Welcome Back And Tour Updates

SPEAKER_00 1:01

There's a kind of adventure you only find when you're not in a hurry. This is Road Adventures of Cycling Men of Leisure. Stories from the open road where routes are questionable. The stops are intentional, and leisure isn't a reward. It's the plan. If you're looking for speed, well, you're lost. But if you're looking for laid-back adventure, good stories, and even better company, welcome home.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Welcome back to Road Adventures of Cycling Men of Leisure. As usual, I am Adam. I am lucky enough to be joined with my good friend all the way from Central Time, Kansas, Mr. Michael Sharp. Thank you, sir.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

Happy to be here. It's uh we we we've uh we've been a little busy the last couple weeks.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Yeah, yeah, yes. This is uh if you're not into the Tour de France, you have not heard from us. But if you are, you're sick of us.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

You've heard us every day for the last what 19 days. So for anybody who doesn't know or hasn't been following or whatever, uh, we have done a mini podcast series called uh the leisure breakaway, which is we follow and give kind of updates every day, every stage of the Tour de France. Um, we've still got three days left, I believe. And we've been doing that every single day. And uh it's been an experience. And so if if you're interested and haven't checked that out, certainly go and check it out. There's a whole mess of them out there. But um that has created a little bit of uh uh logistics, I

Now On YouTube Apple Spotify

SPEAKER_02 2:41

would say, uh as far as trying to get those done every single day, which we've managed to do, and then do our regular show. So we might be a week late on this one, but um, don't worry. Uh we'll we're getting this out.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

So hey, we've got a we've got a lot of exciting stuff. I mean, this is going to be a jam-packed show. So um, if you haven't heard, you can now watch us at three platforms. So if you are paying attention to the tour, you know that I've mentioned a few times that we are now on Spotify video. We originally started out on YouTube video. Actually, correction. We never turned, we never thought about turning this into a video show whatsoever. Um, but you know, as people like to scroll or or, you know, uh what do they call it, doom scrolling forever. But uh people like to scroll, um, people like to watch, people like to see facial expressions, or us making fun of each other, or that I can't pronounce 50% of French words or 95% of anything. Um but um if you if you'd like to watch us, we originally started out on YouTube just to answer the the void of those who may want to watch. Um throughout the process, we were selected on Apple Podcast. It was our platform uh offered us based upon hitting some certain numbers that that you and I never even expected to reach out to, but that but did come. And so we decided to get on Apple Podcast um because the offered video and audio. Um from a from a production standpoint, it was nice for us because we only had to upload one place, and so it it it allowed us to have video in multiple places. Well, there's a lot of people that we're very aware that are not Apple fans. We understand that. I mean, some people like their Android, some people like different platforms, but Spotify seems to be another in the realm of YouTube, and Spotify, based upon some numbers that we reached, also invited us to be on their video platform. So if you like video and you like to watch us, you have three options currently. You have YouTube, you have Apple Podcasts, and now you have Spotify. So I'm proud to tell you that. So that's something that um has come up. Now, what Michael

New Website For The Community

SPEAKER_01 4:56

and I have definitely come to realize is lots of different branches of how to follow us. I mean, and we know you all are following us, and we know the community is paying attention. So we have spent uh a lot of time, um, a little bit of money. Uh, everything takes a little bit of money. We are proud to tell you that we are in works, uh, very close works of releasing a brand new web page. Why is that important? The webpage is gonna have listener spotlight awesome page, all the towns that have been guests, winners, um, clues. If you if you haven't heard this like episode, um, you can you'll be able to go to the spotlight page and you'll be able to be like, all right, what was the clues? And we will not give it away on the webpage until the next episode comes out. And so that way, at all times, if you're like, man, what were those guys' clues? And you want to look at the clues, you can see that. We have a new blog page where it's every episode we've ever done. You want to go back and see how what clowns we sounded like in the first couple episodes? Easy. Go to go to season one, you go over there, you you can see them. Has that stopped? No, we still sound like clowns. No, we just paid more money to sound like clowns. That's all. Uh, you'll be able to go see where we put our money in and say, Well, do the boys sound any different? Because they both are broke, but uh, I'm just kidding. Um you upgraded, I think, two seasons ago to a nice, beautiful microphone. I I, you know, and we're we keep trying new things, our platform keeps coming up with new things, and we're testing some of it, some of it we love, some of it we don't love. And so we're true to our roots, we will we wanted to always do it our way. So the web page is also gonna have uh uh stores and and and all kinds of good stuff, all essentially located, which a webpage should be, don't get me wrong. We admit that our webpage was eh, we give it a C minus. Um, we just tried and we tried to maintain it. So but that's generous.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

C minus is generous. Um, yeah, we we failed on the website up till now, but that is being remedied through the hard work of mostly Adam. I'm not gonna take a lot of credit for it, but that's okay. I kind of have a uh content advisor on the on the website. How about that?

SPEAKER_01 7:15

That's right. You know what? Oh, I should give you credit on the back page. Content advisor, Michael Sharp. Uh, but uh no, it's um it's it's pretty cool and and we're able to do a lot. We're able to do more, and so we're we're pretty excited about that. So it's gonna be a when I say a centrally located place, um, yeah, you can follow us at your local podcast place, you can follow us on other places. But um, if you would like to get more of the more of the content, one price, no, one one price, one place to to see everything, it's gonna be. I'm I'm pretty excited about it. I know that you you and I both know what it is, but it's very clearly marked where if you want to watch or listen or whatever you want to do, uh the Strava Club is gonna be there. If you don't know, Cycling Men of Leisure has a Strava Club, doesn't cost anything, totally free. Uh, but it's all the like-minded people of our community. Uh, there's an easy place on the webpage for that. So um we're looking at maybe maybe a couple weeks. We'll have that, uh, depending when you hear this, of course. But uh a couple weeks from July 23rd, I hope to have it live um in action, and and we're we're close. So um anything to add to that?

SPEAKER_02 8:29

No, it's gonna be great. It's gonna be a a way, uh a tool, really, um, for the community to really gather around, come together, for us to communicate in another way, other than us sitting here talking, um, for us to provide pictures and things like that. And on there, there's gonna be a page on how you can get involved as far as interacting with us, um, you know, be it uh through our voice uh recording thing that we have or sending us an email, things like that. So it's gonna be a central location for the community. So uh it'll be exciting. It's um I'm can't wait till we get that finished up.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

If anyone is a techie and they really like technology, uh, we are actually gonna be using Cloudflare, which is the one of the fastest delivery systems as well. So we also know on our webpage, you know, we were using a previous provider, and things would be a little bit slower to load sometimes, almost like the old days when you had AOL and you'd be like, oh, let me look at a picture of that race car, and it would go line by line by line. We've actually been places where we're trying to do research for our own podcast, and we're like, oh, it's on the webpage. And we click on it, it takes forever to load. So um we're it's it's it's really snappy, so we're pretty excited about that. So uh, anyways, enough about that. It's just a web page. We know there are thousands, um, but uh millions probably. But um just wanted to talk about that. I before we jump into everyone's favorite segment, listener spotlight, uh, I have to mention Dennis Keeler. Dennis Keeler has given us uh an email here, and he says, Hey guys, haven't been able to send any input to you guys, not good with technology. I'm not making fun of you, um, but anyone, anyways, just wanted to say hi, and I'm really enjoying the extra podcast with the tour. Nice work, guys. Yes, as Michael mentioned, we are doing it every day. I remember us sitting during production saying, Hey, let's do a marathon of episodes, and I remember thinking, no big deal, we'll jump on for a few minutes a night, won't be that big of a deal. Well, we've gone through storms, power outages, travel, and trips, but by gosh, baby, we've we've we've kept it together. So I'm I'm pretty excited about that.

SPEAKER_02 10:50

So I've I've sat out of the corner, a public corner in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and recorded a couple episodes because that's the only place I can get internet service. But uh we're we're making do. It's been a lot of fun and it's been a great learning experience.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

So well, as uh people have requested, we have a

Listener Spotlight Lewis Delaware

SPEAKER_01 11:10

we have a tune, and uh as opposed to me giving you the old tune of my voice of listeners, well, Lord. Let me give you the tune now, sir.

SPEAKER_03 11:30

It's your moment now. Listeners take it.

SPEAKER_02 11:42

I love that. Great introduction. All right, I will give you the clues and then we can go from there. The clues that I provided on our last episode were as follows. It is truly a community of firsts. The town, the town changed names and hands several times. This town has become this town, excuse me, has a house named for a piece of ordinance. It is truly the home of leaders, and it is named for a town in Europe, and maybe the next time you visit this town, you might want to look up to the sky for financial reward. Any guesses?

SPEAKER_01 12:30

Um we didn't get any of the community members, but I didn't actually expect it because they probably think we've just been going yammering on about a little race over in France. So um but I am thinking it's it's not it's not St.

SPEAKER_02 13:02

Louis.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Callus, Maine. Callus, Maine? Yep, yeah. Is there such a place? Or did you just make that up? Uh I actually cheated and and it says that uh there's a meteorite fireball is observed in the sky, and uh a museum offered $25,000 for it.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

So uh okay. Well um that it is not Callos, Maine, uh, but I guess I'll accept that uh meteor falling from the sky as some kind of financial reward. No, our listener spotlight city is Lewis, Delaware.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Lewis, Delaware. Okay, now I am intrigued. Tell us about Lewis, Delaware.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

Lewis, Delaware. It is truly a community of first. It is the first settlement in what they consider the first state. Um, so it's the first European settlement in Delaware. Delaware is considered the first state because they signed the declaration. They're the their state representatives signed the declaration of independence first. So they've got that designation. The town changed names and hands several times. It had the native uh Delaware people. Uh, the Dutch controlled it, the English controlled it. Um it was named uh Swan Valley before uh Lewis, so uh a lot of changes there. The town has a house named for a piece of ordinance that is the Cannonball House, which now houses the Maritime Museum. Uh War of 1812, the British Royal Navy came in and bombarded the city, and a cannonball got lodged in this house, and it is now the cannonball house. It is truly the home of leaders. Six different men who have served as the governor of Delaware are from this community. It is named for a town in Europe, and that is Lewis, England. And here's the one I know you're waiting for. Maybe the next time you visit the town, you might want to look to the sky for financial reward.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

I'm excited. I I actually am I'm intrigued.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

2013, a helicopter dumped $10,000 in multiple dollar denominations over Lewis Harbor, and this was to fulfill a local deceased resident's last request. So his request is take $1, $5, $10, $20 bills worth of worth $10,000 and just dump them over the bay. And so that's what they did. Well, so you can imagine everybody's out there in their fishing boats and their shrimp boats and their luxury yachts or whatever with big nets trying to scoop all this money up. It had to, I should look up some pictures because it had to be quite the site.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

And and and were people in the harbor collecting the money? Uh I'm I'm assuming.

SPEAKER_02 16:19

I mean, I don't think it would have been a secret. Uh and I'm assuming as soon as, if there wasn't, as soon as people saw dollar bills falling out of the sky, they hopped in their boats to try to get as much of it as they could. So um just, you know, some crazy things happening there in Delaware back in 2013.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

I love it. I love it. Lewis, Delaware. Thank you, all listeners. Thank you to the community, but uh this time especially Lewis, Delaware. Now, with the webpage, uh, it'll automatically update uh the way that I've got all the APIs set up, and those that will then fill in on the webpage. At the end of this episode, I assume you'll have another one for us. I will. And the API will also update on the webpage for the clues. So um, you know, don't scroll down too far if you don't want to know the answer, uh, but you'll be able to see the clues and of course the one before. So that's going to be pretty exciting. So thank you, everyone from Lewis, Delaware. Um, too bad I wasn't in the harbor like 13 years ago.

SPEAKER_02 17:23

Yeah, it would have been nice to just been like, oh, we're, you know, out on the harbor going to take a cruise, and all of a sudden this helicopter just starts raining

RAGBRAI 53 Miles Heat Hills

SPEAKER_02 17:31

uh money from the sky.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

Can I uh talk about a little bicycle ride, one of the longest, oldest bicycle rides in the world? Two different tour de front. Well, yeah, we got a mini-series, just kidding. But um, I'm gonna talk about Ragbri 53. Going on right as we speak. That's right. Ragbri 53. Uh, currently they've completed 315.5 miles through day five. Um, they have 391.4 miles total to ride. Um, the advertised ride of climbing is going to be 16,027 feet. Give or take that extra hill to get to your charter, as you and I found out the hard way. There's always a hill to get to the charter. That's right. It's like only one more mile. Where is it? Keep going. It's up that hill. But you know the difference of Rag Bri now, sir. There's no signs, they're not allowed to put signs, you know.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

Like we used to find like you know, uh OOS or yeah, like the charters can't put signs out to yeah, BBC today in the BBC.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

So uh makes it fun. Yeah, not. I mean, I love the signs. It kind of is like, oh, look, there's a sign. Where is it? The turn there, turn it kind of like you know, hunting Easter eggs.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

It's like, oh, there's a next sign. Yeah, maybe something there at the end uh to kind of turn it into a game. Well, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

I mean, that kind of was fun, except for you and I kept having to keep going because I don't know where it's a good one.

SPEAKER_02 19:11

Except the next morning, sometimes it worked out really well because we were already a mile into the next day's ride.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

That's true. And and and I want to be honest, there were pros and cons to that. Because sometimes the pro was we were already down the road.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

The con was there was no route, no gas stations, no Casey's past the edge of town, so there was no convenience sort of stop and and grab that donut.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

So ragbrize in a day five, at day seven, uh crossing Iowa, riders completing Thursdays, Marshalltown to Independence leg have covered that distance, 315, as I mentioned, using the published stage distances. Only 76 miles to reach Dubuque. Uh, this is the shortest Ragbri route in record, but it's still ranked as the 10th hilliest. I wanted to break down some of the weather on Sunday, uh, as we mentioned on the mini podcast, but but if you haven't been listening to that, uh Sunday, big hot day, 91 degrees on Monday, 96 degrees, the hottest days, and extreme climbing on Monday. They went from Harlan to Guthrie Center. Um and then the next day on July 21st, major temperature improvement. It dropped to 83 and 60 degrees at night. That's pretty cool. I mean, that's if you're camping, that would be good weather to game. On Wednesday, they went from Boone to Marshalltown, 62 miles, um, and relative comfort, comfortable 59 degrees at night, 81 during the day, not too bad. And today they did something really cool. They went from Marshalltown to Independence. Um, today was the sentry option. It was for everybody, it was 81.4 miles. They had the Karas Loop, which was 100 miles, but then they had the double loop, and there was a challenge coin. And Wade Paul, our good friend. Um, if you've been listening to the mini-series, you know he's added a lot. Thank you so much for what you've added. But today, he sent us a picture of his challenge coin, 200 miles. Uh, impressive. I mean, that was impressive. I mean, it was a beautiful challenge coin, uh, really nice token piece to take home. Um, so Wade did 200 miles today. Tomorrow he's gonna do 42 miles. That's like a drop in the bucket. So um it's the shortest recovery stage going from Independence to Dyersville. Um, and then the last day, Saturday the 25th, Dyersville to Dubuque, only 33.7 miles. It's short and but a very hilly final.

SPEAKER_02 21:45

So um uh yeah, Dubuque sits right on the river, and there is some good-sized bluffs there. Uh, you know what's in die uh Dryersville, don't you? Is that the baseball field? Field of dreams. That's right. I've been through there twice on rides, so yeah, it's a good time.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

The I have some notable stories from Ragbry 53.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

Oh, good.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

All right, what do you got? Oxygen girl. Now, two, three years ago, we actually saw some pictures. I don't ever remember riding near or around her in our time, but I definitely saw some pictures because she would ride with um oxygen tanks. Um, and so it says Barbara oxygen girl Heenan returned to Ragby after recovering or receiving a lung transplant. She previously rode while carrying oxygen tanks. She had to miss the 2025 ride due to recovery, but on 26, she's back on the route. And ladies and gentlemen, without oxygen tanks. Which is just amazing. Awesome. Awesome. Geographical Center of Iowa. On Wednesday, the route passed near Iowa's geographical balance point. Organizers and local landowners planned to recreate a photograph taken there in 1979 and provide a sign where writers could mark the unusual midpoint visit. Shortest does not mean the easiest. It represents the landmark riders search for on the horizon as they approach each town. You and I, sir, since there was nothing else to do out there, we actually counted water towers one time. So uh the theme also recognizes Iowa's 180th anniversary and the United States' 250th anniversary. And lastly, the Eastern Iowa finish Friday brings a shorter stage in a Dyersville and the Field of Dreams area. Saturday's final continues to debut, where writers traditionally celebrate by dipping their front tires into the Mississippi River. So um very cool. I'm really happy. I know Keith and Melanie. Um, if you listen look at our Strava page, you can see that Andrew Thrill. Uh, we've got uh your friend Mark. Uh I call him Matt. Uh he's out uh there. We we've got Melanie and Keith out there. So a lot of good people out in Ragbri. We hope that you finish strong and safe and get back to your families.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

So um and I I had one more thing to add, another little

Vow Renewals And Ordained Secrets

SPEAKER_02 24:35

ragbri tidbit, which I thought was very interesting. Uh Wednesday, which would be yesterday, uh in the meeting town of Nevada, there's a bridal shop there called Something Blue. They put on a Las Vegas style wedding chapel for any riders wanting to renew their vows. How cool is that?

SPEAKER_01 25:01

I think that's actually pretty cool. You don't know this, but here in Michigan, there is a really weird coffee shop that allows free weddings and wedding renewals on Valentine's Day. And so if you and your wife ever are here on February 14th, come on down, you can get your I know you won't drink coffee, but you'll be able to go in there and and get your wedding hours reviewed and buy an Elvis impersonator. Seriously, yes, sir.

SPEAKER_02 25:31

Well, here's another little thing you don't know. I am actually an ordained minister.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

You paid the $10?

SPEAKER_02 25:38

I paid the $10.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

Oh, wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait, wait, ladies and gentlemen, you have no I've been friends with this man for 10 years. I have celebrated mile after mile, I have celebrated bourbons, I've celebrated podcasting trips, golfing trips, and in this week alone, I've learned that he used to sell windows. Yeah. And he's an ordained minister.

SPEAKER_02 26:14

That's right. So I got that going for me, you know. But maybe one of these days when we're on a ride or something, someone will need a minister to to officially officiate at a wedding on a bike ride. And then I could step in legally in most states and uh and marry them. How cool would that be? A cycling man slash cycling woman of leisure wedding.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

So I told you that I went to two weddings this year. Both of them happened to be on Sunday. One, I love teasing my coworker, who I absolutely adore, but her son decided to get married on Sunday Memorial Day, which I think he needs to be taken behind the shed for that. Um but I do like the kid and really wish him and his wife well. And I love my coworker, but I mean, Sunday Memorial Day, come on. But the other wedding I went to was my family in Ohio. And I'll leave all Ohio jokes to the side because the funny part is my cousin um is a celebrated uh doctor, he's an OBGYN um and a great guy, and he was the officiant of the wedding. And he did a phenomenal job. Of course, it was his brother getting married, and so we had a lot of personal stories about his brother and and all kinds of challenges they grew up together. And Lauren and I had to leave early because uh it was Sunday and I had to work on Monday, and I've been working on the budget, as you know. And I went up to him and I said, Jake, it's great to see you. Um listen, if this doctor thing doesn't work out for you now that you're an ordained minister, I'm sure that'll work out for you. And he said, Yeah, I just had to pay ten dollars. I said, You know what I'm thinking? And he said, What's that? And I go, I'm thinking you advertise your services to just one person for $11. And you make your money. There you go. Money back and you're a dollar ahead, and life goes on. He said, Thanks, Adam. I love your your entrepreneurial spirit of all time.

SPEAKER_02 28:18

So well, I'm thinking one of these days on a bike ride, someone will be like, Oh, we should get married, and I can just step in and say, Well, let's let's do it. You pick your you pick your town and we will just marry you and do it right there. So I love it. So if you ever you know need a need a uh a wedding uh person, I can uh I can jump in there and take care of that for you.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

You know, if I still had my photography business, we could have banded together.

SPEAKER_02 28:48

Oh one stop shop. Anyway, you could start baking cakes too, and we could just do the whole nine yards. Yeah, yeah, maybe not, maybe not.

SPEAKER_01 29:01

You know, I wouldn't mind baking my own cake, but I don't think I'd be a very good uh baker. So I I seem to when I love to cook. By the way, if no one and none of our community doesn't know this, I actually highly enjoy I almost cook every night, but man, can I make a mess? I bet I use every dish in there, every every utensil. I feel like like when I like a kid, like did you have to use every pair of shorts you have? I mean, when I'm done, I look around going, man. So that's my my self-improvement is to see if I could do it with less dishes.

SPEAKER_02 29:36

But I can just I can just see you baking cakes for a wedding. Uh excuse me, Adam. This does not look anything like the pictures on your website.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

That's why we got a new website.

Michael’s Job News And BRAG

SPEAKER_01 29:50

Um, all right, let me see here. Let me check my notes. We've got oh, Mr. Franklin Johnson got a hold of us today. Awesome. You want to know why you got a hold of us? I would would love to know how uh why you got a hold of us. He wanted to ask about your new news. Now, if you're listening to the mini pod series, you already know this. But if you don't know, Mr. Sharp, give us an update. What what might be something new in your life? Uh I'm actually gonna go back to work.

SPEAKER_02 30:19

Got a job. Oh, sorry. So yeah, finally, uh found somebody to uh to offer me a job. So that's good. Well, offer me a job for what I feel my services are worth, let's put it that way.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

A buck 380. I love it. Good job. Um I'm only getting a buck 75, but that's okay. Okay. Well, listen, I mean it is central time. You're a little, you're about an hour behind. So that's right. Uh all kidding aside, the question on the table is does this mean we'll be able to go cycling again? I felt as the correct answer to Mr. Franklin was it's like a pool. You can't jump in the deep end. You probably have to test the waters first.

SPEAKER_02 31:09

So it is like a pool. I gotta, you know, gotta see how it goes. It's it's a contracting job, so you know, I'm not I don't get vacation, so to speak, at least not paid vacation. Um, but we'll see, you know, I hope to, you know, next year get get back into writing and that kind of stuff, but kind of need to see how this uh how this gig works out. So we'll know.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

Well, we'll we we've got a lot of cool stuff on the show, so I'm sure you're you're excited to get back on the road. Um but uh yes, thank you, Mr. Johnson, for reaching out. Uh his European trips are going well. Um, and so that's also uh we what we were discussing. So it was wonderful to hear from him. Stephanie and Ron and the team are out at at Ragbri. And I'd be remiss if I didn't say that Bragg is out there representing it uh in Rag Bri as well.

SPEAKER_02 32:02

So um Yeah, so stop by the big red, they got the big red tent that says Bragg. You know, if you haven't done Bragg, if you have done Brag, stop by and say hi. Uh, if you haven't done Bragg, stop by and talk to one of them, uh, and they'll give you the full scoop about big brag, or they do a spring tune-up. Um, or if you want to go to Europe and ride your bicycles, they're doing that too. So stop by their big red tent and uh chat with them a little bit. Say hi. They'll be glad to to meet you and and talk about all things brag.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

Love it, love it. Bragg.org. B-R-A-G dot or g. Um, all right. So um, why don't we talk about? I've got a couple of stories here. I got some funny stories. Um

Fan Mail And How To Join In

SPEAKER_01 32:56

I also want to talk about fan mail before we get to the funny stories. We have fan mail on our webpage. Fan mail uh also in every podcast episode. It's right at the top of the show description, no matter where you enjoy your podcast. If you do not uh want to have your voice on the show, no biggie, but if you do, we'd love to hear from you. Um if you don't, you can actually type in your response um and say, hey guys, I appreciate this, or like Dennis did, he he typed it in. So thank you, Dennis. Um, if you would like to say something and be on the show, we'd we'd love to we'd love to showcase you. So fan mail, it's uh every episode. Also, when we get the new webpage out, there'll be a dedicated link right there. You have a 60-second track, you can say, like, hey, uh, this is one F Soto, and I missed you guys. Actually, he did reach out to us recently. That's why I used him. So but um uh or Amir, our good friend Amir. Hey, this is Amir. You know, he always loves to say good morning no matter what time of the day it is. So we always appreciate that text as well. So um, but you'll be able

Wild Cycling Stories Rules And Gear

SPEAKER_01 34:02

to go to fan mail, you can do that. I just wanted to make sure I mentioned that. Um I have some funny and unusual cycling stories. I've got the banana that ended the ultra race. There was a writer that was leading a 1400 kilometer unsupported trans balcon race or one uh balcon race when organizers reporters followed him and photographed a meeting with a support van. He accepted a Coca-Cola and a banana from his partner, violating the self-sufficient rules that was disqualified approximately 79 kilometers into the finish. So the most expensive banana in cycling history, right there, buddy.

SPEAKER_02 34:45

Don't take a banana from anyone. That's just my general rule.

SPEAKER_01 34:50

Uh, in the line of uh disqualifications, you and I both talked about this, not on the show per se, but during show prep, uh disqualified for wearing camera glasses like Meta A glass, Meta AI glasses, or Oakley uh, or now Meta has their own brand. Um uh Willie Smith uh was removed from a race in China after wearing glasses capable of recording video. He said he did not realize a recently introduced rule prohibited them. Cycle is cycling wants increasingly immersive footage, uh, but apparently not when a writer supplies his own camera. So uh now I actually own a pair of these meta AI glasses. I I do enjoy them, and actually I like because you know I have some hearing issues, what they actually have amplification, and so like even if I'm looking at you, it does increase it. But yes, to be honest, there is a camera in the left-hand corner. Now, um, interesting story in New York, New York has just banned them uh in certain public places um because people have figured out now on mine on the right hand side, if it's taking a picture or recording, there is a white LED light that flashes as you record, or if you take a picture, it flashes once. But just like anything, people have used black duct tape, magnets, or whatever, or they figured out actually software ways to hack into them and and to um dismantle, if you will, or just just uh turn off the flashing LED light. And so, of course, people don't realize that they're being videotaped. Um so I could see why uh people probably don't want them.

SPEAKER_02 36:31

They're very they can be very intrusive, but um uh yeah, I think actually, I think it's uh there's a UCI rule for professional cyclists that um the only kind of like recording devices that you can have have to be attached to your bicycle, if I remember correctly. So yeah. So you couldn't wear like that, you couldn't wear like a uh some kind of uh activity camera strapped to your chest or anything like that.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

No, um yeah, like uh GoPro or or exactly action cameras or whatever. The new uh DJI Osmos are getting a lot of people in trouble as well. Have you seen the? I'm sure you have. You've seen this little thing and it has like a little uh gyroscope at the top, but it's no bigger than like a uh like three nickels together. So um the actual banana bicycle. The Rally Banana professional team once raced a time trial bicycle with a dramatically curved banana-shaped top tube built in 1988. The surviving machine resembles something created by a cartoonist asked to design an aerodynamic racing bicycle. So there you go. You can have a banana bike. So what what's with bananas?

SPEAKER_02 37:52

We got a lot of banana things here, but I will say I did grow up in a time when banana seats were huge. Remember that on the old bicycles? Did you ever have a banana seat?

SPEAKER_01 38:04

I did. My first bicycle, my father actually uh he worked for Midway Airlines back when they had the old paint scheme of blue with red and yellow and orange, and he uh designed, I mean, you know, re redid the whole bike and uh used that. And that bicycle had a banana seat, yes, sir.

unknown 38:25

Cool, cool.

SPEAKER_01 38:26

So um we have the writer who cannot stop getting disqualified. So Jan uh William Van Schlipp uh accumulated several unusual technical disqualifications. One's um concerned a forward-bending seat post, another involved clothing after a cycling authorities prohibited internal jersey pockets that could be stuffed to create an aerodynamic chest shape. And so I thought it was kind of funny that uh Jan just cannot stop getting disqualified. So you know Jan, always trying to get around the rules. Cycling 5,000 kilometers to watch the game at a bar. It's a bit excessive, but okay. Joe Dick rode from Mexico City to the New Yorker area between the opening and the final uh whistles of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. He reached his destination, but England had already been eliminated. He and his father also tackled or lacked tickets to the final, uh, so they planned to watch it in a bar. The journey raised money uh for suicide prevention, giving it a comic ending and a meaningful sender. So uh you got to watch that game, you know, after all, and did some good doing it.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

I was gonna say, if it was just for the the pure, you know, it raised money, so that's a good thing. But if it was for, you know, oh I just did it, it's like, dude, it's called Avis or Enterprise Rent A Car. Just do that.

SPEAKER_01 40:03

The roadside sugar cane salesman. During a long distance ride through Africa, a cycle stopped in rural Zimbabwe, uh, and jokingly helped to sell sugarcane from his bicycle. Uh, his laughing exchange with a local vendor became a cheerful, viral moment. And so those are some funny, unusual stories, but where exactly is Zimbabwe?

SPEAKER_02 40:30

Zimbabwe. Oh, Zimbabwe, okay. That I mean you said Zimbabwe. I was like, I'm not familiar with that country. It's right next to Zimbabwe. Well, you know, they do change names frequently over there on the African continent. Uh now you got we do have some listeners from Zimbabwe, by the way. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 40:53

Uh let's see here. I I do have a sad story about uh Fushimi. He was a silver medalist from Japan. He was in a Karen race, uh, and unfortunately uh he perished. So I I'm uh sorry to sorry to say that uh he was at least died. What do you like doing? 50 years old?

SPEAKER_02 41:18

Gold medalist in the Athens Olympics. Silver, silver, okay, in the Athens Olympics, yeah. And the Karen race is where they have like a vehicle that you like draft behind and for a while and then you you get up to speed or whatever behind the vehicle and then you take off, something like that.

SPEAKER_01 41:38

Yes, that's absolutely correct. He was in a Kuran race in Japan on July 18th. He won Olympic silver silver for the team uh in 2004 Athens Games and was required as one of Japan's leading racers.

SPEAKER_02 41:55

All right. Sorry to hear that. Do you have anything to bring this show up now, now that you've depressed us? Any more stories about bananas?

SPEAKER_01 42:07

Let me see here. Bananas. Uh uh. No, no, no. I've got uh the man, this oxygen girl made the news like three times. Good for her. I'm happy.

SPEAKER_02 42:20

I mean, that's a big deal. I mean, that is like really perseverance at its finest. So congratulations to her. But let me just give you a little hint. Next time, when we have a story about death, can we mix that in with like the other stories so we don't end with death? I mean, we all end with death, but I mean on the show. Sure, sure, sure. I mean, you know.

SPEAKER_01 42:42

Well, I should have started with this story, then, I mean, or or or some other stories, but um, here we go. How about this one? Winning a 330 kilometer Icelandic gravel race with a damaged saddle. Maddie Nutt won the abyss at Iceland's Rift Gravel Race after coping with a rocking saddle for almost 240 kilometers. The midnight start course uh crossed volcanic plains, exposed ridgelines, rivers, and slopes. But she completed the 330 kilometer event in 17 hours, eight minutes, despite repeatedly considering quitting due to her saddle. But she persevered. There you go. There is a ending good story, sir.

SPEAKER_02 43:31

All right, and you said she did 330 kilometers?

SPEAKER_01 43:34

330 kilometers.

SPEAKER_02 43:38

That's like 205 miles with a busted saddle.

SPEAKER_01 43:43

It's almost like riding across the state of Michigan with no shoes. Oh, well, who hasn't done that?

SPEAKER_02 43:51

Come on. I've done that. Yeah. Hey, I was just, you know, the good news is the shoes were safe and sound in my vehicle in our buddy Joe's, or maybe it was in front of your house. No, it was our buddy Joe's house. So it was all good. I remember I didn't need those cycling shoes.

SPEAKER_01 44:13

No, but I remember telling the story when we got back, and and my boss, you know, I I like him, and he's a great guy. And um he said, Well, how did it go? And I I said, Yeah, we all, you know, we were all finished, nobody got hurt, and um, or at least not in our group. I I'm we did have our our friends who did not get to finish due to some medical injuries, but uh he was okay afterwards, thankfully. But you and I and Joe uh and Jacob, uh we got back and we were our group was safe. And I remember telling him that. And he said, Well, whether you always uh mention, you know, mechanicals are flat. And I said, no, believe it or not, we crossed the entire state without mechanicals and flats. And he said, So no stories. I said, Oh, I didn't say that. I've got a story. And so I so I remember telling him about that. And we tell the story about how we're looking for, you know, any bike shops and shoes, and we put different, you know, cages, foot regular pedals with cages on your on your pedals. And and my boss always has this opportunity to look at a coin like from both sides. And he goes, Did it make you feel any worse that that your buddy did it without special cycling shoes? Like and and that you did it with them? And did it make you feel like less? And I go, No, it made me feel like it was his fault for leaving his shoes in the car. But it was just the way it was delivered was kind of funny.

SPEAKER_02 45:40

So I don't know if I've ever so anybody who doesn't know the story, this was a one-day ride across Michigan. It was like 145 miles.

SPEAKER_01 45:50

45 miles, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:51

Tried to find pedals, tried to find you know, shoes, couldn't, so I wound up just doing it on a regular pair of flat pedals and a pair of uh feelas. So but you did it. I did do it, yeah. I mean, it yeah, I probably wasn't pedaling as effectively as I could, but uh yeah, we overcame, so not a big deal.

SPEAKER_01 46:14

Buddy, I have exhausted all of my stories, I've exhausted everything I had. I'm I'm so excited to do a regular full episode. I know you have listener spotlight, but before we do that, I just wanted to give you a chance. Do you have anything else?

SPEAKER_02 46:31

I don't. I just wanted to thank our community. Uh, I wanted to give a big uh shout out to all the ragbri people I know earlier in the week. Um uh couple of them got together um as a little uh you know get together at the beginning of the ride. So that was cool. But uh, you know, I really hope they're having a good time and uh they remain the rest of the ride safe, and it looks like the weather's gonna be really nice. So um thank our com thanks to our community who has supported our mini podcast and is out

Next Spotlight Clues And Milestones

SPEAKER_02 47:07

there on the roads of Iowa.

SPEAKER_01 47:10

Perfect. Perfect. Well, in that case, I know people are enjoying the new tune. Let me give it to you.

SPEAKER_03 47:26

It's your moment now. Listener taker.

SPEAKER_02 47:38

All right. The clues for this episode's listener spotlight are as follows. This city was settled in the eighteen eighties. It was originally named for a mine. Uh it was once uh, I'm sorry. If you are looking for a home, you might want to look to the trees, and the government likes this community's trout stream.

SPEAKER_01 48:08

There you go. I mean, the first thing you say is trout stream.

SPEAKER_02 48:17

Government likes this community's trout stream. It's not St. Louis. No, not a lot of trout streams at St. Louis. If you're looking for a home, you might want to look to the trees. It was originally named for a mine, it was settled in the 1880s. I'll even say that at one time it was a booming mining town.

SPEAKER_01 48:40

Everything is screaming Alaska, but we'll leave it at that. So um I will tell you when designing the webpage, I was using some of the AI tools that we have. And at the bottom it says, Adam guesses St. Louis every time, he'll keep doing it until it's St. Louis. So I thought that was made me made me very, very, you know, made me laugh. So um, I don't think there's a lot of trout in St. Louis. I mean, I've been to the Riverboat Casinos there, used to be a McDonald's there, but no trout. They're not pulling a lot of trout out of the Mississippi River.

SPEAKER_02 49:12

So as far as I know.

SPEAKER_01 49:14

Marked safe from being uh St. Louis. But um, buddy, always great to be with you. Um, I'm glad to have done a regular show again. Uh thank you to our community. Uh, we're growing strong here on the big board. You'll see that our Instagram is growing. The last time our regular listeners are with listeners were with us, it was about 260 something. So we're uh we're up there right here, 1,376 Facebook wonderful people. So if you want to watch those numbers increase, just follow us there.

SPEAKER_02 49:47

So one more one more thing. One more I forgot. What hands up, I forgot. We we have officially now obtained what I thought was the most unobtainable goal. We have been listened to in all 50 states. Someone actually listened to us in Wyoming, the place where no one, no one for years has listened to podcasts. We actually got to listen or two. Now, I have to caveat that by saying it was someone that we knew who was passing through headed to Ragbright, but that's not the point. The point is we got somebody to listen in Wyoming. Thank you. I can even all 50 states blacked out on the map.

SPEAKER_01 50:34

You want to know how I'm a really transparent person. Keith and I were texting back and forth, and he said, Did Wyoming show up yet? I just listened to downloaded two episodes in Wyoming. And I said, Unfortunately, no, but I don't want to mention where he lives, but his hometown came in, and he said, Oh man, it must have pulled from the driveway. He's like, What if I delete them and re-download them? I said, Well, let's try it. And I was mowing the lawn and he's traveling down the road. I came in, and sure enough, Cheyenne Wyoming came up, and I was like, Oh my gosh. But you know what we also missed? If you stayed this long, if you stayed in the episode for 51 minutes, thank you. We also have passed 100,000 downloads. If you are listening to the mini-series, I apologize, that's a repeat for you. If you are not listening to the mini-series, that is correct. We have surpassed something that I didn't think would happen 100,000 times. Now, Lois Baransky, Adam Baransky, we my mom is a bless her heart, Barbara Sharp, bless her heart. But there's enough on the board that tells me that's even more than our family.

SPEAKER_02 51:59

Well, it's not just 100,000. Uh, we are at 100 and over 112,000 at this point.

SPEAKER_01 52:05

Well, Lois Boransky is probably like 5,000 because she's you know, she's my biggest friend.

SPEAKER_02 52:10

Yeah, Barb Sharp on there. But still, we're we're we're not at the 100,000 mark. We are actually over the 100,000 mark, and that is only on the uh the uh the non-visual part. When you have the visual in there, it it goes up considerably more. So thank you, everybody. I love it, I love it.

SPEAKER_01 52:32

Thank you, thank you. Well, without further ado, let me hope that this here works for you, sir. Oh, yeah, here it comes.

SPEAKER_00 52:45

Thank you for riding along with Road Adventures of Cycling Men of Leisure. However, you travel, find the leisure your way. See you next time.

SPEAKER_01 52:54

And remember, it's a great day for a bike ride.