From New York Streets to the middle of Iowa: A Rollerblading Adventure

NASA GIRL: 1:13

Well, it's time for Road Adventures with Cycling Men of Leisure, The podcast for cyclists who understand that riding is not just about getting to the destination, but the experience along the way. Now here are the original Cycling Men of Leisure Adam and Michael.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 1:28

Hey, good to see you sir. Happy to be with you again, Adam How's things been going Going good, been doing a few rides for a big, big adventure coming up, but we'll get to that. I'm sure you've been out many, many times.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 1:44

The bike's put together. Let's just leave it at that. Got home from Georgia, got my bike put together, uh-huh And Step. One bike's put together.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 1:52

Okay, i'm gonna leave it at that. Come on, all right, fair enough, fair enough. So everything's going good.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 1:59

Besides that, everything's going good besides that, super excited. What about?

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 2:05

Today's episode. Yeah, me too. I've been looking forward to this all week.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 2:10

We've got some really cool stuff. We've got two guests on the line, which is going to be super cool. When I've told a couple of people about who we've had, they've had tons of questions, so I think this is going to be great. We're going to talk a little bit about some packing hacks, because the big ride is coming up here shortly, and we're going to talk about a couple of cycling movies that are coming out this summer. I know we don't normally talk movies, but we're going to today, so it's going to be an exciting, exciting episode. Is it like Cisco and Ebert? We're not going to give it stars or thumbs up or anything, we're just going to talk a little bit about it.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 2:46

All right, fair enough. So you mentioned that we had some guests. What kind of guests do we have?

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 2:53

Well, we have two guests who we have seen at Raghbri before, we have seen recently at Bragg before, and these are probably the two most popular guys out on these rides who you will never see on a bicycle.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 3:12

Oh, good introduction. I love it. I like that. I love it. That's good. Well, why would they be there then?

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 3:20

Because they are partaking in the event. They are just putting their own spin on it and doing their own thing, and I think it's awesome. So I'll let you introduce our guest today, that's perfect.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 3:30

So, to be fair, we met one of these gentlemen last year at Bragg And his name is Caleb, and Caleb, we appreciate you being with us today. And we had the pleasure of meeting Sonic this year. And Sonic, we appreciate you being with us this year. So, caleb and Sonic, you guys are We are skaters, skaters, okay.

Sonic: 3:52

Inline skaters, rollerbladers, revry Collis as long as you see us on the road, yeah.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 3:57

Okay, all right, so that was our first question.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 3:59

Yes, What do you call yourself? I mean, are they skaters, are they rollerbladers? Are they in line?

Caleb: 4:06

I don't know, you know the term kind of changes with every person we talk to, so it's whatever the person's used to saying. We kind of go along with. Generally, i'll say the term rollerblading a lot. That's the one I grew up with, that's the one I'm most used to, but I'll use different lingo depending on the situation in the conversation. Cool, how about you?

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 4:25

Sonic.

Sonic: 4:25

I personally prefer the term inline skating just because it's a bit more precise, it's a bit more internationalizable, it's not attached to any particular brand or anything, but depending on which discipline of skating you're looking into, they have certain terms that they prefer more than others, and depending on the country too. But in the popular culture rollerblading seems to be it. Within more tighter circles, inline skating seems to be more the term. But we'll respond to anything. We're happy to have some attention Cool.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 4:57

And I think the reason why we wanted you to have on this show which is, you know, road adventures of cycling, men of leisure and our crazy shenanigans is the difference that you guys one thing to go to my local park and see someone with their family rollerblading or inline skating, but you guys are doing it across an entire state, which is just frickin' awesome where I come from. So the first time in 2016, i was asked to ride across the state. I thought the guy asked me was completely insane, but watching what I first met, caleb, you actually had a group of individuals. You weren't alone, there were multiple, there were like six of you. Is that correct? Last, year at Bragg.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 5:39

Right right, I met you last year at Bragg.

Caleb: 5:43

Last year at Bragg. there was me Last year on Raghbragh, i believe we had eight individuals that were skating, but we had a team of sort of 10 or 11 and a few of them jumped in and out for different days trying to give it a try.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 5:55

Okay, and Sonic, were you there as well?

Sonic: 5:57

Yeah, i was there at the Raghbragh last year. Then this was my first Bragg, okay So now that leads me into another question.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 6:06

Are you guys a member of a club? Did you hook up through just chat rooms about skate? I mean, how do you go about saying you know what I'm going to skate this bicycling event, and then how do you get others to follow you?

Caleb: 6:21

I mean, i guess for me, i'm from Iowa. Six years ago, seven years ago, i was dating a cyclist, or she was new to cycling, and she said she wanted to give Raghbragh a try. I knew very little about Raghbragh but, being from Iowa, i said you know, i should look into this and I cycled a little bit. But obviously skating's been my jam since I was five years old. So I said I'm going to go ahead and try and skate this And I obviously had no idea what I was getting into. So that first Raghbragh, i was by myself and it was a real shock but it was a blast. And then I guess that kind of got me into the community of marathon racing and all that stuff And that's where I ended up meeting Sonic.

Sonic: 7:11

That's cool, yeah, and that's. As for myself, i've been doing a marathon and marathon events for a while. There's 26 mile skate races. We also have some longer distance events, like the New York City 100 K skating event. Wow, 100 kilometers and it's a race, so you're going for it. There's also the Athens to Atlanta road skate, so I started with those. That's a 88 miles point to point with a 5000 feet of elevation gain. They can't legally call it a race, but it's. We're moving fast and it's a race.

Sonic: 7:38

It's a lot of different levels. A lot of people just do it as a rite of passage, which is really cool. A lot of not so like professional skaters do that event, which is great. So someone had told me about this event, raghbragh, many years ago And I was like oh, headed in the back of my mind.

Sonic: 7:55

And all of a sudden, one year I read this article on this skating magazine online skating magazine, big wheel blading and it was written by Caleb and his experience of his first rag, brian, and it was a wild ride. I'm like who is this Caleb guy and how can I go join him? And then then I think like a year later or so, i met him at the Athens Atlanta road skate. We were both staying at the same person's place. The skating community, everyone's always trying to help each other out. So we got to meet. Finally We've known of each other. So that was really cool. And then Caleb, being Caleb, did a double century that day to add to the whole Athens Atlanta mix. But we got to know each other and I told Caleb I'm going to join you at Raghbragh And next year I was there.

Sonic: 8:45

That's awesome 2019, i was like, yeah, I think Caleb was surprised, dude, i'd signed up and everything.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 8:52

That's awesome. So you just mentioned something that brought a question to my mind. So, as a cyclist, one of the big things is to have a head unit or a computer to record I don't know RPMs and mileage and all that stuff. Do you guys use some sort of device to record the rides or do you just say, hey, today was 78 miles and they tell me this is what it was and that's good enough for me?

Sonic: 9:18

Yeah, we each have devices that we use.

Caleb: 9:20

I absolutely track my You do. I use a Sunto watch that I've been using for the last four years now. I tracked on my phone before that but it kept failing me and I'd lose out on miles. I'm sure it's the same in the cycling world when you do a ride and you get all those miles and you want to be able to show people the map and show people the stats. Absolutely, I think the watch and I've been tracking all my skates with that for the last four years And Sonic Q.

Sonic: 9:49

Yeah, so, like a lot of people, i started by using a phone app And this was a long time ago, i think in like late, like around 2008 or 2009,. I started with like the smartphones, using those, and of course your batteries wouldn't last very long. And then a lot of the people who are like racers and speed skaters and stuff, they'll pick up. Garmin watches are pretty popular And so you just have all everything on your wrist. The batteries last pretty nicely And then, in terms of the functionality is actually surprisingly good.

Sonic: 10:17

So, like for this brag, i had my speed, i had my heart rate, i used a heart rate strap to see how hard the hills are, which is very hard, and we also were able. You know, we each load up the routes on our watches too, so we're able to get like directions and like a mini map and just know like mileage or getting in and all sorts of that information. So I think the information is really handy to have. What folks they do, you know they say like Oh, it's not on Strava, it doesn't count, right. But there's also folks that, like you know, they just do the rides and enjoy and don't worry about it, but it's. It's getting very common now for people to track their rides, even if they're more casual rides.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 10:54

That's cool. What about maintenance? So you know I, you know I'm horrible, i ride the bike and I put it on the side of the building and I go to the shower truck and then I find something to eat and grab a beer somewhere, normally as my plan. But what about you guys? Do you have to worry about bearings? I mean, when I, when I was a young, young boy, i used to skate board And of course you know you change out bearings or whatever. What about you guys?

Caleb: 11:22

Do you want me to take this one, Sonic?

Sonic: 11:24

You can start and then I could. I could add on We, I think, have our own flavor.

Caleb: 11:28

Generally bearings. You'll carry a couple of spares, but you rarely have to change them unless something terrible goes wrong. The number one maintenance you have to do is your wheel maintenance, which is generally involves rotating your wheels, which is like a car tire. You turn them in place so that they wear evenly on both sides, and then you can rotate them front to back as well, to just make sure you have an even flat base on your wheels, so that way you can get more power out.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 11:55

That makes sense. I never thought about that I'm.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 11:58

I'm out on skating. My wife will tell you I do a terrible job of rotating the tires on our mag vehicle, so I couldn't couldn't rollerblade.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 12:06

What about you, Sonic?

Sonic: 12:08

Yeah, so a few things. I mean generally. The nice thing about skates is that they're significantly more simple than bikes are. The complexity relies on our technique and everything. So the skates themselves are quite simple.

Sonic: 12:22

We do want to you know I tend to before long rides, to just double check that all my bolts are tight, because we've I think every skater who's been around like lost an axle at some point or had something come loose. So I try to do that. But, like often at these multi-day events, i'm hitting the shower and then grabbing food and I might forget, but usually I carry spare bolts with me just in case during the ride I have stuff packed in. And as for maintenance itself, bearings are usually the one thing we tend to look at, and that's only if we really get caught in the rain and stuff. So this year's brag we had some wet weather. We had to oil our bearings in between a couple of days. It wasn't too big a deal. It's like a few minutes worth of work.

Sonic: 13:03

The other thing yeah, rotating wheels. There's a lot of opinions on this one. It seems to be like bigger, more powerful skaters like Caleb will put a lot more wear on the wheels and stuff. I tend to let my wheels wear in however they are and I kind of like them that way. But this year I did have one wheel that had a cracked hub, which is a rare thing, and thankfully I had a spare in my pack, my camping pack, to be like okay, i guess I'll swap that one out, but we just try to check our stuff every now and then. Obviously, these are long, long rides who want to make sure stuff's up to date, but thankfully there's not too much to worry about.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 13:40

That's another good point. You just said you had an extra one in your camping pack back at camp. What if I'm on the road for the day? I mean, the SAG driver has nothing for you, right? I mean, besides maybe some hydration? or water.

Sonic: 13:51

Here's a seat. There's nothing he's doing.

Sonic: 13:54

So we have a couple of options in that case, and if something goes wrong with one of our wheels, we could just take it out. Say it's like the front wheel and it goes wrong. We could just move one of the other wheels to that position. So at least we have a base. It's not pleasant to ride that way, but we can still keep moving. As for a bolt if a bolt comes out same kind of deal We'll kind of just have to stuff along with it. For these really long rides I carry a tiny Ziploc with every type of screw that my skate uses, and thankfully the screws are tiny. And then I only have like two Allen wrenches that I need to carry and that covers everything for me for maintenance And that's just. That's easy to carry.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 14:37

That's cool. That's same as a cyclist carrying tubes and CO2 cartridges and everything else, so little more compact on skates, thankfully. And so my next question would be like for cyclists, cycling jerseys help because they have lots of pockets, do you guys? is that the same for you guys? I mean, i saw you, and one of the days I saw you in a jersey, i just to note that is your normal outfit per se.

Sonic: 15:07

Yeah, yeah, yeah, i mean I've I've decided my first rivalry. I carried like a waste pack and had a bunch of stuff in there And then I alternated between jerseys and waste pack and some people like little backpacks and stuff, and at the end of all of that I just decided I like jerseys, i. It's just I don't want to carry anything too much. I have a set system with a jersey. I have to have three pockets on the jersey So that way I can just load up everything. It's kind of loaded because you know we don't have any like, we don't have a water bottle on a bike or anything right?

Sonic: 15:38

So the bottle is just sitting on her back and then like little snacks and stuff and backup equipment or phone, So it does. it does the jerseys get a little overloaded, but I do like it that way. And then, Caleb, you seem to go back and forth between a couple approaches.

Caleb: 15:54

Yeah, i go back and forth. I enjoy the jerseys. I'm trying to still build out my collection of nice jerseys. I really only have a few that I like enough that I can wear on a ride like Bragg or Agbride. But I did grow up or I started using the waste packs more often in the beginning, and I'm still kind of used to those because I can just organize everything in all the compartments and then carry one or two water bottles And it works great for me. A lot of skaters the way they stride affects the way they like to carry the stuff that they're carrying. For me I'm so used to the low sitting backpack or the waste pack that that's just what I tend to lean on more often.

Sonic: 16:36

And one example one of our friends who did rag bra two years ago. He's coming out again this year. Daniel, he got like this waste pack but he carried it over like a shoulder sling And he just did that the whole week And he just loved it. He's kind of a gear head or gadget head, so he just liked to have a whole bunch of things handy, like I don't know why, but he had like a second phone on him and he had like his like instant 360 camera and he had like a few other things, but he liked it that way and was more comfortable just having everything accessible in that manner. So some people like to suffer by carrying more stuff and other people like to suffer by having less stuff and like running out of water, like that's happened to me a couple of times. So I don't know. You got to choose which way you're suffering.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 17:17

Maybe he was concerned about service, So maybe he's like I'll carry an AT&T phone, I'll carry a Verizon, I'll get a.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 17:23

T-Mobile Coming from the guy who carries two phones, Hey one's for work One's for work. How much work can you get with that in Iowa Exactly?

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 17:32

Just to be fair, it's only when we get in camp going come on, give me service, give me service, so my question also is.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 17:40

Raghbri's coming up in a couple of weeks here. How many of you guys are going to be out there? You have any idea?

Caleb: 17:46

Five of us are currently.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 17:48

Okay.

Caleb: 17:49

We're at five right now, six of us and there will be seven of us for one of the days. Last year was pretty big when we got the nine skaters out there and it you know, coming from my first Raghbri with one just me by myself nine felt like a huge party. So I'm thankful every year for any skaters to join.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 18:21

That's cool. So this is a strange question And normally we don't brag or talk about speed. of course that we're not big speed demons. but there was a hill this year in Georgia where the four of us were out there And I'm curious. I got scolded by my wife because she follows me on Strava and saw that I did 52.4 miles an hour and said what were you doing? And I said I had a helmet on. I mean no big deal. I'm curious what kind of speed did you guys get at that 8% grade hill?

Sonic: 18:52

that we had that day, yeah, that hill. So I hit 50 miles an hour on that, so not quite as fast as you, but Caleb was filming me and passed by me. Wow, what did you hit, caleb, i think? I think I want to say 52.8.

Caleb: 19:11

I believe is what I hit Wow.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 19:14

Wow, and so.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 19:15

I freak out going that fast on a bicycle. I can only imagine on on rollerblades I, oh my God, how terrifying So much fun.

Sonic: 19:24

No, that was. That was really fun Because, well, one thing that it was 8%, so when you was coming we'd looked at the route maps earlier like in the day to just be like, okay, what do we have coming up. So it wasn't like a big surprise. The nice thing was was like you could see the whole hill, like you could see where it came out. There wasn't like a surprise turn, unlike certain other hills. So it felt really safe for us because we just saw it And we also intentionally arranged ourselves So we weren't in like a crowded area with other cyclists, too many other cyclists or anything. Yeah. And the other thing that I feel like makes things feel safer for us is that we have a low center of gravity. Especially we'll tuck on these hills. Our center of gravity is closer to the ground, so we feel kind of more as stable as we can be. Caleb, you have anything to add to that?

Caleb: 20:10

That hill the pavement was incredibly smooth. Oh yeah, that was just to be all around. That was a beautiful hill. I I was as ready as I needed to be, but I wish I had been a little more prepared because I would have gone even faster, but I enjoyed that hill to the max.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 20:29

I'd like to agree with you, sonic. I mean I've we've done crazy stuff at Raghbride, where you come over one hill and get 45, 50 mile an hour and then come back up and it's been no big deal, cause then of course the inertia is coming right back up the hill. That one was different, cause it just kept going and going and going and going And you could see everything. My concern is always, you know, raghbride, come up over the hill and then all of a sudden there's going to be a 90 degree turn to the right or whatever. That's what always concerns me. So but it was fun, definitely, definitely. But I had no idea My wife would be like what were you doing? So I had a good time is what I was doing.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 20:59

Now you mentioned something earlier. You said the 88 mile thing with the 5,000 feet of climb. On day one of of the Bragg this year, where it was 5,000 feet of climb, let me tell you what this Michigander was completely out of my element. We don't have elevation like that And by the end of that day I'm sure I was like I was exhausted.

Caleb: 21:22

So but it was definitely a good time that was an incredible day of all Yeah.

Sonic: 21:30

Oh, that was a hard day, A lot of days of cycling events, that one was particularly hard.

Caleb: 21:36

The fact that the roads were curving around the lake and were also wet kind of for me killed all the grip that I could get on the pavement. And I'm sure that's true for a lot of the cyclists, because I know there was a few white bounce that day. Yeah, coming down the-.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 21:52

You had four people that went down.

Caleb: 21:55

And then obviously you have to go slower into the downhill and then you have no momentum to keep going or to get back up the next hill, and that day was hard. That was a hard day.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 22:06

And the one piece of road that I distinctly remember was I think it was fluorescent orange, painted on the ground. It said sharp turn ahead and started to go downhill. And then you had to turn that really right really quick. I don't know how for a roller blader or an inline skater, but for me it was like I'm holding the brakes on just to be able to make it around that corner. So you know, didn't want to go off the end. So that was kind of weird for me. So- Absolutely.

Sonic: 22:35

Yeah, i remember that turn specifically. Actually, i'm glad it was painted, because as soon as I saw that I'm like oh, this sharp for cyclists is probably sharp for us. So we have various methods to like slow down and control our speed. Thankfully, we're not as effective at cycling brakes, but we do have some methods. So, caleb, you want to talk about like the T stop?

Caleb: 22:58

Yeah, for me, like the number one way I like to slow down is the T stop or like just generally dragging your foot behind you. When you turn your wheels sideways, obviously they're not going to roll and they're going to create big friction on the ground. So a lot of those big hills. Whereas normally I would sprint right down into the hill and get as much speed as I can, I was from the very top, dragging my foot all the way down, which wears your wheels down a little bit faster Where's your knee down, your body down And then obviously, like I said, it drains all your speed, which helps you safely get down the hill, but then it kills your momentum. So you're stuck expending way more energy And I think that day there was a trade-off with the views that we got. It was incredible.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 23:45

Yeah, it was beautiful with the lakes and the hairpin turns. I don't have that by me either. I'm not sure about where both of you gentlemen live, but, michael, i don't think you have anything like that either.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 23:55

No, we got lots of flat planes out here. Well, speaking of that, that brings up another question here real quick for both of you, caleb, are you still in Iowa?

Caleb: 24:08

I am. I'm in Des Moines, iowa. I really love it here. Iowa obviously it's a great state for cycling, kind of just folds right into being a great state for skating. I mean we've got incredible bike trails, highways with shoulders. Just the whole state kind of celebrates biking And in a way I kind of get to sneak in there and enjoy the prosperous of that community.

Sonic: 24:30

Sonic, how about you? Where are you from? I'm based in Queens, New York City.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 24:34

So I'm a New.

Sonic: 24:35

Yorker And it's the complete opposite in terms of the kind of terrain. The terrain here is extremely bikeable and skatable, which is great, But you're fighting amongst like a bazillion other people other cyclists, other skaters, drivers, horses, pedicabs, everything. A lot of little motorized electric vehicles are here. So it's pretty nitty and gritty But it's depending on it, can be very frustrating but it could also be very fun. But it's definitely a different kind of environment. We're not doing miles on miles without stopping. It's very stop and go and a lot of cutting and turning and stuff.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 25:12

So both of you guys are in places where in the wintertime it's cold. How do you guys train during the winter? Did you just put it up and say I'll see you skates next spring, Or how do you do that?

Caleb: 25:26

Sonic, you want to go first?

Sonic: 25:27

I guess I could. I mean, i used to skate commute everywhere before the pandemic Not just in enough places to go, but the nice thing about New York is that even when it snows it doesn't much anymore these days, but even when it snows it gets cleared up right away. The roads are actually dried up pretty quickly, so the pavement's fine, it's just cold out. But you're going to be cold no matter what. You're going to be cold waiting for the train on the platform, or you could at least move your body. And the nice thing about skating is your upper body's putting in a lot of work, so you actually build up a lot of heat while you're moving. So as long as your skin's covered, it's not so bad.

Sonic: 25:59

We might switch to softer wheels or something like that, but it's very skatable in the winter for a lot of the year. And then the other thing I did this past year was I found an indoor skate park that was close to my house And I just skated there. It was a different form of skating. I wasn't really doing any kind of distance, but it definitely helped keep me in shape. That, and I do like to go skiing as well. So it's one. It's winter, just take advantage of that.

Caleb: 26:27

Taylor.

Caleb: 26:27

Good to go Here in Iowa. I mean, it's kind of the same thing. It gets really cold If the pavement is dry or if the pavement has no snow on it. I've got a great system of clothing items that I'll put on. I've been building up gear for years, training in the winter, so I'll skate. I've gone as low as negative 12 degrees, i think.

Caleb: 26:50

So it's really just about layering to keep that wind off you, keep that cold air off you, because you generate so much body heat that I'll go out in a zero degree skate And by the time I get back home I'm taking off sweaty layers, just absolutely hotter than heck when I come in my apartment And it's nice, i mean, we don't get snow here in Iowa until generally about January. So the first part of winter we can enjoy in, and the second part we like to go to the. Me and my fiance like to go to the roller rink all winter long. We go to the adult nights, we go to the regular open sessions and we just will skate in circles and dance and get a great workout in.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 27:29

That's cool. We were here. Well, Michael and I were doing some prep for the show and talking. We were wondering, I wonder, if they go out in the winter and ice skate. So I don't mean that offensive by any means, but do you guys ice skate or?

Caleb: 27:43

Yeah, my fiance. she's actually creative director for Idle Roller and Ice Skates, so she ice skates, which is, and she got me a pair of ice skates. So I've actually recently these last two winters gotten into ice skating. It's not quite the same for me. General body mechanics apply, but the edge of a blade versus the edge of a wheel are incredibly different. It's a wild experience, but I have an ice skate. It is fun and it's very humbling to be able to skate across the state of Georgia and then I put on a pair of ice skates and can't barely get around the rink. It's fun for me.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 28:22

That's cool, that's funny, yeah for myself.

Sonic: 28:26

Yeah, i just I don't ice skate. For me, skating is kind of like, about freedom and like to be in a rink, especially in New York, like our rinks are crowded and packed and they're always telling you don't do that, don't turn around, don't take pictures, don't skate so fast, don't get so close to someone, don't jump And remember, don't have fun. So we, just so you can skate outside of the rink, let's skate outside of the rink.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 28:49

That makes sense. That does make sense. That's what's for cycling, i mean, for us. I mean it's just the freedom of me and my bike and like right where I come in up, i mean we're tickled and you know we've got all kinds of stuff going on getting ready for it. It's just you and the bike and only about a billion of your friends. I don't know how many of your friends we're gonna have this year, but I think we're gonna have lots of friends this year I'll be close to a billion this year.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 29:12

Yeah, it's gonna be a lot. I mean, you know, depending on what number you hear. You hear, i've heard the 100,000. I've heard, i saw a news article for a Sioux city that said they expect 25,000 people to be camping the first night. I don't know how that compares to other nights. I mean, that's a good question.

Caleb: 29:31

Are you guys with a charter or do you just like independent or I started out, actually, with a group of friends that were cyclists and musicians and tagged along with them, and every year it's kind of been a little bit different adventure. The last few years we managed to find friends that would drive a vehicle for us, and then this year we've got a cyclist friend from Cedar Rapids that's renting an RV and he's gonna allow several of our members to throw their gear onto the RV, which is kind of nice, nice.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 30:02

First class for the year anniversary. I love it.

Sonic: 30:05

I don't know if it's first class. I mean, we're still tenting it. The RV's already pull over the cyclist's friends and everything, so it's like we're just need a way to get our gear across, though. Second, class.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 30:14

That's about it.

Sonic: 30:15

Yeah, second class I'm gonna do it at the carrier gear and deal with the main baggage truck And hopefully we'll have some nice camping spots. but it's gonna be a surprise every night. That's what it'll be And that's okay. we're ready for that.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 30:28

I think this year we should all be ready for everything. I mean, like Michael and I and our other friend, joe, who were all going together, we've even said every case he's, we're gonna go by, we're gonna grab something, even if it's small, just throw it in the back of your jersey. I don't know what food lines are gonna be like. I mean, if the numbers are there that they think are gonna be there, since you guys, all of us, have done Raghbrai before. I mean normally you could go get something to eat or find a restaurant or a food truck or something. This year we're just don't know what it's gonna be like.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 30:58

So but it'll be an adventure, that's for sure.

Caleb: 31:02

Absolutely. So I'm discussing that And I think that the Raghbrai crew does a good job of preparing for what they're expecting for And I don't think they're gonna let us down. I think they're gonna have a set up to where it's not gonna be too much more of a struggle, because they want people to still enjoy themselves, and having to wait in long lines and everything is gonna kill the return rate of a lot of those new riders. So I think they're gonna do a really good job this year And I think that's why they picked the route they picked and the cities they picked, because they're gonna try to do it right. So that way it's a good time That makes sense.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 31:40

I mean as long as they got that big red food truck. Because I think five days last year I would go get that Euro sandwich and sit down and Michael would say I thought you were gonna get something else. Today I'm like yeah, but it called me.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 31:52

It called me and said you want me, so The red food truck made a mint off of you last year, so My credit card when I got home showed like 12 bucks a day.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 32:02

I'm like 12, i mean, well, my gosh, i could have bought the truck by the time I got home. So well, i guess a good transition from here would be packing, if you guys don't mind, if we can switch to packing like for a cyclist. You know, michael and I have been discussing like, okay, are we gonna bring X or we're gonna bring Y? We use Ziploc bags for each outfit, for each day. So, just as a simple, simplistic way, we say, okay, we're gonna wear this jersey on this day. And, of course, with our podcast, we have some custom made jerseys and stuff. And so we're like okay, well, on Tuesday we'll wear the you know road adventures of Cycling Man, of Leisure Jersey, and then, of course, bragg led us to our own jersey, so we're gonna use that one day.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 32:45

Anyways, the point is is we use Ziploc bags and we say okay, which day? and we label them. And then, of course, for the shower truck that night, we just grab an outfit and, you know, go and fight the good fight to try to get a shower so you can find something to eat. I guess my curiosity would be is what about you guys. I mean extremely similar.

Caleb: 33:04

I'd say this is the funny part. This is where Sonic and I there are a lot of similarities between the way we pack alongside cyclists. I tend to be a hippie. I bring. This year on Bragg, i had one pair of shorts and I brought five pairs of compression underwear and three jerseys, and every day in the shower I'm washing the jersey I wore and I got tomorrow's jersey ready And I switched back and forth between the few that I love And I think, sonic, you had a jersey for every day.

Sonic: 33:36

I had, yeah, no, and I figure you're gonna suffer either carrying a bunch of extra jerseys and clothes or you're gonna suffer having to wash and remember that stuff. So I think each method is valid, but I just, i just didn't want it to have separate clothes set up for every day. I'm not as organized as having ziplocks for everything, but I did. I was proud of myself. I had a stuff set that I had all my clothes in for riding and I actually put everything in the order in which I plan to wear it. So for each day I could generally just reach into the stuff sack and know that I had the jersey I needed for the day, along with like underwear and socks And then maybe a few pairs of shorts. That was about it.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 34:17

That makes sense. Yeah, i think for, and Michael and I have gone for years back and forth. Like few times we've actually stopped midweek and gone and done our laundry somewhere halfway through And then some years it's just not foreseeable to find some laundry mat. You go into some of the towns I think the year like the Lamar is your some of those towns were 2000 people Pocahontas only had They were tiny that year.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 34:40

Yeah, so it was like I doubt they even had a laundromat. Yeah, so sometimes you think about that, although we did hear something funny from one of our friends who said well, i should say someone from our charter who said ah, don't worry about washing it, just throw dryer sheets in. There We were like I don't know about that 80 miles and needs a little bit more than a dryer sheet. So What about, if you don't mind, if I ask what about nutrition food? Do you just wing it Like you said, caleb? you said you're kind of a hippie and just roll with it? Do you just go with what you find out there, or are there certain things that you guys like to have?

Caleb: 35:20

There are certain things I enjoy having. I will say this kind of relates back to your question earlier about maintenance Whereas you guys have to pay a little more attention to the maintenance of your bikes, food and what we intake and water and everything. Although it's important for everyone and it is important for cyclists, i think in my experience as both a cyclist and a skater, you guys have a little bit more leeway on how much fun you can have, on the type of food you're eating and things you're consuming, and for us we have to. You're constantly maintenance in your body because it's such a full body workout to be able to skate these distances and these climbs, and so watching what you eat is really important How much you eat, how often you eat, how much hydration you're getting.

Caleb: 36:10

For me, the number one thing I like to have is like the tailwind nutrition or noon or something like that that I can put in my water. Bragg is really nice because they kind of provide you with a really great spread of things throughout the day. You can get those fresh fruits and pickles and olives and pickle juice and snacks that you need. Bragg buys a little different, a little bit crazier, so you have to kind of be a little more mindful of what you're eating. But you're basically, once you get going, as long as what you're putting in your body is pretty good, you're just putting a lot of it in. For me, i'm consuming a lot of calories all day long.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 36:50

I think you make a good point, because we in Sonic I'll definitely give you the floor here in one second because our tradition is definitely, one night during the week, we're going to a Mexican restaurant. Somehow we're going to make that happen, and I think that's a great point. I mean, if you eat something like that, you may not get as much nutrition as for as basic food groups and stuff like that. So that's a good point. Sonic, what about you?

Sonic: 37:11

Yeah, i mean, just like Caleb mentioned, we're just burning a lot more calories for what we're doing. So we want to just make sure we've got like we're eating a lot And I'll have, like I know I'd like on rag bride days. I'll like finish the day and go to a food truck and like have a whole meal And then I'll just go to another food truck immediately afterwards. I'll be like either I'm going to throw up or this is going to go down really quickly, and 100% of the time it's gone down real quickly. So just making sure getting enough, enough food. And then I always carry a few things on me. My mom makes these homemade like energy bars are made of like dates, nuts and coconut, so I always carry one of those on me because it's just like the most densely packed thing And I just have it in case I need it. And I'll carry some cliff blocks. That's like a quick energy And I'll try to get what I can in the town.

Sonic: 38:04

I know my first rag bride out in 2019, that was a hard year And I remember I get we were lucky enough to have a cooler. So I would buy like a pack of a six boiled eggs pre boiled eggs from like Hivey and just throw them in the cooler. It was laughing here. Throw them in the cooler, that in the morning I would eat four of them and then take the other two and throw them in my jersey And then I would eat the other two when I'd get to like the first town And that that was a good strategy. Bragg. Bragg is a little tough this year getting getting as much food.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 38:37

You didn't want a pimento cheese sandwich every day.

Sonic: 38:40

Well, they didn't have the pimento cheese. The first like two days. The PB&Js got a little stale, yeah Yeah, and we definitely appreciated that they had all this stuff, but it was still like tough to get it up. proteins It was. it's. it's always a thing just to make sure we got enough food. I bring lots of cash at Bragg. I just know I'm going to spend a lot of money on on food and that's okay. That's part of the experience. It's it's. there's a lot of maintenance going on with the body.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 39:09

And I just want to make one statement, because we do consider Franklin a friend of the show and, and to be fair, if anyone's never done, Bragg by bicycle right across Georgia. they have multiple stops during the day with lots and lots of food. It just doesn't seem to be a substance of food. So if you even myself to some of those longer days you know, some of those longer hill days I need something like I don't know, like a hamburger or something that was more sustainable than than just the pina burn jelly and stuff like that. Yes, I mean, he has all kinds of stuff. I just want to be fair.

Sonic: 39:40

So if you've never done it there's all kinds of stuff So yeah, and I it's good.

Caleb: 39:47

I'd love to give a shout out to Franklin and Bragg. Of all the cycling events that I do or skating events, i absolutely love Bragg. I love the support vehicles, all the people that work them. The food choice, i think, is great. I love it. It's. It's enough to get to buy, especially the fact that, like Sonic said, you have to bring so much cash on rag ride.

Sonic: 40:07

Oh yeah.

Caleb: 40:08

You just leave in the morning and you know you're going to have to support vehicles, you know, you know PB and J bananas, whatever you know it's not, it's not the same as a hamburger, steak and eggs. But hey, if it's free and you're getting to enjoy the day and you you don't have to worry about spending 100 bucks that day on food, it's, i think that's great And I love it. And you know, this year I would say, if there, if there's, i think everybody's number one complaint this year was we needed a little more Pimento cheese sandwich. That's right.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 40:36

That's right Yeah that's true, You're not going to. you're not going to starve by any stretch of the imagination. It's just after seven days, peanut butter gets a little bit, a little bit tough to.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 40:50

So I'm not sure how about your travel plans for Georgia boat? Michael and I flew in the day before, put the bikes together in a hotel and we went out to one of the local restaurants in Augusta And we just laughed because we looked at the menu was like Pimento cheese, sandburger Pimento. I'm like, well, we're in, the, we're in the right area. So No, i got to say you're, you're absolutely right, and and and. Georgia is more intimate, where it's the same. You know 1100 people and you get to see the same people at camp, including, you know, every time I heard a motorcycle going around me, you know it was. Is EMS John and and and and all of those people who are just absolutely wonderful. That's why we absolutely love that ride.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 41:31

Rack Rye, of course, being different. I mean there's going to be, i don't know, let's say there's 25,000 people. I don't know the real number yet. We will all get to experience it in about three weeks from now. So and so how many people will be there, i don't know. but you rarely going to see the same people. Now, you guys, i really believe being being that niche market where you guys are a little bit different because you are in line, skating, you are rollerblading. I mean, if they see me on a bicycle, big deal. The only thing that makes me set aside is I wear my de brim. You guys are zoom, zoom, zoom back and forth. So I I think You stand out a little bit more than we would. Yeah, definitely, But for a cool reason I mean. Oh yeah, i just appreciate you guys, you know, coming along on our show with us and talking about your, your adventures and how.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 42:19

You know how you got into it and how you just signed up for Rack Rye. And at first, when you signed up, did you think I'm signing up for a cycling event, this is crazy. Or did you say, forget you, i'm going out and doing this baby. You know what's funny.

Caleb: 42:36

I think people say the term rag Rye so much And personally, when I said, oh, i'm going to do rag, rag and skates, i just said the word rag Rye, it kind of holds its own lure, it's kind of a special name And I didn't even think about it. I said, oh, i'm going to get my skates comfortable, I'm going to get a backpack with gear, and I didn't think about 20,000 cyclists, i didn't think about food, i didn't think about camping, i didn't think about the mileage each day and the heat and the sun and hydration and all that And I just I went into it kind of like a happy go lucky kid, like this is going to be a fun adventure. Wow, i mean I, if you guys ever want to read that article, that first rag Rye if you've seen me on brag and you've seen me on rag Rye in recent years, i look like I know what I'm doing.

Caleb: 43:24

That first I was a stranger and I still got 10,000 questions from all the cyclists. They said, oh, how do you do this? How do you maintain things, how do you? and I was learning every step of the way. I said I don't know, i'm figuring this out right now. But that was, that was the beauty of the experience and From the very first rag bride that I did, i always felt welcomed by the cycling community, which has been such an incredible part of my life Just being welcomed by this community that, you know, i don't want to say it could be more different, because I feel there's so many similarities, but just constantly every cyclist had questions and was welcoming and said you know, we're glad you're out here. You know, it's just so much fun.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 44:16

No it. You know, my first year was 2016. And I think that year I saw a guy like on a penny Farley, a unicycle one one guy on that exercise.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 44:28

Yeah, like that, whatever that like, i don't even know what it was.

Sonic: 44:31

It was an elliptical thing.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 44:32

Yes, an elliptical thing.

Sonic: 44:34

There's the word I was looking for. I held.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 44:36

That's the the go ahead. Sorry about that.

Caleb: 44:39

That's another fun aspect of of rag bride is that, even though you know that first year and second year I was the only skater, and even still now there's only eight of us compared to the 20,000 cyclists, there's always still someone doing something else. That's just as crazy. I'm there was a woman one year that ran every day and she was in her sixties And I thought, wow, how do you run across the state of Iowa, like in this heat in July? and you know, i've seen the penny farthers and I've seen the unicycles. And there's a guy every year. He doesn't even have a seat on his bike, it's just a traditional road bike, no seat, he just stands, stands up the whole time, and I think that's crazy. I do too The challenge of being on skates. You can't sit down, but you know, and it's like you know, there's always something wild to see. It's, it's, it's fun.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 45:33

That's. that's the best thing about rag bride, I think, where the difference there is like a rolling circus of of interesting thing, Totally a rolling circus. Well, I we appreciate it, Michael, I just wanted. I know you got a couple of extra things.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 45:45

I'm going to, I'm going to throw it to you, So Well, no, i just I wanted to bring up a couple of points that I that I found when I was doing some review of some articles and things. There's a couple of bike movies coming out And I think probably if anybody's into rag bride they've probably seen that the the movie shift, which is the rag bride documentary, is coming out or is out. Unfortunately they're doing limited showings right now And it's only in theaters. I guess they're currently looking for some kind of distribution partners or things like that. So hopefully it'll get a little wider, because right now it's just been Minnesota, iowa, you know kind of those type of places. But it looked really interesting. It really just explores, you know, the people who ride like people like us, the towns that host those rides and kind of the space that rag bride offers for the people who participate in it And I think they follow three riders along the way And they also follow a couple of town organizers as well, to kind of give you both sides of it. It looked like a really, really great movie. So if you get an opportunity I would certainly check that out. And the other movie coming out, that's a documentary as well, is about my favorite professional cyclist, lance Armstrong, my favorite professional cyclist, You should know this one Adam Le Mans, le Mans, greg Le Mans, thank you very much.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 47:12

It's called the last rider And it is really kind of the story of Greg Le Mans legendary comeback in the 1989 tour de France And, just to make a long story short, in 87, he had been injured in a hunting accident, had to go through a couple surgeries, fought his way back to get on it, you know, back on the team to go to the tour. Throughout the entire. It was an amazing race, throughout the entire, you know, three weeks. But him and Fenyon, who is a French cyclist, were like 50, 53 seconds apart from each other throughout every single day, basically got a lot of work done Every single day. Basically got down to the last day. Le Mans was like 50 seconds behind, not really known as a time trialist, and by the end of the final day in Paris and it was a individual time trial he had actually, you know, taken over the lead and won it in the final day. But it's really this story talking about how he kind of came out, and you know, from his hunting accident and had to work his way back up and wound up winning his second of three that he had won And looks like a really incredible story and that type of thing.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 48:35

So I would you know, if you get a chance, i would check that out as well. That's being shown in theaters around the United States. So a couple of cycling interesting movies that I thought people might be excited to check out. So sorry, guys, i don't have any skating related movies to talk about. I mean, we could talk about, you know, 1985 solar babies, if you're familiar with that, post apocalyptic kids on skates or rollerball. Those are about the only two that I know from like 1975, remaden, 2010 or something, but that's it.

Caleb: 49:08

I think that timeframe there was maybe prayer of the rollerboys. Do you remember that one?

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 49:14

No, I don't remember that one.

Caleb: 49:16

That one was another. it was some sort of post apocalyptic movie and everybody was on skates And I don't know what that theme is about.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 49:26

Yeah, Solar babies is the same way. It's like the world is just gone. You know the kaput, but there was enough flat ground that these kids would go everywhere on rollerblades or actually at that time they were skates, They weren't actually rollerblades.

Sonic: 49:41

So Caleb and I are future proof. then There you go.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 49:44

Yeah, you guys have it under control.

Sonic: 49:47

So we're prepping for the future Awesome.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 49:51

So, yeah, i just wanted to talk briefly about those two movies And you know, guys, we certainly appreciate you taking the time. What else do you got, adam?

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 50:00

You know I'm nothing, i just from the bottom of my heart, you know we do this show because we love what we're doing And you guys obviously are screaming to me that you also love what you're doing. So we appreciate you taking some time, you know, this evening to be beyond the show and getting to talk about your craft and what you do, and so I would be lucky enough that I know it's going to be crazy, but to meet up with you guys in Iowa. If we can see you, if I see you out there, i'm not going to be afraid to say hey, okay.

Caleb: 50:35

I'm going to be only noticeable for the first three or four days. I'll be skating those days And then I'm actually going to be tandeming the second one. I'm going to be tandeming the second half of Raghbray with my fiance, So hey, all right. Okay, be on a bike for the first time ever.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 50:51

Well, well, bold, new World, bold, new World. I was going to say the. What I'm looking at here, cheating a little bit online, is did you get engaged at a large event somewhere?

Caleb: 51:03

I actually so me and my fiance she's a skater as well Our first date was the last day of Raghbray five years ago. Okay, it wasn't supposed to be a date. She just came out to skate 70 miles with me. We had the time of our lives. It was incredible. We started dating immediately And then last year, on Raghbray, sonic actually took photos and I'm filming, but the last, on the second to the last day of Raghbray last year, i proposed to her out on the road, nice. It was incredible. It was. It was such a great time. We. Raghbray is such a great time for her and I. It's really like you know, i obviously for all everybody that does it, it's a hardcore vacation, but for us it's such a great time to just be completely. It's just us out there fighting what we're doing, you know, and and it's such a, it's a great time. So, yeah, last year we got engaged on Raghbray. So that's awesome And I'm sure that we wouldn't get married on Raghbray.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 52:07

Okay, all right. Well, that's that's, you know, that's that's probably good, you know, make, make it, make it more what she's in line for looking for. No, no pun intended with the inline joke there, so, but no, that's it. Michael, i appreciate you asking me, but the only thing I would say is is is what we always say, which is guys.

Caleb: 52:33

Have a great ride, all right.

Sonic: 52:34

Sounds great day for a ride. There you go. It's a great day for a ride.

Cycling Men Of Leisure: 52:39

Every day is a good day for a ride, So and what else is it, and it's a great day to go skate. There we go, Perfect Gentlemen. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Sonic: 52:51

Thank you guys. Absolutely a pleasure ours.

NASA GIRL: 52:56

Thank you for coming along with Adam and Michael on road adventures with cycling men of leisure. If you have enjoyed this, please subscribe to the show and the app of your choice.