25. CX, D2R2 & Cycling with Sophie

For our 25th episode we welcome our college age daughter, Sophie, to the show! A listener comment about cyclocross has reminiscing about our racing days, and learning how to embrace the very embarrassing situations that can happen during a race. 

Having just participated in the 20th anniversary Deerfield Dirt-Road Randonnee to benefit Franklin Land Trust, we discuss "letting" her ride solo, and her transition from "riding because my parents ride" to "person who rides a bike." We share our individual experiences, as well as what we thought of this New England cycling tradition, if it was "worth" the expense and if we'd do it again.

Steve also answers Sophie's questions about her bicycle, addresses what things she "needs" to know about her bike and talk about "internet" opinions.

Transcript

Kristin 0:03

This is Kristin.

Steve 0:04

And I'm Steve, and you are listening to Cycling Together, a show all about things, bikes, riding, and riding together.

Kristin 0:11

So for this, our 25th episode,

Steve 0:16

yay!

Kristin 0:17

We have a special guest, our daughter, Sophie.

Sophie 0:21

Yay!

Kristin 0:24

I can't believe you agreed to do this.

Sophie 0:27

You bought me lunch today.

Kristin 0:28

I did buy you lunch today.

Sophie 0:30

I'm easily convinced.

Kristin 0:33

So we have a full show today, but the first thing we're gonna talk about is we got fan mail.

Sophie 0:39

Woo!

Kristin 0:40

And the way fan mail works through our host, which is called Buzz Sprout, there's this button that apparently you can just send a note to us. The funny thing is we can't respond to it and we don't know who it's from. We don't get a name necessarily. We get like the last four digits of a phone number, I think. So uh that's why I'm not gonna say who this is because I doesn't know. Because I don't know.

Steve 1:06

We don't know.

Kristin 1:07

Okay. Um, but I thought this was a good one for you to be on, Sophie, because here's the comment I'm really enjoying your podcast. The topics are interesting. Love hearing Steve get into the weeds on bike mechanics and really enjoy Kristen's perspective on the topics discussed, especially on women riding bikes. I do have a comment about cross and the encouragement given to the bike race racing naive, but curious folks. As someone who was that person a few years ago, I will add that cross is not necessarily for people who are introverted and self-conscious about their skills. Speaking as one of those types, I found it pretty painful for my very crappy bike handling skills to be on full display and at the races due to the relatively short and very viewable loops a cross course typically has. It's not an easy discipline, but you're right. It's a very good way to learn bike handling skills that will serve you well, whatever way you prefer to ride a bike. And I did learn to try and be more humble, take myself less seriously, and try to have fun while parking my ego. Now I'm doing the same thing on a mountain bike. I'm looking forward to hearing more episodes. Keep up the great work. So

Sophie 2:17

Cyclocross!

Kristin 2:18

Cyclocross! So you, we all raced Cyclocross. Yes, indeed, we did. Raced with us. And I thought this comment was interesting because one of the things I like about Cyclocross is that we're all except for the pros.

Sophie 2:33

Yeah.

Kristin 2:34

Except for the pros. We're all kind of mediocre at it. Like there are things that are some courses are better for other courses. But I could understand what she I'm gonna assume is she. Are we assuming she has she bags? Yeah. Um I I in as I was thinking about it, I kind of got that.

Sophie 2:52

Like, well, that's kind of it's the nice thing about cyclocross is if you're watching, you can like see your people at all points. Yes, like a mountain bike race, you're like, let me sit up here, see them once, and I'll see them at the finish. Or a cyclocross, it's like you see everyone all the time, b ut then that makes sense. You know, if you're trying to get through a sand pit and you're just absolutely dragging, you're like, oh, awesome! Everyone here can see me. That's just what I wanted.

Kristin 3:19

Or when you hit the the barrier with your bicycle because you didn't quite get it over, or when your shoelaces get stuck in your cassette 500 times.

Sophie 3:29

Let me just spend it. That's right.

Kristin 3:31

That was like, okay, Sylvie, that's it. You were going clip list.

Sophie 3:34

Yeah, serious as now. We're gonna get a velcro. My pink shoelaces were not pink anymore.

Kristin 3:39

Right. Yeah. Um, or when I remember one of the things I tell people a lot about why I enjoyed racing with you is you watch your kids on the sidelines a lot, like say playing lacrosse, and you're like, try harder, get bigger, be more positive, you know, be a great sport. And of course, you're just sitting there drinking your coffee. Yeah, yeah. Right? I remember once you you said something about getting bigger, and I was like, Oh, yeah, I understand. And you were like, No, you don't. I was like, fair point. I have not played lacrosse goalie. But in cyclocross or any kind of racing, if you're racing the same rac e, you could see us having the same failures. Yeah, right. So I remember doing a race at Thompson where I flatted and I had to run the whole course. And afterwards, you and I talked about it in the car. Yep. Because you were like, that's so embarrassing. And I was like, Yeah, it kind of is, but you just got a grin and barrel. And then what, not two weeks later, Gloucester.

Sophie 4:39

Yes, I had derailer broke, yeah, and I had to run. I just passed the Yeah, you just pressed the pitch. And so I had to run it the rest of the way. Um, and that's when I get my favorite comments that are like, You should get a new bike mechanic.

Kristin 4:54

Every once I'm like, 'cause they all knew who your dad was.

Sophie 4:57

Yes, yeah.

Kristin 4:57

Well, I'm kind of put it all over her,

Sophie 4:59

fully branded. Um, but when yo u're when things like that happen, I honestly I don't even think at the moment I was like, oh my god, everyone's watching me like this is so embarrassing. If anything, it's kind of like dang, her bike is broken and she's still just trucking through the course, you know? Yep. So it you're gonna you're gonna mess up and you're gonna fail and you're gonna fall in the sandpit and trip on barriers and not make it over flyovers, but you're gonna keep going, and that's I think what everyone appreciates about it, and not so much that you did it flawlessly.

Kristin 5:33

Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think as I said, that's it's getting as she's saying, you kind of have to get out of your own head and recognize that people aren't judging you, they're cheering you.

Steve 5:44

They are cheering you. Yeah, the spectators in cross are just you know, we heckle in cross, but at the same time, yes, we do. It's heckling with love, and it is appreciating every single person out there doing that race.

Sophie 5:58

They also put dollar bills on the barriers and candy.

Kristin 6:01

I remember um flatting, I think it was at mid either midnight or minute man, you know, because they're at the same place. Yeah, and I flatted, and so I did not finish, and I got to the end, and Hannah, who's just a year older than you, says, Well, you know, you know, did not finish is better than did not start. And I was like, You got me there, Hannah.

Sophie 6:23

Yeah, yeah.

Kristin 6:24

So lots of lots of fun lessons and things.

Sophie 6:27

And I don't know, me personally, I was too busy dying to notice if people were judging me on the course. So I was kind of just really making sure I was breathing the whole time. Yeah.

Kristin 6:38

Yeah, it's a hard, unlike, say, mountain biking, where you can kind of settle into your rhythm, you know, you get your hard start, and then you're like, okay, I'm just gonna make my way through this course. Cycle cross is just heart exploding.

Steve 6:53

So if we can sit here and talk about all the the troubles and the issues and just the getting through in some of these races, but she, out of all of us, is the one who stood on the top step many, many times.

Sophie 7:07

Well, to be fair, it's also because there weren't many like 13, whatever, how old I was, girls racing. It was like me, Hannah, and um and Anna.

Kristin 7:20

I really love it when they would you would all show up, it'd be like one, two, three. We got this. Yes. My other favorite, I maybe I can find this. It it was um what's the one down on the cape that's around your birthday? That's really rad. It was really rad. Oh, and it is you standing, it's all the juniors, and you were the oldest of the juniors by quite a bit. Yes, and you are standing there in full skin suit, surrounded by these little tiny Yeah.

Sophie 7:49

I don't know how they they did that age range, but clearly all the kids who were there were on the lower end and you are the top, and it was like these things are not the same.

Kristin 7:59

I think they pushed.

Sophie 8:00

Did you we no? We asked. Remember, we asked and we asked if you could go to the next group. Yeah, and they let you.

Kristin 8:05

Yeah, because I think they really looked yeah, because it looked ridiculous.

Steve 8:09

Yeah.

Kristin 8:09

Amazon Barbie and all the little skippers. They were so cute. But I know I miss it. I at times I do until we did that relay race last year, and then I realized again my heart exploding.

Sophie 8:23

Yeah, but I also was dying on that because it was the weekend of Halloween and I'm a college student. So that's right. Me getting up at whatever time to do that was a demand in itself.

Kristin 8:33

To do the the relay at Treehouse Cyclocross. We are blessed to have some really fun events and organizers who are still passionate about cyclocross. And I feel like there's a new energy to this conversation recently as kind of a as we are that many years past the pandemic, we have a new generation of riders coming up and a kind of it feels like re-energized, at least re-engaged. Yeah, because we did lose a lot of the great races, but new ones are creating them their own course. There are gonna be people who listen to this go, we've been here. Yeah, we've been doing it. Yeah, look at Jeff Diefenbach, right? Like we've we've been here. You all just stopped paying attention and now we're reengaging re-engaging. Well, because what happened, as with most things, is you moved on, right? To because when did you think was it like at the beginning of high school years?

Sophie 9:32

Yeah, like freshman year, probably. Um because that's also when I joined Lassachusetts. So I was doing lacrosse year-round. Right. Um and then I was on and then the pandemic. Yes. And then I was on varsity at high school, which is practiced six times a week. Right.

Kristin 9:53

So I wasn't like, oh, and we'll do it. I may have suggested it, and you probably looked at me. You were always very good with your boundaries. Where you would be like, I'd be like, no, no, no, you can do it. Like games are on Sunday and the races are on Saturday, and you can and you would just be like, no mama. Like I was a dumb idea.

Sophie 10:13

So outside of my athletics.

Kristin 10:17

I give you credit for that too.

Sophie 10:18

And because I had all my classes and stuff, so I had homework to do on Saturday.

Kristin 10:23

You know, fine, fine. You always were really good about setting boundaries for yourself and and for me. All right, we're gonna take a quick break, and when we come back, we're gonna talk about our activity on Saturday. Mm-hmm. All right, we're back. Sorry. It just felt right. I'm gonna record you for one of these buttons. Apparently, that's what those do. Yeah, apparently that's what this is, but I have not figured that out yet. Oh, we're figuring later. Okay. All right, Steve, what did we do on Saturday?

Steve 11:06

We did the D2R2, which is the Deerfield Dirt Road Randonet. And it has been around, what, since the 1990s, I believe.

Kristin 11:15

Really? It is the 20th anniversary this year.

Steve 11:20

Uh so this was a ride that was conceived, yeah, in the 1990s, um, as a favorite dirt road loop in the hilltowns of Franklin County um in Massachusetts. Um and it is a fundraiser for the Franklin County Land Trust to help preserve land.

Kristin 11:38

A nd farming.

Steve 11:39

And farming.

Kristin 11:40

Spark farming. They had a great sticker this year that said, no farms, no beer, no farms, no beer.

Steve 11:44

And it is our it is a it is a New England tradition for a lot of our friends and all the riders, and it has just been something we've never been able to do. Uh, we've always had family vacations or college uh items getting people ready to go and moved in and that kind of thing. And so it just hasn't it just never happened for us, and this year we were able to do it.

Kristin 12:06

And we didn't actually know what a randon A was, or I didn't know what a randon A was, and I'm gonna tell you the internet's not sure either, because there are a gazillion different definitions. The the easiest is a long distance ride, usually with a designated route and checkpoint stops. Okay, but what was interesting about this are most sides are they have uh several different routes, right? What was the longest?

Steve 12:35

180k, I believe.

Sophie 12:37

Oh my god.

Kristin 12:38

Yes. Uh their traditional is a hundred K. Yep. And then they have uh all the way down to a family ride. Right, which I think was 12 miles, whatever that is, yeah. So still significant 12 miles for a family. Um, right. So what did so we got there? It actually worked out because we had been doing a van trip out to the Finger Lakes, and then we came back and dropped our son off at his house in the Amherst area. Yep. Because he had to close it up after graduating, and then we went back to D2R2 to Deerf to Deerfield, and we camped.

Steve 13:18

Yeah, so camping is very traditional there. That's that's what they everybody normally does. Huge, huge amount of the riders are camping . Unlike I guess past years, we were separated from the event space to the camping area. Okay. So apparently the fields next to the central location event space were not available, so that's why they moved us to the school fields down the down the road. Okay. And I did hear from a few people, I think that it has been separated before, but I I believe that just a little bit took away from some of the vibe. Um where the where the two uh things were separated.

Kristin 13:57

Right. Yeah. And it it was the least, and I guess this is in the tradition of randonet's, uh, the least marked I've uh of rides I've ever done. There was zero signage to say like correct.

Steve 14:10

There's they don't put any markers out on this. Right. Right.

Kristin 14:13

Except for so you have to rely on your your Garmin or your Q space.

Steve 14:17

They do provide yes, ride with GPS uh files.

Kristin 14:22

And paper maps. Yes, as long as your mother loads the right way.

Steve 14:25

I'll tell you , you know, you you the old Q s heets. I have never understood the Q sheets. When you look at this two-page Q sheet, you're like, what am I going to get out this Q sheet at every single intersection to see which way I should go?

Kristin 14:39

It's gonna say we used to.

Steve 14:41

I mean, I and I have been writing for so long that I just remember when Q sheets were it and nobody had That's all you had. Well, I I did have one of the original GPSs, so it's probably been 20 years, but still, be even before that, then it was road markers a lot of times.

Kristin 14:58

I've seen people put the cues on the top of their top tube.

Steve 15:03

Yeah, and I've seen that too, but this was two pages worth. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Kristin 15:07

It was a lot. So we did two, we had signed up. So you and I had signed up for the traditional 100k. And my plan at the time had kind of been for you to just hang out. I thought it was a party festival. I'm actually really glad now that I know they moved venue, like I thought you were just gonna want to han g out by the van, and then you were like, no.

Sophie 15:28

I was gonna be bored out of my mind.

Kristin 15:30

Yes, and I agree, we were gone a long time. So we signed you up for the Green River ride. The Green River Tour. Yeah. And how many miles was that?

Sophie 15:38

47 about.

Kristin 15:40

And what was the longest ride you had done previously to 47 miles?

Sophie 15:46

50?

Steve 15:47

Yeah, I think the PMC. The PMC? Yep. Okay, but that would have been five years ago. Five years ago. Yeah.

Sophie 15:54

The longest ride I've done recently, I think, was 12 miles, and it was on a rail trail. Yes.

Kristin 16:00

It was so not a lot of base training going on here. Right? No, okay. So that's what you were signed. You were all in. We were signed out for the 100k. Um, what did how was everybody's day? What did you think of it?

Sophie 16:14

I had a great time. Yeah.

Steve 16:16

We we started out with Sophie. Yes, we started for the first, what, maybe six miles or so before we separated. It's less than that. Less than that. Oh, you're my favorite.

Kristin 16:25

So one thing that I did find interesting about D2R too is the rolling start. Yes. Yes. That there isn't a set time. And there again, that apparently used to be the case. Oh, okay. Where say the 100K would leave at this time and the 180k would leave at this time, and the one I don't know, whatever other they have a whole bunch, right? So they'd all have a start together.

Sophie 16:44

If you do that, do you need the police department to like close roads and stuff? Because it's so concentrated. Not generally.

Kristin 16:50

Not I would say not in this particular area, because if you think about our start, there were no cars. Yeah, it just it changed to your point, it changed the vibe a little bit because you didn't get that what Jeff called the cacophony of clicks. But like we're all going. We're all going spreads out. It just kind of was like, Yeah, well, I guess we're ready.

Sophie 17:09

My start was technically at 10 a.m. But I left with you guys at nine. Right. So what were you going to do? You could leave whenever I wanted. So I was up. What was I gonna do? Yeah. So um, yes, so we all started together and then my garmin, I had my lovely route set in. Um, you could see everything except it didn't tell me when to turn. So unfortunately every time my paths overlap.

Kristin 17:34

Yeah, you chose the wrong type of GPX file.

Sophie 17:37

Well, at one point I took a wrong turn and it told me to turn around. I got back on track and then it started cueing me for turns. But interesting. Yeah, so 30 miles in, it just kind of I did I to wake up, did the GPX file with cue points.

Kristin 17:54

So there's GPX, there's GPX track, and there's GPX course. Why do they make so many? Uh and and then they're of course you can also use a fit file too. Why would I want anything that doesn't give me directions?

Sophie 18:07

So can I refer that turn where we've diverged?

Kristin 18:10

Yeah.

Sophie 18:11

I pulled out my paper completely with like shoot. I don't know what to do. I'm glad you had the paper with you. And I was like, okay, I'm going this way. And she was like, Are you sure? Because I was like, now I will say that.

Kristin 18:24

With this, with this ride, they changed the courses, they changed the 100k course, what, a few days before. So if you had had an earlier course, you were different. They also had a 100K version without some some of the more difficult dirt. Yeah. So we're so there are people. Oh, you're doing the 100k? Yeah, I'm doing the 100k. Except you there were two, they were you were each doing the different ones. Yeah. And that's why at the beginning, I was like, uh, I have gus going left. And then the person next to me is like, I have us going straight. And there was a lot of that kind of confusion with this. Well, and even her, they even said, they did say in the emails, wait to download the route until the night before. Which has revealed. That was my only concern. And sure enough, they changed yours the night before, or the morning of we get a note that said the Green River tour has changed due to a detour because of a bridge. Yes. So I think that's one of the reasons they changed like that. But yes, there were a couple of moments you're like, I wonder, I wonder. We hit a point where it was like, should we go left? Chris's said go left, yours said go straight, mine said go straight, go left, then left. It was gonna take me into a complete circle, into right back where we were going. Awesome. Or where we were exactly. I did not have the legs at that point for to be playing that game. So yeah, I do and I used the map too. I brought the map mostly to find out when lunch was gonna be.

Sophie 19:52

I was like, here it is, says it right here, lunch. See, that was my only thing about not having the turn markers, is I couldn't see, like, oh 4.3 miles till you turn or whatever. So I didn't really know what my mileage was ever, which was kind of good for me.

Kristin 20:05

Because if I can see the miles like ticking down, I'm like, uh, so you so we can we can take a look at that on your garment, but we you could have the distance showing on your map. So you constantly had the map.

Sophie 20:16

I don't want that.

Kristin 20:17

Oh, you don't want that?

Sophie 20:18

She's saying she didn't like I'm saying if I see it going up by like point one mile at a time and be like, oh my god, this is the longest ride of my life. All right. It's like whenever I use a treadmill, like I have to put my shirt over like the timer, or else it's gonna be like I'm here for eight years, but it's been like five minutes. Everybody is so different in the data.

Kristin 20:37

Yes, they are in the data they like to see. I like to see the climb. Like I like to see where I am on the climb where one of my friends is like, I do not want to see.

Sophie 20:46

But I know you were saying like you don't like the laps, like I get a notification after five miles, it's like lap one, because that like kind of tells me where I am without me having to watch my mileage the whole time. So it's like, oh, like lap six. You're like, dang, lap six, right?

Kristin 21:02

Yeah, where I'm like, I don't what is that? I don't like that. Yeah, it's interesting. And for me, the being able to see on the climb is like I get into Super Mario, do, do, do, do, do, do.

Sophie 21:14

Yes. I think I would like to see like the climb because I like knowing how much I have left of it. Because I hate like turning a quarter, and I'm like, oh my gosh, it's still going.

Kristin 21:22

That's where it's really helpful. You're like, it is it going or is it just where it's like, yeah, I like I like seeing the climb pro graph as well to see where I am on the climb. That's really helpful. What maybe isn't as helpful is mine showed every single climb that was coming, and it was like, this is climb one of 60. Yes. And it showed the profiles of them, and I was like, oh no, that is a problem. So the D2R2 is known for its climbing uh in a significant amount of climbs, and and and for instance, the very first climb up that uh really dirt road, not dirt road, jeep track. I was gonna say, I'm gonna use road real lightly. And so that is a option. And so you could have gone straight there instead and skipped that. Yeah.

Sophie 22:13

I don't know, mine is just fine. So I don't know about you guys.

Kristin 22:17

They were very different. So we did, I will say, on on the 100k, to your point, it's very climmy. I think I saw 17% grade, it was probably the highest one I saw when I wasn't bleeding from the eyes. Um but the river was lovely.

Sophie 22:35

It had three like climbs that Garmin classified as climbs. Yes. Don't know what the steepest grade was, but it wasn't that 17%.

Kristin 22:45

And then we got to what it was nice too is they a lot of several of the routes converge at lunch.

Sophie 22:50

Yes.

Kristin 22:51

And so we could get, we got to we got through, I'll say climb eight of 16, and I saw the next climb is 17 miles from here, and I thought, I am not doing that, I am going to turn off at lunch. And that's when we followed your path, and I thought, right.

Sophie 23:09

Sophie's had such a nice course. Sorry, microphone. It's okay. Um, yeah, mine was great. And you made friends, friend, friends, singular, you made a friend, that's okay. Because right after we split off, there was another overlapping section, and so I am passing this random guy, and we're going at kind of a similar pace. I was like, Are you on the Green River like ride or whatever? And he was like, Yeah, I was like, Is it right here? He was like, I mean, I that's what my garment says. I was like, Oh no, you're probably right. Like, I'm not doubting you. I'm just mine doesn't tell me, so I need to know. My parents let me off with this garment that doesn't work properly. Um, and then we kind of were just were going at the ex like the same pace. So we just ended up chatting and then we stuck together. Shout out Michael Phoenix.

Kristin 23:57

He actually just messaged me on Strava. He said, Hope to see you at Unpaved. So excellent. Looking forward to that.

Sophie 24:05

It was very nice because I do think A, it helped me keep a good pace because I was with someone. I think I either would have gone too fast at the beginning and burned myself out, or I would have gone very slow, and then I would have been like, Oh my god, I'm out here forever. So I think it was good to have someone to pace with, and then you know, just fill the time, someone to talk to. It was very nice.

Kristin 24:24

Yeah, this was a big moment for me. No, this was a big moment. Well, a couple of things. I when we do interviews with people, we usually ask, When did you decide to ride a bike? Right. Not when did you start riding a bike because as a kid, yes, yeah, you end up riding a bike because your parents sit you on. You have to learn, yeah. Yeah. Um, so it was one of the first times I think you were choosing to ride. And why I was saying it was big for us is we were letting you off on this course, really no idea where you were going. We didn't know what route you were doing. We didn't know the difficulty. Yeah. We didn't know if you would have internet. We were told that that you might not have any Wi-Fi. Yeah. Um, and so it was a real launching moment of like, I feel like a transition moment for you of like girl who cycles because her parents cycle and woman who cycles. What do you think of that?

Sophie 25:28

That feels like a very big uh big, right? Um I don't know. I'd say I feel like I more recently have been riding by myself like at Amherst, but it's been smaller stuff like the rail trail or like a local trail or something. Um but yeah, I think this is the first like ride, like official organized ride that I was like, no, I'll do that. Like was it also because I was like, what else am I doing? Right. Yes. Yeah.

Kristin 25:56

Yeah, but a lot of people might have just gone for a walk with the dog, had a snack, taken a nap, you know. I mean, it was a choice too. Yes. It was, and given how much you've been riding, the 47 miles on that even on that train. I was maybe overly confident. It was a lot when I signed her up for it, it was 40. And then suddenly it was 47. Yeah. It was like, okay, that's a little longer. That somehow that seemed like a lot longer.

Sophie 26:25

Seven, well, I feel like once you're at 40 miles, you're like, you want me to do seven more? You're like, I've already done 40 and you want me to do seven more.

Kristin 26:34

All right, so let's talk about whether or not um it was worth it, worth the money, with the value. Because you and I talk about this a lot. Like, would we would we did it check all the boxes? Right? So yes, and we have talked about this on a podcast. So it is a lot of money to do this because it's a fundraiser. Yes. And it's not a fundraiser where you you you raise money to enter like the PMC and the it is just a high entry fee. Plus, it gets higher if you um sign your kid up the week before. Yes, correct. It escalates. Yeah, it escalates. So the one thing I alright, so let's talk about just the event itself. Yeah. Right? They have they're very well organized, they have this beautiful beautiful tent. Um, the night before, they have what the games, and they have a beer tent, and they have food trucks. And then the day of, they actually have the included stuff. So then they have they feed you breakfast, and we had eggs and sausage, and there were bagels and all that kind of stuff. That was all coffee. Um then you get back, they have a full meal by a caterer there ready for you. So, and uh one beer was included. And you get a glass, and you get the lunch at the Green River uh covered bridge in Vermont, which was uh they had a lot of food there. You do have a lot of food there, plus all the the snacks along the way. So, in terms of like one of my criteria is like well fed, if you will, yeah, that that completely checks. And they did a really good job of like randomly dropping water stations on the side of the road. They didn't necessarily it doesn't take a lot. Like I didn't have like water stations.

Sophie 28:20

Oh, okay. I had the I had one stop like 18 miles in. They had a ton of cause because I think that's one of the wonder I think that's where one of the family rides started. Okay. Um because there were people parking there for the ride, I think. But they had a ton of stuff. They had like a bunch of fruit and they had electrolyte packets for water and water station and like MMs and Oreos and stuff, and then the lunch, there was a bunch of food at lunch, but I was like, if I eat pasta salad right now, I'm going to work later.

Kristin 28:47

I will say lunch is a little lost on me.

Sophie 28:50

Yeah, I had I said, like I said, I got a lot of money. No, I don't know.

Kristin 28:52

My turkey sandwich was great.

Sophie 28:53

Right. I had my Nutella bread, and I was like, okay, I'm ready to go. Right. Like I got lemon electrolytes in my water. But the lunch back at the start was really good. Yeah. I had a whole potato, that was awesome. A whole baked potato, a whole baked potato, half a thing of butter, pretty much.

Kristin 29:13

Like, I think she took a picture of it. We'll have to include it in the YouTube. We had one water stop that was like literally just on the side of a dirt road. Really? Like we got to the top of the dirt road, and I it was a climb, so I was like, okay, we need some. I was probably put a washer. And we just got right over the top, and there's everybody, but it's literally just a cart with it was a cooler full of snacks. Yeah. And then they use these agricultural uh bins, basically, these these mesh containers with the um polytank inside uh for the for the water. It's kind of genius. And it was hot. I was like sweating. It was hot, and it was with the amount of priming we were doing, it was slow.

Sophie 29:52

We had very different shaded the whole time. I had barely any hills.

Kristin 29:59

Like we it was very there, right, these are very different routes. Yeah, sweating. Literally, we started riding one point and I was like, my knees are dripping. Yeah. I was like Yeah, after the first rest stop, actually, it was I we were both uh kind of commenting how like we're wow, why am I so soaking wet?

Sophie 30:22

Right?

Kristin 30:22

Because as soon as the air started going over, you realized how just so. We're really we're really selling it, are we?

Sophie 30:27

Yeah. You make us sound great. My ride was great. If you're thinking about doing it, mine was challenging. And the green river route was great.

Kristin 30:37

So coming back around to whether it was worth it. Yes, yes, yeah. Right? Oh, and we should stay. So we I so we got to the lunch and I saw the rest of the clients that were coming, and I knew where I was. I had also woken up with a cold, which I'm totally leaning into that excuse. And I thought, I said to Chris, we were with it, Chris, a Chris, and you. And I said, you know what? I I'm gonna take the Green River route back. I have no idea what it is, but it can't be that. Right. Yeah, right. And he knows it's shorter. And one of our Chris's goes, Well, I should make sure you get back safely. So kind. And I was like, That's so kind of you. And then the other Chris says, Well, I should make sure you two make it back. I think you two need to be supervised. And then you were kind of, you could see, were like, should I keep doing the hundred or should I stick with them? Right. And and we st we had about 10 miles before the the the regular 100 turned off. You had time. Yeah, I had time and just like uh I mean I was there to ride with you. So I think he also realized the riding is slow as I do and takes a lot of time. Yeah, it's exhausting. Riding as slow as I ride. Um, okay, so back to was it worth worth it? Yes, but it's super expensive. So it is it it really comes down to this can I spend the money right now? Yeah, I it really does. I mean, it was expensive. It's one of those that because we are except for your ticket, uh, you know, your ride, we paid for it months ago. So I have to say it it feels free. It feels like free, it's like free, it's like cycling math. Um no, but it it feels like it's sunk cost, and I the vibe was amazing. If anything, I was surprised by how many people were there that we knew that we didn't see, right? Just looking at Strava later. Yes. Or remember we were saying there was this um Swedish in the camping area, there was this Swedish and American flags flying at somebody's campsite. And the next day I look on my feed and a guy who I went to high school with his sister posted the picture, it was his campsite. So it was crazy the number of it, it's such a community event. I did not realize how much of our community is there, is goes out there. Yeah, and it's because it's an hour and forty-five minutes away from us. It is, but I think one of the reasons, again, we didn't see all those connections was to your point, like I probably would have seen Patrick if the camping hadn't been separated from the meal.

Sophie 33:28

Yes, because no one was really roaming. Right. You're just going back to your tent, changing exactly going to the food. Yeah, yeah.

Kristin 33:35

Like, and I, you know, we saw Patria's van, but I never saw Patria. Like, there was just a lot of people. We saw her on the road, sort of, but in that way. But or I would hear, I would hear, like, hi, Kristen. So I would say, you know, for D2R to the organizers, uh, yeah, if the best they can each year try to get the camping and the event as close together as possible. Yeah.

Sophie 34:00

I mean, also because I went back to change, then I was like, I have to get back on my bike to get back to the food ever so slightly. I was like, no, it was the headwind. It was the headwind. I was like riding back to eat, and I was like, this is you have got kidding me.

Kristin 34:19

This is rude. Yeah.

Sophie 34:21

Yeah. And I had to stand the whole time while I was riding back. I couldn't sit down. You're like, and I don't have my cycling shorts on. Like, I was like, no.

Kristin 34:31

And they did have good swag. Yeah, they have a cute shirt. They're um cheap. I give them big credit. They did wool jerseys this year, which were very thin. I didn't end up buying one because the reality is I wear Steve the Bike Guy when I go to events. And as much as I want to buy cool gear, but I thought that was very cool, very on brand for a sticker. Absolutely are very on brand. Yeah. So I I would do it again. Absolutely. I'd actually I would do it again. Oh, because I didn't have to pay for it.

Sophie 35:05

That's true.

Kristin 35:06

So that is the thing as we talk about the transition, right?

Sophie 35:09

Oh, yeah, when I have to start what I want to invest in. That's gonna be. The thing about D2R2, though, is I go to school out there. That's true. So I could sleep in my bed. The one like I have to sleep on an inflatable mattress that is deflating. Yep. And my house is it's right there. Right there. It was just far enough that it was like, it would have added like an hour in the morning because it's like 25-ish minutes away. Right. Yeah. And it's like if you guys had to go get me.

Kristin 35:37

Yes, that would have been an extra hour.

Sophie 35:39

Because I don't have my car. Yeah. So if I had my car, I would have been like, see you guys in the morning. I'm going to sleep in my bed. Yeah.

Kristin 35:46

And it's a safe bet that we will be paying for rides for a long time. What's going to happen is kind of like I grew up skiing. Yeah. And skied with my family for years. Was a skier even post college. But then there reaches a point where, oh, my parents aren't buying my lift tickets anymore. And they're not, it's not like every every season we would go into the ski school ski store, and my dad would be like, She needs to be outfitted. And I was like, Oh, for really.

Sophie 36:20

So I'm saying really is if I'm like as if you're not like riding exactly. Exactly. You know, so I were like, oh, there's a sparkly bike there.

Kristin 36:33

Um and we don't ski that much now. And part of it is the cost is making those choices as you get older. Skiing's expensive. I guess biking is also expensive. Yeah. But it is. Although I feel like cycling is something that you know you can do year-round, you can go elsewhere. Like, I love skiing, don't get me wrong. Um but it's just cycling, yeah, you put your money towards stuff that you keep using, and skiing, you put your money towards the the day skiing. You're paying for the service of the skiing. Like you can't, once you've bought your skis, you have can't necessarily just go to a mountain. Yeah. Right. Right. Once you've bought your bike, go skiing. Have to pay for a D2R2. You can just go ride a ride. You can just grab some friends, go for a ride, ride by yourself. During the pandemic, so five years ago, and I hadn't ridden DR2 D2R2 with those years, but we did do actually Jeff, who was on the show, he took, I think it was five or six of us out there, and we camped out there one night. Oh, that's right. And then we did a modified route. All the things. So I did recognize a lot of the places that we were. Okay. Uh and and and then we talked about that um this time where we should do more of that. More of the free go out and do a a great ride. Right. Sort of following the route or near or or modified of a of a classic ride of somebody's events. Yeah, I think that's a great. I mean, you can do both, right? Because I wouldn't want to. That event brought so many people together, and you just can't replicate it. Yeah, do both. Absolutely. Yes. But certainly the idea that you can do it, maybe it didn't work out for you this year. Maybe you want to try it a different time of year. Right. Um, maybe you just want to put people in the world. You want to do it, you want to do your own D2R2 in the spring. Yeah, well, until you wait for the you know, for the late summer to do the real one. What was neat was there seemed to be a lot of ways you could cut it off and get back. Unlike some rides, like Raspberry Pizza up in Vermont, like if you are on that route, you are not getting back. There's no cutoffs. Like you're either completing it, you're going backwards. Where this you could like even yours, right? The gr the river came up and then it went straight up and down, you could have just kept turning around. Yeah, you could have just turned around and and finished. So I really liked that about this that they had all those different well, it's a long, skinny loop. So at any time you can just cut across the loop. Yeah. And where did we end up?

Sophie 39:16

Vermont. We crossed state line. I didn't even know that. I looked at my map later and I was like, Isn't that nice?

Kristin 39:23

It feels good, right? To ride to a different state. Yes. I didn't realize we were crossing either until we were at that one water stop and somebody goes, Oh, it's the state line sprint coming up. And I was like, or the state line line meander? Can we just like stroll over it? Slow pedal. Exactly. That's gonna be a slow roll over the state line. Oh, and you used a radar for the first time. I did.

Sophie 39:44

What did you think I did like it? It is a little bit like you said, like, oh, now I get to know when I'm gonna get run over. Um, but I will say that was probably the most respectful passing I've experienced from cars. Yes. Everyone gave me like oh they almost went into the entire other line. Lane, like they took over the whole left lane to pass me, or they'd wait, like if there was a slight curve in the road, like they would wait. So I had yeah, people were very, very nice.

Kristin 40:10

One of our friends did ask me as we wrapped up our ride, um, what is my favorite type of riding, which is so hard for me because I feel like when I'm on a bike, I'm on a bike, I'm happy. Yeah, but we were on the tour back on the road along the river. Flat dirt along the river, and I said to her, This all day, every day, I could do this. Like I love mountain biking for the challenge of it, but you get one, two, three hours out, you're you're done. You're not gonna spend all I'm not gonna spend all day on my mountain bike. But that kind of flat I could do without the oxblood red hills thrown at me every four miles. They had a five-mile climb. That's just obnoxious. It was like, okay, ready? Go.

Sophie 41:01

See, that's what that's when I don't want to know the mileage because it's gonna be like this hill is forever.

Kristin 41:08

So it's just like miles go. There were a few flattish spots in the middle, and maybe even a quick little down. F you. You were like, oh, it's green. At one point, you were like, oh, but that was the worst part. It's green from here. Yeah, it's not green from here. It wouldn't still be a climb if it was green from here. You're adorable. I just think break it up into two. Five five miles is just like it hurts the heart. It hurts the heart, right? You're like, half a mile, great.

Sophie 41:37

One mile, great. You know just how to kill the spirit. Five mile climb starting. It's really just to test your um your mental capacity, your determination more than anything.

Kristin 41:46

It really is. Yeah. Well, good job. Congratulations. Thank you. All right, we're gonna take a break and we're gonna come back for some tech talk. Okay. Woo! So D2R2 was a good day for ruckus bikes. It was. There was a lot there. Quite the ruckus. We had. Gosh, how many do you think we had? There must have been, well, if you include us, there must have been seven. Yeah. Really? A couple of twinnings. Yes. Right? I had a twin. I had a twin. Or his, he said. Mine is his is baby size, and mine was the mama size. He's a bit shorter than I. Okay. And he actually said he was like, This is the baby size one. And this I did not say it. I would never. Or the record. I would never. Um, but yes, and I heard somebody say as we left the venue, um, that's a lot of uh Ruckeye. Somebody else goes, I've never even heard of that brand. Took all my power not to stop and turn around. Let me tell you our tale. Have you heard about ruckus? So Sophie got some questions and she was reminding them from my new friend. Right. So, what were some of the questions that you got that your dad can answer? They tell you about.

Sophie 43:07

Well, my the first thing he's like, oh, you have an oval crank.

Kristin 43:12

You had an oval chain ring. Yes.

Sophie 43:13

Yeah, and I was like, apparently I do. So I guess just why make it oval, I guess. Is there any just style? And you and you couldn't feel it, could you? You had no idea it was oval. No idea.

Kristin 43:29

And I wrote oval for a while, and there you can't feel it. You can't really feel it. So you're saying we're talking about the crank now where the petals are. I'm talking about the chain ring. Instead of it being circle, it is oval. Oval. Oval. And egg shaped. So it is oval basically increasing the leverage of on the downstroke. On each downstroke, is increasing the leverage. So it almost becomes, say, you had a 38 tooth, right? So it might become sort of equivalent to a 40 as you're coming as you're coming across the top of the pedal stroke and then sort of reducing down to a 36 at the bottom of the pedal stroke. So to to bring to allow the sweep through easier. That's that's it in a theory.

Sophie 44:14

I don't know if in practicum.

Kristin 44:16

Yeah, there's I'm sure there's a studies out there that show it works, and there's probably studies that show no, it's no big deal. Okay. Yeah. They yeah, uh, you know, riders who who have ovals, there are many who swear by them. And I did not find a difference myself. So what is the of the three? So we are all on ruckus gravel bikes. Um of the three, what is what was her gearing say compared to my gearing? So Sophie has the SRAM Axis Explorer group set. So she has a 10 through 44 12 speed cassette, and so and then and then she had a 38 tooth up front. Okay. Alright. And then we actually then you have a SRAM XX1 Eagle rear derailer with a 10 through 52 Eagle cassette. And then I have an XX1 transmission derailleur with a 10 through 52 cassette. And transmission is the one that is direct mount onto the frame. Onto the frame. Yeah, your frame's a little bit older, so yours doesn't do that. Doesn't do the T-type.

Sophie 45:30

Okay.

Kristin 45:31

And how like does say my lowest or easiest gear compare to say her easiest gear? Well, we could look at our my favorite gear calculator and we could see what that is. Now, I I will say that had I known how hard the climbing was in this ride, I probably would have moved you down to a 38-tooth chain ring. Okay. Just to give you a little bit easier. Um it's all a game of math and ratios. You must you would like that.

Sophie 46:05

Yes.

Kristin 46:08

So if we put this up to a 40 tooth here and we add your 38 tooth in here, and then we give her 44 large cog in the back and our fifty-two large cog. So we are looking at uh our 4052 and her 3844. So we had easier gears. Okay. And I knew that was gonna be the case. Um by a by a little bit. Um not not significant, but not but meaningful.

Sophie 46:43

Right. But you didn't have the hills we had. Yeah.

Kristin 46:46

Which is why I wasn't really worried about your because I knew you didn't have the hills that we were going to have, but um, which I wasn't worrying about your gearing. Okay. And yeah, it I mean that sort of the eagle gearing for the win here. Uh I gotta say that so SRAM's Explore Group, their XPLR group, that's their that's what they call it, their gravel group set. And it was 10 through 44, and now it's 13 speed with a 10 through 46 cassette. Right. Okay. But in New England, and I'm sure elsewhere around the country, it misses the mark. It is to me, it is you use the mountain bike rear end and the 10 through 52 cassette all day long. Right. You will never regret it in New England. When you have 17% Jeep roads, yeah, you will you want that. Oh, I've never been unhappy with that gearing. Yeah. We've talked about the compromise that I have bigger junk steps between. So sometimes you might be like, oh, I really wish I had that half bit. Yep. But that happens. And then the grade changes. So rarely. Exactly. We're so rarely just going to be able to do that. We don't have grades that stay steady here. So, okay, what was the other question you got?

Sophie 48:06

Oh, the I guess width of my tires.

Kristin 48:11

Okay.

Sophie 48:12

So He was he was saying so numbers in the 30s. Oh, he was like, and I was earth, whatever, and I was like, I don't know.

Kristin 48:22

So again, this is so you had these tires on your bike, which I put on for these are tires that I actually got for us to do a road ride on. Oh. And then I sent you off to college with them knowing you're gonna do the rail trail. Yeah. And so you had 40 millimeter tires. Okay. And 40 millimeters is a very traditional gravel bike tire. I should say it was the most popular that has gone by the wayside. It is the the sizes have gone up really significantly. Yeah. So it's now 45 and 50 millimeter and people now using 2.1, 2.2 mountain bike tires, uh, which is equivalent to about 53 to 57 millimeter. So you were on 40, yeah, you were on 40 millimeter file tread tires.

Sophie 49:13

Yes. Because we were talking about uh how I did cycle cross and mountain biking. He's like, oh, so you're used to like riding over shit. And I was like, Yes, I am. He was like, you're used to riding over stuff in like skinny tires and like no suspension.

Kristin 49:25

I was like what did he have fatter or skinnier tires, do you think?

Sophie 49:28

I think fatter. Fatter. Yeah. Okay. Um if I had to guess. Um yeah, he was looking at my bike. I don't really think I noticed it. I wasn't really like because if you were like, oh, what part of this did he have? I don't know. Right.

Kristin 49:41

I don't know. Sometimes people ask me uh all my questions about my gear, and I'll be the first to say that I just don't remember the numbers and I don't remember, I don't remember how many teeth I have in the front. I don't remember. Do you think there's judgment on that? Like sometimes I feel like I'm like, I don't know. I just have my husband do it. That's I'm just like unfortunately, if the person's asking a specific question, then maybe there's judgment on that if you don't know because they clearly know the I know what this part on your bike is.

Sophie 50:14

Do you know? Sometimes it's curious right.

Kristin 50:16

Sometimes it's curiosity, like, and I genuinely and I don't feel there's any judgment, right? Like I'm like, I I honestly don't know. You should talk to my mechanic. I can't hold on to those numbers. And then sometimes I'll say it and and I'll feel like I don't know.

Sophie 50:30

Working at the at Hale, the first time I worked there, they're like, oh, what's this and that and whatever? And I just learned to be like, beats me. I just get on it and go. If the tires aren't flat, that's all I need to know.

Kristin 50:45

You were saying that sometimes with when you were at Hale, there were certain brakes that they what are they called?

Sophie 50:51

The ones that like people don't like, they're on one of my bikes. What brakes are on here?

Kristin 50:56

Silver SRAMs, nope. Well, SRAM would be the manufacturer, so either maybe G2s or guides or guide.

Sophie 51:05

Guide brakes. Okay. But I remember being at the Mountain Bike camp and they're like, guide brakes freaking suck. And I was like, my bike stops. So I don't know.

Kristin 51:15

There was a time some people say maybe that has continued on where SRAM brakes were not uh those those those comments came from a place of internet watching.

Sophie 51:30

That's what I'm thinking. And not personal use. People ask me, are they like, oh, this is this isn't good. And I'm like, how could you have that many opinions on that many different kinds of brakes? How many of them have you actually used? And how much of this is just, well, these guys say they suck, so they must be bad.

Kristin 51:48

And it's like that's where that came from. Yeah. Yeah.

Sophie 51:51

But I'm just I'm saying, like, working at the Mount Mike Camp, people be like, oh, you should get like this for your next bike and and this frame or this, and I'm like, does it make me go forward? Perfect! I kind of think that's the right attitude.

Kristin 52:07

Like I want to be knowledgeable, so I sound totally knowledgeable, but obviously I think you should have there should be like a baseline understanding of your bike.

Sophie 52:15

Like you asked me today, you're like, also, do you know what tubeless fluid is in your tires so that I don't mix them if I ever have to like whatever. Um, so things like that I think maybe are important to know or whatever. So if you're like passionate about that kind of stuff and you think it's cool, that's awesome. But like don't ask me these questions and then be like, you don't know what metal your cassette fifth card chain is made of. Like, no, I don't.

Kristin 52:45

This works for me or the person that I depend on. It works for him. And like we talked about, you know, orange steel versus stands, right? And there are people who love orange seal, and there are people who hate orange seal. And there are people who No, there's nobody who hates orange seal. That's not possibly true. I know it's not true because I have been on different mountain bikes. And it's because it failed for them. Now, maybe it was user error, but it doesn't matter.

Sophie 53:12

They have their opinion. Well, I've definitely heard they don't like orange seal. Have they tried orange seal and not liked it? Or did they just hear someone on the internet say they don't like orange seal?

Kristin 53:21

Did they not listen to Steve's lecture about the pros of orange seal? We really should get sponsored at this point by Orange Seal. Subtle. Speaking of what she just said, my question to her about like, does she know what tubeless fluid is in her orange seal? Right? Right. Right. Because if she went into a shop around campus, yes, it's important to actually know what tubeless fluid is. What are other things that's that she needs to know about my bike? You don't really need to know your gearing in terms of what you currently have. You need to know, oh, this is not working for me. So that might that that would lead you down to a path of learning a little bit more about what your gearing might want to be.

Steve 54:05

Yeah.

Kristin 54:06

But um other than knowing your what you if you're tubeless or not tubeless, what your tubeless fluid is, and of course, how to plug a tubeless tire. Oh, another thing she another thing you would might want to know is your brake pad compound.

Sophie 54:25

Oh, okay.

Kristin 54:26

Right. So it would whether it's organic or metallic. Oh. Okay. Because if she did want to replace the brake pads because she's out, technically you would want to replace your brake pads with the same compound type. Okay. There are some lower end bikes where the rotors can only take organic pads.

Steve 54:44

Okay.

Kristin 54:45

Uh, and that is really has to do with because brakes work by the pad compound being put down on the rotor. Yeah. So when you're bedding in brakes, what you're doing is you're laying down a film of your brake pad material onto the rotor, and then it's the that contact in the brake pad which creates your friction.

Sophie 55:12

Got it.

Kristin 55:13

And and so if you change compounds, it doesn't it doesn't work as well or it can lead to noise. However, so what it usually works just fine. And if you do it, it's not a big deal. It's not like, oh, don't do this. Yeah. It is just try not to.

Sophie 55:33

Okay. And I have.

Kristin 55:36

You have organic because that you still have stock pads in your brakes, and that's what they come with. Okay. Got it. Is there anything else you would like to talk about today? Did you have any other questions about your bicycles?

Sophie 55:49

I don't think so. Not that I can really think of. I think I am also just starting to learn what I like about my bike. Like we just realized that my spark doesn't quite my mountain bike, my Scott Spark doesn't quite fit me.

Kristin 56:02

Well, you're a difficult fit. So it does, and it doesn't. You're you are a difficult fit. In terms of for the spark, you are on the right size. Yes. But that particular, and that you have the old design. That particular design design, you would be like you would be better off on a slightly different design frame than the spark. Okay. Than your old. Yes.

Sophie 56:27

Yeah. Also, doing the longer rides, I like can feel my body can feel what does and doesn't work. Yep. Like today, my legs totally fine. My shoulders hurt.

Kristin 56:38

I think because we need to shorten my yeah, and we and in fact when I started watching you riding that bike, which you have not ridden extensively that much, then I started to see a little bit of tweaks we needed to make, especially to your upper body position. Because I was sitting back on the bottom. Yeah, you were exactly. And that is what's different about as a youth versus a grown-up, right? You're you're more comfortable in your body to to know what's hurting and to be able to express that to us. Yeah. And then it's more of a collaboration versus when you were when you first got the spark, right? You were in high school and just wrote it. And just go. You just go, and it was fine. No, I mean, but you also grew. You weren't done growing when you got the spark. So so you've grown. And so that's the nice thing now that you've grown, you're not going to be outgrowing things as we make these investments, or you start to make investments into your equipment versus when you were younger and you were like, okay, she's gonna be out. This'll last a year. Yeah. So, you know, we're looking at pale purple, sparkly thing. So is there anything else as we wrap up this episode? I guess one final thought about D2R2, and especially the title of this podcast, Riding Together, is that cycling together.

Sophie 58:08

Thank you. Modified. Exactly.

Kristin 58:10

Is one comment that uh a friend of ours made along the way, and he we we were with a few guys and another another woman for quite a while, I guess, right? And for the first at least 15, 18 miles or so. And he said, This is so nice. Like, I don't like we were doing a casual pace, and he said, This is great. Like, I I don't I'm normally I find this group with the guys, and they're all hammering, and we're in a pace line, and we're we're beating each other up the top of these hills. And he said, This is this is wonderful, and that brought me back to another Ollie from GCN had a uh video recently where he was talking about it. Is really nice just to ride your bike and not think about the times, not think about the racing and to just ride. And uh it really is nice just to look around and what look at the scenery and ride your bike and not care what uh not care about your pace whatsoever. I did have a moment where I realized, oh, this is a ride, not a race. I mean, we had numbers on, but they were mostly to identify our bodies. Yes, I could tell. They basically told us as much. They did. They said make sure you put these numbers in your in your dashboard so that if your car doesn't move, we know who we're looking for. And I will say when we were at 12 miles and it was two hours, I was a little concerned about the pace. But I do think that, yeah, there's just something nice about a day spent out on the bikes. And I'm gonna take credit for when you ride with me, you get to see more. Although And you did say, Oh, I'm really tired. And it was like, it's a lot of work to ride as slowly as I do. You only did health things. Four miles less than the than the 100k route. We did, even though we we diverted off at lunch. Yes. So we did less climbing. We did significantly less climbing. About 800 feet, I think. Yeah. So if you ooh, that I think that was about right. But 800 feet and four miles, that might have been the case. Yeah. So yeah, we basically just missed a big climb. That would have been ridiculous. Um, but I do think that's the other the flip side of that is when you go slower, more casual, you are spending a lot of hours in the saddle. Yes. And that's where I think you were surprised yesterday that you were so tired because you're like, I just did the rift. Yeah, I think I did the rift faster than I think it's 85 miles in the wilderness of Iceland faster than the 60s. Yes, but you didn't get as many of the views, and you didn't get to eat any of the snacks. Right. So well, let's wrap this up. Sophie Brandt, thank you so much for coming on our show. You know you're welcome. It was a very easy commute. Yeah, it was. We try to keep it casual.

Sophie 1:01:13

Really, no problem.

Kristin 1:01:14

All right, cycling together with Kristen and Steve is a production of Steve the Bike Guy, an independent bicycle shop in eastern Massachusetts and Sunday marketing. If you like the show, please leave a review or share with a friend, and for show notes, links, or to leave a comment, question, or topic suggestion, please visit cycling together.bike.

Sophie 1:01:31

You can follow the shop on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and now TikTok at Steve the Bike Guy.

Kristin 1:01:37

Thank you for joining the ride. Okay, we'll see you next time.

Sophie 1:01:41

Bye.