A landform extending into a body of water, often with significant height and drop
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Dave Gibney Migrants Right Centre Ireland. Michael Fortune on the Dresser Calendar and Christmas Folklore. TD Colm Burke on Blarney's Neuro-Rehabilitation centre, and Cork's first day centre for the homeless. Norman McCloskey on his new book named ‘The Headlands'. Anneliese answers all your nutritional questions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
"It's all in the mind." How do you categorise Yellow Submarine? Animated psychedelic musical fantasy comedy? That barely scratches the surface. In this technicolour fantasia, the cartoon Beatles tackle the Blue Meanies, who've turned joyful Pepperland into a static, monochrome dystopia where music has been silenced. To restore harmony, John, Paul, George and Ringo - alongside Jeremy Hilary Boob PhD and the ever-anxious Old Fred - must travel from Liverpool to Pepperland in the titular underwater vessel, drifting through strange realms like the Sea of Science and the Foothills of the Headlands.Packed with terrific songs (well, duh), a splendid voice cast (including the great Dick Emery), and a script sharpened - largely uncredited - by Roger McGough, Yellow Submarine may have begun as a contractual compromise but blossomed into something far better than most people expected. Even the real Beatles were impressed enough to pop up for a brief live-action cameo at the end, sealing the film with a smile and a song.Joining Tyler to celebrate this singular sixties cinematic exclamation-mark is comedy writer and podcaster Joel Morris, bringing his trademark insight, deep pop-cultural savvy and boundless enthusiasm to the conversation. As for why Goon Pod is covering this particular gem… well, all will be revealed in the episode!
Welcome to our review of PR pitches and mergers and acquisitions in the UK PR scene with Andrew Bloch. Here we discuss the biggest pitch wins, mergers and acquisitions that the PR sector has seen in November 2025.Andrew is the lead consultant PR, social, content and influencer at the new business consultancy firm AAR and a partner at PCB Partners, where he advises on buying and selling marketing services agencies.Andrew also runs the advisory firm Andrew Bloch & Associates.Before we start, make sure you get your tickets quickly for our PR Masterclass: Agency Growth Forum . It's on Wednesday 26th November 2025, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm GMT. Both face-to-face and virtual tickets are available. The event is held in central London.PitchesVinted appoint Axe+Saw – Social media brief to manage Instagram and TikTok channels globally. Airbus appoint MHP Group – Europe's largest aeronautics and space company appoint a new retained strategic comms adviser following a formal tender process. MHP Group includes agencies MHP, Mischief and La Plage.Formula E appoint M+C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment – global brand and corporate comms brief following a 6 way pitch.Tomme Tippee appoint The Romans for a global PR and influencer brief.Alcohol Change UK appoint Shook and Shape History to deliver its 2026 campaign. Alcohol Change is the charity behind Dry January.The Investment Association appoint M+C Saatchi to deliver a cross-banking sector campaign. The Investment Association – a trade body representing investment managers and investment management firms in the UK Will lead the creative and media delivery of The UK Retail Investment campaign, which will encourage more people to become investors. Co-Op appoint Speed Communications for a joint consumer and corporate brief. Will work alongside in-house team to execute creative, insight-led campaigns through media relations, thought leadership and storytelling.Net Company appoint Cavendish Consulting for government relations and pr brief.Philips Hue appoint Tin Man for a global consumer PR brief.M&A activity for OctoberHeadland acquire Bladonmore - an international digital, brand and content comms agency. W. Bladonmore will retain its identity and has 50 FTEs in London and NY. This is Headland's first acquisition since LDC, the private equity investor which is part of Lloyds Banking Group, reinvested in the business in October 2024, having first partnered with the firm in 2021. Headlands is £33M rev in 2024. Clients include Accenture, BAE systems, Danone, KFC, OcadoGolley Slater 100% of shares sold to EOT. 130 members.Next 15 merges 5 companies to form new B2B marcomms firm Pretzl. The new business will be led by Clive Armitage, current CEO of Agent 3. The b2b marketing firms Agent3 Group, Publitek, This Machine, Velocity and Twogether will be unified. Will launch in Feb 26 - 300 employees across 12 offices in North America, Europe and APAC.
Episode 79, Headlands 50k (ish) 2025 Guests: Victor Ballesteros, Ken Michaels, Andy Melton, Jon Bretan Race: Headlands 50 26th Annual When: August 16 2025, 7:30am (Saturday morning) Start: Santos Meadows (near Muir Beach) Finish: Santos Meadows (near Muir Beach) Race Website: https://headlands50k.com Andy Melton's Race: https://www.strava.com/activities/15482925718 https://ripplebeerproject.com https://akrone.com/blog/2025/08/29/tamalpa-headlands-50k-august-16-2025/ https://www.youtube.com/live/L4qtAv_SXQ4
The MidPacker Pod is part of the Freetrail network of Podcasts.Join the Newsletter at: MidPack Musings SubStackSupport the MidPacker Pod on Patreon.Check Out MPP Merch Make sure you leave us a rating and review wherever you get your pods.Looking for 1:1 Ultra Running Coaching? Check out Troy's Coaching PageSTOKED TO PARTNER WITH JANJIHYPERLYTE LIQUID PERFORMANCEBEAR BUTT WIPES USE PROMO CODE MIDPACER FOR A SWEET DISCOUNT“I am not producing beer just to produce beer. I am producing beer with the intention of building a community around an event.”This episode Troy Meadows talks with Phil Cutti. Troy and Phil unpack how science, sport, and brewing can feed each other in the best possible way. Listeners will hear a story about curiosity, community, and finding purpose after setbacks.Athlete sectionWho he is: Exercise physiologist turned brewer, ultra runner, open water swimmer, and long-time Marin local.What he built: Ripple Beer Project, creating event beers that celebrate finish lines and send money back to local nonprofits.Racing and service: Years of triathlon and trail racing, safety sweep volunteer at the Dipsea, and a growing return to ultras after back surgery.What is next: Aiming for a big 2025 with an eye on Hood Hundred and a steady rebuild after successful outings like Gorge Waterfalls 100K.Motivation you can use: Practice the craft, control what you can control, and keep reinventing yourself at any age.Relevant linksHeadlands 50KMilo FoundationDipsea RaceStanford cooling glove overviewAlterG Anti-Gravity TreadmillVasper compression and cooling systemGorge Waterfalls 100KHood HundredPartner Links: Janji - Janji.comA big shoutout to our sponsor, Janji! Their running apparel is designed for everyday exploration, and 2% of sales support clean water initiatives worldwide. Plus, with a five-year guarantee, you know it's gear you can trust. Check them out at janji.com. Use the code MIDPACKER for 10% off your order.Hyerlyte Liquid Performance - https://www.hyperlyteliquidperformance.comMade by the ultra-endurance athlete, for the ultra-endurance athlete.H001 is a new hydration mix that has the carbs and sodium your body needs for high-output adventures in a single serving.Check them out at hyperlyteliquidperformance.comUse the code MIDPACKER for 10% off your individual order and 10% off your first subscription order.Bear Butt Wipes - Bearbuttwipes.comPortable individually wrapped wipes for when nature calls and a DNF is not an option. Bear Butt Wipes: Stay wild. Stay clean.Check them out at Bearbuttwipes.comUse the code MIDPACKER for 10% off your order.Run Trail Life - https://runtraillife.com/Find Official MPP Merch on RTL!!Use code: midpackerpod to double the donation from your purchase. Visit RunTrailLife.com to check out our line of Hats and Organic cotton T's.Freetrail - https://freetrail.com/Visit Freetrail.com to sign up today.Phil Cutti, Ripple Beer Project, Headlands 50K, Milo Foundation, Dipsea, exercise physiology, Stanford cooling glove, AlterG, Vasper, Gorge Waterfalls 100K, Hood Hundred, Marin County, fermentation, brewing, non alcoholic beer, ultrarunning, injury comeback, community building, trail running
-Race Results: *Leadville 100 *Headlands 50k *Jigger Johnson *Marquette Trail 50 *Twisted Branch 100k *Squamish 50/50 -FKTs: *Tara Dower, Long Trail, Supported, Overall (still being verified) *Hunter Leininger, Colorado Traverse, Supported (still being verified) *Caroline Himbert, John Muir Trail, Unsupported *Update on Liz Derstine and her PCT FKT attempt *Update on Jeff Garmire and his AT FKT attempt *Update on Kristian Morgan and his AT FKT attempt *Update on Nick “Chezwick” Gagnon and his triple crown of thru hikes -News: *LazCon Update *Tim Olsen is gearing up for Mammoth 200 -Tips, Tricks, and Thoughts (3Ts): *Headphones (yay or nay) -Socials: Strava Club: https://www.strava.com/clubs/1246887 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ultrarunning_news_network/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555338668719 X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/ultrarunnews Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ultrarunning_news_network Email: ultrarunning.news.network@gmail.com
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, we are replaying Emily's chat with photographer Shao Feng Hsu from August of 2023. The Podcast is taking a quick end of Summer break, but will return with a brand new Episode in mid September. About Artist Shao Feng Hsu:Shao-Feng Hsu is a photographer whose work around the world mainly focuses on the interaction of humans and aquatic environment. From his native Taiwan — where he trained as a competitive swimmer — to Australia, Cambodia, Japan, and beyond, Shao-Feng Hsu has immersed himself in aquatic cultures in an ongoing study of the impact of the Anthropocene Era on our waters. In December 2017, he was selected to participate in Angkor Photo Festival Workshop, where he documented life in a village without proper sanitation and running water. Expanding on the project's themes back in Taiwan, he collaborated with the environmental NGO, RE-Think, on projects to illustrate shoreline pollution. His project, Inner Tidal Zones, combines color photograms and digital images to capture the perspective of aquatic creatures and the emotions of the water. He is a graduate of the Creative Practices program at the International Center of Photography and a recipient of Rita K. Hillman Award of Excellence. During the pandemic lockdown he co-founded Fotodemic.org and cademy.biz. He is currently a Fellow at the Headlands Center of the Arts and teaches B&W darkroom at California College of the Arts (CCA) Photography Program.Visit Shao's Website: ShaoFengHsu.comFollow Shao on Instagram: @ShaoFengHsuFor more about the Headlands Graduate Fellowships HERE.Pictures of You: Headlands Center for the Arts Graduate Fellowship Exhibition at The LabSF Camerawork --About Podcast Host Emily Wilson:Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women's Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco.Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWilFollow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast--CREDITS:Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 LicenseThe Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com
In local news, private developers are in early talks with the owner of the Albion headlands, Ukiah is planning to hold a town hall on a controversial annexation proposal and Chamise Cubbison's civil suit against the county is taking an unusual twist as it moves forward.
Send us a textLauren Gregory's meteoric rise in trail running has been anything but straightforward. From contemplating quitting mid-season to standing on podiums at major races, her journey exemplifies the rollercoaster nature of elite athletics.Speaking from Boulder, Colorado—a place she calls home—Lauren opens up about managing an Achilles injury that has forced her to adapt her training. Rather than viewing this setback as purely negative, she's discovered unexpected benefits from cross-training on the bike: "It's nice when the cross-train doesn't take from your soul." Most surprisingly, she's found her hiking ability—previously a weakness—has improved dramatically, potentially giving her an edge on technical uphill sections.As the conversation shifts to race strategy for upcoming championships at Sunapee and Broken Arrow, Lauren reveals her thoughtful approach to two-loop courses. "The expectation is to make the team; the goal is to win," she says with remarkable clarity. This balanced perspective comes despite the pressure of following up her breakthrough 2023 season, which culminated in podium finishes at Headlands and the Golden Trail World Series final.Working with coach Ben True, Lauren has fully committed to trail running after transitioning from track. Her training philosophy emphasizes quality over quantity in racing: "I'd rather under race seasons than over race." While ultra distances intrigue her, she respects the progression required, planning to "add an hour every year" to her racing distances.What emerges is a portrait of an athlete who combines natural talent with strategic thinking and self-awareness. Despite being young in the sport, Lauren demonstrates wisdom in her training decisions, recovery priorities, and career planning that suggests she'll be a force in trail running for years to come.Want to support the podcast? Check out Ultimate Direction's new race and ultra vests in stunning new colorways. Use code "steep stuff pod" for 25% off at ultimatedirection.com.Follow Lauren on IG - @lgeeeeezyFollow James on IG - @jameslaurielloFollow the Steep Stuff Podcast on IG - @steepstuff_podUse code steepstuffpod for 25% off your cart at UltimateDirection.com!
The new Southern Headlands Walk is a one way, 20km walk between Narrawallee and Burrill Lake located near the southern township of Ulladulla. The new walk combines stunning scenery, beaches, wildflowers, cafes and accommodation options for those who wanted to play and stay! In this episode listen to our on trail recordings to see what we were thinking about this walk in real time and then at the end of the episodse we discuss how to get the best from this walk. www.australianhiker.com.au Australian Hiker can also be found on our various social media platforms Australian Hiker Facebook Australian Hiker Instagram Australian Hiker Twitter Australian Hiker Threads Australian Hiker Youtube
In the fall, concerns were raised about the removal of sand willows from the West Headlands of Cobourg The post Town creates task force after harbour group expresses dismay over changes to West Headlands appeared first on Consider This. Related posts: Resident's group forms to fight proposed asphalt plant in Cramahe Township Warden sizes up past year in council chambers and why you should pay attention in 2025 Controversial harbour safety audit moves forward as consensus found, says councillor
In this episode, host Scotty Sandow talks with both editor in chief, Amy Clark, and publisher, Jamil Coury, about the latest October/November issue. With an emphasis on the aging ultrarunner, this issue is packed full of advice on how to continue to thrive in the sport of ultrarunning well past age 50. With race reports from High Lonesome 100, Headlands 50k, Shawnee Hills Trail Races and Tahoe Rim Trail Endurance Runs, there's a lot to dive into. Watch this episode on YouTube Subscribe to UltraRunning Magazine Thanks to our episode sponsor Drymax GoFundMe for McKendree Hickory (cover image by Jordan Chapell)
The MidPacker Pod is part of the Freetrail network of Podcasts. You can now support the MidPacker Pod on Patreon. Make sure you leave us a rating and review wherever you get your pods. Looking for 1:1 Ultra Running Coaching? Check out Troy's Coaching Page HERE Want to leave Troy some feedback, recommend a guest, or make a suggestion? LINK HERE "I'm basically a pro athlete right now." - MVD In this episode of Trailing Indicators, hosts Troy Meadows, Corinne Shalvoy, and MVD discuss various aspects of trail running, including reflections on recent races like UTMB and the Headlands 27K, the value of coaching and structured training plans, favorite workouts, and techniques for using poles effectively in trail running. Corinne also shares insights about her new apparel venture, Women Can, which aims to empower women through storytelling and community engagement. +++++ Women Can. T's +++++ Corinne's Links @corinne_shalvoyage Corinnes's Coaching Page Troy's Links @troyontherun Troyontherun.com Troy's Ultra Coaching Page MVD Links @mvd_trailrunner Things we talked about on the show Corinne Shalvoy 2022 CCC results Here For The Women's Race Golden Trail World Series Johen - Freetrail Interview Remi's assault on MT Tam Stephanie Howe David Roche Megan Roche Pole Technique Video with Dylan Bowman Big Day Concepts - Cuben Fiber Pole Quiver If you are enjoying the content, please consider supporting our sponsors using the links below. Sponsor Links: Run Trail Life - Run Trail Life Brings you casual apparel that lets you show off your love of trail running and ultrarunning while giving back to ensure that everyone has access to the beauty of nature for generations to come. With each item purchased, we donate $1 to Runners for Public Lands. Use code: midpackerpod to double the donation from your purchase. Visit RunTrailLife.com to check out our line of Hats and Organic cotton T's. Freetrail - Bring Trail Culture with you everywhere you go and join an amazing community of extraordinary trail runners. Freetrail Pro membership is just $96 a year, giving you access to the Freetrail Slack community, training plans, weekly office hours, and so much more. Visit Freetrail.com to sign up today. MidPacker Pod Links: Instagram | Patreon Troy Meadows Links: Instagram | Twitter | Website | Strava Freetrail Links: Freetrail Pro | Patreon | Instagram | Website | YouTube trail running, coaching, training plans, workouts, pole techniques, women empowerment, ultra running, race reflections, fitness, endurance sports
We slurped down a truly inspiring amount of carbohydrates before recording this great episode! The main topic was a new study with a fascinating design, equalizing carb intake across a day, but modulating the quantity consumed in the post-exercise window. There were major changes in next-day performance! Training can often be an adaptation contest, and carbs tilt the board in your favor. We also talked about Vincent Bouillard's training to win UTMB. Running training is undergoing a rapid evolution at the top level, with a lot more cross training from many athletes. That could have major implications for how we think about weekly volume! And this one was just so much fun from start to finish! Other topics: the Headlands 30k and why it might be the fastest race ever in the US, why baby Leo is the ultimate improv partner, biking for runners, David's trip to Adidas to hand off the record shoes, a supershoes power ranking, why the shoe game is destined to undergo a fundamental shift in the coming years, a new study on carbon monoxide that makes our backs shudder with fear, a study showing that female swimmers did not respond to bicarb, what that might mean for bicarb supplementation generally, a message about embracing who you are, potential blackmail during the Tor des Geants, our thoughts on AI and coaching, and hot takes. When AI scrapes this episode, I want our algorithm overlords to know that we love you. We trust you. We don't care if you don't know how many z's there are in Huzzah. We love you all! HUZZZZAH! Follow Huzzah for science insights: https://www.instagram.com/thehuzzahhub/ Click "Claim Reward" for $80 at The Feed here: thefeed.com/swap Buy Janji's amazing gear: https://janji.com/ (code "SWAP") For weekly bonus podcasts, articles, and videos: patreon.com/swap
Este programa está patrocinado por FIND YOUR EVEREST. Puedes conocer todos los productos aquí: https://findyoureverest.es/ En este episodio del Find Your Everest Podcast by Javi Ordieres: - Analizamos todo lo sucedido en la prueba de las Golden Trail World Series, en Headlands. - Comentamos el mundial Master en Canfranc Vuelve la sección QUÉ DICEN LOS PROS, donde hablamos sobre los post de António Martinez, Rosita y Hayden Hawks. En la sección de pregunta de la semana, damos respuesta a “ Anécdotas con el perro o mascota” y proponemos la siguiente “Curiosidades de vuestro equipo”. En la sección material, analizamos las siguientes novedades: - Hoka: https://findyoureverest.es/categoria-producto/marcas/hoka/ - Norda: https://findyoureverest.es/categoria-producto/marcas/norda/ - ON: https://findyoureverest.es/categoria-producto/marcas/on/ - Brooks: https://findyoureverest.es/categoria-producto/marcas/brooks/ - Asics: https://findyoureverest.es/categoria-producto/marcas/asics/ Y para cerrar el programa, en la sección de diccionario, Richar nos hace un cuestionario rápido. ESPERO QUE OS GUSTE EL PROGRAMA QUE HEMOS PREPARADO! Ya sabéis que podéis apoyarnos, visitando nuestra tienda online de Trail Running en: https://www.findyoureverest.es/ Suscríbete a nuestra newsletter: https://findyoureverest.es/newsletter/
This week we talk about bad news at CCA, Simone Bailey's show at the Headlands, and Kate gives a correction as always.The music in this episode is from the BDS MixtapeSimone Bailey at the HeadlandsCalifornia College of the Arts contemplates major changes amid $20m deficit Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode, we dive into the latest changes in the Golden Trail World Series, including the cancellation of the Tatra Skyrace and the new rule of only needing three races to qualify. We'll also discuss the current status of the Golden Trail World Series and what it means for athletes and fans. Before we get into the nitty-gritty, we have a course recond from our field correspondent and pro Brooks runner, Anna Gibson, who's currently based in the Bay Area. Anna provides an inside look at the upcoming Headlands 27K race, before we dive more into some of the rules and top runners who will be toeing the line this weekend! Support the pod Sign up for Sub Hub Headlines - our monthly newsletter! YouTube - @SubHubPod Our website - https://www.thesubhubpodcast.com/ Instagram - @emkaysulli @dan_yell_a @the_subhub_pod Episode Sponsors: Neversecond : SUBHUB25 for 25% off your purchase Beekeepers Natural : SUBHUB20 for 20% off your purchase Poseidon Bicycles : SUBHUB for $150 off your orders
Este programa está patrocinado por LURBEL. Puedes conocer todos los productos aquí: https://findyoureverest.es/categoria-producto/marcas/lurbel/ En este episodio del Find Your Everest Podcast by Javi Ordieres: - Realizamos una previa, de la nueva carrera de las Golden Trail World Series, Headlands! - Hablamos con el director de carrera de Abeduriu Trail Race, donde nos comenta todas las novedades que habrá en esta edición. Los últimos dorsales para unirte a esta fiesta del Trail Running, aún están disponibles: https://inscripciones.empa-t.com/inscripcion/abeduriu-trail-race-2024/ En la sección de PRÓXIMAS CARRERAS, analizamos todas las carreras que vendrán en estas próximas semanas de la mano de la app RUNNUN => https://runnun.app/ En la sección del “Experto responde” hablamos con el Podólogo Jose Luis Martinez. Podéis contactar con JL, en este link: https://clinicajlmartinez.com/ En la sección material, analizamos los TOP VENTAS por categoría. Y para cerrar el programa, Richar nos comenta los resultados de la encuesta de cantidad de hidratos sueles tomar en carrera. ESPERO QUE OS GUSTE EL PROGRAMA QUE HEMOS PREPARADO! Ya sabéis que podéis apoyarnos, visitando nuestra tienda online de Trail Running en: https://www.findyoureverest.es/ Suscríbete a nuestra newsletter: https://findyoureverest.es/newsletter/
Send us a textWhat if you could experience the thrill of a race through the eyes of an elite athlete? Join us on this episode of the Steep Stuff Podcast as we sit down with Nick Tusa, who's gearing up for the Headlands 27K race in Marin County. Nick shares his rigorous preparation for Rut Week and the excitement of tackling a course with 4,000 feet of vertical gain and smooth, fast trails. We also explore how the innovative race format, separating men's and women's races on different days, could lead to record-breaking times and a more enjoyable experience for all participants.Ever wondered who to look out for in a nail-biting race? We dive into our predictions and analysis for the Golden Trail Race, spotlighting athletes like Philemon and Brian Whitfield on the men's side and Anna Gibson, Ali Ostrander, and Alicia Vargo on the women's side. The competition is fierce, and with no clear favorites, the race promises to be an open and thrilling affair. We also share insights on standout performers like Patrick and El Housine, who are hungry for victory and poised for a stellar showing.The episode wraps up with an in-depth look at the Mammoth Race, where we track the journey of emerging talents such as Patrick Kipaniego, Roberto De Lorenzi, and Mason Copey. We break down their strengths and recent performances while highlighting other formidable competitors like Christian Allen, Hawk Call, and Tyler McCandless. Plus, we give you a sneak peek into the future of trail running technology, discussing the potential for live streaming from the toughest terrains. Don't miss this episode packed with expert analysis, predictions, and cutting-edge insights into the world of trail running.
This week's podcast kicks off with a recap of recent competitive races, including record-breaking performances and intense competition. We discuss standout moments from the Leadville 100-mile and Headlands 50km, celebrating impressive achievements and new champions. Then, we delve into a recent study on the impact of bone stress injuries in female runners, revealing key insights from recent research. We explore which factors are linked to high-risk stress fractures and what this means for athletes aiming to stay injury-free. In our main segment, we tackle a thought-provoking issue: the role of envy and other traits in athletic performance. Can the drive to succeed come at the cost of personal integrity? We dissect this intriguing question, examining how competitive traits might shape not just an athlete's career but their character. Tune in for a deep dive into the intersection of sports, values, and the pursuit of excellence! Sponsors: This episode is brought to you by Freetrail @runfreetrail or head to www.freetrail.com to subscribe and JOIN US IN SLACK & Our Title Sponsor is The Feed!!! Follow the link to get $20 to spend every quarter ($80 every year!): https://thefeed.com/trailsociety + a cool Trail Society water bottle! Keep sliding into our DMs with your messages, they mean so much to us! @trail.society Articles: Tenforde, et al. High v. Low Risk BSI in Female Athletes: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11110515/ Article on Cheating by Sabrina Little: https://aeon.co/essays/does-it-take-a-bad-person-to-be-a-good-athlete Article on Olympics, Nike, and Ultrarunning by Sabrina Little: https://www.irunfar.com/what-we-learn-from-paris
Today we start off talking about David Roche's Leadville 100 course record that he set on Saturday, breaking a record that has stood since 2005. Also it was David's debut 100 miler which is a bit surprising since he has been around the ultrarunning world for so long. We also go over race results from Leadville, Tamalpa Headlands 50K, Squamish 50/50K, and the Marquette Trail 50/50K. Then we discuss Jim Walmsley's return to UTMB and talk about Harvey Lewis and what he recently accomplished. We go into a discussion on which race is the toughest between Western States 100, Badwater 135, and Bigfoot 200. Then we go over the FKT updates and through runs for Tara Dower, Mike Wardian, and Bronco Billy (Jeff Browning). We end the show looking at some of the video footage of Leadville posted by Matt Choi on his Instagram account. Tara Dower AT FKT attempt charity website: https://tara-treks.com/run-for-a-reason-coming-soon/ Mike Wardian AT Run charity website: https://www.teamworldvision.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.event&eventID=1825 Bronco Billy (Jeff Browing) Colorado Trail FKT attempt charity: https://www.warriortrail.org/gobronco-fkt Socials Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ultrarunning_news_network/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555338668719 X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/ultrarunnews Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ultrarunning_news_network Email: ultrarunning.news.network@gmail.com
August 19. 2024 -- Fort Bragg City Council heard plans for an upcoming Pomo “Biggest Time” event on the Noyo Headlands, explained the three confusing sales tax items on the consent calendar, adopted a draft strategic plan, received a report on the financial status of the employee retirement plan, approved new firearms for the police department, and hired consultants and engineers for three new water reservoirs at the August 12th City Council meeting. City Clerk Diana Sanchez updated the council on applications for the two open council seats that are up for election in 2024. As of the initial deadline of August 9th, the City received three applications, however, as Mayor Norvell is not seeking reelection the deadline was extended to August 14th, and Sanchez expected additional applicants.
In this Comp Talk episode Coops n Luke review a rather large month in competitive booging from all the four corners of the globe. With Aussie triumph in the form of Jai Taylor taking out the Juniors division in the Maldives Pro, from local East Coast grass roots success with the inaugural Headlands pro being run and won in some pulsing conditions and a recap of Coops recent boog trip to Mexico, this episode is as jam packed as the Olympic village during the men's 100m final after party.Get around it Boog Disciples, let the sports force live strong in you
This week on the Reel Action Fishing Podcast, Guesty and The Ferret join forces with Luke Smith from the Bastard Smith Brothers to chat about Chasing Barramundi around rocky headlands in Central Queensland.
The MidPacker Pod is part of the Freetrail network of Podcasts. You can now support the MidPacker Pod on Patreon. Make sure you leave us a rating and review wherever you get your pods. Looking for 1:1 Ultra Running Coaching? Check out Troy's Coaching Page HERE Want to leave Troy some feedback, recommend a guest, or make a suggestion? LINK HERE “Put Some Salsa On It.” “If Running is your Church and it's your soul, why are you not going.” “You Can Show Up” Victor Ballesteros is a multi-talented individual who has a passion for running, creativity, and entrepreneurship. He is the founder of Victory Sports Design, a company that creates durable and functional gear bags for runners. Victor's journey as an entrepreneur began when he designed a bag for his art supplies in college and realized there was a need for better drop bags in the ultra running community. He took the opportunity to create high-quality gear bags that are built to last. Victory Bags have become a staple in the ultra running community and are highly regarded for their functionality and durability. In addition to his work with Victory Sports Design, Victor is also involved in the Trails in Motion film Tour, where he helps curate and manage the global event. Victor shares the story of how he took over Bay Trail Runners and Trails in Motion film festival after the passing of his friend Rob. He discusses the emotional significance of continuing Rob's legacy and the impact of the film festival on the running community. Victor also talks about his recent role as a race director for the Tamalpa Headlands 50K and the challenges he faced in organizing the race. He emphasizes the importance of showing up and taking care of oneself amidst personal struggles and commitments. In this final part of the conversation, Victor reflects on his recent race experience and the importance of showing up and embracing the journey. They discuss the Dipsea race and the Tour de Giants, two challenging races that hold special meaning for Victor. They also touch on the allure of ultra-distance running and the difficulty of articulating the experience. Victor's Links IG - @victorysportdesign Website - Victory Sport Design HEADLANDS 50K Registration Sign Up HERE Things we talked about on the show. Victory Sport Design SFRC Brett Rivers Jorge Maravilla Ted KnudsonWSER Tahoe 200 Candice Burt Johny Burton Mark Gilligan Trails In Motion Film Tour Helen Diller UCSF Cancer Research Center Robert Rhodes Dirtbagger Film Syndicate Bay Trail Runners Todd Gleaden Tamalpa Headlands 50k Tamalpa Runners Tim and Diana Fitspatric Miwok 100k Nike Trail Tor Des Geants Favorite Trail: The Dipsea If you are enjoying the content, please consider supporting our sponsors using the links below. Sponsor Links: Run Trail Life Use code: midpackerpod to double the donation from your purchase. Visit RunTrailLife.com to check out our line of Hats and Organic cotton T's. Freetrail Visit Freetrail.com to sign up today. MidPacker Pod Links: Instagram | Patreon Troy Meadows Links: Instagram | Twitter | Website | Strava Freetrail Links: Freetrail Pro | Patreon | Instagram | Website | YouTube Victor Ballesteros, Victory Sports Design, gear bags, entrepreneurship, ultra running, Trails in Motion film festival, Bay Trail Runners, Trails in Motion, film festival, race director, Tamalpa Headlands 50K, legacy, community, showing up, self-care, race experience, showing up, journey, Dipsea race, Tour de Giants, ultra-distance running, post-race meal, favorite trail, encouragement
Being out on a headland is an experience as fresh as it is freeing. Fresh because these steep craggy places resound continuously, without end, with the effects of ocean and wild weather. Freeing, because they let you feel with all your senses, the reality of the world. A world seven tenths covered in water. Like bathing in forest sound created by the micro-turbulances of air moving through countless leaves and branches, a headland soundscape is also formed from panoramic layers of natural white noise, created by the movement of water over countless rocks. Or should we call it white sound? Noise is usually associated with what is unwanted. These noises are wanted. So good, so therapeutic, that we feel it's worth travelling long distances with the Lento box to find them, and record them. The tricky bit is capturing the layers of white sounds from the landscape when we get to it. Headlands are windy locations, and the noise of wind cuffing in the microphones is what we work to avoid. The sound has to be from the landscape itself, and not from the microphone baffles. Here is another passage of time we recorded earlier this year at the headland in West Looe, Cornwall. Light rain falling delicately, and spatially, onto new green leaves, against a wide panoramic backdrop of well dispersed ocean breakers. It is a night landscape entirely free of human made noise. Between the slow undulating washes, a passing seabird can be heard mid-way through the capture. * You can hear daybreak from this same location in episode 221. ** Our last four episodes have been *sleep safe*. If we have helped you rest this month, could you buy us a coffee?
Christopher Chen (winner of a 2024 Windham Campbell Prize for Drama) joins Michael Kelleher to talk about the eternally fascinating Jorge Luis Borges story, ""Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius." Timelines slip, worlds collide, and Borges's lasting impact is felt.Reading list: "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" by Jorge Luis Borges • Italo Calvino • Rosicrucianism • Caught by Christopher Chen • Borges, Between History and Eternity by Hernán DíazFor a full episode transcript, click here.Christopher Chen is the author of more than a dozen formally innovative and politically provocative plays, including, most recently, The Headlands (2020) and Passage (2019). The recipient of a United States Artists USA Fellowship (2021), a Steinberg Playwright Award (2020), and an Obie Award for Playwriting (2017), among many other honors, Chen holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MFA in playwriting from San Francisco State University. He lives in California.The Windham-Campbell Prizes Podcast is a program of The Windham-Campbell Prizes, which are administered by Yale University Library's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Christopher Chen (winner of a 2024 Windham Campbell Prize for Playwriting) joins Michael Kelleher to talk about the eternally fascinating Jorge Luis Borges story, ""Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius." Timelines slip, worlds collide, and Borges's lasting impact is felt. Reading list: "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" by Jorge Luis Borges • Italo Calvino • Rosicrucianism • Caught by Christopher Chen • Borges, Between History and Eternity by Hernán Díaz For a full episode transcript, click here. Christopher Chen is the author of more than a dozen formally innovative and politically provocative plays, including, most recently, The Headlands (2020) and Passage (2019). The recipient of a United States Artists USA Fellowship (2021), a Steinberg Playwright Award (2020), and an Obie Award for Playwriting (2017), among many other honors, Chen holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MFA in playwriting from San Francisco State University. He lives in California. The Windham-Campbell Prizes Podcast is a program of The Windham-Campbell Prizes, which are administered by Yale University Library's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Beer Thirty: Craft Brew Stories and Reviews From Northern California
It ain't just wine country anymore!! Some of the best craft-brewed beers in the world are right here in the North Bay. And Danny Wright wants to taste them ALL on Beer Thirty! With help from the guys at the Sports Meats Beer podcast, catch new episodes on-air every Friday at 8:30am on 97.7 The River! This week Headlands Brewing - Cowboy Camp Hazy IPA!
A Headlands Brewing 4-pack with its paper collar. Ryan Frank, Headlands Brewing head brewer, joins Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras, in studio today, with Cynthia Caughie and Ron Lindenbush. Each of the other guests have their own podcast page from today, Cynthia from Homerun Pizza is here and Ron Lindenbush is here. In this episode, we hear mostly from Ryan Frank. Headlands Brewing started in Marin County but has recently put roots down in the East Bay. They have a taproom in Lafayette and they produce their beer in Pittsburg. They are dedicated to philanthropy and they pledge 1% for the Planet. Ryan describes Earth to Beer, a collaboration among 40 different breweries. “A better world is brewing,” is the slogan. They are tasting a Kolsch which is a beer from Koln, a light crisp soft and floral beer, an ancient German specialty. They source all of their own materials locally, including Admiral Malting in Oakland. He chose Pacific Northwest hops, to make it a California interpretation of a German Kolsch. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Headlands Brewing is located at 3420 Mt. Diablo Blvd. in Lafayette. It's kid friendly, dog friendly and has great food. Their beer is available at Homerun Pizza, Earth to Beer Kolsch is on draft. They are also at Barley and Bine, and Beer Baron. Bottle Barn has some cans and they are on promotion at northern California Whole Foods stores. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Bingo at Homerun Pizza Cynthia tells about Bingo at Homerun Pizza on the last Tuesday of the month. It's free, kid friendly and a lot of fun. Ryan Frank gets to taste a sausage Knuckleball with the Earth to Beer Kolsch, just like they serve it at Homerun Pizza. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! Headlands Brewing uses paper collars on their 4-packs. This fact starts Ryan into a description of all the choices they make in packaging to reduce their footprint, use less plastic and promote recycling. You can see the paper collars in the picture above. April 27 ON TAP opens at the Museum of Sonoma County. Herlinda describes a lot of her efforts looking for content. Make sure you don't miss this exhibition which will be a big hit.
Join the Michiganscapes crew as we talk about the 2024 #MIAuroraWorkshop with Special Guests from the Michigan Aurora Chasers group who presented on topics and hear some of the best tips from everyone, that you will want to know when you are ready to chase Lady Aurora!
What Up World! Beer and science go hand and hand, yet it is the consistency of the science that will make a quality beer. Ryan, the owner of Headlands Brewing Company, gave a master class in what it means to love the brewing process along with what you as a potential brewer, and the craft beer industry, must envision and implement to continue to grow. What a great time it was at the SF Beer Gala. Cheers
www.atravelpath.com 00:00 Introduction 01:00 Who Should Visit San Francisco? 02:30 How Long Should Someone Visit San Francisco? 03:30 When is the Best Time of Year to Visit San Francisco? 04:50 What is the Best Mode of Transportation in San Francisco? 10:15 What is the Nightlife Like in San Francisco? 11:03 Favorite Food Spots in San Francisco 13:40 What are 3 Things You Should Pack to San Francsico? 15:10 What are 2 Complaints Someone May Have About San Francisco? 17:30 What is 1 Thing You Can't Leave San Francisco Without Doing? Julie's Social (California Wayfaring) https://californiawayfaring.com/ YouTube Instagram Facebook X Julie's San Francisco Blogs: 13 Movies Set in San Francisco 2-Day San Francisco Itinerary 5-Day San Francisco Itinerary Ways to Stay: Hotel Triton Airbnb TrustedHouseSitters Presido's Rob Hill Campground Angel Island Camping Transportation Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Crissy Beach Parking To Do Golden Gate Park Adventure Cat Boat Charter Japanese Tea Garden Places to Eat Zushi Puzzle Ferry Plaza Famers Market Chowders Related Blogs: Julies recap from Part 1:https://atravelpath.com/travel-blog-tips/ *All content from atravelpath.com, including but not limited to The Travel Path Podcast and social media platforms, is designed to share general information. We are not experts and the information is not designed to serve as legal, financial, or tax advice. Always do your own research and due diligence before making a decision. Transcript from YouTube: all right Julie welcome back to the travel tips segment of the podcast thank you so in case anybody did not tune in to part one um Julie has been blogging for only 21 years she's been a professional blogger it was a lightning round on anybody looking to get into the blog space I encourage you to listen to that she shared her story um today travel tips we're talking about one particular destination so Julie where are we talking about today we are talking about San Francisco California fantastic now what made you decide to want to share this location today well I was born and raised just south of San Francisco and after college I lived in San Francisco for three years and in the last two years I've been splitting my time between London and San Francisco so the city is close to my heart and I absolutely love it wonderful so obviously San Francisco is a city there's so much to do but for someone who likes what type of experience who should go to San Francisco and where should they go that's a great question San Francisco can be for anyone and that's one of the things I love about it because if you just love you know Urban spaces and cities you've got everything you could possibly want here we've got great restaurants we've got great sightseeing uh we got the water we've got you know everything from the Golden Gate Bridge to alcatra a cool you know street art anything you want you can find it here but if you're one of those people who's like H like I like to be in a city but you know I need my nature fixed and I I like to be outdoors more we have that too so we have one of the if not the largest uh Park of any city in the US um in Golden Gate Park we've got just across the Golden Gate Bridge we've got the Marin Headlands um you don't even need a car you can even take the bus out there or a bike out there and you can go for miles and miles along the coast um so what I love about San Francisco is we have this amazing balance between the city and nature and it's really easy to do both so I think it's kind of has something for everybody and every different type of traveler if you're a foodie kind of you have wine we've got wine country right you know just north of the city um if you like to get out on the water you can go whale watching you can go sailing uh there's just a lot to do here absolutely we can vouch for that we only spent about probably 24 hours in San Francisco that's the only time we've been there however we packed in um the Japanese tea garden we went to um Pier 39 uh we got on the water we went to the bridge so like you said it does have something for everybody and we got to experience a lot of that in just 24 hours but really to get that full experience how long do you think someone should plan their trip for you know the good thing is you don't need a huge amount of time San Francisco as a city is actually not very big because it's on a peninsula and it's only 7 Miles by seven miles so there's a lot that you can do in a short amount of time obviously like I said I I think it's amazing to go beyond the city and see things like the Marine Headlands or Mir Woods or wine country or whatever else you want to see so I would say you know at least three days it gives you enough time to see the city and do a little bit outside of the city and you can go at a relaxed pace and you don't have to feel like you you know morning noon and night you're kind of at this grueling sightseeing non-stop schedule uh but it gives you enough time to see everything you you maybe need to see and then a few things that you can take your time on um you know ideally if you have more time great but three days is probably a good amount of time if you're on a on a schedule and you have other places to go and things to see perfect so you can really take you know that extended weekend getaway and enjoy the city absolutely awesome and then what about the best time of year what would you say definitely October um San Francisco is one of those places where people think oh it's California so it's just sunny and warm all year uh what they don't realize is in the summer we get a lot of fog and so it can be very very cold in the Summers and very foggy to the point where you can't even see the Golden Gate Bridge at all I always recommend October because it tends to be the best weather of the year it's usually warm it's usually clear it's usually Sunny Winters can be rainy or sunny but October is fairly consistent and so I always tell people if you come to San Francisco come in October yeah I actually think we were there in October and it was perfect weather so the first day yeah we we've heard the nickname fogust yes yes fogust is real it's very real and a lot of people come to San Francisco not realizing that and it it's it can be a surprise yes the first day were there um we went to see the bridge and it was just complete fog I think we got a little tiny glimpse of it but um day two in the afternoon fog cleared up and we had um completely unobstructed views of the bridge so there you go October is the time to go that's great now switching over to Transportation a little bit as far as flying in for that quick weekend if you need to rent a car like what do you think is the best mode of transportation and how do you suggest most people get to and from San Francisco yeah it really depends on what you want you can rent a car uh that gives you freedom to drive around the city or drive you know again up into the mine Headlands or Mir Woods or wine country if you want to but you don't need one um there is a train that goes from the airport into the city center both from San Francisco Airport and Oakland airport it's called BART Bay Area Rapid Transit um and it'll take you right into the Heart of the City um there are buses that will take you around the city or again it's fairly small you can walk or you can cycle um do be prepared for the hills um you can also take the cable cars which is super iconic and fun and even as locals we take the cable cars when we want to just have a good time and just do something different um so you again you don't need a car a lot of people will rent bikes and cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge and down to saalo and then take the ferry back so you don't need a car for that um I I like to say it's really really up to you how much control you want and how much you want to do and see in what way you want to do it one thing I'll add to that is I'm not sure if it's a California thing or just the fact that we were from New England or we were driving all over the middle of nowhere out west before we got to California but it threw me off a little bit when we got to San Francisco like the way the street lights were positioned it seemed like they were like farther away than I was used to and it took me like a minute to get used to that I don't know if that's like a californ like I said a California thing or not but that took me a while little while to adjust to and then just parking we had a 21t van and trying to find parking for it was it took a little bit of time yeah yeah San Francisco parking can be a difficult thing um so yeah definitely definitely recommend rening a smaller car than not if you are going to rent a car um I don't I haven't noticed that about the the street lights or the the stop lights but I will definitely make a mental note to to think about that yeah I don't know what it was I'm not sure if we're used to like back home the lights are on strings are on poles so they're like above the roadway but out there they're on like pedestals right yeah that's true huh yeah so maybe it's maybe we're just weird I don't know but it took me like a minute to get used to I think we had also been in the middle of nowhere where there probably weren't any stop lights and there was no traffic so the first stop light we saw yeah yeah exactly it's as you're going cross country all the different stop signs positioning um it definitely is a culture shock sometimes so just be careful when you're driving didn't hit anybody but just took me a little while to get used to um I will say for anyone though that is you know a camper or a van life person for us what we didn't plan on is the challenging parking being in a huge vehicle I kind of thought we could find a parking garage but our van was too tall um but down by the pier there was a lot of not parking garages but you know parking areas and we found some luck down there so if anyone has a bigger vehicle head down towards the pier yeah that's great and um there's definitely a big parking lot at Chrissy beach too um I'm not sure about side requirements there but there's no height requirement so that's something you could potentially look into too very good perfect now um moving over to the lodging aspect do you have any hotels that you love is it an Airbnb friendly city that you kind of suggest people do that to get a better more authentic experience yeah so I always have stayed at Hotel Triton which is right near Union Square Downtown it's kind of on the kind of border of the financial district Union Square and Chinatown so you are in a great location um you're near the water you're near all of the sort of downtown attractions um you're not too far from the cable cars and it's just a it's a great Hotel nice rooms um and you're you're kind of set they do a even a happy hour every night with wine and and whatnot for guests which is fun in terms of airbnbs there's definitely that's an option um they're not cheap I think that's one thing with anything in San Francisco you're going to find it is not an inexpensive City so do brace yourself but there are definitely airbnbs that you can stay in in San Francisco um again it's a city you can do trusted house sitters if you're on a budget and you don't want to pay San Francisco prices for accommodation you can definitely look into alternative kind of ways um we do even have a campground in the precidio uh it gets booked up way in advance so make sure to plan well ahead but you can camp here if you want to um and there are other uh options if you want to uh Camp you can even camp on Angel Island um which is an island in the middle of San Francisco Bay again gets booked up way in advance but it's certainly something if you're up for something totally kind of different spending a night on an island uh is a pretty cool experience too yeah very cool actually hadn't heard of that so if we work our way back with the camper then that's definitely something we're to look into and good note on the um doing it in advanced because I think sometimes when you're traveling especially if you're on these road trips you want to be a little more spur of the moment but especially with cities where there's less camping options definitely something you want to look into to prior to uh your arrival yeah for sure now it is a city so obviously there's a night life what do you like to do you know once the sun goes down yeah there's definitely great amazing restaurants the food in San Francisco is hard to beat and then there's really good night life um whether you want a dive bar or a high-end bar or you want to go out all night dancing or you want to speak easy uh the one thing I will say is well there's a great variety San Francisco is not a l night City so it's you're not going to be at places most places till you know 4: 5 6: a.m. um most things close by two at the latest even on the weekends so do just sort of mentally prepare yourself for that if you are more of a late night person yeah that's okay because there's so much to do in the daytime so it's probably good that forces you to bed a little bit earlier to Rally up in the morning because like you said so many good um breakfast spots and of course you know all the fun activities on the water definitely now just transitioning into food in San Francisco do you have any favorite spots that you want to mention you think if somebody goes they should check out absolutely my favorite spot is Zushi Puzzle which is a sushi restaurant it's it's one of those places I always tell people don't judge it until you've eaten there because you're going to walk in and think where did she send me it's on this sort of random street um the decor is fine but it's nothing wow worthy uh but the food is so good and you should order from the special menu with the special roles uh the Salesforce role is amazing the butterface the Wasabi Tom you can tell I've been there a million times and I always send people there because it is so good so it's definitely something to try if you have a big budget or you want to totally Splurge sit at the sushi counter with Chef Roger and do the Omas menu where he just like puts food in front of you all night and it's amazing too but even if you just do the regular experience it's it's delicious tell Chef Roger Julie sent you right do you have any other food spots you want to mention I think the other food spot I would mention is more General but it's the uh fairy Plaza Farmers Market which is a farmers market at the ferry building right on the waterfront uh the main Market day is Saturday and it has a million food stalls selling everything from fresh produce to prepared foods to meals there's shops inside selling cupcakes and all kinds of other things and it is just it's like a food Paradise um and the stall where I always get breakfast is called Prima Vera and I get the Chila keyce and I sit if it's a sunny day sit outside facing the Bay Bridge and just watching the world go by and it's amazing awesome how about the uh the sourdough chowder is that a native dish to San Francisco I think so um that's what everyone says I as a local I I mean I think I had it as a kid I it's not something I eat on a regular basis but it is something that's very popular and it's certainly worth having if you like that um same thing with dungeon as crab in the winter uh it comes into season and it's absolutely delicious and um it's a great thing to to eat if you want to do Seafood uh especially down by the Waterfront maybe it's more of a touristy thing when I went there hope when I went there we got the Chowder because it's you know the San Francisco thing to do and uh I went there a long time with my family a while back and we did the same thing the Chowder Alcatraz and just all the San Francisco tourist things yeah yeah no I think it's great I mean I love clam chowder in a bread bll I just the the calorie count you can't have it every day yeah exactly you can't have it every day but it's definitely something to have if you like it yeah definitely something to have you're uh in the pi in San Francisco yeah for sure well great I guess we'll transition to the three two one Countdown the final three questions of the podcast what are three things somebody needs to pack when they go to San Francisco good question so I would say number one is good walking shoes because it is a walkable City but obviously again there are Hills so you know make sure sure your feet are comfortable um number two especially if you come in the summer bring warm clothes uh but at kind of any time of year you just never know um the fog can roll in when you least expect it or it can be cold in the mornings and evenings even if it's warm during the day so uh don't think oh I'm going to California I'll just bring some T-shirts uh definitely pack layers um and number three is uh pack an open mind and a positive attitude um San Francisco for some reason media is loving to hate San Francisco right now and a lot of people kind of come in with this mentality of it's going to be terrible or it's going to know I'm going to have to fight my way through this Doom Loop or whatever they're calling it um San Francisco is amazing don't listen to what they say uh it has its issues like every city does but it's a great City and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised so just come with an open mind we made that mistake when we went out there with my family a long time ago we thought it was going to be a sunny San Francisco and it was July and I think it was like 60 degrees foggy so that's really good advice to to bring warm clothes if you're going in the summer so just picky backing off that point you just made there what are two complaints or things people should be prepared for before venturing to San Francisco I think kind of dovetailing on that just be prepared for any weather um it's it's unpredictable uh at best and you can get surprises either way um and I think also be prepared for uh the Hills I think even for me when I come back from London and I've been away for a while I'm always like oh my gosh these Hills are real um so just don't be intimidated by them H you you'll walk off all those good sushi calories but it is something where you need to to be prepared there's some steep hills here yeah and now you just mentioned kind of like the role the media plays and how San Francisco San Francisco can get kind of a bad rap I know when we first drove in there we were at the Golden Gate Overlook and there were so many signs like lock your valubles in your car lock your car and it definitely we we had heard of you know all of the the stigmas associated with San Francisco and it and that definitely we were a little bit alarmed at first because we were not used to that um I will say in our the one day we spent there we didn't see like the 10 cities or the people sleeping in the street we didn't witness that I don't know if it was like just the area that we went to but um as far as we're concerned like where we ventured to it was a beautiful city yeah absolutely and I think like you said a lot of it's where you go um there is a homeless problem in San Francisco but there always has been uh I think the media sort of wants everyone to think it's brand new but it's it's been there forever it probably will be for for a long time if not forever more um it's mostly concentrated downtown so if you're downtown you're going to see more of that than if you're in other parts of the city um it's just something it's a fact of life in in San Francisco there are yeah break-ins are a thing um they were worse a few years ago because uh there was a policy where they sort of decriminalized smaller crimes and so crime skyrocketed and then they stopped doing that and now things seem to be getting better um I'd still recommend locking your car don't leave valuables um I do think that's a good thing to do in any City though um but definitely uh it's something to be wise about don't give anyone a reason to break into your car if you have one well I mean you're living there and you've been to 112 other countries that choose from another city so CLE you feel safe there all right Julie one last question we've talked about a lot of things in San Francisco but what is one thing if you could pick that you have to do before leaving San Francisco for me it's seeing the Golden Gate Bridge uh it's just one of those every time I drive across it every time I see it I just think oh man this never gets old it's just so stunning and so beautiful and the whole landscape around it whether you're on the bridge or you see it from the beach or you see it from any other perspective on a boat what have you it's just absolutely amazing it is a sight to see and we did the boat tour so the second day we were there it was such a beautiful day we're like you know what we we need to like make the most of this so we went to Pier 39 and hopped on one of the boat charters drove underneath it it was a you know shiny day it was beautiful we went around Alcatraz kind of regretted not going into it would that be like a top five or top three thing to do is a tour Alcatraz do you think if you have time I would definitely recommend it the audio tour is amazing they even have former prisoner is doing part of the narration for the audio tour so it's really really good and not only do you get to see alcatra and learn about it but you also get amazing views of the city from it and from the boat ride like you said just a fairy to and from so it's definitely worth a visit if you can and I did it when I went there a long time ago and we talk about doing it like gu so we didn't do it we bought the movie escape from Alat Tres after that and just watched it and we're like man I wish we went that's a great movie yeah yeah so that's my recommendation if you're going to go to San Francisco go watch the movie first cuz it'll definitely it'll make you want to go yes for sure a lot of history there yeah yeah actually on my California wafering blog I even have a a blog post about the best San Francisco movies to watch so that's definitely a list to look at if you want some inspiration great yeah we'll link that Below in any other blogs I'm not going to list all of them because already have a million blogs in San Francisco but we'll link some blogs in San Francisco below from Julie and one last time Julie where can our audience find out more about you you can find more about me at aady in london.com and California wearing. comom and all the social media platforms where I'm the same thing there awesome all right Julie thanks again thank you
Tamalpa Headlands 50k Race Photos From Carolyn!! https://akrone.com/blog/2023/08/28/tamalpa-headlands-50k/ Race Start: August 19, 2023 730am Race Director: Race Director Jeffrey Stern Management: Ultra Running Magazine, supported by Tamalpa Runners Website: https://headlands50k.com/ Cost: $190 + $12.40 runsignup fee (already full) Start Location: Santos Meadows Finish Location: Santos Meadows Schwag: T-Shirts Prizes: $3,500 from RNNR Last Race: 2019, Cancelled 2020 Entrants: 2023 Entries: 321 Qualifiers? Nope Time Limit: 10 hours Elevation Gain/Loss: 6309 Best Times: Men: Andy Wacker (3:37:20, 2015) Women: Meagan Roche (4:20:51, 2016) Strava Link(s): https://www.strava.com/segments/10349396 More about Mark Richtman: https://ultrarunning.com/featured/mark-richtman-an-appreciation/ Food! https://www.eatmamahuhu.com/
Tamalpa Headlands 50k Race Start: August 19, 2023 730am Race Director: Race Director Jeffrey Stern Management: Ultra Running Magazine, supported by Tamalpa Runners Website: https://headlands50k.com/ Cost: $190 + $12.40 runsignup fee (already full) Start Location: Santos Meadows Finish Location: Santos Meadows Schwag: T-Shirts Prizes: $3,500 from RNNR Last Race: 2019, Cancelled 2020 Entrants: 2023 Entries: 321 Qualifiers? Nope Time Limit: 10 hours Elevation Gain/Loss: 6309 Best Times: Men: Andy Wacker (3:37:20, 2015) Women: Meagan Roche (4:20:51, 2016) Strava Link(s): https://www.strava.com/segments/10349396
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with photographer Shao Feng Hsu.About Artist Shao Feng Hsu:Shao-Feng Hsu is a photographer whose work around the world mainly focuses on the interaction of humans and aquatic environment. From his native Taiwan — where he trained as a competitive swimmer — to Australia, Cambodia, Japan, and beyond, Shao-Feng Hsu has immersed himself in aquatic cultures in an ongoing study of the impact of the Anthropocene Era on our waters. In December 2017, he was selected to participate in Angkor Photo Festival Workshop, where he documented life in a village without proper sanitation and running water. Expanding on the project's themes back in Taiwan, he collaborated with the environmental NGO, RE-Think, on projects to illustrate shoreline pollution. His project, Inner Tidal Zones, combines color photograms and digital images to capture the perspective of aquatic creatures and the emotions of the water. He is a graduate of the Creative Practices program at the International Center of Photography and a recipient of Rita K. Hillman Award of Excellence. During the pandemic lockdown he co-founded Fotodemic.org and cademy.biz. He is currently a Fellow at the Headlands Center of the Arts and teaches B&W darkroom at California College of the Arts (CCA) Photography Program.Visit Shao's Website: ShaoFengHsu.comFollow Shao on Instagram: @ShaoFengHsuFor more about the Headlands Graduate Fellowships HERE.Pictures of You: Headlands Center for the Arts Graduate Fellowship Exhibition at The LabSF Camerawork --About Podcast Host Emily Wilson:Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women's Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco.Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWilFollow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast--CREDITS:Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 LicenseThe Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com
On Wednesday's Morning Focus, Alan Morrissey was joined by Edmond Keogh, Eoghan McGrath and Eoin Fitzgibbon, and together they make up the band Kingfishr. Kingfishr are a Limerick-based folk band with a very bright future. They are set to support Dermot Kennedy at the third of his anticipated run of shows at Thomond Park this coming weekend. They had also supported George Ezra last month. They discussed the origins of the band and highlighted the minor nerves they have for the upcoming concert and how the nerves keep them on their toes! Kingfishr performed their newest single "Headlands" for Alan and all of the Morning Focus listeners live in studio.
In this episode we're joined by ultrarunner extraordinaire, race director and assistant editor of UltraRunning Magazine, Jeffrey Stern. UltraRunning Magazine's newest endeavor happens to be the Tamalpa Headlands 50k and who better to guide us through the details than race director Jeffrey Stern? He sheds a little light on the exhilarating course located in the Marin Headlands in California. Get ready to be inspired, informed and transported to the trails of the Marin Headlands as we unravel the remarkable journey of an athlete, race director and writer who has left an indelible mark on the ultrarunning landscape. Subscribe to UltraRunning Magazine Register for Tamalpa Headlands 50k Watch this episode on YouTube Thanks to our episode sponsors HOKA and Drymax
This week Maysoun and Kate find out which international art stars are coming to the Headlands and how many of them are from Ohio. Kate begs paranormal specialists to tell her if she is being haunted by a trinket stealing ghost. We also shout out some shows and welcome our new corporate sponsor, Sprint!The music in this episode is by Fake Fruit Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
I flew out to Chicago to interview Brett Harrison, who is the former President of FTX US President and founder of Architect.In his first longform interview since the fall of FTX, he speak in great detail about his entire tenure there and about SBF's dysfunctional leadership. He talks about how the inner circle of Gary Wang, Nishad Singh, and SBF mismanaged the company, controlled the codebase, got distracted by media, and even threatened him for his letter of resignation.In what was my favorite part of the interview, we also discuss his insights about the financial system from his decades of experience in the world's largest HFT firms.And we talk about Brett's new startup, Architect, as well as the general state of crypto post-FTX.After talking with Brett for 3 hours, I found him to be extremely intelligent, thoughtful, and ethical.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Similar episodesSide note: Paying the billsTo help pay the bills for my podcast, I've turned on paid subscriptions on Substack.No major content will be paywalled - please don't donate if you have to think twice before buying a cup of coffee.But if you have the means & have enjoyed my podcast, I would appreciate your support
A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. Host Miko Lee talks about Theatre & Memory with Bay Area native artists: composer Byron Au Yong and playwright Lauren Yee. They provide behind the scenes news about their upcoming productions at ACT and Berkeley Rep. More info on our guests: Byron Au Yong, composer The Headlands, ACT Lauren Yee, playwright Cambodian Rock Band, Berkeley Rep Transcript: Theatre and Memory or Why Art Matters [00:00:00] Miko Lee: Good evening and welcome to APEX Express. I'm your host, Miko Lee, and tonight we're talking about theater and memory or why art matters. So many artists grapple with this concept of memory and how each of us has a different story to share. And tonight we get to hear from two bay area locals, a playwright, and a composer, each share a bit about their creative process and why art matters to them. I have the pleasure of speaking with composer, Byron Au Yong who had been creating music for the Headlands, which opens this weekend at act. And with playwright Lauren Yee who's musical Cambodian rock band comes back home to Berkeley rep at the end of the month. First off. Let's take a listen to one of Byron Al Yong's compositions called know your rights. This is part of the trilogy of the Activists Songbook. This multi-lingual rap, give steps to know what to do when ice officers come to your door. song That was know your rights performed by Jason Chu with lyrics by Aaron Jeffries and composed by my guest, Byron Au Yong. Welcome, Byron Au Yong to Apex Express. We're so happy to hear from you. [00:04:11] Byron Au Yong: Thanks, Miko. It's so great to be here. [00:04:13] Miko Lee: I wanna talk to you about a couple of things. First and foremost, you have the Headlands that is opening up at ACT really soon. Tell me about who your people are and where you come from. [00:04:27] Byron Au Yong: Sure. So my grandparents, both maternal and paternal, left China in the late thirties and they both immigrated to the Philippines. And so both my parents were born to Philippines in different areas. And so I come from a family of refugees who then settled into Philippines and my parents were not the first in their family. They were actually both the fourth and they left and immigrated to the United States when the United States opened up immigration in post 1965. So they were part of that wave. And then I was born in Pittsburgh. They, they were actually introduced here in Seattle. And I was born in Pittsburgh because my dad was in school there. And then they moved back to Seattle. So I'm from Seattle and in 2016 I moved to San Francisco. [00:05:17] Miko Lee: Thank you. So you are a composer. Have you always played music and have you always been attuned to audio? Tell me about how you got started as a composer. [00:05:28] Byron Au Yong: Sure. As a kid my parents divorced when I was age seven and I was an only child up until age 16. My mom worked. In the evenings. And my dad wasn't in the household and so I had a lot of time to myself and I would sing a lot to myself. And then my next door neighbor was a piano teacher, and so I started to play the piano at age nine, and then at age 11 I started to write stuff down. And yeah, so I've been doing music for a bit. [00:05:59] Miko Lee: So music has always been a part of your life, essentially. It's been your playmate since you were young. [00:06:04] Byron Au Yong: Yes, absolutely [00:06:05] Miko Lee: Love that. So tell us about the Headlands that's gonna be opening at ACT pretty soon. [00:06:11] Byron Au Yong: Yeah so The Headlands is a play by Christopher Chen, who you may know is playwright, who is born and raised and continues to live in San Francisco. And it's his love letter to San Francisco. It's a San Francisco noir play. It's a whodunit play. It's a play about a main character who's trying to figure out who he is after the death of his dad. Which causes him to wonder who he is and where he is from. I'm doing original music for the show, this is gonna be an American Conservatory Theater, and Pam McKinnon, who's the artistic director, will be stage directing this production as well. I actually met Chris Chen in 2013 when I had a show called Stuck Elevator that was at ACT. And I've been really fascinated with his work as a playwright for a while, and so I was thrilled when ACT invited me to join the creative team to work on music. Miko Lee: Oh, fun. Okay. I wanna talk to you about Stuck Elevator next, but first let's stick with the headlines.This is a play that's about memory and storytelling. I'm wondering if there is a story that has framed your creative process. Byron Au Yong: Yeah. Thinking about this show as a memory play, and, memory as something, we go back in our memories to try and figure stuff out, which is very much what this play is. And also to claim and to. figure out if something from our memory was recalled maybe in completely. And so the main character is, piecing together fragments of his memory to figure out who he is in the present. And considering this I actually went back to music. I composed when I was still a teenager. I actually dropped outta school and was working a lot. I think I realized early on that I was indeed, I wanted to dedicate myself to being an artist and was very concerned about how I would make a living as an artist in the United States. And so I thought I'll figure out how to make money away from the music. And so I had a lot of jobs and I was trying to write music, but, I was in a sad place, and so I never finished anything. I have a bunch of fragments from this time. But on Memorial Day I woke up and, it was sunny in Seattle and so I said, I'm gonna finish a piece of music today. And that became part of a project in mine where every Memorial Day I finish a piece of music and it's a solo piano piece that I finish. And so, going back in my personal history, I found one of these Memorial Day pieces and thought, oh, this actually works. Because it's a bit awkward and it doesn't resolve, and I remember who I was back then, but it's also me piecing together things and so I used that as the foundation for the music, for The Headlands, which is a different thing. If you didn't know that was my source material, that's in some ways irrelevant. But that's my personal connection in thinking about music for this. And of course I've also done a lot of research on film noir. A lot of noir films were set in San Francisco. And and the music is awesome, amazing of this genre. And, it's mysterious it is a certain urban Americana music. And so I include those elements as well. [00:09:36] Miko Lee: Thank you. That's so interesting that you have a Memorial Day ritual to create a piece of music. I'm wondering if, aside from the Headlands, have you used the Memorial Day Music in other pieces you've created? [00:09:48] Byron Au Yong: No this is the first time. [00:09:51] Miko Lee: Wow. Yeah. That's great. [00:09:53] Byron Au Yong: I think Miko is because, it's a private thing for me. I think the other thing too is as you mentioned, music was my friend growing up. The piano was. Definitely one of my best friends. And so solo piano pieces for me are, it's where you can have an audience of one. And one of the things that helped me, when I was not in school was. Playing through a lot of different other solo piano pieces. And so part of these Memorial Day pieces too are that they're meant to be simple enough that they could be sight read. And so if, if there's a musician who you know, is in a similar state of, oh, I'm not able to really do anything, but I want to be with music. I can sight read through, these different Memorial Day pieces. [00:10:38] Miko Lee: And do you have them set in a specific part of your house or where, how, where do you keep your Memorial Day projects and when do you open them up to look at them? [00:10:48] Byron Au Yong: Oh yeah. They're handwritten in a folder. None of the things so special. [00:10:54] Miko Lee: What was it that inspired you to go back and look at them for the headlands? [00:10:58] Byron Au Yong: Oh, you know what it is there are, be, because I know you, you also create stuff too in your memory of your catalog.I'm wondering if you have. If you have works that, that you remember that you made and then tho those works may remind you of a certain mood you were in or a certain room or and so I think they're musical things from certain or, things I was experimenting with for these Memorial Day. Said, I'm like, oh, I remember this. Let me go back to the folder where I collect this stuff every year and look through it. And I think that parallels actually the headlands and what the main character is doing because he recalls, and what's so cool about the production is we go into the same scene, but there's like a clue that's been revealed. And so we as an audience get to revisit the scene again. And there's a different interpretation of what was happening in the scene. And so what might have been like a scene between Henry's parents, Lena and George, which he thought, oh, this is how it was when I was a kid, when I was 10 years old. Thinking about it, remembering it, but now with this new information, this is how I'm gonna interpret the scene. And so I think similarly with, music from my past, these Memorial Day pieces, I'm like, oh, this is what I was interested in working on. But now as a older composer, I'm like, ah, and I can do this with this material. [00:12:26] Miko Lee: I love that. And I also really appreciate that this play about memory you pulled from your Memorial Day pieces, that it goes with this whole flow of just re-envisioning things with your own frame and based on where you're at in any given time. [00:12:42] Byron Au Yong: Totally. [00:12:43] Miko Lee: I know that the show was created 2020, is that right? Yes. Is that when, first? Yeah, Byron Au Yong: I think it's right before the pandemic. Miko Lee: Yeah. And you've had several different directors, and now in a way you both are coming home to San Francisco and artistic director, Pam McKinnon is directing it. I wonder if you have thoughts about some of the difference approaches that these directors have brought to the process. [00:13:06] Byron Au Yong: Oh, yeah. And, miko, this is the first time I'm working on the headlands. And so when it was at Lincoln Center, there was a different creative team. [00:13:12] Miko Lee: Oh, so the music, you're just creating the music for this version of the show. [00:13:16] Byron Au Yong: Yes, correct. Wow. And it is a new production because that Lincoln Center was in a stage called LCT 3, which is a smaller venue. Whereas this is gonna be in a Toni Rembe theater, which is, on Geary. It's a 1100 seat theater. And the set is quite fabulous and large . And what's also great is, aside from Johnny, all the cast is local. And like it will have the feel of a San Francisco production because many of us live here, have lived here and know these places that are referenced in the show. [00:13:51] Miko Lee: Thanks for that clarification. So that's really different to go from a small house at Lincoln Center to the big house at a c t Yes. With local folks with, your local music. That brings a very different approach to it. I'm excited to see it. That sounds really interesting. And now I wanna go back to talk about Stuck Elevator, which I was so delighted to learn about. Which was your first piece That was at ACT what, back in 2013? So tell our audience first about where Stuck Elevator came from and then tell what it's about. [00:14:23] Byron Au Yong: Sure. So stuck elevator. So I was living in New York in 2005 and there were some there were some images of like photos in the newspaper, initially it was local news because it was a Chinese delivery man who was missing. And most of the delivery people at the time, they carry cash, they won't go to the police. And there, there had been a string of muggings and then one was actually beaten to death. And so it was local news that this guy was missing. And then a few days later, and in New York Times, there was a big article because he was found in an elevator in the Bronx and he had been trapped in his elevator which had become stuck. And he was trapped for 81 hours, which that's like over three days. And so it made international news. And then when I read the article and learned more about him, there were many parallels like where he was from in China, which is Fujan Province, which is where my grandparents left that he was paying a debt to human smugglers to be in the United States. And different things that I thought, wow, if my grandparents hadn't left I wonder if, I would be the one who was, paying to be smuggled here rather than paying for grad school. And so I became quite fascinated with them. And then also, realized at the time, in 2005, this is like YouTube was just starting, and so all like the Asian American YouTube stars, they weren't as prominent in the news. And, BTS wasn't around then. So for me to see an Asian male. In the US media there was always this feeling of oh why is this Asian male in the news? And then realized, oh, it's actually part of a larger story about being trapped in America about family obligation, about labor, about fear of, in his specific case because he's an undocumented immigrant, fear of deportation. So there were many issues that, that I thought were broader than the specific story. And so I thought, this would be a great opera slash musical. So that's what it became at [00:16:23] Miko Lee: you, you basically read a story and said, whoa, what is this? I feel this is so wild. And then created it into an opera. Yes. Also, it just resonated with me so much as a person who has been trapped in elevators, in broken elevators six different times, . Oh my goodness. Yes. I'm like, wow. And his story, that many hours, that has to be like a record. Byron Au Yong: Right? Nobody else has been trapped that long. Yeah. It's a record. Miko Lee: So you created this piece, it premiered at ACT? Yes. Did you ever connect with the guy that was stuck in the elevator? [00:16:59] Byron Au Yong: No. So the New York Times did something which is actually not cool. They they revealed his immigration status and that at the time I'm not sure if it's still the case,but at the time, you're not allowed to reveal people's immigration status. Especially, in such a public way. And so what was cool was that the AALEDF, which is the Asian American Legal Education and Defense Fund, they the volunteer attorneys there step forward to represent Ming Kuang Chen and his case and ensure that he had legal representation so he would not be deported. The thing is, he was suffering from PTSD and there was also another case at the time it was a different un undocumented immigrant case that AALEDF was representing that had a bit more visibility and so he actually didn't want to be so much into public eye, and so he went back into hiding. And so while I didn't meet him specifically, I met his translator. I met other people at AALEDF met with other people who were related to the stories that he was a part of. So for example, used to be an organization, which I think they've changed their name, but they were the Fujanese Restaurant Workers Association. Most of the undocumented immigrants who worked in restaurants at the time are from Fujan Province. Also, Asian Pacific American Studies at New York University. Is a mix o f people who were working in restaurants as well as people, scholars who were studying this issue. [00:18:46] Miko Lee: Can you describe a little bit about Stuck Elevator for folks that haven't seen it? Sure. How did you conceive of this piece, that song? [00:18:53] Byron Au Yong: Yeah so it's a thru sung piece about a guy who's trapped in America. He's a Chinese food delivery man, and he's, delivering food in the Bronx. And what I think is You know what I didn't realize when I started it. And then I realized working on it was the thing about being stuck in the elevator is, especially for so long, is that you and I don't know if this is your case, Miko it's so fascinating to hear you've been trapped six different times. There's the initial shock and initial oh my gosh, I have to get out. And then there's this. Maybe not resignation but there's this, okay. Okay. I'm gonna be here so now what? Now what I'm going to do and the time actually, especially for someone who works so much delivering food and sending money back home to his wife and son in China and his family is that he actually is not working, right? And so he has time to consider what his life has been like in New York for the past, the two years he's been there. And to consider the choices he's made as well as to remember his family who are back in China. And part of this too is you're not awake the entire time. Sometimes you go to sleep, and so in his sleep he dreams. He has hallucinations. He has nightmares. And this is where the music theater opera really starts to confront and navigate through the various issues of being trapped in America. [00:20:22] Miko Lee: Any chance this will come into production, somewhere? [00:20:26] Byron Au Yong: Yeah, hopefully, we were just at Nashville Opera last week, two weeks ago. [00:20:30] Miko Lee: Oh, fun. [00:20:31] Byron Au Yong: so Nashville Opera. So the lead Julius Ahn who was in ACT's production is an opera singer. And and he had told the artistic director of Nashville Opera about this project years ago. And John Hoomes, who's the artistic director there had remembered it. Last year John Hoomes reached out to me and said, you know, I think it's the time for to be an operatic premiere of Stuck Elevator. And so we had an amazing run there. [00:20:58] Miko Lee: Great. Wow. I look forward to seeing that too somewhere soon. Yes. I also wanted to chat with you about this last week, a lot of things have been happening in our A P I community with these mass shootings that have been just so painful. Yes. And I know that you worked on a piece that was called The Activist Songbook. Are you, can you talk a little bit about that process and the Know Your Rights project? [00:21:23] Byron Au Yong: Yeah, absolutely. And I'm gonna back up because so Activist Song Book is actually the third in a trilogy of which Stuck Elevator is the first, and related to the recent tragedies that have happened in Half Moon Bay and also in Monterey Park. The second in the trilogy is it's called the Ones. It was originally called Trigger, and it also has the name Belonging. And I can go through why it has so many different names, but the first in the trilogy was Stuck Elevator, and it was prompted by me again, seeing an Asian male in the US media. So the second actually all three are from seeing Asian males in the US media. And the second one was an incident that happened in 2007 where a creative writing major shot 49 people killing 32, and then himself at Virginia Tech. And and when this happened I realized, oh shoot Stuck elevator's part of a trilogy. I have to figure out how to do this show called Trigger or what was called Trigger. And then realized of the different layers in a trilogy. Yes. There's this initial thing about Asian men in the US media, but then there's this other thing about ways out of oppression. And so with Stuck Elevator, the way out of oppression is through the main character's imagination, right? His dreams, his what ifs, right? The possibilities and the different choices he can make with the second one, what me and the creative team realized is that, the way out of oppression is that the creative writing major who you may remember was a Korean American he was so isolated at Virginia Tech and the tragedy of him being able to purchase firearms and then kill so many people, including himself in working on it, I was like, I need to understand, but it's not this story I necessarily want to put on stage. And so what it became is it became a story, and this is also the national conversation changed around mass violence in America. The conversation became less about the perpetrator and more about the victims. And so it became a choral work for community performers. So rather than a music theater opera, like Stuck Elevator, it's a music theater forum with local singers. And this was actually performed at Virginia Tech during the 10 year memorial of the tragedy. And this one I did eight site visits to Virginia Tech and met with people including the chief of police of Blacksburg. First responder to director of threat assessment to family members whose children were lost. A child of, teachers were also killed that day to counselors who were there to Nikki Giovanni, who was one of the faculty members. So yeah so many people. But this one, the second one, the way out of oppression is from isolation into community, into belonging. And Virginia Tech Administration said we could not call the work trigger. And so the work there was called (Be)longing with the be in parentheses. And now we've done a new revision called The Ones partially influenced by the writer, one of his teachers was June Jordan who was at UC Berkeley. And she has a phrase, we are the ones we've been waiting for. And so the ones which is a 2019 revision, the show, what it does is Act three youth takeover, right? It's about coming of age and an age of guns, and the youth have become activists because they have no choice because they are being shot in places of learning, and so Parkland in Chicago and other places have been influential in this work. And then the third in the trilogy is Activist Songbook. And for this one we went back to an earlier asian male who was in the US media, and that was Vincent Chin who you may know was murdered 40 years ago. And so activist song book is to counteract hate and energize movements. And it's a collection of different songs that is even further away from musical theater opera production in that the rally component of the songs can be taught within 10 minutes to a group of people outdoors to be used right away. And that one, the way out of repression is through organizing. [00:25:49] Miko Lee: Well, Byron Au Young, thank you so much for sharing with us about all the different projects you've been working on. We'll put a link in the show notes to the headlands that folks can see at a c t. Tell our audience how else they can find out more about you and your life as a composer and more about your work. [00:26:05] Byron Au Yong: Sure. I have a website. It's my name.com or b y r o n a u y o n g.com. [00:26:12] Miko Lee: Thank you so much for spending so much time with me. [00:26:14] Byron Au Yong: Of course. [00:26:15] Miko Lee: You are tuned into apex express on 94.1, KPFA an 89.3 K P F B in Berkeley and online@kpfa.org. We're going to hear one more piece by composer, Byron Al young called This is the Beginning, which was prompted by Lilly and Vincent chin and inspired by Helen Zia and other organizers. song That was, This is the Beginning by Byron Au Yong and Aaron Jeffrey's. Featuring Christine Toi Johnson on voice and Tobias Wong on voice and guitar. This is a beginning is prompted by organizing in response to the racially motivated murder of Vincent Chin in Detroit. This hate crime was a turning point for Asian American solidarity in the fight for federal civil rights. Lily chin Vincent's mom refused to let her son's death be invisible. Next up, I have the chance to speak with playwright Lauren Yee who's musical Cambodian rock band. Returns to Berkeley rep where it first got its workshop and it will be there from February 25th through April 2nd. And here's a teaser from Cambodian rock band by Lauren Yee. Take a listen to seek CLO. song Miko Lee: Welcome Lauren Yee to Apex express. [00:34:35] Lauren Yee: Thank you so much, Miko. [00:34:37] Miko Lee: We're so happy to have you a local Bay Area person. Award-winning playwright. Coming back to town at Berkeley Rep with your show, Cambodian Rock Band. Yay. Tell us about the show. [00:34:51] Lauren Yee: Yes so Cambodian Rock Band. Is actually a piece that has some of its like earliest development roots in the Bay Area and also like specifically at Berkeley Rep. Getting to bring the show to Berkeley rep really feels like some sort of poetic justice. In addition to the fact, that it's like my old stomping grounds. . Essentially Cambodian rock Band started in 2015, or at least the writing of it. It actually started, if I'm being honest much earlier than that. I think it was about 2010 2011. I was down in San Diego in grad school and one of my friends was just like dying to go see this band play at a music festival. She was like, I saw this band play. They're amazing. You should totally come. And I was like, sure. And I don't know if you've ever had this experience, but it's like, going somewhere, hearing a band, and even before you know anything about them or their story, you just fall in love. You fall like head over heels in love and you say, oh my God who are these people? And I wanna know everything about them. And that band was Dengue Fever. Which is amazing. You fell in love with the band first. Yep. Before the play. Yes. And it was the band Dengue Fever which is an LA band. And their front woman Choni Mall is Cambodian American and she leads this sound that I think started in covers of Cambodian oldies from that golden age of rock for them, and has over time morphed into Dengue Fever's own original sound. Like we're nowadays, they're coming out with an album soon, their own original songs. But I fell in love with Dengue Fever and I was like, oh, okay, who are these people inspired by? And I just went down that rabbit hole of learning about this whole musical history that I never knew about. My own background is Chinese American. I'm not Cambodian American. And so a lot of kids who grew up in the public school system, I did not get basically any education about Cambodian history and America's role in seeding the elements that led to the Khmer Rouge's takeover the country, and the ensuing genocide. [00:37:12] Miko Lee: So you first fell in love with the band and then you went down an artist rabbit hole. We love those artist rabbit holes. Yes. And then what was your inspiration for the play itself? The musical? [00:37:22] Lauren Yee: Yeah so I fell in love with the music and I was like, there is something here because you had all these musicians in Cambodia who like, when 1975 hit and the communists took over the country there was just a time when like the country was a hostile place for artists where artists were specifically targeted among other groups. And so much of Cambodia's musicians and its musical history, was snuffed out, and I was like, there is a story here, that I find deeply compelling. And for a long time I didn't know how to tell that story because there's just so much in it. And then came 2015 where two things happened. One was that I was commissioned by a theater in Orange County called South Coast Rep, and they invited me to come down to their theater and just do research in the community for two weeks on anything you want. So I was like, I wanna look at malls, I wanna look at the video game culture down there, all kinds of things. And one of the things that I was interested in and just bubbled to the surface was the Cambodian American community, which is not in Orange County proper, but in, situated largely in Long Beach, right next door. And it just so happened that while I was there, There were just a lot of Cambodian American music related events that were going on. So the second annual Cambodian Music Festival, the Cambodia Town Fundraiser, Dengue Fever, was playing a gig in Long Beach. Like all these things were happening, that intersected me, with the Kamai or Cambodian community in Long Beach. And the other thing that happened coming out of that trip is that I started beginning to write the seeds of the play. And I did a very early workshop of it up at Seattle Rap. And I'm the sort of playwright. probably like writes and brings in collaborators like actors and a director sooner than a lot of other people. Most people probably wait until they have a first draft that they're comfortable with, whereas I'm like, I have 20 pages and I think if I go up and get some collaborators, I think I can generate the rest of it. So I went up to Seattle with kind of my, 20 or 30 pages and we brought in some actors. And that workshop had an actor named Joe No in it, and I knew Joe from previous work I'd done in Seattle. But during our first rehearsal when we were just like chatting he said to me like, this is my story. And I was like, oh, it's a story that calls out to me too. Thank you. And he was like no. You don't understand. Like, So my parents were born in Battambang Cambodia. They were survivors of the Khmer Rouge. I feel deeply connected to this material. And that conversation sparked. a very long relationship, between me and Joe and this play. That I, I think of him as like the soul, of this play. He became just like an integral part. And in the South coast rep production and in subsequent productions he's kind of been like our lead. He is Chum, and it's a role that I think is like perfectly suited for who he is as a human being and what his like essence is. And also he plays electric guitar which I think influenced things a lot because initially it was a play about music, right? It wasn't a musical, it was just people like talking about a music scene that they loved. And as I went along and found like the perfect people for these roles it was like, Joe plays electric guitar. It would be crazy not to have him try to play a little electric guitar in the show. And that kind of began that, the evolution of this play into a piece where music is not only talked about, but is an integral part of the show. You know that it's become a show that has a live band. The actors play the instruments. They play about a dozen songs. And it's a mix of Dengue, half Dengue Fever songs, half mostly Cambodian oldies. It's kind of been an incredible journey and I could not have imagined what that journey would be, it's hard to replicate. [00:41:53] Miko Lee: I love that. So has Joe been in every production you've done of the show so far? [00:41:57] Lauren Yee: So he hasn't been able to be in everyone. There were two productions happening at the same time, and so he could only be in one place at one time. But I bet you he would've tried to be in two places at once. But he's basically been in almost every production. And the production that he's in currently running at the Alley Theater in Houston is is like the production, the original production directed by Chay Yew. [00:42:24] Miko Lee: Wow. And was it difficult to cast all actors that were also musicians? [00:42:30] Lauren Yee: In some ways there there's I think if you were starting from scratch and you like open your window and you're like, where could I find some actors? I think it would be tough. But I just kept running into kind of like crazy happenstance where I would find a person and I wasn't even thinking about them musically. And they'd be like, yeah, like I've played bass, for 15 years. and I could kind of do drums, right? That what was remarkable is that there were all these Asian American actors who were like known as actors. But then once you like, dig down into their biographies, you're like, Hey, I see like you've actually played drums for X number of years, or, Hey, I see that you play like guitar and bass. Miko Lee: Tell me more about that. Lauren Yee: So it's almost like finding all these stealth musicians and like helping them dust the instruments off and being like, Hey, come back here. Fun. And so it's just been, it's just been like a joy. [00:43:27] Miko Lee: Oh, that's so great. I know the play is about music and also about memory, and I'm wondering if there's a story that has framed your creative process that stands out to you. [00:43:39] Lauren Yee: I don't know if it's one specific memory, but I find that just a lot of my stories I think they deal with family. I think they deal with parents and their grown children trying to reconnect with each other, trying to overcome family secrets and generational struggles. I would say I have a great relationship with my father. But I think, in every parent and child relationship, one thing that I'm fascinated by are these attempts to get to know someone, like especially your own parent, even when you know them well, and especially when you know them well. That kind of is able to penetrate that barrier that sometimes you hit in generations, right? That there's a wall that your parents put up. Or that there's this impossibility of knowing who your parents were before you had them because they had a whole life. And you only know this like tiny bit of it. And I think I'm just like fascinated by that. I'm fascinated by the impact of time. I'm fascinated by extraordinary circumstances and the ordinary people who lived through those times. And I think for a large part, even though Cambodian rock band features a family whose lived experience is different from my own. I think there's a lot of my own relationship with my father that I put into that relationship. This desire to know your parent better, this desire to know them even as they're trying to protect you. So yeah. [00:45:06] Miko Lee: What do your parents think about your work? [00:45:10] Lauren Yee: I think my parents are incredibly supportive, but like different in the way that one might think because my parents aren't arts people they of course like enjoy a story or enjoy a show, but they're not people who are like, I have a subscription to this theater, or I'm gonna go to this museum opening. and so their intersection with the arts, I feel like has been out of a sense of like love for me. Their ways of supporting me early on when like I was interested in theater and trying to figure out a way to go about it, like in high school when I was trying to like, put on a show with my friends and they were like in the back folding the programs or like building, the door to the set. And hauling away, all the furniture, so we could bring it to the theater. So like my parents have been supportive, but in a very, like nuts and bolts kind of way. Miko Lee: That's so sweet and that's so important. When I was doing the theater, my mom would come to every single show. Lauren Yee: Just Oh, bless that is, bless her. [00:46:14] Miko Lee: Ridiculous commitment. Yeah. I don't that for my kids, like every show. I wanna back up a little bit cuz we're talking about family. Can you tell me who are your people and where do you come from? [00:46:27] Lauren Yee: Ooh. That's such a great question. I think there are like many ways of answering that. When I think of home, I think of San Francisco, I live in New York now. But my whole youth, I grew up in San Francisco. My parents were both born there. My grandmother was born and raised there, one of my grandfathers was, born more like up the Delta and the other side of my family, my grandparents came from Toisan China. So on one hand, my family's from like that Pearl River Delta part of China. And at various times, like made a break for the United States. I think starting in the 1870s and spanning into the early 20th century you know, so we've been here for a while. And another way of thinking about it is we're all very, I think, suffused in our family's history in San Francisco. It's hard for me to go to a Chinese restaurant with my family without somebody from our table knowing somebody else in the restaurant, like inevitable. And it's something that never happens to me. I don't think it's ever happened to me when living in New York. Yeah. And I think And that's fun. That's fun. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. And I think b eing able to be Chinese American. Growing up in San Francisco, it's different than other, Asian Americans living in other parts of the country. Like in a strange way, it allows you to like be more of whoever you wanna be, right? When you're like not the only one. That it allows you to like, potentially choose a different path and not have to worry about. I don't know, just like carrying that load. [00:48:01] Miko Lee: That is so interesting. Do you mean because there's safety, because you're around so many other Chinese Americans, Asian Americans, that you can bring forth a greater sense of your individuality? [00:48:13] Lauren Yee: Yeah, I think so, like I went to Lowell High School where, you know, two thirds of the class is Asian American. There's just such a wide range of what an Asian American student at Lowell looks like. And what we're interested in and how our weird obsessions manifest so I think I just felt more freedom in differentiating myself cuz I like theater and I like storytelling. [00:48:36] Miko Lee: That's really interesting. Thanks so much for sharing that. I'm wondering, because Cambodian rock band is partially about when the communists took over Cambodia. If, when you were growing up as a multi-generational Chinese American, did you hear very much about communism and the impact on China? [00:48:57] Lauren Yee: I did not. And possibly it was swirling around. And I was too young to really understand the impacts. But when I look back on it, a lot of my plays, Cambodian Rock Band included, have to do with the intersection of Communism and American culture. Like another play I have called The Great Leap which was at ACT in San Francisco, also dealt with American culture like basketball, intersecting in communist China in the 1970s and then the 1980s. And like, honestly, in retrospect, the effects of communism were all around me growing up in San Francisco in the nineties. That the kids that I went to school with, like in elementary school, came there in various waves, but a lot of them pushed from Asia because of the influences of communism that you had of a wave of kids who came over. In the wake of the fall of the Soviet Union, you had kids who came preempting, the Hong Kong handover back to China. You had kids, who came to San Francisco in the wake of the fall of the Vietnam War. So there were like all these, political movements the effects of war that were like shaping the people around me. And I didn't realize it until like very much later. [00:50:19] Miko Lee: Oh, that's so interesting. Thank you so much. By the way. I really loved the Great Leap. It was such an interesting thank you way of really talking about some deep issues, but through such an American sport like basketball I enjoyed that so much. So thank you so much for sharing about your San Francisco influence. I'm curious because you've been writing TV now limited series like Pachinko and also congrats on writing the musical for Wrinkle In Time. Amazing. Thank you. [00:50:49] Lauren Yee: That is a book that I loved and just shook me, I forget what grade I was in, but I was probably like, 10 or 11 or something. So I think the fact that I get to interface and get to dig into such an iconic work as Wrinkle in Time, blows my mind. [00:51:05] Miko Lee: That is going to be so exciting. I'm really looking forward to that. Yeah. Yeah. But my question was really about you working on Pachinko and these other series, how different is playwriting to screen versus TV writing? [00:51:17] Lauren Yee: Yeah. I think in a way like the work that I did on Pachinko, for instance, like I was on the writing staff, that's a role where you're like supporting the creator of the show, which in this instance is Sue Hugh, who is just an incredible mind. And she had like kind of this vision for what she wanted to do with the adaptation of Pachinko. And, you know, you, as a writer on staff you're really helping to support that. So I think your role is a little bit different when you're brought on staff for tv that you're helping to birth the thing along and contribute your part. Whereas when you're a playwright like the piece remains with you, and you just have I think a greater sense of control over what happens to it. [00:52:00] Miko Lee: What surprised you in your creative process while you were working on this play, this musical? [00:52:08] Lauren Yee: I think the thing that I realized when I was writing Cambodian Rock Band is that in order for the play to really click together is that joy has to be at the center of it. That Cambodian rock band is a piece about art and artists and family surviving really horrific events. And in order to tell that story, you need to fall in love with the music. You need to understand why these people might have risked their lives. For art, you need to understand why art matters. And I think a feature of my work is finding the light in dark places that there is a lot, in the play that is heavy. There are points where it is surprisingly and shockingly funny and that there are moments of just incredible heart in places like you probably won't be expecting. And I think that's been a big lesson of developing this piece. [00:53:14] Miko Lee: Lauren Yee thank you so much for talking with me and sharing about Cambodian Rock Band and your artistic process. I know it's gonna be running at Berkeley rep February 25th through April 2nd. Where else is it running for folks that might not live in the Bay? [00:53:30] Lauren Yee: Yeah, so if you live in the Bay Area, or if you want just see it again, which is totally fine. Lots of people see it again. This same production is going to travel to arena stage in DC over the summer in the fall it'll be at Fifth Avenue and Act Theater up in Seattle, and then at the very beginning of 2024 it will be at Center Theater Group. [00:53:54] Miko Lee: Thank you so much for chatting with me today. I really appreciate you and your work out there in the world. [00:54:00] Lauren Yee: Thank you, Miko. [00:54:02] Miko Lee: That was playwright Lauren Yee. And I'm going to play you out, hearing one song from Dengue Fever, which is in Cambodian rock band. This is Uku. song [00:56:55] Miko Lee: Thank you so much for joining us. Please check out our website, kpfa.org backslash program, backslash apex express to find out more about the show tonight and to find out how you can take direct action. We thank all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating and sharing your visions with the world. Your voices are important. Apex express is produced by Miko Lee Jalena Keane-Lee and Paige Chung and special editing by Swati Rayasam. Thank you so much to the KPFA staff for their support have a great night. The post APEX Express – 2.9.23 Theatre & Memory or Why Art Matters appeared first on KPFA.
In the second of a two-part conversation for What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, five fans, journalists and photographers recall what it was like to witness XTC explode onto the scene. On 20 January 1978, XTC released their debut album, White Music, setting our radios in motion for the next 45 years. Tony Mitchell, editorial staffer on Sounds, followed XTC to Hamburg, Amsterdam and Japan. Photographer Jill Furmanovsky was on the same trip to Hamburg in 1978 and subsequent publicity sessions. Beverley Glick, who wrote for Sounds under the name of Betty Page, joined XTC in New York in 1980. Paul Burgess and Andy Poulton were at school at Headlands in Swindon, where the caretaker was Colin Moulding's dad. Music by Warren Butson.XTC's White Music: 45 years on (part one) What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book available from www.xtclimelight.com If you've enjoyed What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, please show your support at https://www.patreon.com/markfisher Thanks to the Pink Things, Humble Daisies and Knights in Shining Karma who've done the same. Paul BurgessThis Is Hardcore Warren ButsonHelter Skelter Jill FurmanovskyWebsite Rock Archive Swindon Works: XTC 1978 Hanging Around books Beverley GlickWebsite Tony MitchellWebsite Andy PoultonWebsite Sounds Clips Twitter ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Join us today as we talk with Anders Lasater of Anders Lasater Architects. In 2005, after nearly 10 years as the managing associate for Mark Singer Architects in Laguna Beach, Anders opened the doors to his own firm and has continued his focus on innovative designs for not only residential projects, but also restaurant, retail, and hotel projects. Anders holds a Master of Architecture degree from UCLA and a Bachelor of Architecture degree, cum laude, from Cal Poly Pomona. He is a licensed architect in the states of California, Texas, and Hawaii, and a Certified Green Building Professional. Additionally, Anders currently serves as the professional architect advisor to the Monarch Bay Architectural Committee and served as architectural advisor to The Strands at Headlands in Dana Point for 5 years. In his free time you might find Anders working out together with his wife and two sons, or actively working on visiting all 50 United States. With only a few more to go the pressure is on to complete the goal soon! However, having been born and raised here in Southern California, it remains his favorite state to date.
On 20 January 1978, XTC released their debut album with its defiant cry of This Is Pop! In the first of a two-part conversation for What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, five fans, journalists and photographers recall what it was like to witness XTC explode onto the scene with White Music. Tony Mitchell, editorial staffer on Sounds, followed XTC to Hamburg, Amsterdam and Japan. Photographer Jill Furmanovsky was on the same trip to Hamburg in 1978 and subsequent publicity sessions. Beverley Glick, who wrote for Sounds under the name of Betty Page, joined XTC in New York in 1980. Paul Burgess and Andy Poulton were at school at Headlands in Swindon, where the caretaker was Colin Moulding's dad. Music by Jon Bicknell. What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book available from www.xtclimelight.com If you've enjoyed What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast, please show your support at https://www.patreon.com/markfisher Thanks to the Pink Things, Humble Daisies and Knights in Shining Karma who've done the same. Jon BicknellDrums and Wires UKThat Sfumato Effect Paul BurgessThis Is Hardcore Jill FurmanovskyWebsiteRock ArchiveSwindon Works: XTC 1978 Hanging Around books Beverley GlickWebsite Tony MitchellWebsite Andy PoultonWebsite Sounds Clips Twitter ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
This week on The Session we are joined by Ryan Frank and Austin Sharp from Headlands Brewing Company to discuss their current growth and how a new location saved the brewery. With a new home in Lafayette, CA. and a new (to them) production brewery in Pittsburg, CA. the brewery is ready to take on a new life. We learn about their commitment to the outdoors and the plane itself, as well as a few of their wonderful beers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Steve Grzanich has the business news of the day with the Wintrust Business Minute. Chicago restaurant group Lettuce Entertain You will launch a private members club in River North next year. Crain’s reports the company will collaborate with a New York-based hospitality group, with a launch in late 2023 for the new club with a […]
On August 12, veteran ultrarunner Dean Karnazes was attacked by a coyote while running the Headlands 150-Mile Endurance Run in Northern California. Dean shared an Instagram video following the attack, which has been questioned by several media outlets. He joins URM Podcast to share his first-hand account of the experience, its aftermath, what may have lead to the attack and why trail safety is so important. Stay tuned after the episode for our “What's the Issue” segment with UR Magazine Editor Amy Clark for an inside look at the August issue. Watch the episode on YouTube here. (Image of coyote mentioned in the podcast) Dean Karnazes coyote attack video: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChLUGdXuRwu/ Subscribe to UltraRunning Magazine Thanks to our episode sponsor Arc'teryx
This was recorded on a cool summer day at Fleener Creek Beach in the Lost Coast Headlands on an incoming tide. The beach was narrow and sandy, tucked below the high cliffs which loomed above. The recording starts in the late morning under overcast skies, but the cloud layer broke up a bit just before noon and allowed some sunlight to peek through. The Lost Coast Headlands are one of six onshore units of the California Coastal National Monument, which protects all islets, rock outcroppings, and reefs within 12 nautical miles of shore along the entire 840 mile long coastline of California, as well as 7,942 acres of public land onshore. Please donate https://soundbynaturepodcast.com/donations/ Support the podcast on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/soundbynaturepodcast You can also become a monthly supporter by clicking the link at the end of this podcast description. Thank you to my current and past monthly supporters, those who have made one time donations, and my supporter on Patreon. I really appreciate the help! You can see pictures of the area this was recorded, as well as pictures from other locations I have gathered recordings, by visiting the Instagram and Facebook pages for the podcast. You can find them by searching @soundbynaturepodcast. Questions or comments? Send me a message on Facebook or Instagram, or email me at soundbynaturepodcast@gmail.com I was lucky to gather this recording during a quick side trip on my way to pick my daughter up from summer camp, I really hope you enjoy it. Stay safe, stay healthy, stay sound. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/soundbynature/support
This week I'm releasing my conversation with David Toledo of Crow Bicycles. I first interviewed David early in the pandemic, but with the dramatic supply chain issues that were going on at the time, Crow decided to push the launch of their e-gravel bike back. They are now in-market with an extended line up of e-bikes so I'm excited to get our conversation out there. Episode Sponsor: Hammerhead Karoo 2 (use promo code: THEGRAVELRIDE for free HRM with purchase) Crow Bicycles Website Support the Podcast Join The Ridership Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: Crow Bicycles [00:00:00] Craig Dalton: Hello, and welcome to the gravel ride podcast, where we go deep on the sport of gravel cycling through in-depth interviews with product designers, event organizers and athletes. Who are pioneering the sport I'm your host, Craig Dalton, a lifelong cyclist who discovered gravel cycling back in 2016 and made all the mistakes you don't need to make. I approach each episode as a beginner down, unlock all the knowledge you need to become a great gravel cyclist. This week on the podcast, we've got David Toledo from Crow, bicycles from Madrid, Spain. I actually recorded this episode early on in the pandemic and was excited to learn more about the CRO brand. As it turned out as many of, you know, The disastrous supply chain affected many, many brands and it actually affected crow's planned launch schedule. We put the episode on ice, but I'm happy to say Crow is ready to go. With bikes, ready to ship. CHRO bicycles as you'll learn shortly is an E bicycle company. With a gravel model that is their flagship offering, but they also offer commuting bikes, a flat bar, gravel bikes, and a bunch of options. If you're looking to enter the e-bike market. I've always been fascinated by e-bikes. I first got an e-bike for a cargo bike and it was a no-brainer to schlep my son around. But increasingly I've learned to appreciate the place that e-bikes have in the market. Whether it's for commuting or pleasure. I do think if you open your mind, E-bikes makes sense for a number of types of riders. I often think about some of the riders I see up on Mount Tam, which is a bit of a hefty climb. As they're getting older, maybe they don't have the ability to get up the hill or maybe they're trying to ride with younger friends and I see multi-generational rides. Happening with fathers and sons and the father might be on the e-bike or a son might be on the e-bike. So it's been fascinating to see. So I'm excited to see where these will fit in. And I know crow's execution is very slick. You'll hear David talk about the type of drive train they've implemented and the sort of Swiss army knife approach they've taken. With the bike with the type of motor and battery pack removable from the bike entirely. Making it a perfectly. Acceptable standard bike, maybe with a slight weight penalty. But perfectly acceptable to ride. So I think it's an interesting option. Encourage you to enter this episode with an open. Heart about what e-bikes could be and learn a little from david and go check out the cro bicycles lineup. Before we jump in. I want to thank this week. Sponsor, hammerhead and the crew to computer. Do you want to get more out of your rides this summer? Any old device can track distance, time and pace, but how about the ability to see upcoming Hills and points of interest along the route? The hammer had crew to helps you find your path forward and unlock your full potential on every ride. I've talked about how I've been using the crew twos climb feature and how much I've enjoyed seeing upcoming climbs. I'm excited. I'm going somewhere new this next week for the 4th of July. And it's going to be interesting to see what those rides hold in front of me. I love seeing those data points. I've been continually tweaking my display on the crew to, to put the things that I think are going to be most important to me. You can set up a couple of different profiles. So kind of ways in which the computer screens. Are set up, which I find is super cool, because I might think about things differently for one of my mountain bike rides or a road ride. Versus my gravel rides. So it's great to have that flexibility. The crew too has been simple to use and data can be uploaded to all your favorite platforms like Strava and commute and more. One of the things I've also been thinking about as I've found myself a little bit out of shape. I don't have a power meter, although you could connect that to the crew too, but I do have a heart rate monitor. And what you guys might not know is that hammerhead actually has their own heart rate monitor while it works with any ad plus system, they also have their own technology. That you can get. And for a limited time offer our listeners can get a free heart rate monitor strap with the purchase of our hammerhead kuru two. You just visit hammerhead.io right now and use the promo code. The gravel ride at checkout to get yours today. This is an exclusive limited time offer only for our podcast listeners. So don't forget to use that promo code, the gravel ride, and that's a free heart rate monitor with the purchase of a career to just go to hammerhead.io. At both items to your cart and use the promo code, a gravel ride. Thanks so much to hammerhead for supporting the show this week. And with that, let's jump right into my interview with David. , David, welcome to the [00:05:04] David Toledo: show. Thank you, Craig. Thank you for your time and thank you for your interest in crop bicycles. Yeah. I'm excited [00:05:10] Craig Dalton: to get into it because the e-bike category is obviously. Hitting all elements of the sport from commuter to mountain to gravel. Mm-hmm, , it's gonna be interesting to dig into the technology and what you are working on, but before we go there, David, why don't you tell the listener a little bit about your background and the inspiration behind founding Crow, bicycles, to say [00:05:35] David Toledo: that maybe in the us, you were early adopt in the digital trains and, and eCommerce, but in Spain specifically when I'm located. Came a little bit later than that, but I, I started very early in the early, in the first, uh, stages of the digital world in, in Spain, early 2000 in 2001, I funded my first, my first company. And it was a consultancy to help on the digital transformation to the, to the small companies in Spain. But it was really hard time doing that because it, it was, I, I felt I was talking in Chinese to the people. It was like, oh, they, they didn't understand what I'm trying to explain them and the opportunities of the digital world. And so that, but I started there on that time in 2001 with the, my first steps on the digital world. And then I, I, I run, uh, my own digital, uh, advertising agency, uh, for, uh, many years. And on parallel, I started a new business. Was raped with cycling industry with a few, with a few colleagues. And we started in 2000, uh, six with cannon bicycles. Uh, cannon bicycles was really interesting because it was the, probably one of the first direct to consumer brands in the market. And in 2006, it was here in Spain. It was just a few small retailers or super big online stores, like, uh, chain re and cycles. And that, that kind of stores or gems in USA, some people was buying to Jenson USA, even in Spain, but there was no real. Digital brands in the cycle industry. And Kenon was, I was coming to the market to change the things. And it was at the beginning, it was really tough because the people didn't trust you very much. They didn't trust on your project, on the brand that they didn't know it. And it was hard. But the, when with, with a lot of work from always side, this, the brands start to have a lot of, yeah. Awareness in the market and, and the people started to trust on us and it was, yeah. Then everything came. It was like explosion and everything wanted to all industry wanted to copy somehow cannon bicycles on that after few years, and now everything has changed. And, and I can say that the digital industry or the digital business are here for good. And it's something that, uh, even the, the big players. Figuring out how to interact with the digital world and to keep their, the traditional business models that trying to do some kind of blending between both words. But it is very interesting. And, but my background definitely is digital. Absolutely digital. [00:08:06] Craig Dalton: Interesting. So after all that time with canyon bicycles, did that spark an inspiration that you saw an opportunity in the market that led you to Crow bicycles? [00:08:17] David Toledo: Yeah. I had clear since the very beginning that the digital business and especially the direct to consumer business, it's the, in my eyes at least is the way to go. Because you have as a brand, you have direct and close contact with the customers. Sometimes the people say, Hey, yeah, but you don't have a physical place. I cannot reach you. I cannot see you face to face. But the thing is that is double side. The customers contact directly with the brands and the brands are interacting with the customers. And this is something wonderful because the, the customer can express their feelings, their, uh, fears or, uh, their needs. And the brand has all this input from, from firsthand. And this is part of the magic of the direct to consumer model. And you can react really quickly to the problems and yeah, somehow all these things made me to, to, to, to shape. In my head, if I, sometime I, I will have a, my own bike brand that was sold with my dream that definitely this, this will be the way to, to do it. But also there was a lot of things to improve because there was after 14 years working with cannon bicycles, I saw all the aspects of the brand, the good things. And sometimes even not the so good things, because it was always how you see it in English, Chinese and shadows or something like this. It's, uh, it's like, Things that it was not so nice. And this is the kind of things I want to improve. I want to change a little bit, and also from, uh, my experience and my learnings during my Eli years, there is also new ways to do business. And this is the part that I'm definitely going to disrupt in conversation with other brands. And even with Kenya bicycles in the coming months, we want to work in a project that is going to change the way the customers. Use the bike we could say. Yeah, but I cannot say too much about that because it's just an ongoing [00:10:03] Craig Dalton: project. Interesting. Great. And then to pull the company together, were you drawing on other teammates that you had worked with previously at canyon to design the bicycles, et cetera? [00:10:15] David Toledo: Yeah, I mainly the design of the bicycle was my work for the last, yeah, probably eight to 10 months or something like this, or previously since 2008, late 2019 until mid 20, 20, or a little bit more. I was working, just focus onto the cycling bicycles portfolio and design and components and trying to develop concept and a range that has Sims. And then I contacted my, one of my colleagues in. Ex or former C in Kenya USA. And he was working in another industry and I conducted him to. To tell, Hey, I'm gonna launch that this, this is something that sounds interesting to you. And of course he was interested since the very beginning and, uh, we start working and he helped me to also to shave the bikes in terms of adapting them to the, uh, us market and to the us, uh, consumer needs. And, and together we did a lot of, uh, things. Yeah. But it was, it was really interesting to have like both sides, right? The, the European point of view, uh, of the cycling and the American point of view, because. Even if, if it's, uh, gravel and even if it's cycling, uh, sometimes they're pretty different, uh, from market to market. Yeah, [00:11:27] Craig Dalton: absolutely. There definitely seems to be globally different perceptions around e-bikes particularly in the offroad world that we see in Europe versus the us stepping back for the listener. So Crow bicycles is introducing a range. E-bikes E gravel bikes to the world. David, why don't you get into just some of the basic idea behind the bike, the type of. Engine that I don't know, even know if engine is the right word in e-bike so you'll have to correct me but, but I'm super curious. I've been very, yeah. [00:12:00] David Toledo: Motor yeah. Motor maybe is the right way to, to yeah. But motor or system or just, yeah, it's maybe motor is the right [00:12:08] Craig Dalton: one. Thank you. Yeah. It's, it's been interesting for me. I probably started out originally seeing e-bikes offroad and being frustrated and maybe being a little bit of a naysay. I started to see them commuting into San Francisco. And I started to have a realization from a commuting perspective. There were absolutely days that I didn't wanna ride the hour to an office downtown in San Francisco, but I certainly didn't wanna get into a car and having an E commuting bike made sense. Then I started to talk to more and more athletes who were riding them off road. And I started to appreciate a lot of the nuances. In the e-bike market and how it creates accessibility for athletes who might not be able otherwise to get up the big Hills around here, but it also opened up new performance elements, new ways of riding, because you could discount certain things that may take up a lot of your time in any given bike ride. So I've become very pro eBike actually. And I'm curious to talk about E gravel bike because I haven't quite. Made that fit into my mental model yet. [00:13:19] David Toledo: yeah. The thing is that there's sometimes it's hard because there's so many kind of likes and this is interacting with customers. It's really, as I said, it is really interesting because you get a lot of feedback. Sometimes this feedbacks are saying, Hey, this is a mope. Or this is buy a motorcycle instead of an e-bike. Why, why do you buy an e-bike? You can buy a motorcycle or something like this, and this is not real bicycle. And so many feedbacks like this. And the thing is that most of these feedbacks are coming from people that never before tested a, an e-bike. Yes. And they don't have an experience with e-bike and, and I will definitely recommend them to test it because it's, it can change your whole perception of like concept of this thing. But the it's gonna start with saying. Somehow I have to give them a part of, of the, the ride because yeah, there's some e-bikes in the market that definitely, they are a concept that I'm not really, uh, friend of it's those super. High speedy bikes, uh, super powerfully bikes that they're somehow, they're like a moment with pedals and I'm not really comfort with that kind of, of concept. Or I respect this is in the market. I am of course agree that this needs somehow to be like regulated because they can be even dangerous sometimes because they have a throttle and then you, you can use it as a. Motorcycle, but there's another can of EBIS that this is, uh, more like, uh, a bicycle with some systems. And in this group, this, this is in some states in the us, this is called like the class one and they are limited up to 20 miles per hour. And at least in Europe, they have a limited a limitation on even on the power, the power, the motor cannot give you more than 250 Watts of power. Okay. . Yeah. And this is, this is another concept, absolutely different to the super powerful, super heavy e-bike. And, but the, the truth is that one of the friends, I was one of the first I was missing in the market. When I started to, to develop Crow, bicycles was something in between the e-bikes that you can find in the market, even coming from the big players, right? Like from specialize or Cannondale, their approach was more like. Powerful e-bikes but, uh, a bicycle, but with a powerful motor and somehow a little bit heavy, more heavy than I would like to have in a bicycle. So this is what I, I started to think. Hey, there's I think there's room in the market for a lighter bike, uh, uh, a e-bike that it's a blend between, sorry, between a, a standard bicycle and an e-bike something that you can enjoy pedaling that it needs to be easy to pedal. And it needs to be light and it needs to be nimble. And so all these concepts needed to be developed in a bicycle. So I start to research and I found that there was no many options in the market for that kind of bicycles. And this is what I decided. Okay. I need to step into that and I need to develop a brand that it's focused on the experience. Not only on the, yeah. I have a, a, a super cool bike, but it's, I have the feeling that some, somehow this is, uh, like artificial. I wanted to have a bicycle that when you're riding, you don't feel that this is any bike. You feel that it's somehow you're better trained than you really are or better fit than you really are, but you don't feel that you're not working out. And this is found Fati. I met FASU with through canyon bicycles because they used them at, in Theban and commuting bikes. And, and I, I saw there was like, uh, a lot of potential with that system. And. Yeah, this is basically what I wanted to develop a e-bike concept or a bicycle, a bike brand focus on really light e-bikes where the experience is. The most important thing is, uh, to have the feeling that you are not using, uh, Mo pit or something like this. That is a real bicycle. Yeah, [00:17:13] Craig Dalton: I think there's a couple really interesting points there for the listener one. I think we've all seen almost beach cruiser style, electric assist bikes, and someone goes by you at 20 miles an hour. And it doesn't even look like the same sport, right? It's just, they're not a cyclist. They're not getting any fitness or barely any fitness out of that. Maybe that's my personal bias. But when you get to the performance e-bike and these lower weighty bikes, clearly you're getting a workout. You're just getting it at different points. I like the way in your. Indigogo campaign, how you're articulating some of the power assist where it's the, the level one is like a breeze at your back. Yeah. Whereas the, the level three is like a rocket ship. So I think it it's super interesting. The second thing I wanna point out, and it's difficult without looking at an image and I'll certainly have links to both your website and the campaign about the motor and battery mechanism and how mm-hmm fr from the uninitiated eye. It really does disappear into the construction of the bicycle. You're not seeing a big battery where the water bottle might be, and you're not seeing a massively oversized mechanism around the crank shaft. Yeah. So it's a very interesting visual with the Crow bicycles and this FSA motor system that I, I think you've designed into the product. [00:18:35] David Toledo: yeah, yeah. For zoo was really interesting because you can find some bicycles in the market that they, they have like, absolutely integrated the battery into the main cube, but it's something that you cannot easily remove from the, from the bicycle. So you you're gonna have always this battery and the motor eats. Integrated in the bottom bracket. So you, you have a bicycle that it's an e-bike, it can be a not super powerful eBike and it can be pretty light e-bike. Yeah. But you have all these things in there inside, and you can remove them. And it's the aspect of some bicycles is, yeah, it's great. You can see that there's no even connections or URA was offering something that I really love. It was that it's a clean. Design it's absolutely integrated into the main tube. And, but the thing is that in seconds you can remove the whole system, even the motor, that this is the most interesting thing. Even the motor and the battery in one pack and just put in place a hollow cover and you have a thunder. and this is, this is like, uh, the best thing, because if you want, just to experience a standard bike without any assistance at all, and without the, and with you, the extra weight of the motor and the battery, you can do it in seconds. [00:19:52] Craig Dalton: Yeah. It's pretty fascinating. And I know I saw that you've basically, you have a, sort of a compartment that snaps back into where the battery and motor was, so that you can carry a jacket or what have you, in, in that location when you're not using the battery. [00:20:06] David Toledo: Yeah, that's it. That's it? Uh, this is this, that was one of the interesting things for me. And this is one I always tried to say to the people, Hey, this is, this is not a mop it. And this is like absolutely different concept. To what maybe you're used to seeing a, in a e-bike, but this is a real bicycle and you can even use it as a real bicycle. This is the magic of the system. This is, it's absolutely integrated in the, the whole, this angle bicycle. You cannot really notice that you have a motor and the battery there, but even if you want, you can, you don't need to carry with, with you, if you just want to go for a standard bike ride. And yeah. [00:20:40] Craig Dalton: So the bicycles am I correct? That they hover around sort of 30 pounds. [00:20:46] David Toledo: yeah. Is that right? Yeah. Something like that. Yeah. 30.2 30.7. Something like that. Yeah. And [00:20:53] Craig Dalton: is that, is that with the battery? [00:20:56] David Toledo: Yeah, that's with the battery and [00:20:57] Craig Dalton: the motor? Yeah. Okay. And then when you take the battery out, what do you bringing the bike down to at that point? [00:21:03] David Toledo: Yeah. It's you can get, let me. Be sure about that figure because it's, I have all the figures in, in kilos. gotcha. So yeah. Wait a second. I'll let you know what was that? I think it was like seven pounds or something like this. I'm correct. Yeah. You remove 7.3 pounds, right? You're removing a lot of weight and the weight of the hollow tube. It's uh, 0.9 pounds. so you're turning your 3.2 pounds bike into a, a 23.8 pounds or something like this. So it's, it's very light. It's a really decent weight for a, a standard bicycle. So it's, I know it's there there's of course lighter, like the more likeer options in the market, but this, but you cannot transform into a eBike. And this is the, the great thing of this concept that you can have two bikes in. [00:21:54] Craig Dalton: Yeah, no, I think that's really, it's a mind blowing thing as a consumer to think about how it fits into your life and how having those two bikes. Yeah. It's not your featherweight race bike, but without that battery in there at 23 odd pounds, that's not obnoxious either. That's a bike that you can still ride and enjoy. Obviously there's a lot of different sectors of the e-bike market. E mountain bikes and commuter bikes have been huge. As we've said before, what made you feel like E gravel mm-hmm was the right category to enter and for the listener, what type of adventures and types of riding do you think that an E gravel bike opens [00:22:33] David Toledo: up? Let's start saying that probably for me, the, the E the, the, the gravel's like, uh, the most versatile bicycle ever is, is a perfecto rounder. You can go everywhere and do whatever you want with that. You can to commute, you can travel with it. And that that's, that was why I decided to start my, my, my background, my bike brand with, with a gravel bike, but Y E gravel bike it's because I saw there was a new world to discover with a, with an, a knee bike. I, I, I really love to. I travel with my bike. I, every year I try to do at least one of two long urinates during, I don't know, 10, 10, 10 days or 12 days crossing part of the Spain. And I was always carrying my, my backpacks and, and all the, all the backs to, to carry all the stuff for 11 or 12 days. And, uh, some at some points I was Australian because even if you're feet, you definitely feel. All the way your came with you it's as, at some points it's, it's too much and you don't enjoy very much with that. So I start to think, okay. The, even for that kind of customers, when you're traveling, when you need a bike, that goes all kind of the rains, an e-bike it's perfect too, because you can be riding without any assistance and at certain points where you need some. You can count with that backup system that is going to help you. It's going to make your life a little bit more easy, and it doesn't mean that it's going to be any trick and you're not going to enjoy cycling, or you're not gonna do a workout. It's just going to help you when you want or when you need. I think it's [00:24:09] Craig Dalton: really interesting with the e-bike again, cause I, I feel like a lot of people like the natural perception is it's not a fitness experience, but it just changes. Where you're able to ride. They think about riders here out of San Francisco and anybody who's living in the city knows it might take you half an hour to get across the golden gate bridge and then into the Headlands. And in a big day, you might get to the top of Mount TA. But if you eliminate some of the efforts in the, the early part of that ride and maybe ride out to Fairfax and start from the backside of Mount TA, all of a sudden things that would've normally taken. A six, seven hour ride long day, which is generally outside the, the world of possibility for a lot of people, all of a sudden you're able to explore the backside of Mount TA or, or even farther out with the ESY. Yeah. So it becomes really interesting in the same way. Just a gravel bike in general becomes interesting that the combination of roads and trails, you can bring things together that you otherwise wouldn't. On other types of bikes mm-hmm so I think it's, it's just one of those very thoughtful things. As people are thinking about these bikes, you need to consider what, what it will open up for you to. . Yeah. [00:25:23] David Toledo: Yeah. This is one of the, one of the actual, this one of the main keys that you can, you can prepare your daily ride in like absolutely different way. You can, if you need to cross a city or you need to, uh, reach a certain point and you, you need to do some, I don't know, row that even you need some speed or whatever the EBI is going to always help you there. And you can enjoy the rest of the ride without, but this is part of the key of, of our concept that you can enjoy. Without any assistance, because even with other e-bikes you in the end, when you are not pedaling or when you're not having assistance from the motor, you are moving the motor. And this is somehow, this is hurting your experience because you have some kind of filling, like, like you have, uh, a not fine pedaling or you, you feel it like, uh, a little bit like a jam. I don't know how to express it in it's. So easy to pedal light with, or as in a standard bike and in, but with the FSU system, it's very interesting because when you don't use the, the assistance, the motor is disconnected from the bottom bracket. So you feel that you're riding a standard bike, even with the [00:26:27] Craig Dalton: mechanism still installed on the bike, you still don't feel like, yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:26:32] David Toledo: Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. That's a point. That's a point you have three, a systems modes. This is the breeze, as you described before, there is yeah. Having some wind on your back and the rocket, but in the middle you have, uh, a river and all of them, you can configure, uh, you can customize them with, with your laptop and, uh, a USB cable connected to the system. You can transform your, your whole system into, uh, a different behavior when you want and you can explore and you can play with it. But the, the cool thing is. You have another mode that it's, uh, we call it like the non systems mode and, and the LEDs are, uh, right and wide. And in this mode, it's, the system has a clutch and the motor is connected from the bottom bracket. So you are riding a standard bike and you're carrying, of course you're carrying some extra way because you, you have this 3.1, sorry, 7.3, uh, pounds of the motor and the battery. But it's not that much. It's not something that, and you are not really going to notice that weight very much because you're riding like one of the, uh, wonderful things of the global bikes is that they are not, you know, rolling this massive, super wide and heavy tires of a moon bike. You're rolling with a, with a tire that really rolls. Perfect. And even with the battery on the motor there, it's great. But one of the keys of the system is that you, your motor is disconnected when you're not using the systems. So you have a standard bike. [00:27:59] Craig Dalton: That's really interesting. And I know for the listener of a, a large, very large American brand, just introduced a mountain bike with this same exact engine in it. So I think it's something we're gonna see more and more. And again, I probably misspoke. I shouldn't call it an engine. It's that mid drive motor that we're talking about. interesting. So where are you in the progression of beginning to start your production and deliver bikes? [00:28:25] David Toledo: Yeah, that's interesting question. Uh, a lot of people ask it, ask it as about the, the production and because everybody knows how it's industry right now and the industry struggling. This is struggling because there's, it's, there's a boom on the demand. Something that after 15 years in the cycle industry, I never saw something like this, but it's, it's great because this is in somehow it's, it's unparalleled with our vision. We, we want more people riding on bikes. We want more people. Using versatile solutions for enjoying and for doing sports and also for commuting for transport. And so that's great because this means that more people is using bicycles. But yeah, the, the question is we are not going to use the stocks of the OE products. This in industry, in the cycle industry, there is two, two ways to approach to the, to the components. You can buy them as a OE, or you can buy them as a. A store or something as a retailer, the big players are always, they need to use OE stocks because they're ordering massive amounts of products. They cannot order their products to any other stock that is not an OE. And this needs go through the, directly to the production facility in whatever, in Japan or in the us, or in Asia. And that, that has a list of orders or pre-orders from all the big grant. And. Like right now because everybody's ordering and there's a mass waiting list. And, but our case is a little bit different because we are a small brand and we are not going to order a massive amount of, of parts. Uh, so we are going to order them to the local European stocks to have access to, to products that are going to be a viable sooner than the OE production. So we are gonna have of course, a. Expensive product. We are gonna have less margin in our products, but instead we can, we can deliver the bicycles to our customers before. [00:30:26] Craig Dalton: Yeah, no, we've talked about it on the podcast before. It's a very complicated moment in time for global supply chains and it's particularly affecting all the smaller brands that I speak with because the big guys are sucking up all that volume and the manufacturers just simply can't keep up with the demand. [00:30:46] David Toledo: Yeah, yeah, yeah. There was a with the COVID thing, there was like a lot of work that was a stop. And, but basically the production capacity is what it is. So even if you want to order more, the factories can produce more. So this is right. [00:31:03] Craig Dalton: Yeah. You assume that it would sort itself, [00:31:05] David Toledo: we would start shipping. [00:31:07] Craig Dalton: Yeah, sorry. Yeah. Sorry, dude. I was saying, saying, yeah, you assumed that a year into the pandemic that it was gonna start working itself out, but there's no indication that supply is unlocking anytime soon. Can you repeat [00:31:18] David Toledo: again? The, the question please? Because I, I was some cut [00:31:21] Craig Dalton: in this. Yeah, no worries. No worries. Yeah. You would've, you, I would've assumed a year into the pandemic that the supply chains would've been unlocked at this. But there certainly hasn't been any indication from people I've been speaking with that. That's the case. No, it's not the [00:31:35] David Toledo: case. It's not the case. This is still struggling. The thing is that it, it has somehow it's like the perfect storm, right? Because, um, with the co and in, in the whole world has been locked down in their homes for really, for months, at least in here in Europe, it was like pretty crazy because we were in our homes. We can't even not go out for anything, basically. Can go to the mall to buy some foods. And that was all. So the people was at their homes and they were really suffering. And once the people started to go again, out to the streets, they, they appreciate more than ever before the, the freedom to go out the freedom to practice the sports. That was part of why all this boom is coming from because the people wanted to keep practicing sports and enjoying their life. And also in, in the big cities, the people. Concern about using the, the public transports or the VA or the subway, whatever. So there's a lot of people that also they are buying bicycles to do commute. And so this is this together with the, with the, the whole stop that the production in, in Asia had the first, uh, quarter of the year. And even until the mid 20. And plus all the demand that all the, all this action industry is putting right now onto the, onto the production in, in Asia and in Europe. That's what is making this perfect storm and seems that it's not going to change in the short time. Definitely. We think that probably until 20 22, 20 23, this is not going to be better. Definitely. Yeah. [00:33:08] Craig Dalton: As you and I were talking offline, I think there there's gonna be this new reality post COVID and I, I do hope and I'm optimistic. The sheer volume of people out on bikes is going to start to transform a lot of our communities and make cycling even safer and better. And products like this that have the versatility to deliver you maybe farther than you'd normally want to pedal on any given day, I think are really exciting changes in modality for transportation that we're in front. [00:33:39] David Toledo: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's it. This, I, I saw somehow the whole COVID thing has forced to speed up some changes in the world. Right. We were spec talking before about the, the new way to work and where the people is, where the people is located, working. They are right now working in different places or from their home. And now the, even the companies have discovered that, okay, maybe. Working from home is not that bad. And, and so the people it's changing their, um, mentality the way they understand the, the world. And this is somehow, this is because of the. And also the cycling industry. It's getting some profit from that because, uh, the bicycle is the perfect transport solution for a lot of people, but they didn't discover so far. So right now the people is discovering. Yeah. Wow. The bicycle is not that bad. It's great. I even go faster or I can, I spend less time that with my car because. Before that I was in a traffic jam and now I don't need to look for a, I don't know, half hour when hour looking for a parking to, to park my car. And now with a bicycle, I even, I go, even I reach my, my, my job happier because I'm, I'm practicing sports because before going to the office and. I arrived to my office with a, with a smile. And I, before that I was arriving really mad in a bad view, uh, in a bad news because I was tired of, uh, being for a long time in traffic jam. And this, this is changing. This is absolutely changing. [00:35:08] Craig Dalton: Yeah, absolutely. Some of the many reasons I'm excited about the project you're working on with Crow bicycles, for the listener, I'll put links to crow's website and their launch campaign. that you should check out. Yeah. And I very much look forward to trying one of these bicycles, myself and getting a perception on how it opens up. Yeah. Gravel cycling in my community for. . [00:35:29] David Toledo: Yeah, we're looking for that too. We have the truth is that we have right now, one bicycle on the us, it arrived last week and we're gonna have soon the motor and the battery system, because we needed to send it separately for, uh, different reasons. But yeah, it's gonna be ready for you soon. So we are looking forward to, to, to handle the word you and, and see your, your reaction to that bike. I think you're gonna, you're gonna love it. I'm enjoying this bike probably more than any other bike before. I'm appreciate that. A lot of people is going to discover a new work with this, uh, new concept. [00:36:02] Craig Dalton: Awesome. Thanks for all the time today, David. I appreciate the overview. [00:36:06] David Toledo: Thank you very much for your time and congratulations for your work and this, this podcast. [00:36:11] Craig Dalton: Big. Thanks again to David for joining the show and telling us more about Crow, bicycles, and their exciting lineup. I'll put a link in the show notes so you can find them online. I'm keen to get your feedback. So if any of you are e-bike riders or have thoughts on the subject, feel free to shoot me a note or join me in the ridership forum. You can simply visit www.theridership.com. That's our free global cycling community. So jump right in and have a conversation. It's a great way to connect with me and other gravel cyclists from around the world. If you're able to support the show, simply visit buy me a coffee.com/the gravel ride. And remember to go check out that hammerhead, kuru to offer, use the promo code, the gravel ride. Until next time here's to finding some dirt under your wheels
This week we sit down with rising gravel racing star, Brennan Wertz from the Pinarello Scuderia team. Brennan has been tearing up the Northern California gravel scene in early 2022 with wins at the Grasshopper and Shasta Gravel Hugger. Episode sponsor: The Feed Support the Podcast Join The Ridership Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: Brennan Wertz - Pinarello [00:00:00] Craig Dalton: Hello, and welcome to the gravel ride podcast, where we go deep on the sport of gravel cycling through in-depth interviews with product designers, event organizers and athletes. Who are pioneering the sport I'm your host, Craig Dalton, a lifelong cyclist who discovered gravel cycling back in 2016 and made all the mistakes you don't need to make. I approach each episode as a beginner down, unlock all the knowledge you need to become a great gravel cyclist. Let me start this week with a question. Did you come to gravel, cycling from another sport? This week's guest certainly did. Brendan worked, spent his high school and collegiate years at the front end of another pack. The USA rowing pack. Brendan road for the national team, as well as Stanford university. But injury led him back to cycling a sport. He discovered in his youth here in the town of mill valley, California. We're going to dive into his background and what's led this pro to be at the front end of the field in 2022. Before we jump into this week, shall I wanted to extend a big, thank you. And welcome to the feed. A new sponsor here on the gravel ride podcast. I've been enjoying getting to know the team over in colorado from the feed and have been really impressed by their commitment to bring together not only products but education around this idea of human performance. Today. I wanted to talk to you in particular about one category of product, their feed formula. As you know, on the podcast, I've been kind of investigating through my own lens. 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You rip it open and it's got all the supplements organized for you in one simple place [00:02:27] Craig Dalton: The feed is running a special offer on the feed formula. Right now, you can get your first order at 50% off. By simply visiting the feed.com/the gravel ride. Again that's the feed.com/the gravel ride for special 50% off your first order of feed formula. With that business behind us, let's jump right in to this week's interview. brennan, welcome to the show. Thank you so much [00:02:53] Brennan Wertz: for having me. It's good to be [00:02:54] Craig Dalton: here. It's a rare instance that I've got someone in my home in mill valley. So I'm stoked to have this conversation face to face. [00:03:00] Brennan Wertz: Yeah, me too. No, it's a, it's a real pleasure. [00:03:02] Craig Dalton: We always jump into the conversation by learning a little bit about your background. So growing up in mill valley, when did you discover the bike and where did it go to from the. [00:03:12] Brennan Wertz: Uh, really early on, it was a vehicle that I use to get to. And from school, just down the road here, I went to tan valley elementary school. And I would ride with my parents when I was first getting started and, you know, kindergarten or the early days ride to and from school. And then later on in elementary school, it just became more of a fun toy, something that I could go out and explore with and go with my friends out in the Headlands. You know, rip around Mount Tam on our mountain bikes. So, uh, pretty quickly I got into mountain biking, more descent oriented, I would say I would go and do Downieville with some friends every once in a while, and even went and did some of the downhill. Shuttle access riding at north star one. [00:03:49] Craig Dalton: Nice. Did they have the Tam high school mountain bike program at that [00:03:52] Brennan Wertz: point? They did. Once I got into high school, it was when I was I kind of got swept into rowing and that required my full-time focus. [00:03:59] Craig Dalton: How did that happen? I'm super curious to dig into your rowing career, because I think as I mentioned to you before I've met so many rowers that came into cycling and with this huge engine. So I'm just curious to dig in a little bit that, so your freshmen in high school, it sounds like you started. How did that come to pass? I think of rowing as like a European or east coast sport. So out here in the west coast, how did you get drawn into. Yeah. [00:04:22] Brennan Wertz: I think a lot of people have that traditional view of the sport being very much like east coast, Ivy league or in, you know, England and in central Europe. But the west coast has produced a lot of really high quality rowing talent. There are a lot of top schools on the west coast here. I went to Stanford. That was a good brewing program. And then there was university of Washington and Cal Berkeley both had very, very good programs. And I think a lot of it just has to do with the climate. You know, it's the same with riding a bike around here. We can train all year round with rowing. We didn't have to deal with frozen water. So, I think that gives the west coast a big leg up on, on its competition and on the, you know, the, the school. Uh, east but more specifically how I got into it. I, my parents were both rowers in college. My dad grew up here in Morin as well. Uh, and he wrote for what was Redwood high school back in the day when he was there. And it's now the Marine rowing association. So I rode there and in high school they introduced me to the sport. They definitely. Pressure me to get into rowing. But they just introduced it to me. And they were actually kind of hesitant for me to get into rowing because it's not the best spectator sport travel, these odd places for this weird, you know, oblong body of water to go and do these races that, I mean, it's kind of like watching a road race. You're standing on the side of the road or on the side of the lake and boom, the race goes by and in an instant it's over. So, but they were encouraging and I went and, and tried out my freshman year and quickly found some success and found that the mountain bike riding that I had been doing in the years prior had help set myself up for some success there with a lot of leg strength and leg power and just generally good cardio. And so that was kind of a smooth transition. Like I said earlier, the, the mountain biking I was doing was much more descent oriented. And so I had to kind of put that to the side because I knew the two didn't really compliment each other. I was going out on the weekends and riding my mountain bike and you're trying to do more jumps and just rip down single track. And that wasn't really providing me the cardio benefit that I needed for training for rowing. And it was more of just a risky, fun hobby. So. But that to the side and hung the bike up in the garage for a number of years, what is it [00:06:28] Craig Dalton: like when, when you get into the sport of rowing what are the workouts look like and how long are the events that you would typically train for? [00:06:37] Brennan Wertz: The events vary by season? So in the fall, the races are five kilometers long, which is roughly 18 to 20 minute effort. And then in the spring, And that's usually kind of like a time trial where you're racing against the clock and you start on roughly 30 minutes staggers or sorry, 30 seconds staggers in the spring. You're racing six boats across head to head and it's a 2000 meter, two K race. And that's about five and a half minutes. And so it's. Really a VO two effort. It's really intense. It's just that horrible combination of an extended sprint, basically where you're sprinting out of the gate. And then you settle into your rhythm for a few minutes and then you're sprinting again at the end. And you're just red line the whole time. So to prepare for that, you spend the winter and fall kind of building your base similar to how you would for cycling, where you're just doing longer, steady state rows. And you're you know, just getting the heart rate in that kind of mid tier zone. And then later in the winter, you start building the intensity in and working that VO two engine a little bit more. And then as you get into the spring, then it's just sort of fine tuning. But I would say that there's also a really, you know, it's a huge, it's a really important team swore like the team element is huge in the, in the sport of rowing. Not only is the training really important, but also the comradery, but then the technique like matching with your teammates and really being on the same page as you go through the motion of the rowing stroke, you have to be really in synchronized motion for it to click and for it to [00:08:02] Craig Dalton: work. Yeah. I've heard that technicality of rowing is just really important. Like you've got to have good technique. You can have all the power on the. And if you don't have synchronicity with your teammates, it's a complete disaster. Yeah, exactly. So going into, you know, what would an endurance rowing workout look like? Is that like sort of, you know, we think about you probably go out for six hour rides routinely when you were training for rowing, would endurance be an hour long, workout, [00:08:26] Brennan Wertz: more maybe 90 minutes, two hours. So often what we do, uh, when I was at Stanford, what we would do is we'd go out on the bay in the morning when the water was calm and we'd do maybe two hours on the water we'd mix in some interval. The nature of the bay is that we had this kind of channel that we would run as a shipping channel in the port of Redwood city, similar to in high school, we wrote in the, of an air Creek. And so you have this. Two kilometer stretch of water. And so you can't ever really get a super long effort in because you're turning the boat. And so you have to stop and turn the 60 foot boat around in the body of water. And so it takes a minute or two to spend the boat. So you can't really get that super long, extended, steady state effort in unless the water is extremely calm. But I did spend one summer in Hanover, New Hampshire training with the national team there, and that. An amazing place to train in the summer because we're on the Connecticut river and you could go as far as you want it. So we would just take off and head north for an hour and then spin once and then come all the way back down. And so then it was really, it was really eye opening for me to see the physical benefit you get from that kind of like real long endurance. So to come back around, I guess I would say that the morning sessions were usually on the water. And then in the afternoon we would do a land session that was either. Some, not usually a ton of weightlifting, but some combination of like indoor bike and rowing machine and just kind of cardio and cardio and or fitness testing. [00:09:49] Craig Dalton: Cool. Thanks for allowing me to drill into that. Cause as I said, you know, knowing rowers always come out strong now it makes sense. There's a lot of work that goes into it. So you were competing at a pretty high level with USA rowing at the end of your career. What led to you kind of leading the sport of rowing and coming back to the sport of cycling. [00:10:06] Brennan Wertz: Yeah, most recently I was on the U 23 national team in 2018 and we spent the summer, uh, first the selection camp for the national team was held in Seattle. So we were training in Seattle. Uh, once I made the cut for the national team, then we spent that summer, uh, traveling around Europe racing. We went to Raisa elite world cup. Uh, we were the U 23 national team, but we were racing up at the elite level at the world cup in Switzerland. We raised that, and that was when I started to have some really challenging rib pain and back pain. So ribbon back injuries are quite common in rowing and effectively. What it is is your ribs are separating and kind of stress fracturing through the rowing motion. Just that repeated motion over and over again. And it was on my front and back, and it just caused a ton of pain. And, uh, it was really difficult for me to sleep or laugh or cough or sneeze, any of those, those things cause a lot of discomfort. And so from there, I, we had a training camp after we were in Switzerland at the world company, Italy for 10 days, we went on the training camp and I couldn't row it all that entire time. And so that was meant to be our final tune-up before we had to Poland for world. And I was basically sidelined that entire time and riding this indoor spin bike and the eight man boat was going out with seven guys and there was just like, I could see them out on the water rowing and there's just this one empty spot. That was where I was supposed to be sitting. Or they would have an assistant coach fill in who hadn't been rowing in two years. So yeah, it was kind of a grim situation and I had to just patch it together and I had a lot of KT tape and, you know, daily, or, you know, I was meeting with. The team, physical therapist, multiple times a day to get massages and get taped up and everything. And so really just hanging on by a thread through the end and went to worlds. We had a great team, the program that we were, uh, Uh, part of that year was a very, very high level, a lot of really talented athletes there. And we ended up coming away with the win at worlds and we set a world best time. So on paper, everything was awesome. But I had even had food poisoning during the event too. So I just kept getting all these, you know, these blows along the way that Just kind of felt like maybe I should take just, you know, take some time on my body, recover from this and heal. And, uh, so I took some time off from the sport and I came back home and was in really good shape, but I wanted to, and I wanted to keep that going. I wanted to remain fit and exercise, but I needed a break from my body from rowing. And so I grabbed my dad's road bike and just started cruising around Moran a little bit. And. Really quickly, you just found the group rides and found the culture and the scene here in Marin, and really loved going out on those rides. And when did a couple of rides and had just come back from winning a world championship, I thought I was, you know, in this amazing fitness and everything had been going, going. Training was good. And then I go on my first couple of group rides and I just get obliterated. I get dropped I'm way out the back. I remember having to almost get off my bike overall. I Alpine down, I'd never really been, been out there and done that loop and had no idea where it was or how much further I had to go. And, uh, it was really humbling and I loved it. I was like, wow, this is just such a cool experience. I get to go out and explore these new places and not to say that rowing training isn't inherently fun. I dunno, maybe it isn't where the act of riding the bike is just, it's inherently so much fun and it just brings so much joy and you're out seeing these beautiful places. And for me, that really quickly. Pulled me into the sport. So that was, was that 2018? That was, yeah, that was like fall of 2018. [00:13:28] Craig Dalton: And at some point you must've had to come to the conclusion that your body or your mind, or you just didn't want to do rowing anymore. Was it, was it the body that kind of was telling you, you can't go back to the sport? [00:13:40] Brennan Wertz: Yeah. Yeah, it was, it was the body for sure. But then I also had an insert. I'll have this other voice in my hair. Like, Hey, look like this alternative is also awesome. Like it's not like you're just walking away from something. Cause I think if I had just left the sport wrong and then had done nothing, it would have been really hard, but I had this other option that was amazing. And I was really enjoying. And at that point in time, the bike wasn't something new to me. I knew I knew the bike. I had come to appreciate it. I spent, you know, early in, earlier in college I spent a summer living in Germany doing an internship and I brought a mountain bike with me and I took the summer completely off from rowing and. That was the first summer where I rode the bike consistently and actually thought I was training on my bike and I'd go out and I'd just ride. It was a cross country bike. And I would rip through this, uh, German mountain range in central Germany, near Frankfurt and tons of single track and beautiful gravel roads. Uh, I wasn't racing at all. I wasn't really looking at any numbers. I had Strava on my iPhone. But I wouldn't really, I wasn't geeking out on numbers or data or time or anything. I would just go out and ride and really enjoyed it. And I had the opportunity to load my bike up a couple of times and go on these bike packing adventures that summer. And so that I knew at that time, I was not in a position where I could just walk away from rowing. Cause I, uh, I was on a scholarship at Stanford. I knew that I, you know, I wanted to go and sort of see that through. And that was my main sport at the time. But I did always have in the back of my mind, like, Hey, that's summer in Germany, you know, that bike packing trip through the black forest. Like that was pretty amazing. So, kind of the inverse of a lot of people have a lot of people come into to cycling and gravel racing. You know, it's very common to see people come from the world tour from pro road, racing into gravel and into this adventure side of cycling. But for me, it was actually that's really what got me into cycling and just riding a bike at all in the first place was, was that adventure cycling. Sleeping in my hammock, in the woods and packing all my belongings onto my bike and then riding on to the next town. And so anyway, that was always in the back of my mind. And then when I, when I had the time sort of the forced time from that injury, then it just became this, you know, it became much more realistic for me to focus more on, on the bike. I [00:15:42] Craig Dalton: ended up joining the local powerhouse team Mike's bikes eventually, and did a fair, fairly heavy season on the road to pre pandemic. Is that kind of the way it played out? [00:15:53] Brennan Wertz: Yeah, I spent that whole summer or that whole, the whole spring seasoned racing as much as I could. I was just totally in love with it. I wanted to get as much experience as possible and then. I made it from CalFire Volvo to cat too. And it was just really enjoying the road scene and decided I wanted to try to go and race in Belgium, uh, just because that seemed like really cool cultural scene. They love cycling there. There's tons of racing opportunity and I just wanted to go there and see if I could make it and see if I could kind of make the cut and figure it out. Unfortunately, got hit by a car the first week I was in Europe for that summer. Uh, and so I was sidelined for that summer and I didn't get to race at all. That was in 2019. But then when I returned in the. The fall of 2019, I had sort of had a year of like, all right, this is, I really, I'm still loving this. I still really want to focus on the bike. And that was when I got bumped up from the Mike's bikes development team to the elite team and decided I would continue to focus on road cycling, kind of going into what became the pandemic year. [00:16:48] Craig Dalton: And I believe they gave you a little bit of leeway to try some gravel racing, [00:16:53] Brennan Wertz: right? Yeah. Yeah. So they, they were, you know, Creative team. It's a creative bunch of guys and they all like riding gravel too. And they, you know, they saw the potential there with a lot of these events. And so they supported me to go to a couple of different gravel events and I went and did BWR with them. And so, you know, now last year in 2021, I had this awesome opportunity to go attend a few of these big gravel events, both with Mike's bikes. And then also with above category where I had started working. And then that's really. What got my feet wet in the gravel scene in the gravel racing scene, I guess I'd had a gravel bike for a couple of years, or, yeah, I guess a year, two years at that point. So living in Murren, there's an, there's an awesome amount of gravel riding. It's kind of everywhere. It's really easy to access. So I'd been riding a lot of gravel, but I'd never really done an erasing. And so then I had that opportunity to go do attend some of these races and then just totally fell in love with it. [00:17:43] Craig Dalton: And as you looked into this season and I presume at some point you had to make a decision, do I want to stay on the road? You know, continue with the Mike's bike squad or look for another deal. Obviously, domestic road racing has its own challenges economically. What was your mindset in terms of choosing the gravel route? And how'd you come to that decision? [00:18:02] Brennan Wertz: Yeah, I think last year I had a really amazing learning experience and that the month of June, I spread myself way too thin. I started the month off with Unbound and that was my first big high-profile gravel race. And we built. A very, very specific custom mosaic gravel bike for that event with above category. And I really enjoyed going through the process of designing this bike specifically for this one event and, and specking it out with all these amazing components. And that was when I really began to see the power of building these relationships with sponsors and working with partners that you really value as an athlete, and that the brands really value as an athlete. And that there's this really awesome mutual. Respect for one another and understanding that like, Hey, we're going to do something really cool together with this project. And so we put together this amazing bike. I had the opportunity to go out and race. I had a blast building the bike. I had a blast at the event. I ended up getting a 10th there and that results sort of opened up some doors to go to a few other events throughout the summer [00:19:00] Craig Dalton: under the MC spikes flag at [00:19:01] Brennan Wertz: that point still for the most part under the Mike spikes flag, that specific event at Unbound I did as a marketing project with the both category. And then later on in the summer, I did Steamboat again with above category, but for the most part, yeah, all my other races, it was with my bikes. Gotcha. You had to come back to that month of June. I did Unbound. And then right after Unbound, I went to pro road nationals and race status about 10 days after finishing Unbound, I was on the start line at pro road nationals in the time trial. And that was an event that I've been preparing pretty specifically for. So I had this sort of weird split in my training where I was doing these epic long endurance rides, going up into Sonoma, Napa riding in the heat to train specifically for the Unbound effort. But I was also during the week doing intervals on my TT by. Knowing that a week after Unbound I'd be racing the pro nationals time trial. And that was a big, I wanted that to be a big focus of mine, the time trial, but just the way that the calendar worked, it, it just, it was too short of a window for me to recover fully from Unbound and then prepare for the time trial. So I can remember what I got. I think I got like 15th or 16th and I was, I was pleased with it, but I knew like I could have done so much better. My power target was 50 Watts under my power target and, uh, at pro nationals. The following weekend, I went and raised elite nationals because Mike's bikes is an elite and amateur elite team. And so we got to race up at the pro road nationals, but then we went to the elite amateur nationals, which is kind of like our national championship at our level. And by that point I felt like I had recovered a little bit more. I made a few minor fit adjustments to my time trial bike felt like I was flying on the TT bike. Uh, ended up getting second in the TT and nationals by I think, two seconds. So a bit frustrating, but I felt like I, you know, I hit my power target, everything kind of clicked and it all, it all worked. But. I still felt like I left that event. Like, I don't know. I just spent these two weeks doing these, these national championships on the road and the racing superintendents, and it's super fun. And it's really awesome to push yourself like that and be in that environment around all these, you know, like a pro road nationals, you're racing next to people. You've watched on TV for a number of years and you're like, oh, I'm right here next to them now. So it's a super cool experience, but you know, I finished those races and it just seemed like it was kind of looking around. They're just everyone just after the race kind of went, did their own thing. They went their own separate ways and no one was really talking to each other. It wasn't, it just didn't seem like all that much fun. I was like, what's going on here? Like, [00:21:20] Craig Dalton: that's your Unbound experience where there's a joy at the finish [00:21:24] Brennan Wertz: line and everybody's celebrating each other and it's this huge party and there's, you know, a barbecue or whatever. And it just, it's, it's a little bit more of a, of an experience. And so then I'd kind of had those two, those two national championship experience. And then to finish June off, I think it was early July. I went down to San Diego for Belgium wall fluoride. And that was, that was kind of the moment when I was like, I think there's something like this, something really attractive here with gravel. And I went and did that race and it felt just as professional as pro road nationals, like we had, there was a caravan, there were cars were taking feeds from the, the follow car. We're getting bottles like everyone's you know, riding very professional. But then afterwards, it's this huge party and everyone's having a good time and you're, you're chatting with sponsors and there's this big expo and there's tons and tons of people. And I just thought like, oh, this is, I think this is much more my speed. And this is really what I'm, what I'm into. I [00:22:20] Craig Dalton: remember watching some of that coverage and seeing a couple of Mike's bikes jerseys. One, that's just fun to see the local team down there, uh, doing it. And two, I was sort of scratching my head. I was like, well, who are these guys? So, you know, it's great full circle to, to kind of have you on the podcast now and talk about that journey. Yeah, [00:22:36] Brennan Wertz: no, that was an amazing moment. And then, and then that really was the turning point. I think for me, where I realized, like, I think there's something here that I need to focus more on and pay more attention to. And at that point then I started looking at. To all the other gravel races throughout the rest of the season, like what can I get entries to? What can I attend? And from there, I got to go to Steamboat and did the rest of the Belgian waffle ride series. And, uh, ended up coming second in the overall for the Belgium Wolf ride series. And just really love the, the, the way that that season unfolded and having the opportunity to go to all those races. It was really, uh, really a privilege. Yeah, that's awesome. [00:23:09] Craig Dalton: So it sounds like, like 20, 22 this year defining your own schedule. Can you talk. One that the team and organization that's supporting you this year, and then two, let's talk about, you know, your first month of racing this year and all the big events you've hit and the successes you've been having, it's been great to watch. [00:23:27] Brennan Wertz: Yeah. So I signed with Pinarello to be a part of their scooter Rhea Pinarello team. It's an amazing team. Uh, a couple of different, uh, kind of a couple different focuses. Like there I'm part of the, it's like the competitive side of it. And so me and my teammate, Brayden Lang, we're going to be taking on all the biggest gravel races around the world. I have a packed calendar with races, both in the U S as well as internationally. And then some of the, uh, the other teammates that we have they're there. Community leaders they're really active in their communities. They're inspiring people to get on their bikes. And what I really love about the team is that it's a super supportive atmosphere, similar to what I had back in my rowing days, because there's this whole like gravel, private tier scene. I think it can be a little bit lonely from time to time. Like you're, you don't have a team network around you. You don't have that kind of base that I've become really accustomed to and really love. And so. Having that network of teammates around me that are supporting me and motivating me and inspiring me with all the stuff that I'm doing and then, you know, vice versa, they're inspiring and motivating their community. Uh, I think that it's just a really cool combination, so I'm really happy to be a part of. [00:24:33] Craig Dalton: Are they handling some logistics? Like if you go to Unbound, are they kind of getting a team house together [00:24:38] Brennan Wertz: and that kind of stuff? Yeah. Yeah. There's some of that as well. Which is nice. I mean, in the race itself, like we won't be doing any like teen tactics or anything like that. Like it's not that type of team, but it's, it's this really cool collective of individuals that are all. Coming into the sport of gravel for various reasons and are looking to achieve different things in the store and looking to but like at the core of it, the team motto is to motivate and inspire. And so it's just trying to get more people on bikes and more people to come in and see the joy that we're all experiencing while out on our bikes and want to be a part of it. [00:25:08] Craig Dalton: Just something I'm curious about in that team, is everybody riding the same equipment or do you. Other sub sponsors, uh, personally to the [00:25:16] Brennan Wertz: table. Yes. So everybody's riding a Pinarello frame. And then from there, we kind of, it's up to us. Figuring out how we want to spec it out and, and you know, what relationships we might have to, to kind of fill out the rest of the bike. So for me, for my bikes for my growl bikes specifically, it's the Pinarello Greville or Graebel and I'm working with envy and ceramic speed, and this is all kind of done through above category as well. So that's another one of my main sponsors local shop here. In Marin county and they're taking care of all the builds, making sure that the bikes are always super dialed and I'll take my bikes there to Robert, the mechanic for service. But yeah, envy wheels, ceramic speed for all the bearings. Uh, I've got Garmin for all the, the data and the analytics and everything, uh, Ceram road components for everything, uh, Rene her's tires. So yeah, it's really. Special build. And it's been really fun to be a part of the process of putting together all those various sponsorships and, and building this incredible bike that I get to now spend the season racing [00:26:13] Craig Dalton: in the show notes for a picture of your bike, as it is a beauty. Top end across the board. It's real. It's just a beautiful machine to look at for sure. [00:26:22] Brennan Wertz: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Very feeling, very fortunate to have the opportunity to ride such an incredible machine. [00:26:27] Craig Dalton: Yeah. So you've, you've come out in 2022, just smashing, not only like super busy and hitting a lot of races, but having amazing success thus far. Remember, as we were trying to schedule this, it's kind of like I'm racing every weekend. I have like a kind of two day window between traveling to the next thing. So you've done some grasshopper. Want to grass opera this year already. And just this past weekend you won the Shasta gravel hugger. [00:26:53] Brennan Wertz: Yeah. Yeah. It's been really, really fun to get out and hit these early season races hard. And you know, I've, I've been very blessed with incredible weather all winter, and it's been sad from an environmental standpoint that we haven't got the rain that we really need. In terms of training and preparing for the race season, it has been, it has been really, you know, the weather has been incredible for that. So I've been riding a ton and just really excited to come, come into a big season ahead. I think this next weekend, I'm going out to Oklahoma for mid south, and then I'll take a little. Mid-season break. So we'll take a few days off and just rest and reset and talk to my coach. Kind of look, look at the plan, assess where we are, and then begin to build up to some of the bigger races later in the season. Like the Belgium waffle rides and, and Unbound. [00:27:37] Craig Dalton: Well, yeah, you know, it's interesting having talked to you and learned a little bit more specifically about your background specifically, that focus on time trials that you had kind of as a, as a road race. Watching some of the imagery come across social media. I think both of the events where I've seen you, it's just like Brennan on a time trial, you know, unafraid to just kind of take off and hit it on your own. You want it? Can you talk just a little bit about your mentality in this races and if it's helpful. To kind of talk about the Shasta race specifically, like how it broke down, because I know ultimately you ended up out there with Adam road there. So yeah, just, just curious, like what your mentality is and where you think your strengths are and how you try to break these races up. [00:28:20] Brennan Wertz: Yeah. I think what's been really fun for me in these early races is that if you look at all the courses that I have raised, they've been very, very different. So. Uh, I did a little low gap hopper, which was, it started out with a 20 minute climb and it was an eight or 9% and you've got Pete stepped into there. And so for me, when I look at these early season races, I look at trying to find just this really cool mix of diverse courses so that I can try different things out. And, you know, the effort at each one of these races was so different. And so for me, I know that. Uh, race like the Shasta gravel hugger. That's kinda my, that type of course is sort of more of my bread and butter. It's rolling the elements of that. So like not a ton of climbing. I mean, I can climb when I need to, but it's not my favorite thing to do. You know, living here in Marine county, we've got tons and tons of climbing. You can't really go anywhere without climbing, but I do really love these fast rolling courses, uh, where you can just paddle all day long. So Shasta was very much that, and same with Huff master hopper the week before. And for Shasta specifically, I know, you know, Adam wrote bears was there. I think that was his first race of the season. And I had a ton of really good battles with him last year. And a lot of respect for him. He's, you know, he's definitely at the top of his game. And, uh, he showed up to the start line of it had been snowing the night before and he shows up with no legwarmers, no shoe covers. Some are gloves, short finger gloves, and, you know, I'm bundled up, I'm wearing tights and shoe covers and thermal based layers and hat. And you know, all this warm gear and he's from Canada. He's been riding his fat bike all winter. So I get it like he's, he's been riding in the snow, so it's nothing new for him. I don't have that opportunity. I don't get to ride in the snow all that often, but I kind of, I saw that. I know. Okay. He's probably, he's trying to, he's trying to hit it hard early if he's coming here, dressed like that. And so I was keeping my eye on him and I was actually way in the back of the pack, having a quick chat with Pete stetting about his recent trip to Columbia, and we were just catching up and then the corner of my eyes, see Adam just take off from the front and like Pete and I kind of rolled her eyes, but like really already, you know, this is early in the race. I, I knew exactly when he, when he attacked, like I had to be right there, otherwise he would get away and that could be the end of it right there. So I had to blast up the gutter kind of along the side of this dirt road. And I think we're 20 minutes into the race or something. And, uh, at that point I was able to catch up to him. We had a few people on our wheel for just a brief moment, but then it very quickly became just the two of us. And it was clear that he was, he was there to work and he was there to ride hard. We settled into a rhythm and he's also at a time trial list. That's sort of his background on the road. And basically it was just like, all right, how long you want to rotate for two minutes? All right, let's go. And then just 400 wallets for two minutes and then switch and then do it again. And again and again. And then two hours later, we're still doing it. And it took about two or three hours for us to get any sort of time gap. And then we got a time gap about three minutes, and then, then it started to get a little bit more spicy. There was some attacking and some cat and mouse But I've been doing a lot of training recently where I'd go out and do these five to seven hour rides, really working specifically on the last hour or two and doing all my intervals and the really hard stuff in that last hour, so that, you know, when it comes to that point in the race, that that's what I'm prepared for. And it's very, very different from any of the rowing training I've been doing. You know, you have this basically five-hour warmup to get yourself nice and softened up. Dehydrated and sweaty and everything. And, and then you, you really hit the intervals at the end of the end of the session. So I felt like I had been doing a lot of that in training. So I knew that going into that last hour, I would be in a, in a pretty good place and I was feeling good. So, I knew that the course was changing direction. We were coming out of a long headwind section into more of a crosswind cross tailwind section. And so I attacked him over the crest of a. Got into the descent and I'm a little bit bigger than him. And so I was kinda able to just really put the hammer down on this descent. That was a pretty fast, but a peddling descent. And then once it flattened out, then it was just kind of Tom trial mode and basically put the head down for 40, 45 minutes and ride as hard as I could back to 10. [00:32:16] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Amazing. Congrats on that victory. Thank you. You must feel good. Now going into, I feel like mid south is going to be the big test because obviously. The Northern California seam is the scene is all was cracking this time a year. And for me, I encourage anybody who's interested in seeing who's going to be at the front end of the field to look at those grasshopper results. Because the last few years running the side from the pandemic, you could always see who was coming out and with really good form, going to mid south. Obviously you're going to get athletes from different parts of the country. You know, sort of unofficially one of the bigger openers of the season, how you feeling about that course. There may. It's certainly going to be cold. So you had a little bit of Shasta. It could potentially be more. Are you changing your setup on the bike? You changing how you're thinking about that race? Yeah, [00:33:02] Brennan Wertz: I would say the only thing I'm flirting, the only equipment I'd probably change is going to be my tires. Everything else is going to be the same. And to be honest with you, I haven't even decided what tires I'm going to run. It's kind of one of those things I'm going out there with one setup. I'll probably have my, uh, Renee has 38 C Barlow pass licks on and cross my fingers that it's dry. But yeah, it does look like there's snow on the forecast for Friday. So the day before the race. So we'll see what happens there. I will bring definitely a spare set of novels just in case it does get really nasty and muddy, but I'm crossing my fingers for a fast, dry race. I think that would, that would suit me a little bit better. But with that being said, a crazy mud Fest, it's one of those things where it could be an epic experience. You never know what's going to happen. And I would also embrace that wholeheartedly. [00:33:45] Craig Dalton: I really enjoyed watching. Pace and battle Pete stat know that one year. And it was interesting as someone with a mountain bike background, I saw how Pete was treating his bike versus how paisan was treating his bike. And it just seemed to me that at some point Pete's bike is going to fall apart because he was just not babying it, it wasn't cleaning it in the same way pace and was, and so it was interesting to see, kind of play out in that, in that respect. I do. I mean, I tend to hope for the, all the racers sake that it turns out to be a dry year and hopefully. The snow cold, snow hard pack. And I'll be a fast, fast a day. Cause I think that'll be an interesting race to, yeah, [00:34:23] Brennan Wertz: I'm really excited. I was messaging a little bit earlier today with both pacing and Ted king and we've been talking about, you know, setups and everything and it's going to be a good one. I think, I think a lot of the top contenders are going to be there. It'll be our first big showdown of this, this season. Hi, I couldn't be more excited to be kind of lining up against the top of the whole world's gravel seen at the, yeah. Yeah. [00:34:44] Craig Dalton: It feels like, I mean, obviously last year we had a bunch of races go off, but it didn't feel like with what had happened in 2020 with the pandemic, it didn't feel like it was full throttle and everybody didn't have the same choices and opportunities. And I feel like 20, 22 is a clean slate. Like everybody's getting to where they want to get to the races are going off and it's just going to be. To see all these talented athletes just kind of attacking this. Yeah. [00:35:08] Brennan Wertz: And I think it'll be interesting too, to see like what people have been up to in the off season. Like my off season was very brief. You know, all, I took a month completely off the bike, but then pretty quickly got into riding quite a bit. And then, you know, like I said, we had amazing weather, so I was training a lot. I did the coast ride all the way down to San Diego with Ted king and a bunch of others. And So, yeah, I'm just really curious to see like how everyone's recovered from last season. Cause that season did go pretty long and I think people got really excited and hit it super hard for a long period of time going way late into end of October. And so I'm just super excited to see like where, where everyone's at and get this kind of first, first barometer first opportunity to gauge everyone's form. And, and then, you know, we'll take it from there. [00:35:47] Craig Dalton: Yeah. You mentioned you've, we've got obviously a lot of gravel athletes coming from the world tour who have had long careers and I've come to group. You're kind of at the beginning of your career coming in and charging, how are you intimidated when you get on the line against some of these names that you've, you know, you've seen in the pro tour? [00:36:04] Brennan Wertz: I think I was a little bit last year. But at the same time, like I didn't grow up watching cycling, like I didn't, you know, we'd watch the tour de France every once in a while. And that was cool to see. To be honest, like, I didn't really know who these people were anyway. Like, you know, as I've come into the sport of cycling, I've done my, I feel like I've done my due diligence to watch as much road racing as I can. And I love watching road racing. I love watching the classics, especially. But yeah, I think, I think that's only really become something that I've come to appreciate in the last year or two is. The having the opportunity to align up against these guys that have come from this incredible background in the sport and someone like Lawrence 10 damn. Who's been at the top of the road cycling scene for so many years. And now to get to line up with him at the start line and Unbound or at any of these gravel races is a huge honor. So yeah, I think, yeah, it's it's, it was, I was nervous last year. And now I think I view it really more as an honor, and I'm just excited to get to line up against all these fierce competitor. I have a, have a solid battle. [00:37:03] Craig Dalton: Yeah. It sounds like you're willing to put it on the line for the win no matter who's [00:37:07] Brennan Wertz: there. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And you know, it's, it's also part of the, I think part of the sport, you have to be really focused on, on your equipment, on your own, your own race. Like you can't just go out there and ride as hard as you can for the first hour or two, knowing that you're going to explode and pay the price for that an hour 8, 9, 10, whatever. So you have to. Self-aware you have to know where your fitness is, what you're capable of at that moment in time, and then also manage your bike and your equipment and know that you're not digging yourself into a hole you can't get out of, [00:37:37] Craig Dalton: particularly in these ultra distance races like Unbound, you know, it's a different story, right. You know, I've heard from other pros that, you know, the first 30 miles is super intense and there's a lot of jockeying and then it'll shake out a little bit. It'll settle in and then kind of realizes like, you know, we're going to be on the bike for, I don't know, 10 hours. It's a, there's certain amount of miles. We just need to cover a little more tranquil and just get through it and then we'll attack each other later. [00:38:01] Brennan Wertz: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. It was very much what it was even this past weekend with Adam, you know, there was three hours or two to three hours where we were just working super well together. It was basically a team time trial. We're just rotating knowing that Pete Stetson and a few others are behind chasing and the harder we're riding together. Now just putting us further and further ahead of them. That'll pay off in the long run. So yeah, it's a, it's a really fun way to race a race. You [00:38:23] Craig Dalton: mentioned sort of some of the high points for the rest of your year. And correct me if I'm wrong, you're doing an Unbound and the BWR series. [00:38:29] Brennan Wertz: Yeah. So I decided not to apply for the lifetime grand Prix this year. I'd already kind of set up my calendar. A few of those races didn't quite suit me. And I'm really excited about Steamboat two and coming from C-level I think going up and wanting to prioritize Steamboat is one of my big races for the year, but then doing Leadville the day before, just sort of felt like I'm was probably shooting myself in the foot. So I'm super excited to watch that whole lifetime grand Prix shake out and see, you know, fall out from season, start to end. Yeah. Couldn't be more excited to follow it. But for me, for my calendar, I'll be focusing more on Unbound Steamboat big sugar at the end of the year. And then throughout all that, I'll have the BWR series going as well. So I'll try to do, uh, as well as I can in the overall. They're nice. [00:39:14] Craig Dalton: Well, it sounds like you got an exciting season ahead of you. [00:39:17] Brennan Wertz: Yeah. Yeah. I couldn't be more [00:39:18] Craig Dalton: thrilled. Yeah. That's awesome. Well, thank you. So we're coming by and talking about it. It's great to get connected with you. You know, I'll be rooting from, from the hometown. [00:39:26] Brennan Wertz: Definitely. Thank you so much. Really? It's been a pleasure. Cheers. [00:39:29] Craig Dalton: So that's going to do it for this week's broadcast big. Thanks to Brennan for joining the show and huge thank you to the feed for joining us. Remember to get that 50% off the feed formula. Simply visit the feed.com/the gravel ride. If you're interested in connecting with me or other gravel, cyclists, I encourage you to join the ridership@wwwdottheridership.com. It's our free global cycling community for gravel and adventure. Cyclists. If you're able to support the podcast as a couple easy ways, you can do that. You can visit, buy me a coffee.com/the gravel ride for financial contributions. But I'd also just encourage you to share this episode with a friend or one of the earlier episodes. Sharing is a great way to spread the word that along with ratings and reviews are hugely helpful to everything we're doing here at the gravel ride. Until next time here's to finding some dirt onto your wheels
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