Road Adventures of Cycling Men of Leisure
Adam and Michael share a long friendship fueled by their love for cycling. Through ups and downs, they have pedaled side by side, creating a rich tapestry of experiences and playful banter that underscores their connection. Their adventures highlight the joy of authentic friendship, whether tackling tough trails or enjoying leisurely rides. If you're looking for a podcast that embodies friendship and cycling excitement, join them on this audio journey. They share engaging stories and welcome you to their cycling community, offering entertaining anecdotes and heartfelt discussions about the joy of exploring the open road. This podcast delivers an uplifting cycling experience.
Road Adventures of Cycling Men of Leisure
Confetti Bears and Cornhole Boards: The Leisure Life Continues
Seventy-five episodes! When we started this podcast, neither of us thought we'd make it past five or seven shows. Yet here we are, celebrating a milestone that represents years of friendship, thousands of miles cycled together, and a community that has grown beyond anything we imagined.
Michael kicks things off with an update on his collarbone recovery - the x-rays look good, but he's still not able to raise his arm fully. Despite the injury, we're both confirmed for Bourbon Burn, complete with official tournament-level cornhole boards emblazoned with the Cycling Men of Leisure logo. We're extending an open invitation to all listeners attending to stop by our campsite for bourbon tastings and leisurely conversation around the fire.
The heart of this episode takes us on a nostalgic journey through our podcasting adventure. We've cycled over 5,300 miles together on organized rides, interviewed five different ride directors and two bike manufacturers, and created 30 Listener Spotlight segments. Our audience now spans 62 countries, with our largest international listener base coming from the United Kingdom. The stories we've shared - from the infamous heart-shaped hot tub hotel mishap to the photo-finish go-kart race - have connected us with listeners who recognize that cycling is about more than just the ride; it's about the experiences along the way.
What began as two friends chatting about bikes has evolved into something much more meaningful: a community. Whether it's our team members supporting each other at Big Brag or listeners recognizing each other on rides across the country, we've created connections that extend far beyond the microphone. As we look toward our next adventures, we remain grateful for every person who's joined us on this journey. Because ultimately, that's what makes every day a great day for a bike ride.
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Embarking on a journey of camaraderie that spans years, Adam and Michael have cultivated a deep friendship rooted in their mutual passion for cycling. Through the twists and turns of life, these two friends have pedaled side by side, weaving a tapestry of shared experiences and good-natured teasing that only solidifies the authenticity of their bond.
Their cycling escapades, filled with laughter and banter, are a testament to the enduring spirit of true friendship. Whether conquering challenging trails or coasting through scenic routes, Adam and Michael's adventures on two wheels are a testament to the joy found in the simple pleasures of life.
If you're on the lookout for a podcast that captures the essence of friendship and the thrill of cycling, look no further. Join them on this audio journey, where they not only share captivating stories but also invite you to be a part of their cycling community. Get ready for a blend of fun tales, insightful discussions, and a genuine celebration of the joy that comes from embracing the open road on two wheels. This podcast is your ticket to an immersive and uplifting cycling-centric experience.
and Remember,
It's a Great Day for a Bike Ride!
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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:Welcome to Road Adventures of Cycling Men of Leisure. I am Adam. Wait, stop what, stop what.
Speaker 3:I got this Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, and even even to brim wearers, Are you ready? Oh, I'm ready To experience Road Adventures with Cycling Men of Leisure's 75th episode 75.
Speaker 2:Are you laughing at us? 75. Did you ever think we'd have 75 episodes?
Speaker 3:I didn't think we'd have seven, quite honestly, or five, or five. Yeah, you know we needed to spice it up. We are at number 75,. My friend Blows my mind.
Speaker 2:I know that's crazy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, when we you know we've discussed it before. When we started it it was like, yeah, this could be fun for a little while and we'll see. And you know, 75 later later. Uh, you know, we're still great friends and, um, we're still cycling and you know you think it helps that it's virtual.
Speaker 2:No, blank you, blank you. I was there, buddy. No, I swear, if you weren't 12 hours drive away, I'd kick your Easter so so no, uh um exciting, exciting. No, it's cool. I mean it's um, you know, every now and then at work, I'm, you know, I'd be like oh, you got you guys still do the show. I'm like oh yeah. Oh yeah, they got all the widgets. Now I'm like, oh, we've actually had 11 people download in the last hour or whatever.
Speaker 2:That's really neat to be able to show people Cool. Well, I have a feeling that people are excited about the 75th because I'm sure we're going to put 75 in the album of the episode artwork. But I bet you more people want to know how's Michael doing?
Speaker 3:Ah, yes, the uh, the uh, medical update, so to speak. Um well, I'm not wearing the sling anymore. Uh, if you were to see me without the shirt on, uh, I still have yellow, yellow bruises.
Speaker 2:Oh boy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I, the reins, yellow, yellow bruises up here. Yeah, the reins of motion's getting better. Still some pain, still some discomfort. I can't raise my hand above my head or anything, but I had an x-ray the other day and the doctor came in and he's like I could not be more happy for you. And I was like please explain what you're talking about. And he goes no, for your x-ray. Uh, the bone was set back where it was supposed to set, nice, and even there's still the gap there that needs to fill in. But, uh, everything looked good. So we're on, we're on the road to mend. That's good. And I did want to just say thank you to everybody who's reached out to me and said you know, sorry to hear about it, and send me well wishes. Certainly appreciate it, even to brim wearers. Even to brim wearers, that's right.
Speaker 3:Hey, I work them in in the you know opening.
Speaker 2:I know, I know. Well, I have a question because I really don't know. You said I can't lift my hand up. Are you not supposed to be? Are you supposed to be like, just kind of like keeping it stable, or I physically can't, are you?
Speaker 3:physically? I mean, I could probably lift my hand up there, but it'll just get to the point where it'll just hurt so bad that I literally can't get it any higher.
Speaker 2:I have a wall of bourbon behind me if you need something to take care of the pain.
Speaker 3:Well, as long as you're not needing anything off the top shelf, I think I'd be pretty good. You can have one drink out of one bottle and it's all the way on the back on shelf number five. Good luck.
Speaker 2:It's right above the purple light, above me, right there.
Speaker 3:So no, things are looking up, things are, uh are better thanks for and then teach a guy who's not been through this yet?
Speaker 2:I hope I don't, but you never know. Uh, will you then have to start physical therapy?
Speaker 3:that's yet to be determined. Um, I've got another appointment in a couple of a few weeks here and at that time should be completely all healed as far as the bone part and then they will assess my you know, if there's any you know deficiencies in my movement or strength or anything like that, and then they'll determine if I need to be in physical therapy.
Speaker 2:And one of the big questions that I get, the people who text me away from the show as are you guys still coming to bourbon burn? And the answer is yes, we'd be there, no matter what Cause, even if you couldn't cycle we we can still drink bourbon.
Speaker 3:I mean, you know, we can still visit distilleries. Yeah, even if I couldn't cycle, we would still be there. But we're going to take our bikes and we'll get a few miles in. We're not going to, like you know, create or anything.
Speaker 2:But yeah, our campsite isn't isn't as close. This year we might have to ride our bike from the campsite to dinner yeah, but we were. We were late to the game, so yeah, that's okay.
Speaker 3:We, you know, didn't realize we were going to go until later.
Speaker 2:So I mean it's only like 100 feet away compared to what we had before, but oh well, we got spoiled. So anything else going on. I mean you guys getting ready for school. I mean you guys start early, right oh yeah, well, it starts in a couple weeks.
Speaker 3:My daughter started band camp today. Okay, yes, exciting Her first like high school event. She's not in band, but she is on the high school twirling team Okay, baton twirling. So, um, she had to go spend the day in the extremely hot temperatures, uh, doing whatever they do at band camp, not like the band camp I went to when I was a kid, but, um, you know, learning their formations and things like that?
Speaker 2:Oh, that's cool. I'm happy for her. Yeah, yeah, I. Are you guys getting the same ridiculous humidity that we're getting as well?
Speaker 3:We've had heat advisories like almost every single day, because the temperatures are like 90, 95 degrees and then the humidity pushes the heat index to 105 or whatever, and then we're just having crazy thunderstorms, I mean torrential downpours. Sun comes out, and then you know that humidity is just awful. But hey, we're not going to be in a drought situation this year, that's for sure. That's good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I feel bad for a couple of people who are driving by. You know, I did my normal walking path and a few times I used the bottom of my shirt to wipe the sweat off my face and as I did that, I'm like, ooh, I wonder who just drove by. Oh well, oh well, big deal. Scarred for life.
Speaker 3:All right Well. I think we got some interesting things on this episode.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just want to give a quick update, real quick. Okay, I've talked about my father-in-law. He's in the memory care center, uh, house is up for sale and my wife might be, uh, returning back to michigan shortly, so that's good. I'm I'm looking forward to that. A couple nights of being by myself.
Speaker 2:I feel like the risky business, like you know, like woohoo sliding on the floor, although uh and and uh, although't, it wasn't just in my t-shirt and underwear, so that's good. They want to scar the neighbors for life. But, um, but yeah, and now I'm. Now it's like you know, cat doesn't talk back and uh, it'd be be good. So, um, so I'm sorry for that part of his life, but at least he's somewhere where he'll be taken care of and my wife can visit him and everything. So that's good, somewhere where he'll be taken care of and my wife can visit him and everything. So that's good. Besides that, work, work, work. And I have a project of a new network here, so this update upload should be going super fast. So that's good, all right. That being said, we did have a guess for listener spotlight, but I'm going to let you read the clues first.
Speaker 3:All right. This town sits on the former main highway between two major cities. George dreamed of a great victory there. Monopoly has nothing on this community's railroad. The town was shelled by the British Army and this community was founded in the 1830s and was named after a local ferry.
Speaker 2:Okay, so we have a friend who lives in Ohio who helped us at Big Brag, the first Big Brag that you and I attended. We were not really great on the logistics and how to get around and do everything and we had our boxes from our bikes since we flew in and our friend Matthew helped us and then stored our bikes in his vehicle. But he has made a guess, okay, and his guess is Listener Spotlight is Wheeling, west Virginia. It's located on the National Road now US-40, just downriver from Martins Ferry. Fort Henry was shelled by the British in what is often considered the last battle of the Revolutionary War. The Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway has a custom version of Monopoly called Wheelingopoly, has a custom version of Monopoly called Wheelingopoly, and George Washington visited there on a surveyor and land speculator.
Speaker 3:As a surveyor and land speculator.
Speaker 2:Yep, and I am wondering is if our friend Matthew is correct. Well, matthew, sorry to say you are incorrect, although it was a great answer.
Speaker 3:Well, yes, that's right, it was not Wheeling West Virginia it was in fact New Hope, pennsylvania.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you all listeners from.
Speaker 1:New Hope Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2:Thank you all listeners, but especially those from New Hope Pennsylvania.
Speaker 3:And it sets on a former main highway between two major cities. It was the Old York Road, which was between Philadelphia and New York City. Uh, george dreamed of a victory there. Uh, george Washington. Actually, his famous river crossing took place right near this town and George Washington spent the night in this town before he crossed the Delaware um Monopoly. Um, in 1891, the reading railroad, uh, or actually their railroad was taken over by the reading railroad, which reading railroad is one of the railroads in Monopoly. The town was shelled by the British and the locals still there today claim that there are British ordinances lodged in some of their roof beams of buildings there. I don't know whether that's correct or not, and the community was founded in the 1830s. It was named after a local ferry buildings there. Don't know whether that's correct or not, but and uh, the community was founded in 1830s. It was named after a local ferry.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, so there you go, the British are coming. No, just kidding, that's not, that's not right. Uh well, thank you very much, um. Will you be blessing us at the end of the episode with another listener spotlight? Yes, I will. Okay, great, all right. Bourbon Burn.
Speaker 1:We got that here.
Speaker 2:So big question is are we going? We are going. Looks like you are already partaking, so I appreciate that. I appreciate your availability of the bourbon to be able to go back to Bourbon Burn. We've got a couple of cool things, so we have a it's an RV campsite, but you are actually not bringing your RV. I'm bringing the RV.
Speaker 3:This year now, but I already lugged it to Kentucky once this year. So I'm like I'm sure you bring it to your family.
Speaker 2:But you can't bring it. I see how you are, All right, no problem. So our friend Gary is going. Although Gary is a hotel guy, you and I actually saw him on layover day in the same hotel and big brag. Sorry about that. But we'd like to make an invitation to Gary and anybody who is at Bourbon Burn. We will have. We're going to get wood from the area we don't want to carry.
Speaker 2:You know, Don't bring any of your Michigan wood, you know pine, beetles and aphids or anything like that, no, no, no matter of fact, like there's all kinds of signs like when you leave and when you come in. I mean they don't please, please, get wood where you're going. We'll get some wood down there. Um, we'll have some fire, and it's always fun to. That's probably one of my favorite parts, actually, of bourbon burn is, you know, sitting at the campsite and and you know if we've been cycling or not cycling or uh, meeting new people and saying, hey, you know you go to the major events that bourbon burns, putting on like, hey, why don't you come back to our campsite?
Speaker 3:you know, hit the tastings, you hear a little music, yep, then you head on back to the campsite and just kick back and relax and be leisurely.
Speaker 2:Absolutely you, sir. You personally own official and I don't want to steal your thunder, I'm going to let you talk about it but you own official cornhole boards, why?
Speaker 3:don't you tell us about that? Yeah, my wife works with a gentleman who has a side business of creating we're talking cornhole boards. We're talking these are tournament level cornhole boards, does the wrapping on them, all that kind of stuff? And last year I said, hey, you know, I'd like to do that. And he put together a set of cornhole boards specifically for cycling men and cycling women of leisure. And so there's one that's got the blue color and it's cycling men of leisure, and the other one has the women's logo and it's a reddish color and it's cycling women of leisure.
Speaker 3:And then he even has a, a buddy who makes, um, the beanbags and actually will print your logo and stuff like that on them. And so he got me a set of those. So we have not just cornhole boards, these are tournament level cornhole boards. So we could actually you know, I mean if put on a sanctioned tournament with these things, we're not going to, but we could. I mean that's, that's the quality that they are and they look really sharp you know, um, we got those new microphones and those wireless ones.
Speaker 2:We could actually and now that they block out wind, we've tried them on golf courses, we've tried them outdoors we could actually maybe get a couple sound clips from playing some cornhole. I think we need to do that. I think that might be a good idea. Yeah, uh, I ever tell you my cornhole story and I'll try to keep it clean.
Speaker 2:No, so the first time I ever heard about the game beanbag, cornhole, whatever it was, quite some time ago I was in Ohio, columbus, ohio and yes, I live in Michigan and yes, there's a rivalry, but for the most part it's 99% fun and games and ha-ha. And that year everything was close and we decided we were going to go to Columbus, we were going to go to the SH close and we decided we were going to go to Columbus, we were going to go to the SHU and we were going to get tickets until we got there and we saw how much they were, but nevertheless, we tailgated and everybody was nice and they had TVs. Well, they had all the tents set up for tailgating and and these guys from Ohio state were really nice to us and he's like hey, man, he's like you want to play some cornhole. And I had never heard of cornhole, I had never seen cornhole, I'd never even beanbag toss bag game or nothing. And I was like, so that's how they do an Ohio cornhole, what the heck are you boys talking about? But I was intrigued so I figured I'd go along until it was dangerous.
Speaker 2:And then we've sat and played until the game started and, uh, it's very obviously addicting. You know very, you know. Oh, now you're close or whatever, and the points and figuring out everything out, and then you taught me and I didn't realize there's official distance and I mean, which makes sense? Otherwise one person would be really good and like, oh, 15 feet or 10 feet, no wonder you're good. You know, you only have to. You know, like bows of the clown when we were younger, like the ping pong balls into the buckets and out of chicago. But, um, just dated myself there. But that's okay. So but so, but yeah, that was my cornhole story. I had never heard of it before and the first time he said you want to play cornhole, I'm like buddy, I know we're being nice to each other, but I don't know if I want to play cornhole.
Speaker 3:Well, it's a weird name, yeah, but I do have a little information for you. Okay, I'm listening. It is widely believed to have originated in the United States, specifically in the Midwest, with claims from both Kentucky and Ohio as far as inventing the game. However, however, one theory does attribute it to Germany. Bavaria came from, like a Bavarian village, and in fact it was brought to Kentucky by German immigrants. So, uh, but they said it may go back as far as the 14th century in Germany. Wow, okay, you, you know, you you pick which one you want, but so it could be actually a way older game than we ever thought.
Speaker 2:You know and, and and what's really interesting Um game than we ever thought. You know, and and what's really interesting, um, when I was in scouts, we did washers did you play washers when you were in scouting?
Speaker 3:oh yeah, with the little round thing tossing the washer thing yeah, you get a coffee.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a little coffee you know a little coffee.
Speaker 3:They actually have a physical game that you can buy. You don't have to, like you know, use a coffee can, but yeah you know I did.
Speaker 2:I won't, because what happened was is one time we were going camping and I saw the game and I go, oh my gosh, this is great, you know, and it came with the yellow and the orange washers, with the plastic bucket and everything. But there was something missing from that game, because there was a slide technique that you could use on the dirt when we were in scouting and so if the coffee cup was dug into the ground, you could actually kind of figure out how you could throw it where it would just kind of slide on in down into the coffee can With the plastic thing. It had a rim around it and there wasn't that slide. So you know, it was kind of interesting. But what's really weird is is the group that I was with I was so disappointed because I thought this is a memory I had from scouting and and washers and we would play and play, you know, but heck and boy scouts, we didn't drink, or at least we waited till we got to our tent.
Speaker 2:Um, uh, you know, but we just kidding, but um, not drink, no, no, we were kids, I think, during scouting. I here's a confession, and my father knows this I stole two milwaukee's best beers from my dad and I thought I was so cool by taking them to summer camp. But they were hot in the tent and my buddy chris and I we thought we were so cool one night we cracked those beers and we're like I gotta be really careful and be really quiet. But they had been in our hot tent for five nights.
Speaker 3:We were so sick I was like oh gosh, nothing like you know, 80 degree degree warm.
Speaker 2:Milwaukee's best. Oh, you can't go wrong with Milwaukee's best. That was my grandma's favorite, but you know she preferred it. Well, you know, when you're young and you think you're doing something cool, and later on I told my dad and he said you know what? The fact that you drank them hot in a tent makes me just happy that he was because you stole my favorite beer.
Speaker 3:He was laughing, he got, he got the final word in on that one.
Speaker 2:But, that being said, go back to the washer story. We had such wonderful memories and it was such a great thing, and so when I was camping with some friends, I said oh guys, we can play washers. And they're like oh yeah, boy, this is a real fun here. They had no interest in yeah.
Speaker 3:Who invited Adam?
Speaker 2:Yeah, let's see here. Oh, this is, I'm excited about this.
Speaker 3:Okay, do you know about cult movies Like movies about cults, no, like Manson movies or something. No, like movies that they call like uh, cult movies like cult classics, cult classic they have a following, like you know, rocky horror picture show, or yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, you're absolutely right.
Speaker 2:I mean, you know some people call like the lost boys, or oh yeah, final tap, or some of those movies like the breakfast club. Those are, like you know, cult movies where people you know, even if they're just okay, but people if they come on, they span decades. Yeah, and it's just yeah classic, absolutely well, what I'm getting to is and I think you're gonna like this no idea where you're going.
Speaker 2:No, no, I understand, but I think you're going to like this. We have, after 75, episodes 75. Let that sink in for a second 75. We have a cult classic amongst our leisure community. Stop it, I'm serious. Are you ready?
Speaker 2:I'm yeah, absolutely All right, here it goes, connie. It is now time for our official cult classic Armando segment. I love it. Yeah, our friend Armando sent some pictures. You mentioned last time that he was at the tour and everything else. Well, we found out that he was still in France and everything else. Well, we found out that he was still in france and got to see the last day of the tour. So in paris, in paris.
Speaker 3:Yes, oh, very nice.
Speaker 2:Yep, they always ended in paris, so that's very cool ladies and gentlemen, that was our cult classic, the official armando segment. So nice, oh, I missed something here. Broke Spoke Want to talk about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, we were talking about the Bourbon Country Burn and we had I forget what his name is Luke. Luke, yes, luke from the Broke Spoke, they're in Kentucky and I think that we need to. Luke from the Broke Spoke Broken Spoke, they're in Kentucky and I think that we need to. I mean, we know where it's at. It's in riding distance from our campsite. I think we need to ride down and visit the Broken Spoke, I agree. And just so you know, there's a brewery on one side of their building and a distillery on the other, so just let's go visit the bike shop.
Speaker 2:Yes, um, and I, you know me. I don't normally correct you because normally you're the one correcting me, but I want to make sure it is called uh broke spoke, broke spoke or the broke.
Speaker 3:Okay, sorry. Yeah, don't be sorry. You know, 75 episodes, and that was an episode from you know a couple of years ago.
Speaker 2:So uh, let's see here. Um um. Well, I guess we'll jump into a few highlights. I don't want it to go well, then we did this and then we did that, but I wanted to give some highlights of how we got to 75. We did it at 50. We made the 50th episode about some highlights, but we have some new highlights getting to 75. And I thought it might be a little fun if we went down a little bit of memory lane with a little bit of humor, okay, and trivia oh so my two favorite things well listen two of my favorite things these are two of my favorite.
Speaker 2:Oh sorry, I stopped singing. Um, not in sound of music, okay, no, you don't want me singing. You know, for those of you driving, you might drive on oncoming traffic. Ah, make it stop. Um, who do you think, besides armando, who we mentioned on many of show, who do you think has been our number one guest for quantity?
Speaker 3:Now, when you say guest, armando's never been a guest, although we should have him on the show. We should have him on the show. We talk about him all the time. He's got a cult following at this point, the elusive Armando, that's right, but we're talking about actually we've interviewed them. Yes, sir, that's easy, I know it. You want to belt it out. Are we waiting for the people playing the home game to be able to have a chance to answer?
Speaker 2:If the people who are playing the home game pipe up right now, I'm a little bit concerned. My network went too well.
Speaker 3:I'm saying you know, if there's people playing along at home, it's going to be, without a doubt, Franklin Johnson Brag going to be, without a doubt, franklin johnson brag.
Speaker 2:Ladies and gentlemen, give that man a medal. You're absolutely right now. Here's my question. Okay, do you know the first episode that mr johnson has been on, like the date or the exact date and everything but? But just give me a time in here.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna say the first time that we had him on would be around. I'm going to say march of 2023.
Speaker 2:You're pretty close um, we were in the lobby of the hotel, so it'd be february.
Speaker 3:It was february, yeah february of 2023, because we were in the lobby of the hotel.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in tampa, you've got it okay yep, and then the last time he was on, uh, we caught him right before going overseas, um, and he was going to, uh, all of the European stuff. It was may of 2025. Yeah, now you are correct, he was on. How many times do you think he's been on total? Uh, five times, close, you're pretty close. Seven, seven times he's been a guest on our leisure community show. I have a question for you, if I can interrupt for a second. Please interrupt all you want, buddy, I can't really stop you. It's an open mic.
Speaker 3:Well, you could, that's true, uh-oh, network problems, network problems, oh, we lost him. Um how many ride directors have we interviewed on this show? Different from different rides? Okay, let's see here not how many times have we interviewed ride directors, but how many different ride directors have we interviewed on the show? All All right, I'm going to talk out loud for a second. That's fine.
Speaker 2:Okay, I think Matt Fippen from Ragbri.
Speaker 3:Okay, matt Fippen is one. There we go.
Speaker 2:I'm going to go a couple of times, franklin, that's two. I'm going to go, shane.
Speaker 3:Cusack. Oh, from Virginia, there's three Neil Glazebrook, Shore Virginia.
Speaker 2:There's three Neil, glazebrook, shoreline.
Speaker 3:There's four Dead. Air is horrible for a podcast.
Speaker 2:Is that your final answer? Maria Parker wasn't ever a ride director, was she? No? No, yeah, I guess four is my final answer. Very close, we've actually had five. Um, yeah, I guess four is my final answer. Uh, very close.
Speaker 3:We've actually had five. The ride director from the Freedom Trail.
Speaker 2:Oh yes, bruce White. Bruce White, you're right. I'm so sorry, bruce. I know he's still a listener.
Speaker 3:I apologize, we've had five ride directors on, so that's kind of cool. That is cool. Here's another one. All right, how many bike manufacturers have we had on, or?
Speaker 2:people representing the bike manufacturing industry. Well, we had Cruise Bike with Maria Parker. I mentioned her Yep. There's one, oh, Shane Cusack with Pelo Bikes.
Speaker 3:Shane with Pelo Bikes.
Speaker 2:That's all my mind is thinking right now. You are correct. We've had two. Okay, how many listener spotlight segments have we had?
Speaker 3:Oh man, really You're going to ask me that, mm-hmm, okay.
Speaker 2:Ladies and gentlemen, he's the one who actually does the research on the segments.
Speaker 3:Go ahead? Well, yeah, but I'm going to say that we have done 33 listener spotlights.
Speaker 2:So I cheated. I'm a transparent guy. I cheated, I assume anytime. I just assume you're gonna cheat, so that's okay there is 30 official spotlight segments oh, I was so close. But there's some also like informal shout outs.
Speaker 3:Woven in it says uh, we have 15 to 20 notable mentions that's like us shouting out like, hey, we want to say hi to so and so from cleveland or whatever yeah, we got scott and ed and actually chad.
Speaker 2:Gpt says it's 1.6 ed forever known as 1.6. Yeah we'll just change your bank account now. Hi, I am. I used to be called ed. I'm now 1.6 ed.
Speaker 3:It's a new and improved, that's right, or the fact he just doesn't have time for us on regular speeds. It's like let's just hurry up, guys Come on, I've got 1.6 speed for you.
Speaker 2:Go ahead, you're next. So we had 30,. Huh, yes, that's awesome. Okay, yeah, that's good, cool.
Speaker 3:Well, I don't have any not talking training, I'm not talking, you know you do your, your Don farm ride. I've done rides here. How many have we done together on organized rides? Miles, wow, and you got to look at. We didn't ride in 2017 because we met in 2016 and we didn't ride in 2020, even though we tried.
Speaker 2:Okay, give me a second here, I'm going to do some quick math. So I met you in 16 and we did a rag braai, which is like 429 or something like that. And then in 17, we don't, we didn't ride together, we don't ride. Good English, adam, we don't ride together, we don't ride. We're good English, adam, we don't ride, we don't ride together. 2018 was the big one, which was like 460. So that would have been 890. And then we did oh my God, hold on, we did 100.
Speaker 2:Sorry folks, Didn't know it was gonna you know, wait, wait, wait, no, no, go ahead. But you're asking me, I I get a guest, don't I? Well, yeah, we did ode ram, and ode ram was 150 and 150 is 300 and 1100. And then we did 21, 2, 3, 1500. Right, was this a good? 21, 2, 3, 1,500. Was this a?
Speaker 3:good question to ask Magic 8-Ball.
Speaker 2:I'm going to go 4,000.
Speaker 3:I doubt it. I just asked the Magic 8-Ball. It said I doubt it.
Speaker 2:When did you get the Magic 8-Ball?
Speaker 3:I've had it sitting over here, I just never used it.
Speaker 2:I'm going to go 4,200.
Speaker 3:You're way off. Actually High or low, Low, oh God. From my estimates, all the rides that we've done, the Kansas ride the. Illinois, the five times on Bragg, the four times on Bragg, five times on Ragbrai, twice on OdeRam, shoreline all the stuff that we've done. I came up to about 5,300 miles, wow, that we've shared down the road together, not counting training miles or anything like that. And that's two years that we didn't ride, so I didn't think that was too bad.
Speaker 2:That's pretty cool. That is pretty neat Quick. This's pretty cool. That's pretty neat, quick. This is lightning round. What month did our first episode come out for the show? November Dang, that's good.
Speaker 3:You said lightning round.
Speaker 2:What month did we cross 5,000 downloads?
Speaker 3:That would have been in the month of July.
Speaker 2:Oh, incorrect January 2024. Wow okay, 10,000 downloads. What month?
Speaker 3:January 2025. Very close, that's not right.
Speaker 2:September 15th 2024. I'll give you that Very close. That's not right September 15th 24. I'll give you that. So there's a company called OP3, open Podcast Analytics. They have given us an average, not a maximum, an average downloads within 30 days. Do you think it's higher?
Speaker 3:or lower than 500? I gonna say it's lower, it's higher.
Speaker 2:No, it's higher um nice, according to it, 692 um with 472 unique listeners. Now the reason why I mentioned the May. I specifically wanted to know before we rode Big Brag 2025. Now here's the interesting thing I asked it to do the same thing. How many downloads do you think we got in 30 days after doing Big Brag? Oh, probably 1,000. Yeah, 900 and something.
Speaker 2:So, out of our Georgia friends. So thank you, georgia friends. Um, I go and go ahead. What do you think our average rating is from all podcasts, from all ratings, all platforms, everything?
Speaker 3:Well, I know what my rating is Five point five, exactly 5.5 out of five.
Speaker 2:You were in advanced classes, huh. Well, yeah, I don't know what is it. It's 4.9. Really, yeah, 4.9 from 25 different sources. So that means it could have been Apple, could have been Spotify Podchaser, any of the sources. By the way, those figures are not YouTube. None of that includes YouTube, so we do have some things on there as well. Let's see here.
Speaker 3:I got one how many countries have we had listeners from Total Countries and territories? Because we have had listeners from Total Countries and territories. Because we have had listeners from Guam.
Speaker 2:I'm going to say it's either higher or lower than 100. I'm going to say it's I'm going to first guess higher than 100.
Speaker 3:That would be incorrect. Oh boy, I mean, that's aggressive right there, buddy. Higher than lower than 50. Higher, yes, you're correct okay, 62 you're dead on 62 are you kidding me?
Speaker 2:I swear I don't have a phone in my hand. I got.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah 62, and can you tell me what, outside the united states, is our largest listener group from country? I bet you're going to get this wrong, but that's okay. Like I said, I bet you're going to get this wrong. Is it Canada? Like I said, I think you're going to get this wrong. It is not Canada. Canada came in number three, actually the United Kingdom kingdom. Oh, that's cool, you know, but uh, canada is actually number three, followed uh, right behind by germany.
Speaker 2:So I have, uh, some favorable quotes. Now again, I'm a transparent guy, got my information from ChatGPT. I said give me our most favorable quotes. And you're not surprised by the first one. It's a great day for a bike ride, yeah, that's our catchphrase. But here are some others that came in really, really interesting. I guess we have made a lot of comments about our wives rolling the eyes. Maybe that's around like Christmas time or maybe the show they were on or something. But um, why was eye rolling remark? I guess we we mentioned that a few times, yes, and you're doing what exactly?
Speaker 3:yes, well, you know what? Nothing's changed after 75 episodes. They still roll their eyes and they're like oh, oh, you guys are still doing what.
Speaker 2:That's right. Yeah, One of the funny stories we told was a Halloween spandex scare about a tongue-in-cheek tale of a UFO sighting on a late-night ride. And by a spandex joke oh yeah, because I talked about you don't want your boss to see you and by a spandex joke.
Speaker 3:So one of the oh yeah, because I talked about you know you don't want your boss to see you Exactly, or your fellow coworkers to see you in spandex.
Speaker 2:Actually that's what it says. It says Adam countered with a tongue in cheek tale of possessing or possible UFO sighting a late night ride and you said the spandex by your boss quote became an inside joke among listeners and perhaps a reason to bring a cover-up on layer on rides. One of the things that got one of the most comments from the reviews was after our go-kart photo finish, uh, during the big brag oh yeah, michael beat adam on the go-karts yeah, it does say that.
Speaker 2:It says a playful way they revealed the moment, uh, leaving a suspense between episodes. Uh got mentions on reviews. Uh, it also says michael, michael, milking his win and adam eventually, with a tongue-in-cheek, had to to admit his loss of the .04 seconds Like two grown men. Racing cars turned into a memorable contest thanks to their chemistry. And so that was the quote in the review.
Speaker 3:I don't think I was milking it. Okay, let's move on. I mean, really I won. Of course, michael beat Adam, but I didn't milk it.
Speaker 2:One of Michael's most quotes on the show is family friendly fun. And you met you. You made a comment about stardom young on cycling, not on bourbon, which which got a big laugh Family friendly fun.
Speaker 3:Not wrong Stardom early.
Speaker 2:Let's see here uh hilarious, uh mishaps where adam got a hotel room with the heart-shaped hot tub now, that was just funny.
Speaker 3:I don't care who you are, if you haven't heard that story.
Speaker 2:Uh, we were going to rag barri and a lady called me. I had actually changed credit cards. My American Express the number had somebody had spoofed it, and so I asked for a new credit card. And while I was driving to Ragbri it must have been running precharges at the hotel and the lady called me and said unless you give me your credit card number, I'm gonna have to cancel your room. Well, we were heading to brag bra. I didn't want them canceling my room. I said no, no, you can't cancel. And I said are you serious? I said I did the pre-check-in. I said your app took it, your app worked. And it reminded me that, old jerry seinfeld, you know how to take the reservation, you don't know how to keep the reservation.
Speaker 2:And so I pulled over and I, I, uh, I, I gave her my credit card and I was a little, that was a little disgruntled I'm not gonna lie. And when I got there she said I want to apologize to you, I've upgraded your room. And I walk into this room and there was one bed and a hard tape, heart shape. And I went back to the room, the front. I said you know, I appreciate the upgrade. I said but I'm staying here with my buddy, and she must have been very open to multiple partnerships. And she said, and, and I said, well, we both have wives. And she went, oh, okay, and she then gave us a double bedroom. Yeah, okay, and she then gave us a double bed room.
Speaker 3:Yeah, what would have been funny is if I would have been coming in at almost the same time and you had gotten to the room and I was like five minutes behind you.
Speaker 2:You could say hey, here's our room, I love it. I love it. Let's see if there's anything else here, that was a funny one. I'm scouring through here. I just didn't want to yammer on about. You know, I thought we'd just make this fun about some of the highlights. One of the reviews says that we are good storytellers, which is neat to hear. So whoever left that review? Thank you, that's very nice.
Speaker 3:Well, I got a quick question for you. Okay, favorite episode, and I haven't given you any, any, any runway space here. What's one of one of your favorite episodes that we've done?
Speaker 3:Hmm, hmm while you're thinking, I will actually tell you a couple of mine. I always enjoy the Christmas wishlist every year, the one that we do. You know, hey, this gear would be great Christmas wishlist for cyclists, that kind of thing. Always love that one.
Speaker 3:Um, I think one of my favorite episodes is actually January 1st when we interviewed Franklin. He did the route announcement with us and he turned the tables and did trivia to us to announce the route. Yeah, that was a lot of fun. Where he was like I'm not going to tell you what the towns are, I'm going to give you like trivia questions around the towns. That was pretty good. And I also it always comes to mind is the interview that we had with the, with Carol Iowa. Yeah, katie, katie from Carol Iowa, who was one of the organizers with RAGBRAI when that went through their town. It was just a fun interview and her, you know, dogs got involved because they came through the room at the same time and it was. It was a lot of fun. So you have a favorite one that, that pops up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was going to mention the Franklin one. I like that. I like the route release parties with him. I mean, those are I'm like a little kid because we obviously to be able to put this show out and edit it. We find out ahead of time. So I feel like I have secret knowledge which I'm sure many people in those towns already know anyway and they're just sworn to secrecy. But I did like the trivia stuff. I really liked the Maria Parker episode. The Maria Parker if you haven't had a chance to hear the Maria Parker, she's from Cruise Bike, but she's more than just from Cruise Bike.
Speaker 3:She's done many accolades and book writer and record breaker, world record holder, yeah, all sorts of crazy stuff.
Speaker 2:And then you know people who I meet in my personal life and I see with Cruise Bike and I'm like, hey, you know who? The you know family CEO Maria oh yeah, well, you know who? The family CEO Maria oh yeah well, we had the podcast and that's fun to talk about.
Speaker 3:I really like and this is going to sound a little cheesy- because you're going to think I'm saying it just because you're my friend, but the confetti experience I didn't want to say that one because I thought that was a little too self-serving.
Speaker 2:So no, no for me. I know it's a shorter episode, but you know having your daughter, who you and I had recorded shows over and over and over cause we wanted it to sound perfect and hit the post and we didn't want any you know popping on the filters and you know everything else, and she just we set up in your garage, we, we, we take one take, one take and she knocks it out of the park, nails it, yeah, I mean she was just like a natural.
Speaker 3:She just sat down and when you would ask her a question she would just like go and spoke very concise and clearly. I was very impressed. Um, yeah, it was. It was definitely, definitely one of my favorites, but, like I said, I didn't want to kind of say that because it kind of silly well, yeah, then you look.
Speaker 2:Well, certainly. Oh, yeah, here's our start. But I mean for me and and also because you know you carry that bear everywhere and Maya, he's actually lost it before, but luckily he got it back.
Speaker 3:I've told her. I told her the story, but I didn't find it.
Speaker 2:And for those of you who have been around us, you know that I go. He doesn't have a daughter.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm like taking pictures of this thing and of course, adam's walking around going why are you taking pictures of this bear? It's like, well, it's a thing I've did for years with my daughter and you know she's now a teenager, but we still do it because it's just fun, and Adam's over there as I'm taking the pictures, like he doesn't even have a daughter.
Speaker 2:Sometimes, when you're like taking the like, you're posing the camera, I'm like, I'm like you don't even hear me because I'm going, he doesn't have a daughter. You know, of course this is a podcast, I have to say something right now, but he doesn't have a daughter.
Speaker 3:But I'm silently. You're doing the motions over there. Yeah, thank you, I appreciate it. I'm glad you got my back there, buddy.
Speaker 2:On. The truth of the matter is I really think that one day, when your daughter decides to you know, I don't want to speed things up because you're a father and I respect that but when she maybe decides to jump into a serious relationship or whatever, and does settle down, I think, hold on, I'll do, I'll be myself, but I think it'd be cool to take some of those pictures and I think really you could. A picture is something you could put together.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, I, yeah, it's just, it's a picture of something you could put together. Oh yeah, I, I, yeah, it's, it's just, it's a lot of fun and I know you you've helped me with it too, because you're like, hey, what about confetti over there and things. It just kind of became one of those things that it's just uh, just our thing.
Speaker 2:So um, so, yeah, I think that. And then the one, the wives show and I only say the wives show is because that's where they actually met. Well, they had, you know, they had heard of each other or they had seen each other. And then we flew to Florida. Our arms were tired, but you know to have them on the show. And you know, yes, we'd gone out to dinner, but then you know to be on my two, two people who are probably never on microphone. You know, we, we, we even joked about like your own answering machine when you were a kid. Hey, thank you for calling. You know, this is such a family leaving and then you play it and you're like you cringe. But here I'm going to stick a microphone in front of your face and be like now, talk, monkey, talk.
Speaker 3:You know, but the cool thing about about that is, yeah, that was the first time they met, um, but you know what? I think that is one episode that people mention. I'm not going to say to mention it the most, but that episode is mentioned a lot by our our, you know, listeners. When we're out there, yeah, uh, meeting people, talking to people, uh, that one comes up a lot in conversations like oh yeah, when you guys had your wives on there that way, you know so yeah not.
Speaker 2:That would be funny because, as I tease you about the bearing, be like, he doesn't even have a wife. Well, he just grabbed him.
Speaker 3:He grabbed a woman from the lobby, so one of those uh, you know disney employees is just trying to make the you know magic kingdom. Well, you know, fine, we'll, we'll play along just kidding.
Speaker 2:Lauren, I love you um what?
Speaker 3:about one of the funniest times was when we were at disney uh last february and I was like, well, the fbi are going to be knocking at your door and then all of a sudden, the door actually, somebody's actually knocking at the door. That was pretty funny. Yeah, I just needed to do a visual check. It's like okay.
Speaker 2:And, by the way, if you hear that, we did not cut that out, we just left it in?
Speaker 3:No, we just left it in there because it was so, so classic and so comical.
Speaker 2:You know, we would go to dinner and I had all the cameras set up and everything. I just imagine like housekeeping, like whoa, what is?
Speaker 3:going on? What is going on in here? Yeah, we'd set up in the living room and we'd use, like the table you know, to hook our you know microphones and stuff on. So yeah, it probably looked a little odd, but a little shady, but that's all right. Yeah, it's OK.
Speaker 2:You know I'm scouring through my notes and scouring through what chat gbt came up with, but honestly, there's just so many wonderful times and things, um, but those are some of the highlights that are that are special to you and myself. Um, and you know just, you know the growth, the trends, popularity, I mean, there's all kinds of stuff out there and and, uh, we definitely have grown and it's pretty exciting. So, um, but yeah, uh, I just want to take this opportunity to say thank you. Thank you for you know all all that uh you do, sir, for the show and all the research that you put in, and thank our listeners for listening. Without them, this would kind of be like, uh, yeah just two guys talking to themselves.
Speaker 3:Thank you as well, sir. You know you're very much the technical guru and I appreciate that, um, but I think, most importantly, um, you know we've got great stories, um, we've had some good episodes, we've had good adventures, but really the bottom line is, is the community that, the cycling community, and the community that we've kind of created and have kind of evolved around this, and the people that we've met? I mean it's, you know it's great, because now we go to rides and you know it's like, hey, there's this person or there's that person or they'll text us or, you know, send us an instant message or something about the show and things like that. And it's really about the community and I, that's kind of been like what we've really pushed for. You know it's it's about the community of people that comes together and really, you know, not just supports the show, but we're out there supporting each other.
Speaker 3:You know it's like when we had the big team at Bragg, you know everybody was supporting everybody. We may have just met these people, some of these people, you know, two days ago, but we're out there supporting them, we see them, we talk to them on the rides and I saw, you know, other team members. It's like they didn't know each other before yesterday. And they're out there chit-chatting and you know supporting, and you yesterday. And they're out there chit-chatting and you know supporting. And you know we all have those down moments when we're out there riding and you see those people, you know building each other up and helping each other out and it's uh, that's what's really incredible about it is the community that's being created no for sure.
Speaker 2:I mean, just like, uh, our friend tommy, who was on our team, I saw that he did a ride and he had this year's uh, big brag psych, uh, second man of leisure jersey on and I just commented on it. I'm like, hey, nice jersey. And you know he replied back and he said I'm so glad you saw it. I, I wore it and I got lots of questions about it, but I'm thank you for mentioning, and so you know, just just the family that we've met and, um, you know, I I already saw some comments like are you boys coming back? And you know we're not sure yet what we're going to do. I mean we'll, we're going to figure things out. I mean there's um, um, we'll be riding.
Speaker 3:We don't know where um, the thing with with Georgia is it is in the same timeframe as as a couple of other rides that are on our list, but we don't make those decisions until you know, end of this year, first of next year, we'll be, you know, figuring that out, but we'll definitely be out there.
Speaker 2:No hoses were hurt in the manner of making the decision. Oh yeah, no hoses. Well, thank you, thank you, thank you, I'm going to move this along and with that. Oh wait, I almost made a big mistake.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah. What'd you forget?
Speaker 2:Ladies and gentlemen, Joe Grammer, Dennis Keeler, Alex Bell and Scott Garwick, Thank you so much. Thank you for being our monthly subscribers. If you would like to have your name mentioned on every show, just be like Joe Grammer, Dennis Keeler, Alex Bell and Scott Garwick, and then I have Listener Spotlight.
Speaker 3:One other thing before I jump into the Listener Spotlight I did want to say Rag Bride just finished up, seems like it was pretty successful. They had some really hot weather, they had some rain. But I did want to mention, you know, it was kind of sad. They did have two individuals who you know, who passed on the rides on the ride More than two?
Speaker 3:Was there more than two? I saw that there was, there was two, so I just wanted to recognize that. Uh, you know, certainly our hearts and sympathy go out to their families. Um, we all know when we go out on the, on the road, that it's not a safe thing. Um, you know that accidents happen and stuff like that, and it's never, it's never something you want to have happen on a ride like that unfortunately happens. But I just wanted to acknowledge that and, uh know, send out our sympathies to those families that were impacted by that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I mean, I guess I should say I don't know for a fact. I mean, I know that on Monday, the 21st ayear-old gentleman from Colorado, he collapsed and passed away and he was actually in Minnesota. And then on the 22nd of July, I saw that a 63-year-old gentleman from Florida, unfortunately, and he was in Iowa, which you would expect, right. But just to be clear, I think there was another couple of other things. So maybe, maybe there was only two, but there was also this crazy motorcycle, car, bicycle interaction, and there's a couple of things that happened, and the heat was bad for the tailwinds I mean, the headwinds were bad tailwindss. They would love tailwinds, wouldn't they? So but yeah, there's a couple of things that just kept making the news and I'm like no, no, this is not good. So, yeah, so.
Speaker 3:I just wanted to mention that, but now we can get back to Listener Spotlight.
Speaker 2:Ladies and gentlemen, it is now time for the Listener Spotlight. I figured, with 75 episodes I'd have a little fun, Okay.
Speaker 3:All right, all right. This Listener Spotlight hints are as follows the original town was platted in the 1830s. A railroad intersected this town. This town tried twice to rename itself twice tried, um, but both of their choices they actually you know. The third time they got it right, but two times of trying to rename it they actually ran into problems because the names that they chose were already taken. Oops, the final name that they chose, and that is on this community today, is named after a community in Georgia. When they originally did it, it was spelled wrong. However, and this town sets on a historic highway. And my final hint is this town would make any lumberjack proud, or oscar meyer. So I'm saying that oscar meyer or lumberjack would be very proud of this town I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay.
Speaker 2:You sleep all night. O-s-e-r. Oh no, hmm, okay, there you go. Well, I don't think you're describing St Louis, I am not describing St Louis.
Speaker 3:I am not describing Wheeling, west Virginia. Hmm, okay Well, can you imagine it's like the town votes yeah, we don't like the name of our original town, it stinks. Uh, we're gonna name it this. And then they send you know, do all the paperwork, send it in, and they go nope, sorry, you're, you're naming it after a community that already exists. Okay, let's vote again. You know, because you can imagine how you know these politics is going. Okay, fine, then we'll name it this. And then they do all the paperwork, send it in, and then it's like no, sorry, that's actually the name of another, you know town. It's like oh, you know, then it's. Then they do it a third time and so like okay, fine, we're naming it this. And then it gets spelled wrong. They've corrected it since then, but originally it was spelled incorrect.
Speaker 2:So let me ask you on our episode 76, will you have the original name, the names that were taken, that they couldn't have the incorrect spelling and the correct spelling.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, I've got that right now, but I'm not going to tell you. No, no, no, I've got all right now, but I'm not going to tell you. But yeah, I've got all that information right here. Go ahead and tell us.
Speaker 2:I'm just kidding. Well, with that, ladies and gentlemen, I will say this Thank you, thank you, thank you, and I'm sure that somewhere, somehow, those who can ride, who their doctors will allow them to, that's right.
Speaker 1:It was a great day for a bike ride, absolutely 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.
