Paragon has a new daddy and name changes of Unbound past.

this week in addition to the reg pro pee themed gossip, we get into the purchase of Paragon Machine Works....is it good news for US frame builders?  And 2020, the year Unbound grav changed its name, anyone remember that?  Arya had something to do with it, and tells us a little story.    

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:00

Uh-huh. Okay. Alright, sweetie, you're ready? Reporting live from the beating heart of Nutmeg Country.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

My goodness, cable actuated and this is Altbike Now. Alternative radio or alternative cyclist.

SPEAKER_05 0:19

I'm Ronnie Romance.

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And I'm Are you ready?

SPEAKER_05 0:23

Because I'm never ready. But we're ready right now, folks, as we are recording, and this is episode four of our podcast.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Month one.

SPEAKER_05 0:34

Month one, yeah. Complete month. Thank you. Thank you for joining us.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Insane. We stay consistent.

SPEAKER_05 0:41

Yes, in some parts of our lives. We do stay consistent here. So, you know, I think I want to start this one off with thank you to uh we have a support from a supporter. Support supporter.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Support from a supporter.

SPEAKER_05 0:56

Shout out, shout out.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Garrett Hall.

SPEAKER_05 0:59

Garrett Hall, we are getting three dollars a month from Garrett Hall.

unknown 1:04

Woo!

SPEAKER_05 1:07

So feeling, feeling rich right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

So thank you so much, Garrett.

SPEAKER_05 1:11

I was saying that went to an extra squirt of maple syrup in my oats this morning. So thank you, Garrett.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

Maple syrup and cheese. It doesn't come from trees, you know. Maple syrup doesn't grow on trees. Let's move on, folks. We're ready. Happy Memorial Day, Jenny.

SPEAKER_05 1:30

It's nice to be here. The official kickoff to summer. For many of you, it's probably a beautiful weekend, hopefully. And hopefully you've been able to get out on Memorial Day is celebrated in here in the US and the UK.

SPEAKER_03 1:43

Oh.

SPEAKER_05 1:44

So hopefully, I mean, we're getting some pretty UK conditions here in Nutmeg Country right now. It's been raining for three days straight.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Cold, rainy.

SPEAKER_05 1:52

Um, you know, not very inspiring. Yeah, we both have blankets on our laps. Well, you took the blanket, I just have a shirt on my lap. Why not be able to do that? So, you know, it's uh been trying to get out on some bike rides. We'll get into that with our real life report back, though. But you know, we've got some we've got some quick news to get through, some procycling news, and then some like bike industry news, more on the outside. We also have uh uh some real life report backs.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

Tell 'em while you're mad. But great telling them why you're mad.

SPEAKER_05 2:27

I've been waiting to do this one for a little while.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_05 2:30

Because yeah, that's how mad I am. Oh boy. You could hear it in my voice. I'm like shaking. And then I guess towards the end there, we're gonna get into podcasts we've been listening to.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

Classic stuff.

SPEAKER_05 2:43

Well, I was saying inserted in there was gonna be like a cool thing that Aria had done years ago that we're going to get back into now with a little update. That'll be is that real life report back like five years later?

SPEAKER_02 2:57

I don't know if it's an up. I don't have any updates. It's just story time. It's just story time. It's just story time with Ari R Chiron. Let's get into the headlines.

SPEAKER_05 3:06

Here, as everybody knows, the Giro d'Italia, the Tour of Italy, is in full swing right now. We're kind of like right in the center of it of a 21, 22 stage grand tour, the first of the season for the men.

SPEAKER_04 3:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 3:20

As many have expected, Jonas Vindigo, who's the the Dane, who has won the Tour de France and won, also won the Vuelta before. And he could win seemingly just about any grand tour that Tate Pag pff that Tate Pagaccha is not uh present at. Um so yeah, he was heavily favored to win this year's zero, and he's finally kind of stamped his mark on the race after being sick, they say, for like the few days beforehand. So his time trial efforts weren't quite up to par with what you would ordinarily see with him, and we were all kind of like, maybe Jonas is faltering a little bit, but but I don't know if you noticed this before he was like, I'm getting serious with this stage about his facial hair. Oh, yeah, he's got facial hair now.

SPEAKER_02 4:05

So did he always have that? Anyway, he has facial hair, and to me, he kind of looks like the evil version of Jonas. He's still kissing his handlebar and he's still kissing his ring.

SPEAKER_05 4:18

He kisses, yeah, he kisses a photo of his family on his handlebar when he crosses the line each time. And I'm waiting for him.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

Ronnie's like, he's gonna crash.

SPEAKER_05 4:26

He's gonna crash doing that.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

But Jonas is a bad boy right now. He's got facial hair, he looks like a bizarro version of himself. But I have to correct you, Ron. He did beat Tade fair and square in Tour France 2023.

SPEAKER_05 4:42

But has had a lot of trouble since, a lot of injuries. And he's a meek character. He's not he's he's he's not dominant. He's not a dom.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

Tell that to his thighs.

SPEAKER_05 4:52

Yeah, he's got big thighs.

SPEAKER_02 4:53

Tell that to his thigh legs.

SPEAKER_05 4:55

Anyway, you know, we don't again, we're trying not to dwell too much on procycling news because we suck at it, and there are better options out there as we said last week. But Jonas won Big Climbing Stage over the weekend on Saturday, and we uh we made barbecue tempeh sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

Um, Ron made those things and I ate them.

SPEAKER_02 5:18

They were very good.

SPEAKER_05 5:19

We had a real nice Saturday. Just put stuff together.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Those chocolate chip cookies were baller. They like melted in your mouth.

SPEAKER_05 5:27

I make them with chickpea flour and icorn flour, folks.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

Uh yeah. It's it was so good. It's just delicious, warm cooking.

SPEAKER_05 5:36

Coconut oil, coconut oil for the for the fat. I mean, that's the key, folks. Any recipe that asked for butter, I mean, you could use butter, but I mean, coconut oil is the same damn thing.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:47

It works great.

SPEAKER_02 5:48

And if you're eating a cookie that's that good, you know, forget about it. So, anyway, I wanted to say that I got into the Jiro this time because remember that time trial where they were doing it in that town Massa with the career marble mines in the back? And Ronnie and I toured that on our bicycles, like when we were in another lifetime. In another lifetime, Ronnie and I just lived off of our bicycles for like two years. We were touring. I started this thing called Bike Tour for Tibet, where I was talking about climate change on the roof of the world and all the dams that China was anyway. But I remember this day clearly going like riding into MASA. We were by the beach, someone was coming up to us and asked if we wanted to buy his bracelets. I was like, no, we're just trying to chill. And then we climbed up out of town, up into those Carrera marble mines. And I remember that day so clearly. And it was just really cool seeing the pros just going like light speeds. Oh, up and over that. That was a stage.

SPEAKER_05 6:54

It was so that was a stage earlier in the week that was raining the entire time. So unfortunately, it was like in the but I remember climbing up that being like, this is the most expensive mountain we've ever climbed. Carrera Marble, baby. Marble. It's marble, it's all marble.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Yeah, but it was it was really cool seeing like the helicopter shots of that town and just like remembering those.

SPEAKER_05 7:18

Yeah, one of the many reasons why one of the many reasons why we watched the Giro.

SPEAKER_02 7:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:23

So this particular stage that we are referring to where Jonas stamped his mark on this year's Jiro on Saturday. Get this, folks. 83 miles, reasonable, right? 14,000 feet of climbing.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Wait, what is this really miles and you got that?

SPEAKER_05 7:42

Yeah, I got this right. I got this off of Sepcous's Strava.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

Holy vehic, say it again.

SPEAKER_05 7:46

83 miles, 14,000 feet of climbing. I think it's easy it's easy in these grand tours for me as an American, a proud American. It is hard.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

Put it away.

SPEAKER_05 7:57

It is real hard for me to to work the meters, kilometers and miles thing. Like kilometers and meters mean nothing to me. Grams means something to me.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Because of your baking.

SPEAKER_05 8:08

No, well, no, because of that's how bike things are weighed.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 8:13

But overall weight of a bicycle, pounds.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 8:17

So so individual parts, grams, overall weight of a bicycle, pounds. Isn't that funny, folks? That's how we do it though.

SPEAKER_02 8:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 8:26

That's how we do it in the bike world.

SPEAKER_02 8:28

I think all that always gets me with convergence is the the Fahrenheit to Celsius. That one's bigger.

SPEAKER_05 8:34

What are they doing there? Or what are we doing? Vice versa. You know, it's we're we come from different worlds.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

And then you're gonna throw Kelvins in there for something. I'm like, what the Kelvin? What's a jewel? I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 8:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

Measures.

SPEAKER_05 8:46

Where was where were we? I we just went on a okay, 83 miles stage 14,000 feet of climbing. I find it very helpful to look at the pros Stravas to kind of compare my own efforts or whatever you want to call that. Yeah. My own rides to their rides. Now, get this. Would you believe that they did that ride in four hours? Uh so that was like over three mountain passes. I think I said afterwards, I was like, four hours, we wouldn't even be over over the first mountain pass. So pretty wild. Yeah. Jonas won that stage. He's fine. He's probably gonna win the Jiro. Kind of boring. But that's how it goes. There's no one else to contest him. I know Felix Gaull was like kind of like the breakout performance he was having, kind of hanging with Jonas on this climb. But he was barely hanging on there. It looked his face to me was that of a person who wanted to die.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

But he he was really spirited. Like he never gave his first test.

SPEAKER_05 9:48

He didn't look like he wanted to give up, but he didn't want to pedal anymore either. Let me tell you.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Yeah, there are some squares that he was throwing up.

SPEAKER_05 9:54

So but trying, trying, which is cool. And I think uh did I touch on this last week? He's on he's on the decathlon team, which is which is Paul Sexass's team, who is the 19-year-old that we're unintentionally sexualized every week. Oh, you know, he he so that is his team. So it is the the the decathlon team is working well for Felix. So there are there's hope that Paul has team support in the tour with uh decathlon that they've had practice here during the Jiro. Okay, so we're gonna move on. That was our that's our pro cycling stuff. I haven't really been following the women this week. They have some smaller tours and whatever, but we'll we'll we'll get back into that next week. We'll move on because I know this is alt cycling now. And we are and it is right now.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

It is and now, and now um but there was there, I mean, before we move on from the Jiro stuff, there's some funny things that happened that I that was great. Like that Tim Rex's performance on that stage that you were just talking about, like his face just in utter agony.

SPEAKER_05 11:08

Oh, that that that's right. That was Tim that was Tim Rex.

SPEAKER_02 11:11

And Victor Campanards was right behind him, like emptying his bidon on his back, like you know, to cool him down, like early.

SPEAKER_05 11:19

To cool him down or to warm him up. Say it. Touch him, might as well just get out and say this. This was another news headline. The Jiro had find some riders for peeing in the bidons, water bottles for you Englishmen. I guess, or maybe just US people call them water bottles. Bidon Biden.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

Ped in their Biden.

SPEAKER_05 11:44

They peed all over Biden. Okay, so there's people peeing in their Bidens, people peeing on Biden out there. Guy can't catch a break. This guy can't catch a break. And and so the the uh race organizers were like, who's peeing in the in the water bottles? And as it as it turns out, all of ne uh as the reporting goes, all of the racers unanimously pointed at one character, that is that of Victor Campanarts, the the uh who was seen emptying a badon into the back of a one T-Rex. That is we don't have an official word on that, but it can happen. Speaking from somebody who routinely pees on Joe Biden.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

I pee in water bottles all we we have, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:37

We we the water bottle is I mean, especially if you're like a touring camping cyclist and you don't want to get out of your sleeping bag in the morning. I always would sleep with my water bottle directly next to my camp setup because then you don't have to get up in the morning or in the middle of the night, god forbid, when it's like 30 degrees or less out. I mean, even 50 degrees, it's kind of cold to get out of your sleeping bag and take a piss. And who knows, if you're just gonna pee all over your shoes in the middle of the night, too. You know, so yeah, sleep with your water bottle next to your uh camp setup, and whenever you feel that urge, just kind of reach over, pee inside the bottle.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

Get out your pea style.

SPEAKER_05 13:17

You get out the you have to get out the pea style. You could you could do a pea style into the bottle inside your sleeping bag.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

I probably could, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 13:24

You probably could, or you have.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

I have. I have. But I need to do an awkward scooch because I don't want to get out of my sleeping bag, of course.

SPEAKER_04 13:32

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

So I like get the zipper out slightly, reach my arm, and then I have to stand up and kind of like get on my knees.

SPEAKER_05 13:40

Oh, you have to get on your knees. Yeah. Okay. Whereas I could just I could just flop the old frustration.

SPEAKER_02 13:52

There is the peace style, and you should practice before you take it out into a sleeping bag situation. I have had many years of practice. I've been using the peace style since 2009.

SPEAKER_05 14:02

OG P style right here. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, you you've got peace style from miles or kilometers. Whatever that is. Or kilojoules.

SPEAKER_03 14:14

Kilojoules.

SPEAKER_05 14:15

Kelvins.

SPEAKER_03 14:16

Kilokelvins.

SPEAKER_05 14:18

So the news is that Victor Campan Arts is just a funny thing. It's just a funny T thing because we like pee-pee boo-boo jokes, and this is PP. Who's peeing in the bittens.

SPEAKER_02 14:28

And then another PP boo-boo joke is that there's some guy named Tim Torn Tutenberg.

SPEAKER_05 14:33

I wasn't, no, I was still I was still talking about Victor and the pee.

SPEAKER_02 14:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 14:37

Because I mean, he openly, he was kind of proud of it, as anybody would be. And it's kind of like the whole thing, like we talked about this, I think, in episode one, when you said Sarah Stern was peeing her bibs. And I and of course I pee my bibs. Uh, you know, I'll pee all over the place. I'm I'm a I'm basically always peeing because I have urethral strictures. It's it's a medical condition I can get into later. I've had three surgeries already on it since I was 18, 17, I think I had my first surgery. So I've been peeing all over myself since I was 17 years old, basically, folks.

SPEAKER_02 15:09

So Yeah, we've been doing it way more longer.

SPEAKER_05 15:12

Way longer when it was way before it was cool for people to do it.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

Yeah, we're doing it before it was cool.

SPEAKER_05 15:18

Yeah. So, you know, if you're riding in a professional cycling, you gotta like kind of like scooch your wiener outside your bis.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

All right, let's move on.

SPEAKER_05 15:27

I didn't know I'm doing it. And then you pee on the side of the, you pee while you're riding or something. But you know, you're going through these city centers, you don't want to be like peeing on other riders. Oh my god, you don't want to be, you don't want to you can't like stop and pee, and then the cop sees you, and then you know, public urination is illegal. And so peeing inside the water bottle is kind of like a stealth way of doing it. And so the argument is like, why are why are you gonna find this guy for peeing in water bottles? But again, the Italians, I guess, really love you'll see them on the sides of the road, they'll have like a basketball hoop with like throw your beat on.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

But that's like a classic thing.

SPEAKER_05 16:04

It's a classic thing. But no, I guess the Italians are really into it, and I have noticed more of that. And so, you know, it's the the the fear is that you know you pee in a bottle and you throw you get it mixed up with whatever and you throw it and then somebody gets a rude Is that really it? Yeah, that's it. Yeah, you get a root a rude surprise when you open up that that prized water bottle that you just received. Yeah. And uh there's something else inside of it.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

And it's filled with truck test samplings. Which will light up, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_05 16:35

True. But you know, it couldn't just look like an electrolyte drink. So I don't know, you know. There's a shout out to Eric True Marmalade, the the the cargo bike guy, Omnium cargo bike guy, who just travels all over the country, shows up at certain bike events, and he rides his cargo bike on like interstate highways. And oftentimes he has a thing, is it pea, where he sees a bottle and he'll he'll kind of video the whole thing and he'll be like, he'll pick up the bottle and be like, is it pea? And then he cracks the top, cracks the top and he takes a sip. It's very entertaining. Oh Eric, for how strange what he does is, is a very like down-to-earth, like connected person. Like you're just like, Wow, I expect you to be a complete crazy person, but you're so normal. But yeah, you're not gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_04 17:27

Some might say that about you.

SPEAKER_05 17:29

Maybe. Yeah, maybe. So good guy, shout out, Eric. True Marmalade on Instagram and Strava.

SPEAKER_02 17:35

The Strava is the most impressive because yeah, he's just we are not sponsored by Strava or anyone.

SPEAKER_05 17:42

Not yeah, not yet, Strava.

SPEAKER_02 17:45

Fair enough.

SPEAKER_05 17:46

Yeah, name your price, Strava. Okay, well, what do you want to talk about the enhanced games? More news here. The enhanced games. Anyone you want to briefly describe to our listeners what the enhanced games are?

SPEAKER_02 18:01

Yeah, it's it's it seems like an evil, like like one night event competition. I what I see is in Vegas. In Vegas, obviously, you know, like where evil can go to make money for the night.

SPEAKER_05 18:16

And good. I mean, pawn stars, what a great show that was.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

Oh, and the area around Vegas. I mean, no shade to Vegas at all. But I'm just saying, it seems to be a thing, it seems to be an attractor of Eveal sometimes. But the enhanced games is this one night competition where all of these athletes, these are like world-class former Olympian athletes who are being really open and transparent about their enhanced substances that they're using. It's mostly like testosterone. So they're just being out in the open about it. And the prize monies for these are also significant. Like each individual event has a total purse of 500,000 to 250, which is quite a bit because you don't get that for I mean, 500,000, I think, is the what the winner of the Tour de France gets. And that's like an insane.

SPEAKER_05 19:25

Of course, that doesn't count the the um sponsorships for like from the gear.

SPEAKER_02 19:31

For sure, but yeah, that is not a lot for the one night event where you are just like I I just feel like these like evil billionaires are like in some box office, just like just being like, yes, this yes, go ahead. Like make your heart explain.

SPEAKER_05 19:48

What do they call the poly bet polybetting? What is it? What the polymark would polymarcus, yeah. So there's that's it's kind of like kind of like go it goes hand in hand with the the betting.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

Evil shit.

SPEAKER_05 20:00

But I mean at the same time, it is kind of like, you know, there the whole question of fairness and sport has been blown wide open for this entirety. I mean, you never think.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

You don't think that that's involved in the actual Olympics? And tech millionaire, Peter Thiel are backing an event. I just seem to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_05 20:20

Those are names that those are names that we don't necessarily Yeah, we don't Yeah, those are unsavory names for unsavory events like this where there are literally making uh I like that idea of enhanced of the enhancement though, because it is uh the the old question of if you're not cheating, are you trying hard enough?

SPEAKER_00 20:43

Okay, clavicular go break your job.

SPEAKER_05 20:46

In professional in professional sports, you know, in professional sports, you know, the cheating is always there. It's always there. It's just a matter of how well you hide it. And so, you know, there there is certainly some appeal, and that's why this this these games do have such a big purse, I think, is because it is I don't know, you know, and that's also why a lot of the anti-doping association is like so up in arms about it, because they see a big I think people are being hyperbolic about it because it does threaten the current model of quote unquote fair sport, which doesn't exist. And so it's intriguing to me. I don't I don't agree with it. I don't agree with you know, I don't know how else they're gonna start, but it is a an interesting start, and who knows what it's gonna turn into. But the prize money is there, and that is what draws people. And in cycling, I don't know if it'll ever be a part of there'll ever be like a cycling aspect to this. I doubt it.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

Yeah, because right now it's just track swimming and weightlifting.

SPEAKER_05 21:43

Yeah, and no one cares enough about cycling, I don't think, to actually give them any money, extra money to do this sort of thing.

SPEAKER_02 21:49

It'll be like a salad one night event type of event. Exactly.

SPEAKER_05 21:54

I guess they could do track they could do track cycling, but they could. That was the most popular spectator. Sport in America a hundred years ago.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

Madison Square Garden originally.

SPEAKER_05 22:03

Madison Square Garden was built for. Madison Square Garden in New York City was built for a wooden track.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

Yep. And who raced on it? Major Garden. The greatest of all time.

SPEAKER_05 22:14

We say that every single episode. Major Taylor.

SPEAKER_02 22:18

Major Taylor. Because of them we can.

SPEAKER_05 22:22

So so yeah, interesting.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

So the the real I just liked this story because it brought up so many like different ethical and like consensual dimensions to how we engage in sports. And you know, like someone who did really well in the Jiro stage, Toon Ertz, he came in second, was busted for juicing and couldn't compete for two years, but now is doing really well again. So, like, you know, the there are these doubts in our heads that are like come from well, are they that makes us question, you know, the champions or whatever. Like I was in middle school when the baseball athletes were being busted for like breaking home run records, and it just kind of kills your heroes, you know. Like so there's that element of it. There's like the what Ron just brought up, like, oh yeah, everybody's juicing. It's just how well do you perform? But then there's also like this evil tech billionaire stuff happening where they're kind of using transhumans. Where yeah, they're they they want to use human guinea pigs for their like longevity plans. And this this really does feel like human guinea pigging to me, which is which is wild because you you dangle this carrot of this prize money, and they were offering an extra million dollars to someone who broke like the hundred meter in running and I think like the the 50km. So two two freestyle.

SPEAKER_05 23:54

Two of those points. Only one of the records was broken.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

The the 50 well of the two, the 50-meter freestyle was broken swimming by a guy named Galoch Meath by seven-tenths of a second. So that does mean that I mean that indicates that there is you know enhancements that are kind of hidden.

SPEAKER_05 24:19

Well, yeah, I think that kind of blows the whole thing open that that even these enhancements.

SPEAKER_02 24:24

But these are athletes over 40. Most of them are over 40. So you can't really make that argument.

SPEAKER_05 24:29

I mean, okay. So that all athletes over 40 are competing at the same level as the But they're enhanced.

SPEAKER_02 24:39

Yeah, they're taking they're taking health risks, but you know, um But you know, they're 40.

SPEAKER_05 24:44

They can make those decisions, right?

SPEAKER_02 24:46

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 24:47

Yeah. It's not I guess it's not too predatory. It is and it isn't. But you know, it would be interesting if this could roll over into cycling in some way or another. But honestly, I folks, I think that cycling has had such a you know, it's had such a big hit from the Lance era, you know, of it being like the anti-doping. Yeah, cycling was was seemingly almost was mainstream, was definitely mainstream. Lance Armstrong brought it there. And that was a big boom for the industry in the late 90s, early 2000s.

SPEAKER_02 25:18

And you know it was supposed to serve as kids.

SPEAKER_05 25:20

Yeah, I mean that stuff was everywhere. The the the Livstrong bracelets, and this was all because of a guy who won the Tour de France, you know, again, a hero who was no longer a hero anymore. And you know, he was say what you will about Lance, he was competing with everyone else who was doping. So, you know, it it could be a level playing field that way. It was just argued that some people respond better to the dope than others, just like how right now the current riders are racing so fast and breaking all of the dope the doping era records because their bikes are more aerodynamic, they are more aerodynamic, there's a better understanding of it, of aerodynamics and nutrition. And so they're having these hundred, hundred and fifty grams of carbohydrates per hour, which is something in the Lance era was unheard of. They were still eating the you know, the horse meat wrapped and cheese or cheese wrapped and horse meat, vice versa. So, you know, there there's so so today's athletes are responding to how well they process carbohydrates, whereas in Lance era, the athletes were responding to how well they processed the uh the myriad of of of uh you know unnatural substances they are pumping into their into their or the the extra blood bags or however you want to look at it. Yikes when you get into that, it's kind of kind of queasy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

What I'd like to see is an unenhanced cycling where they're like smoking cigarettes and have baguettes out of the bags and like water. Cigarettes weren't enhancements. Let's go back to that.

SPEAKER_05 26:45

Those were enhancements. That was the that was the thing. The cigarettes were were thought to have opened up your lungs so they would smoke them before the climbs.

SPEAKER_01 26:52

Well, that's more than a lot of things.

SPEAKER_05 26:52

And then you had nicotine, which is you get the Zinbros, like a lot of the randoneering people are zinning. Is that the yeah, they're zinning. We we we know a few among us who do that. It just kind of keeps them buzzed up buzzed up or something so they can finish the ride. Uh do these long rides and stay attentive because oftentimes randoneering goes, you know, you're riding like it the entire Oh true.

SPEAKER_02 27:17

Like it's it's more dangerous to kind of not.

SPEAKER_05 27:20

Yeah, you need that you need these stimulus. You're just yeah that is how the early uh Tour de France was. You know, they were riding these stages when I spent all day. I guess they're on amphetamines, they were on yeah, a bunch of yeah, a bunch of stuff. And so and so the al the alcohol, yeah. So it's all they're always there. It's always there. It's just a matter of what's deemed fair at any given time in our in our own.

SPEAKER_02 27:44

Hopefully lowering health risks long term for these athletes. But you know, um when you're at that level, I just feel like anything goes.

SPEAKER_05 27:52

Speaking of being at really high levels, let's move on. Um, oh well, let me let me just let me just put this in here really quick. Or no, I guess this this goes into it. Let's let's talk about it. High level.

SPEAKER_02 28:05

If you high level extreme performance, you think of what name, Janny?

SPEAKER_05 28:11

High level extreme performance?

SPEAKER_02 28:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 28:13

This is a this is a test.

SPEAKER_02 28:15

No, it's it's that's Leah Wilcox. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 28:20

Wilcox is going to be uh departing on her second attempt at setting the world record at going around the world, which is she didn't know she's she set the women's record.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

She set the women's record, she's going for the overall.

SPEAKER_05 28:35

Now she's going for the overall, which is wild to think that you would do such a g such a huge task and only two years later want to attempt it again. And these attempts, she's got to ride like 250 miles a day on average. And so that's 16 hours on the bike, and then she was gonna sleep for six hours and then have like a little bit of flex time. So, you know, when you're how many days was that gonna be seventy?

SPEAKER_02 29:04

I think seventy-five is the record?

SPEAKER_05 29:08

250 miles a day, 75 days.

SPEAKER_02 29:13

That's extreme.

SPEAKER_05 29:15

That's extreme that's extreme.

SPEAKER_02 29:17

So what do you do? What's the news?

SPEAKER_05 29:19

Well, you know, there are the so you marginal gains count quite a bit when they're when you're dealing with that type of mileage every day. Um, even if and when you're trying to set a record. So even if you could save, you know, a few minutes each day, it adds up over 75 days, right? And so one of the things that Lale is doing is shaving her head because she wants to save time on not washing it and also having it be more aerodynamic. She actually they went to the specialized wind tunnel and actually tested how much drag hair has and saved a few watts by shaving it. So this past weekend, you could see on Lale's Instagram, Lel Wilcox, that she had some someone shave her head in San Francisco.

SPEAKER_02 30:05

And when does she embark on the actual I'm not sure, but back to the head shaving, she did say in her Instagram that it saves like 10 minutes a day. Right. Which is which is significant.

SPEAKER_03 30:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:18

Yeah, you you don't really think about stuff like this. Like it's like I was saying it adds it just adds up. But it adds up. I mean, 10 minutes a day, that is 780 minutes, which is about half a day overall, which is like quite a bit. So the current record is held by Mark Beaumont, 78 days, 14 hours, 40 minutes. We will be following up with this throughout our podcast. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 30:48

Well, she's starting soon, so we'll we'll we'll have uh some more dedicated stuff coming up about that because yeah, it's gonna be I mean uh dot watching is hardly thrilling, but this one could be uh it could be I I checked in almost every day two years ago when Leo was setting the women's record. So it'd be interesting. I mean, is that inspiring? 250 miles a day. I don't know. I don't know if that's inspiring or if I'm just like, wow, I don't, you know, that's uh but Layle continues to do this stuff and she continues to love cycling. So I don't know. I guess yeah, you can't really say much about it. Really, whatever is made whatever is holding your love for the sport, I'm all about. And Lil Wilcox loves bikes, loves moving.

SPEAKER_01 31:34

Go, Lil, go.

SPEAKER_05 31:35

Go, Lil go. Moving on, I got a little tech stuff here. This is this is I don't know how many of you are actually gonna care about this, but I love following like the like the the sharp edge of gravel bikes right now because it's it's an interesting part of the of the I mean it is as far as the big brands go, it's kind of like what is doing best right now. Mountain bikes, the lowest rung on the cycling culture chain, are doing the worst, go figure. But gravel bikes and of course e-bikes and high-end road bikes are doing really well, really well right now for for big brands. So they're putting a lot of RD and a lot of money and design cash money, yeah, cash money.

SPEAKER_02 32:17

Cash money regardless.

SPEAKER_05 32:19

Design cash money into the gravel segment right now. And so you're seeing the two biggest brands, arguably, and I don't know if that's arguably or if it can be proven, specialized in Canyon. They both have famous gravel bikes, specialized being the crux and canyons being the grail. You and I both rode Canyon Grails when we were in Majorca on that Toros to Gravel with that Bragan brought us to.

SPEAKER_00 32:45

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:46

With Kyle Kelly. And we were we were we uh that was one of my friend. Oh yeah, Florian Florian Wegman, former German champion, pushed Aria up a climb.

SPEAKER_02 32:57

It was on my team.

SPEAKER_05 32:58

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It was a cool thing that we did in like 2018. And uh it was in Majorca and it was sponsored by Canyon, so we had to ride those original grails. And this is 2018. This is when gravel tires were 38 millimeters. I think these I think they put us on 35s for these. And it also had that biplane looking handlebar that bicycle pubes looked like bicycle pubes designed it. And such a stupid idea because it suspended, it like suspended you when you were in the on the tops, so you know, not even in the hoods, but on the tops, and then you had no suspension when you were in the hoods or drops. And so it was just a really backward system, and it looked real funny, lasted a year. Anyway, more recent advancements, gravel bikes have moved on to 42 millimeter tires, on to 45 millimeter tires briefly, 48, and now everyone is going whole hog on 55s. Luckily, yeah, yeah. Luckily, little ad break, ultra dynamico. Yeah, we've got tires that size, folks. We got a brand new 700 by 53 brute. Okay, it is a fast roller, you know. We also have a 700 by 55 millimeter Mars. Okay, yeah, that one's a little bit grippier. So I oftentimes like to run the Mars in the front, and I like to run that brute in the rear. Gives me some braking traction up the front and gives me some fast rolling in the rear because you know, most of your rolling resistance comes from the rear. So, you know, try them out. These things you could mix them and match them, but man, I tell you, I would really only try Ultra Dynamico because I'm telling you right now, folks, best tire company I've ever known about or been a part of.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_05 34:38

Okay, yeah. So uh both uh specialized and canyon in this gravel event in Scotland teased their new bikes, the new Crux and the new Grail. Presumably, we don't know if they're gonna like call these things something entirely different altogether, because these bikes, unlike their predecessors, yeah, predecessors, have uh very like very aerodynamic stylings. Meaning like you know, drop dropped seat stays, which is a which is a huge dropped seat stays are a farce, folks. It's just a little uh they say it improves compliance, but that's a triangle back there. There's no compliance in a triangle, you can't do it. Okay, and so they dropped the seat stays. That that's more it is more aerodynamic, perhaps. A few watt saved there. They internally routed all the cables. That was something new for the Crux. The Grail already had that. So, you know, it looks like they're aero road bikes just with big tires. I'm all which I am. I mean, drop bars with big tires has kind of been my thing all along. It's one of the things it's a profile that just looks always looks cool. And these are pushing what cool can look like. Not quite sure how I feel about it. I really loved the old crux. Not that I ever had one or anything. I just love the classic lines of it, the round tubes, the non-dropped seat stays, the externally routed cables. You know, you can move the stem up and down without having to bring your bike to a bike shop and wait for them to painstakingly do that for two hours. So, you know, but yeah, they are coming. And I'm sure that next week for Mid-South, not Mid South, for Unbound, they're gonna release these bikes in in earnest. So these are kind of just the lead ups. Our friend, friend of the pod, Taylor Finney, husband of Kashia Niyodama Finney, uh, is racing the new BMC. Uh don't remember the name, but BMC also has a bike just like this.

SPEAKER_04 36:38

Cool.

SPEAKER_05 36:38

And he will be riding our new brute uh 700 by 53 Robusto in the race. So we are gonna have a tire in the pro field. So Taylor is Taylor? But yeah, Taylor is Taylor's been a friend for since he really got out of pro road racing. And we talked about his aspirations for uh the Olympic track racing, I believe, on a previous episode. But yeah, he will be on our tires for Unbound, which is very exciting for us. Uh so yeah, that's so uh excited to see uh what you know these new releases from specialized. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:18

You know, he should be on the podcast.

SPEAKER_05 37:21

We're gonna have him on the pod. Don't you worry, we're gonna have him on the pod.

SPEAKER_02 37:23

He talks so calm and really cool.

SPEAKER_05 37:28

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's he's yeah special guard. Oh well, he energizes me and lulls me to sleep at the same time. It's like it's like a lucid dream. Okay, well, dang, I've got I had more new. We're already this is just turning into just the news show because I haven't even gotten into the Paragon got purchased, folks.

SPEAKER_02 37:51

Oh gosh, pee got peed.

SPEAKER_05 37:53

So if anybody was pee got peed.

SPEAKER_02 37:56

Paragon got purchased.

SPEAKER_05 37:57

Yeah, no, no, no, yeah. Victor Victor Camp and Arts did not pee on Paragon. Um but we do we do have oh my gosh, we've got for any of you, this is kind of like the most alt-bike news of all this, because Paragon Machine Works made all these parts for the custom frame building market here in the U.S. and abroad. And they shut down, if you didn't hear here, a month or two ago, and it was a big deal, of course. Our own frame building business. We do about 150 bikes a year that we build here in Connecticut and Vermont, and we use a lot of parts from Paragon. So it was it was kind of a big deal for not only us, but a lot of other people. Where are you gonna get our parts for, you know, our dropouts, our like chainstay bridges, our bottom bracket shells, and so forth? Where are we gonna get these things now? Well, as it turns out for us, since we do rim break stuff, that stuff was already pretty much discontinued. So we were having to get this stuff custom made in place other places anywhere. But Paragon was doing a lot of custom stuff for us, like the dropouts for the current Alimax 2, those were made by Paragon, but they had to be a custom design and they did them for us. And uh they finished after they had, I mean, I remember when they shut down, I was like, well, they still owe us a lot of uh you know, a hundred plus or two hundred, three hundred, whatever dropouts. So they did finally get them to us. But and a twist of there's been a lot of different different companies that were gonna pick up the slack. And it's kind of you know, it's it w they said that that Paragon wasn't a viable business with how um the Calvin Northstead Norstead took over the business from his dad. This company had been around for 43 years, so he just took it over. The younger son took it over in 2023, in 2024. And you know, it's it's tough times, 2024, tough times for the bike industry. We're still in it, you know. And and so they they said that demand for a lot of their stuff just tanked. And so they just weren't able, and their prices were all honestly were already pretty high. And then even for ordering like 300, 400 parts that we would do, there wasn't much of a price break.

SPEAKER_02 40:12

Operating out of Richmond, California, which is the same.

SPEAKER_05 40:15

Yeah, which is in the Bay Area. So they had to pay, you know, it's most of our I would have to I would assume all of our all of our bike industry friends, you know, they're all getting a living wage. That's why stuff costs a lot in the U.S. because it's expensive to live here, especially expensive to live in the bay. So if you're a bike brand operating out of the bay, you're paying your employees a living wage or more, you're paying for their health insurance.

SPEAKER_02 40:38

It's uh Well, we don't really know the Well, I do know that all that.

SPEAKER_05 40:41

Well, they that's what they said. That's what they're doing.

SPEAKER_02 40:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 40:44

I mean most companies seem to claim that. Yeah, tough to do that, as we found with our own factory.

SPEAKER_02 40:50

Well, that was different.

SPEAKER_05 40:51

It's different, but still it's it's not easy.

SPEAKER_02 40:55

But mistakes were made by me. Big l big failure lessons on that. Anyway, Paragon has been bought out by in Portland. So the thing that I'm curious about is how they're gonna transport all of that heavy machinery.

SPEAKER_05 41:10

Well, there's no machine they didn't buy any of the machinery, they just bought the intellectual property.

SPEAKER_02 41:15

Say what?

SPEAKER_05 41:16

So they purchased Paragon SKUs and like their the designs of each part and everything. And so first hand first hand bike frame and first hand bike frame supply.

SPEAKER_04 41:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 41:28

Bought the intellectual property for Paragon. They're also the the North America Reynolds tube importer.

SPEAKER_04 41:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 41:36

And also building out a in the middle of building out a frame building school in Portland, which is a good place for it because United Bicycle Institute, UBI, closed down. That was the place to learn frame building. I think it was in Ashland, Oregon. And that closed down in 2023, I believe. So That's right.

SPEAKER_02 41:55

Monique did that class when we were in Tucson. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_05 41:59

And that was when I was in I remember when I was in the late 90s, early 2000s, when I was in college in Durango, Colorado. I was like, what am I doing here? I should be at UBI learning how to build bike frames.

SPEAKER_00 42:10

Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 42:11

And I was I was always on that website being like, That could be me.

SPEAKER_00 42:16

That could be me. That could be Jenny.

SPEAKER_05 42:17

Yeah, that could be me. I could be making bikes. And uh I think I I think I did it right though, folks, because I am not precision-oriented. So I'm I'm better at doing the designing and the advertising. Let someone else handle the the hands-on part. But so firsthand bike frame supply, taking on a lot right now. So we're gonna kind of see how that goes. They're gonna have to axe a lot of the current SKUs, because I guess there is 12,000 or 1200, one or the other. They're both high numbers. Okay. Different SKUs because you have there's all sorts of you think about think about like dropouts, for instance. Yeah, there's not only like us who use the classic, you know, quick release dropouts. We're very there's not many people that do that anymore. We use quick release dropouts because we use rim brakes, but there are all these different like like UDH is the universal derailer hanger that you need for all the new CRAM stuff. That's a different dropout. You have sliding dropouts for single speeds. You have uh 12 millimeter through axles, you have 15 millimeter through axles, and so forth. There's so many different you have all the different disc tabs, the ISO, and you get whatever ISO, S O I, C O I, SOB. I'm just making up things now, folks, okay?

SPEAKER_00 43:35

SOB.

SPEAKER_05 43:37

Son of a bitch disc tabs. So there's a lot of different SKUs out there. So they're gonna shrink that down a little bit. In the meantime, Thompson bike components, you may know them from their stems and seat posts. And that's most famously. But they're they're a machine shop in the East Coast, and they do a lot of aerospace and like automotive stuff, so they've got like a 65,000 square foot shop. Machine shop, I think at Tennessee. And so they're able that's lower much lower living wage in Tennessee than you have in Richmond. See, they've got a good business in many ways. So, you know, and they're also cycling it through the Trevor Burrus. Cost of living wage parts. Sorry, living wage, cost of living. And so, you know, they may be producing some parts too.

SPEAKER_02 44:20

We love a living wage. Don't put living wage as like the thing because it's greed from the top. The greed from the top. But greed's not a good idea.

SPEAKER_05 44:30

Greed from the top, but not greed from the top of the bike industry. Remember, we're not mad at the bike industry, folks.

SPEAKER_02 44:35

Aaron Powell We were last week. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_05 44:37

No, we were mad at being mad at the bike industry. Oh, right.

SPEAKER_02 44:39

You were, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:40

I am. You know, this is these are small but small potatoes here. Trevor Burrus, Jr. Very small. So I don't know. We'll see how it goes. And you know, it it affects us in a way because we need our drailer hangers and dropouts made, but we could get those machined locally also since they were our own design anyway. So whatever. Also, you know, there's a lot of stuff that we use that Frank the Welder has to just machine himself in in-house because you just can't get this stuff anymore. Okay. Well, I think that pretty much wraps it up for news here. That was a long, long news, as we're already at 48 minutes on this podcast.

SPEAKER_02 45:20

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_05 45:21

Well, what are we going to get to next here, sweetie?

SPEAKER_02 45:24

Real life reportbacks. So we were already talking about Unbound a little bit with Taylor Riding on the Bruce. So let's go into story time, real life report back from 2020. Let's time travel. Get in, Marty.

SPEAKER_05 45:44

So what happened in 2020?

SPEAKER_02 45:46

So in 2020, the race that's currently called Unbound was called a different name, which was pretty racist and a racial slur to Kaw Nation. Kanza is a name that Ka Nation calls themselves. So there was a call out to change the name from their inception. I think they started. When did when did Out Unbound start? Like mana.

SPEAKER_05 46:16

It was a long time ago.

SPEAKER_02 46:16

So it was called this racial slur name for like at least five years, right?

SPEAKER_05 46:21

I think 10 years.

SPEAKER_02 46:22

Like, yeah, a really long time. It was started by that guy who is from there, so he should know there are primary sources that had that racial slur being used against con nation since like the 1800s or something.

SPEAKER_05 46:38

And let me set the stage here too. So at 2020, this gravel event was already the largest gravel event in the world.

SPEAKER_03 46:46

Right.

SPEAKER_05 46:46

On top of that, it being the bike boom, a lot of people were getting introduced to gravel.

SPEAKER_02 46:51

And so this the spirit of gravel was still alive. And I would say that this event kind of birthed the spirit of gravel. Right. And it was called this racial slur. So there was a lot of pushback from the community there, and they just couldn't like so many petitions signed, a lot of community dialogue, a lot of conversations, a lot of news outlets from the native community. But you know, like the native community as a whole isn't just like one voice. There's lots of differing opinions, political ideations, whatever, whatever within the group. But there was a group of concerned members of CONATION who absolutely wanted this name changed. They had memories of when they were called and their parents themselves were called this racial slur going into town. So they absolutely did not want this advertised once a year when the whole town of Emporia becomes pretty much this race. That's wild.

SPEAKER_05 48:00

When you come, when you if you ever attend this race, I have a few times, it's wild. Like the in it's the entire town's identity.

SPEAKER_02 48:08

For that long weekend.

SPEAKER_05 48:11

And so every year. So it's not built around it.

SPEAKER_02 48:14

It's coming up this weekend. It's from May 28th to the 31st. So I thought that it'd be a nice time for the story because it's not really talked about. It was covered a little bit in media, in cycling media. I think outside picked it up in 2020 because, you know, racial awakening was a thing. And in 2020, which we swiftly forgot, but it was it was a time to really come to terms with this stuff. And I was happy to kind of jump in on this campaign towards the end in 2020 with my friend from Ciclista Zine, who was being really good about covering this from like grassroots journalist kind of a perspective. And we got connected with members of CON Nation who were saying like hell no to this name and keeping the pressure on.

SPEAKER_05 49:13

Like there was so much organizing, but because it had been just bought by Lifetime also at this point. I think in 2020 it was going to be the first Lifetime edition. So Lifetime owns the gyms and the sporting equipment.

SPEAKER_03 49:25

Right.

SPEAKER_05 49:26

And so they had this this race had been bought out. The spirit of gravel had been bought.

SPEAKER_02 49:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then that meant that there is now a new target for decision-making changes. Being an activist myself, I know for like having trained people on how to run campaigns, you have like a target who is the decision maker and you go after that person, and then there's secondary and tertiary targets. But because this was happening at a time when lifetime was taking over, it was a key moment for decisions to be made because now this was going to be a new bill. Anyway, there was a campaign relaunched with there was a new petition. We made a website happen that was called Change the Name, Name the Change. And the founder of the race also posted something racist on Facebook around this time that added fuel to the fire.

SPEAKER_05 50:30

He had misjudged. I think he he thought there was another police shooting that he got confused with another police shooting. Yeah. And then he not only let misnamed the person who got shot, but he posted a video from a different angle saying, look, you could see that it was his fault entirely. And it was one of those hot button issues that he was like really digging his heels in. It made me sick.

SPEAKER_02 50:52

Yeah. Ron was really upset about that.

SPEAKER_05 50:54

So I guess this is telling why you're mad. This is telling why we were mad.

SPEAKER_02 50:57

Yeah. This is tell tell us why you were mad five, six years ago.

SPEAKER_05 51:02

It's such a it's so infuriating to have your sport kind of, you know, just presented in this way so ignorantly. And and to to in 2020 especially, I felt like our sport was growing. It's such a you know, it was reaching so many people that hadn't been on bikes in so long, and this was how we were reintroducing ourselves. I don't get mad often, but I was very, very mad at at this. And I was so I I I was so thrilled that you were taking this on.

SPEAKER_02 51:32

Anyway, I was I was jumping onto work that people had already been doing for a really long time.

SPEAKER_05 51:38

Right.

SPEAKER_02 51:38

And I am also remember feeling incredible anger at this, too.

SPEAKER_05 51:43

It's unbelievable. And that there are still people digging in and supporting this guy. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:48

Because before this guy did that Facebook post, that racist Facebook post, yeah, yeah. There was pushback saying, like, well, the like the con nation's like municipal like lead said it's fine to use that name. So then there was all of the stirring, and then you know, the racist organizer showed himself to be who he is. And then the conversation changed again. So that's my long-winded story about what happened in 2020 with Conation versus Unbound. They did end up changing the name, of course. To Unbound. To Unbound and not the Gravel has no boundaries anyway. That's that's the thing, I guess. And I just I was looking through some old books the other day, and I found this note that I got from one of the women that I was organizing with.

SPEAKER_05 52:46

Before we get into this, I mean, uh you're downplaying it. It was a resounding success.

SPEAKER_02 52:51

It was it was a resounding success. The name got changed. It's a really big deal. One of the biggest scrabble races in the world.

SPEAKER_05 52:58

I think this is one of the biggest deals in cycling.

SPEAKER_02 53:01

That Caul Nation 1. Yeah. Or, you know, the people who they didn't want it named.

SPEAKER_05 53:06

There was that was un that that to say that they wanted it to okay with the name prior to this, that was debunked.

SPEAKER_02 53:14

No one no one had permission to call themselves that racist name.

SPEAKER_05 53:20

So it was a success.

SPEAKER_02 53:22

It was a resounding success because when you try to push back against money, power, and ego, it usually doesn't go well for people who don't have much who are pushing back. So it felt really important and uplifting to win that. But the thing I remember from organizing that was how welcoming and like expansive and beautiful the vision that folks who are pushing for this name change were. Like one of the elders on the phone was like, We would love to, you know, bless the riders, you know, before like if there was like a respectful engagement with the community, like how beautiful that event actually could be. Like I'm tearing up just thinking about it because these elders are like, we could we could really incorporate culture and uh character into this race that holds the land. And we could tell stories of the land that like these writers who are going through suffering can connect to, maybe. Like it was it was a gorgeous pluralist like world that I dream about that these elders were imagining, and I just, you know, I weep at that because yeah, like yeah, power, ego, and money gets in the way of our own experiences and beauty so much, and it doesn't have to be like that. And the flip side of of the tears is like is anger, right? But anyway, I wanted to read this note that I found out of nowhere. It's dated August 25th, 2020.

SPEAKER_05 55:05

Because I don't think they held the race in 2020.

SPEAKER_02 55:08

No, because of COVID.

SPEAKER_05 55:10

It was perfect time, anyways.

SPEAKER_02 55:11

So this was a good time for the new board, for the new decision makers to make these decisions, and they did they did the right thing because Mid-South had changed their name without any fuss whatsoever. They were like, oh, we didn't know, sure, we'll change it. Like it could be as easy as that. And then they also embraced, I mean, MidSouth embraced native storytelling, they embraced the land, and you know, the and that event is so beautiful because you go in that direction of plurality, of respect, of like appreciating the land that you're on that's holding you as you go through really hard things, like as mother. Anyway, so there's different ways to do it. Unbound did not do it that way, but the people still won. And the note that I got was from this woman. I won't name the woman because I want, I don't have permission to share her name, but I hope it's okay to share from the Kansas Heritage Society. Um she says, Nom, that was my name at the time. As you know, I cannot speak for Car Nation, but I can speak from my heart as a Kansas citizen. And there are many others that feel like I do. You have accomplished an amazing thing for our people. I know it takes courage and perseverance to stand up for a small tribe against a major corporation. Truly a David and Goliath story. Wow. I hope you will wrap this towel, oh, it was like a really cute towel she sent me, around you after showering from a bike ride and feel a real caw hug. We are forever grateful. And I keep this note with me just to remind ourselves that it's possible to make changes if you just keep pushing, if you keep thinking in visualizing how things could be, which is really beautiful in that we are only limited by power as long as we let it.

SPEAKER_05 57:11

I am so damn proud of you for that, sweetie.

SPEAKER_02 57:14

That's like one of the Again, it's not me.

SPEAKER_05 57:17

I know, but I'm people, but you know me. You did it, yeah. I know you, and that was yeah, that was one of my proudest moments of you uh or for you. I don't know what that means, but I was very very inspired by that. Um so now it's uh now it still is the largest uh gravel event in the world, and it is called Unbound, and it's a 200-mile gravel race through the Flint Hills of Kansas, and it's happening this weekend.

SPEAKER_01 57:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 57:52

So that kind of got into why we why we were mad, and it kind of and I know I am in the beginning of the show I teased that I had something really good while I was mad at it. Not that that wasn't good, that wasn't what I was thinking of, though, and I can't really follow up that. That was really good. So we'll have to get into why I'm mad next week.

SPEAKER_00 58:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 58:11

So well, I guess it's about time to wrap it up, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 58:14

Well, this week you had you had a hand you had a crash while your bike.

SPEAKER_05 58:19

If you want to get into the real life report back quickly, I had a crash while my third crash, and like I don't crash much because I'm very careful because I want to be riding my bike well into my hundreds. And so I try and, you know, I try and ride rigid bikes that don't get me going too too fast too quickly down a trail, or you know, I just try to show off that I'm riding something technical while rigid, and that's enough to impress most people. Anyway, this on seems like I've just been crashing more and more lately, though. So over uh I think on Tuesday, I was, you know, there's a lot of down trees this time of year. It's stick season here in New England.

SPEAKER_00 58:58

Stick season.

SPEAKER_05 58:59

And I was just trying to get through, ram through this downed tree, had a bunch of branches across the the trail. And I oftentimes do this and come out completely unscathed. But this time, pieces of the tree wedged in between my fork crown and front wheel and just toss me like a toss me like a like a tossed potato. Tossed me like a salad. All over and just yardsailed me all over the trail. I landed like first on my palm on the one root that was sticking up. And so my uh it looked like I was I had like a baseball in my hand when I didn't, it just swelled up that much. And I had to come back here and call Arya and be like, come home, I can't get my glove off. But you took care of me nicely. You went down to the swim hole, it was a hot day, and you kind of sponge bathed me off. Yeah. And but I've been recovering ever since. So the the very next day I was out on my recumbent. I kind of got down on myself because I was like, oh, it's I'm riding so well right now. This is the beginning of the season. I've got all these big ride plans. And uh that night I remembered I had my recumbent, yeah, which is an adaptive bike for me. I get to ride it whenever I'm injured. And uh it's gotten me through a lot already in life. And so I dusted that bad boy off and and did did a long ride on the recumbent the next day, and it was a beautiful hot day, and I got to tan my front side, which was really nice. So like my chest got all nice and tan, because that's the way you that's the way you ride a recumbent, you know, you're you're in full relaxation mode.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:28

And I got a state of the lazy boy chair.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:30

It was on hilly terrain, the recumbent t often struggles, and this recumbent even has like plat like shitty plastic pedals. Like it's not, you know, this wasn't set up for for performance, but I was still able to average, you know, 14 and a half miles an hour on a 45 mile ride with you know roughly 3,000 feet of climbing. So the recumbent is a fast bike, you know. It is, but my ass was so sweaty. So that's the that's the downside. Like, you know, I don't have didn't have any, you know, the un your undercarriage isn't sweaty, but you're also a really hot day. It was a really hot day. But I I don't even want to t I don't want to think about what's living on that seat right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:09

You don't have to.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:10

I don't have to because I could ride a regular bike again.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:13

Right, right. That's for next time. Adaptive bikes for the win. Everybody knows. Everyone needs a recumbent.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:19

And I got this one for $200 at Bike S a few years ago. And it's got durace. It's got durace, folks.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:26

Durace.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:27

It's got plastic pedals, but it's got durace. So that's my that's my real life report back. I'm back. I'm actually it's really crappy as we said earlier in the episode, right now. But right after this, I've got a nice bike ride planned with a few friends. We're gonna go ATB in in the mud. Not on a recumbent, but on an upright bike. Not quite ready to lean on my controls just yet, you know, drop bar style.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:51

Yeah, your hand's still pretty bruised.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:54

But no excuse to stop. I mean, you know, get on that bike, get on that recumbent, or just do it, do a walk or hike, or just keep moving that body, folks. All right. So, so let's uh let's close it out.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:08

Me in the eyes.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:10

We're gonna talk about that on the next episode. So you're getting out of it this time. But Nams has not ridden a bike in Can't remember. Can't remember. It's been a long time.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:21

I think it was Jambi's event in Australia. So in March.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:25

That's and you weren't riding much before that either. So we've got to get you back on the saddle. And so we're gonna have a whole and we're gonna have our listeners hold you accountable.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:35

Yeah. So I do need that. I need like public accountability.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:39

Public shaming.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:40

No, I don't need public shaming. Thank you very much. I mean I I won't do things for myself, but if there's someone else who's counting on me, I mean, I know listeners are not counting on me, but you know, it's like a mind trick, then I'll actually do it.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:56

Yeah, mind tricks.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:57

Yeah, others before self.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:59

So start holding uh start holding her accountable, everyone.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:04

And we'll get yeah, we'll get to that on the next episode. Well, let's get quickly into our wrap-up podcast we love this week.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:15

I love your sound effects.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:16

Well you were basically gonna talk about the the uh enhanced games, because that was a podcast that I had listened to that kind of tied into the my my recommendation last week for the performance enhancing with with weed.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:32

This one there was also for economics about the uh the um enhanced games. So check that out also.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:40

I it was a it was a hot week for NPR because I've been we have this like AMAFM radio in the kitchen. So I've been listening to that. And there was a story about this person named Mary Kane who has written a memoir called This Is Not About Running. And she just talked about her journey as like a world-class runner at 16, just like an incredibly gifted runner, and how you know the sports industrial complex kind of preys on these young athletes and puts them through a cycle of of I guess like development that isn't great. She was particularly calling out the Nike Oregon Project, Oregon Project, which doesn't exist anymore because the coach something Salazar was like pretty abusive. So I just found it interesting because it is about sport and it is about how we keep the joy of sport alive and how we kill sports for young people who are like unnaturally gifted, and for even those of us who are not, like the pressures that we put on ourselves, the the mental notes that we tell ourselves, tie that into the Jiminy Cricket kind of voice in your head saying, Oh, if you were just skinnier, you could go faster, even though you're not like Jiminy Cricket is always telling me that Jiminy Crickets.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:11

You know, that that ties into cycling with the oh god, I can remember his name, the guy on Unox Johannes. Anyway, it was a a guy who's looks full grown now, but he was Johansson.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:25

Abrahansen. Johann Johann Abrahansen, something I think that's it. Yeah. He he was a racer who's started to do well now, but he was, you know, a very gifted rider growing up. And because his coaches uh having him in all these diets and training regimens delayed his puberty inadvertently. And so he was well into his twenties and hadn't gone through puberty yet. And once he, you know, got everything right with his body, he gained a bunch of weight, but it was good weight, and he went through puberty. And now he's actually becoming a successful race. But it's just it's it's wild what we do. And with I think with these with sport happening, professional sports happening young younger and younger for people, you know, people are askewing the the uh high school and college trajectory and just signing with professional teams or leagues like right away. And so we are, you know, there's a tremendous amount of stress on mentally and physically on these young athletes.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:24

Yeah, yeah. I think of femin femme venemple. Um incredibly gifted or talented world champion.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:32

A current world champion or twice over.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:36

Yeah, but 23 years old at the top of her game, and she she had to step away from it, and I applaud her for prioritizing her mental health because she was like, I don't know who I am as a human being.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:49

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:49

Like without racing, and that's a problem for me. And like to to really step away at the peak of her performance, I think says a lot about her.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:59

And these cyclists, these athletes in general are are are performing at such high levels right now that two and some there are so many of them doing the same things that everyone's looking for like a little, you know, any s sort of performance boost you can get. You notice that no one on the podiums drinks the beers or the podium or the champagnes.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:21

I I I I want to say that at Emstel Gold, all the girls on the podium drank it.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:26

Um they probably lost the next day because of it.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:29

Actually, the third the person who was third of the boys drank it, but Red who didn't.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:34

Yeah. So, you know, there are things where you just there's you know, everything is come you know, everything can hurt your performance. Everything matters. So, you know, it's every breath you take. You don't really get to enjoy your every move you make your childhood. Yes. Jimmy Cricket is watching you. All right.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:53

Well, beautiful rainy morning with you, sweetheart.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:57

Rainy morning here. I wouldn't I don't know if that's necessarily beautiful. We're gonna have a nice warm week. Everything's gonna green up even more than it is already, which is hard to believe because it is full technicolor here right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:09

Yeah. It's that early summer, like light light green.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:13

Highlighter green.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:14

I call it highlighter green, and then like the leaves are still somewhat transparent, like you can kind of see through them. A lot of flowers, but later on it's just gonna be deep, dark, emerald green everywhere.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:28

I am psyched to get out on the bike every day this week.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:31

Super psychic. It's gonna be a beautiful week.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:34

All right. Well, we've got a lot to talk about next week. I hope you'll join us. Thank you for joining us on this one. And folks, that's all from the beating heart of Middle Country.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:45

Happy first month.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:46

I'm Ronnie Romance.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:47

I'm Arya Proudfoot. Again.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:52

We'll see you next week. Bye.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:54

Bye. Love you.