SPEAKER_00: 3:02

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_04: 3:16

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I am excited today. I've been thinking about this all day. I am happy to announce we have some special guests with us. We have Franklin and Ron. Ron, the new domestic director of Bragg, and Franklin, the original OG. Well, not the original, but I understand. But uh, and and of course, my good friend from Central Time, welcome everybody. Thanks for being here. We are here for something very special. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05: 3:48

What is that? Thank you guys for uh coming, and uh, we got some exciting stuff to go over.

SPEAKER_04: 3:56

So without further ado, Michael, do you see uh this show is uh audio and visual, visual for some people. Do you see behind Franklin? He's he has some things on a whiteboard there. Whiteboard.

SPEAKER_05: 4:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_04: 4:11

We're going old school.

SPEAKER_02: 4:12

Well, my my internet's been out for a solid week because some vagrants decided to steal all the copper out of some ATT thing. I don't know, that's what they're saying. So there's like 50 people in our little area that are without internet and they're having to like dig new trenches so we can get internet. So I came to our co-working space. So this is where Ron graciously drives up to Atlanta um every week. And they have a whiteboard, so I figured we could write down some fun stuff to go over uh before we got started. Mainly uh you guys being a Disney adult, I heard on your most recent podcast that I was gonna call you out for being a Disney adult, and that I'm here to make that uh premonition come true.

SPEAKER_04: 4:52

So where's that censor button?

SPEAKER_05: 4:56

He is so a Disney adult, it's not even funny. I at least have kids. But you go with him, so well, but I have that I'm that I'm dragging along. So that kind of I'll I'll BS.

SPEAKER_04: 5:10

Like you're not flying down on your own.

SPEAKER_05: 5:14

Well, to meet up with you, the Disney adult.

SPEAKER_04: 5:18

Do you not own a timeshare at Disney?

SPEAKER_05: 5:21

Or my children. My children love Disney.

SPEAKER_04: 5:25

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_05: 5:27

Who do you own it for your parents? Huh? Huh?

SPEAKER_04: 5:30

Yeah. Uh listen, I I am I do not deny that one of the best purchases of my life would be my timeshare. Uh well, actually, there's multiple uh resorts, but yes, uh, and my Florida timeshare.

SPEAKER_02: 5:45

I isn't this show sponsored by Timeshare Exit Team or something like that? That guy called me tonight on my way home.

SPEAKER_04: 5:51

He said, he said, he said, uh sir, how do you feel like your your timeshare? Do you want to help get rid of it? I said, why would I do that? And you hung up on me. I'm like, I gave you the time of the day to answer. So those guys call a lot, man. They do call me. I'm on a list, I'm on multiple lists. Do you want out of your timeshare? No, do you want out of your timeshare? No, how many times do I have to tell you no?

SPEAKER_02: 6:13

That's funny. Speaking of which, um, this is being aired, I guess, January 1st. So as we speak, I am in Mexico with my family uh in a timeshare owned by a Brag rider. Um crazy story. We were on the Bragg, Mexico ride. Um, and as we were packing up and leaving, we were saying our goodbyes, and he was like, Oh, I'm not going to the airport, we're we're going to Vedanta down the road. And I was like, Oh, me and my family go there all the time. My grandparents used to have a timeshare there. And he's like, Oh, well, if you ever want to go, just let me know. Um, so sure enough, I called him up like a year later. I was like, Hey, do you still have that? And he's like, Oh, yeah, we can get you a four-bedroom, no problem. So I just paid the you know very nominal fee and he let me go. So we're all down here, uh, four-bedroom with the family in Mexico because of a timeshare.

SPEAKER_04: 6:58

So well, I would, I mean, we obviously have the domestic director with us as well. I would be shocked if you weren't somewhere international. So I'm happy for you, by the way. But uh uh the man who travels the most in the end wins, as far as I'm concerned. And just to be fair, my timeshare can also be, and so can Michael's, by the way, you can exchange for multiple different resorts. And so uh one of the cool things was I purchased 2010 um and compared to what it is now, even more than when Michael bought, um, the price was right. So yeah, I can I can definitely, it's a point-based system for mine, and you can change points to go somewhere else. So uh I love it. I and I've helped out people, and some people have called me up and and and rented my points, which helps pay for the maintenance or you know, and so other than that. But I'm glad that a Bragg writer helped you out. It seems like you're sticking with the team. I love it.

SPEAKER_02: 7:54

Speaking of being on a team, Michael, how's the uh the job search going?

SPEAKER_05: 7:58

Uh next on the list. Uh it it is it's going very slow. Um, I've never tried to find a uh job between Thanksgiving and Christmas before. Um, not the opportune time to be out there trying to you know promote myself because they're like, you know, it's Christmas time's coming.

SPEAKER_04: 8:21

I offered him a transportation job. I just want you to know.

SPEAKER_05: 8:24

He did a transportation job in Michigan. I don't live in Michigan. Um yeah, no, it just wouldn't work out. But I appreciate it though. Um, but you know, I'm hoping, you know, I've got the resume down, you know, several iterations, it's looking good. So I'm hoping the beginning of the year, you know, companies hiring people.

SPEAKER_02: 8:48

Yeah, January 1st today.

SPEAKER_05: 8:49

What do you mean? Today's the beginning of the year. Well, nobody's hiring on January 1st, so we got to move to January 2nd.

SPEAKER_02: 8:56

So they're all too hung over from their Jim Beam. That's right. Oh, did you see that? That was a nice segue.

SPEAKER_05: 9:04

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_02: 9:05

Yeah, so saw article thought of you guys. Jim Beams apparently uh shutting down their production for the time being because of lack of demand. With um, I guess you know, millennials slowing down, Gen Z eers not drinking, boomers, you know, drinking less as well. So uh hopefully some of that papies will be cheaper with all this uh decreased production.

SPEAKER_04: 9:26

You know, I am kind of hoping that. I mean, I'm I'm I we've we've seen some prices change. Um, you know, we've even discussed it of our some of the things that we like. Uh, there's an Angel's Envy that we really enjoy. It's uh um Phil Talks Whiskey, uh, to give him a little bit of credit, turned us on to it. And and he um mentioned it, and we first bought it, and it's 20 bucks cheaper now. So uh very rarely do you see something going down in price. So, yeah, I think there's an overabundance right now for for multiple reasons, and I think you're right. I think we know in like in the 80s where people were drinking clear liquor and zima and then uh yeah, zima putting jolly ranchers in zima.

SPEAKER_05: 10:09

Zima's making its comeback. It happened. The good news is is not only is the price going down, but I'm starting to see a lot of stuff that I could never find before in my area is like on the shelf. So that's kind of cool. Yeah, it's cyclical, it'll happen. You know, people start drinking Zima or whatever the new clear drink is, and 10 years, 12 years from now, then all of a sudden they'll discover bourbon and it'll be like, Oh, what is this miracle stuff? And then we won't be able to find it again.

SPEAKER_04: 10:39

I was thinking the jobless like went into the gym beam. Like, if you don't have a job, will you drink more gym beam?

SPEAKER_05: 10:45

So I mean you mean start drinking it? Because I really don't drink it now. I might have to start. It's probably a little cheaper than some of the stuff that I'm drinking.

SPEAKER_04: 10:56

So there you go.

SPEAKER_05: 10:57

Although I did notice that Franklin uh cracked a bottle there and poured some in there. Look like what, high country or something?

SPEAKER_02: 11:02

High West, for sure.

SPEAKER_05: 11:04

High West. There we go.

SPEAKER_02: 11:05

So it's I don't have a smaller bottle that was open, so I had to put this in my backpack and ride down here. So took up most of the room in my backpack. It's always in his backpack.

SPEAKER_04: 11:14

What are you talking about? That's what he got for selling all the copper from his internet. But he went.

SPEAKER_02: 11:26

Well, there we go.

SPEAKER_04: 11:29

Uh internet or copper? Internet? No, I'm just getting some.

SPEAKER_02: 11:34

Yeah. All right, what's next on your list? Oh, I had Portugal wine. Uh made me think of you guys as we were going down the Jim Beam list and Zima, everybody's got their little gimmick.

SPEAKER_04: 11:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 11:44

This year will be the first year of our Portugal ride, and one of the wineries we go to, the guy was like really big into the Titanic. Okay. And I don't know, whoever took the submarine down there and got all the stuff and brought it back up. Was it James Cameron? Wasn't that James Cameron?

SPEAKER_04: 12:01

I think it was. I mean, I I don't want to misspeak, but I think it was.

SPEAKER_02: 12:05

Um, so yeah, anyway, so he recovered uh a lot of bottles of wine that were, you know, had been in the cold depths under pressure for like a long, long time. And they actually, I don't know if this guy got to try some or what it was, but he was like fascinated by this whole idea. Um, so one of these wineries we go to, they the winemaker, they bottle their wine in this very specific bottle. It's much thicker, put a special cork on it, and they sink it to the bottom of the lake where they're at. It's like 130 feet deep or something where it's super cold under pressure, and they leave it down there for nine months, uh, and then they bring it up and they sell you the bottle, and it's all, you know, it's gross and got all this lake stuff on it, and it's dry. But um, and it's like they do a bottle of it before it went in, and then uh they let you try the bottle where it was under the water, and it's actually very different, which is kind of crazy.

SPEAKER_05: 12:53

Um so everybody's got their their gimmicks and their ways of of flavoring, the ways of storing, their ways of aging. It's it's interesting. I had not heard that.

SPEAKER_02: 13:04

Pretty specific and intense.

SPEAKER_04: 13:06

So you know, it reminds me like, I mean, not not exactly, but like Jefferson's ocean, where you know, they take these barrels and they put them on cargo ships and they just go all over, and then and then who knows? I mean, it could be real, it could be fake, could be marketing, but then you get a book with it, a small little pamphlet, and it says, Okay, the journey of this, you know, bourbon went from you know, oh, the port of Costa Concordia was great, and then both, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it kind of tells you where the travels of where the where it went for the tasting profile. So could be just marketing.

SPEAKER_05: 13:40

Well, you know, we did have on a couple episodes the uh ago, the gift thing, where Brad Paisley, the singer, had the rolling rickhouse, and I forget how many barrels they piled on there, and this big truck full of whiskey barrels, full of the stuff, went with him everywhere, you know, that he went on this section of his tour. It was called the rolling rickhouse, and that's how they kind of similar to Jefferson's, the different pressures, humidities. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 14:10

That's cool now. I that's pretty neat. And I mean, uh I enjoy when you post all the pictures from the international as I'm sitting slaving away in my transportation office. Michael, I offered you the job once, I'm gonna offer it to you again. But um when I see your your pictures, and I really I well next time I see you, I'm gonna I'm gonna hit you up for a Bragg International t-shirt. I think that's just pretty cool. I gotta get me one of them.

SPEAKER_05: 14:35

So you gotta go on the ride to get the t-shirt.

SPEAKER_04: 14:38

Uh well, I mean, that's partially true, I'm sure, but I bet you I bet you I could I could beg Barbara.

SPEAKER_05: 14:44

Make him go on the trip. That's gotta be earned. That's like a medal of honor. Come on.

SPEAKER_02: 14:50

I've invited you guys several times. Wives are welcome, it's perfect for wives. They get on the e-bike or regular bike, whatever they want to do. And um I'm waiting on Adam. I know.

SPEAKER_04: 15:00

Oh my gosh, I'm the one with the timeshare, the Disney adult, and you're waiting for me.

SPEAKER_05: 15:04

Uh yeah, I guess because I told you Chass is on board like that. I mean, we'll sign up. Well, when I get a job, we'll sign up like that. I was just gonna say, uh, you ready to go now? So well, you I might want to wait until you know, make sure the family's not eating canned spam or something, and then I'm all in.

SPEAKER_02: 15:23

Now, Ron, don't let them fool you. Stephanie and I have thought this for a long time, but I've never seen, other than the one episode where you guys hired these actors to come on the uh the show, I've never seen their wives. So I think they're just really in the same bedroom, different rooms, report recording the podcast, and the the wives and families are just all uh you know what?

SPEAKER_05: 15:45

You know how many times we're we're down in Jamaica.

SPEAKER_04: 15:49

By the way, what you just said is just horrible. I'm finding my phone. Where the hell is it? I gotta find a family portrait fast because you know it's struggling to find a family portrait.

SPEAKER_05: 15:59

Yeah, it's like where oh, where did I put that? Where can I find some miscellaneous young lady that I can say that's my wife?

SPEAKER_04: 16:06

Oh, baloney. Actually, we we just went to uh get together.

SPEAKER_03: 16:12

This could be the ultimate catfish episode.

SPEAKER_04: 16:16

It could be, who knows? So uh no, we have been asked.

SPEAKER_05: 16:22

Uh right there, right there's some young lady he took a picture of on a bike ride.

SPEAKER_04: 16:28

There, there is Mrs.

SPEAKER_05: 16:30

Lauren Baransky.

SPEAKER_02: 16:31

Yeah, y'all don't even, she's not even standing that close to you. That's so that could be somebody else.

SPEAKER_05: 16:35

Yeah, it's like be in the picture with you. Don't hug me.

SPEAKER_04: 16:38

Yeah. Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. I have to get uh here's a wedding photo of us.

SPEAKER_05: 16:45

Well, you know what I anybody can do that nowadays. Uh well, listen, listen. See, my mysterious family just brought me a soda uh into the studio just out of nowhere.

SPEAKER_04: 16:58

So but oh, uh you guys don't know about this, but we have a winner, winner, winner, winner. We just went to the Henry Ford Greenfield Village as a family. There is the Baranski family right there. So you had to hire three actors then now my mother likes you a lot. Nice. Although she does call him Mike. How's Mike? I'm like, it's Michael, mom. It's Michael.

SPEAKER_05: 17:27

You know what? I'm not gonna correct her. I like her, so if you want to call me Mike, she can call me Mike.

SPEAKER_02: 17:32

Oh well. Next on us, I had Ron. Uh A plus. Um, so Ron's been, when did you come? It's been what almost three months now, Ron?

SPEAKER_04: 17:43

Uh October 20th.

SPEAKER_02: 17:45

So trust me. Stephanie knew that. Yeah, Stephanie knew that. Two months. Um, but yeah, I just want to brag on Ron. He's been doing kicking butt.

SPEAKER_03: 17:53

I see what you did there. Brag.

SPEAKER_02: 17:56

Uh yeah, uh Ron's doing great. He um gets it, wants it, he's got the capability to do it. He's been driving up here for our in-person. So we've been we've driven all the routes um backwards, forwards. Um, and yeah, he is he is doing really great, getting getting to know everybody, having one-on-one meetings with all the stakeholders, and um has been a great addition to the team so far. So I just wanted to brag on Ron for a minute and all the the contributions he's making to the Brag team and is gonna make Bragg even better this year. So we're excited to have him on board and um just wanted to publicly say what a great job Ron's doing. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_05: 18:35

You're not making him do your lawn care, are you? Because I I'm looking at a picture green with this stuff on the back. It's like, okay, Ron, get out there and do my lawn, and then we'll talk about Bragg.

SPEAKER_02: 18:44

I'm about to put him on the way to work on these copper pipes, though, internet.

SPEAKER_03: 18:48

Yeah, I hate uh what Franklin's not telling you is he's bought a new house, so you know one of these Mondays when I'm up in Atlanta, I'll you'll be over there doing some framing. They're digging some trenches or something, who knows?

SPEAKER_04: 19:02

As I was getting all this set up tonight, I saw your post on Facebook about the new house. Is the house that you showed online is being torn down?

SPEAKER_02: 19:12

Yeah, so the house we just bought is a tear down. Um we bought in a neighborhood where there's no really any lots anymore. Um, so it was actually it used to be Sally Ride's old house. We didn't buy it from Sally Ride, obviously, but um it was her house a long, long time ago. Um, and they kept trying to put that in the listing like that that would uh it would drive up the price for like nostalgia or history's sake, and um it it did not. If you walked in it, it's it's clearly a teardown. So um so yeah, so we bought it and we're gonna um tear it down and uh hopefully beginning of the year we're gonna demo it. So we're gonna have all the kids from the neighborhood over and have a paint party and bring out some paint and just say some hammers and say go nuts and paint the walls, the floors, whatever you want to do. And then uh next day the excavators will come in.

SPEAKER_04: 19:57

So are you gonna get the copper out of there for your current house?

SPEAKER_02: 20:01

Uh I might get the copper out of there and put it in for whatever the copper needs for the internet at our place because I just know internet is absolutely I've blew through my mobile hotspot in like the first three hours.

SPEAKER_04: 20:12

So yeah. Well, yeah, I'm excited about the house, you know. I mean, uh that's great. I mean, we've been doing some stuff over here, and you know, feel good, you know, when you get to get a nice new new place, get everything nice and either cleaned up or whatever. So good luck on that.

SPEAKER_02: 20:31

Yeah, thanks. We've been shopping for years and years and years, and you know, prices have only gone crazier and crazier. So I figured might come out ahead when we're building and um yeah, we're we're really pumped. Um growing family, so need a little bit more room, so it'll be great. Great, yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 20:48

Well, um, I I am only looking from afar, but um from what I'm seeing, uh your your uh review of Ron, I'm seeing some um internet stuff, people behind the scenes excited, so there's there's some excitement. Um, you mentioned that you were gonna be there. Um people said, I wonder if I get to ride with Franklin. So it was a couple of messages that we received on that. So that's uh a lot of people think that you uh are gonna have all kinds of time on your hand, except you know, I ran a business for a while and I hired photographers, and I thought I wasn't gonna do anything, and I kept doing more and more. So I have a feeling that'll be the case. Uh I'm sure. But um well, at this time, the rest of the world already knows the route. Um you announced it at midnight 12 hours ago. We're releasing this at noon eastern. Sorry, Michael, gotta stick with Eastern. Um, noon Eastern. Uh why don't we get into the route? I'm I'm excited. You kind of teased maybe some trivia, maybe some questions. Uh, what direction are we gonna go with this?

SPEAKER_03: 22:05

We are gonna be going south. Um, south from uh the northwestern portion of the great state of Georgia, um, making our way through some wonderful, rich areas of uh of the state. It's gonna be beautiful. It is uh uh recreation or reimagining of uh of a previous year's brag ride, which a lot of them are. We talked about that earlier a little bit, but um we're we're super pumped and excited about it. We've we've added a few twists and turns. Literally and figuratively, we're going to be following some uh rails to trails um pathways uh that are storied and famous for that part of the state. And I'm I'm really excited about it. You want me to you want me to break it down for you by day? Sure, sure, sure.

SPEAKER_04: 23:00

You know, uh uh one of the uh a very dear friend of ours that we're gonna be lucky enough to see in a couple weeks here in Florida, uh just so happened that we had a shuttle issue um that we couldn't get across the the people who had started Bragg, and we Michael and I got stuck at a at a hotel just for a second, which was one of the best things that ever happened because our friend Armando um he got a late start, and we actually rode rails to trails uh coming out of Columbus on our first time we ever did Bragg. And so um that's just a near and dear story I wanted to share with you, Ron. That um, you know, we we I we did it once before on trail. So, yes, let's Michael, you got any questions before we go?

SPEAKER_03: 23:48

Or no, I'm curious to see. Okay. So so we're gonna be starting um in Lafayette, Georgia, which is uh the pride of Walker County. A lot of you know where that is. It's uh south of Chickamauga, Chattanooga area, but it's uh it's a wonderful uh smaller town. That's where we're gonna actually start on um Saturday evening. People will congregate there, and then on Sunday morning we'll be we'll be headed out. And incidentally, uh the first, well, uh preliminarily, the the first rest stop that we're gonna have that day is gonna be at a winery. So I'm just trying to call back to the conversation we had earlier about the Portugal uh winery. But uh that ride is gonna take us into uh Chatuca County, Somerville, Georgia. Uh, and that's another great host town, lots of regional importance. Um great uh great area, wonderful, friendly people, uh, easy riding. Um, and there's gonna be some great points of interest uh to take in that day. Um so Monday's ride is going to be through to Cave Spring, which I don't know if you've ever ever heard of this, but Cave Spring is in Floyd County, Georgia, and it boasts a natural cold water, purified water spring that has flowed for, I don't know, Franklin, you might know the you might know the dates on this, but it's hundreds of years uh as long as they've been recording history there. So uh it'll be a much welcomed cool-off spot uh for that day uh in uh in late May when we're there. So all of our riders are gonna be treated to that. And it's really a very, very nice setting. Um, lots of covered areas, uh picnic tables, so the the outdoor camping as well as the the indoor options are gonna be stellar. Uh so I think people are really, really, really gonna like that. Um now our layover town uh will be the next day, Tuesday and Wednesday nights. We're going to be in Carrollton, Georgia. Uh also in um Carroll County. Uh we're gonna have the wonderful people at the uh at the high school system there uh have opened up their property for us to stay on, and it's just gonna be great. The downtown area of Carrollton is not to be missed. I think our riders are gonna be um they're gonna be very happy about all of the options for entertainment and shopping, relaxing. It's gonna have all kinds of food options. Um, there's an outdoor amphitheater where we're gonna we're gonna host our guests there uh for one of those nights. So two nights uh in Carrollton. I failed to mention the day prior. Uh we're gonna be accessing the Silver Comet Trail. So this year's theme is happy trails. And so we're gonna be taking advantage of the the close proximity to some of these uh Georgia bike trail systems. So the Silver Comet Trail will be one of them uh in Carrollton. Uh they they have the Green Belt, which um is going to be uh open and available to people who want to ride on Wednesday. Some people are gonna want to just chill out, but uh those who do want to take a ride can do that. So uh that's gonna be exciting. I have been on the Silver Comet Trail. Excellent. Yeah, it's the uh it's the longest, I think it's the longest uh trail network from Atlanta past the westward towards Alabama and goes into Alabama some I don't know, 30 miles or something like that, maybe more. But it that's pretty exciting, and um people really enjoy riding on it because it's you know protected and you can sort of forget about traffic um while you're on it. Uh after Carrollton, the next town we're going to be staying in uh is gonna be very unique. Um it's a little community called Trilleth, and it's T-R-I-L-I-T-H. It's in Fayette County. Um and it is a it is a live, work, play community that was established recently by the Kathy family um in Georgia that is um is famous for Chick-fil-A. And so what they've done is they have um they have re renamed the Pinewood Atlanta Studios to Trilleth Studios, and it is a working operational soundstage. I think I read that it's the largest um studio television and and film studio, um if not in if not in the United States, at least outside of California, um in the country. Is it is it okay? Um but that's gonna be really excited. Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna have tours. Uh you can do that on a bike or you can do it um on um you know some kind of uh cart, golf cart kind of thing. Um it's gonna be an exciting sort of new and different thing for our riders. They are always looking for different types of entertainment and you know nightlife and stuff like that, but to be able to get to a place with enough time in the day to then go really see something that's unique that that you might not otherwise stop through there and see. I think everybody's gonna be really excited about it, myself included. I'm I'm pretty pumped about going there. And you know, I've lived in I've lived in Georgia all my life and I I'd never heard of Trilleth. So um shame on me, but that's really putting it on the map. So I'm sure there are others like that.

SPEAKER_05: 30:10

And I don't want to put you on the Pinewood Studios. Is this the old British American part of the British Pinewood studios? Do we know?

SPEAKER_02: 30:19

I'm not sure I know it's Pinewood for a long time. Um, I'm not sure if it's British Pinewood, I don't know the the history, but yeah, I mean it's the uh we did I did a tour there when we were first um going around, and it's uh I can't remember, it's like 40 something huge stages. Um and yeah, they did they filmed a lot of the Avengers there, um Black Panther, um they did the like live action Moana they did there. I mean, they've done countless movies there. Um a little bit of a slowdown in the movie industry currently, um, as you all know, but um which is a good thing for us because now it'll be more open, so we can go over there. Um, but it's a really cool tour, and like Ron said, uh the Cathys have put a ton of resources into that little community, so it's um it's super cool. And and Dan Cathy, the old CEO of Chick-fil-A, recently went out to Bentonville um and was inspired by the bike culture out there, and they're trying to bring that to Trilliph. So they um they're really excited about having us there, and I think they're gonna roll out the red carpet. So we're very excited to go to Trilliph.

SPEAKER_05: 31:18

Okay. I was just curious because I know like Birkhamshire, England had Pinewood Studios, which did like James Bond and that kind of stuff. So I just didn't know if there was a connection.

SPEAKER_02: 31:29

They probably filmed all movies there, actually, now that I think about it. You you you know Michael.

SPEAKER_05: 31:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_04: 31:35

We we we know somebody.

SPEAKER_05: 31:38

We do know somebody. We've got a good friend who uh uh works over there.

SPEAKER_04: 31:44

Yeah, she is uh Virginia. I'd be remiss if I don't mention her right now. Uh she is the CFO over there. Uh so we uh I I I I have to make a mention. So Virginia, uh hopefully you uh hopefully you uh get to see a bunch of bunch of brag riders over there.

SPEAKER_02: 32:04

So yeah, I think Ron had a had a talk with her.

SPEAKER_03: 32:09

I did. I did. I had a a good long conversation with Ginny. I think this is gonna be her sixth or seventh brag ride this year, if she's able to go. So she's definitely um definitely experienced, and that helps because when we're working with and negotiating with host towns, having somebody there connected with that town who is also a big supporter and advocate for not only cycling, but for Bragg specifically, it really it really helps. Uh and I and I can say without without much hesitation that the the people, everybody we've dealt with in that community has been 100% a big fan of the cycling community, the Bragg operation itself, and they're they're they've been very, very welcoming, as all the host towns have, but they stand out um just as eager to really wanna really want to help. Um we'll when we're leaving from Trilleth, we're gonna we're gonna again head south, sort of southwest. We're gonna hook over towards Senoia, uh, which is a really neat little town. Um, it was a stop, I think, overnight last year. Or in 2020 2021. That's right. Um, this will just be for uh a rest stop there, but we will be we'll we we will be going through um, and I think we have some ins and outs on the Senoya. They have a multi-use trail over there, but we'll be making our way over uh towards Lagrange. We'll go through Luthersville and Hugginsville and um head heading over to Lagrange for the night. Now, what's special about Lagrange is among a lot of things, is that they have their um their multi-use pathway is called the Thread. And it sort of is unique because it it weaves, it sort of winds its way through their downtown and into the countryside a little bit. Um it's it's really a fantastic pathway. Uh, and we're excited uh to see it in the flesh last week when we were uh riding some of those trails. But that'll lead us um down towards Pine Mountain, Georgia, which will be on Saturday. That's gonna be the final day of the ride. I do want to go back to LaGrange a little bit and also say that their downtown area will be there on Friday or Friday night. So the the host town there, uh all of those individuals have been pretty excited to have us and our you know legion of cyclists in their downtown area, enjoying the nightlife and the food and and all that. And and they have opened up uh every available venue that we could think of in order to you know house our people and make sure that their time is fun and safe and entertaining. And so we're really looking forward to that. It's gonna be a big finish um for the for the for the week, uh, that final night. Um, I'm sorry, go ahead. I said that sounds exciting. Yeah, yeah, it's gonna be great. Um, and to round it out, the the final ride is gonna be from Lagrange down through Pine Mountain, as I said. Uh, we're gonna jump on the Man of War Trail, which is a new multi-use uh trail. It's about 13 miles long so far. Um and there is plans for it to connect with the um Columbus-Muscogee County network of multi-use trails, the dragonfly, the river walk, and um and all of that. So uh we'll we'll have to do a little a little jogging uh along the road, but not bad. Um, so it's not a 100% um trail only, but it is going to be exciting. Um, I'm really, really looking forward to finishing King Columbus. It's my hometown. Uh it's where I'm uh well, I'm at the beach right now, but it's normally where uh uh I live. But um we're really excited to have the group coming in through the river walk, which is sort of my home turf. I've ridden it thousands of times and love it, and uh also love the people uh that are that are gonna be putting on the show for us on Saturday. So we are as excited as as we've ever been for um a ride like this, and I'm thrilled to be part of it uh for lots of reasons. And chief among them is you know being the new domestic ride director, but also being able to end up in my own hometown and and sort of showcase how special this ride is and this community is. Um I think we're on the the cusp of a very, very great ride, and and I hope everybody is excited about it. Go out there and register, book your flights.

SPEAKER_04: 37:15

That's that's uh I'm I'm I'm glad to to to do this. Am I remembering correctly in Columbus? Um when we when we took those trails, the whole trail system, did we go like through colleges and and parks and stuff? Is that am I am I am I maybe I'm mixing another ride together?

SPEAKER_02: 37:37

No, are you thinking about you're thinking about 2022? Wasn't that y'all's first year when we left out of Columbus?

SPEAKER_04: 37:42

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 37:43

So we took um we started at the the forum where they have the ice skating rink. If you stayed inside, it was nice and cool. Um yeah, we went north through um Ron's hometown on the Riverwalk. Um the base, but yeah, went through uh they got a school down there, the um Columbus, Columbus State, right, Ron?

SPEAKER_03: 38:02

Columbus State University has campuses, um one in sort of central Columbus and then one right on the downtown. So the arts and and uh music schools are right on Broadway in downtown Columbus. So um of course this will be summertime, so you know there won't be as many students, but that means that restaurants uh you'll be able to get in one if you if you want to hang around uh on the last day after the ride. But um, yeah, the River Walk Network is um is fantastic, and it is some of the the nine miles or so that we'll be accessing to get to the finish line. Um it runs adjacent to the Chattahoochee River in some of the most spectacular um you know views that you can that you can think of. And so I hope people will take their time and not just race to the end of it, but take some time to you know focus on who's out there on the on the whitewater rafting and uh the zip line and and just all the people um you know enjoying the recreation opportunities there. So it's gonna be it's gonna be a big time. We're we're super excited about it.

SPEAKER_04: 39:17

So my following statement is not against Bragg whatsoever. As a matter of fact, it built a wonderful friendship, but we were unfortunately on a bus that broke down. Uh it was like the I I call it the bus from hell.

SPEAKER_02: 39:30

Every time we talk about this bus ride, uh every time.

SPEAKER_04: 39:34

Yeah, well, listen, it's not your fault. I mean, you don't bring it up.

SPEAKER_05: 39:37

It's not Michael, by the way.

SPEAKER_04: 39:40

I offered you a transportation job, you don't want to take it either. But uh but uh but hey, listen, we met a lot of wonderful people because of that bus ride. But my point was is um we were we were sort of disappointed because we were gonna try to do the zip line and and um we were gonna try to go over there and enjoy that area, and we got in pretty late, and then of course by that time we ended up in a bar at a Marriott. I wonder how that happened. I'm sure that's Franklin's fault too, isn't it? I'm not blaming Franklin for anything. I uh it's not I mean you you don't control brakes on a bus. You paid for the bus, you expected the bus to work. I mean, I run buses. I have to I have to argue just like those people did. Listen to me down.

SPEAKER_02: 40:31

Well, you guys have such a good attitude, though. You can take uh a mishap or a bad situation, turn around and still have a good time. That's a great quality that more people need. Um I think have that quality. Anything happens wrong, you know, you you figure out how to turn it into a good time. And if you know, if you're not having fun, that's on you, not on the situation, you know. But but here's the best thing about that.

SPEAKER_04: 40:54

To this day, when I am in Georgia, we all know who was on that bus. And we still talk about it. We say, oh yeah, you were on the bus. I'm like, I'm also Adam. I wasn't just on the bus. I mean, I talk to you every time I see you, but but that's a normal conversation starter. Like, oh yeah, we were on that bus. And so all kinds of good friends now. I mean, the friends I have for life. And and uh so that's uh uh that's a wonderful, wonderful. But I just wanted to tell Ron that um I'm excited about the the Columbus thing. Um what I what I remember is it was very nice, and and we uh we took the trail system out. So I imagine taking the trail system in will be just as nice, in my opinion. That's my point I was trying to get to.

SPEAKER_02: 41:41

So there you go. There you go. Yeah, you're right. Columbus is super cool. The the downtown's awesome, they got some good breweries down there, tons of cool restaurants, and like Ron was saying, it's right on the Chattahoochee. So there's actually uh a whitewater section uh that you can go down. They actually have a wave shaper. So I used to do when we used to do Georgia Bike Fest in Columbus, um, I used to be a big whitewater kayaker, and I would take my kayback down there and after the ride was over, go down there and play in the rapids, and it was awesome. So they got a whole adventure center. If you want to do rafting or kaybacking or zip lining, you can do that. Or like Ron was saying, the river walk goes all the way down into Fort Benning. You can go down there as long as you got your ID, you can ride around the fort, which is really cool, or up and down the riverwalk, and then the dragonfly trails. Um, Becca Zajak, she's actually our champion in Columbus. She runs the dragonfly trail system. There's another trail system you can take out uh more towards the interior away from the river. So there's lots of cool stuff to do um in Columbus, and that whole river walk area is super cool. So it's gonna be a nice ending. And then backing up back to the beginning, I know the beginning of Bragg for a lot of people is you gotta get there, you gotta get set up, you know, make sure your tires have air in them, make sure, you know, somebody had to put your bike together, make sure it's working right. So a lot of stuff to do at the beginning of the ride. But this year, when we're starting in Lafayette, if you're from out of town, LaFette, if you're a local, very big distinction. They are going to have their honeybee festival. So I think there's like 40,000 people that come into LaFette for this Honey Bee Festival. And they usually bring in some like national touring names. So like names you've heard before will be playing there. They haven't announced their lineup yet for this year. But we're going to have shuttles downtown for that. So everybody coming in, there'll be a built-in 40,000-person festival at the start of the ride to celebrate Bragg's kickoff. So we're we're super excited to start the ride in that celebratory fashion. So definitely starting an in towns are going to be a ton of fun this year for sure.

SPEAKER_04: 43:41

That's pretty cool. I didn't realize you got a festival going just because for you guys. That's pretty neat.

SPEAKER_02: 43:47

Yeah, it's like we're rag ri, you know, we're getting there. I don't know.

SPEAKER_05: 43:55

So let me get let me go make sure I got this down right. So LaFette?

SPEAKER_02: 44:02

Yes, LaFette. There you go.

SPEAKER_05: 44:03

LaFette. Somerville. Um Cave Springs.

SPEAKER_04: 44:10

Somebody wasn't paying attention. I was.

SPEAKER_05: 44:12

Carlton. Carlton.

SPEAKER_04: 44:16

What? I've got my notes here, buddy. So keep going.

SPEAKER_05: 44:21

Sonoa. Lagrange and Columbus. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_02: 44:26

Well, you said Sonoia, didn't you? It's like we're gonna say it Trillet.

SPEAKER_05: 44:29

Trilith.

SPEAKER_02: 44:30

Trilleth. I'm saying it's just Trilith. Okay, so that's not that's just the town we're going to.

SPEAKER_04: 44:34

Let me save Road Adventures of Cycling Men of Leisure.

SPEAKER_02: 44:37

Uh once you retire, you don't have a job anymore, your mind immediately starts to go. You know?

SPEAKER_05: 44:42

I was just I was taking a lot of notes, and I was just making sure that I had the towns in the correct order.

SPEAKER_02: 44:49

All right. Adam, Adam's got you. Adam's got you. All right. All right.

SPEAKER_05: 44:52

So it's Adam has had me before, and it hasn't turned out well. So you know. Yeah, remember that bike computer? We followed your bike computer and we wound up in the middle of a cornfield where there's no roads. Yeah. You had you had it there, didn't you?

SPEAKER_04: 45:07

Yeah. You know, that's not a lie. My at that time, my wahoo was like, turn left here. And I go, Where? Where are we gonna turn left right now? This is not gonna work out well. Um, so it's not pronounced Lafayette, it's LaFette, correct?

SPEAKER_02: 45:23

Lafette. The locals say it La Fette.

SPEAKER_04: 45:26

Um I hear, I gotta tell Ron the story. Ron, when it was in Brazleton, and when I recorded the show with Franklin, I said Brazleton. And and he said, You mean Brazilton? And I'm like, Yeah, that one. Hey, uh LaFette into Somerville, into Cave Springs, spending a wonderful couple of evenings in Carleton. Is that how you pronounce that?

SPEAKER_02: 45:59

Carrollton.

SPEAKER_04: 46:00

Carrollton. Carolton. We're just paying attention, Adam. Come on. Yes, then we're heading to Trilleth, and then we're heading down into LaGrange, but passing through Sonia, and the the the big key there is you've you had that as an overnight town before, and so people will probably enjoy going through there, down through the Pine Mountain, into Columbus.

SPEAKER_02: 46:21

You got it, you got it. You got it perfect.

SPEAKER_04: 46:25

Now, uh, if I were listening to this and somebody said, Hey, you gotta listen to this, there's a couple key points. When does the price increase? I know that uh if you sign up early, you save some money. Have we missed that already?

SPEAKER_02: 46:40

Or is there 11 hours and 17 minutes if I'm looking at our time correctly?

SPEAKER_04: 46:46

Okay. So if you're hearing this on the first, don't waste any time. Just go sign up now because you're gonna get busy and your wife's gonna ask you to do the dishes or something. I mean, you was or or your husband's gonna ask you or whatever. Just go sign up now and you're gonna go to brag.org, uh big brag 2026. Very simple to sign up. Um, and then you can have all kinds of choices like bus rides. Let's talk about bus rides. Because when I first did brag the first time, I got a little bit confused on which bus to pick. And so, are you willing to talk about a little bit of logistics and and and and different options?

SPEAKER_02: 47:25

I will talk about all the logistics you want to, but I we broke down our registration to try and be as simple as possible because if you've never done a ride like this, it can be overwhelming the amount of logistics. So um we broke it down, we tried to keep it to three questions, obviously, with dependencies on what you answer. But basically, how long are you riding? Um, where are you gonna sleep, and how are you gonna get there? So those are the logistics we think about, but ask me your questions and we'll go from there.

SPEAKER_04: 47:55

So if I am a guy who's gonna fly in, I'm I'm you know, most of your uh bread and butter and family and people who we consider family live close and around and probably will pack up the family wagon and drive somewhere and park in either either the beginning or the end. But hypothetically, a guy like me flies into Atlanta, I assume, being based upon what I'm looking at. Would that be the best airport to fly into?

SPEAKER_02: 48:21

Yeah, you can do Atlanta, it's close. Um should uh Chattanooga is a little bit closer, but probably it's a regional airport, probably a little bit more expensive. So probably round trip, depending on where you're coming from. Atlanta, busiest airport in the world, is gonna be the easiest to fly into. And Ron has actually found uh some shuttle providers, uh just third party, you can call them up and arrange your own shuttle. That's right, correct, Ron, or no? Or we're working on that.

SPEAKER_03: 48:46

Well, we've got a couple of options. Yeah, one of them is you know just Uber. Um, but there is a commercial shuttle that will take you pretty much anywhere from the Atlanta airport. So if you wanted to say you you wanted to go from Atlanta um over to LaFette, you you probably have to make a couple stops and maybe call an Uber, but it is doable. And certainly if anybody's got you know concerns about that, they can always reach out to us individually and we can try to help coach them.

SPEAKER_04: 49:22

And will you have your traditional? I'm used to your traditional um parking at the beginning or park at the end and then shuttles each way. Is that still gonna be an option?

SPEAKER_02: 49:31

Absolutely. So that's when you answer how are you gonna get there, you can say you're driving on your own and then you got it on your own. Or if you're gonna do brag shuttles, we got a couple options for you. Um depending on where you're coming from, you can either choose to have your car at the end when you're done, or you can choose to drop your car off at the beginning. Um, so if you want to have your car when you're done, what you'll do is you'll sign up for our shuttle. Um that it'll be on the last day, which is June 6th, and that's gonna you'll drive down to Columbus, leave your car. Excuse me, that's the June or May 30th shuttle, excuse me. So you'll drive down to Columbus, drop your car off. We'll have a shuttle on May 30th that's gonna pick you up, take you to the start. Um, and then that's gonna take you, your bike, and your baggage. So when you get there, you'll just proceed to ride the entire week and then you'll end in Columbus and your car will be there. Or if you want, you can uh drive to the start on May 30th, leave your car there, ride all the way to the end, and then on June 6th, we've got a shuttle that will take you from there uh on June 6th back to La Fette to where your car is. So you got two options depending on kind of if you live closer to the start or you leave live closer to Columbus.

SPEAKER_04: 50:42

I have an opinion. Um, just because why wouldn't I have an opinion? If you have never done this and you're thinking about, oh yeah, I'll I'll park here or park there, Michael and I have done it multiple different ways. Throughout our history, we love having the car when we're done. You by the time you by the time you ride across the state, and I mean every night is is awesome, and you're in these wonderful communities and a lot of restaurants you've never been to, and and bellying up to a bar or or even just having a you know a coffee with somebody. By the time you're done, the last thing I want to do is take a shower, wait for the bus, then ride the bus back to my car just to begin my travels home. That's just my personal opinion. I mean, you do you, but if you're thinking about it, um that's that's what that's what uh Michael and I always stand behind. So um I think, right, sir? We do. Okay. I just agree with I agree.

SPEAKER_02: 51:36

Every other cross-state ride I've done, um, I set it up that way where I'll park my car at the end, uh, shuttle at the beginning of the ride, and then when you're done, like you said, you're done. Yeah, you know, uh your car is there, you hop in your own little micro environment in your car, you drive back to your house. Uh, it's a much more uh seamless experience. But again, you know, if you live close to the start, um also pretty tempting to just, you know, true ride there, and then when you're done, take the shuttle back and you're you're back home. So kind of um preference definitely for leaving your car at the end, but if you live close to the start, that also makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_04: 52:11

No, that's a fair point. I mean, by the last thing you want to do is jump in and drive down. But um I know at Ragbri for me, uh Michael and I would just you know put the car at the end, and then it was like like just get me in the car, get me get me 40 minutes down the road, I'll change in some rest area just to drive the rest of the way home. But I just wanted to get out of there, so um it kind of became a cluster. But obviously, you you have more of a intimate uh area where you know it's more of a every time you know you have the party, and and then you know it's kind of like one of those things like, oh man, it's already over. I can't believe it's already over. I know, you know. So um that's legitimate, by the way. If you've never heard Michael and I before and someone shared you, uh it it is this your ride, um uh and Ron, now your ride um is got to be one of the best things. I mean, in my office today, I have a map of Georgia and I have all the all the pins of the routes that I've gone. And obviously I live in Michigan and I do all kinds of Zoom meetings and Teams meeting, big deal. But everyone always says to me, Why do you have a map of Georgia behind you? And it's my way of being able to say, Well, let me tell you about it. Since you asked and you can't go anywhere and you're stuck in this meeting, let me tell you about riding my bicycle across the state. And most people go, You rode your bike across the state, and then like, yeah, you know, and then a part of me goes, I I've done it five times. So yeah, it's one of the one of the one of the one of the rides that that I recommend, not because you two gentlemen are here from Bragg, but if you've never done a state-long ride and you're looking to jump into something like this, I truly believe um my stamp of approval, this is one to jump in on. It's so well organized. Um, there are so many different sleeping options. If you choose to do hotels, you can do hotels. If you choose to do indoor camping, you can do indoor camping. If you like primitive camping, um, I don't know if this news box is filled up, but I know you have that option sometimes as well. So um there are so many different ways if you're concerned about sleeping, eating, um, you there's you won't need to worry about those things. Uh um, no bike lock. I mean, nothing like that. You can just have a good time.

SPEAKER_02: 54:29

So Ron, make sure you get this man's check in the mail tomorrow.

SPEAKER_03: 54:34

No kidding, no kidding. Um, yeah, it's uh I mean my experience with brag um has been, you know, it's true what they say, you know, what's the most common lie told during dinner after a brag ride is uh I'm only gonna have the one beer. You know, it's it's always it's always a big time of celebration. And even if you're if you're not drinking, you know, there's still plenty to celebrate and have fun. We try to provide all that. But getting there uh is important, and we try to make that easy and seamless with you know the options that make the most sense. So again, if anyone has any concerns about how that works or you've got a special situation, you know, by all means uh contact us and we'll we'll try to figure something out. We will figure something out uh to make sure that you're able to participate.

SPEAKER_04: 55:31

That's great. I I truly believe that. I mean, you know, you you you talk to some people and and they oh yeah, we'll take care of it. Yeah, sure you will. Um I I never hear from them. Yeah, exactly. I I stand behind that. I mean, even like uh something as simple as for those people who fly, like bike boxes, you know. Um you guys are great. I mean, uh, you know, get everything, get the bike box, put the which truck it's gonna be in. Uh, there's no concern, no worry. Um, there's I mean, different ways of travel. I mean, some people uh like to have their bike with them all the time. Um but one of the funniest things about your uh ride is when I saw the truck uh that loads the bike. If you take the shuttle from the end to the start and then ride back, of course you put your bike in the shuttle. And that's the only ride I've ever seen where people now we've had it, Michael, where we've had to take the pedals off in rides before, and that was kind of different. But that was a ride, your your ride. I've watched people literally take their bike out of the truck, and I'm watching bubble wrap and saran wrap, and and I'm like, wow, I thought I took care of my bike. These guys are pretty good. But uh yeah, we did one ride in Michigan and we pulled up, and my pedals don't come off very easy. And the guy goes, You got to take your pedals off. I'm like, I don't know if I can do that right now. How about telling me that before I left the house?

SPEAKER_02: 56:54

So we've done it both ways. We I used when I first started, we we would take all the pedals off and turn the handlebars, and that you can certainly fit more in there. Um, but if you pack them tight enough with the blankets and all that, you don't need to. And I've we've done so many things, and we've tried to copy Pete from Pork Belly and hang them vertical, and that worked out okay, but people didn't like it. I the best thing is just the blankets and the U-Haul side by side, you know, front to back. Um so yeah, it's uh that's always my most stressful thing is like, oh god, what happens if one of these U-Haul crashes with you know a million dollars worth of bikes in the back? So um that's always stressful for us for sure, but it always it always goes well, knock on knock on wood.

SPEAKER_04: 57:36

One side piece on the on the on that bus ride that we talked about, the infamous bus ride, is like no wait. I had an air tag on my bicycle, and everybody on the bus was like, Where are the bikes? Where are the bikes? I'm like, uh they're there right now.

SPEAKER_01: 57:52

And so it's so funny.

SPEAKER_02: 57:56

Usually I tell the guys in the U-Hauls, like, all right, if if all the bikes are loaded, y'all take off. Because you know, they're topped out, you know, 65 miles an hour on the interstate. But the guys in the coach buses, they'll do 80, 85 all the way to get there, you know. Um so always tell the them to leave sooner, but so that they normally show up sooner, and then everybody gets there. They're like, Where's my bike? Where's my bike? I'm like, it's on the way, it's on the way. You're doing 85, they're doing 65, you know, the four-hour ride, you know, give it uh give it a little bit of time, right? You're in transportation, you know. Right. That's right. Everybody always wants to know where their bike is. I'm like, it's on the way, it's on the way, it's on the way.

SPEAKER_04: 58:30

The uh CDL says that you will not do 85. I'm sure you meant they weren't doing 85.

SPEAKER_02: 58:35

Oh, yes, look at that.

SPEAKER_04: 58:37

Look at the time. So no. In Georgia, maybe you can.

SPEAKER_02: 58:41

If I'm not driving, that's not points on my license.

SPEAKER_04: 58:44

That's right. That's right. See, Michael, transportation. If if your industry doesn't work out, buddy, we'll get you a job. As long as you can figure out that yellow standy line, my friend. It's not real. Well, listen, uh, hopefully we've uh enticed you enough here to if you've on the if you're on the fence, uh, don't don't waste any time. I would definitely, definitely sign up. Um the ride is called Happy Trails. Um, you're gonna visit a lot of trails, but some road as well. Um now one of the things I remember about being on the Silver Comet Trail is in the middle of the trail there was like a restaurant. I was really surprised. So that was kind of kind of one of those memories I had. I don't know if you're gonna be on that part or not, but my friend Juan took me out uh on the Silver Comet Trail um before we were doing spring tune-up when came when we came down there. So we jumped out on the trail first. So that was really nice. So um what a beautiful country you have in Georgia, I must tell you. Once my friend gets a job, we'll figure out what we're gonna do. Otherwise, may not be any riding if you don't get a job, buddy.

SPEAKER_05: 59:57

Yeah, it might be tough. We'll see. We'll see.

SPEAKER_02: 1:00:00

Ron beat you to this, like, you know, about a month ahead of time, you know.

SPEAKER_05: 1:00:05

Dang.

SPEAKER_02: 1:00:06

I know. Timing, timing.

SPEAKER_04: 1:00:09

Oh well. Sounds like Bragg needs a business architect, whatever the heck that is. Nobody knows what it is. I'm just kidding. But uh uh what's the other word you use? Business analysis, right?

SPEAKER_05: 1:00:26

Or yeah, business analysis.

SPEAKER_04: 1:00:28

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 1:00:29

All you gotta do is throw AI in there and you'll get a job in no time.

SPEAKER_05: 1:00:32

There you go. I'm actually taking some courses in AI, so you know.

SPEAKER_02: 1:00:35

There you go. We're getting there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 1:00:38

Will you be using that for your second job? What's that? This this podcasting gig.

SPEAKER_05: 1:00:45

Oh well, when the the second job starts making money, I mean, you know, maybe.

SPEAKER_04: 1:00:51

Well, listen, I I told him the other day, he said, uh, I said, uh, because we're for our for our Disney adult trip, we're going golfing. And I said, you're gonna go take some lessons? Exactly, exactly. And he said, Oh yeah, how's that gonna go over? Sorry, kids, you can't eat because dad's got to take golf lessons. And I said, Hey, hey, hey, dude, this podcast is making a little bit of money. And and Michael wrote back, he said, Oh yeah, like 40 bucks a month. And I go, Don't forget, 50% of that is mine.

SPEAKER_02: 1:01:30

There you go. Hey, well, can we shout out to our monthly subscribers?

SPEAKER_04: 1:01:34

Absolutely, absolutely. Listen, uh, I always uh appreciate uh the monthly subscribers because um without our our good friends, all all kidding aside, um, we've got Gary Vaughn, we have Kip Uthold, Ryan Roenick, Joe Grammer, Dennis Keeler, we do also have Scott Garwick, and ladies and gentlemen, our good friend Alex Bell. All those guys, Michael, what do they do? Well, they all contribute and make the show a success. Right, but normally you have something funny to say, like they are collegiate ice.

SPEAKER_05: 1:02:12

I didn't have to I didn't have time to think of anything. You just kind of threw it on me. I gotta have at least, like, you know, they're paying for golf seconds to tell what they're doing.

SPEAKER_04: 1:02:19

Clever. And and I didn't even get a chance to tell Michael, but Gary Yvonne is our newest uh wonderful, great, great friend, uh St. Simon Island, uh wonderful Georgian. So uh Gary, thank you, buddy. Uh uh from the bottom of my heart, I appreciate you jumping on board. So uh to all the monthly subscribers helping us keeping the keeping the show rolling.

SPEAKER_02: 1:02:43

So and shout out to Ryan. Ryan uh it booked when we first brought the snooze box to Bragg, he booked it the first year. And has booked it every year since. So shout out to Ryan for sure. That's awesome. Scott's a sleeping man of leisure. That's right. He is for sure. Although he's pretty intense. He he trains. He's out there to like he's out there to hustle for sure. But then Scott Garwick uh helped me figure out the he's a commer or was a commercial electrician, and he helped me figure out all the uh wiring on the snooze box. So shout out to him as well.

SPEAKER_04: 1:03:18

Wow.

SPEAKER_02: 1:03:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 1:03:20

You know, I spent one entire brag trying to help you, Franklin. And I kept thinking of myself, like in the in the tune of snooze box or you know, squeeze box. Bomb about my mom has got a squeeze box, and that's all right. And I kept thinking, I kept telling Michael, Franklin's got a snooze box, and I couldn't come up with it. So I think you should use AI, Michael, since you're taking it in class and you make that your project. How Bragg or Franklin or Ron's got a snooze box and use AI to create some.

SPEAKER_05: 1:03:48

Bragg has got a snooze box.

SPEAKER_04: 1:03:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 1:03:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_04: 1:03:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 1:03:52

Yeah, we can come up with something.

SPEAKER_02: 1:03:55

And any of you other ride directors listening, if you want snooze box at your event, let me know. We can bring it there.

SPEAKER_04: 1:04:02

I love it. Love it. We have been lucky enough a couple times uh to to enjoy a couple of evenings in the snooze box so that we we feel pretty blessed. Uh one one night we had set up our camp, and Michael just set up the tent, and Michael said, Uh, you know, we've been offered the snooze box. I'm like, Yeah, but I'm already down here, and he's like, But it's the snooze box, and I'm like, Yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_05: 1:04:27

So I don't think you're understanding this. It's the snooze box. Come on.

SPEAKER_04: 1:04:34

And actually, all kidding aside, Michael, tell them if I'm lying. That night it rained and it rained and it poured. Poured rain in the middle of the night. Michael goes, just the just the then that little friendship, like little vein flicking. He goes, So you uh wish you were still in that tent. I'm like, oh man. That's funny. Uh but that's that actually 1,000% true. So I believe that's the night you put the cycling man of leisure sticker on the Bragg flagpole. It is. It is.

SPEAKER_05: 1:05:10

We branded the flagpole.

SPEAKER_04: 1:05:12

That's right. That's right. Well, listen, you got a great, great, great route, Ron. I I think that your uh inaugural ride directorship uh route is is sounds amazing. Um uh wish I could do it. I can't figure out what I'm gonna do because somebody's over there needs a JOB.

SPEAKER_05: 1:05:37

Not even responding.

SPEAKER_04: 1:05:38

That's all right. You just responded, though. I appreciate that. Thank you. Um well jump on board if you're looking for a ride. You know you are, otherwise, you wouldn't have made it this long into the show. So uh uh if you haven't signed up yet, now's your chance, and uh you can figure out everything out at brag.org org b-r-a-g.org. So um, and you know what's gonna happen May 31st?

SPEAKER_02: 1:06:08

What's that?

SPEAKER_04: 1:06:09

It'll be a great day for a bike ride. Give us a random date. You don't know what May you're you're recording the show and you don't know what May 31st is?

SPEAKER_02: 1:06:20

Well, I know what it is, but usually it's do you know what today is? Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04: 1:06:24

I can either one word thank you. Franklin gets it. Yeah, we'll let Ron do it. All right, hold on one second. Welcome to Road Adventures. Oh no, to Road Adventures of Cycling Welcome. Oh, come on, stop to Road Adventures. Oh, I can't stop it. Cycling men of leisure. I'll have to cut it off. We'll let buttons. Oh gosh, where's my sensor button? Um, all right, we'll let Ron do it. You're right. I like it because it'll it's this is this is the 2026 is your year, my friend. Um hey Ron, you know what day it is? I do. It's a great day for a bike ride. I love it. Thank you so much. Perfect.

SPEAKER_00: 1:07:04

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.