me, yeah, I got a, you know. So I got, I got pink socks last night, but I mean, yeah, I got a, you know, he brought a whole pair of pink socks for me to wear. It's like I still have them, um, for bike one. That was years ago, but yeah.
Speaker 1:So that's. That's where the pink came from. That's a hand that looks like a peace symbol.
Speaker 2:Peace symbol. So he would, when he would road ride and stuff he would. He would, rather than wave or whatever, he would, just you know, give out two fingers Cause it's like on the shoulder it says two fingers racing.
Speaker 2:And so that was our team, that we when they were kids and we're trying to come up with a thing. I think it was when Chris was doing the six hours at Thunderbird. What was that called? What they call it? Uno mas, uno mas um. We had done it one year and our team name was two fingers racing. We had come up with that. We got the metal plate with the, the placard or whatever. We took home. Um, we didn't win anything, but because, oh my god, during that race he went out first, he broke his chain like two miles in. Rather than run back, he ran the whole course, the rest of it like another, probably like five or six miles.
Speaker 1:So I'm waiting.
Speaker 2:I'm expecting to come back around and I'm like what the hell, you know, finally comes running in with the chain around his neck who was friends with us back then and he's like dude. What's going on? And you know we tagged and I'm like are you okay? He's like yeah, I just broke the damn chain oh my gosh, I must have taken forever. Yeah, and so we're like that's right, so I took off and Mark helped him put his chain on and we ended up third. I think yeah, but anyway, that's awesome so that's where he was stuck, so two-finger racing
Speaker 1:something we. And then on one sleeve you have hashtag Pink is Faster and then you have a 90.
Speaker 2:So 90 was when he was born Okay. And it's also on, I think, his plates. Cat 1. And the pictures that you guys have over there, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then on the other sleeve we have the hashtag Team Pink and we have number 34.
Speaker 2:34 is how old he was when he passed, and it was the plate number of the last race at Eureka Springs that he raced, that we both raced, and, I think, the last race that Eureka Springs had, and he was Cat 1 there also, and so that was so both of those.
Speaker 1:And then on the back we have bike one, buchanan bikes and bike lab three shops he worked at um.
Speaker 2:Once he, since he's came back, he did work at a bike shop in uh rapid city for a while. City and aspen, aspen, I was gonna say there was only there. That went to like a hit, because I remember when he did that those do. I'll have to send the message those dudes, dirt services in aspen they were. They were good to him, I think.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I talked to him. Me and him would message back and forth whenever he was up there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the guy, the owner of it, when he knew that Corey was leaving, he was kind of upset but like Corey, he could get into the suspension like fork and talk the details down, like he could. You know the whole damper, rebuild spacers, all this shit that I like I can just scratch the surface on Right and he was, he could like he could do it. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And he had.
Speaker 2:Actually they did a news article on him in Aspen. Really, yeah, that's pretty cool About his ability to butter up the suspension for the ride like butter, you know, smooth, whatever. That's cool.
Speaker 1:And then the final pieces. On here you have the hashtag CDs. Well, c, e, e, d, e E.
Speaker 2:S.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's a typo.
Speaker 1:It's supposed to have an underscore between the in the D, but that's okay, that's all right, and then the bikes, the riders on the back of the bike, and it says Just Ride.
Speaker 2:So the cocapellis on the back was just something that we all liked. While we were in Utah we saw them and they were on our awards from when we had won a few back there. And then, of course, the Just Ride is just a thing to. That's just generalized.
Speaker 3:I'm sorry, everybody's like you know what do I need to do? He's like just get on the freaking bike, just ride.
Speaker 1:So he always just told people just ride. I mean sound advice Just ride, you'll figure it out.
Speaker 2:If he said he was going to ride with you, he would ride with you, no matter how slow you were. But if you complained, if you whined, if you said I can't do this, I can't keep up with you, he would put up with it for a little bit and then just leave you. But if you, yeah, if you kept saying I can't, I can't, he would like I'm done. Where does he get?
Speaker 1:any of that spirit? From when does the lizard on the side? It's another symbol from one of my races.
Speaker 2:I think turtle lizard is like that.
Speaker 1:I love this and then. So where are the proceeds?
Speaker 2:So we're trying to. We're still waiting on insurance money and we'll still try. It's going to be a minute before all this takes place and hopefully we can't do it. I don't I mean we're not trying to profit on this at all, but we're the there's you're trying to find a way to put it back into the cycle. Yeah, yeah so I would like to be able to provide, you know, upcoming racers a chance. Who's serious about it? And they would have to earn it, if you will. Not a sponsorship, but like a scholarship situation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like some scholarships scholarships, which would be super cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's a great way to continue the legacy and continue, you know young riders getting into the sport and grow the sport and stuff.
Speaker 3:It's okay when you're older, you're established. Yeah, when you're that age, yeah, like, how do?
Speaker 1:you, how do you? It's tough, yeah, yeah to get, because it's not such a ridiculously expensive sport.
Speaker 3:Yeah, how do you keep going?
Speaker 1:yeah, it's a such as expensive thing to get started in, much less to like progress in, because the better you get, the more expensive it gets. Yeah, yeah, so I love that. Whatever you guys end up doing with it, it's going to work, it's going to be great. Um, and then I'll, if you guys send a link and we'll put it in the show notes or whatever, or I'll put that in there where people can contact you guys and buy it, and we'll try to get that out there and show the picture and stuff too. So we'll put that on there.
Speaker 2:So I'm offered to help out with the NICA stuff. I'm not part of NICA by any stretch, right? I mean, I did offer to help with coaching it when it does come around. But John Schroth and I can't know Dave Weaver, I think, is the head who's running the Oklahoma one. I haven't met him, but John Schroth is the one who's been coming and talking to me about it and I said yeah, let me know, I'll help out, however I can you know if kids need bikes like these new chisels that have come out, full suspension chisels? They're awesome.
Speaker 3:I mean for an aluminum alloy bike.
Speaker 2:That's an Epic in the alloy version. Yeah, they're a little bit heavier, but the geometry of them is great and they're, they're great bikes. This old wonder one kid just not too long ago and he's like he was riding some trail bike that this thing just takes off. You know he was excited.
Speaker 1:I'm ready so that's awesome.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, so you guys are getting actively involved and staying involved in nika and helping grow the sport, and I think that's a great I think first off, it's going to be great for our state, it's going to be great for the cycling community, but I think it's going to be great for you guys, as it grows, to continue to have a place to get back and to be involved and to see, especially when you start to see some kids come out of it. It's going to be so rewarding. Yeah, that's going to be really really cool. Well, um, well, before we finish up and with the yard sales or anything else you want to talk about or add, remember you told me this was going to be the shortest episode ever. I knew it wouldn't. Uh, never is.
Speaker 2:I was kind of hoping to talk more about my sniper stuff. No, I'm kidding Jeez, all right.
Speaker 1:Episode two sniper school. I was kidding, um, okay, let's do some yard sale stuff. I don not one of the Kelly Sue snipers Kidding, okay, let's do some yard sale stuff. I'm going to wing this off the top of my head. That's the way I've been doing it lately. What's your most expensive thing you have in the shop On the floor?
Speaker 2:It's probably the S-Works Athos in the other room. It doesn't have red grip set on it, it has the fours, but still it's running $12,000. Yeah, crazy Build.
Speaker 1:What's that?
Speaker 2:Well, this one's about $11,000. Oh the e-bike. This one right here. Yeah, the e-bike. Yeah, with the kids ride shotgun on it. By the way, you got a little one right One to three years old. This kids ride shotgun is awesome.
Speaker 1:It is pretty funny. It's wonderful to see. It's hilarious, I love it. They even get like little hammer bars. That's the best Cause I've seen you on it out of a skip. Yeah, that's great, that's really cool. Um, what's your favorite piece of equipment under $100? Gloves.
Speaker 2:Oh, what kind of gloves. Anyone that fits my. They have to fit good tight firm, I mean not firm but like if you get ones that's too short of fingers, then you're just like pushing all the time and they suck or they cut into your web. So finding a good pair of gloves, no pads I used to wear the.
Speaker 2:I used to wear the gel, but I got away from those um and so if you have a good tight fitting, not super tight but not overly loose, you can't have anything crease in the middle. So a good pair of gloves what's?
Speaker 1:uh, one thing that you've sold in the shop that you're like man, I can't believe somebody bought that. This one may take you a second to think about, because I just thought of that. Was there anything that you sold in here that you're like I don't know how long that's been in here and then somebody bought it? You're like sweet, I didn't think we'd ever sell that thing. I don't know where it came from. So cory worked here how long ago his.
Speaker 2:So there he's, he helped, helps set up lightspeed for tobin, I think in 2019, 2019, yeah, okay so so it's been here for a hot minute yeah, there's been some things have sold it. What would they be?
Speaker 1:um, oh, my goodness yeah, it's usually some like random seat or some random stem or something like that. That's just been hanging there and you're like I don't even know what this goes to yeah, there's been a few of those, more than a few.
Speaker 2:Shop is so old been here 52 years now, which is super cool. I didn't know that, so there's shit in the back that, like you know, people come over here and say someone sent me over here and said you might have this. Give me this Sure enough. They've kept stuff from Freddy's days and Tobin's days and stuff like that.
Speaker 3:That's pretty awesome.
Speaker 2:Old shops like this. Definitely they're going away.
Speaker 1:They are going away, for sure.
Speaker 2:But this is why I wanted to buy. This is the kind of thing I wanted to buy. It wasn't a height, it wasn't like a childhood dream. It was just something that I wanted when I bought my mountain bike in utah like this would be cool to have a bike shop in that little town. There was only the one, but I couldn't do it because I was working for the faa. Now in that same little town, there's three bike shops. In Cedar City, I think, there's only three.
Speaker 1:That's what I said earlier. This shop reminds me of a mountain town bike shop, a small town bike shop.
Speaker 2:Poison Spider. They probably have grown beyond what they were when we were there years ago.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's the thing that I like about. When I walked in here cause it's been so long since I've been in here I was like man, this is just like an old school bike shop. It's. It's not big and shiny and fancy and polished and all the things that like everything you need is in here. It's like a cozy place, it's like a place you'd want to hang out.
Speaker 2:And it is kind of cluttered, I guess. But I mean I've got a lot of stuff, I guess, but I could have more.
Speaker 1:But where would I put it Right? But it seems like you have a lot of stuff because of just it's not. The facility wasn't built to be a bike shop, so you make use for, like, any gaps between windows and all that stuff. I mean, just it's how. It's how a shop used to be. You just made it fit to the space, which is great. What's a favorite trail you've ever ridden or favorite place to ride? St George, st George, yeah.
Speaker 2:Gooseberry Mesa was fun. It's probably better than Moab. Okay, you get a chance to ride it out there. It's a toss-up. It's really tough, but my favorite, probably because it was my first race where I got third. You know where I told you I got third, but those trails at St George are just open and flowy. You ever talk?
Speaker 1:to Troy Boy about riding out there. I didn't know everyone out there. That's where his family's from. I believe they may still live there.
Speaker 2:No, I don't his family's from. I believe they may still live there, uh-huh, no, yeah, yeah, that's where we have. I still follow the intermountain cup series post a couple times they're like dude, you need to come yeah you need to come out of retirement.
Speaker 1:Go show them a thing or two. You might want to take some extra gears three.
Speaker 2:There's a trail called three peaks in cedar city. Um, it's a 12 mile loop and uh, that's that was that was had almost everything a little bit of downhill, mostly flat. Had a rock garden that would eat you lunch if you were careful um sand, yeah what's the uh worst bike injury you've ever had?
Speaker 1:oh my god, speaking of yard sale, it wasn't a yard sale oh really Five days in the hospital and three surgeries. Was this the infection?
Speaker 2:2020. I remember this I had palatial wrecks. I should probably be crippled from the wreck I had at Tom Steed where I beat Corey White on his trail, but this one by far, far at Medicine Park 2020. So I got to back up that same year. Yeah, it was 2020. I got COVID in May. I was in bed for like nine days. I didn't even get out of bed. I got out of bed on the fourth day to go get tested and they said I was negative.
Speaker 1:But I'm like I don't think so. Anyway, on this side of death, I'm pretty sure I got some. It was a big time. Everybody was in bad shape.
Speaker 2:I got out of bed and I did a race in June at Ben Guerin. I think I got a third. I should have won it. I had COVID, you know whatever, no, but. And then it took me until September to get back to race shape, really race shape. And then we were, me and Jeremy Black were pre-riding the race course and we were on the yellow bus trail, which isn't terrible, but we kind of cranked it up just a notch, like just a little bit, and next thing, I know, wham, I slid out in a loamy patch and a sharp rock underneath that dirt sliced open my elbow and peeled the skin back around my elbow. There's pictures of me with drinking beer, clippering in the yard cleaning out the, you know, like you did when you were a kid, with the hose.
Speaker 2:Well, the doc who did it? He didn't I'm not, I don't blame him at all, he did all he did, awesome. But he stitched me up. I kind of think he did a too good a job. But so I got an infection, but I think it was already there. I don't think him stitching or not stitching would have changed anything. So that was a saturday. By monday my arm was on fire like, like seeping all kinds of stuff and I call my primary care and they're like do you have a fever? And Julie's in the background yes, he has an effing fever. His arm's infected all this kind of stuff. So I get in Tuesday, right, they wouldn't let you in.
Speaker 2:They wouldn't let me in Monday.
Speaker 1:You're like okay.
Speaker 2:So Tuesday I go in and 11 o'clock or so and my doctor. She squeezes my arm. She just left the office and when she does that I know I'm in trouble. It's never good when a doctor's like uh-oh.
Speaker 1:Or like a ooh.
Speaker 2:So, she leaves, she comes back, she goes. All right, you're going up to who's the doc, who's Sarah's doc? Yeah, anyway, you're going up. You're going to have surgery by four. Oh my gosh, she wasn't wrong. I walk into OneCore Health up there by Southwest Integris and I walked in and they were expecting me on a ambulatory right, but I'm walking in the like nurses at the aid station, their station.
Speaker 2:She's like, can I help you? I'm like, yeah, I'm John Denton here to check in. Like what, we were expecting you on a stretcher, the way it was reported, right, so we go get in the bedroom, get ready for surgery. I had surgery by probably five o'clock. I scraped all this stuff, was it?
Speaker 1:just, it was just an infection, or was it like just a random infection?
Speaker 2:And so they had to test and they weren't sure they found him. Yeah, oh, they did ask. The one doctor didn't have a sense of smell. He goes does that smell, does that stink? We're like no, he goes good, okay, let. Oh, is that steak? We're like no, he goes good. Okay, that's not gangrene, then. That's a question. Yeah, you're like okay. So we ruled that out.
Speaker 3:ER is in too.
Speaker 2:Oh, so like yeah, so we never did go to an ER. Right To rule out all the fancy shit, right, gotcha. That makes sense, still testing and trying to find out what's what the infection is. And then I had a second surgery where they went in behind the birth. They didn't take the bursa sack. The second surgery, they scraped all that. Oh my gosh yeah, I was I was. They're like what's your pain level? Like 10, so he's out of the hospital.
Speaker 1:For how many days? Five oh, oh, my gosh, from just a scuffed up elbow.
Speaker 2:After that one? Was it after that one? Can you just let us leave the office? Let me. I got off the scale of eight to ten pain or whatever, and I'm on Dorco 5. How's your level? It hurt, I'm good. Why did we ask to leave the hospital?
Speaker 3:We didn't. The doctor said you guys need to get out of here oh. Just get out and go for a drive.
Speaker 1:It's COVID, yeah Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so third surgery we go out to. Oh, we're walking out of the hospital and the nurse is like where are you going? I'm like we're going outside.
Speaker 3:No, you're not.
Speaker 2:And the other nurse goes yes, he is, let him go. It's like second surprise, not on the stretcher. And yeah, he's leaving the hospital, like what the fuck. So we go to Bluff Creek and walked around 15 minutes, dude, I was ready for bed. I was worn out Like I was exhausted, right. So we get back to the hospital, go through it again. And I had a third surgery and they cleaned it out again.
Speaker 2:That took a long. You said how long did it take me to come out of anesthesia? It took a long time, wow.
Speaker 1:But then I went home. So five days, three surgeries.
Speaker 2:Whatever I had, they had to give me meropenem, which is a super strong antibiotic with a PICC line. Oh my gosh, and she had to give it to me three times a day, oh my gosh. So I had a pick line in get this. So I had a pick line and she's gonna beat this one giving me this, this meds, and I was on it for six weeks. We had made plans to go to bentonville so cute dumb ass till. He's telling you, didn't ride.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, remember the picture of Jeremy with his broken fork. Yes, was that ride.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. But I had to pull out before that because I made my pick line bleed, oh my gosh, you guys were a disaster.
Speaker 3:We ride over to where they started, like two or three, and I'm like, okay, you're done.
Speaker 1:Yeah, bleed, oh my gosh. So, yeah, you can't get your heart rate up and you have a PICC line in what's wrong with you? So, gosh, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I was on that for six weeks and then somewhere in that time they found a also had a fungal infection, which takes about a month to find the testing. So then I was on antibiotics for that until March, february or March oh my God this happened in September.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's a rough one.
Speaker 2:Okay, I don't think anybody's.
Speaker 1:Yeah, jeez, I don't know. I feel like I gotta have something lighthearted to end on other than that.
Speaker 2:I mean, I'm still here.
Speaker 1:You're still here, that's true. Okay, let's do this. If you could pick any bike, your dream build, this is what we're going to end on. You don't have to go through all the components. But if you were going to have a dream build and it may not even be something that you sell, it may be something else what would it be? It could that you sell, and maybe something else.
Speaker 2:What would it be? It could be road, it could be mountain, it could be anything thought the pinarello dog. They are sexy looking bikes. It's freaking, just a just a smooth line on them. Yeah, they are clean looking. Bikes yeah, even though I'm not a roadie, I don't consider myself a roadie. You're not a roadie at.
Speaker 1:I don't consider myself a roadie. You're not a roadie. That all Not one part of when I think of John Denton do. I think you know that guy likes to ride a road a lot I see him out there quite a bit.
Speaker 1:He always seems to be showing up in these crits. Yeah, I don't. I don't think that at know, cause I know you're, I know Jeremy's involved with the skip and doing all that stuff, but you guys are always there and always helping. You know, you're always at all the events and you guys are always plugged in. So without people plugged in and have been plugged in for all these years, this, this little community, tiny little community that we have, wouldn't be what it is. And now you're really involved with having a shop.
Speaker 2:So we'll do more, but as one doing one man, I mean 10 to six. You know it's. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying it's like you know why don't? I've had people ask me why don't you have a shop rider, this or that, like there's so many shop rides already, not shop rides, there's so many rides during the week already. I just it doesn't make sense to do another ride, um, and I'm kind of wore out, spring chicken but I still got some energy, yeah, and then you just save that for single speeds and beating up on me and all the other freaking races.
Speaker 1:Well, I greatly appreciate you guys. It's been great getting to know you better and getting to know you guys over the past. I guess, really the last couple of years, I've seen you guys out more and I've been more involved in the dirt scene. So, um, I know from the rest of the community, I want to, you know, give you guys a huge hug and and say that you know we've all been thinking about you guys and sending you guys tons of love and um, you know it was, it was, it was a hit for everyone.
Speaker 1:But you know, here we are and, uh, I the I wouldn't say I was like great friends with corey, but the times I was friends with Corey and knew him and talked to him, sitting around and crying and bitching and moaning is not going to fly. So the only way that he would want to do it is like, hey, put on the jersey and like, as you said, just go ride. You know, just do it. And I think you guys do a great job honoring that. And so it's been really awesome to see the community rally around you guys the last handful of months. It's been pretty awesome.
Speaker 2:I think I did go a little long, but I want to say one thing. You know, circling back to the beginning, when Julie and I, like we've been married since 88 and she's been, julie's been. She's sitting right here but I mean, like with these races, now I think you've maybe missed less than a handful Right. So she hands up to me, I mean we've, I don't. So I mean she's been awesome.
Speaker 1:At this point you guys have been through it all, like literally almost everything, every option you guys can come up with. You guys have been through it yeah.
Speaker 2:You to support me. It it's like.
Speaker 1:It's like coming out well, it's definitely a team effort.
Speaker 2:I don't ever see you without seeing her it's right, yeah, very real so and then we, she hands up bottles to me and everything and I think I think I've only ever dropped one well, clearly your fault. Probably.
Speaker 1:Then that definitely was your fault.
Speaker 2:Just this year at scale, me, smitty and Corey were coming around hot and people even said damn, that was you guys have had some practice.
Speaker 1:You guys have been practicing since 88. We got this, it was. It was helped me play. Might be a child for all these years. That's awesome. And still here supporting in the shop, which is awesome. So I think the community loves you guys. I think you've seen that, and thanks for keeping the history of the shop going and then pass it to the next generation. Don't take all the money. It's better. That's right, thank you guys, so much.