Speaker 1: 1:30

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.

Speaker 2: 1:44

Welcome to Road Adventures of Cycling Men of Leisure. As usual, I am Adam and I am happy once again virtually, not because you're virtual, but I'm happy to be joined once again with my good friend, mr Michael Sharp. How are you doing, sir, good Adam? How are you? You know, you and I landed back from the great state of Florida and I usually get told to bring warm weather back with me, and I completely failed at that.

Speaker 3: 2:13

Well, it is February. Yes, just February, yeah, just saying yeah Well, yeah well it's going to be negative 10 here tonight, so don't feel so bad.

Speaker 2: 2:22

Is it really? Yes, sir, wow, negative 10. Let's see here I got a positive 10. Currently, I don't know what the low is, but oh, I could tell you, hold on, oh, it's going to be three. Wow, consider yourself lucky. You know what? We were just in Florida and I'm sure that I felt lucky, but you were able to get back in the swing of things back home and everything.

Speaker 3: 2:53

Oh yeah, no problems. No problems at all. Well you know, other than it's like, oh gosh, I got to go, you know, back to work and all that, but no, no problems.

Speaker 2: 3:04

Yeah, you know, I'm so glad we were able to record together. I'm getting lots of feedback from my family and lots of text messages going back and forth.

Speaker 2: 3:15

I mean, they do listen to the show once in a while and I understand, you know, family is one of those things. In a podcast they're like oh yeah, we'll help you, we'll help you get started and listen to a couple of shows, and some family members you know are consistent listeners. Some are not, but this one. My family has definitely been sending messages back and forth. They're highly enjoying this show based upon our experiences together with our, with our, our adventures on the road. And so I don't, I don't know, are you getting the same traction on your side or?

Speaker 3: 3:45

you know, I've heard several comments about that and you know, do bucket hats affect your intelligence? Well, listen. If you haven't listened to our past episode, listen to it and we will help clue you in. I own bucket hats, but there is a time and a place.

Speaker 2: 4:03

Well, my cousin Mark, our leisure community, my cousin Mark wrote me and sent me a picture and he's at a baseball game with a bucket hat, and so he wanted to let you know that it does not affect your intelligence, but he did agree with you. There's a time and a place to wear a bucket hat. So there you go, speaking of our leisure community. I'd like to highlight a few things. So I hope I'm pronouncing this correctly. But Rob Menser, m E I N Z E Menzer, wrote us and after our announcement of doing RAIN, he says Glad to hear you guys are taking a run at RAIN this year. Would have been fun to join you in my home state but unfortunately RAIN and RAGBRAI overlap and I'm RAGBRAI bound this year.

Speaker 2: 4:55

And thank you, rob, for taking the time to write us. Yeah, absolutely. He gave us a screenshot of what position he finished in position 88. So I don't know how many writers are there. He said it was 23 years ago and he just said he really hopes that your training, he's giving you a little support virtually because he said it's, if it's no joke, as a ride, especially if it's hot. So he's sending some training support to you, sir.

Speaker 3: 5:26

And I appreciate that. I, you know, can use all the training support I can get. The good news is, I don't. You know, you're right, 165 miles is no joke. Uh, fortunately, you and I have done that distance before. So, um, you know we have that going for us. It's not going to be complete. Uh, you know, shell shock, but you're right, I gotta start riding now, right early, right, right early right often I have an Armando update Okay, cool.

Speaker 2: 5:58

So you and I recently got together with Armando in Florida and he is a very familiar figure to our show with an unfortunate accident, and then, of course, people wanting to know how he's doing. I can officially announce, ladies and gentlemen, armando is coming back to big brag, so there we go yes, that'll be nice.

Speaker 2: 6:24

So, uh, just got the confirmation today. He will be part of cycling men of leisure, and I wanted everyone to know that. Yes, even though he had a little bit of a tumble last year some vision issues uh, he's been riding like crazy, been traveling like crazy too, but, um, he is officially signed up and you will get to see mr armando at big brag 2025. So awesome, looking forward to it. That'll be fun. Uh, mr Scott Garwick was recently at the Winter Lux Bragg ride. Got a lot of pictures. So did you, by the way.

Speaker 3: 7:03

And his picture was on the Bragg website too. That's right, wearing our cycling.

Speaker 2: 7:11

Men of leisure t-shirts. That's right. He wanted to let us know that he stopped for a hot dog and his wife put ketchup on the hot dog as she should and he gave the emoji that he's throwing up. But this is very interesting. You and I had a little bit of a controversy.

Speaker 1: 7:34

Not controversy is very interesting you and I had a little bit of a controversy, not controversy.

Speaker 2: 7:35

We just had a conversation and then we thought it'd be funny to add to the show about whether you call in sick or call out sick. Um, so far it's not looking good for your side because that's because nobody understands it well, I think they understand. Are you calling?

Speaker 3: 7:51

in sick. I myself am calling my boss, I'm calling out sick because I'm not going in. So it's okay, it's a regional thing.

Speaker 2: 8:05

Armando said I did not stay home from work often in my career but when I did I called in sick. I wrote that I'm most interesting man in the world voice Armando, yes, sick, I wrote I wrote that, uh, I'm most interesting man in the world voice, voice, armando yes, I'm, you know I okay so I lost that one too melanie says that. She said I'm sorry, michael, this one I have to go with adam, I call in sick. Um scott says he calls in sick. Actually I hate to say this.

Speaker 3: 8:36

I guess I'm looking at the sick part. I'm not in sick, I'm out sick. That's what I look at. Calling boss to tell you I'm out sick today. I'm not in sick today, I'm out sick today.

Speaker 2: 8:49

Well, ever since COVID, there's no such thing as calling in anymore. Get on your computer and work from home. That's right, get back to it. We did have a couple guesses for listener spotlight. I'm going to save that for a second. But you and I gave some verbal and, I guess, visual, if you watched on YouTube support for Cricket, scott's wife and she said just finished listening with Scott, we really enjoyed the show. They extremely loved the shout-out. Well, here you go, cricket. Here's another. Another shout-out. She says she is definitely writing Cool, just decided in how many days and they have a listener spotlight guest. But I'll save that for a second. We talked about our friend jeff with the weather and helping us and and, uh, I talked to him and he said his daughter loved when we talked about him. You know he had. He had his daughter in the car. Yesterday was her birthday and, um, he took the day off to spend with her and so he played the show and she thought it was so cool that her dad was being mentioned on the show.

Speaker 2: 9:56

So that was nice so she made an appearance today, and so I sang my best rendition of happy birthday that a child would enjoy. Every adult would jump off a bridge when I sang, but she at least thought it was fun. So, um, I believe wait a minute we do have some people who have signed up for our team to be on brag, and so we we got four more members and so awesome. So we will definitely be heading there. If you didn't catch the last show, let's see here. This will be too late Comes out on March 2nd. So we have our team.

Speaker 2: 10:45

So that's it that we're still gathering members. But as of this point but what I will say is what you've said before and I'd like to mirror what you said Please check with me, because if you feel like you're supposed to be on the team and you're hearing this and you haven't had a chance to check with me Stephanie's been very gracious Please just make sure write me. I can sum up that you were supposed to be on the team or verify for you, and I have had some people email me. Uh, after our last show that came out and just verified. So, um, luckily, I've been able to say yes to every one of those people so far. So, um, things are working and and we're going to have a very large team and we're pretty excited men and ladies team.

Speaker 3: 11:32

So here's what you need to do If you want to make sure you're on the team, call in to Adam for that verification. That's right. The other thing, though, you know, yeah, even if you don't want to join our team, join a team. That's what I'm going to say. Join a team, because I've done these rides by myself and I've done them with a team. That's what I'm gonna say. Join a team because I've done these rides by myself and I've done them with a team, and the team just adds a whole different dimension to the, to the ride.

Speaker 3: 12:03

So well, yeah, I agree, you know, I I think a lot of people are like, oh, you, just, you just want us on your team, on your team. You know what? Yeah, I'd love to have everybody join us on our team, but, uh, I think everybody should, um, do it in a team setting because, number one, you've got extra support there because there's always somebody there on your team that will support if you're having a rough day or stuff like that. I think it just makes it a little bit more fun than just doing it by yourself. I just wanted to.

Speaker 2: 12:30

Can I give a perfect example of what you're talking about? Sure, what was the first thing I said when I busted my rim last year at brag? What? Who did?

Speaker 3: 12:38

I well, I can't say what you. You said the first thing when you busted your rim, but that's true, that's true.

Speaker 2: 12:47

But the first thing I said when we got in the hotel room was I needed to contact our team member scott, that I knew that he had family in the area, that I knew that he had family in the area, that I knew that he had bike parts. He had knowledge and we did. We ran into him and and he said, unfortunately at that point, that what are your couple of recommendations? And luckily I was able to find a rim. But by having a team member you have more resources, you know, and so you can, you can bounce around.

Speaker 3: 13:14

Yes, here's an example. Another example Okay, I went up to the great state of Michigan a few years ago with yourself and Joe and some other people to ride the one-day ride across Michigan. Odorim and forgot my shoes, left them in my car and let me tell you, everybody in our little group, our little team, was hopping on throwing out ideas, calling people they know, working on trying to remedy the problem. So it is nice to have that extra layer of support there.

Speaker 2: 13:51

I completely agree, and what's funny is here we had all those people in the hotel room. It was a cabin, but in that cabin and we were all exhausting our resources because we were, we were all away from home. If we all been home, I think between joe and I we could have whipped up about 10 pairs of cycling shoes for you, and we were just out in the middle of nowhere. So, um, but you made it, man, you made it, oh yeah.

Speaker 3: 14:15

Yeah, but it was nice, uh, even from a mental point of view, going, oh cred, I screwed up, this is all on me. But you know what? You guys just jumped in and like, started, you know, throwing out, well, we could do this, maybe we could do that, maybe you could do this. I'm going to call this person and see, and so so it is. It is nice to have that, that layer of uh, of support there. So join a team, give it a try, that's right.

Speaker 2: 14:41

That's right. Um, so we are excited. Um, as far as we're concerned, we last year we were, you know, we were able to have close to 10, but Franklin was wonderful to us. This year we have over 10 ladies. We actually have the Cycling Women of Leisure team and we're excited that we're going to have more than 10 ladies. So that's exciting. Well, I think that's it. I've gone through our leisure community. By the way, for those of you who take a few minutes out of your life to write us, tell us what you think, Michael and I both just want to say thank you. We love that you do that.

Speaker 3: 15:19

Even though you seldom agree with me. Thank you anyway.

Speaker 2: 15:22

We appreciate you taking the time I mean I appreciate our community committing and at least confirming that I'm normal. So I really appreciate that.

Speaker 3: 15:32

Well, I didn't hear any of them confirm that, but you take it however you'd like, sir.

Speaker 2: 15:39

I'm going to take a little time. Hey, no singing. Okay, yeah, sorry, sorry, sorry. I think, without further ado, we have an interview coming up which I'm excited that we share. That should be good. But before we do that, why don we, uh, do our normal thing? Listener, spotlight. I got my toys back, man fan.

Speaker 3: 16:11

fantastic. All right, listener, spotlight. Uh, here are the clues. Early settlers were primarily English. This town let me try to put them in order In the early 1900s there was over 15 mills grist and saw mills within four miles of this community. Originally, the town had a different name, but it was changed prior to 1810. Originally, the town had a different name, but it was changed prior to 1810. It was established in the 1790s but it was not incorporated until the 1890s. Okay, and this town is known for extremes. Okay is known for extremes. Okay, and I think I also threw in there that other industries for this town included poultry agriculture and canneries.

Speaker 2: 17:18

So I've got two guesses. One doesn't actually give a physical city, but I want to give credit, uh, cricket, credit where credit is due for cricket, if I could say that. Wow. Um, she says, listening to spotlight guests with the gristmills, she is thinking below the mason dixon line, doesn't actually uh, name a city, but just wants to throw that out there. And and then we did get a new YouTube follower. So, yes, if you're not familiar, we do put the show on YouTube and I'm trying to find it. Sorry for the delay here, got it. And to SenseScape, angie Raffey she is saying that is it Rock Run Maryland?

Speaker 2: 18:12

Okay, so appreciate the two guesses.

Speaker 3: 18:14

So the city that's actually being guessed is Rock Run, maryland, and then Cricket is saying below the Mason, somewhere below the Mason-Dixon line, and I did actually have another clue I threw in there that it might be a good place if you are a remote worker, so all right. What's that, tahiti? I don't think you're getting much work done there. No, are you kidding?

Speaker 2: 18:41

Yeah, transportation buses are running.

Speaker 3: 18:43

I'm doing my job one big circle right around that island um yeah, all right. Well, uh, certainly. Thank both of our guesses. I am sorry to say that neither of them are correct.

Speaker 2: 18:59

Yes.

Speaker 3: 19:02

But our listener spotlight for this episode is Millsboro, Delaware.

Speaker 2: 19:11

Okay, millsboro Delaware, thank you for your listenership, but we'll let Michael tell us a little bit more. But, as I usually do, thank you all listeners. But thank you, millsboro Delaware.

Speaker 3: 19:24

Yes, early settlers were driven to the area they were primarily English to join the timber industry, and the timber drive that was going on Obviously had lots of grist and saw mills. Originally this town was called rock hole mills, but it was changed to Millsboro.

Speaker 2: 19:50

I think that's a good change.

Speaker 3: 19:51

Yeah, you know rock hole mills. Yeah, no, uh, this town is known for extremes. This town has recorded the coldest temperature in the state of Delaware, which was back in 1893. It's negative 17 degrees. It also recorded the hottest temperature in the state, back in 19, I think, 38 at 110 degrees. Wow.

Speaker 3: 20:17

And what is interesting is this only one of three cities in the US to record both the record high and the record low temperatures, and those other two places were Chester, massachusetts, and Warsaw, missouri. And as far as being a good place for remote workers, 2021 PC Magazine named it one of the top 50 states in the US and Canada for remote working. Any reason why? Because it's a nice place to remote work from. I don't know.

Speaker 2: 20:58

You put me on this spot there. I don't know. I mean, I'm just wondering, like I mean, I don't know. I mean, I'm just wondering, like I mean.

Speaker 3: 21:03

I've got really good, you know fiber, internet and lots of coffee shops to go hang out in, I guess we go.

Speaker 2: 21:12

Yes, I thought Lake Nona Orlando area was a wonderful place to remote work myself. But OK, I appreciate you mentioning that. I was just wondering if it was like because of outdoor coffee shop.

Speaker 3: 21:24

I think we've already answered that question. It's a great place to remote work, because what else are you going to do there when you have the high and the low extremes like that? Stay inside and work.

Speaker 2: 21:33

I was going to say you're close to the negative 17 tonight. Oh it's going to be real close. Hey, seriously, when you were reading that I was thinking about that. Didn't you have a football game? I mean, I know we didn't talk about this ahead of time, but wasn't like the football game that you had at the Arrowhead Stadium or whatever GHB or whatever the heck it is? Wasn't it like negative 10 last year at one of those games?

Speaker 3: 21:56

It was, and if I remember right, that was the third coldest football game professional football game on record. I think you're right, it wasn't the coldest, but it did make top three.

Speaker 2: 22:07

And I know that you and I were like usually during the games if no one knows, we text each other and sometimes one guy who was standing up without his shirt on, both of you and I were like, ooh, that's going to not be good tomorrow.

Speaker 3: 22:19

He's going to the hospital with hypothermia or frostbite or both. But you know, at that temperature I'm sorry, I can't really enjoy the game at that temperature.

Speaker 2: 22:29

I enjoyed it very much. I hit pause. I wanted to go to the bathroom In my living room in front of my fireplace.

Speaker 3: 22:34

It was awesome. Let me tell you.

Speaker 2: 22:37

Well, listen, I really appreciate you always having the listener spotlight. Ladies and gentlemen, once again, the the listener spotlight. Ladies and gentlemen, once again that was listener spotlight. I love having my toys back. So, um, we have something we're about to play here. Um, this is pre-recorded, full transparency. You would know that if you watched on youtube, because I will have a different shirt on and so will you, and there'll be different views and everything. But, uh, hopefully, uh, it plays well.

Speaker 2: 23:08

We, um, throughout the years of doing cycling, have continuously seen padres cycling charter along the way. Uh, we met these gentlemen um, jimmy and dave. Um, and I want to let the interview play out, but we met these gentlemen last year at shoreline. We were at a outdoor brewery with a fire pit and gentlemen came up and started talking to you and said what is this cycling men of leisure about? Um, later on in the week, we sat down with the gentleman at traverse city whiskey um said, hey, we should do an interview, you know, when we get later on in the season, and that's exactly what we did.

Speaker 3: 23:46

And so, yeah, we've got the inside. Look at what a you know cycling in is all about, so it'll be fun.

Speaker 2: 23:56

So, without further ado, let me please play this interview and we'll be back to give some comments. Hey, michael, we have some extremely special guests today.

Speaker 3: 24:09

We do indeed, this is exciting. We've been to a lot of rides that these guys have been on and so it's going to be fun to talk to them and we just keep seeing them. And we actually ran into them last year at an event and had a chance to sit down and talk to them and I kind of felt like I knew these guys because everywhere we went we kept running into them. So this will be good. Who?

Speaker 2: 24:30

do we got? We have Jimmy and Dave from Padre Cycling Inn. Jimmy and Dave, let me welcome you.

Speaker 4: 24:36

Thank you. Thank you very much, happy to be here.

Speaker 2: 24:39

Well, we appreciate you taking your time this evening. So we did meet you last year at Shoreline in person and then we happened to end up in Traverse City at Traverse City Whiskey, which was a good. Oh sorry, A little bit of a sidetrack there, but can you tell us, Padres? We've seen you multiple places. How did you get the name? Where did it come from? Tell us a little bit about yourself, Jimmy, you want to handle that Sure.

Speaker 5: 25:09

So the business was in existence in 2007 by the original owner, who was the Padre. He got his name. We actually got an email the other day from the person who named him and apparently this person said hey, you're Padre because he was also a minister. On the side, he was a retired police officer, but he was also a minister and he lived in a town called Mexico, Missouri. So you take a Mexican minister and you have a Padre. I love it.

Speaker 5: 25:42

Padre. He got his start from Bubba. Bubba Barron Bubba's Pampered Peddlers was also a retired police officer and they were friends and Bubba had a business going and he said there was some room in the industry for another person. So Padre took it on and created his own side business and, kind of Bubba took him under his wing and it was all kind of from there.

Speaker 5: 26:10

Then in uh, 2014, um, I was talked into by a friend of mine to do rag braai and he was using Padre Cycle Inn. So I used Padre Cycle Inn, so I was a customer and then the next year I talked Dave into doing it with me and, kind of funny story, because I was, you know, I was happy to do either way camp myself. I've done a lot of self-supported stuff too, so I was happy to just camp myself. Said Dave, what do you want to do? You want to get chartered or do you want to self-support? He's like well, if we're riding all the way across Iowa, someone else is putting up our tent.

Speaker 5: 26:51

So we became customers both of us, and that was the year that the business became for sale. So we knew that going into RAGBRAI that year we kind of looked at, kind of watched the business and said you know these are the things you need to do to have this business and you know it's an existing business we could purchase. And by the end of the week we had decided that we were going to. I was going to say we were going to buy it, but we were going to go home and get permission from our wives to buy the business.

Speaker 5: 27:23

And of course, they said, sure. So what? 30 days later, dave, we owned the business.

Speaker 4: 27:30

Wow.

Speaker 2: 27:30

so uh what, 30 days later, dave we own the business we own this uh charter charter company well, I'll tell you what those friends who talk to you into rag braai. I'll tell you. You gotta watch friends like that yep no, we're great people.

Speaker 3: 27:42

What can we say? So you guys have been you. So you guys have been cycling for a long time and this opportunity came up and you're just like I think this would be a great idea and you took over the business and now you're going to. How many different rides this next year? I think it's seven rides this year.

Speaker 4: 28:05

Jimmy, Maybe it's seven. Let me see. Here I'm going to help you cheat One, two, three, four, five.

Speaker 5: 28:07

Is this your Jimmy? Maybe it's seven.

Speaker 2: 28:10

Let me see, here I'm going to help you cheat One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. I got Katie Trail for you. Yep, peddler's Jamboree Brag, ragbri, shoreline, dolmac and Bourbon Burn. That's correct. Let's see here, we're going to see you at Bragg, bourbon Burn, bourbon Burn. We've seen you at Shoreline. We've seen you at Dalmac. We've seen you at Ragwry.

Speaker 4: 28:35

We'll see you at the beginning of the season and the end.

Speaker 2: 28:38

There we go, that's right. So I got to add one thing. You said Mexico, missouri, and I just find it really interesting. I actually went to school in Mexico, missouri, missouri Military Academy is there. I was a little bit of not on the right path. My parents said, guess what? You're going to military school. And so that's kind of when I read your little bit about you on your About Us page on your website, which, by the way, is PadresCycleIncom as we're talking about this, if you're curious, these guys are phenomenal guys. If you're looking for charter services, we're going to get into what actually they do here in a little bit, but if you're looking for it, please go to Padrescycleincom. So interesting. So I appreciate that.

Speaker 3: 29:21

What I think is interesting is we've seen you guys for several years here and there and everywhere and all these different rides, and had never really talked to you. And we were at shoreline last year at mackinac. They had a little get together at a, at a brewery, and I and I still remember it, I think it was you, jimmy you came walking up to me and you were like so I keep seeing these cycling men of leisure stuff around. What is that all about? Yep, and we wound up chatting there for quite a while and met several of your uh, of your crew, uh, people. And then, I believe, two days later, at uh at Traverse city, uh, we all wound up in a distillery, uh, sampling some some local uh, you know brew, local distilled spirits, so to speak, I guess.

Speaker 3: 30:08

So it was really kind of interesting because we had never ever really talked, except then we finally wound up together. So that was kind of cool. I think. Where I want to start at with the whole thing is for the people who don't know anything about, who maybe haven't participated in a week-long event or who have participated, say, at RAGBRAI, and use just the RAGBRAIai service. What do you guys offer?

Speaker 4: 30:36

so we offer two different sizes of tents. So essentially, rather than bringing your own tent, bring in your own camping gear will provide a tent for you. You can pick from a regular size tent, which is a three-man tent, or you can pick from a six-man tent, which gives you a space to stand up, walk around in there. It makes it easier for changing. You can have one person or two people in that tent. When I say two people, a guest of yours, not somebody you get matched up with. So you can do a large or a regular size tent and then we put that up every day. We take it down every day, our crew does. We move it to the next town. In addition to that, we'll take luggage and have it at your tent every day. So when you wake up in the morning, you pack up your bags, you set your luggage outside your tent and then we'll grab that luggage, we'll put it in our truck and we'll take it to the next town and have it outside your tent when you get to your camp. Then we also have snacks and beverages, so we'll have sodas that are available. We have a charging station for electronics. You can charge your GPS unit, your phone, tablet, whatever you might have.

Speaker 4: 31:36

We'll have chairs. It's a wide hot day. You've got shade where you can just sit there. You can grab a soda or water or whatever it might be. Relax for a few minutes before you worry about anything else. Grab a snack, talk to some other customers, talk with one of us, and then you can head to your tent, where your luggage is, and take care of things. We also provide shower towels. We have, so you don't have to bring your own towels disposable shower towel. So one less thing to worry about. We also have hot coffee in the mornings. Then we'll have ice, uh, powdered gatorade or gatorade available in the mornings too. So when you start your morning, we don't provide meals, but we'll have a couple of snacks that are available to get you on your way, as well as coffee to fuel up your morning too. So, and then, we also have bike racks, so when you come into camp, you can put your bike on a bike rack and not have to worry about laying it in the ground, or where do I put it? Jimmy? What did I miss?

Speaker 5: 32:35

I think you covered it. But one thing I wanted to add is that is the same service that we will provide for any event that you use our services, so it doesn't change Like we don't. You know, some charters might offer certain things on RAGBRAI but then they don't offer those certain things on another event. But if you go to any of our camping events we provide all of those same services. That's, you know, of course, different for our Katy Trail event, which I guess we'll talk about that at some point, but that's a hotel based event, so those services will be a little bit more different and for people who don't like the heat or they don't like sleeping in a tent, that might be more up their alley cool.

Speaker 2: 33:18

So I will tell you, last year, at shoreline, your camp in the traverse city camp seemed so valuable to me. I wasn't part of you. I wish I was at that time because, as I passed, that was a long day and there your beautiful chairs were sitting and I saw all of your guests relaxing and I thought that should be me right there. And Michael, I think you're right. If no one realizes what that is, if you do, just as a comparison, if you do an event that doesn't have a charter service, you come in and you're going to the baggage truck and you got your bike and you got your bags. And now what? Now you're either walking with your bike and walking with your bags.

Speaker 3: 33:59

Well, stop right there, Adam, because you made that sound really super easy.

Speaker 4: 34:03

It's not.

Speaker 3: 34:04

You go to the baggage truck and there's like 300 or more people's bags in there. They're now strewn all over the lawn. You now have to go through and find your bag and of course you're going to pick a bag before you go that you think nobody else is going to have. And then you're going to find 50 people that have the exact same bag, exact same color, and then, if it's like one of the first days when they bring your bike, I mean your bikes are just all. So I mean it's more than just, oh, I'm going to grab my bag and go. It's a lengthy process so I can definitely see where. If my bag's just waiting outside of my tent, that would be beautiful.

Speaker 2: 34:38

You mean it's not the green REI one that I bought that no one else could buy at the same time.

Speaker 3: 34:42

No, Believe it or not, everybody else bought that same bag on sale.

Speaker 2: 34:49

So one of my questions would be is sometimes it rains, believe it or not. How do you guys handle bags on days it rains? I've seen, I think I saw maybe tarps or something. Uh-oh, jimmy, you got muted buddy. Yep, sorry, no, don got muted buddy. Yep, sorry, no, don't be sorry.

Speaker 5: 35:12

Things happen. I'm trying to mute myself. I've got a little bit of a cough, but on Shoreline you probably saw some tarps over the regular baggage trucks. They'll park their truck and then they start unloading all the bags onto the ground and then it never fails. One of those days it's going to rain and it rains on everybody's bags. So they have a big roll of clear plastic that they'll try to put over it to keep it dry.

Speaker 5: 35:43

We try to keep the luggage in our box truck, in our baggage truck, until every tent is set and everything like that, and then we can then decide all right, is this clear, everything's clear. We can start taking the luggage out. So if we do get a shower or whatever, that luggage isn't just sitting around getting wet, it's in the baggage truck. We have had it. We had an incident last year where we were ready and then all of a sudden, out out of nowhere, there was a spot storm. But it's better than having that stuff out, sitting out there all day and hoping that that piece of plastic doesn't blow away on you.

Speaker 2: 36:22

I think that's huge.

Speaker 5: 36:24

We'll also keep an eye on weather. As far as is it hot, so do we want to keep the doors open on the tents to ventilate them and so that when you get into your tent and it's not baking and then we kind of weigh that against. Well, what's the chance of rain? So if it's going to rain, we're going to zip those tents up so that way, if their luggage has been delivered, we don't put it inside all the way inside the tent, but we'll put it in the vestibule, and if we zip that closed it'll stay dry once it's been delivered. So there's a lot of watching the weather throughout the day, making sure you know we're ready for whatever the case may be, whether it's strong winds or rain showers or anything else that's going to happen.

Speaker 2: 37:02

I think something to mention here and just for myself. The difference between when we had a charter versus not having a charter is you're talking about the tents and you're going to check the ventilation and everything. I can remember many mornings of rag bar. I getting up, you know it's tent poles are starting at four, 45 in the morning, five o'clock in the morning your tent is soaking wet from the dew being out there in a cornfield and then the bags get. I mean the tent gets rolled up and you know, if I don't have a charter and then if I ride all day in the saddle, then when I set up my tent it's dewy and wet and I think one of the things that you guys offer as a charter is obviously it has time to dry out. I mean even, or I'm not sure. I mean I know the gentleman I met last year at Shoreline told me that you don't put the tents away wet, so maybe he has to wait. I'm not sure.

Speaker 5: 37:51

If it's really dewy in the morning, we will put the tents away. We'll roll them up wet, but chances are they're going to be completely dry when anybody, by the time anyone gets there. I mean, if we've got a soaker, you know we've got rain all day long. It's camping. You know there's not a lot you can do about it. You're out in the nature. But on a typical day during the summer, on any of the events we support, by the time we get the tents set up early afternoon, you know riders are coming in. You know later on the evening everything's been dried out so you, you go ahead, michael, I'm sorry.

Speaker 3: 38:30

I was just going to say a couple of things. Number one I am interested in and I forget what town, but we were like camp literally right next to you on shoreline, and I saw your guys putting up the tents and all that kind of stuff. Or who am I kidding? I saw the tents being put up. That would insinuate that I was in early enough to see you guys put up the tents. They had already put up the tents. If I am participating and I'm one of your people, how do I know where my tent is? Because you guys I don't know how many you had 50, 60, I don't know. How do I know where to go when I get there? Do you have assigned spots that my tent is in this spot? Every? You know I'm three over from the on the fourth row, or how do you do that?

Speaker 4: 39:09

So when you, when every customer checks into the beginning of the week, we assign them a tent. So they'll get a wristband that will have their tent letter and number on it and they'll be in that same tent all week. So that is one of the nice things in this day and age is you don't have to worry about getting switched to a different tent that somebody else slept in last night as well. As if you happen to leave something in your tent maybe hopefully something small then it's going to be in that tent a little bit later too. But after we get all the tents set up, usually if you're next to somebody you're probably going to be next to them for most of the week because of our order of setting up the tents and taking them down.

Speaker 4: 39:40

But every day, after we get all the tents up, we'll put a map up and we'll group certain tents together. We group all of our small tents together. We put all of our single tents together, large singles and large doubles. So that's one way to know. Hey, this is the large double area. But then we'll have a map that's up that customers can take a look. They can go to one of our crew members and we're happy to point them in the direction of where their tent is, and the number of tents will vary depending on RAGBRAI. It's usually our largest event, but Bragg's been growing a lot and been a pretty good event for us these days.

Speaker 3: 40:08

Okay. I was always interested about that. But let me tell you, when they put these tents, I mean it kind of looks like a military installation. I mean they don't just haphazardly stick them around. You guys got them in nice straight lines and it's well-organized.

Speaker 2: 40:21

Michael, what I'm hearing is you better be nice to your neighbor, I mean because you're going to be with them all week long.

Speaker 3: 40:28

That's where your tent is. Yeah, don't tick off the neighbor, because you have to live with them for another four or five days.

Speaker 2: 40:34

Jimmy, you talked about baggage and how we'll keep the baggage away, and I think one of the things that I and Michael can attest to this that I so my first RAGBRAI or anything like this, any kind of ride that you're providing services for was mine was 2016. And course I teased michael about those friends who get you into rag braai. I mean, now we do this crazy stuff all the time, but at the time they're like hey, what do you think about riding across iowa? I'm like I think you're nuts. And now I've done it five times. So, uh, I guess I'm the one who's nuts. But, um, at home you start thinking about gathering gear and lug, I mean, all your stuff that you're getting. How does the customer know how much stuff they can bring? Do you have limitations or how does that work?

Speaker 5: 41:17

We do. We have limitations which exceed, like most of the standard baggage trucks that are just part of the event. I think we allow like about double what Rag Bride does, I think, for example, which is basically two bags, 40 pounds or less each. So 80 pounds of baggage per person, per event. And you know, if you think about doing Rag Bride, I think you can bring 50 pounds total.

Speaker 5: 41:48

You still got to get your tent in there, an air mattress if you want it, your bedding, a chair, maybe things that you might not, or things that you won't need if you're using Padres. So you don't have to pack a tent, you don't have to pack a towel or two, so a variety of those types of things. Um, that saves space. So we also have on our website like a list of suggested items that's just kind of accrued over the you know or the time. And you know if, if a customer says, oh, I brought this and I, I, you know you got to have that on your list and we'll put it on there.

Speaker 5: 42:25

It's not a be all end all list. Some people want a fan, some people don't want a fan, you know there's different things, um, but it's a good. It's a good list to look at, because it gets you thinking, it gets you preparing and then it gets you saying oh wait, that reminds me I should bring X, y or Z Um so that's helpful but being able to bring 80 pounds of bag of stuff in your bags for as many as seven days.

Speaker 5: 42:51

My first RAGBRAI, I think I wore two kits the whole week. I just washed and dried and washed and dried every other day. You can do it all kinds of ways. We have minimalists that'll bring a backpack. We're like how is that person spending the whole week riding and not smelling like garbage with just a backpack full of stuff?

Speaker 2: 43:13

so you've got other people all the way across the state.

Speaker 5: 43:15

Dollar general and then you got other people who max it out all the way and I mean they're probably bring more things than they need well the things you don't need to bring um things like a bike pump.

Speaker 5: 43:29

I mean, you might want to have a bike pump for your bike mounted to your bike, but you know we've got the full towers. Um, you know, if you're someone who wants those types of things, you don't have to worry about bringing those types of things. We've got those in camp. We got maintenance stand for bikes, bike pumps, the racks, all that stuff.

Speaker 2: 43:50

That is nice because, yeah, I mean, michael, you and I have both changed our. I mean, each time we go out, we we think, okay, well, how about this, how about that?

Speaker 2: 43:57

because, before um, aligning what you're saying, jimmy, I would be the guy who my first year probably brought the kitchen it was ridiculous in the house and uh, and then I realized what I did was that first, rag bride, when I got home, on the right side of my garage I put everything that I actually put my hands on through the week. And then on the left side, I put things that I never even touched and in the middle where things were even though I didn't touch it, I was still wouldn't mind having. And then I took some pictures with my phone and I still, each time I out, I'm like, okay, well, I tell you what. And now, michael and I, you and I kind of join them like how about I bring this, you bring this, even to try to get it smaller so we can share. And so, um, which I? I know you're right.

Speaker 2: 44:45

I've seen the guys who get on the bus and they've got one rei backpack and I'm like where's the rest of your stuff? And they're like this is it. I'm going across the state this way. I'm like, okay, good luck to you. Michael, you remember we were in RAGBRAI. Our charter at the time had parked next to the RAGBRAI trailer and they had the scale.

Speaker 3: 45:07

People were in line to get to the scale. Like at the airport. You're over 50 pounds. Take something out. Get out of here.

Speaker 2: 45:16

What about? A lot of times, michael and I, when we do brag, we choose to fly in. Uh, this year we've decided to fly to atlanta and then we're gonna um, we're gonna go to rome and rent a car. Go up to rome um, we would have bike boxes. But if someone flew to one of your events, would you be able to accommodate travel cases and stuff?

Speaker 4: 45:41

Yeah, we do. We've got a box truck that transports all the luggage, so we do have situations where somebody has a bike bag they need transported for the week. So we'll handle that at times and it's not something we advertise but it's definitely something we can accommodate. It's one of those we try to under promise over deliver. So if a customer needs something, we'll try to see if it's something that makes sense that we can handle and help them out with. That's perfect.

Speaker 2: 46:06

CPAP. If somebody has you talked about plugging things in. If someone has CPAP, are you guys accommodate CPAPs, cpap or are you guys accommodate CPAPs?

Speaker 4: 46:16

Yeah, we have a couple events Dalmac and Shoreline, I guess where then the bourbon burn a little bit too, where we know we're going to have electricity available because the right organizers are going to make sure that there's electricity. That's there. So in those circumstances we ask customers just bring an extension cord, and we can handle it in that way. We just last year decided to start testing out another approach for some of the other events where we don't have electricity, and that is, we've purchased and rent out CPAP batteries. So basically it's a kind of an inverter where you can plug a 12 volt or 110 volt into it or run all night long. We tested it out on an event. Worked very well, so we bought a few more of them, and so now we have those available for rent on some of our different events, like Rag Bry and Brag and what's kind of handy about it that we didn't realize was mainly there for CPAP use.

Speaker 4: 47:06

But there's USB-C outlets on it. You can plug, charge your phone overnight. There's a light on it too, so you can use it as a tent light. So it's kind of multipurpose, and what happens is the customer just drops it off with us in the morning, we take care of it. We make sure that it gets all charged up by the end of the day. When they're ready to go to bed, they just come and grab it from us and take it to their tent and works overnight for them.

Speaker 2: 47:33

That's wonderful, michael. You and I were just recently in the Sky Club on Friday and they had a whole wall of those things, because they don't have plugs for everybody in Orlando Sky Club and they have a whole wall of those things you can rent out to charge computers and everything. I mean we've come a long way with many, many batteries and stuff, so that's wonderful Water. So you said you talked about snacks and stuff. So if I'm trying to fill my water bottle up, I assume that you stage near or around fresh water or have fresh water available for the cyclist to start off in the morning.

Speaker 5: 48:03

Yeah, we'll have a variety of different water coolers out. Some of them will have ice cold water in them. We try to always have one that has lemonade in it, and then, on a larger event like Bragg Bride, we'll also have one that just has the flavor of the day gatorade.

Speaker 5: 48:19

that's so that's cool if you bring in your own noon or something like that, um, you can make your own with the water, but if you just want to quick fill up with pre-made gatorade, you can do that um which is a perk, really love that lemonade in the afternoon.

Speaker 2: 48:36

To me that's a perk because I I mean you do, ragbrai, you're on your own. I mean, michael, what about our friend Walter, when we were at the 50th anniversary? Ragbrai, our good buddy, we was waiting in line. He had taken the regular RAGBRAI camping in Des Moines, right there in the middle of that big dirt field, and our charter had, you know, water and everything. And we were on our way and all of a sudden we looked up and our good buddy from Georgia, and he said, hey guys, and I looked at the line and it was like 60 deep at least waiting for water.

Speaker 3: 49:12

So it was like Whoa. One thing I wanted to bring up is, if somebody is listening to this and they are kind of the first timer or they don't understand charters, there is a difference in charters. There's different levels. It's like anything else You've got. You know, your your basic level and then you build up and I would say you guys are kind of the higher end level because on the basic end and and we've used a couple of charters for rag braai, uh, just because we, you know, we uh don't always like where they they stick us if we're just with the rag braai group and we don't want to haul our luggage that far, um, but we have used charters where you bring your own tent, you bring your own stuff, they tell you, you follow the signs going into town where they're going to be and your stuff is sitting there and you know maybe it's rain, maybe it hasn't, maybe they covered it, maybe they didn't. And then you bring your stuff and you find your little camping area within their domain there and you set up your tent and you haul your gear over and that kind of stuff and your bike lays on the ground and that type of thing. So when you're looking at charters, there's different levels that you'll want to look at.

Speaker 3: 50:20

You guys sound like you're doing it right. I mean, you guys are sounding like men of leisure should be coming to you. Because you guys are setting up the tent. I don't have to haul my baggage or anything like that. I've got a nice rack. I can set my bike up off the ground. So I just wanted for anybody out there who wasn't familiar with charters is, there is a multitude of different services offered. Some offer just we're going to have a signs place and we'll get your luggage there and we'll have a shade tent or something for your enjoyment.

Speaker 2: 50:52

So I just wanted to make sure everybody understood that those levels exist realizing it like if they're listening to a podcast in the comfort of their air-conditioned car they're not thinking about. The reality is you get on that bike for 60, 80 miles a day, out in the middle of the heat, out in the middle of iowa, or you know, georgia or whatever, uh elevation in georgia this year, or whatever um, and you come in, you come into camp and your tent's already there and your bag's already there and you're ready just to like go take your shower, go find something to eat. You're not messing with anything. I think that's one of the perks that obviously you guys decided to buy the business. You know that. But for someone who doesn't realize, why should I charter versus not charter?

Speaker 2: 51:54

Now, there could be the like you said, it could be the minimalist. I'm not doing that. I've got my sleeping bag and I'm staying out in the open. Well, good luck. You know, whatever I mean, each person could do it their own way. But let's, michael, only, unless you had some other things, should we get into some of their events that they're doing?

Speaker 3: 52:14

Yeah, I was wanting to chat about some of their events they've got coming up and was hoping you guys might be able to fill us in, because I know most of them. Like Adam said, we participated in. Most of them Don't know anything about this Peddler Jamboree, so tell us a little bit about the events that you've got coming up.

Speaker 5: 52:39

Yeah, so Peddler's Jamboree is basically just a two day event. It's an out and back goes from Columbia, missouri, out to Boonville, missouri. It's about 35 miles each way. So it's a very leisurely event. It's um, you know, a lot of times it's just the people who do it. That's the only time they're on their bike the whole year. It's not, you know, it's not necessarily all serious riders. A lot of people are dressed up in costumes or they decorate their bikes.

Speaker 5: 53:06

But I'd say every 10 miles or so you can stop and hear some music. Most stops are going to have food and drink also. So most stops are going to have food and drink also. And then when you get to the very end, which is Boonville, it's Kemper Park is the name of the park they, they host everything at. There's a main stage. I mean it's a full, large stage with multiple bands and you know they play music all night long. You know, past midnight, just going to town, some of it's the guy who runs off-track events is who puts this event on. He loves the fact he's from actually I think he's from Des Moines, isn't he Dave? Yeah, I think he is Originally from.

Speaker 5: 53:55

Iowa, but he wants to try to keep everything all the music and even, like a lot of the craft beers and things that are on the event, local stuff. So by local meaning like Missouri Iowa area. So it's a lot of local music or somewhat semi-local music to the area, semi-local music to the to the area, um, but anyway you get to Kemper Park and then you can camp overnight, um, and then the next day you ride all the way back and then there's music and stuff on the way back as well.

Speaker 5: 54:26

So it's a it's kind of like. It's kind of like a baby rag bride, but it's on the Katy Trail um and the MKT, which is a connector trail to the Katy Trail. So it's crushed limestone. It's not a road ride, it's off, there's no traffic. You know it's kind of a cool event, but just a two-day deal.

Speaker 2: 54:50

Man, you're taking me down memory lane here. So a little side note. When I went to Missouri Military Academy in Mexico, missouri here so little side note. When I went to missouri military academy, mexico, missouri, we would go to kemper military school and and kemper military academy excuse me, kemper military academy and we had a rivalry like a hundred and something. Now it's unfortunately defunct. Kemper military academy is gone now. But uh, we would play, you know, back and forth, you know for sports and stuff. And then when you talk about columbia, missouri, my, my parents would visit me in military school. We would go to the columbia mall back in the day and, uh, so, man, you're taking me down memory lane here. That's, that's interesting.

Speaker 3: 55:26

So, um, now, adam, I wish I could say I have no clue what you're talking about, but I spent a little time as a child in columbia and I remember the mall, so I've been there.

Speaker 2: 55:39

There you go.

Speaker 5: 55:40

Yeah, those, dorms are still there at Kemper park, are they really?

Speaker 2: 55:43

Yeah, oh, wow.

Speaker 3: 55:46

So so, basically, this ride is just like an hour and a half down the road from me.

Speaker 4: 55:52

Well, what are?

Speaker 2: 55:52

you waiting for.

Speaker 3: 55:53

I would need to bring a tent.

Speaker 2: 55:54

I wouldn't have to do any of that stuff. Okay, I thought you said you had to bring a tent. No, I'm not going to.

Speaker 3: 55:58

No, you don't these guys will hook me up with a tent, so perfect.

Speaker 4: 56:03

You got it. Guess we'll see you at the end of May.

Speaker 3: 56:06

You never know. I need all the help, all the training I can get between now and you know brag, know brag.

Speaker 2: 56:13

so how is that, uh peloton, how's it been going? For you it's been moving okay good. The katie trail vacation tour. Now this seems like something that you're currently pushing, because there are only 10 spots remaining. Eight, eight now. Oh you, better update this website spots are going fast spots are going fast. We should actually maybe put this in before to help you get to.

Speaker 3: 56:42

So now is this a ride you guys are doing, or is this okay? So this is a ride that you guys are actually putting on.

Speaker 5: 56:48

Yeah, this will be our first event that we're fully supporting and our first event that has no tents. All hotels, every meals included breakfast, lunch, dinner, every day. So you know you got your hotels included. Sag support. We've got bike rental also. That's available. If people don't have a gravel type bike or anything, if they only have a road bike, they can get a rental. What else, dave?

Speaker 4: 57:21

We'll have shuttle services that are available. So when customers will meet us in the St Louis, St Charles area, they'll fly into.

Speaker 4: 57:27

St Louis. We'll provide a hotel on that first night. We'll check them in and then we'll shuttle them to the start of the Katy Trail or to Clinton, missouri, and then we'll have to the start of the Katy Trail or to Clinton Missouri, and then we'll have they'll start riding there. We'll provide commencing breakfast, lunch, dinner and then each night we'll have a little bit of a shuttle service to see local spots. If somebody wants to go and check out someplace here or there that's in the town, we'll have a van that's available in order to shuttle people around a little bit to, to and from dinner, as well as other places, sites of interest.

Speaker 3: 58:00

That's cool. That's cool. Well, I've got to say Clinton, missouri is not very far away from where I'm at right this moment. What are you waiting for? I'm waiting for the snowstorm to get gone before I go over there. But, um, if you have not ridden or been to, uh, the Southern half of the state of Missouri, you're missing out. It is beautiful. So I would just say anybody who really wants to see beautiful scenery, this would be a great ride to go on. That's awesome.

Speaker 2: 58:41

So hotels.

Speaker 5: 58:42

Katie trail is you know, as far as a venue, the Katy Trail is rated. What was it? Top five or something? Yeah, Rail trails are in the country, so if not number one, it might be number one If you Google rides that you should do or trails you should do in the US.

Speaker 4: 59:01

It usually comes up in top five, top ten, and it's mentioned in most articles that mention rail trails or just rides that you should do in the U? S. It usually comes up in top five, top 10. And it's mentioned in most articles that mentioned rail trails or just rides that you should do in the United States. It's a great trail. We're lucky to live pretty much on the trail in St Louis area and you're not far from it yourself either, Michael.

Speaker 3: 59:18

No, no, just, and unfortunately I haven't really enjoyed a lot of it, so I kind of need to remedy that.

Speaker 2: 59:23

So yeah, you'd stop going to michigan. Oh wait, that's my fault. Um, what kind of mileage if I'm at home? Or if I'm in my life? I'm training on a bicycle right now and listening to this. What kind of mileage for the katie trail each day?

Speaker 4: 59:40

jimmy, you want to hit I think it's uh, what do we have? 30 to 50 miles?

Speaker 5: 59:43

Yeah, it's going to vary. The trail is just under 240 miles, so we're splitting that by six days. Okay, you're talking about an average of 40-mile a day. That's nice, that's awesome. Some will be a little bit longer. It's nice. Some will be a little bit longer, some will be a little bit shorter. Just based on where we can get the best places to get hotels or B&Bs.

Speaker 5: 1:00:15

Sometimes you don't really have much of a choice because some of the Katy Trail is just out, in just open undeveloped area, it's just trees and you know the river and you know beautiful scenery. But then when you get in some of the towns, then you've got the historic German town of Hermann, you got the first Missouri capital of St Charles, you got the capital of Jeff City. So some of those towns are lots to do when you get in there and lots of history to see. If you're a history buff, definitely an event to do and if you're into wine if you're into wine, herman is the place to go for Missouri wine.

Speaker 3: 1:00:55

I mean it's, it's incredible and everybody in the Kansas city area is like takes the train specifically for the weekend to Herman, missouri, for no other reason than to hit all the vineyards and things.

Speaker 2: 1:01:08

So yeah, I see it. I would answer what Michael answers to me. Normally they don't have wine at your local store. Why do you? Got to take the train Just?

Speaker 3: 1:01:14

kidding, because you're taking the train, you're relaxed, you're leisuring. Adam, come on.

Speaker 2: 1:01:21

So I'm going to move to brag for a second. So, um, franklin johnson, executive director of brag, has multiple ways that you can brag. You can do indoor camping, outdoor camping. He works with hotel black dog luggage, um, for the outdoor camping essentially. Then then with the charter service, not only could I do outdoor camping, but then I could also have a charter where same same services, where I'd come into each town, everything would all be set up for me. So for Ragbri, pretty much Neil Glazebrook, the director there, events director, I think his title is so just basically the same thing You're coming in and you guys have your own area, which I was jealous of multiple times. Why didn't we do that?

Speaker 5: 1:02:23

I guess brag and rag braai would be a little bit different to where. If you're using our charter service, you might be on a different spot. You know you're not going to be maybe adjacent to, uh, the main camping, um, just because of you know logistics, size, whatnot? Um, whereas shoreline, dalmac, uh, the bour Burn, peddler's Jamboree, we're all basically right there. Um, you know a lot of the Michigan events are hosted by schools. Um, I think Shoreline is trying to get away from that a little bit, but it's typically been in schools. So if their camping's at a school, they're going to put us just somewhere on that same campus. But then again, bragg, you know he might have one spot and then it might be a block over where we are. Sometimes we are in the same spot but it's you know it's typically been varied on those events.

Speaker 2: 1:03:22

A few times you guys have had the advantage. I've come into the town and I'm like, hey, we're here at camp, all right.

Speaker 5: 1:03:28

I'm like, well, there's padres you're at a camp, yeah you're yeah exactly, I'm still pedaling here, so yeah, that's one of the things that we'll do is we'll talk to the ride organizer or, on rag bride, we'll talk to the campground coordinator or campground chairs. What they'll say and we'll say you know, these are the things we need. And, like you were saying before, there's all kinds of different charters. So, on RAGBRAI, maybe there's a charter that they just pull up in a box truck, they offload everything and then people take their stuff and find a tree to put their tent under, whereas we're setting up, like you said, we're setting up our military style barracks of tents all in a row and we need a flat. You know what I'm saying? We want a flat piece of land. We don't care if there's trees, because we're bringing our own shade. So rather than to huddle have to huddle under your own tree by your own self, you can go hang out where everybody's hanging out, and it's more of a community environment for us because all the shade is together, all the chairs are together, all the snacks are there.

Speaker 5: 1:04:35

So people by default end up. You know, getting to know more people having conversations, things like that that if you're using a different type of charter and so you know everybody has their own thing, but if you're using that kind of charter, it's just a little more, I guess, segregated, separated amongst people who are there. But, point being, that's why a lot of times we have this nice flat area, because we're like, well, the best thing for us is, you got to practice soccer, field 'll take it. Um, you know, whereas some other charters, or even brag in general, might say, hey, I'm going to put everybody who's setting up their own tents right here in this park where there's lots of trees, lots of natural shade. So that's kind of like I'd say that's by default why we get those sometimes really good spots Nice, mainly because we bring our own shade, otherwise it would be rough in the afternoon.

Speaker 3: 1:05:33

Yeah, and I would say that if you go on, if you've never been on one of these rides before, or even if you have and you're not going on a team which Cycling Men is leisure is there, you should certainly be on that team.

Speaker 3: 1:05:50

But if you're not on a team, really the charter is the way to go because, especially like if you're in Ragbra I mean there's 15, 18, however many thousands of people there it's hard to really kind of meet people and then see those same people. But with your, with a charter, you know every day you're seeing the same people. If you're with a charter, you know every day you're seeing the same people you can, you know, make some friends and actually build that community way better. So if you're not on a team and you're, or just there's, you know just a couple of you, really the charter is the way to go, because if you know, if you really want to kind of meet some people, get a community that's Adam and I have been there several times or you know, you meet under the, under the tarp and you get to know somebody and you know you're still friends today, exactly. So it's really the way to go.

Speaker 2: 1:06:32

That's why, when looking at your Web page and your Facebook page, I kept going hey Didia, hey Savannah, yeah, we knew lots of people.

Speaker 3: 1:06:40

We knew a lot of the people on their web page.

Speaker 4: 1:06:43

Absolutely yeah, that's a great point when you brought up community. It's one of the reasons why we limit our size on RAGBRAI and all of our events to not be too large, because what we didn't realize was how much people really enjoy that sense of community and be able to hang out and how many people meet each other. It's fun, especially RAGBRAI. It's our oldest running event and every year you see some of the same customers come back that they may only see the other person. It's like summer camp. You know they come back and give somebody a hug. It's great to see you. They might ask us hey, is this person coming back this year? Is this person? So you know that sense of community is really nice and it's been great for individual riders that if you're riding by yourself, it's the easy way to meet people. There's just so many conversations that we get involved with and other customers just meeting other people. It's great to see those friendships form and then people riding together and then, year after year and different events, people coming back together.

Speaker 3: 1:07:34

That's cool.

Speaker 2: 1:07:35

Well, this is an interview that we've been really dying to have with you guys. We really, you know we value what you do. Obviously, we've cycled with many people who have used your services before and have advocated for your services, and meeting you was wonderful and then hanging out in Traverse City. I just want to thank you for giving us some of your time and telling people about your services and hopefully we can help spread the word for your events that you're doing.

Speaker 3: 1:08:06

I did have one more thing, Adam, before you wrap this up. Is there any timelines that we need to know about if we're maybe doing Bragg or doing RAGBRAI? I mean, if I'm out there and I'm doing one of these rides, I want to hook up with you guys. Do you guys have some timelines that I need to be hitting to be able to participate?

Speaker 4: 1:08:32

So RAGBRAIs are one event that sells out normally the quickest, so that's always one to jump on and get registered for first, and then most of our other events. The earlier you register, the better price you're normally going to get. If you wait until the end in the last 30 days, that's when our pricing does go up, because we've already got most of our crew hired planning. So we try to incentivize people to sign up early so we can know what our numbers are going to be and be prepared from that side. So the sooner the better, and we're always available if people have questions. Sometimes we'll have chat available on our website. Otherwise, we respond to emails pretty quick and we're available for phone calls too, if people have questions about our events or services. It might be. We're happy to answer questions well cool.

Speaker 3: 1:09:06

At the time of recording, there's eight spots left for the katie trail vacation tour I know, uh, but I really think before I do that I got to get hooked up on the the peddler's jamboree first, so I was thinking the peddler's jamboree would be kind of fun.

Speaker 2: 1:09:20

I, I would. I might uh make that happen.

Speaker 3: 1:09:22

Maybe we need to add a fourth ride.

Speaker 2: 1:09:24

I know and do that one. I mean that could bring back some old memories man, that's right.

Speaker 3: 1:09:29

That's right in your old area, that's in my current area. It wouldn't be very difficult. We've never actually participated with Padres, so that would give us an opportunity to try out their services as well. So you never know, yeah as well.

Speaker 2: 1:09:48

So you never know, yeah, well, I would like to give you gentlemen the floor and anything that we didn't cover. Um, you know, we we do value your time this evening and we thank you both. And um, well, one is in florida, one is about to hit gay with an ice storm. But I mean, you know, I I have definitely teased michael many a times. I'm like, yeah, I'm leisuring Anything we didn't cover that we'd like to add so anyone not there listening could hear.

Speaker 4: 1:10:14

Jimmy, anything on your side.

Speaker 5: 1:10:15

I can't think of anything offhand right now I can't think of anything that wasn't really covered.

Speaker 2: 1:10:40

No, I mean that's fine. I mean, you know, we just really appreciate, you know, the and that's kind of ironically, franklin did the same thing when he was on with us. He said it was. His mom said it was like summer camp and and it's true. I mean, when we got off the bus last year, brag, I mean all kinds of people come up and give me a hug, like hey, it's the metal leisure. I felt like a little celebrity for like four minutes and then they're like, all right, see you later. So but but no, I appreciate it. Um, you know, definitely, like michael said, we've definitely seen you in many, many places. I'm I look forward to. You know, first thing I'm going to do after I get checked into brag, I'm going to come visit both you gentlemen and say hi, and then, uh, at bourbon burn at the end of the season, I'll make sure I maybe look the same, maybe a little darker from being out in the sun, but I look forward to seeing you again. So, michael, I'm going to give it to you. I appreciate everything.

Speaker 5: 1:11:33

Michael, there is one thing yeah, go ahead. One thing you would ask what could somebody do if they want to make sure they don't miss out on anything? I think the best thing to do is go to our website and sign up for our email list. Once you're on that, then you're not going to miss anything unless you unsubscribe to us. But we'll send out a couple of different pieces of information throughout the season, just making sure everybody knows what events are coming up, kind of blurbs about each one and things like that. Or if there's, you know, if we have any jerseys for sale, things like that, we'll let you know. We'll put those things out there too. So best way is to just be on our email list. Awesome.

Speaker 3: 1:12:17

Well, that's great. Well, we certainly again, like Adam said, thank you guys for your time. If anybody any of our listeners or watchers out there are looking for this type of service for one of these rides that they've mentioned, I would certainly suggest you guys go out to their website and we'll put that in all of our information, get registered and, you know, let somebody else put up your tent.

Speaker 2: 1:12:41

So that's all I got to say there's your new tagline. Get registered and let someone else put up your tent.

Speaker 3: 1:12:47

There we go, it's not copyrighted, so go ahead.

Speaker 2: 1:12:50

Thank you, gentlemen, thank you.

Speaker 4: 1:12:52

Thank you.

Speaker 2: 1:12:54

Well, that was enjoyable rewatching that. I really highly enjoyed that. What did you think?

Speaker 3: 1:12:59

No, I think it's really really interesting. It's really interesting to see their business model and how it works and all of that type of stuff. We've always seen it from the outside, so it was kind of cool to get a little bit more in-depth look at it.

Speaker 2: 1:13:13

I'm interested in that Peddler's Jamboree Talking about going down memory lane. I mean that was kind of fun. I had no idea. Beautiful countryside, and it's just right over there yeah right over there and there and there and there and there, but we definitely I mean we got three events this year which is better than we did last year.

Speaker 2: 1:13:37

So, you never know. We could look at it. We'll see what work schedules are. What's going on? That might be something we might be able to add on. We'll definitely talk. Maybe they, maybe they don't have room for us well, there is that, but they don't.

Speaker 3: 1:13:51

You can always come down and we'll just go hit distilleries in missouri. There's a lot of them and there's several good ones.

Speaker 2: 1:13:56

So I am listening very much, so well, I tell you what, uh, we know, this is when it's gone it's long yeah. So why don't we just get into the bookend of it and give us the listener spotlight?

Speaker 3: 1:14:12

Absolutely. This episode's hints for listener spotlight are as follows it was founded in the 1850s. The area was initially explored by a French-Canadian trapper. The area where this town is located had no permanent native settlers when the Europeans arrived. The first settlement was created by a religious group. Irrigation was the early settlers' first big job. And finally, remember, bus drivers are required to stop and open the door for trains, to check for trains, of course yeah, that was yes because unfortunately, of a horrible accident. Yes, Well, this town has something to do with that.

Speaker 2: 1:15:14

Ooh, I'm going to text you away from the show.

Speaker 3: 1:15:22

Think you know, it, I mean.

Speaker 2: 1:15:27

You know me, I like to throw some curveballs in there, so Well, let me tell you this much I have a training video that all my employees have to watch because of the federal law, and in the video it talks about where they are. But I don't want to say it right now.

Speaker 3: 1:15:40

But remember it has something to do with it. Keep that in mind, I'm not saying that it is what created it, what started it. Whatever it had something to do with having to open that door.

Speaker 2: 1:15:57

And just while we're talking about that, you know where the confusion comes into play. To play, the most popular transportation vehicle right now, unless you're a line haul bus or a city bus, but if you're more of an on-demand or a dial-a-ride bus is a transit van, and the reason why is they convert them into buses. They put bus doors on the side of them. They can go up in the driveways easier to turn around. The confusion that comes into play is because it's not on a bus chassis. It doesn't fall under the federal law, because if it was a bus and it stopped at railroad tracks, you'd be like oh yeah, I'm behind a bus. But if you're behind a transit van and the driver stops, boom. So it's kind of confusing.

Speaker 3: 1:16:41

Does that mean, the yellow standee line doesn't count?

Speaker 2: 1:16:45

There is not a federal yellow standee line, doesn't count. There is not a federal yellow standee line in a transit bus, so I, you and I always go back and forth about that so I had to throw that in there anyway, I'm gonna tell you, uh, last story we're actually auctioning off a bus, um for a police training and they're going to destroy the bus. I actually wrote an email today that says I need to rip out the yellow standee line because I want to send it to you.

Speaker 3: 1:17:10

Hey, you know what? I would find someplace in my office here to put a yellow standee line. That's right. Just for you, sir.

Speaker 2: 1:17:19

Well, listen, I know this one went long. I hope that people find value in the Cycling Padres Inn. They go to a lot of beautiful events, five or six of the events that you and I have personally done. If we talk about it on this show, we stand behind it. Definitely a great group of gentlemen, but I think more than that. I think they have a great team and I can definitely stand behind what they stand for. So thank you, jimmy and Dave. It means the world to us Can't wait to see you. I think we're going to see them first at Bragg. Yes, yes, ok, so without further ado, I know what it's not going to be nice to do by you, and I know it's not going to be nice to do by me, but somewhere it is a great day for a bike ride.

Speaker 2: 1:18:07

Thank you, buddy.

Speaker 3: 1:18:08

See ya.

Speaker 1: 1:18:09

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 on the podcast app of your choice.