Dialed Podcast 364 - Best and worst cycling stories, and how cycling made our lives better and worse.

Spring Classics drama (Pogačar caught?!), listener questions about best/worst rides, and how has cycling made our lives both better and worse.  Enjoy the podcast! 

Fit, Healthy & Happy Podcast
Welcome to the Fit, Healthy and Happy Podcast hosted by Josh and Kyle from Colossus...

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Chapters

• 1:10 Intro
• 2:21 Backpedal
• 10:50 [Ad] Fit, Healthy & Happy Podcast
• 11:30 (Cont.) Backpedal
• 23:23 Leadout News
• 34:41 EPO Chain Mail
• 1:01:08 How has cycling made your life better or worse?
• 1:28:13 One Last Thing...

Transcript

Intro Lady: [00:00:00] Shut up and sit down. Sit down.

Well, they say all good things come to an end. What's that got to do with this show? Nice ride. It's a nice time when you're on a nice ride riding with your best friend. 

Outro: Nice ride. It's a nice time when you're on a nice ride riding with your best friend. Oh, I like ride my bike. 

Intro Lady: You are listening to the Dialed podcast with Matt LeGrand. Sir Ian Gibson, Lance Heppler and Jake von Duering. Want to control your destiny. Well this little green frog once said, life's like a movie. Write your own ending. 

Nice ride. It's a nice when ride it when you ride riding.[00:01:00] 

Intro: Caller, you're on the lunch hour. Can I take your order? Yes. Uh, I'll have a big haling of the pretentious crap. I think I may have made a mistake. 

Jake: I welcome back to the Dialed Podcast. I'm Jake von Duering and I'm here with Lance freaking Heppler. 

Lance: Good afternoon. Good gentlemen. 

Jake: Woohoo. 

Lance: This is way too, that doesn't sound right. Okay.

What's up? Nope, that doesn't feel right either. Lance fricking heckler. Lance fricking Heppler here for your listening. Pleasure for your listening. His pleasure. Okay.

Jake: The one and Only Sir Ian Gibson. 

Ian: I'll say, Hey. Oh, how do are right? Hey, 

Matt: this podcast is off the rails early. 

Ian: I feel it's my duty to, you know, just educate you guys, um, about the subtleties of the British accents. 

Lance: Uh, we don't care. 

Ian: Totally dispel the myth of the upper class. Um. Downton Abbey type of Britishness. That's really because [00:02:00] that's not, not so prevalent these 

Lance: days. That's not real. It's not real. 

Ian: Okay. Yeah. Ben in clothes suck. Yeah, exactly. 

Jake: Last but not least, Matt LeGrand. 

Matt: What up blaze and gentlemen of the internet? You guys looking chipper today? You're looking like maybe you guys took a double dose of caffeine or something.  I don't know. Something's going on. Good times. I dunno. 

Jake: Hey Matt? Yeah? Yes. What's you been up to? Dude? Do you want a backpedal for us? Yes. 

Matt: I have not been biking even though the weather's been decent. I've been running swimming. 

Ian: So you finished the dial 100 and that was it. I know. I feel like that was season over, season over like 

Matt: I know I really need to get on the bike because I'm alright today.

I'm gonna bike. We're we're recording in the morning so I got time to bike at some point today. I just, it's, it's gotta be something do right? I gotta, I gotta sneak it in. No, I can't do the, I got stuff this afternoon kids, you know, like kind of. Report things at school that I gotta go watch this afternoon.

I don't know. It's gonna be a busy afternoon, so I gotta get it in between now and three [00:03:00] something. You can do it, you can do it possible. How about you Gvo? Which kind up to, oh 

Ian: me, in contrast, I've been riding my bicycle a lot. 

Matt: Somebody's gotta do it's gotta do it. 

Ian: Uh, last week we did a great ride with some teammates and friends, uh, from Ton in the, uh, Portland Metro area out east, and we went exploring in the, uh, Barton Park area to check out the race course.

Rode back, it ended up being like a 70 mile day, several thousand feet of climbing some hitters in the group. So it wasn't easy, but, but loads of fun. 

Jake: Loads of fun. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, sun 

Ian: Sunday more shenanigans out on, uh, Sal Island. So did the shootout there. Oh yeah. Which was. Good. Didn't get shot out this time, 

Jake: one of these decades.

I will join you on that ride. 

Ian: Oh, you really should. I try to, I keep trying to push this to all of you guys and it, it is a great ride. Good people. It's just 

Jake: tough. It's [00:04:00] a Sunday morning and usually I've got like yeah. Family stuff going on or kids soccer games or chores and, and I do generally ride, but it's usually not until like later part of the day.

Yeah. Just it's what it is. 

Ian: Uh, you would crush it. It's like you think, oh, I'm just gonna sit in the bunch and um, save some energy here and just go for a good ride. And then you get like within a kilometer of that final sprint and it's, you just get this. Oh yeah, I know the feeling. I dunno where you would be.

Anyway, that was fun. Um, and then on Monday we did some real bike racing down at PIR again, which was, uh, fantastic. 

Jake: That is great. I have not seen any of the ride posts from, uh, Monday's pr. How did it go? I, I just was completely disconnected that day. I had too much going on. 

Ian: It's good. I mean, the season's off to a great start.

The fields are big again. There was, um. 68, I think so close to 70 people in our 1, 2, 3 field, including 10 masters, 50 plus. 

Jake: That's great. 

Ian: Of which [00:05:00] I beat nine of, uh, the other nine, which was good. Ian was like 

Lance: 12th overall in the 1, 2, 2. Ian, that's fantastic. He open, open field fitness. Is there? Yeah, 

Ian: I just, um, it wasn't all about fitness.

Uh, Lance and I were talking about this yesterday. I, I felt really good because it was mostly about just getting into the right part of the race at the right time. Mm-hmm. And it was all about Yeah. Making the good decisions, I guess. So I ended up, yeah, up close to the front, which was cool for an old geezer like myself.

But yeah, so many people out there, I mean, we passed the um. Four, five field and as you go by them, there's like 140 guys on the road all at one time. So it was huge. Wow. Sweet. Actually, we passed him twice. It was, it was a fast race. And then, um, let's go. Let's see what else. Oh yeah, yesterday we went out to fer Lance and [00:06:00] I, I'll leave that to him.

But it was a good day, great day pic 

Matt: It looked awesome. From what I saw from it was lovely. It was lovely pictures maybe. Yeah, yeah. 

Ian: Yeah. Cool. I scared myself. I, I'm, huh? 

Matt: Oh, I was gonna ask you, what gravel bike are you using? 

Ian: I have A-B-M-C-A CAAs, uh, A nice. It's blue. New gravel. Yeah. Yeah. 

Matt: It's a pretty bike.

I just didn't It is pretty. I just didn't know. I wasn't sure. 'cause you guys are on, um, the Envy Envy, mog. Mog. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. 

Lance: Yeah. His bike's more of a, like a race frame type. Okay. Gravel bike. Not quite as much tire clearance, but, but a fast gravel bike, 

Ian: it's good. It feels exactly like it. It handles and feels just like my BMC road bike.

So it is easy to transition from one to the other. 

Lance: I was trying to show Ian how to do the, like, technical sections fast. Like how to, how to kind of rip through 'em and hop rocks and go through the water. Go through water. I saw that clip. Yeah. And it's cool. It's terrible. It didn't work. It did. I didn't help him.

Ian: For somebody who races bicycles [00:07:00] like regularly, I am, I'm so afraid of falling off my bike. It's stupid. It's like I go through these technical sections and I'm like, ha, 

Matt: I think that's 

Ian: good. I think it's, I'm gonna lose so much time on. Sunday in the Gorge race. We reconned that. 

Lance: Yeah, we reconned the gorge gravel race route is what's what we were doing.

How's the weather looking for Sunday? Um, it actually looks kind of terrible to be honest with you. Not rainy, but very windy. There's possible for like 20 mile an hour sustained winds in 40 mile an hour gusts on Sunday. So that could make the day the wind first out at Hood. Extremely. Yeah. There be, it could make it difficult.

So hiding a bunch. If, if you're in a bunch, there won't be a bunch. There won't be a bunch there. There tends not to be as much of a bunch in gravel races, especially when one that has a, a technical spicy section in the first 10 miles, it'll break it up and Ian will get dropped there and then we'll have to.[00:08:00] 

Grind to get back on. Yes. So, 

Ian: but that's okay. Grinding iss what I do. I'm good. Yeah. Yeah. 

Intro Lady: Cool. 

Lance: That was good. How about you? Up, uh, yeah, that, that day yesterday was just fantastic. Our weather. The weather was gorgeous out there yesterday. How many miles do you guys do? Yeah, we rode like 47. We did the small course.

We didn't wanna, the small course is 47 miles. The medium course is 60, 61 5, 62, and the long course is 95 or something like that. Whatcha are you guys doing on Sunday? Um, Ian's doing the medium course. I have downgraded myself to the small course, so I am just, are you okay? I just don't feel good. You're sick.

I'm not sick. I just don't feel right. Like yesterday's ride, you were like, uh, something's. Yeah, I felt great for like 10 or 12 miles, but then Ian just kept dropping me and dropping me and having to wait for me and, you know, that's one of those things. But yeah, yesterday was fantastic. We had a very lovely, wonderful day out there.

Do you enough like 

Matt: iron in your system? 

Lance: I, [00:09:00] I take an iron supplement every day. I'm vegan and so I know that I don't get enough iron in my system just through my diet, unless I'm eating dark grief, lean vegetables a lot. And so I take an iron supplement every day. That's one of the supplements I take, so I'm pretty sure that I do.

But you know. It's, it's just one of those things where you go through, you go through a lull, I'm getting plenty of sleep. Would you ever 

Jake: consider maybe just taking in like a little bit of fish or something like that right now? Because I know that you don't wanna eat the red meat, but what about like some salmon or some tuna or something?

Like, would that really make a difference for me? Maybe I don't, or maybe have a little bit of a red meat. Just, just outta curiosity, just for sake of let's just go kill an animal right now. 

Matt: I think Jake's dog looked at me 

Jake: wrong. Tell you 

Matt: Lola for dinner. Um, 

Jake: but no, seriously. What if you, I mean you aren't a vegan because of like ethical reasons.

It's more of like a, a health choice for you. Correct. Just for sake of experimentation, would you try that? I do not think this is a diet 

Lance: thing. 

Jake: No. [00:10:00] Yeah. Okay. No, you're just too much. I don't think 

Lance: so. It's just like life caught up 

Jake: with 

Lance: you. Yes. I think I'm just like stress in a downturn, you know, a little overtrain.

Probably may. My, could be a little, well, I mean, I headache extremely good winter of training. I mean, we are. Getting 

Jake: close to the end of April. How many miles have you already logged this year? Oh, that's a good question. And how many hours have you logged this year? I, I am gonna guess that it's a pretty substantial number.

Mm, somewhere in the millions, 

Lance: 207 hours, uh, 3,400 miles. So not a ton, but a lot. Most of that was in the first three months, not April. I wish we could give 

Jake: a collective, I'm sorry, Matt, a collective view of like, what zones were you in for all of that? Oh, you know, oh yeah. 

Matt: All, all zone zone five. Is there, is there a zone eight?

Is there a zone eight? I dunno. Uh, would you consider taking it easy the next couple of days going into Sunday? 

Lance: Um, yeah, that's, that, that, that's what I actually try to do this week. Um, I like, like flogging tonight, like, well. Jake wants me to go to the flogging. [00:11:00] Ian wants me to go to the flogging. I think I should take the day off because there go I'm not Friday you go ride with me.

Maybe I'll come ride with you instead. We'll go easy. It probably the 

Matt: easiest ride you've ever done. It'd be great. 

Jake: You can go hammer with a D group. They would Would hate me. They would hate you. 

Lance: That brings up a good, uh, thing because, um, Friday I did this ride with Ian's group. We, we did this twain ride where, um, we prew rode the Barton Park course.

That was part of the reason why we did it, and I showed up and there were six of us on the ride, and I, as soon as I saw the other five, I was like, oh crap. Yeah. I'm like, I was the weakest person in the bunch. And, and coincidentally what happened? They had to wait for me a few times. It really wasn't that bad.

You probably didn't notice, but man, when you're getting tailed off the back and you're not like grinding back on up for a longer climb, you're like, oh my gosh, this is the thing. I think you just had 

Matt: like two rides where you've been riding with strong people and that's it. I don't think that you're off at all.

Well, I [00:12:00] bet you're, I bet if you looked at your numbers, you're probably good. 

Lance: Yeah. They might be. Who 

Matt: knows? 

Lance: Wind out. It's just affected my head. Yep. You know what I mean? What were we gonna say, Ian? Oh, 

Ian: just a, i, I should not interrupt. You should. I was just gonna say, um, uh, uh, looking back to that ride, we went up Eden Wall, which is like a third of a mile.

This is the big feature of our road race we're gonna have in a couple weeks. Correct. And. I'm like, I'm gonna go for this. And I got on it and I got a personal best. I did it in like under a minute, 40 at 514 watts, something like that. Greg Steele comes past me in the drops. 

Outro: He freaking drilled it. I 

Ian: look at his file later, he is like 670 watts for, for a minute and a half top for a minute and a half.

I can also hit 600 watt. Oh my God. 

Lance: But just not good for you, Greg. Not a minute and a half mean. Anyway, so, so contrast that where I rode with this group on Friday and kind of [00:13:00] was the weak link. Right. Even though I could stay with them and if it's going downhill, I have no problem. Right. But, or I'm like the weak link.

Saturday I went and did the goodbye to Cameron, ride out in the gorge. Okay. Um, from Hood River to the Dows. And I showed up on that ride and I was the person that when I showed up. I realized, yeah, these people aren't gonna like me because I am, I You got a little bit, everybody hates lunch anyway. Don't fit with, I don't fit with this group very well.

So I was trying to be like really chill and really calm because I was one of the stronger people on the ride and I didn't want to be a jerk. But you could see, like, you could see like people go crest falling. When I drove into the parking lot, I'm like, oh crap, is that asshole over here? Exactly. It's like, oh, this ride just changed.

You know? Heppler showed up and, and nobody, of course, nobody said anything and everybody was [00:14:00] very cool. I would've said something. It was, it was all very good, but I could just, you could feel it, you know, like, okay, I'm, that's 

Ian: how I feel when Chris Nel shows up to a race. Oh shit. 

Lance: Yeah, right. Dammit. It's like, yeah, he's, it's gonna be a crappy day.

He's gonna go and it's gonna be hard. So yeah. Anyway, that was the rides for the week for me. 

Jake: That's good. 

Matt: Jake, you got a backpedal? 

Jake: Yeah, actually I've been riding my bike outside. Yeah, you have a little bit. I, um, finally dusted off the old, uh, gravel bike and got it up to be in ride worthy again and took it for a little spin on Sunday, which was really nice to, you know, just kind of go outside and, and be on, on dirt.

I haven't done that since. Yeah, oh, I dunno, September of 2024 mini millennia ago, which, that's how it feels. But, um, anyway, went and did the ride and it was just, it was fantastic. It was actually on Easter Sunday and it was funny. I did have one little issue while I was out there and this, this, you know, it's perfect, but I'm glad it happened then, and not on another night.

Um, you know, you're, you're gonna go for a bike ride and if [00:15:00] everything's tuned, you like shifting, everything's fine. I leave my house and Matt will know this. Well, you guys all know this, like I can literally get to Matt's house. Almost without having to pedal very much. Yes. It's all downhill. 'cause it's, it's a big giant ass steep downhill.

And I, I'm, I'm starting to go down, I'm shifting down, shifting down and, and flying downhill. And I get down to about the cul-de-sac to go to shift back up. No. Shifting back up the left lever of the CR 2032 battery dude. Yeah. I'm like, dang it. So I pulled over and I'm like, I know I have one in my bag. Sure enough I did.

And you know, you pull back the hood and there's that little battery door and you can usually put that, that battery in there. 'cause it's almost the size of a quarter and turn that it would not turn for nothing. Oh. So I'm trying all these different little things and all this other stuff. I'm stuck and I'm, I have a 46 tooth up front and I have a 10 tooth in the back.

That's my gearing combination that I'm in. 

Lance: You're in the tent. Of course you were going downhill. Rode 

Jake: all the way back up to my house. How did you even do that? I dunno how you do that one pedal stroke at a time. [00:16:00] 

Matt: It was like, that seems impossible. It happened. You were like. 900 watts. Zero, 900 watts.

Seriously, 

Jake: if you went and looked at the profile, it probably was about that. It was just bonkers. But I made it back up there and I'm like, all right, this is gonna be a fun little workout. Just, just make it happen. Just get back up to the top and just go up there. Sure enough, I made it. And here's the cool part.

I didn't have to clip out or stop. I made it all the way back. You 

Matt: all the way back up to the top. I can barely make it up. Thi up this hill with all my gears. Every one of 'em. I really only use one. I use the tiniest gears possible and I'm still like, whoop, struggling. Gotta stand up here. Probably 

Ian: stretch, stretch your chain out.

About an inch. Yeah, maybe. Um, anyway, got 

Jake: up there, changed battery out, went to the ride. It was fantastic. So, but anyway, I'm supposed to be at my in-laws house at four 30. I was coming off of the dike at, I think it was like 4 0 7, and I still had to ride all the way home. That's a, I get home. And it was, I think it was 4 22.

I was booking it to get home and I'm like, I'm [00:17:00] supposed to be there, and it's a five minute drive away. Thankfully, it's not very far. I was showered and out the door in less than two minutes, and I just hammered the gas pedal down and flew over there. I showed up one minute late, and that was only because some jack holes were in front of me going slow on Easter Sunday.

But man, that was, it was an interesting ride. But anyway. Great to be back on there. Um, did go out and do two, uh, the Tuesday night gravel ride. Did that for the first time in forever, in a day. And we had a good group. I think we ended up having a total of 13 people, including myself. Oh, fantastic. Which was a lot of fun.

And everybody was, you know, well behaved on the Heritage Trail. There was one jack hole going the other way, walking and jogging or something like that, yelling at people. That was me. That was me. I think somebody referred to him as Captain Anabolic in one of the ride, two things. But anyway, I've probably got it somewhere on video.

I should probably pull that up and post it for people just to see how much of an idiot some people can be. But anyway, we did the ride and I felt really good. Oh, good. It was surprising to me that I felt as good as I did. Um, we, you know, we went relatively hard, you know, kind of going out through the first regroup before we do the descent down to third [00:18:00] Street, you know, not super hard, not as hard as I normally do.

I'm like, all right, well that's good. 'cause I'll maybe save a little bit of gas for the, you know, the, the more difficult parts of it. We got up onto the dike and. We open it up like we do, and I was close. I took my poll and then kind of, you know, cycle through, cycle through. And um, we kind of just worked through it and everybody was pushing really hard.

Um, Paul was taking some strong polls and a few other people showed up, we're taking some strong polls and then slowly but surely it started to kind of thin out just a little bit. And we get to the section where I take my, my next pole and we were, you know, where the, the first bridge is? Once you kind of go down, it takes the little hard left turn Yes.

And kicks back up. That's when I started. My turn is just before that turn and a little kick up and I'm like, right. But this is the perfect place to, you know, create some separation and I've. Kinda laid it down, got up, got over the bridge and looked back and I think it was just Paul with me, maybe one other person at that point in time.

And so I just kept pushing a little bit harder and Paul was right there, you know, tucked in on my wheel and rode for a little bit longer than I [00:19:00] probably wanted to, knowing that Paul's gonna probably just crush it. And sure enough, Paul came bolting around me. I'm like, if I don't jump on his wheel right now, it's over.

He's Mr. Captain Solo, laying down his watts because Paul's fricking strong as wheel. Oh no. I immediately jumped on his wheel and if there was anybody behind me, I didn't look, because if I did, I probably would've gotten dropped. Um, they got kicked out and it was just myself and Paul and he was trying to drop me like a bad habit and I was just like, just keep holding onto his wheel, keep holding onto his wheel, stay right here, tucked in.

And he, he pulled for a good chunk of time too, and I was able to come around him at the end and beat him in the, this friend he gave up and I was able to ride away from him. I'm like. I don't, did he give that to me? Was he going as hard as he could? Who cares? You beat Paul. That's awesome. So I'm sure if he really, really wanted to, he could have, um, hurt me much sooner and broke away.

'cause you know, he's a strong kid. But that was a vote of confidence for me. I was pretty happy about that. And riding back, it was another, you know, strong little finish. We were, you know, kind of coming back into the park and you know how it kind of all kicks up. I was able to [00:20:00] hang with Paul there too.

There's, uh, myself and, uh, one of our other teammates and we finished it out. So. Fantastic. Sounds like 

Ian: an ominous sign of things to come. Does it, does this this summer in some of these group rides? Does, yeah. 

Jake: I did have a, a slight derailer hanger issue. Kind of got bumped a little bit when I was. Going over the bridge, kind of bumped it.

I don't, that's neither here nor there. I had to stop a couple times and then I kind of did take it easy getting home. But um, for the two hours before that, that, that happened, my normalized power was 3 0 6. 

Lance: Oh wow. 

Jake: So not too bad for a two hour ride. Um, oh, that's fantastic. Film. Pretty good. And then we did the, uh, the flogging ride, you know, last week on the Thursday.

And again, felt pretty good there too. I actually did ride with the B group on that one and it's not because I didn't think I could ride with the a 'cause I think I probably could have hung with them just fine. There were some strong people in there. Probably wouldn't have like mixed it up for the front, but, um, rode with the bees just because there were some guys that I hadn't ridden with him forever.

I'm like, I kind of wanna ride with you guys, you guys, this is gonna be fun. And, and you know, jumped in there and had a good time. And we were going up the Hawkinson crawl and I remember, um, like [00:21:00] everybody was kind of taking some turns and then Dan Bee kind of jumped around and Dan Bee was going super hard and I'm like, dude, this is awesome.

And so I get on his wheel and then I'm taking a pull and then, um, or not a pull yet, I'm just on his wheel and there's a couple people behind. And then he kind of peeled off. And then I just kept that same pace, got out of the saddle, went for, I don't know, five or 10 seconds and I looked back, I'm like, oh gosh, there's a big gap here.

And then I kept going a little bit longer. I'm like, the gap got bigger, those guys dang it. Like I can't not attack now. 

Lance: Right. 

Jake: So I kept going and, and sure enough I was able to gap everybody and, and kind of ended up riding a lot harder on the first half than I was hoping to. I. But it was a lot of fun. It was kind of cool to see that.

And then we did the second half and again, wrote pretty strong in the second half, didn't get dropped, hung with everybody and had a good time. So no cramps either, so Wow. Didn't have to get the SAG support. So 

Lance: it's, it's so good to hear you tell ride stories. Jake's been, it's fun. Yeah, it's been too long.

So even 

Jake: for that ride, it was the full ride. And this is including me, you know, coasting [00:22:00] pretty much almost coasting down to the ride and just kind of bebopping around in the parking lot and going over and doing like this, that and the other, and talking to people. And then you do the full ride and then you, I, I did not go down to the parking lot to finish.

I peeled off and went home and just kind of took it easy. This still the collective ride. With all that stuff included, my normalized power was almost three 10, so. Oh, wow. Awesome. Again, feeling good. So the numbers are going in the right direction. 

Ian: How's the, how's the hip reacting to all this? 

Jake: Um, pretty good on the most part.

Good. It's, um, I'm, I'm dealing with it being a bit sore and I do feel like I've had this constant, like, uh, knot in my quad, but I've been taking the time to stretch and mm-hmm. And been doing a lot of the foam roll stuff and just trying to, you know, be proactive about that. As long as I do that, I'm feeling pretty good.

So. Good. 

Intro Lady: That's 

Jake: great. I just need more time to ride more. That's all right. So, anyhoo, I don't think you guys need to hear anything else from me other than love it, loving it, riding outside, having fun, and it's, um, I'm, I'm. Stoked. Tonight's another flogging, right? So we're gonna go do that as well. Cool.

Ready to move on. 

Intro Lady: Champ Bailey and Sports Champ here, camp here. [00:23:00] Time smash your face into a car windshield. And then take your mother, Dorothy man tooth out for a nice seafood dinner and never call her again. 

Jake: When are we gonna get Dorothy on the podcast? I love to Dorothy, 

Matt: she's, she's rip roaring and ready to go, man.

Lance: Sweet. What's up, champ? All right. So we are in the middle of the Dens classics, the nasty, difficult, uh, cobbled slash nasty races that all happen in Belgium and, and the Netherlands in, in that area. So we had am still gold race this last Sunday, and it was quite exciting and something happened that hasn't happened a long time.

Poya got pulled back. So he was, he had gone off the front and was going, it looked like it was just gonna be another poot riding off the front with 20 K to go. But, um, he, uh, I, there's conflicting stories. He got, he got pulled back by, by [00:24:00] Remco Evan Po. And Mattias s Schmos. So two guys working together pulled him back and I don't know if he, if.

Poot said he wasn't fading. He, in one interview he said he wasn't fading, but that he was riding to a headwind and decided it was gonna be too much work to hold it away. And he would rather wait for those two and then try to sprint, sprint them, beat them in the sprint at the end. Yeah. So he, 

Ian: he didn't, he didn't look like he was sitting up.

Right. So did 

Lance: he sit up or was he just really fading? 

Jake: Well, maybe he did back off a little bit and if it would make sense, he knows those guys are gonna come back up to him and if he lets them, he's gonna wanna make them work as much as they possibly can in order to, you know, get gas stuff. He just sits up and lets 'em ride back on.

Then that makes it too easy for, right. And they're gonna have even more bullets to play at the end of the, the ride. So he probably did let up in his letting up. We will just have to admit that that's, that's much different than our letting up. 'cause I mean, if he's zone two it at, you know, 340 watts like he does Right.

That, that that could be letting it up. That could be letting it [00:25:00] up. Sorry, go ahead. 

Lance: Regardless, it ended up in a, in a sprint between those three and s Schmos surprised them both. 

Jake: Yeah. You get Poot and Remco like sizing each other up and the other guy's like, um, I'm still here, guys 

Lance: and s Schmos at the end, it was so close, he wasn't sure.

He won and his reaction was just like phenomenal. He was beside himself that he actually won this monument race, you know? Yeah. Over Remco and Todd. 

Matt: He didn't know he won. 

Lance: He wasn't sure. Yeah. It took a while. Yeah. Yeah. For them to know. But uh, yeah, so that was pretty cool. Um, so then you started to think, okay, is POC human?

Can he be pulled back? Is this gonna be okay? Does this really make a difference? And then we had, uh, flesh alone yesterday. Was that yesterday? It was, yes, it was yesterday. Yep. They had Flesh Malone yesterday, so it's one of those weird Wednesday races. But Flesh Malone is a big, difficult, you know, long race.

Mm-hmm. It's still 260 K or something like that. And, [00:26:00] um, Todd a actually he played it perfectly this time. So big long race. His team was on point, his team was doing great stuff. Um, there is, there is a climb called the MiiR de We 

Intro Lady: mm-hmm. 

Lance: That sounds right. Yep. And they do it three times. Mm-hmm. And it's a difficult climb.

It goes to like 18% or something like that. Yeah, that's huge. And, and they do it three times and the third time up, it's, it's just past the top of that where the finish line is. And Todd a didn't try to like break off earlier. He waited. No, that 

Jake: it, it worked out perfect. They played it just right. 'cause Brandon McNulty ended up getting up at the front and started pushing the pace and kind of kept everybody in check and just set him up on a silver plower to explode and come around and he just gapped everybody so quickly.

Yeah. And they were all just spent at that point in time. So Good on McNulty for wearing people out. Correct. Can't wear out Todd Evidently. And he did his thing and so that was the end of the race. 

Lance: Yeah, he's, so, he still, and he ended up winning. It was only like, you [00:27:00] know, five or six seconds, but he didn't like do this huge breakaway, but 

Jake: it's cool to see Peacock on the, um, peacock was there too.

Was third. Yeah. 

Lance: Yep. Peacock was doing well in am still too, but uh, just kind of faded. Remco was right in there. Again, I tell you what. Remco coming back from his injury. It, it has made the racing more exciting. 

Jake: He looks surprisingly good right now. And did you catch the race last week where he, um, beat wow Van Art in a sprint?

He 

Lance: did out sprint Wow. Van art. Yeah. Which was a bit of a surprise as well. He, 

Jake: he didn't come around. Wow. Played it perfectly. He was sitting on his wheel and remco iss like fishtailing side to side. Yes. And, and like trying to look over, waiting for w to come around and he decided, right, I need to go now.

He got outta saddle and rode w off his wheel. 

Lance: Wow. Actually had to sit back down 

Jake: Yeah. 

Lance: And then stand back up and try to rekick. 

Jake: Yeah. I mean he maybe wasn't filling it, but at, you can't say that. I mean, Remco beat him handedly, handedly straight up, rode him [00:28:00] off his wheel. That's an awesome feeling for 

Lance: him.

Pretty, pretty exciting that he has come back like that. And it looks like it's somebody that can actually stay with Todd in different systems. Yeah. I'm so happy 

Ian: to see him back. It, it, it's a, uh, big in infusion into the racing. It's no longer just a p and MVP show, have somebody else in contention. Yeah.

Lance: It's exciting. Yeah. So the art classic, it seems more dynamic. Yep. Yeah. Had been pretty exciting. So women, the women's races were great too. The Women's Flush Alone was, was won by, uh, puck. Peter, Peter say. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Who, who, uh, out sprinted. Who did she out? Sprint, Demi Voling. Oh, wow. And, uh, and Eliza Longo Bini.

So she, it ended up being like a two person sprint between her and Voling, and she out sprinted her, so. Wow. Good on you. Puck. So exciting racing. It's this springtime with the Belgian classics are just like fantastic. And we have this Sunday we have. [00:29:00] What's the race? Liaise? Basto and Lia. That's a good one.

One of the longest, um, running races that's been around, has been around for like 120 years or something, so. Gotcha. Kind of exciting and everybody's gonna be there. Remco will be there, Todd a will be there. Um, well Vanderpools done. He's actually shifting to mountain biking for the year. Um, but all pretty exciting.

Uh, other racing news. What else happened? Um, we had Levi's Grand Fondo, and why would I bring that up? It seems weird that I would bring up Levi's Grand Fondo, but he has put on this race in, in Napa Valley region of Northern California for the last couple years, and he has managed to attract every big name road rider that is not in Europe to come to these races.

And part of that reason is because the course is extremely difficult. Uh, 140 ish miles, uh, just under 14,000 feet of climbing. So not easy, but. A huge [00:30:00] prize purse, $25,000 to the winner. Wow. Money goes like 10 people deep. We should go down and do that last, 

Ian: next year. We should go 

Lance: down and do that. It's, we'll split 

Ian: the 140 and it's, you lead me out.

Perfect. 

Lance: And it's a full, it's a full on road race. This is a road race. It's not gravel, you know. Um, and, and all, all these big name gravel guys have showed up because those are like the strongest road riders that we have in the US right now. I think that 

Jake: slots in well for their training too. Yes. 

Lance: Yeah.

Especially with, we've got the next big, uh, gravel race coming up is Unbound and that is like five weeks away. Mm-hmm. Six weeks away, something like that. So who's going? 

Matt: Anyone from 

Lance: our team to Unbound? Yeah. Not that I know of. Okay. Yeah, last year we had three of us. I don't think any of us are going this year.

It's kinda nice to, as a team, almost decide, like, not this year, 

Matt: maybe next year 

Lance: it was. A much better experience because we had teammates. Yeah. And we got to experience together. So anyway, [00:31:00] um, the Levi's Grand Fondo, uh, guess who won? Just take a wild stab. Mr. Swensen. Yeah. Keegan Swensen. And, and he didn't win it easily.

He, like Matt Beers and him pulled the breakaway back and caught the guy with like 1.2 k to go like under a mile to go. Wasn't a 

Jake: younger guy too, that kind of got away from everybody. Yes. Yeah. 

Lance: Riding solo for a long time. Yes. And they pulled him back and Keegan was able to out sprint him at the end for $25,000 check.

So pretty freaking, 

Jake: just a few minutes shy of six hours on the rivet like that. And did you happen to catch the video, the, the post ride? Cool down video or whatever that they're calling it, but, uh, Alexi Vermilion. Yeah, Alexi and Ke. Did you watch Kegan? I 

Lance: did watch it. 

Jake: And Matt DeBeers was on there as well.

Like he's 80 kilograms. Yeah, he's big, big dude. He did, did you hear when they were talking about the Watts that they were putting down Yes. And talking about like [00:32:00] FTPs and he wouldn't like out and out say exactly what it was, but he's riding over an hour, over 500 watts. 

Ian: Get outta here. Really? 

Jake: Over. That doesn't make sense.

Yes. He's 80 kilograms. He's he's, that's a big dude. And, and you watch him ride. He's 

Lance: that freaking strong. Alexi asked him straight out, what's your FTP? Tell us what your FTP is? And he was like, I don't know. It's something like four 70 and Lexi's like, no, 

Jake: no. And they're all like pointing their thumb up in the air, like going up.

Keep going. It's higher than that. It's more than that. He's like, alright, alright. Yeah, it's, it's over 500. 

Lance: Can you imagine? I can't imagine. Geez. So 

Jake: pretty. You know what else I loved about that video? What they're eating for breakfast. I had no idea that the pros were just piling it on with the pancakes.

Yeah. And lots of 

Lance: syrup. 

Jake: I'm like, really? 

Lance: That's been a, that's been a Keegan staple for years. Pancakes. Yeah. But they they 

Jake: were all talking about it. They're all, yeah. And he does pancakes, but he also does cream of rice. I think that was the other thing that he said. He makes extend there, but I'm like, Hmm, I'm gonna give that a shot.

Yeah. Pancakes. I'm, I'm always trying to keep it like clean and healthy and, [00:33:00] no, let's just top off those glycogen stores. And Bob's your uncle. Yeah. 

Ian: Lance and I were talking about that video that, uh, Ipol Remco put out on YouTube as well. And how much that was last 

Lance: year. 

Ian: Was it last year? It was last year.

Anyway, he did this one particular day. He was out for a seven hour training ride. Yeah. But the amount of calories and the amount of those calories that came from. Just basic sugary foods. Mm-hmm. Like candy bars and aribo and all kinds of things. He ate 

Lance: like 7,000 calories that day. Wow. But, but he was on his bike for four hours.

Sure. So that was seven hours. Yeah. Or seven hours apart. Crazy. 

Jake: And, well the last thing too is just the, the number of kilojoules that they put into the ride, which, you know, was kind of equivalent to the calories that they're putting in. What was De Beers? He wasn't he close like seven or 8,000? I think so.

And the other guys were all like 4,500 

Lance: de beers put in. Yeah. 

Jake: Big dude. Lots of watts and lots of energy. Too much fun. 

Lance: Yeah. So lots of racing happening. Lots more racing coming up. Uh, it's all [00:34:00] exciting. Champ out. 

Jake: Thanks, champ. All right, let's move on. 

Intro Lady: I did it with nothing but my own blood, sweat and tears and extra blood.

People don't. Yeah. You know, this is a sport with 

Matt: literally hundreds of dollars on the line and dozens of fans. That 

Intro Lady: stakes are medium. Come on. How do you beat the man on drugs if you know 

Jake: last Likes a steaks medium? Wait, 

Intro Lady: did you just 

Jake: admit to being on drugs? The EPO chain mail. Send us a text 

Matt: with your questions, 

Jake: forward this podcast to 15 people and you'll lose 10 pounds overnight without even trying.

Hey, oh, you've got mail. Sweet. Um, we actually got one EPO chain mail sent into us. And then I, I was telling you beforehand, I'm like, I could have swore there was another one, but I'm like, oh, I, it literally just dawned on me that the other person actually, um, sent us an email to our info dial cycling com com.

Oh, email. So I'm gonna pull that up here. Um, give me one second. [00:35:00] Yeah, guys, talk about something. Buy me some time here. Right? Oh man. Sorry. Um, anyway, well, I'll, I'll come back to that in a bit. We'll, we'll maybe finish up with that later on. All right. Let's just jump into the one that did come through the proper way, and the question was from a listener in San Francisco, California.

Um, they said, do you have a story about the best day or worst day on a bike that would be entertaining or educational for listeners to hear that? That's a really good question. As a matter of fact, it's gonna tie into some other things as well. But, um, I figured we'd just share around the table and, and, and let the listeners know like a, a really good story or a really bad story that's either educational or entertaining.

Lance: The thing that comes to mind initially is a, a really bad story, and I may have have told this before, but it was, it was my experience at the Gorge Gravel grinder like seven years ago, six or seven years ago, where, okay. I decided to do the long race because that's where all the cool [00:36:00] people, and that's where all the fast people race.

They all do the biggest, longest race. And so I did the Gorge gravel grinder. It was called the Gorge Gravel Grinder back then. Now it's called the Gorge Gravel Race because Brad Chads Barry's trying to kind of rebrand a little bit. Gor Bay, I think. Wasn't it Gorge Bay? It wasn't. It was, it was be, it was after that.

Yeah. 

Matt: Why is he rebranding? I don't know. Because he wants to do different stuff with it. Like 

Lance: have some options or, it's not really rebranding. He's just not calling it the gorge gravel grinder. He's, he's, he's, um, okay. He's moving away from calling it a grinder. I don't know why he doesn't call. He doesn't wanna call Grind.

Probably it's the Grindr app. Maybe because of the Grindr app, 

Matt: which I think is the swipe. But it's like, for gay, for gay gentlemen. I don't know. Is that Yes, you do know Matt? I mean, I don't know. Lemme just check my phone because I got it right here. Let's check your phone to see what it, 

Lance: how it actually works.

Just lemme me just, lemme just pull it up. Uh, regardless. So I was doing the long course and it ended up being a terrible, like. A terrible wet and windy day. And, um, and it, [00:37:00] you know, it was like 102 miles and it was so bad that the long race, the, the a hundred mile race only had like 12 or 15 finishers. It was that bad.

It, there were people being pulled off with hypothermia. It got that bad. 

Matt: Yeah. 

Lance: And, and I just kind of hung in there, even though the last like four miles were, or last four miles, last 40 miles were just complete misery. It was raining, it was nasty, it was wet. Um, my glasses got so fogged and nasty that I had to take them off because I couldn't, I couldn't see.

Right. Yeah. But I'm following wheels where, um, you're getting stuff where I get stuff in my eyes and my vision started to go. This is the first experience where I ever had, where my vision like faded during a ride. And I still, we're still, I I remember clearly we were still doing like 25 miles an hour down this, like you're like [00:38:00] 2% and I'm sitting two feet off of the wheel in front of me and I couldn't see very well.

Yeah, I, this is like 

Matt: the scariest part where you're like, oh, I was being stupid. It's yes. Where you're like, I couldn't see, like, this happens to me and some, maybe we'll talk about it, but like you're in these rides or whatever and you're like, I can't see, and I'm going, whatever it is, 25 miles an hour.

Like that's juster. 

Lance: It was, we finished the race at 102 miles, whatever it was. I remember I went to my van and um, I went. I changed outta my wet clothes and I went to go get the free meal that was included at where the race was, and I'd parked like two blocks away and I walked straight into a street sign because my vision was so bad and I had to like, I'm like, oh, oh, I'm not, I'm not going to get food.

Forget this. I'm gonna go, I gotta go lay down because this is not right. I remember I had to call my wife and say, I'm not sure I'm gonna come home tonight. I might have to sleep right here in the van where I'm at because I can't see good enough to drive, and I think it [00:39:00] would be 

Ian: just goes blurry or dark cold.

It went 

Lance: blurry. Yeah, it went blurry. And I had to like, I had to lay there for like four hours before I could see well enough that I could actually drive home and, and the, the ride broke me seriously. It was after that that I said, I'm not doing long courses anymore. Yeah. I don't, I don't care if it is perfect weather or great.

Yeah. It's not worth it. I just know that I have vision issues longer than. Five or six hours. And so, and that was it. That was like a seven hour race, seven 20, something like that. That's a good ways. And so I realized, and, and since then I have not done a long course. If I, I went to Steamboat. I didn't do the long course.

I went to Unbound twice. I did not do the long course. I've done gorge, gravel, grinder five, six more times since then. I don't do the long courses on those days. Mm. Because it, it actually broke me. I don't know if that's a good story, but it's a, 

Matt: it's not, it's a horrible story. [00:40:00] 

Lance: It's, it's what comes to mind immediately when somebody says, do you remember a ride that wasn't so good?

And that was it. I wouldn't have kept going. If I was just on a ride, I would've like bailed. But it was a race. And so I'm like, yeah, freaking race, brain, race, brain. 

Ian: I think races have the potential to be the worst rides because of that. Because you have this feeling like, I gotta keep going. I gotta keep going.

I don't wanna DNF this. 

Outro: Right. Like 

Ian: I have a similar story for when we did, um, Kings Valley Road Race a long time ago. Jake knew I was gonna say this. Oh, this is one of 

Jake: my favorite stories ever. 

Ian: It got so cold. I, I'd made the decision, uh, I was gonna get warm from the, um, exertion, right. So I didn't, I just had the, my jersey and I didn't put any rain gear on.

It was raining when we started the race. 

Jake: No base layer 

Ian: either. I don't, yeah. Maybe a base layer. I don't know. It didn't matter. 'cause it just got freezing cold. Oh 

Intro Lady: yeah. 

Ian: [00:41:00] And you're trying to sit in the wheels and the spray from other people's wheels made you colder and colder. And anyway, I did finish up the race, but I was hypothermic.

I mean, I wasn't just shivering at the end of the race. I was shaking. My limbs were shaking so badly. And I, I remember trying to get my, um. Jersey off, and one of the pins for my number that's, so I did have an under layer. Mm-hmm. The, the, my racing number was stuck through my jersey to the, to my base layer.

Yeah. Under to my base layer. And I couldn't get it off. And I was just like in my car going, trying to, trying to say some profanity and it wouldn't come out. I was like, f

Jake: ian. Calm down. Calm him down, buddy. I got you. I got you. I'm here. I'm gonna help you. And Ian was just beside [00:42:00] himself, so pissed off and so cold and could not for the life of him, stop shivering. And it was big, giant ice cream sandwich. Yeah. So miserable. Yeah. We, we still chuckle about that to this day, but 

Ian: those, those rides have been few and far between.

You know, we had actually a, a similar experience at Banana Belt Road Race two weeks ago. Oh, wow. It was almost as cold, but, um, I don't know. Anyway, that was, that's been balanced out by many hundreds of beautiful, great rides with friends in the Sunshines. Anyway, 

Matt: how about you, Matt? Um, I got, I got, I got one for you.

I've got, um, the, a really good ride was in Whistler, the Ironman Whistler race in Canada. Really bad ride. I. Different year. Whistler, Canada, Ironman. It's the same course. So what's funny is like I, this one year I went up there and I was like, oh, this, you know, it's summertime. Like you just don't think about [00:43:00] bringing like cold stuff at all.

So I like go up there just expecting it to be like perfect weather like it is down here, right? Like it never checked, like it never like registered in my mind that like, it might be horrible up there. And it was, and like half the field drops out. Like you see all these ambulances everywhere, like picking people up.

Oh no. Because like hypothermia, right? It was a thing. Yeah. Hypothermia. And it was sleeting when the race started and it just, and you're going, you're, you're good when you're climbing, but you come down these mountains, right? And so you're coming down for like 10 miles of just downhill and you wanna go fast 'cause you're racing.

But it's also like, you're just miserable. So it's one, you guys have felt this too, where you're like, you're going downhill and you're like, I don't want to go faster and I'm in a race. Right? Like that's, that, that's not a good feeling. Yeah. Um, yeah, I, the one thing that I thought was smart that I did was I took a plastic trash bag and put it underneath my jersey.

And that was actually pretty helpful at keeping you warm. 'cause like that plastic layer didn't have a [00:44:00] lot of like wind penetration or Yes. Or water penetration. It was good. And then I could take it out when I climbed up the mountain on the way home or whatever. So there's some good things in there. And it did warm up over the five hours I was racing on the bike.

So that was something. But man, there's just so many people that just didn't, didn't make it. Um, but the previous time that I had raced Whistler, it was like gorgeous, sunny, like perfect weather. And yeah, and it was just one of those days where you're like climbing around in the mountains all day and like having a good race and having fun.

It was just like such a gorgeous, I mean the easy days are, the great days are easy to like think about too. Um, but yeah, so it's funny that like it's, it's all about, it's the weather, right? It's like, yeah, it's weather. The weather makes these rides miserable and they tend to be races because when they're not races you can be like, yeah, this is, this is not the day.

Like this is not the day to go for a hundred miler or whatever. This is the day to be like, got out for an hour instead of three hours like I was going to because the weather was gross, right? I [00:45:00] dunno. Jake, I 

Jake: think one of my more memorable, there's lots of races out there and there's a lot of good stuff in Barton Park for instance.

I've got two fantastic stories, actually, three great stories from there. But, um, I'll, I'll table that for just a moment. I think one of my most memorable things, though, was the first time we went to a team training camp, and this was something that Michael Myers brought to my attention. And you've always heard about training camps.

I'd just never gone on one. You know, I'd, I'd never really even been, I, I mean, I'd been on a, a, a road cycling team the year prior to us starting dial cycling and we, um, the dial cycling team. So I did that in 20 16, 20 17 was our first formal year as, as, as a team, and we did our full race season. It was a blast going into 2018.

Michael came to me, he's like, Hey, what do you think about doing a team training camp? And we go down to Palm Springs like, that sounds amazing. He's like, awesome. He's like, I've already kind of planned it all out. I was hoping you'd say yes. One of those things. He's like, come on over to my house and we'll sit down and we'll, we'll kind of, I'll run you through it.

So went over to his house, he's got this whole [00:46:00] presentation, you know, already put together. He is, got all the routes planned out and he's like, all right, and this is, you know, he was already, you know, looking at a couple different places, but I think Palm Springs is gonna be the best bet for us. And I've already found all these houses and I think this one's gonna work the best for us.

So he'd already like done this whole thing. He already planned it out. Yeah. And as a matter of fact, he probably would've gone by himself if visit, if that's how it would've broken down. And then we got to the part where, here are all the routes that we're gonna do and this is the collective total for the week.

And went, oh my Lord, are you kidding me? And like, it's gonna be a week long. We're gonna do over 500 miles of riding and it's gonna be close to 30 hours on the bike. I was like, um, uh, how many people can actually do that? I'm like, he's like, you could do it, I promise you. He's like, I've done these before and you'll come out so strong and fast and everything.

I'm like, dude, I don't think I've ever done more than like 15 hours in a week, or maybe, maybe close 20, maybe the year prior to that when I did STP for the first time that Seattle to Portland, and that's a, you know, that was a, you know, 10 hours on the bike alone, and there [00:47:00] was some other stuff on top of that, but I'm like, really that hard?

And he's like, yeah, everything, every day's got a purpose. Every day's gonna have like a, a, a specific kind of route so we can work on different things. I'm like, all right, I'm gonna take your word for it. And then we went down and we did it, and I came out the backside. I'm like. That was utterly fantastic.

And he was right on across the boards and I was, no, no joke. I was super proud of myself for getting through that and actually coming out on the back end. Stronger than I started the week every single day. Built on the next day, built on the next day. I mean, around day two or three, you do get a little bit fatigued, but all of a sudden you kind of break through and you're like, wow, I feel really good.

And you're putting down really good numbers and just keeps, um, building on it. And you get all the backside and you're like, we went over 500 miles this week. And we, I think it ended up being like. 27 or 28 hours on the bike. Like that was great. So that is something that I, I've told, you know, countless people, like, try try going to a training camp.

It doesn't have to be that, like that massive, but challenge yourself and you'll be amazed at what your body can accomplish and how strong and fit you [00:48:00] will come out on the backside. And if you can learn how to, you know, train for that, go do that and then come out of that and know how to use what you've just gained, you're gonna make some really significant gains.

So 

Ian: it did have good structure to it, that training camp, didn't it? It it did each day built on the last, as you said, and it was probably the last training camp where we actually put in a proper rest day or a, a proper easier day. Yeah. In the middle. 

Intro Lady: Yeah. 

Ian: I remember. Sitting in there with Mike on the back trying to keep it to like 150 watts.

Yeah. Like trying to keep heart rate down that it was a rest day and then we all went for a massage in the afternoon. It was great. 

Jake: That was, that was so nice. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. So I mean, it's, uh, that, that was just a great experience for me and I think it's something that everybody should try and experience at some point in time of their life.

Cool. You guys got any other, uh, stories? 

Lance: Well, we should probably tell like good ride stories too. 

Jake: Go for it. Yeah. No, 

Lance: I, me and Ian are probably fight about this, uh, [00:49:00] because we probably both have the same ride. You tell it. Okay. One of the best days I ever had on a bike was, uh, just in January when, uh, we were in Tene, um, where we did the Moscow loop.

And it was a long, difficult day. It was 75 miles and almost 11,000 feet of climbing. Um, but. The island of 10 AIF is so gorgeous and unique, and the roads are in such good shape. In this loop around this little tiny town of Moscow is, is difficult to describe how beautiful it is. And so it wasn't just the, the beauty of this ride, but the fact that I'm there with, with two of my closest buds with, with Ian and Chris Ra, you know, the three of us all riding together.

And then on top of that, I had like magic legs that day. And it was, it was day four of mm-hmm. Seven days of riding that we were doing or something like that, [00:50:00] or six days of riding. And man, my legs just feel, felt even great. So not only was it this long, difficult day, but I felt great. The weather was phenomenal, the views were incredible.

It was. 

Ian: I remember so clearly this, this moment of zen, um, where we were halfway up that climb and I looked over my shoulders and Chris was on one side and you were on the other and nobody was talking to, to each other. We were all just kind of breathing in rhythm and saying nothing and, and working. It was, it was beautiful.

It was a beautiful time. Yeah, 

Lance: it was pretty incredible. Yeah, that was a very good day. That was a good day. 

Jake: Cool. So you're both probably late. You're Collective. Collective. How about you Matt? Do you have any like best days on the bike that you can remember? 

Matt: Um, definitely enjoyed, like you mentioned training camps and I remember the one training camp that I was on, we did like our, what I think we kind of call it like a queen stage or whatever.

Mm-hmm. And it was like a hundred miles [00:51:00] and I just felt good that day. Mm-hmm. Um, it was fun. It's like, it's funny that like the last day of training camp, you're like, you've been biking pretty solidly for 5, 6, 7 days or whatever, and then you're like, still can crank out a hundred miler and that be your best ride of the week.

Yeah. And it was a gorgeous ride. Of course it was just California, good weather, you know. It was February or whenever it was, February, March or whatever it was. And it's like, oh, and we're still down here having great weather and we just had go, I think handle maybe. Put the cal, did he put the, the right?

Probably put the routes together. Yeah. Probably just amazing routes. Yeah. So super fun. 

Jake: Yeah. That time of year down in California is beautiful. Yeah. You hit the bright blue skies, the temperature's usually around 70, 72. And then you've got like the, the hillsides are green, but you've got the California poppies popping up.

So it's just some beautiful place to be. And then I think 

Matt: you and I went and grabbed, grabbed like a, a Mexican coke afterwards. Yep. Yeah. And we were, and it was like, we gotta do a couple more miles to finish out a hundred. Yep. And then it was like, then you have to climb home, which was [00:52:00] straight up like a two mile hill or something.

It was really steep to get back to 

Jake: the house. We were talking about this the other day. How much el 

Lance: were you at that house? 1400 feet. 1400 feet. 

Jake: I was, I was remembering like 2000 feet and somebody corrected me like, I think it was close to a thousand. Like, I don't know, it hurt. Almost split the middle. But yeah, it 

Matt: hurt so bad.

It was like, 'cause I mean, after a hundred miles, I was like, I don't remember what exactly we did, but it was, it was a lot of elevation also. Oh yeah. Um. And it was like, okay. I felt really good, felt really good, really good. And it was like, okay, this last climb, I was like, alright, I'm, I'm done break. I, I think I personally 

Jake: finished with 111 miles that day.

You felt that day too? Yeah. And I think my elevation gain was like 11,000 feet or something like that. So it was pretty good. It was, you know, it was an OIE day. 

Matt: It's funny that like we all had different numbers 'cause we all kind of did slightly different routes. 'cause we were, I mean, you're out there for so long, you're kind of just doing all kinds of different stuff and we had.

Different groups of people had different directions and people are waiting for people. I mean, it was just, it, it sounds bad or chaotic, but it was quite fun. 

Jake: Yeah, [00:53:00] 

Matt: it was really 

Jake: fun. I know at the end too, on that particular day, there was, we have the team competitions and so people are trying to win the sprint ahead, so the most aggressive for the best climber.

Um, what were the other ones? Oh, maybe overall. Overall or something like that. So everybody was trying to like, secretly try and like pad their stats a little bit. So, and, and that was what I was personally doing as well. I was like, everybody's back at the house and I'm out there like, all right, I gotta go find another, like five or hundred feet or a thousand feet of climbing.

So I'm doing all these extra climbs and all that other stuff. But I, it was all for NI didn't, didn't win anything. Just, you're an idiot. And that's it. Uh, um, personally for me, I, I guess I will tell a, a great story, um, on the bike and it was, uh, Barton Park. I mean, I've, I've got a few really good race stories that had some good results, but those in particular were pretty, um, memorable.

Um. Three different races, three different like outcomes, three different things that happened there. And um, I think I'll throw in the one in the middle. And it was basically like, it was a roller coaster. It was highs and lows. And it [00:54:00] started out where I wasn't even gonna get to do the race. I was bummed about it because we had friends in, in town visiting us and they were going, um, to be flying out that day.

But I didn't want a jet and, and, and like say, all right, I'm gonna go do a bike where I see you guys, you know, that would've been poor form. So I pretty much just wrote it off. So everybody was gonna go down there, go do the race and whatever. So I, um, we were out doing our things and I think we're at Voodoo Donuts in Portland, and then they're like, Hey, we think we're gonna just go ahead and go to the airport now.

The kids are kind of worn out and you, we will hang out and it'll give us a chance to kind of decompress and we can go have lunch. And I'm like, run numbers in my head. I'm like, oh yeah, that, that sounds great. And I told my wife, I'm gonna go do this bike race. She's like, what? I'm like, I can barely make it.

And she's like, all right. So we drop them off and at the airport, we hightail at home and I, uh, I. I'm trying to crunch in my head like how long it's gonna take there all the different parts and pieces that need to be, you know, in place. And I hadn't been on the bike in like two days or something like that because again, friends in town.

So I get home and I basically run in the front door, [00:55:00] start throwing all the stuff into my race bag. I go grab my bike, I grab all the things and I get in the car and I'm like, see ya. And I chirp out and get on the the road and I'm probably 15, 20 minutes out getting ready to turn on the 2 0 5 south. And I just had this seeking feeling in my stomach.

I'm like. I think I forgot my shoes. Mm-hmm. Oh, no, I forgot my shoes. I pulled it back up and I look and sure enough, it's not there. Your shoes. So I remember, like, I called, it might've been like Michael or somebody else, and they're like, oh. And then one of our teammates, uh, Chris Wireman, um, chirp up. He's like, I gotta have spare pair of shoes.

You wanna wear my shoes? We're about the same size. I'm like, yeah. So hightail it down there. I'm like, this is gonna work. And I, I still hadn't registered, right? So I get there and I have to, um, run up, get myself registered, run over real quick to the thing, get the shoes, and, um, Chris and all the other guys are like, Hey, the race is about ready to start.

You gotta hurry. I'm like, all right. So they all roll over and they're doing the, the pre-race prep. I get the shoes on. I, I put my number on. I'm ready to go, go to clip in. I'm like, oh no, the [00:56:00] clips are different. He's got shim cleats. I've got look pedals. They didn't work. The cleats are too big. I'm like, you've gotta be freaking kidding me.

And right at that point in time, they're like, all right, we're about ready to start. And, and then, uh, Robert, uh, Cummins looks over at me and goes, I've got some, uh, um, what did he have? He's like, I got some, uh, uh, some Shimano pedals. No, what was it? You know, he's like, I've got the, the cleat that you need for your, your shoe for look so cleat.

So yeah, that's what it was. Like. He had a look cleat. So something like that. But anyway, we had to like, undo everything off my bike. And if it was the cleat or the pedal, I can't remember now I have to go back, remember this. But we had to change all that stuff out. And right as he comes back up and we're getting ready to start this, they blow the whistle and they roll out.

It's neutral start though. They roll out. So the time's ticking, the, the race has started. Alright. I'm like, I can do this. I can still do this. It's neutral rollout. I'll just, I'll, you know, just make it happen. And we finally get everything done. I get the cleats on and get adjusted and clip in and I, I'm off and running.

They're like, um, I, I roll up to start. I'm like, is it too late? Can [00:57:00] I go jump in? They're like, the race started eight minutes ago. I'm like, can I go? And they're like, yes. So I'm like, all right. I just got after it and started like time trialing mode and they do the Barton Park and at the time, I believe this was the second year I did it and they dropped it from eight laps down to six laps.

So usually when they drop laps down, it was a little bit shorter. The race can be a little bit more spirited, it's gonna go a little bit faster 'cause people aren't gonna conserve energy quite as much. So I'm like, I've really gotta hustle to catch on. I did a full lap, still didn't see them, did another full lap and there was some people on the, the thing and I'm like, how far up are they?

Like, you're not too far off. I'm like, all right, another half lap. And I could see them and I remember I come sprinting up. As fast as I possibly can. And they're just getting to the Eden wall, and I just kind of like caught them on the wall. I had to work hard as they were going up the wall, they weren't attacking think up.

And I rode up into the back and teammates looking like, holy, you made it. You're here. My gosh, we didn't think you were gonna start. Gosh. I'm like, yeah, you have no idea. I just time trial for like two and a half laps, [00:58:00] which I don't know, was something like an hour or something like that. Wait, way too many watts.

Right? So I, I get in there and I'm like, all right, just sit in and, you know, regroup and get your energy back up. And I did that. So we did like an opportunity. I didn't really do too much, like starting to settle down, starting to feel a little bit better. And then it's, it's time to start doing some work. I didn't have aspirations for myself.

I wanted to help teammates. So we get in there and I start doing some attacking, start doing some polling, and we start to get ourselves in good position and the, the field's kind of th a little bit. And we get to the second to last lap. So it'd be the second to last time going up the Eden wall. I'm polling people up the wall and we get close to the top and all of a sudden I feel this clink c clunk.

I'm like. You've gotta be kidding me. Leak loose. No, I've got a flat tire. Was this, is this where the finish is at the top of the hill? It is, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So field rides away from me. One of our teammates rides. I've got neutral wheels in the car, throw my wheel on there. I'm like, all right. And then neutral, uh, car rolls up and says, what you riding?

And, you know, we got the wheel, put it on there. And at [00:59:00] that point in time, it was like five, maybe six minutes had passed. And so get back in frigging good old T mode. Oh my gosh. Start hammering again. And I, I knew I wasn't gonna catch 'em, but I'm like, I can still try and do my best. You know, don't, don't give up.

And I, I, I see a person, I'm like, I'm gonna pick that person off. Mission Cnce, ding, like, next person. Try and catch them. And I remember we cut all the way back around and there's that long straightaway where you can kind of see up the road before they go do to the Eden Wall. Mm-hmm. And I could see them up there.

I'm like, there's no way I'm gonna be able to cover that. And then there's no way I'm gonna be able to get up the wall because they're all gonna be attacking each other. But just try and pick off as many people as you possibly can. And I ultimately did pick off a few people. I think I finished, I don't know, like.

11th, 12th, 13th place overall. But, um, it was just one of those things where it was like up and down and up and down and I just, it just taught me just like, don't ever give up. Just keep going. 

Lance: Yeah. 

Ian: Good memories though. Yeah. That was fun. Yeah. 

Jake: So it was just kind of funny just rolling up there and people knowing that you hadn't been there for God knows how long, and they're like, where did you come [01:00:00] from?

So good times. Good times. Yeah. All right. Well, um, anything else on that front? No. Yeah, you should come and do it 

Ian: again. 

Jake: Come to Barton Park. Yeah. Um, I did find that other thing, but I think that this one is, um, gonna be a question that's going to, could be a whole entire podcast. I'm gonna put a pen in for, in this one.

So if you're listening and you know who you are, um, we will get to your, uh, your chain mail next week. On that note, um, the topic for the week and it kind of. You know, plays off of what we just talked about a little bit, um, but it's a little bit more broad. How has cycling enriched your life and how's it detracted from your life?

What, what, what are the goods and the bads that your life has, you know, seen from cycling? That's a, that's a big question. Really big question because I, I, I'd have to say that it has had a pretty profound impact on a lot of us. 

Matt: Detractions. It takes a lot of time to bike. Like cycling takes a lot of time.

It does. And I think it's tough [01:01:00] when you have family stuff. Mm-hmm. When you have like little kids and things like that and you're like, I'll be back in six hours. Right. That's a tough, lemme ask you a 

Jake: question though. What other hobby would you be into that takes a fraction of the time that gives you as much enjoyment?

Matt: Um, watching kids swimming is a huge hobby of mine. Mm-hmm. No, I'm just kidding. I don't, no, uh, what's a bigger time suck? Oh man, they're both big. Time sucks, but like, yeah, I think, I don't, I think all hobbies are time sucks in a lot of ways, but. There are hobbies, like even like, you know, running in comparison, like you're trained for a marathon, which is a pretty big undertaking.

Your longest stuff is three hours, like cycling, that's not 

Lance: right. That's 

Matt: pretty standard, like a three hour ride. And you're only doing that like may those three hour runs, you know, maybe four times a year or something like that. And that's, and, and some people don't ever do three hour runs. Mm-hmm. So like cycling, it's like sim similar situation.

It, [01:02:00] it's just times two basically. So it's like, oh, a six hour, six hour day. You only do a couple of those per year, maybe. I don't know, like everyone's different, but like that's a, it's too, it's twice as long. Mm-hmm. It's on the scale of hobbies and how much time they're detracting from your life. It's like cycling is twice as long as some other hobbies.

Sure. So that's, that's my, I. 2 cents on, if there were no one negative 

Jake: thing as riding and running, what would be your, your go-to? What would be the thing that you would really to? Hard drugs. Hard drugs. Yeah. 

Matt: Definitely. Cocaine. No. Um, well, I like swimming. I mean, I, I feel like, uh, I, I feel like I have a good swim team that I like to train with and, you know, I, I definitely, every time I swim I'm like, I gotta start getting in here like much more frequently if I want to be.

Faster and more competitive and it, it's fun to do stuff and they, they do races and stuff. I don't ever really like race swim races, but, um, so if I, if I wasn't, you know, [01:03:00] doing running or cycling or swimming, um, I don't know, maybe something more like photography or something like that would be a really cool hobby.

That's kind of what I was, yeah. Yeah. 

Jake: Hoping, not hoping. That's, I mean obviously I love, I was thinking like something outside of like endurance sports, right? Yeah. I 

Matt: mean, I love videography obviously. And, um, how much time do you spend editing? Is that a, a hobby of yours? Is that more like a, uh, it's more of a job at this point.

I spent like the past two days editing this video that went live this morning and it's just like that, it was just like a stupid amount of editing for what it was, but, um. Yeah, so it was a hobby. Now it's kind of a job and I think photography is slightly, has a slightly different vibe to it. Like there are things that I want to do, like, um, we have like owls come to our back force all the time's.

Awesome. Yeah. And I'm, oh, I really need a specific lens to do this, but like, this would be super cool to just like maybe birding or something weird like that. Right, right. Like, this is what old people do. And I'm getting quite old, like, wait a minute. You know, [01:04:00] that's funny that you mentioned, is that a red canary?

Jake: You mentioned that. And I can remember you just up until like two or three years ago, I'm like, you, you automatically associate that with old people, you know. Oh yeah. Just like walking around and you can see, you can close your eyes and visualize and see exactly what they look like and, and of late I'm like.

How do, that actually kind of sounds kind of nice. I know you get to be outdoors, you get to go for walks, equal things, take pictures of stuff with your killer bin killers. Yeah. 

Matt: Getting your binoculars out. What, what is that? What kind of bird is that? I don't know anything about birds. That's funny. But I'm going to, 

Ian: it's a good point there, right?

There's, there's a lot of, there's costs involving cycling. If you, if you do enough of it, costs in terms of, I'm, I would be better off financially if I didn't have to, if I didn't ride a bike all the time. There. There's costs involved. True. Unless, but the real cost, unless you're 

Jake: doing something else like drugs.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. True. 

Ian: But, um, the opportunity costs, you know, what, what could you otherwise be doing? Mm-hmm. If you weren't cycling. There's like, I used [01:05:00] to, I used to be a climber. I used to get into mountaineering. I skied, um. Other things like, you know, I don't think I would be bird watching, but I'd like to learn to play the guitar or, yeah.

And so foreign language or something, and here's the cool thing, thing about, but I'm not, I'm turning my pedals around. Yeah. 

Jake: Here's the cool thing about all of those other things is like you can put them down and walk away from a bit and come back and pick it up in every reasonable amount of time. Let's say like a month later you've working on the guitar, you maybe get a little bit rusty, but if you take a month off from writing Yeah.

You're like, oh my gosh. How you lose it twice as fast as you gain it. Yeah. So it's like you don't wanna walk away from it for the sheer fact that you don't wanna have to work to get back to where you're at. 'cause that, that process always sucks. And you're like, why did I choose this sport? You know, even though you're outside, it's beautiful.

But 

Ian: Yeah, exactly. That's a good point too. That's another. Bad thing about cycling is you always under this pressure. Like, oh, I don't wanna lose my fitness. Yeah. I don't wanna lose my fitness. Um, I don't wanna get injured. 

Intro Lady: Yeah, 

Ian: right. All of this stuff is like, what am I gonna do with my life [01:06:00] if I can't ride now?

Yeah. This is, it's all consuming. 

Jake: Yeah. There is another way to look at that though. If you are doing some of these other sports or these other hobbies that don't, you know, have as much to do with, like having to be consistent and putting in the time and, and staying dedicated. I mean, there's a lot of benefits that come from cycling and I get to see these people on a very, very regular basis come walking through the doors and they'll tell you like, oh yeah, I'm 70 years old, I'm 75 years old, I'm 80 years old, and they are in fantastic shape.

They, they look good, they look healthy, they look vibrant. And then you look at their, their peers who are. Not into being, you know, active or athletic or any of that other stuff. And a lot of 'em are, you know, they're getting into these, these morbid states of like, they can't get off the couch, they're stuck in bed.

They're always hurt. They, and it just, it goes away fast. And if you keep your body, you know, trained and you stay fit and you stay consistent, the benefits far outweigh the other side. So yes, there's an investment, but there's a [01:07:00] return on that investment. Yeah. There's a good ROI, but 

Ian: there's also a sweet spot, right?

You, you could be a fit, healthy person through cycling. 

Intro Lady: Mm-hmm. 

Ian: I mean, personally I've gone beyond that. I, I, I reached a good, a good baseline of fitness, but then, you know, like, like everybody here, we, we take it beyond that. You wanna be the best you can be 

Intro Lady: sure. 

Ian: And there are diminishing returns the more time you put into it.

Mm-hmm. But, but that's what we do. I find I'm putting all my time into cycling. 

Intro Lady: Mm-hmm. 

Ian: Loving it. Getting a lot from it, which, which we'll get to. But like I said, there's, there's opportunity costs, there's, there's things you could otherwise be doing. Yeah. That you're not, because you're out riding your bike.

Matt: You could also get away, like you mentioned cost, you could also get away with like a really affordable bike. Yeah. And get really fit doing it, like I bet for 500 bucks, you spend 500 bucks every five years, I bet you can get some pretty decent bikes collected and like, and also be [01:08:00] able to ride those bikes and have fun with them and take care of 'em and all that stuff for pretty affordable.

We, the four of us don't do that. We spend money on bikes. Yeah. That's going outta style. But, um, but yeah, I, I do think like that in some ways I look at that, I'm like, that's the smarter person there where they're like, oh, they're just cranking on their, whatever it is, you know, their old aluminum bike with rim brakes or whatever.

Perfectly awesome bike does all the things it needs to do, can ride with anyone. You know, it's all about like the person and their training and how much times they're, how many times they're getting out and riding those bikes and using those bikes as opposed to my carbon bike that sits inside my garage.

I dunno. Hmm. How about you 

Lance: hep, you know, cycling in the whole community of it? It gave me a life to be honest with you. Um, I mean, I lived this whole entire life before I really got involved very deeply in cycling as a, as a dentist, as a father, as a church [01:09:00] person. And when. I retired from my job. When I sold my dental office and retired from my job.

I really wasn't sure what I was going to do, and I was able to like, just completely dive into cycling and it, it gave me life, not just, not just because of the physical, you know, attributes that I get from being a regular writer, you know, by trying to be more fit and trying to be more healthy and trying to live forever, you know, not that everybody's doing that, but that's what you're trying to do.

But it, it, I started to meet people that I really connected with. I met you people, we got involved with this podcast. We started this show that we've done regularly for seven years. Yeah. So, I mean, and then the deeper you get into it, the more I enjoy it, the cooler people I meet, the better experiences I have to go.

To go ride around 10 ORIF with my buddies to go to national parks. And instead of just [01:10:00] sitting on the rim of the Grand Canyon, I can do the whole 50 mile ride out along the whole rim of the Grand Canyon. Immerse yourself. Yeah. And, and just, you know, dig yourself into it. Um, it, it's, um, I, I talk to my, I have a lot of old dental friends, obviously, who are still dentists and are, are still working.

And when I see them, they occasionally go, not only Lance, are you lucky that you were able to retire as young as you were, but you had something to jump into? 

Intro Lady: Mm-hmm. 

Lance: What, what would you have? He goes, I don't, I don't know what I would've done if I had retired at 47 like you do. I don't know what I would've done with my life and what I, I would've sat there and watched.

Movies or television. You, you can only, you know, do so much and you were able to just immerse yourself in cycling and cycling culture and the good things about it and being involved with the shop and being involved with the podcast and, and all those [01:11:00] things. So it has, it has increased my enjoyment of life tremendously.

Mm-hmm. And it's not just the health benefits of it, it's the, it's the people I've met. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And it's the connections I've made. And 

Matt: do you think more people should retire earlier? Well, 

Lance: I was extremely lucky. Well, I know that, but like, it, it gave me, I, I was able to enjoy things physically Right.

That I was able to do because I wasn't 65. Not that, you know, that's old Ian, but I wasn't 65 when I retired and was on the down slope. Ian is a, is a freak of nature. Is a freak of nature. Yes. That he's as fit and fast and as healthy as he is at his age. Um, because people, you know, retire at 65 or 70 years old and physically can't do anything anymore or, or struggling with health issues that keep them from 

Outro: mm-hmm.

Lance: Hiking around the valley of Yosemite, you know, because they just, you just [01:12:00] can't do it at that age. You, you drive your RV and then park it and then just look out the window and also good, which is better than not being there at all. Right. But, but I am, I was young enough that I could still physically do things that I enjoy and I mean, I can't, I can't.

Thank the people around me enough that allowed me to do that because it, it has in increased my quality of life immensely. And I think that's really what I'm trying to get to here is how much my quality of life improved when it was focused on a healthy yeah. Habit. 

Ian: Mm-hmm. Yeah, you're right. Like, it's not just about fitness and health.

It's, it's wellness and, and, and being well is, is a lot more than just being physically fit. Being well is having most importantly a good social life people you hang out with. And that's, that's been the major thing for me is, [01:13:00] you know, before this, before I got into all of this, I probably had a one or two friends, you know, I hung out with mm-hmm.

Went for beer with, you know, it wasn't much. But now, like I go to PIR on a, on a Monday and. I can barely get my warmup in because there's so many people to talk to and yeah, so many good friends and, and rivals and, and teammates and, you know, it's, it is, it is this whole world. I just feel better because I've got these people around me.

I'm part of this community. I think that's, that's the biggest thing for me, this sense of community and knowing that these people are your friends. You know, you've got this, this thing that binds you together and it's very strong, you know, it's, uh, it, it goes beyond being physically, physically fit, but into being.

Well, 

Jake: yeah, I, everything you guys just said, I mean, I couldn't say it any better. Um, for me, another thing, another layer to add to that is like, I've always [01:14:00] loved riding bikes. I can, I've got pictures of me riding bikes since I could barely even walk and all through my life. And you know, sometimes it's been more, sometimes a bit it's been less.

But I can remember like even just in high school, like going for jumping on my mountain bike and I would go just ride. And people are like, you're not gonna just go ride to somebody's house. I'm like, no, kinda wanna go for a ride. And I would, I would ride it on the roads and they're like, why? And well, how far did you ride?

I'm like, oh, I'm 30 miles or something like that. Like, you rode 30 miles on a mountain bike. I'm like, yeah. Just, it was fun. And like I had a couple other friends that. Kind of saw the allure of that and sometimes we would go do some rides and, and that was just a blast. And it's always been like a sense of freedom for me and it's always just given me so much.

And you get to see a lot of things and it's a lot better than running 'cause you get to go a lot faster and see other things and you know, just whatever, you know. Yeah. Running's fine, but you get to see, see more, go faster a little more. No, exactly right. 

Matt: Like 

Jake: you, 

Matt: you see 

Jake: so much when you're talking more.

Yeah. Yeah. You get to interact with stuff. So it's always been like in my DNA to, to love riding bikes. And there have been plenty of times though, where [01:15:00] it's like, I didn't touch a bike for a couple years because life, you know, there's, you know, times where, you know, you get married and you have kids and you're just trying to be, you know, a parent and a spouse and all those other things are like you, you start a business and you're just buried in everything and maybe some other things are capturing your attention and, and whatnot.

And sometimes those things can kind of start to pile up, especially the business side of things. And what you end up finding is you're, you're working too much and there's not the right kind of balance in your life. And sometimes you carry a little bit of a. I dunno, a little chip on your shoulder, your attitude maybe needs a little bit of adjusting.

And I can always remember, like, oh, I always felt good when I was riding and I would get on a bike and I would just, like, if you're feeling frustrated, you feel like the world's kind of like stacking up on, you're feeling like your mental health maybe isn't a hundred percent back then it's like nobody talked about mental health and that, not that, not that it wasn't a thing, but you kind of just knew inside like, all right, I don't feel right, but I could get on a bike.

And it always made me feel way better. And so I adopted that. And I do remember there was a point in [01:16:00] time where I, you know, had a, another business and it was, you know, you're going through things like, you know, nine 11 and in the, the 2008, uh, stock market crash and other things that were going on in life.

And you're trying to start a business and that's hard enough in its own right. And, and you're trying to grow it. And I can remember having like a really big staff of people and all kinds of stuff, and there's just all this stress that you have to carry 'cause you're, you're the person. Like, you know, that, that it, it kind of ends with you, be it good or bad.

But I knew that if I got on a bike, I could go for a ride for an hour, hour and a half or two hours and come back and it would just like. Brand new person, doesn't matter. Get outta my way. We're gonna make this happen. And, and that, that's always been like a, a calming thing for me. And it keeps you fit and healthy.

And I do remember there was a, uh, uh, like a pivotal point where I hadn't been on the bike in a while. And for whatever reason at this point in time, I remember. Making this or having this idea, I'm like, oh, it would be really fun to, to purchase one of these home brew kits and make my own at home beer.

Mm-hmm. I'm like, that's kind of cool. And then like, you're reading up on it and you know, trying to figure out like all the costs and all that stuff. And [01:17:00] if you're gonna do it right, it does actually start to add up. And then I'm like, that sounds awesome. I think I wanna do that. But I'm like, do I really wanna spend that much money at the same time too, I was like, I kind of, I, I wanna get a new bike.

'cause at that point in time I didn't have a bike. I'm like, home brew kit or a bicycle. I'm like, you idiot, this is a no brainer. You know how that makes you feel. And I, I did, I went out and bought a bike instead and got back to riding and I'm like, what would've happened to my life if I had chosen not to buy that bike?

Beer makes you feel good too. It does. I'd probably be about 300 pounds though. And I, we would not be sitting at the table talking right now. That, and happy, fat and happy. There you go. So, and, and I remember that that was the time where I really started riding a lot and it was probably when I was close to, I dunno, 30, 31, 32 years old and just really fell in love with it and started riding, riding more and more and more and, you know, ended up, you know, getting fit and healthy and getting a little bit faster and started doing a little bit of mountain bike racing, which parlayed into riding on the road to get ba faster mountain bike racing.

And it's just, the rest is history. But, um, I [01:18:00] just am so glad that I made that decision. Mm-hmm. And then that all like, kind of ties into the stuff with you guys. I mean, you get the, the stuff that it helps you with, with your mental health and your, your world fitness and then you get to meet some great people.

And let's, let's be honest, I mean, what, what community of people is gonna be. Somebody else that you would wanna hang out with other than like, people in the endurance community. I was gonna say cyclist, but we've got a multi-sport athlete over here. It's a triathlon podcast. Exactly. On the whole though, if you think about it, the people that ride bikes consistently, generally have a really good disposition.

They're happy people. And I can speak from, um, personal experience being in a bike shop and getting to talk to these people all the time. They generally come in, they're just happy people, you know, they're, they're excited about their bikes, they're excited about like, getting an upgrade. They're excited about going for rides and, and being part of a community, being on teams, being in clubs, and all of that fun stuff.

So I love being around those people. That's fantastic. So I, 

Ian: I always, I still get a sense of community, even if I'm doing most of my rides out on my own. Sure. Through, through Strava now. Sure. It's like [01:19:00] some people don't, don't use Strava. I mean, me, it, it adds to the experience because I get to share what I've been doing.

It's sure it is kind of a form of social media. Yeah. But it, it is focused on this one thing and it's, there's, there's no BS involved in it. And, and it works. Like I'm genuinely interested in what other people are doing. I. On their bikes. Sure. I don't care what they had for dinner, you know, and, but yeah.

But yeah, you get this community virtually as well as, yeah, 

Jake: I, I can't say this about any other app. That app has probably affected my life in a positive way. Yeah. More than any other app out there. You're like, that's dumb. It's an app. No, but seriously, I, that's how I met Lance. Yeah. That's how we all met.

That's how we all connected. That's how we found each other. And it's just a beautiful thing. I've been using it since I think, 2010 or 11. So 14, 15 years 

Ian: plus your bike, your bike ride never really happened anyway. If it's not on strong, it's not. Exactly. So, 

Jake: and that was one of those things that, that was a catalyst.

I'm like, oh, [01:20:00] I, I get to see how I compare to other people. I'm like, and I'm like, I'm okay. Maybe I should go race my bike. And so that's why I started looking into bike racing. So that was pretty cool. Yeah. But what I love about Strava is like you get like this social thing going on here, this social media without all the BS of social media that you see on all the other platforms.

Exactly. On the whole, it's like you don't really see that maybe. Very, very, very rarely. But on the whole, it's just people just like being happy 'cause they were outside and they were doing a ride or a run or whatever it might be. Sharing pictures of videos and writing with other people and making their comments and, and it's just, it's a happy go lucky place in my opinion.

And I probably recommend that app. And I'm still surprised at how many people have never even heard of it. I probably, if you average it out for every day of the week, it probably, at least once a day, I will tell somebody about that who had no idea that it even existed. Yeah, it's, it's pretty amazing that you get to bring people in there.

As a matter of fact, I can tell you the person exactly who it was I told yesterday and she had no idea, never heard of it before. And I. A lot of people come back. Thanks, man. That's, that's great. Or like, you'll connect with them on there, then you get to invite 'em to some rides [01:21:00] or like give 'em a kudos or whatever.

So it's just fun. 

Ian: Yeah. It, it's seems like it's an essential. Now what do, what do I need to go to start into cycling? Okay. You need a comfortable pair of bib shorts. You need some shoes, you need a bike, you need Strava. 

Jake: Yeah, exactly. You know, it's, it's, 

Ian: it's part of the whole package these days. 

Jake: Yeah. Cool. 

Ian: I feel so lucky that, um, I found something that is physically, you know, a, a workout that is not a chore to do.

Like, I'll, I'll go by people on the street who are out jogging, you know, they're not, not multi-sport athletes or runners, but they, they're doing it because they ought to do it. They should do it. They feel like they need to do it. It's a chore. Mm-hmm. And, and I go to the gym couple of times a week and I see people on the treadmill, on the stair step.

And I, I think they're just doing it. Because they feel like they need to do it. 

Matt: They're like, they're hating every step of this. They're hating it. You're like, 

Ian: uh, whereas I can't wait to get back out on my bike. 

Matt: Yeah, yeah. 

Ian: Right. We finished that [01:22:00] ride yesterday and I'm like, I've gotta take a couple of days off 'cause I need to recover.

I'm looking at the weather outside thinking I 

Jake: can't take day off. Need to back on. Yeah. Right. Just like our Tuesday night gravel ride that we did. Yeah. I mean I went out and had a blast. It was two hours that felt like you were out there for half an hour and in that time period I went through over 1700 kilojoules, which is about 1700 calories.

I mean, how else are you gonna have that much fun? Seeing a bunch of cool stuff, being out there with people and doing work and burn into that many calories and yeah, get, come back and like just. Oh my gosh. Thank you. May I have another please? 

Ian: Good point. You can eat higher, better than pizza and stuff and not feel guilty.

Jake: Um, just real quick, 'cause we're getting a little bit long on this one, what are some things, some of the distractions, what are some of the downsides? I mean, I think that the obvious one, Matt, I started to touch something. We talked about 

Matt: finances. Of finances. Okay. So that one. 

Jake: And just the time commitment.

Time commitment, we talked about that. And for me personally, I've gotta be careful that I don't do too much because you've gotta keep balance. And my wife will be [01:23:00] quick to like, shove that right in my face. Like, you're gone again. You're gonna be gone for how long or you're gonna miss out on this and like, oh yeah.

So like finding that balance, that that part can be a bit hard. And I, I've been, I think better about that. So that's good for family, but almost to a detriment of the cycling. So it's like, uh, you just gotta learn how to live with it, I guess. 

Ian: Yeah, for sure. 

Jake: Just gotta be like Lance and have kids at like, 

Lance: no job.

Kids are all gone. 

Jake: I his kids at like 15 years old and they're, they're gone and he's retired at 30 and yeah. Just can ride for his whole life. But no, just kidding. So like, seems like that it's the way to do it. Any other detractions other than 

Matt: maybe getting hit by cars? Yeah, traffic. There's that, there's that.

Yeah. I mean, injuries are for real. That's one of the things I definitely think about. I'm like, you, you don't get hit by cars or anything when you're out running or whatever. And the same kind of first cycling, if you're going on like a gravel ride or something like that, you're like, I'm not, I'm gonna be safe.

I, I mean you can still crash, but like, you're not gonna hit get hit by a car [01:24:00] typically when you're, it's less likely or you're mountain biking or something like that. It's like you can hurt yourself, but you're not going to run into traffic. Yeah. 

Ian: Yeah. That's a big a biggie not being injured due to the cycling.

If you ride enough, it's gonna happen at some point. 

Intro Lady: Mm-hmm. Yeah. 

Ian: Jake, you know, all too well. Um, I live in fear of. Crashing and Yeah. Hurting myself. 

Jake: It's just kind of crazy though, like when you're out there doing it mm-hmm. Like you're in, in your head, you're not afraid of it at all. Right. Right. Are you guys all the same way?

Do you not think about it? I mean, maybe if somebody like buzzes you or something like that? Yes. When you have buzzed, you're like, uh, it'll be there, but it'll slowly dissipate. But do you guys ever deal with like, like almost being a little bit afraid to go outside? Or you have those like, what if this is the last time I ever leave to go on a ride?

Oh. Or if this is the last time I'm saying goodbye to somebody. Yes. Like, that's a real thing for me. So every time, strangely, 

Ian: no. Like, I don't, I don't worry if I just leave my house and get on my bike and go for a ride. I don't generally worry about it. If I'm on my way to a race, I'm petrified [01:25:00] usually.

Yeah. I got a, a ton of nerves about it. Sure. Which is weird really, because although you a race can end in a, in a life changing crash. The real bad stuff happens when you're out on the public road and you're in the traffic and you know, like some of these group rides you're doing and they get pretty spirited and you tend to forget that there's fast moving distracted people in large heavy tin boxes.

Yeah, true. You know? Yeah. 

Matt: You guys need to be careful tonight. 

Ian: That's when the really bad stuff happens. I don't is when vehicles are involved. Yeah. I don't 

Jake: think about that on the flogging rides. Yeah. Um, and there's one reason why, because I trust in the VAR probably more than I should. Yeah. The radar to tell me when a car's coming and when I see a car's coming, I kind of let off and I make sure to get over.

However, I do see a lot of people that do not think the same way. Yeah. There's. Know, there's people, I, I, I dunno, there's, I always feel like I need to pull them over and just have a stern talking with them. Like, Hey, what you did right there, that was [01:26:00] stupid. And like, you need to like, and it's, I'm not calling you stupid.

I'm just like, I'm concerned about your safety and I don't want you to get hurt. There's no reason why you need to be where you were. You saw that the car was coming and, and if you didn't pay it our attention. Get yourself over and, and make it a safe thing for everybody. But it's neither here. But to, to your point though, like, when I'm out doing the flogging ride, as long as I've got my radar working and I know it's working and I do pay attention to that, you've got the audible beep, the colors change all of the fun things.

That tells me that it's like, all right, it's kind of game off. You know, where's winning Garth? And then as soon as the car goes by, alright, game back on. And then you just keep going. So that's just how it's, so, yeah. Cool. Lance. That's good. You've got like kind of a straight face over there. Just soaking it all up.

No, 

Lance: yeah, just soaking it all up. Yeah. I don't think about the dangers either. I mean, my, my running joke with my family is you're gonna find me dead in a ditch somewhere because, because I'm on my bike all the time. Yeah. And the likelihood of getting hit by a car is up there. But, uh, I don't want that. I can't live my life in a glass [01:27:00] house that, you know, I'm afraid something's gonna happen.

Jake: That's a good point. That's a good point. So, um, just, I, I, I've always kind of subscribed to that, but then I got hit by a car and it changed me a little bit. Yeah. But, you know, it's kind of funny 'cause I will go through those and, and I don't want go on too much more, but, um, I will have those moments where it's like an internal struggle of like, I'm like, we'll just call it what is a little bit scared to go out and go for a ride.

And you know what, my, my compromises in my brain when that's really strong, jump on your gravel bike and just go ride in the dirt. Yeah. So that, that works every single time. So yeah. Anyway, I love riding on the road though. I, I absolutely aor It's, it's fantastic. Yeah. It's fast and fun. Anyway. All right, let's move on to one last 

Matt: thing, Matt, um, posted video this morning.

Uh, today is the 10 year anniversary that the Apple Watch has been on sale or has been on sale for 10 years. Um, yeah. So the video itself is kinda like a little bit of like a timeline of when the announcements were made. Over the past 10 years, they've been pretty consistent. They're like, [01:28:00] every September they kind of come up with a new Apple Watch series, whatever.

So that's the video and a little bit of history and then a looking forward kind of what we might see in the future. Um, so yeah, so go check it out. Go check that video out. 

Outro: No soup for you. 

Matt: No soup for you. That was the wrong button. I meant to push this one. I posted another 

Outro: Treat. Yo self. Treat yo self Treat yourself 

Matt: to Matt La Grande video.

I posted another video. Maybe since the last podcast. So maybe I've posted two videos since the last podcast about 

Outro: not so for you. No, no, no. You don't get to talk 

Matt: about two videos. No. So for you it's a one last thing and the other one was the lunar ring, which I don't think the, the podcast is that interested in, but go check out the Apple Watch video.

Will do. Okay, cool. Gil. 

Ian: Uh, predictably I'm gonna talk about Bowden Park Road Race. Yep. Um, and I'll probably mention it again next week and the week after. But, um, it's coming up on May the 10th. Everything's looking good. Lance and I were out on the course, uh, last week and there's no road construction every good.

The [01:29:00] road's looking good. Volunteer sheet is filling up. Could use a little help there. Um, we're still short. Recently heard from Short. Short. We're short. A couple drivers still. We're short. A couple of drivers still. Yeah. So, um, uh, aside from that, the, we are getting. People coming in, helping with sponsorship, got some good prizes, uh, lined up.

Um, everything's looking good, but I am stressing about it. 

Jake: Who are some of the people that have been sending you goods? 

Ian: We have, uh, scratch labs on board. Okay. Um, we have. Pro Logic. Is it, uh, um, Silka? A 

Jake: Profo? Uh, uh. Was it Prolog? Well, Silka, is it Profile Design, let's say 

Ian: Silka. Silka on board. Uhhuh, uh, cask are gonna help out.

Who, who am I missing? Um, 

Jake: a few others. Few others. Stay tuned. Go. Go check out Gibble on, uh, Instagram. 

Ian: Yeah. And sign up [01:30:00] to race. Um, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll have the numbers on the day. People will, will come by, but it, it sure helps me sleep at night knowing that I'm gonna have all my expenses met. There you go.

Yeah. Unfortunately. Uh, 

Jake: local race promoter. Yep. Yep. 

Lance: Cool. That's me. Yep. Blur. The Gorge Gravel race happens this Sunday, April 27th out in the Columbia River Gorge in the tiny little town of Fer. Uh, this is the best city name I've ever heard. It's fer. Um, it, it should be a great day. Weather's wind is gonna be an issue on the day of the race, but there's still actually spots, uh, available to register.

He, this race has sold out traditionally the last several years, and it has not quite sold out yet this year. You're kidding me. It did 

Jake: not sell 

Lance: out. It has not sold out yet. So, um, and there's three race options you can do, huh? There's a small, medium and large, uh, there. Saturday, there's a whole bunch of festivities happening the day before.

There's shakeout rides, there's a cornhole tournament, there's a [01:31:00] fundraiser barbecue. You can go spend Saturday and Sunday out into Gorian. It should be lovely. 

Jake: Sweet. My one last thing is, um, factor Bikes has been cool to work with. I've talked about that before. They just dropped a new bike today. Did you guys catch that?

Matt: No. What is it? The 

Jake: factor? Manza. Manza. So it's, uh, it's kind of like your everyday racer bike. Um, but it's not that, that, that's super, you know. Supercar Super bike price tag with the Ostro. Those are a little inexpensive side, they're beautiful bikes, but um, they have like a full force build on this and it's uh, you know, it's your arrow race bike, um, for $6,999.

Sounds like a lot of money, but if you look at what you get for that, that's pretty good value in comparison. 'cause across the boards for a lot of the other brands, if you're gonna go, you know, you know apples to apples, it's about a grand more for their bike. So they came in with this bike and it's pretty stinking awesome.

Matt: Nice. 

Jake: And it, uh, dropped today. We have three of 'em along, I think arriving at the lab today or tomorrow. So yeah, just they're up on their website. What's 

Matt: the tire tire [01:32:00] clearance? 

Jake: Uh, 32 or 33, I think. Ooh. Yeah, so there's plenty of that. 34, 30, oh it is three four. Oh boy. Should know that. But yeah, it's pretty cool.

Little bike. Um, other than that, not much else. Go, uh, race at the Gorge this weekend. Go support Barton Park. Go watch Matt's video. That's, those are my one last things. One last things 

Lance: has, it has a DH 

Jake: It does. It's. Wow. All right. We do appreciate everybody listening. We'll be back next week with another one of these and it tell them for now,[01:33:00] 

Intro Lady: I am gonna throw you now to weenie in the butt in the afternoon. Weenie in the butt. 97.1 in the afternoon. Hit in the afternoon. Oh my God. 

Outro: WQHG. Turn it off and rip the knob off. You are listening to the radio.