The 5:40 Genesis with Joel Christiansen

When exactly did our beloved 5:40 ride start? Who was there on the trail when it happened?  Why do we start at 5:40?  How has the route and the group changed over the years? Who was the force behind the creation of the JB Time Trial?  And Who recorded the new Music Intros?  (hint Ian Walsh!)

Joel Christiansen, the legend and the founding father of the 5;40 joins us today to answer these and many other questions as he sorts out the myth from fact.  Jon and Joel regale us with many cycling stories as they harken back to the beginnings of when the 5:40 ride was brought into this world and how the team has evolved over the years into our present iteration. 

Also, we will get to know Bryan Homrighous a bit better during the new CHINWAG segment. The puzzler winners are announced, Plus -Trail Personality, UCI and Local news, Tech Talk too.  

Special Thanks to IAN WALSH for creating, playing and recording beautiful new music for the podcast!!!  You will absolutely love it!!

The Isle Of Fudge - Isle of Wight UK - (20+) Facebook

Sponsored and Caffeinated by TELEO COFFEE - LOVE your Neighbor!                     www.TELEOCOFFEE.com 

The Isle Of Fudge - Isle of Wight UK - (20+) Facebook

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:39

And here we are. Welcome back to the Five Four O podcast. Episode number three. Today is May. May the twelfth. May 12th. Great. Again, welcome back to the podcast. It's been a minute or two. Springs rolling. So welcome back, everybody. And you know, we hope you um haven't been enjoying it. You you must be because you joined us again. Um so just a real quick we recap for the uninitiated. The 540 Club is a cycling club, is a close-knit of friend group of friends, about 20 to 30 recreational and semi-competitive cyclists, their family, and all our friends. We live very close to the starting point, formed spontaneously in the early 2000s when Joel. Joel and Don met by chance at Grants Trail, which had just been built. And we're so lucky to have Joel with us today. And then we'll learn why 540 became the agreed upon time. We ride Monday through Friday. It hasn't changed since, and neither has the 21 mile out and back route. What has changed is that our group has grown and evolved ever since. So we're gonna we hope you join us soon if you're ever in St. Louis. And now, today, we're gonna move uh next, we're gonna move into talk with John Schmidt. He's gonna tell us again about our amazing sponsors.

SPEAKER_04 2:06

Well, fantastic, Jim. Before we jump into Tileo, uh, looking outside right now of our beautiful Crestwood studios, I'm surrounded by John.

SPEAKER_03 2:14

John, don't tell them where we are. I mean, the fans they they can descend on us like you know, so we have to be careful about our whereabouts.

SPEAKER_04 2:21

Paparazzi?

SPEAKER_03 2:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:24

If only.

SPEAKER_03 2:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:25

Uh, but anyway, so uh right now I'm looking at uh it's 28 Kelch outside. Uh it actually got up to 80. Uh sorry, it got up to uh uh uh 32 kelch today. It was sunny and beautiful and balmy. And uh what better way to start your day or even end it at Toleo Coffee, our sponsor, Toleo Coffee in Kirkwood, Missouri, making their home for many years now, is your spot for coffee, breakfast sandwiches, and fellowship. With the addition of Tolleo Roasters, shout out to Walt Steiner. In 2023, Tolleo is St. Louis premier coffee destination. Tolleo coffee, love your neighbor.

SPEAKER_03 3:05

Thank you, John. Thank you, Walt. Um, I could really go for a coffee right now.

SPEAKER_04 3:10

That sounds great. Yeah, I didn't bring any. I brought cheese and crackers.

SPEAKER_03 3:14

It would be an illegal coffee for me. I'd be up until 5 40 tomorrow. PM. Um, so cool. Um, we just um just to kind of look to tell you what we got on tap for this uh third episode. We we're continuing to try to make things better. So you you might hear some different sounds and some new some new intros and outros that we're playing around with. Um we'll give a shout out to that at the end. So, what's on tap for today? Um, so today we have a special guest. It is 540 founding father Joel Christensen. He'll uh he'll take us on to the way back, back to the late 90s where it all began. So, you know, whether you're you know a 540 rider newbie or a long timer, you're you're gonna want to miss this journey back in time to where it all began. I'm very curious because you know, I've only heard inklings, I've I've never heard it, you know, straight from the source, you know, back to the origin. So this is what we're gonna go over today. Um, John's gonna kind of lead us along to uh that conversation with Joel. The truth's important, Jim, and so is time. Yes. That was a zinger match. Yeah, you're killing me. Yeah, yeah. I know that that was a good you're you're right. I'm kind of bantering on. So 540. Uh, the next section we're gonna go over today is the 540. What's going on with the up ride update? Um, we're gonna see if we get a hold of Victor today or not. Um, puzzler brought to you by Taleo. Um, John's gonna do our trail personnel of the week. We have special new uh sponsor. Um, he's bringing that to us. Uh, we're gonna have a quick tech talk, um, a new sponsor segment. It's called the 540 chin wag. So we we pick a victim and we talk about the get the interview with them. So we'll see who our first victim is ever. Um and then we'll have the local and global news cycling news.

SPEAKER_04 5:07

Jim, weren't you telling me Victor may not be able to make it today? I I've been trying to get a hold of him.

SPEAKER_03 5:11

I wonder what the deal is. I I you know when I call him, he has you know one of those old like voice machine recorders. It it seems like it's out of operation, it's not working. Okay. Because he doesn't have a cell phone, he's like on a rotary thing. So you know, one time I missed a very important job interview because the employer called me back and my voice recording machine had broken. And when I finally got it to work, I missed a call from this guy. So maybe that's just happening with him. I don't know. So well, John, I'm gonna let's um let's just keep talking here. I was gonna make a stop here, by the way. I think this is great.

SPEAKER_04 5:50

So Jim, I've been thinking, uh, how do you how do you introduce a founding father? How do you introduce a dear friend? Uh how do you introduce somebody who's uh certainly a personality and among uh among himself, uh high integrity, uh great person. Uh and how do you introduce the concept of this ride? And I was thinking, Jim, what was it like the first time you watched Dora the Explorer? What was it like? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:23

Oh my gosh, I have to think about it.

SPEAKER_04 6:25

Speaking of the microphone, the people are listening. I know, I know. You put it on. Or the wiggles.

SPEAKER_03 6:29

How about the wiggles? I've never seen the wiggles.

SPEAKER_04 6:31

Okay. What other kids?

SPEAKER_03 6:32

Well, I can tell you when I saw Dora the Explorer and you know, those kind of shows. It was it was simple, and you know, I my kids were excited about it, so I was excited about it.

SPEAKER_04 6:42

Here's the crazy thing about the 540 and Joel Christensen, okay? And it's just like Dora the Explorer and my daughter getting into that, or the wiggles. It's like you don't have a kid, life's going on just fine, and then you have a kid and you find out that there's this whole subculture like Dora, right? Or like the wiggles, or you're a cyclist and you find out for years, right in your own back uh backyard, this ride has been going on and you stumble into it. So without further ado, we wanted to introduce our dear friend, founding father of the 540 Joel Christensen. Wow.

unknown 7:25

How about that?

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Maybe maybe you should draw a caricature of me and put it on that trellis where the railroad goes where the railroad goes right over the path. You know, that could be a way you can honor a founding father.

SPEAKER_04 7:37

That sounds fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

A Mount Rushmore kind of like a graffiti.

SPEAKER_04 7:41

Yeah. With a two with a uh what's that tombstone? What I meant to say was what a cornerstone with a date. But we're gonna get into that. Okay, go for it. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Glad to be here. You guys are crazy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:53

Well, Joel, you've been in St. Louis since when?

SPEAKER_00 7:57

I moved here at the end of 1990. December 31st, 1995. Okay. So, and we lived, we moved uh into Crestwood. I'm not gonna tell you exactly where. Okay, because no paparazzi, you know, but we moved there and uh at first we moved in 96, and at first uh Grant's Trail was not complete uh in along the Afton Athletic Association, nor in that section between Gravloy and Pardee. Did it start at the lumber yard? It started at the lumberyard. I remember down to Orlando Gardens. So uh I started riding by myself. I'd ridden for a long time, rode in Oklahoma, I rode as a kid, passing papers, you know, all that fun stuff. And so I started riding, and then one great day, I can't tell you the date, I met another guy going the opposite direction, and we seemed to be going at the same pace. And sooner or later we said, hey, you know what? Let's ride together. And so Don Simakoff is a founding father. Don and I started riding together in '97. 1997.

SPEAKER_03 9:01

I always thought it was 30 years. I always thought for some reason it was in the mid-20s, mid-mid like 2003 or something.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

97. I think Odegaard joined us in four when they moved to St. Louis. And Mark, we were in 2004. Right. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 9:17

So for uh what, seven years, it was just you and Don? Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

Really?

unknown 9:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

Okay. We we did a lot of uh MS-150 rides together. Um, yeah, that's that's as best as I can remember.

SPEAKER_04 9:32

You know me, I don't like to feel left out. And I thought that there was this whole time where I, you know, where I was really left out, and it sounds like I missed some time, but not that many personalities.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

That's exactly right. Okay. Yeah, but we missed you.

SPEAKER_04 9:48

That's excellent. I hear you missed my talk. Ah, yes, yes. Uh so uh I I've got a list of questions here. One of them is uh like in Oklahoma, what kind of bike rider were you?

SPEAKER_00 9:59

Oh, just for fun. Okay. Every once in a while, it lived in north central Oklahoma where the wind's blowing 25 miles an hour, and uh you ride out against the wind and you ride back with the wind and maybe go 20 miles. You know, not often. Okay. And then in Bartlesville, there's a guy, a friend of mine, Steve. Steve and I, we would just take maybe uh 10 mile rides during the mornings, and then every once in a while on a Saturday, we'd go 30 miles, and there's some good hills in there, uh, going from Bartlesville, Oklahoma to Pahuska, Oklahoma. Okay. And uh then uh moved here and started riding on the trail. Fantastic. So 540. 540. Tell us about when that started. I have no idea because I think at first it was six o'clock. Who gets up at to ride at 5.40? That's outrageous. It is ridiculous. And it was I think it was six o'clock that Don and I would meet and we'd ride. And we weren't doing the JB loop at first. Okay. We were just doing the trail. It was a 13.4 miles round trip from my house. And um then sometime though, it may have been Odegaard, we started to say, hey, when's the best time to ride so people can get to work?

SPEAKER_03 11:10

Dr. Odegaard.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

And then it became 5.40.

SPEAKER_03 11:13

Okay. You think I also think people live about 10 minutes away.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Except me.

SPEAKER_03 11:19

Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, ten minutes would you leave if you left your house at 5 30, you shouldn't get there by 10. You can get there early.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

You usually do a little loop before time I I don't want to just sit around and talk. Yeah. I don't want to just sit around and talk. I just want to ride. So yeah, 5 40.

SPEAKER_04 11:37

That's it. Back when I was in Webster, it was seven minutes. And if it was if I was a minute late, I was chasing.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Well, we would give at first, and things have changed, we gave one minute grace period because some riders are known to be late, but then that changed. Now it's 5 40. Yeah. Kelch has his his uh watch or his uh phone at 5 40. 5 4 0, it's time. And otherwise, if you're late, you you're you're chasing. Just like it says on the jersey.

SPEAKER_04 12:07

5 40. Yeah, absolutely. We're gonna get to the jersey later on, by the way. So anyway, um, let's see. So Keith and Kathy, was it just Keith in 2004?

SPEAKER_00 12:19

Keith. I remember the first time Keith rode with me. We met up at the start, we went to over to Jefferson Barracks. I remember he was on his mountain bike. That guy was working hard, and he kept up pretty well, and that was great. And so it's 2004, is when he started.

SPEAKER_04 12:34

When did he get a road bike?

SPEAKER_00 12:36

Do you see? Well, he had a road bike, but it wasn't it was in storage. Oh, and once he got out of storage, yeah. Because they had just moved.

SPEAKER_04 12:43

Where did they move from?

SPEAKER_00 12:44

They weren't in Colorado, probably were they in Belleville or Colorado someplace? I don't know. Yeah, those are two different places, distinctly different places for sure. He should be interviewed next time, right? Well, as our tallest fee, our tallest rider.

SPEAKER_04 13:00

Yeah, since they're kind of a pair, I think we're gonna have both Pete and Kathy on together. So, anyway. Um, when did Rick Johnson join? Do you remember? I don't know any of these answers.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

Okay, we'll make up a date, nobody's gonna know. But I remember one time we on so on weekends or on holidays, we went on longer rides. Okay, right. And I remember one time Rick was on a ride with us. Rick was so much fun. I love riding with Rick because Rick is telling jokes whenever we come to a stop. He's a personality, oh, he's funny, he's funny. And I remember one time though, we came to a stop and he said, I am so glad. We didn't have to stop. I would like to roll through it or just have a way of doing that, and just but yeah, because he said, I need a I need a break. And so we took breaks. Rick is we miss Rick though. Maybe Rick will join us.

SPEAKER_04 13:49

That would be that would be awesome. That would be awesome. Actually, since you mentioned stopping, uh like stopping at lights and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

So don't ask me what year.

SPEAKER_04 14:01

Well, well, it's not that kind of you can tell that story later. What I wanted to say is Joel Christensen 2.0, as you sit here right now and as we ride with you, has a different ethos when it comes to road crossings than Joel Christensen 1.0, founding father. Cautious Christiansen.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

That's what I call myself now. And it sounds like a mantra. Cautious Christiansen.

SPEAKER_04 14:28

Do you say that in the mirror in the morning?

SPEAKER_00 14:30

I pray, God helping not to be stupid.

SPEAKER_04 14:33

Well, I have been honked at a few times. I remember one time, and this might not be doctrinally sound, uh, what Don said, but we go flying uh through, I mean, hardly stopped at all at Graboy. Okay, we had just started, and as you know, did you know that trail actually drops 50 feet from party to Graboy? It doesn't feel like it. It's 50 feet. That's what my garment says.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 14:57

I'm glad to know that. So you're going downhill. It's important to measure things. Yes, it is. You're going downhill, and uh we get to that guy, and you're like, Well, we're just going. And I think you even yelled clear. And we go across, and it wasn't that close, but it was close enough that we felt like we were gonna get hit. And it was you, me, and Keith and Don, and maybe a couple other uh people, and Don just goes, Well, we got an orthopedic surgeon if we get hit, and somebody to give us last rites if we die. That's right, that's right. Yeah, anyway. I'm sorry. Okay, so I jumped in in 2007. We were talking before uh we went live here that I just happened to I I knew you from circles, uh, Lutheran church circles, but uh ran into you and Don. So that's a founding father sighting. Yes, think about that. Wow, and uh like uh so communication back then was all email, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:00

And a cycling group in my email.

SPEAKER_04 16:02

Yes, so you invited me. It's blah blah blah. This is John. He's a he's a good rider, he's strong, he's 37. Isn't that weird to say? He was 37 years old back then.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

30 and uh yes 20 years ago. Almost yeah back then.

SPEAKER_04 16:17

Anyway, wow, and uh anyway, so uh yeah, and then and it it started.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

So so Mark Weaver was in the group by then.

SPEAKER_04 16:26

Okay, was Todd riding with us then? No, no. I okay we'll get to that before Todd. Yeah, we'll get to that. Uh I don't know if Mark Weaver was. Mike Kelch, I believe, was Aaron was, I think. Okay. Joel's checking because he's he's gonna be. I got records.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 16:42

He's gonna know this. You've got handwritten records, you've got them on your computer or your cell phone.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

I had this order at one time. Uh Christensen, then and Simikov, then Weaver, then Odegaard, and then I don't know, you're you're right after Odegaard, according to the.

SPEAKER_04 16:58

Probably I think Rick was before me. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

He was in and I. Which means maybe Kathy was too. Well, Kathy came after you, then Frank, then Aaron, then I call him Fast Mike, and then we have Brian and Charlie, and um let's see. Oh, Jim, you're in there too.

SPEAKER_04 17:19

Yeah, yeah. Okay, yeah, very good. Okay, so um, let's get to the dawning of uh sometimes there is a sea change in the 540 ride. Would you say that's accurate? There's a bellwether of things changing. Sure. I met Todd Harris at a uh that's what they call a watershed. He is uh quotable but not repeatable. I met Todd Harris when I did the 24 hours of Landall out in uh Kansas City, and he was there with a bunch of Christian cycling guys, and uh we got connected, and uh for a number of years he tried to get me to join. It it took a while, but in the meantime, I said you guys should come out and do this ride I do in the morning. This cool guy named Joel. Uh uh he runs it, and it's 5 40. And if you show up late, you're gonna be chasing.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

Right.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

So Todd came out. I used to tear down that first two-thirds of a mile towards Gravway. I would try to get up to 30 miles an hour going there. So if you're late, you lost it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:31

Absolutely. Yeah. Well, and I wonder if part of that, you probably don't know this until right now. So I back, I was like Pat when I got into the ride. Like I was young and fast because I was young. You guys were fast because you were fast, right? And I would lay in bed and I would go, ha ha ha, I would like laugh this maniacal laugh. And Bethany goes, What's the deal? And I'm like, I'm gonna hit those guys so hard to move. Oh my! Oh yeah, oh yeah. Like when I get to the park, or like I'm gonna start, I'm going 28 from the gun, blah, blah, blah. So anyway, yeah, yeah. So so you're gonna attack them. Oh yeah, oh yeah. Ambush them percent. So Todd joined us, yeah. Yeah, I want to say, I don't know, maybe 2008 or nine. I'm not exactly sure. Okay, sure. Okay. Maybe 10. Well, yeah, I know by 11 he was in. Okay. Okay. So, and he comes uh as a package deal. He brings George Godet.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

Oh, that's right, yep.

SPEAKER_04 19:34

Who's a Christian cycling guy, and they work together. Todd would say, I promise this would be clean, but Todd would say they pass gas because they both work for Spire, right? That's exactly what he said. That's what he would say. He says other things too. That was repeatable, but others are not. And then Jim Moore also would come periodically.

SPEAKER_03 19:52

Jim Moore?

SPEAKER_04 19:53

Yes. Oh, he came too? Yeah, cool. Yeah. And it felt like the ride had an average speed, and when those guys came, the ride had a new average speed.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 20:05

Yeah. Tell me about that.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

You know, I remember when those guys joined, and now we were doing the full loop, you know, going up to JB, go to the cemetery, you know, Sylvan Springs Park, come out, and then we had add on what I would call the Fiedler Mile. Yep. That last mile going from Rivas down to Orlando. I called that the Fiedler Mile. But we were cooking it. And what I remember is in 2011, we were going to try to beat that inner loop. Um, it's called the JB time trial on Strava. It's like two and a half miles, and we were gonna try to beat it as a team, our first one across, uh, in less than 630. Okay. And so we were who's gonna take which? I remember you telling me, okay, I took that first at S turn, and then I was slow down, and we beat it. And it was it was Fiedler and you and Todd and Frank. I don't know if Frank was wearing a shirt or not. And George It's an event established that he probably wasn't. Yeah, and George and Keith. Okay, and Keith and Kathy. Yeah, it was so good. I took a picture at the finish line. I got the picture. Yeah, took a picture. I used that picture, we beat the time, or what we wanted to do. I used that picture when I was teaching a class at Concordia Seminary St. Louis, teaching a class on leadership and the importance of working as a team. Wow, yeah. So you guys are famous. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 21:33

Did you tell the people of the seminary to pedal through the corners? Remember, that's what Todd. Todd Harris yelled at me all the time about it.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

One time I got back from a ride and I was falling asleep at work, and I get an email right away from Todd because I was exhausted. And Todd emailed and says, What was wrong with you today? And I'm thinking, there was nothing wrong with me today. We had a fast ride. He goes, he sends me this link, an article about how you need. To stay within a wheel, less a wheel or less. Yeah, right. Otherwise, you and talked about you know the physics and how much speed you're losing when you're two wheels behind. Okay. So he was yelling at me for that.

SPEAKER_03 22:11

You know what? That's interesting. It reminds me of somebody. It reminds me of Victor Van Diesel. I mean, he maybe we we fire Victor Van Diesel and we hire God.

SPEAKER_04 22:22

He could that could be a coup. That could be a coup, can you imagine? That's amazing. Um Well, maybe you were on somebody's, I'm not gonna say his name, but maybe you were on someone's wheel that you know how I'm talking about. Yes, I know.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Maybe it was that. I've yelled at that person a few times. Yes, we yelled at it.

SPEAKER_03 22:42

Todd Todd Race. Todd Race. Yeah. So he's so he brought that that um that experience, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 22:49

Okay. So where did the time trial morph into the figure? I call it the figure eight, but that's boundary to boundary, meaning you turn right on Sylvan's boundary road, uh past Sylvan Springs.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

Go past the cemetery, and you turn left, and you turn right, and right by that uh that house there, and then you you're into the park. Yeah, okay. It's 4.54 miles.

SPEAKER_04 23:15

4.54 miles.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

I don't know how we got into that one. 4.54 miles.

SPEAKER_04 23:19

Right.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

And um we just said, hey, let's see how fast we can go. And I think it was, let me check my notes.

SPEAKER_04 23:28

I'm gonna do math when you give me this number because it's still fast for people with jobs, it's fast.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

Todd Harris did it in 1117. 1117. Okay. Incredible. Incredible. And so that's just became it, you know. And we we it stopped, the time trial stopped right when we came to boundary again. It that last, you know, what is it, 100 yards or 200 yards up to uh telegraph. We didn't count, we don't count that. Yeah, yeah, it's 20 read read that number 24.107 miles per hour.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:10

That was fast for people with jobs. That's not bad. Yeah, right. I don't know if you remember an email exchange after that, because the rule was we just got to get one person across the line. Right. So that would be, and I'm pretty sure it was Todd. I mean, Todd was fast. That guy can go into the pain cave, I'll tell you. Anyway, so the our rule was only one person had to cross. And I remember saying, well, if it's official tour to France, you have to have like X number of riders. And boy, that made Todd mad. I I suffered the wrath. So anyway, uh, we're not here to throw Todd under the bus, though. Let's move on. Uh, your favorite section of the ride, if you have one.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

Well, I like slight inclines. So finishing up the time trial, I like that one. Yep. Finishing up from uh up to party, I like that one as well. And I like the feedler mile because we're kind of taking it easy. It come off the come off of Rebus and things are okay. We just talked for a little bit, see how many deer and turkeys. One time a turkey flew right over our heads. Nice.

SPEAKER_03 25:23

Where's the feedler mile?

SPEAKER_00 25:24

It goes from Rivas to Orlando Gardens. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:28

Yeah, like it used to end uh little right there.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Yeah, where the bathrooms are right now. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:39

So anyway, um, those are the favorites, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Um, how many bikes have you had during the duration of the 540? I think the number's three, but I'm not sure. Exactly right.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

Okay, yeah. No, the Schwin Passage.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

Woo!

SPEAKER_00 25:54

Nice, nice, yeah. The Schwinn passage. The swim passage, the fork broke on that bike. Okay. Keith and I were out for a ride on a Saturday morning. We're in Balling someplace, going through a subdivision, yes, down in an incline, down, down, and all of a sudden, poo, my bike sits on the wheel, and I do a turnover head over. Rollins, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

Yeah, Kathy came and picked me up. Endo. Yep, endo, right.

SPEAKER_04 26:20

And then uh so then I got the tourmal A.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Yeah, and that was a I love the color of that bike. Oh, that's a beautiful bike. It's a red bike, yeah. Can't we candy stripe, red, and and now the the um the Scott? Scott Cr1. Is that 15 years old or 10? I don't remember. Scott's let me check my numbers. Oh, see, there we go. The Scott has almost by the end of this year, it might have 50,000 on that.

SPEAKER_04 26:49

Think about that. Hey, uh, while Joel's doing that, I'm gonna go back to the Le Mans. So that's gonna come up later in our podcast, actually. But the Scott's in 2012. 2012. Yeah, 14 years this year. Yeah, awesome. CR1 something. CR1 something. Okay, it's a beautiful bike. It's a beautiful bike. Um, when I bought the Le Mans from you. You bought it to use for I bought it to part out. Really? Yeah. I'm sorry, I should have given it to you. To part out. Well, there's a story later on. Okay. Okay. Anyway, um, so aluminum does not rust, right? It's not supposed to. When when I was looking underneath the top tube, there were bubbles formed from the corrosion of sweat.

SPEAKER_00 27:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:39

And uh on the paint, and the aluminum actually had some galling in it, and I was like, now there's a life well lived.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

They they told me I was a top 10 sweater.

SPEAKER_04 27:49

That's who's they? The Mayo Clinic? No, the hub. Okay, very good. Awesome. Uh, let's see. Okay, I got a quick trivia question for you. Go for it. What side is the zipper on on the official 540 jersey? Left. It's different, isn't it? I don't know. It is. It's left. It's on the left side. Is it should be on the right? Normally they're on the right side. Well, see. Who designed the jersey? Kathy did. Oh really? That's interesting. You just are realizing that. I'm just realizing that. So I don't know if it's an accident. I don't even know if Kathy listens to these, but she needs to. Um, it feels like the rest of her life, you know, she spent battling, you know, for equality, the Air Force Academy, being a pilot, all of that. And uh her title I revenge on the almost all-mad cast of the 540 is the jersey. Where do you go cat? It's on the left side. Well done.

SPEAKER_03 28:57

So uh anyway, okay. Speaking of the jerseys, I I think it's time to get some new jerseys issued. Mine's mine's getting pretty uh pretty ratty. Disgusting.

SPEAKER_00 29:08

And okay.

SPEAKER_03 29:09

I think and I think we've got enough new writers. I'm gonna talk with Charlie. Okay. Charlie, I believe, has the work order from the last time.

SPEAKER_04 29:15

Oh, okay. Yeah. Jim, Jim, we're we're we're on final approach right now. Okay. I just wanted you to know. Well, I've got a couple other things. I'm just getting going. So that's awesome. I'm just getting going. Okay, how many crashes have you had in the last 30 years?

SPEAKER_00 29:31

First crash on my on this ride was when the trail did not go through Afton. By Afton Athletic Association. Okay. So I'm cut, I would always cut through Afton Athletic Association, and there's all that dirt, yeah, that sand. Oh, like on the on the pavement. On the pavement, and I bailed out, just smashed my knee up. That was bad. But how many broken bones? I don't know what year it was. I was a solo ride going by Grant's house, yeah, the historic site, and a big gust of wind. I was by myself, crashed. I remember crashed, broke a collarbone, several ribs. That was on the Le Mond. That was on the Le Mond.

SPEAKER_04 30:12

I think is it just you that knock on wood and I crashed on the Scott?

SPEAKER_00 30:16

Yes, I did. Broken bones? That was in 16. Oh. When I was it was two days after a double century with Mark Weaver. Okay. And uh I messed up, I tapped Kathy's back wheel, I went down, broke another collarbone. Same collarbone.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 30:31

Yeah, yeah, I know your orthopedic surgeon. And uh broke some more ribs.

SPEAKER_04 30:36

You have a frequent flyer card with Keith Odeg. Oh man, I do. He's only done three surgeries on me. Oh my goodness. So I remember, and you might remember this too. Oh, oh, so I think I got to work on the Schwin. Uh, how long did you have the Schwin? Did you have it for a while after you got the Laman? Probably. Okay. Because what I think happened was you wanted to give that to somebody. I did, yeah. You came, it wasn't Tim McGeew, was it? No. Okay. Anyway, you wanted to uh me to work on it. So you came to my house in Webster because you wanted to learn. And I didn't learn. You didn't learn. I realized I'm not a good teacher, especially to somebody with only one arm, because you were you were in a sling, right? And I remember you saying, Keith told me I would be very tired, and I like that I was going to underestimate how tiring my bones healing. Yeah, you you said he told you that.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 31:40

When I broke my knee four years ago, those words were echoing because I was tired. I thought I could do a whole lot of stuff. Yeah. Yeah. So okay, awesome. Uh Jim has a question. I'm gonna let him uh ask actually, because you you had that there.

SPEAKER_03 31:56

I think the last few are years. Okay, I threw some questions in, and we it comes up pretty often. Just that it came up the other day. I think almost any time anybody tries to sneak through an intersection, and we coined the term joling. Ah, yeah. Okay, so I know you're you're not proud of that one, but I was just curious.

SPEAKER_00 32:16

Well, it's Joel one point where whenabouts did that come about. Don't ask me dates. I can't remember the dates. Well, I mean, time frame, but it it was just that and yeah, who wants to stop? I mean, you just want to keep on moving, and you just kind of watch lose that momentum, yeah. I I like to watch it the lights and everything like that, but I did not see a car coming from my left. I think it was there on Telegraph as we were coming out of uh the time trial, and uh I cut it and shouldn't have. Yeah, and I kind of been accused of doing that, so I got lectured by Charlie Cassiano after my wife Lori died, and before I got married again to Mary, Charlie said no more of that.

SPEAKER_03 32:58

Yeah, so yeah, well, I think we all do it, but for some reason it stuck with it.

SPEAKER_04 33:05

Yeah, yeah. When did that happen? Like, I mean, was it 10 years ago? Maybe sure. Okay, but sure, sure.

SPEAKER_03 33:10

Good so thanks for explaining that because I wanted to know the you're a phenomena, the phenomenon of it.

SPEAKER_00 33:15

Well, yeah, it has to be at least uh seven years ago. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:18

Well, probably when you come out of the time trial, even if you're smoked, you're like completely amped up. You're orphans, you're so you're just like, yeah, I'm gonna go.

SPEAKER_03 33:28

Yeah, yeah. And also you got don't have enough really oxygen in your brain, and and you know, lactose, lactate lactose.

SPEAKER_00 33:39

I've done it, only one of us might have some of that.

SPEAKER_03 33:41

Yeah, you've got lactate, lactic acid coming out of your eyes. That's that's exactly right so what is your favorite weekend route?

SPEAKER_00 33:51

You know, I love when produce is in season going out to St. Charles. It's uh, and if you go all the way to the market, it's gonna be at least 50 miles for me. And it's a we've come back with corn in our pockets, peaches. We eat peaches out there. I was a corn ride. Oh, that's my favorite route. I love that ride.

SPEAKER_03 34:10

Great. And speaking of rides like that, like you told me about many long-distance bike touring experiences that you've had. What's your longest or most memorable touring ride experience? Tell us about it.

SPEAKER_00 34:23

Well, the one day double century rides, uh, Keith and I did eight of them. We completed eight. John, you're on one that was just that we did, but also one that we aborted because it was so hot.

SPEAKER_04 34:34

I remember that. Yeah, Kathy said we were crazy, and I'm like, we'll show her. And then it was 108 degrees that day.

SPEAKER_00 34:40

It was hot.

SPEAKER_04 34:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:42

But my favorite one that that double century, Keith and I, I think it was our second or third. We got in the middle of a storm, and so we caught the wind as it was going, it was coming out of the north, and then it was coming, and then it started to rain and hail, so we hid by a shed. We waited out the storm, we turned and we turned around, and uh, then the wind started coming out of the south. We averaged for that ride 18.7 miles for a double for a double century. 18.7 miles. Yeah, that that was that was uh uh one of my favorite rides. But then you know, boy, we just did that Natchez trace ride. That was a gorgeous ride.

SPEAKER_03 35:27

That was last year, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:28

Yeah, that was a gorgeous ride. Well, thanks for sharing that.

SPEAKER_03 35:31

Yeah, I love the experiences that you guys have given me. I before I met both of you, I thought that 20 miles was a long ride, but you know, so I appreciate all the inspiration. You guys really make a difference.

SPEAKER_04 35:43

Jim uh I heard that there are two schools of thought on a double century ride. Some people believe that a double century is all the way back to Keith's house, and other people believe a double century is just as it says and was billed to me. Sorry. 200 miles. Well, you gotta make it back to the finish. Well, that's not 200 miles. You didn't know I was gonna air my dirty laundry again. Do you remember the argument we had at the the place in that that red roof gas station in Columbia?

SPEAKER_00 36:20

Oh, is that where it started? Yeah, and you you said you're gonna quit.

SPEAKER_04 36:24

I'm gonna stop when oh, it looks like maybe when we get to across the bridge or something. Yeah, and you said no, you have to go all the way.

SPEAKER_00 36:31

Yeah, yeah. We started at Keith's house in Sunset Hills, yeah, at like 4 30 in the morning, probably. Yeah, we leave by five, yeah. And so we get to Maplewood, and you just stopped.

SPEAKER_04 36:43

I did. You just stopped.

SPEAKER_03 36:45

I did, I did, and because it was 200 and 200 miles.

SPEAKER_04 36:50

I put my feet in the grass outside of the it was a shop and save then. It should be. Okay, okay, okay, and it felt so good, right? And so you said you have to finish, right? You gotta, is what you said to me at that place in Columbia.

SPEAKER_03 37:05

Pushback.

SPEAKER_04 37:06

Do you remember what I said? What did you say? I said, I don't gotta do anything. I pointed at my speedometer, right? And I go, all I gotta do is go until this thing says 200.00, and there's not a thing you can do about it. Anyway, so yeah, and the walk of shame for me was Bethany picked me up. Yes, and uh we drove to get uh my car at Keith and Kathy's house and drove right past you guys. And I said, Drive faster because they're gonna make it and I'm gonna have to suffer. So anyway.

SPEAKER_00 37:42

Well, Jim, you bailed me out. That was I think two years ago. Those guys did a double century.

SPEAKER_03 37:48

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:48

And uh I was cooked. Oh, you came back each came back.

SPEAKER_03 37:52

It was one of those days it just got hot and it was windy, and it's like it was early. And I I wasn't it. That was the the ride that Frank's um forgot to charge his his um derailer, so his you know, his electronic shifting. So he was in the wrong gear. And and we're we're up in North City and are uh on the other side by Granite City, and everyone's like, Well, we're gonna go down and do Columbia flats. I'm like, I'm not, yeah. And I looked at you and and you weren't feeling it either. Yeah, so and then that was one that I remember. Yeah, and we did we that's when we came back the uh um Broadway. Oh we needed a gravel bike for that, yeah. I'm glad we didn't get a flat. And remember, we stopped at that brewery at water, yeah. Uh we made we we limped home on that, but I think that was the right call. Then there was the other time we did that century ride, and we stopped at the culverse for like an hour, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:46

Well, because Keith was there, probably. I don't know. Somebody some people like to stop for a long time. Oh, yeah. Um, I think it was on the hot one. Yes. That Keith, we're in Alton. Do you remember we came down from uh were laid underneath the tree? No, no, that was a different thing.

SPEAKER_00 39:05

That's my son Andrew was there. Right, right.

SPEAKER_04 39:07

Well, that story, I came out just to do a hundred with you guys. I had something else going on. Uh, and I remember laying under the tree. Right. Were we in Modoc or Prairie de Roche?

SPEAKER_00 39:17

Or yeah, one of those. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:19

You, me, Keith, Andrew laying underneath the tree.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:24

And like we were really concerned we weren't gonna make it.

SPEAKER_03 39:27

It was so life.

SPEAKER_04 39:30

Yeah, Keith double flatted uh in Alton the year we had to abort. And then we sat at McDonald's for a while while he was at a bike shop getting it all fixed. Oh, yes, and I think maybe he wanted to come back and sit and eat after that. I don't remember. It's I guarantee the next time I tell the story it'll be even funnier. And longer.

SPEAKER_03 39:50

And longer. So um, we're gonna wrap up our interview. We have a couple of questions just for you. That's like a some just fun multiple choice questions. Okay, so we get to know you a little bit better. And um, so can you remind me your home state?

SPEAKER_00 40:03

What do you mean, my home state? Missouri.

SPEAKER_03 40:05

Okay, you're born here, but Oklahoma.

SPEAKER_00 40:07

I was born in Nebraska.

SPEAKER_03 40:09

For some reason, I thought there was a connection to I was born in Nebraska.

SPEAKER_00 40:11

I lived in Illinois, that's where we're the Cubs shirts.

SPEAKER_03 40:14

And uh Oh, I we didn't bring that up.

SPEAKER_00 40:16

Yeah, well, now we did. And uh lived also in then in Oklahoma.

SPEAKER_03 40:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:21

Yeah, got it.

SPEAKER_04 40:21

Okay, well I have to bring your W flag?

SPEAKER_00 40:24

No, no, they lost two in a row. Oh my, it's a long story. Keep going.

SPEAKER_03 40:29

Wisconsin?

SPEAKER_00 40:30

No, no, it's a long story.

SPEAKER_03 40:32

Okay, well, well, the first question I have cup, there's multiple choice questions. So the first one is um on the classic 540 official route, which is 19.91 miles, what is the elevation gain? Is it is it A? It's multiple choice. Okay, is it A 147 feet, B 281, C two hundred and ninety, or D 323?

SPEAKER_00 41:04

I want to say D 323.

SPEAKER_03 41:07

Okay, well, according to the Strava official router, there's 147. Wow, which is that seems low, but that's that's what it is.

SPEAKER_00 41:15

No, there's gotta be more than that.

SPEAKER_03 41:17

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 41:18

Okay, keep going.

SPEAKER_03 41:19

How many museums are in the confines of Jefferson Barrack Park? That's a good one. It's a good one. Is it A, 3, B, 4, C, 6, or D7? Wow.

SPEAKER_00 41:35

I am going so fast. I'm not paying any attention to that.

SPEAKER_03 41:39

That's why I'm asking the question.

SPEAKER_00 41:41

Obviously, I wouldn't know that. Okay, wait a minute.

SPEAKER_03 41:43

There's there's uh four. Okay, four. The answer is actually D7. They are the telephone museum? No, uh, the powder magazine museum, the old ordinance museum, the laborer's house, the ordinance stable, the Civil War Museum, the telephone museum, and then the POW MIA Museum.

SPEAKER_00 42:04

Yeah, that's absolutely exciting. That's great.

SPEAKER_03 42:07

Okay, gotta keep it. Okay, I've got one that's this. You're gonna think of Jim for the rest of your life.

SPEAKER_00 42:13

I've got a layup for you.

SPEAKER_03 42:14

I've got a layup for you. I'm missing I'm flunking already. Okay, which live bait is generally considered the best choice for crappie? Minnows. A worms. Oh, you win. Bing, bing, bing! Thank you for the layup. I knew you you love the fish. That's right. Okay, well, cool. Well, that concludes our our conversation. Now you're gonna stick around with.

SPEAKER_00 42:40

Oh, you betcha.

SPEAKER_03 42:41

And we're we're gonna move on to our other segments that we promised our audiences.

SPEAKER_04 42:45

Do you do you mind if I ask just a closing question? Yeah. In all seriousness, this group of people and the ride, what does it mean to you?

SPEAKER_00 42:52

No, let me tell you, it means it's not about the ride, it's about the people. And I'll tell you one story, it happened two times, where my first wife is dying of cancer, and you guys come over to the house and you move mulch, and then the last time, right before she has to go have uh some kind of procedure done, you come over in the morning and you pray with us.

SPEAKER_04 43:15

Remember that day? It was beautiful. Yeah, sad, but beautiful. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:19

That that's what this means.

SPEAKER_03 43:20

God bless you, my friend. We're good. Yeah, all right. Thank you, Joel. We'll see you on the trail soon. So here we are, we're back for the 540 recap. So, this a section that we're just gonna now that we're actually riding, I thought it's good to share the ongoings, um, what it's like when we clip and in here together. So, obviously, the season um has been really stop and go, I would say. It's you know, go and stop, it's getting Hot and cold. So we've been struggling with the temperatures at 5 uh 40 in the morning. So turnout's been been a little bit weaker. I mean, it's you know, we've had cooler than Kelch temps. Um, they're sticking around for certain. And you know, I stowed away my winter clothes a couple times and struggled to find them again and lost them. Um, but you know, all of this means that you know we've had smaller groups than normal, but hopefully soon we'll, you know, we're gonna get this these reliable temps and and we'll start getting larger turnouts. And you know, one thing John noticed that there's a resurgence of Kelch. He's he's showing up, he's getting out there, and this is fantastic. Um, so that's that's really an important update. And then we've got the detour, the the dreaded detour is is cleared out. I mean it's done, right? It it's done.

SPEAKER_00 44:49

Saturday we rode right through it.

SPEAKER_03 44:51

Nice, yeah. We on Monday, we went out on Monday, um, three of us, and it was good. Nice. Yeah, so it was nice to have not to have to now. I don't mind going up, it's just on the way back when you're you know, I'm mentally prepared to just shoot right through, and then you realize, oh dang, I gotta go up that big hill. Yep. So that's that's gone. We did have a new writer, Andrew, Andrew Burkhart. He he joined on Friday. We'll see if he comes back. So it was really nice to have uh someone new.

SPEAKER_04 45:19

I mean, I think we've Easter egg, by the way, on that might be potential future podcast guest. We'll see.

SPEAKER_03 45:25

He might be. He's a very interesting fellow. So if you see him, make sure you get to know him and and welcome him. Um where else are we? So I mean, we've missed more than our fair shore of rides so far together, but I think that's gonna we're gonna be clipping in more together. We can say um that I mean we talked about the detour. Um anything else going around that. You know, I've got a question for our panelist, Jim. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:53

I guess um how have better lights changed the ride and the season? Ooh.

SPEAKER_00 46:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 46:02

Because you back in the 90s, you didn't have super good lights.

SPEAKER_00 46:04

Yeah, we are our lights are really weak. So I think we start earlier. We start earlier. Maybe I could check my old data here and find some information for us. But back in uh in 2005, I don't think we're really cooking that early in the season.

SPEAKER_04 46:24

So you just wait a little bit later. I met you guys right before uh Memorial Day.

SPEAKER_00 46:32

So anyway, extended the season.

SPEAKER_03 46:34

Yeah. I I can tell you by that detour that you know there were some very impatient riders that who decided to go through that detour and they were punished with flat tires. Yeah, that was not good. But um it is I think it's about time that we start making some concerted efforts on this time trial. I'm really inspired to hear about how you guys went about it in the past. You were really focused as a team, but and maybe we can get this together.

SPEAKER_00 47:04

John, how many years ago was it that we said the clock the clock is running time? No, we include we will include the stops. Odegaard's crash on the way to the start and that tandem. And uh you said once we start, we're gonna run the whole time. That was the speed run, yeah. And that was that just a few years ago?

SPEAKER_03 47:23

That's still the record that was in that's 2020. That's August.

SPEAKER_00 47:26

Is that long ago? Wow, okay.

SPEAKER_03 47:28

That is the you you and I share the king oh, do we the king of the mountain on that one? Okay, the king of the sector.

SPEAKER_04 47:34

It was a fast day, it was a fast, and I don't know that it'll ever come back because of COVID. It was like there was no traffic. We did not. I looked at my uh that day, if that's the one we're talking about. There was one time on my Garmin plot where my speed was zero. One time. Think about how many times we typically stop, right?

SPEAKER_03 47:53

Yeah, so good. So that's our quick ride update. Um, again, I think we'll we'll we'll get the crew together, we'll we'll figure out what the good options for picking a date and just showing up and then hammering.

SPEAKER_04 48:05

Uh sweep the corners. Do you remember?

SPEAKER_03 48:08

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:09

This is when Todd. So the the history behind that is Todd and Christian cycling. I helped with this one year, two years, uh, had a uh race up in Hillsborough, Illinois called the Hillsborough Roubaix. Roubaix, because it has cobbles. I'll tell you, Jim, coming down a hill at 40 miles an hour onto cobbles. You've not lived until you've done that. Uh, but anyway, so we used to sweep the corners. So, you know, it was a road race, so you know, all the corners were safe. But yeah, I think we swept the corner by we, I think it was Todd, maybe. Oh, I thought it was Frank.

SPEAKER_00 48:44

Frank had been Frank was injured and he couldn't ride with us, and so he he got out there early, had the corner swept, and we go right, make that right turn.

SPEAKER_03 48:52

Yeah, okay, perfect, perfect. That could save a few seconds. Yep. Um, very cool. Well, that went to wrap up that section. We're gonna move on to um our next section here.

SPEAKER_04 49:11

Jim, uh, I've got our puzzler this week presented by Taledo Coffee. Uh, and uh first, uh, it's always good to review uh uh last week's puzzler and who won. Uh just as a reminder, because it's been a minute, uh, way back in 2012, I was in Lake Tahoe on a borrowed road bike. I was going downhill at 50 miles an hour, maybe plus. I hit the brakes and the bike started to get a wicked speed wobble, meaning it was, you know, really just oscillating from side to side. I clamped my knees on the top tube. I just listened to our last podcast, and you thought I had said STEM.

unknown 49:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:49

And you said I had long knees, which I probably do. But anyway, and uh uh so yeah, I I diagnosed the problem. That was the question. And uh what uh, you know, some people responded. They texted. So the first one was uh, you know, we've got uh some listeners thanks to the uh Odegaard's trip to Vietnam. They would have been Vietnam, right?

SPEAKER_01 50:11

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:12

Uh Fo Nguyen from Vietnam wrote, it's probably John's poor skill set and lack of contributing or lack of form contributing to the wobble. That's a little cutting, actually. Now, this one was cryptic. Says a listener uh okay, uh, he only identified himself by the initials V V D from the EU. Wow. I don't know who that could be. V V D, it's very cryptic. Uh but he responded, friends, in the coming months you may hear some inflammatory rumors regarding me and my coaching methods. I categorically deny any wrongdoing and am fully cooperating with the investigation. Now, Jim, I have no idea what any of that means. And I want to caution our listeners that this platform is open and it's here to disseminate bike knowledge and bike repair skills. It is not a political platform in any way, nor will I tolerate any uh uh accusations of my poor skill set as a writer.

SPEAKER_03 51:15

Yeah, and this does not reflect the the beliefs of the 540 Pi.

SPEAKER_04 51:20

Jim, I'm so sorry. I got really amped up there. But look, so uh our rising super fan Doug from Festus responded by saying, John, I believe the headset was loose, and he's dead on right. I got down to the bottom of the hill, I put my knees on the fork and I was shaking the bike back and forth, and the headset was loose. I tightened it, I was good to go. Uh, so he gets a free coffee from Tileo. Brian Rages was our runner-up, uh, he's an honorable mention. He also answered correctly just about a day later. So, Brian, uh, just quicker on the draw next time. But thank you for your technical skills and your engineering mind. And you know what?

SPEAKER_03 51:57

We're we're kind of buying. Uh, we he's he's that we still have not given him his coffee.

SPEAKER_04 52:01

Well, I mean, I parked there like three times a week, and people know how to get there. So anyway, I think he's expecting it.

SPEAKER_03 52:07

By the way, we're gonna I'm I'll get some gift cards and we'll disperse perfect.

SPEAKER_04 52:11

Did you see that they have this St. Louis coffee buy one, get one thing? There's a a deal. This is a real thing uh at Tileo, but it's for a like a bunch of coffee shops. I think it's 25 bucks a month. And uh I might actually do it because it always seems like I'm buying someone coffee or they're buying me coffee. So anyway, um, okay, so this week, Jim, I've got a special treat. It's a listener submitted puzzler. Okay, I didn't even have to work this time. So let's see. Ted, this gentleman Ted from Valley Park rode in with, hey 540, longtime listener, first time caller. I've got a hodgepodge bike that I call Leroy. It's a Cannondale CAD 8 frame in sunset cyclery livery, just like Aaron Aaron Kohler's old bike. Yeah. Um uh it's uh and my brother-in-law uh paired that with wheels, a cockpit, and group set from Joel Christensen's Le Mans Tour Malay. Joel, we were just talking about that bike. I have a problem that shows up when I first ride, then goes away after a while. The rear brake rubs a bit for a while. I'm not sure if the wheel is out of true or if the back tire brake component, now his words, not mine, but I understand what he's getting out, if that's out of whack. Any thoughts on what it can be uh so I can fix it? And uh because the right pad is practically touching the rim. And any any thoughts about that we would be appreciated. So, like normal, make sure you uh, if you have the answer, uh any answer, but especially the right one, text Jim and I. You can also write it on a $20 bill and send it to our homes. Uh, and uh the first uh correct respondent gets a Tileo coffee. Tileo coffee, love your neighbor.

SPEAKER_03 54:09

Trail personality of the episode. This is brought to you by Isle of Fudge, the lulliest fudge in the United Kingdom. This is a shout out uh to the Isle of Fudge, which is based in the Isle of Wight, UK. It's homemade Isle of White clotted cream fudge, freshly made in Newport, available online and at local fets, fairs, and farmers markets. The top flavors this month are hot honey, and we've got rum and raisins and chocolate caramel, and that and there we are now offering cotton candy. So, and we are famous for our white chocolate, no pun intended, made with Isle of the White Butter and Clotted Cream from Guernsey Cows from Farm to Fudge. And this is owned and operated by my dear friend and we nipper, Richard Jones Evans, who I once uh used to ride. I rode a lot of bikes on the Isle of White, and I made friends with with Richard. He doesn't ride bikes, but I became very dear friends with him. So he's got an amazing business that he's uh burgeoning business on the island, and he makes a lot of fudge and he sells to a lot of people on the island, and always looking to help our friends boost their business. So you can see him online, just go to Isle of Fudge, the lowliest fudge in the UK.

SPEAKER_04 55:29

Awesome, thank you. It's Richard, right? Richard, excellent. Well, hey, uh, first of all, Jim, I've been thinking about how we are the scenery to other people and they are the scenery to us on Grant's Trail. Uh, I want to know if you saw uh Free Guy, the movie that had Ryan Reynolds in it. No, no, another movie. I want to know if you have a life.

SPEAKER_03 55:52

I don't know where you get these movies. I've never heard of them before.

SPEAKER_04 55:56

Well, I mean, it's not just random either. Do you know what it's instant? Do you know in video game terminology what an NPC is? I do not know. It's a non-player character. Okay, I get that. Okay, meaning it's like the guy that's doing this. And in that movie, he was just blue shirt guy, but somehow he became sentient and then he became the main character, and it was kind of blowing everybody's minds. So sometimes I'm wondering: is everybody else an NPC out there? Or are we NPCs? Are we in the matrix?

SPEAKER_03 56:28

This is very existential.

SPEAKER_04 56:29

It is a turn to our conversation. Well, hey, today's uh in a little bit of a serious note, our uh our trail personality uh is Miles Mulligan, who uh I just found out today because I looked his uh his name up, Miles Mulligan, uh passed uh this year in February, uh on uh February 28th, the last day of February. Uh-huh. So yeah, right? Miles. Remember Miles? Miles. Okay, so I'm gonna read a little bit out of his uh obituary first of all, and then I'll explain those uh longtime 540 riders. I know, right? Um uh longtime 540 riders will uh recognize him. So uh from his obituary, it says an avid cyclist, Miles, biked 12 miles a day for nearly 20 years. When he wanted wasn't on his bike, he could be found walking through the neighborhood, offering a cheerful good morning to everyone he met. So his uh path in life and the 540 ride intersected usually right at the lumber yard. Right. Or just a little bit down toward Union, as he and probably two or three other people would uh head out. And uh, Joel, first of all, do you remember what Miles was wearing on his head usually? No, he was wearing a babalaklava, okay, like a face thing. Um, and I if it was 60, he was probably wearing a babalaclava.

SPEAKER_03 57:59

Even on he was riding his bike, right?

SPEAKER_04 58:01

Yeah, riding his bike.

SPEAKER_03 58:02

Well, I wouldn't meet, I wouldn't know this guy.

SPEAKER_04 58:04

What's that? I wouldn't know you know the guy, you know by the guy by what he said.

SPEAKER_03 58:07

Okay, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 58:08

Because what did he say? So we would come up and he'd go, morning, morning, morning. Not just good morning. He would give us three mornings. And uh a lot of us like people. Dave Fiedler loves people. Yes, and somehow Dave runs into Miles. We didn't know his name. He was just the morning, morning, morning guy. Runs into him, meets him, and he goes, John, you're not gonna believe it. The morning, morning, morning guy, his name, it's the best name ever. And I said, What do you mean? He goes, Miles Mulligan. So my Miles grew up in St. Louis, I believe, and uh Catholic, you'd you expect so, with Miles Mulligan, Irish, and uh just a good soul. They said he was a gentle soul and a good soul. And uh anyway, so Miles uh we'll miss you. Uh to Miles uh family, our condolences. But Miles, thank you so much for being part of our scenery for the better half of two decades, it looks like. And we we hope that we enriched your life by our presence. Okay. Can I get an amen on that? Amen. Very good. Miles. Uh-huh. That's all I got for you, Jim. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 59:27

On to the tech talk. The tech talk section um topic for today is shorter cranks. This is where we've been hearing about this for a number of years, um, and it's really gained momentum. And it's not just becoming popular, it's almost becoming almost um normal. And and the resulting um of this is that it's very difficult to get shorter cranks. So, what do I mean by shorter cranks? So um standard cranks on a standard bike for decades and decades have been how long? 175 or maybe 172. Yeah, it's either 175 and it's like a 58 and above, and if it's a 56 and below, it's a 172.5. Well, I mean, it's just the industry just kept it simple, right? They just this is normal. And you know, a couple of these pro-Peloton guys like the Slovelian um Bogacar and Jodasvin DeGo, and other riders have adopted the smaller cranks. And you know, those guys were winning, so it must be a good idea. So I've been researching this, being a smaller person. I did get this new bike and I got a bike fitting. I have bad knees and I'm getting older. And so it's not just for the pros. What what they're finding out is the shorter cranks, whether you go to like 165 or 160, as we're getting older, it when you do that, it changes the die the angles of your hip angles and your knees, so there's less strength or there's less stress on your knees and your hips, it opens you up a little bit. And and it it's actually better for us as we get older, 50 and older.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:06

I'm fascinated by that.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:07

Yeah, yeah. And and so the the the the old belief is that if you do this, you're gonna lose a lot of torque. Well, the the studies that I've seen online and and uh YouTube is this is not the case. In fact, you actually gain a little bit because of that angle. You have to raise your seat when you make your you know, you get shorter. You raise it up, you're changing that angle. You can and then the other thing is you're turning the pedal faster. So you're going over the top more often. And and and this this is something that I'm I think is a is an interesting thing to consider. And the the thing is the bike manufacturers haven't had time to catch up with this, these customization of the uh bike fits. So we're starting to see some momentum on that. So that's my my drop. That's my drop for the tech talk today.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:59

So, like you're saying like people that are doing frame design and bike geometry and bike fittings, they've okay, they've not caught up to the fact that you could be running like like you could run 160s. I could I I could, yeah, but I did 165.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:16

Interesting. And um you it it used to be that used to even be longer back in the in the 60s, 50s, and 40s, because the the belief was more torque, more power.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:26

Yeah, that that's interesting because I had my cranks replaced a few years ago, and the the bike shop uh uh apologized because it said, Well, we can we're giving you shorter cranks, as if oh, we really don't want them. But thank you for sharing that. Yeah, it's become um interesting.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:45

It's very interesting. So you can look it up and research for yourself, but um before you move on, it just got bad knees, it's a good thing for me.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:53

It occurred to me. So Jonas Vinigo, right? So his name is his last name is spelled like Vin Vinegard, right? Should we start calling Keith Odigo? Like it's kind of he's O de Guard, right? Yeah, it's sort of spelled the same. They probably lost a letter when they came over on the boat.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:13

And I'm intrigued that that just occurred to you at this moment.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:17

Yeah, okay, yeah. It'll always come out when it's I'm about a minus one Todd Harris on the filter.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:25

Okay. Well, we're gonna move on to speaking of Jonas Vindigore, we are going to move to some news. All right, let's do it. Okay. And now it's time for the international UCI news update. All right, welcome back. We are now moving on to the news. News you can use, or maybe not. Um, international cycling. So have you guys been following this very much at all? Giro's happening. The Giro just kicked off. Do you know where it kicked off from? Uh Bulgaria. Bulgaria of all places. Yes, another start in a former Uh were they Warsaw Black, probably?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:17

Soviet block, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:18

Um, roads are slippery there. I saw that. There were some pretty bad crashes to be expected, but they say the roads are very good there. So we got um just you know, it's been a pretty amazing season so far. Have you watched any of these online? Um, it's really hard to watch these races online.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:37

Usually I'm a you I'm I'm a fair weather YouTube 10-minute summarizer.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:43

Yeah, yeah. Sorry. Yeah, I mean, that's the me too. I mean, how are you gonna watch all these things? Did have you ever researched like how it would I kind of did some research. If you wanted to watch every race on the UCI, you would have to have subscriptions to at least four or five platforms. It's like a Rubik's Cube do you need to use to just come up with the solution.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:04

And it's a shame, and I think they changed the name, but who wouldn't want to watch Omloop het Volk? But I that means race of the people in Dutch.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:16

Yeah, it's Victor wherever you are. Yeah, but um, yeah, we don't know. I mean, Victor, speaking of international, I got a bad feeling that something's gone down for him. Um, he has not called us back or anything like that. So he's we can't get a hold of him. Maybe I could just pretend to talk like him.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:31

That would be a good, that would be a good change.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:35

No one would know. Yeah. Well, we'll we'll see what happens with him. We'll we'll keep him on the retainer. I know he I'm not paying him anymore. Oh no crypto anymore? Well, no, I mean he hasn't called me back.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:47

Oh we don't really pay him until So you're not on a like a like it wasn't a subscription thing?

SPEAKER_03 1:05:53

No.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:53

Okay, no. Good.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:54

It was it was definitely easy to cancel. Still on the fence. Yeah. No, I think I I think I'm on the fence with you. He's been just a little bit disappointing here. So yeah, the the season up to this point, we're kind of moving into the grand tour, but the real uh just to share some recap of some of the surprising racing. This has been I I have not I don't have years under my belt of watching these races, but some of these races that I that I was able to watch that some of them were on like NBC or something like that. It was pretty astounding racing. You know, it was Pogachar, you know, top podium placements. He was won four out of five races. He just wins these races, like if he's uh putting stickers onto his, you know, into like one of those cards that you want to win, and he just like at will winning these races. Um but it remember we talked about Paul Sexas? Yes, absolutely, it's a real name. He won the Tour de Basque, 19 years old, and he won the Flesh Wellen, and he got second place in the Strada Bianchi, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:57

That's right, he did. Uh Tade won. He won. But yeah, uh, I'm trying to remember. Uh so Tade had a big solo break on that, but Paul was was he like in the he was only 30 seconds back then, but I mean he was pretty far off the front, also.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:11

Yeah, he was he he didn't quite quite keep up up with them at the time. Okay. But when they I'll tell you a little bit more about when there was a race that um the uh in the the the Perinice, which is a big race. Race to the sun, yeah, but on the um the the Baston Leash Baston race, he finished second place to Tati again by only like 30 seconds. He Toddy did his his um power up those hills, you know, he dropped everybody. This 19-year-old kid stuck right with him, and I a couple times he looked back and he's like he's still there. He followed him up three of the final four climbs, and he just he couldn't stick with him on the last one.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:53

It's it's impressive. I had a feeling like that once with my new cycling friend out on Shepherd Ridge Road. Oh do you remember that? I do.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:02

All right, you start yelling, shut up. You did that the other day on a couple couple times last year on the trail. That's your trigger word. It is a trigger word. So um, yeah, so just real quick recap. So the Omloop Nusblad was won by Vanderpool. And uh Hetbull became probably MVDP, yeah, and then uh Demi Bellering got sex first place for the women's, and then there was Kern Brussel Kern, and that was Matthew Brennan from Vismo. The Strade Bianchi was Tare with Paul Sexus behind him. May I interject a left side zipper comment?

SPEAKER_04 1:08:37

Yeah, go for it, yeah. Thank you, and I'm gonna do it anyway. Um uh it's uh interesting and cool being the father of a daughter, right? Who is an athlete. Uh, that uh there is definitely a lot more uh equal billing uh of women cycling. Uh because you mentioned uh Demi Bowering's a beast. She's amazing. I mean, she's a bunch of us Puck and a lot of competitors. Yeah, Puck Peters and uh yeah, anyway, so um no, that's pretty cool. So uh shout out to Kathy and your left left zipper. Uh the women are getting more cycling coverage.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:12

Definitely. All right, yeah. And then um then there and then we had the um the 119th Milan Sen Remo, 119 years they've been doing that. Tati, he had that uh shootout race with Pitcock from Pinarello, Q360, and Wap Bonark got third on that, and Lotto Copecki won from SD works. That's a 300-mile monument. And uh that was his third, that was his first win in three tries to win the Milan Sen Remo for Tati. It was a big race.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:41

Kazer Miles. Is it Kazer Miles?

SPEAKER_03 1:09:46

Sorry, 300 kilometers.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:47

That's still far.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:49

Um the E3 Saxo, the 93rd of that was MVDP, Matthew Vanderpool from Alperson, and March 7th was the um yeah, uh, excuse me, the 88th Flanders Field, which was formerly the Ghent Velgum, was on April 5th. That was won by Jasper, the disaster Phillips yeah, Sprinter. He's a Sprinter, yeah. And Lorena Weebies from SD Swark. So what was that race? That was the in Flanders Field. It's called in Flanders Field, right? And it's the formerly Ghent Velgum. Right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:26

Victor would be if he were here, he would help us. Yeah, maybe he, yeah, I don't know. The crank lengths are those in feet. Oh, okay. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:41

So then then moving on, we had the the Duars Dorvandran on April 1st. Filippo Gana from us won that. And Marley Rooser won from Movistar. The 113th Tour of Flanders was won by Tade Bagaca again. Nice. And then Remko Evanpol got third. You know what his new nickname is? It's Pinocchio. No, why? Well, he he was lying to say he wasn't gonna be in the race, he wasn't gonna be in the race, and then the day of the race he showed up. So everybody in Belgium was pissed off at him, and they calling him the Pinocchio now. And Demi Bollering won for FDJ United Swess. Um, then the 123rd Perry Roubaix. 123rd, 1896 was that first race on April 12th. Wild Van Nord of the North. Yes, help and Fair du Nord. Fair du Nord, yeah. Wild Van Art defeat Toddy for Gacha on that one. And that was an amazing race. Toddy is supposed to win this race, and he had three mechanicals, but yet he still got second. Matthew Vanderpool had a mechanical going up the the Outerberg, and Wild Van Art had a mechanical too, but it got down to that sprint in the Bellodrome. Did you see that? He broke in tears, hugging his kids. That was absolutely I mean, Belgium lost the nines. Maybe that's what happened to um our friend Victor. I think maybe he's still partying.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:06

Yeah. That makes sense. I mean, I wouldn't pick up if, like, yeah. You know, I'm I don't Tate is not like uh the New England Patriots, I don't mean to make him out like that. But as a bigger guy, I love to see the Belgian hard men like dude, he deserves it. Yeah, wow, just just put them put the hammer down and and bring it home in the Bellodrome. That was that was awesome.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:29

Yeah, that was a hell of a finish. And it's like right in his backyard, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:12:32

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:33

And then you had Amstel Gold, Remco, Evanpole, Red Bull won that race, and Paula Blase won that for the uh for the women for the femme. Um the Flesh Wallon was won by Paul Sexas from Decathlon. Um Peck Puck Peterson from Phoenix got that for the women for the femme. Bastion Liege again, Pogacar, the Slovelian, won that for the third time. Paul Sexus got third, and then Remco was third. Uh second was Paul Sexas, and Remco got third with Red Bull.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:02

So are we just gonna put the white jersey for the tour on Paul Sexus's shoulders right now?

SPEAKER_03 1:13:08

Well, this is the big debate. Should he race it? Well, they've already announced that he will race the Tour de France. They announced that the other day. And they they're saying the last time uh a French writer won any tour was in 2007. Yeah, so they're gonna go crazy. There's a lot of pressure on this kid. Who won an 07? Hinault? Bernard Hinault? No, not at least. The race was the Dauphinet, but I can't remember the writer. Hinault was the last French writer to win. Yeah, in 85. Yeah. Yeah, before Laman. The Badger. The Badger. Yeah. So that's kind of the recap of what things are happening. Coming up, uh, we've got the summer schedule. The Giro started in Bulgaria on 5.8. Then we've got the Tour de Avernay in the in the Rhone-Alps, that's in on uh in June. The Tour de Suisse, June 17th. Tour de France starts where? Where's the Garrand depart this year? I have no idea. It is going to be a team trial, team trial, team time trial in Barcelona. Oh, that's right. Spain. There's three stages in one in Barcelona, Tarragona, and then in the Pyrenees.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:16

This should have been a puzzler if I had known. Uh who wears yellow. If it's a team time trial and a team wins, which rider wears yellow? The GC, no. What do you mean?

SPEAKER_03 1:14:31

They all wear them. No?

SPEAKER_01 1:14:33

No.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:33

I wear it. If it's the team time trial and it's the first race, no one's wearing it.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:39

I think we're gonna have to check back in next time. Okay. That's a cliffhanger. Okay. Well, yeah. I like it. Awesome.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:47

Then oh, interesting. Next year, the Tour de France, guess where it starts? Uh Hawaii. That would be awesome. That would be a logistical night. Uh Mallorca. No, actually, it's starting in in Great Britain. It's starting in Edinburgh. In Edinburgh, and then they're going to wrap up in Cardiff.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:05

Nice. Three days. You don't know David Miller, do you? Who that is? Do you remember David Miller? No. Armstrong era. Uh got busted for doping. Actually became a big proponent for uh anti-doping and also uh advocacy for the writers. But uh he I think the prologue for the tour back in the mid-2000s was in Great Britain. And he's a Scot. Okay, so he's British. And uh he won the prologue. And the next day there was another uh stage in Great Britain, and he said, wearing the yellow jersey on my home roads, riding through my countrymen was the thrill of a lifetime.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:46

So yeah, cool. Yeah, that's amazing. That's what I like about cycling. There's so many great stories like that. Um, so yeah, that's kind of the real cube. Oh, one thing that I wanted to say, I uh where am I getting a lot of my news from for international? I follow this. Uh there's a show called the uh cycling podcast. I've shared it with you. It it is a phenomenal source, it's an excellent listen. If you want to listen to some great sports journalists who specialize in cycling, they understand the history. They there's three guys, two guys from England, Daniel Freeb and this guy, Lionel Bernie. And they have these guests that come on and they do day-to-day coverage for the Jiro and the Grand Tours. It's awesome. Just look up the cycling podcast. The one guy, Daniel Freeb, did an expose I shared with you about the Chernobyl disaster. Yes. And the peace race. In 86 when that happened, when that disaster happened, um, the peace race was set to start uh six days after the Chernobyl disaster in Kiev, which is just a hundred kilometers from from Chernobyl from Ground Zero. So this this guy, uh Daniel Freeb did this expose that covered that race and every in the politics, but what would what it had been like to have been a racer uh in that setting and understanding everything not understanding everything that was going on? And it it's it's fascinating. I I thought it would, I go, this, I didn't think this would be very interesting, but I once I started listening, I was gripping. It's on the cycling podcast as well. So I'll just let it just go with that, the cycling podcast. So we're gonna go on to local news.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:21

Tell me, comrade. How can there be an explosion in an RBM K1 reactor? Did you see the Chernobyl miniseries? It was good.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:35

I think Joel said one time I have too much time, and he might be right. And now it's time for local St. Louis News for the cycling scene. Well, Jim, this is headlines. You bought another bike just last week. And it's not a road bike.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:53

It's a John, you blew my cover.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:56

Well, I'm sorry, but I just said it. I guess you can edit this out.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:01

Yeah, I did. I bought it uh a used road uh mountain bike. I always said road bike, but it's a mountain bike.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:07

Very good, awesome. Well, uh, from the rest of us in the mountain biking crew, and I actually that's how I started in the sport back in 1991. It might not it might be how I end. I borrowed my sister's GT Timberline 26er with rat trap pedals. I was the first one to get it muddy, and she was mad. Sorry, Bianca. Anyway, so uh this song, uh part of this song is for you. All right, Jim. So we're gonna go out sometime and I'm gonna work I'm gonna catch you riding dirty. And while I can with my skill, because it's certainly not my VO2 max, I'm gonna go Shepherd Road on you. And you know what I'm gonna go away. All right.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:10

I just hope I don't kill myself and run into a tree. That's what I just don't want to do.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:15

So that was the hot take. So uh that's all I've got for local news. That's all you've got for local news. Oh, and actually, I do want to throw, I do want to throw something out there uh to Christian Cycling Land for those that are members. Uh, we're celebrating our 40th anniversary of the ministry this year, which is awesome. Uh Christian's Christian Cycling started at the National Road Time Trial Championships in September uh uh 40 years ago at the uh Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. And uh if uh you're a member uh or were one and you want to uh make sure your membership's paid up, we've got a really great um uh goodie bag that's gonna come out to you with a bunch of cool giveaways. So uh Christiancycling.org, go to join if you're interested or you want to get signed up again. Thank you. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:07

Yeah, cool. Well, you blew my cover. Now now you I've caught you riding dirty, or I'm gonna.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:12

I'm gonna, yeah. By the way, do you know who sings that song? I I have no idea, John. Chamillioner. Oh my god. You're killing me, man. They played that. You know where Club Fitness is or used to be in Yorkshire Plaza. The year I trained for my 24-hour race was the year before I met you. They played that song in there all the time. It was ridiculous. And I was like, this is a bad song. And I was like, the rest of the day, though, I was like, trying to catch me riding dirty. You know, anyway. I'll be thinking that's my earworm now. I did sing after all.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:47

Yeah, you did. It wouldn't be it wouldn't be a meeting with John or time spent with John if there wasn't some some melodies.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:55

I don't mean to turn this all into something about me, but that's funny. I like it. But I do.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:59

Yeah, I love it. You call me out on it. You helped. I saw this bike on Facebook, and I'm like, is this a good deal? And you're like, yeah, that's a really good otherwise I wouldn't have sprung for it, but yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:11

I mean, what, 20, 25 grand, something like that? That's a good deal, too. I asked.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:18

Well, it's gonna be fun. Hopefully, I can ride with Luke because he doesn't like Spandex, and and he would rather ride in the in the road, uh not ride in the road, he wants to ride in the woods. So we'll see. All right, so moving on to some some of the other news, uh, local. Um, past news, the Tour de Stooges, Brian Honringhaus and Andrew Klosterman did ride in the 46-mile Tour de Stooges. Uh Stooges, is that how I say Stooges, yeah, Stooges. Um, so yeah, I it looks like they had a really good time. Good. I think that was uh one of Andrew's friends who went with them. Uh this weekend, Vino Fondo is happening. Um, and that I've I I I Brian and I were gonna ride it. Um, and who else Pat was going to do it, and things that come up. I'm still gonna do it. I didn't sign up for it yet, but I'll probably do the 100 just to I need to get some miles and because he and I are riding the triple bypass in the in Colorado. So is it time they still time uh Schulersberg? Yeah, yeah. Um that's coming up, and then there were some mountain bike races. There's the luawau, there was the greenfelder. Um, and so upcoming stuff, dirt crits. John has been talking to me for years about the dirt crits. I tried it last year with on a borrowed mountain bike. When did dirt crits start up?

SPEAKER_04 1:22:33

Well, uh, spring dirt crits have been trying to happen for the last two weeks. Uh, this coming Thursday night, so two nights from now. Uh, SBR's uh carrying the torch from Matt Struckman and actually going way back to Rich Pierce, who started uh shout out to Rich, started dirt crits back in the 2000s. So that's out at Chesterfield at uh River's Edge Park. Okay, take it uh cleared off.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:58

Mud's the problem.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:59

Yeah, uh from what I see on the St. Louis mountain bike Facebook page, which Jim, you should get on now since I caught you riding dirty. Okay. Uh anyway, uh, but uh yeah, so and then uh sometime in June is when uh uh Valley Park happens.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:15

Okay, great. In June. Um that's really fun. Looking forward to that one.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:19

You mentioned uh those races that you just talked about, uh mountain bike races, that's part of the UFD East series.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:26

Do you know what UFD stands for, Jim, the new mountain biker? Um UF something dirty. Uh United Federation of Dirt. Okay. And you skipped over you skipped over the rumble on Route 66 mountain bike race. Okay, very good. Did you circle it? Um you didn't say it or circled it? Uh let's see how genuine I am. Okay. Anyway, so I have it circled the rumble on route.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:51

It's on May 31st in St. James.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:53

St. James, Forest City Trails put on by uh Dan Furman of Route 66 Bikes uh in Rolla. Cool. And uh uh race director Brandon Amos of uh Christian Cycling. Okay, great. Uh are you gonna go down to that? Uh I'll be there. I'm pulling the trailer. Uh actually might we might sneak the snow cone machine down there.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:15

We'll see. Okay. Um, so then you know, when we speak it, let's talk mountain bikes. So there's that route on the the rumble on Route 66, the dirt crits, um, crits with the Tuesday World's always happening down to Cirondolette Park, St. Ann um was this past weekend. There's the the new one is I mentioned it last time, the Route 66 Shakedown series. So SBR is taking that on. Um, and there's four months for races. So it's May 1st um at Route 66 Park, and then there's June 28th, June 26th, and also September 6th. So that's out at Route 66 Park. It's a circuit race, it's flat, it's pretty wide open. If I were to do a crit, I'd probably do that one because it's pretty civil. Pretty civilized. It's not, you know, there's no curves, there's no trees, it's wide open. If you if you you wipe out, you just go skid into some grass. Um, so that's that's a new one. That's the I Pat and I went and visited that last year. Um then the other races uh idea events coming up. We've got in May, that's kind of May. I'm actually reading from the terrain magazine.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:25

Shout out Brad Kovac. Yeah, my old neighborhood buddy.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:28

Super up together. June June 7th is the BAM on the Katie? I don't know what that is. Oh, yeah, Big Bam. Mm-hmm, Big Bam. Yeah, and Criterion at the Columns, that's in Columbia, so that's on in Columbia for Mazus. That's sponsored by Cyclex. There's the Juneteenth community ride on June 20th. That's on Trailnet. Ice Cream, Ice Cream for Ice Scream, that's June 28th in Edwardsville. And that's all for June. And then we go to July. Now there's another mountain biking, the tough minor on July 12th in Park Hills. Do you know the format of that? Um, I think you just keep riding until you fall off your bike.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:10

Uh, not that one. That was uh in that was done at Sam. That was last minor riding uh was was at the same place. Uh that's actually uh uh the toughest minor, male and female. Uh there's a remember, it's an eight-mile or half marathon trail run the day before. You don't have to do both, uh, but then uh day of is uh I want to say three hours. I've done the race, I think it's three hours. Yeah. Uh and uh whoever has the fastest aggregate time between running and riding is the toughest miner. There's running in it? The day before. Uh-huh. Hey, you'd like it.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:45

No, I can't run. Then um there's the peach pedal. That's July 18th in Kirkland. That's a trail net ride.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:53

Yeah. And then um there's the Show Me State games on July 18th in Columbia and July 19th. Um, there's mountain biking, show me state games too, because I think there's a a new course there in Columbia. Have you heard about that?

SPEAKER_04 1:27:07

Yeah, Gans Creek.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:09

That's where uh Nica happens. Yes, yes. Gave away 140 pounds of ice and snow cones last year there.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:16

Wow. I'm gonna go and do a few of these. Help out with the snow cones.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:21

Yeah, uh you you heard it there, folks.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:23

Yeah, sign me up for something. I want to jump in. Uh are there any of the enduro's on there? Um, no, but there is the World Naked Bike Ride Sandless. There we go. And that's July 25th. Mark your calendars, friends. Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:38

Did we break our promise to Joel? I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:41

I didn't do anything, I just read it.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:44

Um there's a whole sub subculture of mountain biking called enduro. But it's not naked. It's not naked. Now you now you're being like dirty. But anyway, enduro is you pedal slowly uphill. It's not timed, but the stages are all downhill in time.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:03

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:04

And uh I think the next one coming is out uh by Klondike Dyke Park and Madsen Hill, and it's called the St. Gnarles Enduro. Oh shout out to Loki events for that.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:15

Very cool. I'm glad that you know about this. I didn't know about this stuff. And then um I also just have some other things uh that are going on um that are um kind of on the lowdown. There's the gravel. If you want to do gravel, there's Wednesday Night Gravel um sponsored by SVR, and that is that they call it the drop shop. So it's uh it's a drop ride and they do the pork chop and they average like 20 miles an hour. Um if you can keep up with them. And they often drink some stuff after that. And then the Wednesday Night Gravel Christian cycling, the one that John and I go on. That's every Wednesday night. That's a great intro ride if you want to get into riding with us doing some Wednesday night gravel on the pork chop. Unbound! Have you guys ever done her unbound? Tell us about it. Yeah, yeah, that's a DK.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:04

Yeah, the old dirty concept.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:06

Yeah, I'm actually going to Unbound. But I'm not racing this uh friend of mine, Brett West Rebecca. He's a Niger coach and um I I ride with him sometimes. He he's going, he has I'm gonna be his um ZAG support. So I'll get some reports back on that. And then the group rides, we just got the regular old 540 ride, you know about us. Um KCC ride. Alpine shop is on Tuesday evenings, the hub Wednesday, the hub, if you want to ride Wednesday evening, the hub has a route. It's pretty fast, but they're it's just an informal at 6 o'clock at the hub Wednesday night. The Billy Goat is Thursday evening if you want to do that. Um there's Hub Saturday, everybody knows about that one. Um A, B, and C routes. And then on Sunday is the Knucklehead short and the knucklehead long. That Sunday mornings at 7 30. It kind of goes out Clayton Road into Wildwood and loops back. And Thursdays is another one pet that it wants the foco loops. So people show up at Forest Park and they just do uh they do like a loopy course through there. Really? Um there's a lot of folks that live in Clayton that do that. And that is our local roundup. That was a thorough compendium, yeah. Thank you. I'm trying to do better. You cannot you gotta rep the local trails, you know. The local LBS. We should do a story more on on just bike shops and then maybe get some bike shops um involved. You know, so there's there's we gotta support our LBS. That's right. We mentioned the hub already. So Alright, we're gonna move on. We're gonna move on. We have um this might be the point where we do our new segment called the 540 Shinwag. Who is our first victim going to be? Stay tuned.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:01

Live from Toleo Coffee Shop, Kirkwood, Missouri. What is it today, Jim? April the 10th. Friday, April 10th. Fantastic, and we have the pleasure of the house.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:10

We also just finished the ride. We did, we did a friendly Friday ride. So we're stopped at Toledo Coffee the uh after our normal route, and now we're you can hear the gang yucking it up. Yeah, they're yucking it up back there. So we're uh getting ready to go on a little bit extra, but we decided to have a new segment. Our new segment at the podcast is you know to meet the riders. And so Aaron Kohler had mentioned in a podcast uh comment.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:35

What what brought people to riding?

SPEAKER_03 1:31:38

He likes to hear those backstories. So our guest today is Brian Humringhaus.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:44

Iron Man Brian. Hey, uh it's great to be on the podcast. Thanks for having me. Uh yeah, this is a great group. I've really enjoyed my time with uh with the group. I started writing uh in in 09, I think I came out and just accidentally ran into the group. Um I was in the basement uh doing some training, and I'm like, ah, this stinks. And I was like, let's just I'll go out for a ride, and and they happen to be at 539. I happened to go right by party in the trail and happened to uh catch on the group and just it's been uh downhill ever since.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:25

Brian, was were you uh in the middle of Iron Man training that year? I don't remember.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:30

Yeah, so I had signed up in September of eight to do the Iron Man in well actually nine and then to do it in ten. So I did it in 2010, the Iron Man.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:42

So where did you uh I don't remember, Wisconsin or where?

SPEAKER_02 1:32:45

Yeah, that was Wisconsin. Um that was uh that was a fun time. That was just like being in Tour de France. It was the the the crowd was amazing, it was it was a good time. And I luckily just I happened to glom on you guys and and uh you Joel, you being John, Joel, um at the time there's Mike still, and there's a few quite a few people, Don, Simcoff, so this isn't as big as it is now, but uh it's certainly grown and just been a wonderful part of my life, that's for sure. So that's how you met the group. How did you get into cycling in general? Yeah, so cycling, um right. I hadn't been a big cyclist uh before the Iron Man, well, did triathlons. I was like, I hadn't I need to get in shape, that was around 2000. I figured I need to get in shape and and uh get going. So this that was the easiest thing to do. Running, you know, only can take so much on your knees. So I did the uh said let's start trying to ride and picked up a bike, an old bike in uh 2000, and then um, like I said, just kind of picked up a couple triathlons here and there, and then decided to do an Iron Man in 10. So so pick it up just to get uh out there and not run all the time. Did you ride as a bike as a kid? Oh yeah. I ran into many trees, that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:03

Brian Jim asked me to think of some other questions as we're rolling this morning. Yeah, I seem to remember there being a little bit of a lull in your 540 participation.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:12

Oh, yes, there is there has been quite a bit.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:15

But but like the genesis of you coming back also seemed to be like you were posting things about doing a time trial by yourself in JB Park. Am I remembering that?

SPEAKER_02 1:34:26

Yeah, you're remembering that pretty close. Um we were always like, well, we should we're flew through the park. Right. We're like, what what can we do to make it a little more fun? Right. And we're like, well, we have to make all these turns, that's gonna be a little tough. But if we made one segment that was our time trial, that would be kind of fun. Okay. And uh, and I came up with it, and then someone put it on Strava as a segment, and I think I didn't ride for like another year or so, and then it then it was the segment that we all kind of go for. So just made a see it's a Frank, see you freak.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:01

We did too. Tell Virgo Wang we said hi, alright? Bradley, too, yeah. Whatever.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:09

Um inside you. Inside you. Um good old Frank. I mean, he is the we call him the the the chocolate chip of our cookies, that's for sure. Maybe also if there's nuts in there.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:25

Brian, I'm trying to remember if that time trial was the genesis of 2.0 time trial or 1.0. Like, do you remember the Todd Harris time trial those days? Was that before you posting or I don't remember? Okay, that I I don't that you'd have to go back in the way back and shit. Well, actually, here's the real Was it the figure eight time trial or just the what we call a time trial now? Uh I think it was just the figure eight trial. Okay, all right, all right, very good.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:50

That's good for the history. So pivoting a little bit, so the so for this year, Brian, um you've been writing a lot. So you know Victor Van Diesel's called you out, he recognizes this. What are your goals for this year? I mean, what does cycling mean to you now?

SPEAKER_02 1:36:02

Yeah, so um goals, but not really goals, but uh, you're recycling a lot, so what's your what's your focus? Yeah, the the impetus of uh me riding this this year has just been keep in shape. I I'm like anyone else uh middle-aged that needs to keep in shape and keep going. Um just something fun to do, get out, um, and just keep my health, right? That's that's uh I want to be healthy for the kids and and the family. So that's that's the main goal of my my riding this year. Fantastic. Well, you're doing great.

SPEAKER_03 1:36:36

Um I'm very appreciative that you're in the group because I wouldn't be in the group if it weren't for you. I met you at the Lindbergh Marching Band uh summer camp. We were both chaperoning, and then you mentioned that you ride, I said I ride, and then you invited me out, and yeah. The rest is history. So that's how it all works.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:55

Um I'm sure some people have uh poked my tires because of that. They're not so happy that you're part of the group and you're always so fast now. So it's uh it's been great. Yeah, so happy. I've got you, Andrew. Um, you know, anyone I meet, I want to come along and have a good time. So you're a text win ambassador for just our group and riding on the trail.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:15

So cool. Well, that was just our little we just uh wanted to appreciate you being in the group and sharing a little bit about yourself.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:22

And um any any last words? Uh no, just uh keep going, man. This is the this is a great group. It's it's only uh April 10th, so we got a long, great season ahead of us.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:34

So great season. Okay. Well, we're gonna go on and get some bonus miles here. So we'll uh thanks, Brian. We'll talk soon. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:55

Uh Joel, thanks for joining. Yeah. And uh uh, you know, uh because this is the uh maybe we call this the genesis of the 540. I don't know. That might be a little presumptuous. But anyway, we thought it would be awesome uh in tribute to all of our friends who have joined or continue to join to read a roll call or maybe three at a time uh of the people that we know uh to have been uh, I guess, significantly involved, meaning they've come frequently. At least more than once. Yeah, at least more than once. Uh Joel's the tiebreaker. And uh so uh if you're listening today and you're part of the 540 uh uh listen to your name. And I'll get us started with the first three.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:40

Joel Christensen, Don Simakoff, Keith Odegaard, Kathy Odegaard, Rick Johnson, Aaron Kohler, Mark Weaver, Frank Corrado, Andrew Klosterman, Andy Schreck, Steve Reed, Ryan Hummeringhouse, John Schmidt, and the famous Todd Ayers, Georgia Cadot, Jim Moore, Jim Giles, Brian Rages, that's me, Ross Johnson, Charlie Cassiano, Don Conine, Jacob Ruff, Pat Ayers, Danny Hill, and moving on to scrolling down, Dave Wheeler, Eric Vansow, Jim Grunninger, Mike Burkowski, Michael Kelsha, Ian Walsh, Ray Schur, and Mark Vogerty.

SPEAKER_04 1:39:35

Dr. Mark. Wow. That's incredible. Yeah. And I bet I if your name was not mentioned, uh we owe you a free to layo coffee also. Because we probably forgot somebody. Yeah, it's hard to remember everybody.

SPEAKER_03 1:39:50

We were not very scientifically researching this. You were dedicated.

SPEAKER_04 1:39:56

I measure things in Kelch. What's that? I measure temperature in Kelch.

SPEAKER_03 1:40:02

Okay, boys. And girls. I think with time we're we say goodbye for now and we will uh you guys are fine. It's summer, it is about ready to pop, and it's gonna be warm, so we can put our warm warmer arm warmers away. We can put away our booties, we can put away our jackets at the time to get sweat. Next thing you know, we'll be swimming in our sweat. All right, anything to say, guys, before we sign off? Yeah, 5 40. Don't be late. Don't ride like my friend John.

SPEAKER_04 1:40:34

Don't ride like my friend Jim.