Podcasts about Jarana

Bongani Bingwa speaks with Jarana is the Founder and CEO of Ilitha Telecommunications, about his recent appointment as Chairperson of the Startup20 Engagement Group an initiative under the G20 aimed at promoting innovation and entrepreneurship on a global scale.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jarana Beat is a world music group based here in New York, whose cross cultural celebratory sound is inspired by Mexican folk and Afro-Indigenous music.  Using traditional instruments and dance percussion in addition to their voices, Jarana Beat gained wider attention by playing with the star Mexican singer Lila Downs, but they've also released a series of their own albums over the past decade or so, bringing elements of jazz and Latin pop to their deeply rooted sounds.  For this in-studio performance of their original songs, the members of the flexible ensemble in-studio are: Sinuhe Padilla- Leona / Voice; Ivan Contreras – Jarana / Voice; Felipe Fournier - Quijada de Burro & Pandero Jarocho, Voice; Lautaro Burgos - Bombo Legüero; Tania Mesa – Violin/ Voice; and Martin Rodriguez - tarima, dance percussion. Set list: 1. Jarabe Neoyorquino 2. Dolor de Aqui 3. Echapalante

Recomendación Musical - Jarana Beat by Radiotelevisión de Veracruz

Recomendación Musical - Entrevista a Jarana Beat by Radiotelevisión de Veracruz

Jaume Segalés y su equipo hablan de cuentos terapéuticos, del gran desembalaje de Madrid y del espectáculo Jarana.

Este verano nos despedimos por todo lo alto con nuestro primer directo, con público, risas, aplausos y compartiendo el último chupito de la temporada! Desde el Museo Arqueológico Nacional, con motivo de la exposición CONVIVIUM: Arqueología de la Dieta Mediterránea, os hablamos del origen de las bebidas frías, de nuestro querido Zimri, de los misterios enzimáticos del garum y entrevisamos a Leonor Peña Chocarro, arqueobotánica del CSIC y comisaria de la exposición. Gracias por oírnos! Nos vemos en otoño!

On the June 7 Friday LIVE, host Genevieve Randall and guests have lively conversations about: the last Arts for the Soul concert of the season; the grand opening of the Japanese Hall in Gering; Chigozie Obioma talks about his new book and his event at Francie and Finch; Theatre West; Wagons West Celebration; SHOUT! – The Mod Musical; The Third Annual Juneteenth SteamPunk Tea Party; and Nebraska Storytelling Festival. Also, poetry from Greg Kosmicki and a look at the One Omaha Music Festival.

On the June 7 Friday LIVE, host Genevieve Randall and guests have lively conversations about: the last Arts for the Soul concert of the season; the grand opening of the Japanese Hall in Gering; Chigozie Obioma talks about his new book and his event at Francie and Finch; Theatre West; Wagons West Celebration; SHOUT! – The Mod Musical; The Third Annual Juneteenth SteamPunk Tea Party; and Nebraska Storytelling Festival. Also, poetry from Greg Kosmicki and a look at the One Omaha Music Festival.

Surtido multisabor de jugosas novedades. Buen provecho.(Foto del podcast por Rebeca Ulken; Varonas)Playlist;MALABRAVA “Jarana” (What a baravaway, 2024)VARONAS “Es a mi” (Víctimas del ritmo, 2024)GENERADOR “Me estoy peinando” (Grandes Éxitos de Extrarradio (Recopilación de singles y eps 2018-2023)FATBOY “The storm” (The Enviken EP; 2024)LOS CRUJIDOS “Suspiro final” (single 2024)THE DAHLMANNS “Lucky” (Lucky EP, 2024)THE SPEEDWAYS “Seen better days” (Triple platinum, 2024)THE REFLECTORS “Losing my mind” (Going out of fashion, 2024)DANI NEL-LO and ORGAN TRIO “Encanto jíbaro” (Bric-a-Brac, 2024)THE VELVET CANDLES “Hello stranger” (EP, 2024)JASON STARDAY “Tears of misery” (Songs from Teen-Ville EP, 2022)Versión y Original; PAT HERVEY “Tears of misery” (1963)THE DICTATORS “My imaginary friend” (single 2024)BONZOS “Adiós amigos” (single 2024)BOSTON BABIES “Tonight” (ST, 2024)THE SUBSONICS “You got eyes” (Flesh colored Paint, 2018)THE PEACOCKS “Up and down” (Don’t ask, 2012)Escuchar audio

Joan Jimenez a.k.a. Entes, is an Afro-Peruvian artist who's been painting murals all around the world and in Wynwood for over 10 years. He is considered to be one of the graffiti pioneers in South America. His artwork addresses local issues, in a vivid pictorial way. In the second part of the podcast, I will have a conversation with Supermarket gallery's director and curator, Maria Gabriela Di Giammarco about Joan Jimenez's new body of work from his solo exhibition, “Migración de Jarana” at the gallery.

Editorial. Este adagio popular se refiere a cuando alguien hace “chanchullo” (algo indebido a sabiendas) y más temprano que tarde el engaño emerge reluciente. Por eso es muy parecido ese comportamiento, al que denota esta Administración de forma cada vez más frecuente: por la vía de decretos y mecanismos creativos, para atender los asuntos con cierta ligereza e inevitable negligencia. #larevistacr @larevistacr www.larevistacr

In 1987, Peruvian archaeologist Walter Alva received a call from the police urging him to look at ancient artefacts confiscated from looters.The seized objects were so precious that Walter decided to set up camp in Sipan, the site where they were found. There, he dug and researched what turned out to be the richest tomb found intact in the Americas: the resting place of an ancient ruler, the Lord of Sipan.Walter tells Stefania Gozzer about the challenges and threats he and his team faced to preserve the grave.The music from this programme was composed by Daniel Hernández Díaz and performed by Jarana & Son.(Photo: Walter beside the discovery. Credit: Walter Alva)

This week on the podcast we welcome Thomas English from Trek Travel to discuss the Provence to Girona gravel tour. Thomas shares his personal experience growing up in the Camargue National Park and how he discovered his love for cycling. He discusses the inspiration behind the Provence to Girona tour and the unique landscapes and cultural experiences that participants can expect. Thomas provides a detailed overview of the nine-day trip, highlighting the diverse terrain, cultural differences, and the sense of adventure that comes with gravel cycling. He emphasizes the importance of local expertise and the immersive experience that Trek Travel provides for its guests. Trek Gravel Trips  Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  About the Guest(s): Thomas English is a guide for Trek Travel, a company that specializes in guided cycling trips. Based in Lyon, France, Thomas grew up in the Camargue National Park and developed a love for cycling at a young age. He has a background in field medical engineering but decided to pursue his passion for cycling and guiding. Thomas has been working for Trek Travel since 2019 and has guided numerous trips, including the Provence to Girona gravel tour. Episode Summary: In this episode, Craig Dalton interviews Thomas English from Trek Travel about the Provence to Girona gravel tour. Thomas shares his personal experience growing up in the Camargue National Park and how he discovered his love for cycling. He discusses the inspiration behind the Provence to Girona tour and the unique landscapes and cultural experiences that participants can expect. Thomas provides a detailed overview of the nine-day trip, highlighting the diverse terrain, cultural differences, and the sense of adventure that comes with gravel cycling. He emphasizes the importance of local expertise and the immersive experience that Trek Travel provides for its guests. Key Takeaways: The Provence to Girona gravel tour is a nine-day point-to-point cycling adventure that takes participants from the south of France to Catalonia, Spain. The trip offers a diverse range of terrain, including salt flats, vineyards, pine forests, and limestone rock formations. Participants will experience the cultural differences between the French and Catalan regions, including language, cuisine, and architecture. The tour provides an immersive and authentic experience, with opportunities to interact with locals, visit historic sites, and enjoy the natural beauty of the landscapes. Trek Travel focuses on building relationships with local partners and creating a supportive and enjoyable experience for guests. Notable Quotes: "Gravel in many ways has an adventurous spirit. It takes you off the road and allows you to explore quieter and more remote areas." - Thomas English "Cycling is a universal language, but the culture and use of bikes can vary between regions. Gravel cycling allows you to experience the local culture and landscapes in a unique way." - Thomas English Automated Transcription: [TRANSCRIPT] [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. **** - (): Yeah. This week on the podcast, we welcome Thomas English from Trek, travel to the show. To talk to us about a new gravel tour they're doing from Two Jarana. The trip looks absolutely amazing. So super excited. To dig in with it and learn more about it and how it came to be. Truck travel since our last conversation with them on the podcast. Has really gone deep on gravel travel, building out several new trips this year, including one in the black Hills of South Dakota. An ACIAR ago to the Dolomites trip in Italy, as well as this To Jerome and a trip that we're going to be digging into today. **** - (): I had a great experience. In 2022 on my truck travel trip to Jarana and was doing everything I could to join this trip in April. I don't think this particular one's going to happen. Because of some other commitments, **** - (): . But I'm pleased to have this conversation with Thomas. So you can learn more about it. **** - (): before we jump in, I do need to thank this week sponsor. **** - (): A G one. The last few weeks, I've been talking a little bit more about my sleep routine, but today I want to talk about age one and my morning routine. Taking care of your health, isn't easy, but it should at least be simple. That's why for the last 10 years I've been drinking AIG one every day. No exceptions. **** - (): It's just one scoop mixed with water. My personal preference is through a few ice cubes in there. Once a day, every day and it makes me feel energized and ready to take on the day. That's because each serving of AIG. Delivers a daily dose of vitamins, minerals, pre and probiotics and more. It's a powerful, healthy habit. **** - (): That's also powerfully simple. For me, that simplicity is really what came into play. When I first started using ag. I really wanted to make sure that my nutritional bases were covered by high-quality nutrition. In a way that was simple to integrate in my daily habits. I couldn't bear the idea of taking a dozen pills and supplements to cover the same. Basic areas that AIG one covers in one scoop of powder. If there's one product that had to recommend elevate your health it's ag one. That's why I've partnered with them. For so long as part of this podcast. So, if you want to take ownership of your health, start with Tri AIG one and get a free one year supply of vitamin D plus K2 and five free AIG. Travel packs with your first purchase. **** - (): Exclusively at drink. aig.com/the gravel ride. That's drink. dot com slash the gravel ride. Check it out today. Would that behind us, let's jump right into my conversation with Thomas. **** - (): Thomas, welcome to the show. [00:03:17] - ():  Thomas English: Hi, Greg. Thank you for hosting me. [00:03:19] - ():  Craig Dalton: We're dealing with the challenges of international video conversations today with you in France and me in California. [00:03:28] - ():  Thomas English: Absolutely. Long distances. [00:03:32] - ():  Craig Dalton: Um, I'm excited to get into this conversation with you. Uh, I've been a big fan of Trek's commitment and enthusiasm around gravel travel. **** - (): And when my buddy Rich hit me up and told me about this Provence to Girona trip, I was like, I got to talk to someone about this. This sounds awesome. [00:03:52] - ():  Thomas English: It's epic. So the, the idea of the trip came in about two years ago now. Uh, I was involved in the design because my roommate is actually a trip design coordinator, if you want the truth. **** - (): So the two of us got this whole thing running and it's going to be an epic journey. [00:04:11] - ():  Craig Dalton: I love it. I can't wait to talk more about it, but to set the stage, I just want to learn a little bit more about you. We established that you're currently living in France. But where did you grow up and how did you initially find the bike? [00:04:24] - ():  Thomas English: So long story short, uh, I'm actually based in Lyon, France right now. So closer to the French Alps, about two and a half hours away from the sea. I actually grew up in the Camargue National Park, which is where the The Rome River creates a delta. It's famous for mosquitos, flamingos, and, uh, bulls, if you want the whole truth. **** - (): And it's very flat, so cycling wise, it gets pretty boring pretty quickly. But the scenery is worth it. And if you're beginning with gravel, it's definitely a good spot to start. [00:04:58] - ():  Craig Dalton: And, you know, obviously gravel, we can argue about how long gravel has been around, but did you initially start as a road rider [00:05:05] - ():  Thomas English: or a mountain biker? **** - (): That's a very tricky question, because I think when, when you start cycling for me, it was, it was, you know, the first key to freedom my parents gave me. I was fortunate enough as a kid to grow up on a boat. So I think I grew this lack of, uh, you know, freedom for a little while being being like. On a boat with with parents. **** - (): It sounds very spoiled, but we were adventuring in a different way. It's more swimming and and canoeing out to places. And so as soon as we got back to lands, the bike was this this real weapon of freedom and this tool to go adventure and come back in late and get told by my mom. But I think, yeah, it was one bike does it all and I think I, I mainly did mountain biking as a teenager because it was a thing, you know, it was the era of downhill and free rides as they used to call it. **** - (): It's taken a whole new shape nowadays and gravel came naturally because we, we can do it in many ways. And especially as a company, I think it's, it's a trend and it's very much growing at the moment and it's the perfect. You know, where to explore a new region and mainly you can just get off the roads and go to, you know, access quieter places and places you, you'd wish to go on foot, but you can actually do it with the bike and it hasn't got to be too much of a distance on the road. **** - (): Yeah, 100%. [00:06:23] - ():  Craig Dalton: It sounds like you grew up with quite an adventurous spirit. How did you find your way into guiding for Trek? [00:06:29] - ():  Thomas English: I started working for Trek for in, in 2019. So this is my sixth season, which I travel and. It's an, it's an amazing place to, to work, uh, good people, you know, the, the support and logistics from A to Z, uh, whatever you get on the guest experience, when you call up the office or the guest services, uh, we feel on, on in the field and feeling that supports from, from, you know, a guide in the field, you don't really find that anywhere else. **** - (): So that's one, one thing to mention. Uh, but I, I, I kind of fell into it because I have a friend that was a guide a year before me. That was the one of the first reasons. Um, but mainly because I was working as a field medical engineer, uh, in the previous life. And there is a moment where you want to follow your dream. **** - (): And I was out there adventuring in the mountains every weekend. So I realized I could do it for a living and take people with me, which is what I care for. [00:07:31] - ():  Craig Dalton: Amazing. I feel like. It might be interesting to hear, what is the life of a guide like? Do you, do you ride all year round and guide all over the place? **** - (): Or are you located in France and you only ride trips in [00:07:46] - ():  Thomas English: France? So that's a fascinating question that we often get from people on the trips, from people outside the trips, from friends and family, or from the first newcomer that you, you, you meet in a, in a party in an evening, for instance. I, I think the life of a guide is is very much full on. **** - (): It's a season is very long in cycling and it's getting longer. Uh, it's some people would rather do it as a very seasonal thing, like riding through the nice period in the, when it's warm and you can ride in shorts and then there'll be a ski instructor in the winter. So. Each guide kind of have their, their own algorithm to, to go about it. **** - (): Uh, for me, it's, it's a full time commitment and then I get a bit of time off, uh, in the winter months to go travel and discover new places. And it kind of sticks to my, my character and my way of doing things. I like to go work hard, play hard in many ways, even though that sounds, uh, Very, very general, it's full season and then a bit of time off to, to go and relax and recover and adventure some more, but it is, it is a lifestyle more than a career. [00:08:56] - ():  Craig Dalton: Yeah. What does that look like for you, Thomas? So are you guiding road trips into Spain one week and then gravel trips in, in France? How does, how does the year end up playing out? So [00:09:07] - ():  Thomas English: at the end of the year, when -you've already guided a little bit, which I travel, you submit a survey to the favorite regions or your favorite regions, your top five. **** - (): I think it is, um, places you'd rather you'd like to go guide. And if you're lucky, you're going to get a few of those pics. Um, but for the, for the main part, you're, you're assigned to a region for a duration of time. It can go from, um, A couple of trips to a whole bunch of different trips in that region. **** - (): We have regions that also cover multiple trips. If I take Provence, for instance, we're actually running three trips out of there and nearly a fourth with the gravel, which will be leaving Provence and going all the way to Spain and sorry, Catalonia and Girona. And so. That's, that's more or less how it operates. **** - (): You're assigned and then you, you'll guide multiple weeks in a row. We try and we try and do maybe three weeks in one week off as a rhythm. [00:10:04] - ():  Craig Dalton: Got it. Yeah. And my, my experience with the team in Girona was that, that between the two guides, they would switch off between time in the van. And time riding. It wasn't lost on me that you've got it as a guide. **** - (): You've got to be motivated and enthusiastic every day. You're out there on the bike with guests as a guest. If we're tired, if we're grumpy, we can suffer and let you know it. But I imagine as a guide, you're really there to elevate the spirit and never share if you're down. Are there days on the bike when you're guiding that you're just tired? [00:10:41] - ():  Thomas English: Oh, yes, absolutely. And, but you don't show it. I think it comes from, from an inner part of you, it's, that's what I said by it's a lifestyle more than a career. It's, um, we always swap with, uh, our co guides. Uh, so one of us is going to be in the support van, one of us is going to be on the bike. It takes different shifts, uh, depending on the trips and the parameters. **** - (): Uh, but yes, you, you're always on, we're always on top of things. And. You know, a lot of people on the outside of the job think that we are the fittest cyclists out there and you've got to be an absolute athlete. You, you get the training for sure. And, and some guys are more into cycling than others. Uh, but the, the real, the reality behind it is we take care of people no matter what. **** - (): Yeah. [00:11:24] - ():  Craig Dalton: Yeah. Yeah. I imagine that's, you know, I see this. All over the place, right? You have people who are innately just skilled at being good spirited, being uplifting and having had that experience with truck travel and that Girona gravel tour definitely saw that like it was more about the experience. **** - (): None of the riders were trying to show how strong they were as athletes, although clearly they were, they were really there to just make sure we were having a great time. And that's what I think is so great about traveling on bike as a guest and gravel travel in particular. You just have a team around you whose sole job it is to not only find the best rides and routes for you, find the best cafes, create the best overall experience. **** - (): And it is, you know, it's obviously an investment taking one of these trips, but there is a pretty massive return when all you need to do as a guest is ride your bike all day. [00:12:25] - ():  Thomas English: Yes, and I'll double up, I'll double up on that in a way that I think you come on a holiday to be on a holiday and There is nothing more relaxing entertaining Fulfilling as when you sign up and you just let go of everything and you just have to enjoy it That's that's the main part is we take care of all the rest the you know, the logistics It's not that you're not necessarily capable of Of it, you know, I've, I've caught myself going on multiple guided trips, whether it's hiking or other activities, um, other than cycling and you, you, you appreciate having the, the local expertise, you know, it, it might not be something that's, that's in the itinerary, you know, but, but your guides might know so much about the geology, the plants, or even just the best cafe, because that's where they cycle past every morning and that's their local, their local terrain or their backyard. **** - (): And that's where it makes the whole, the whole world of difference. You. Okay. The impact of, of that vacation or of that experience on your life is so different when you actually witness it with someone local and you share it with friends. Yeah, a [00:13:32] - ():  Craig Dalton: hundred percent. I want to jump into the Provence to Girona gravel bike tour. **** - (): This is very much a tour because it's point to point the experience I had with track out of Girona. We stayed in a single hotel and we explored routes in every single direction, which was fantastic. But as I've said before on this podcast, there's something about point to point travel or touring or what have you that is incredibly special. **** - (): So how did the idea for the Provence to Girona gravel route come up? And then we can dig into some of [00:14:08] - ():  Thomas English: the details. Okay, so that also refers to a question you previously asked on what does the life of a guide look like? Well, to be quite frank if I'm not guiding a trip with people on board I'm usually bikepacking and I've got the packs all set up on the gravel bike and I'm sleeping outside Which sounds ridiculous to a lot of people in on this planet But it's actually one of the most freeing experiences you you can get out there for yourself. **** - (): It doesn't have to be far It's sometimes just right out right out your front door and you just roll to a place you haven't checked out or you haven't seen and It is the most it is the most freeing thing and you're also you feel very Self sufficient it teaches you a lot of different things and skills where you have to approach people and places Uh, but the main idea behind this trip from Provence to Girona, and we named it that way because there, there are two places that actually ring, uh, or resonate to cyclists, uh, whether they're roadies or already very much accomplished gravel riders. **** - (): Uh, it was the first point to point that we, we were thinking of putting in the book. It's based on a race called, a race route called La Poco Loco that came together, I think in 2019. And it's very tracks since then, but that's what really inspired me initially, and I had written portions of it in a, in a few bits and pieces and on different holiday times. **** - (): And this was the perfect, this was a perfect opportunity to actually start from one point, go all the way and see if we can actually make it work with hotels and accommodations and places to check out. It [00:15:46] - ():  Craig Dalton: sounds super special. What is, I imagine over the course of that Provence to Girona, the terrain is going to vary quite wildly. **** - (): Can you talk through a little bit and if it's helpful to talk through the various nine days, just what is gravel like in Provence and how does it change over the course of those nine days? [00:16:09] - ():  Thomas English: So I can give you a global overview of of the trip if you want not to go into too much detail because nine days is It's quite epic and and you do see a lot But I do want to say that I grew up in in the area where we begin the trip in so, you know I remember I remember being in in my youth in my young age and teenager and adventuring here and there at the weekends And putting all these things together in the culture of the South, because it's, it's a very strong culture in the South of France. **** - (): And this, the, the, the landscape had me stop and take many pictures. Of a place that I've, you know, I've grow, I've, I grew up in. You, you get accustomed to seeing these things on a regular basis. And coming back to it a few years later, it stops you. You're, you're blown away by the beauty of summer's scenery. **** - (): And when I say that, it's on the first day, for instance, We will start the trip and we'll greet everybody, uh, right by the, a bit of a, it's a, it's a swampland where it's famous for ornithology for birdwatching, uh, just south of Montpellier. So imagine a huge city, all buzzling and whistling and noisy and, you know, just the heart of a big city and you just escape, we greet you in this, you know, you just come off the train or come out of the airport and we greet you in this really quiet bird sanctuary. **** - (): With a nice French buffet, you know, proper Provence, there might be some rosé involved for those who, who want to start with that, um, giving you a few, a few bits and knots about the culture and the area you're in and throughout those first 60Ks, which is quite a, quite a bit for a first day, you get to see everything, so much variety from, from the sea, the sea, the salt flats to. The hills, a bit. Of vineyards here and there and the, and the pine forests. **** - (): I mean, you, you, I can't wait to see the smiles on people's faces when we reached the hotel after the first day. Sounds [00:18:05] - ():  Craig Dalton: like an amazing start. [00:18:06] - ():  Thomas English: It is. It is true. So as I was saying, we, we did the Reese, we did the research with my roommates. Who's a, who's a true design coordinator and she's not from the region, but both of us were like kids. **** - (): And you know, it's, it's the joy and the accomplishments of bringing something together that actually works out. And to see the, the, the versatile, the, how versatile the, the. The bike actually is on different terrains. You, you ride a bit of, you know, open forest road to single track, um, and all this on the, under the blue Provence skies, because, you know, it is subject to a bit of wind from the north, um, let her mountain or the missile for the East as you go. **** - (): It's, it's, it's a superb. It's just an area of France that is very underestimated because it's. It's usually some some somewhere between a place you just drive through to get to Spain or you just go to Montpellier or like a few places on the coast, but people don't really stop on these on these areas. **** - (): So. We've got these beautiful barren landscapes in, in some part of the trips that are just untouched, not no cyclists. You just, it's just epic adventure. [00:19:15] - ():  Craig Dalton: Yeah, I think that's, what's mind boggling to me when I think about this trip is just the, the versatility of the gravel bike, that's easy to maybe to conceive of a point to point ride on a road bike. **** - (): And you're sort of following a map, but traveling onto these single track trails and just kind of getting off the beaten path just adds this additional layer of. Intrigue and joy. I think on each day's ride. And I [00:19:40] - ():  Thomas English: think we we call, you know, the inner child in our in ourselves. Um, I think a lot of cyclists will refer to that. **** - (): But I think gravel in many ways has a bit of an adventurous spirit. And you might agree with me on that one. But, you know, it kind of takes you out there. You're not on a on a on the road. You might be leaving civilization for a little bit. We've designed this trip so we can always access you. The route in many points, but for the most part, you know, the whole stress of having traffic and cars around you that you might have on on on the road or uncertain of our road trips, even though we do take very quiet roads there. **** - (): It's it's in existence. You won't have, you know. Any vehicles on most of our itineraries because we're, we're mainly on, on gravel and yes, like from, from one place to the next, you'll, you'll see us, uh, a part of the landscape that not many people get to witness or get to see because it is completely different experience from sitting in the car or riding on the road than being on those single tracks. **** - (): Yeah, [00:20:48] - ():  Craig Dalton: absolutely. What are the next handful of days have in store for riders? [00:20:53] - ():  Thomas English: So yes, I, I touched base on the, on the first one. Sorry, I was, I was kind of selling that first day because. It blew our minds. So I think I like I said, I can't wait to see people smiles as we roll into the first hotel. It is a point to point. **** - (): So we are going to be changing hotel every day apart from our fifth day where we'll have a proper rest day. Um, but the first day we, we leave Montpellier where, where it's, it will be more of a greeting point. Beautiful scenery on those first 60 K's through like what I've said before, the difference. Uh, see. **** - (): Salt flats, single track, into the forest, up in the hills, back in through into vineyards. And we, we have a hotel a little bit on the outskirts of the city. Where the French rugby team has actually been hosted for the trainings, if you, if you want a little, the little hints there. But so, no rugby match on that first evening. **** - (): The next day we kind of sneak out through a secret passage that follows a river out of the city. And we're heading to one of my favorite places in France, which is called Le Lac de Salagout. Uh, the Salago Lake famous spot for kite surfers and for geologists because the soil is a bit of an ochre red. It very much has the color of grapes, so not to bring it to too close to wine, but that's my French side. **** - (): Um, you cross the hills and you arrive on this beautiful blue emerald lake with this, this red kind of, you know, tar looking gravel. It makes a mess of the bikes and it makes them look very adventurous all of a sudden because they get covered in this little red, red dust. Uh, but it's an epic scene to arrive and we're staying in the village. **** - (): That's a little bit the outskirt of it in the national park called Moore's and it's very famous for its, um, Dolom, Dolomitic, uh, rock formations where erosion is just left. These huge limestone columns, uh, beautiful maze of, that was just shaped by nature, uh, and our hotel is, is nestled into that, into that rock face. **** - (): And there'll be a nice little pool to, to relax after, after a big day on the bike. So, like I said, we go a little bit further up north after the first day where we were actually stationed by the sea. On the third day, we leave that beautiful area in the quiet morning, and we hit the hills. There'll be a bit of climbing in the morning. **** - (): And for those who have got an idea of what Provence looks like, or the whispers you've heard of the adventures down there, we're going to be going through a few stone villages. Very, very French. You might come across a You know, to a dish vu like these iconic French cars or markets. Or we can stop and have CA coffee and a cafe, uh, to cross the plains from these hilly villages or hilly, hilly based villages all the way to a bigger town, again called busier. **** - (): Which is famous for multiple reasons, but we're, we'll have a nice sit down lunch in a very retro French cafe where people are playing Pétanque just outside, uh, in front of a lock, you know, we sat there and all the locals were coming around to chat us up. So, you know, it might take a bit longer than scheduled. **** - (): Don't be in a rush there. It is a big day. Uh, but that's, that's kind of the idea, um, is to actually enjoy the ambience and the culture as you're, you're crossing these landscapes, not just whizzing past. [00:24:23] - ():  Craig Dalton: Yeah. Taking an opportunity to enjoy the riding as well as the culture seems like the reason you'd be there for sure. [00:24:32] - ():  Thomas English: A hundred percent. And so that brings me on to the fourth day. So Béziers is a bit, a bigger, a bigger town. We, we have lunch on the outskirts of it, by that lock, as I, as I presented. And there, there are famous pieces of architecture, if, if this is what you enjoy in, in the French history. We are going to go past some very impressive monuments that I can state later. **** - (): Um, and we follow what we call Le Canal du Midi. Which is a, a French icon. A lot of people, a lot of French people would actually go down there on holiday, uh, either rent a boat or kayak up and down this canal. Um, it is, it is a beautiful piece of French architecture and the waterways in France are famous in the history of, of the country for transporting goods, you know, the different wars and battles, why was it separated here or there, uh, the historical borders as well. **** - (): But this, this third day finishes. Back back on the coast again after following this famous canal and we'll be heading we'll be heading the next day. And getting closer to the, to the Pyrenees to go to a place called Billister after crossing a few national parks and famous birdwatching areas again, um, we'll, we'll be climbing a little bit more than the previous days. **** - (): The third day and the fourth day are quite, quite. Big days on the bike. So it's not for the faint hearted, but we'll support everybody, you know Croissant takes you a long way as they say and there's one thing in France for sure is you can't you can't go hungry Because once you've done this little, you know section of gravel you come across this little village and there'll be a bakery and for sure You know the smell of it everything just kind of entices you to get down there and grab something to go So we'll make sure you try the good ones And there are some specialties of the South that are proper to the South, um, that you can only find in the bakeries down there and we'll make sure you try them. **** - (): Um, and you know, that fuels the climb up to this little village of Belista, which used to be one of the main points of interest in, in this area for, uh, white wine growing. Um, they, they still do. It used to be a massive cooperative and we are staying in a, in a hotel called Le Riberac. It is. It is something out of this world. **** - (): We were astonished by what they've done with this eco lodge. You might be sleeping in a wine tank. Yes, we are sleeping in a wine tank. Um, there are spa and, you know, different treatments you can do all around the grape over there. It is one of a kind. It is a place that was designed by two amazing architects. **** - (): The owners is an amazing couple that we got to meet and had the pleasure to have a nice glass and a sit down conversation with. And they really have, you know, an ambience about this, this whole environment that they created, the team that they put together. They still have a part of, um, the cellar that is functional, that, uh, gathers most of, uh, the winemakers of the area as a cooperative. **** - (): And the wine, the wine is delicious down there. The, the riding up will maybe annoy a few, maybe. make others enjoy the adventure twice as much. Um, you know, we all come at a different, at a different place when it comes to climbing on a bike, but that's a good place to finish day four solid before a rest day. **** - (): And we are, we are entering what we call peak at that, which was the scene of multiple combats between, uh, what used to be the Spanish empire and France at a time. And, you know, these perched castles up on the hills, this limestone rock face and this little tower up top with a, with a, with a Catalan flag and the border changed so many times in the past, you know, hundreds of years or decades that it's, it's just very interesting to see the cultural changes throughout the trip because you go from a very Provence, French, uh, south, south of France part with all its influences and its culture. **** - (): And the food evolves as you go down the coast, getting closer to Spanish influence and, you know, the way people talk and behave and, oh, it's just, it's just superb. You get to see that even with a foreign eye, I think. Yeah, it's so [00:28:54] - ():  Craig Dalton: interesting to see and hear that not only will the terrain change, but you'll get these subtle changes in culture across the nine days, uh, changing from the south of France culture to the Catalan culture at the end. [00:29:11] - ():  Thomas English: Absolutely. And if, and if you've been to Gerona, as I've heard you, you've experienced that, that part of the culture and, and, you know, cycling. Cycling is international. It's, it is a universal language. Um, uh, there is a bike in every country you go to, and that's, that's not a lie, that's the truth. But the, the culture that a com, you know, comes with it. **** - (): Maybe the French and the Spanish or the French and the Catalan don't necessarily see the bike. In the same way, you know, maybe the French will use it as a commuter to go get their fresh baguettes from the bakers in the morning, whereas Catalan people will use it to go from, you know, place to place or there's always a different use for it. **** - (): But this, this, this area we're going to is not famous for, you know, holiday and it's not overcrowded. We're really taking you. On, on the unpaved. Uh, this is a proper adventure. Um, we're taking all these, these detours to get to Ballista, um, which is definitely, definitely one of my, one of my crushes for, um, for this trip, because we'll have a rest day in that little village. **** - (): We'll probably have, Awesome activities to go enjoy off the bike for those who want to. You also have the opportunity to, you know, relax because we do come, we do cover between 350 kilometers and 400 kilometers over the first four days. It is a pretty. High level trip, we, we classify as avid. So not to be intimidated by it. **** - (): It does require quite a bit of, you know, physical preparation and a good level of, of writing, uh, but the, but the, the technicity of the gravel stays stays very accessible in many ways. And it's all about how, if you're okay with adventuring the whole day on the bike, you'll, you'll enjoy this trip very much the same as we did my roommates. **** - (): Um. Uh, actually used, uh, the money plus, which is the assist version of our gravel bike and she absolutely loved it. And, you know, we have very different levels of cycling, the 2 of us, but we kept it together and, you know, it's, it's just very complimentary. You get to enjoy the adventure together. So a big rest day on day 5, uh, to recover from, you know, 4 days of adventuring already. **** - (): Uh, there's a pool at the hotel. It's an eco lodge. So they have all these amazing green certifications. We, we do a great job at Trek Travel at building relationships with the people we work with, because I don't see us as a big tour operator where we just walk in, you know, give our standards and, and then, you know, move on to the next season or go somewhere else next season. **** - (): We do build these relationships, and I think you feel it on trip with us. If you've traveled with us before you, you get to appreciate. All the little details that we look into, we always try and better, um, the experience, you know, when you, when you arrive in Bethesda, I can tell you already, uh, Raquel, who's, uh, actually from Madrid originally, who's just fallen in love. With. That region. [00:32:18] - ():  Craig Dalton: Yeah, that's so special as you were mentioning before. I mean, one of the really. Exciting parts of getting a guided tour is having these locals who can show you the ins and outs of the local area and the hotspots and the great riding. Phenomenal. **** - (): So it sounds like at this point, you're up for arrest day. [00:32:39] - ():  Thomas English: A hundred percent. Yes, it's, it's just, it's, it's going to be, it's going to be, uh, you know, not a resurrection, but it will be, it will be one of those that you actually need to push on for sure. **** - (): And, and we'll see if people are up for activities, but I'm, I'm already guaranteeing a lot of people will stay back and say, we need a day to just relax and recover and prepare for the next four. But we, on the fifth day, we, we start tackling the Pyrenees. , we'll be going through what we call the, this, this, the circus. It's, um, it's this beautiful, uh, ochre lime, um, formation, rock formation facing Canigou, which is one of the highest peaks, uh, in this part of the Pyrenees. So you can, you can see this, this dark mountain in the background, uh, slowly getting closer. **** - (): And you got all these different rock formations that we're snaking through to and getting closer and closer to the mountain will be staying in in an old, um, spa and treatment, um, uh, facility area on on the night of day six, uh, to tackle called Dallas on day seven. So. If you, if you, if you, if you've had too much gravel over the, the first six days, don't, don't worry, we've got you covered with a bit of pavement just to, just to rest, uh, a little bit from gravel on, on day seven, because Col d'Arès is, is definitely a stinger, as we call it in, in, in the area, um, it is a bit of a steep one for 13, 13 kilometers, and we do have a section of gravel for those who, who want to keep the trend going, uh, it is, the base of it is this beautiful medieval town where, uh, We'll offer a bit of a treat and, you know, a bit of a quick snack if people want to start tackling the climb on a, on a, a bit of a light bite. **** - (): And once you reach the top, it can be, it can be two, two rooms, two ambiance, as we say in French. Um, it can either be beautiful and sunny or, uh, as it was when we were up there, uh, last fall, quite miserable and windy. Uh, but the views on the Pyrenees that you get from up there no matter what, are just. **** - (): Absolutely stunning. And you descend all the way to this Catalan village after crossing the border, um, called Camprodon, famous for its beautiful stone arch bridge. And from there we are in Catalonia. And the following day, day eight, takes us along the Vies Verdes, uh, which is an old rail to trail, uh, all reconverted. **** - (): Um, it is part of the Pyrenees, if you've heard and followed some of the racing across the Pyrenees. So we are going to be, like, using some of these tracks. And it's beautiful, what we call Catalan gravel. It's very nice, you know, small compact limestone. It takes you all the way back into the Mecca of cycling today, Girona. **** - (): And you will definitely feel the Catalan countryside. If you've been on the Girona gravel trip, you know what I'm referring to, but you will, you will smell, you will, we say you will taste, because usually you have a bit of stuff on your water bottle, and we have the tips for you there, um, but it's, it's, you, you, you get a second country on, on this trip and it hits you like, like a, like a day ride. **** - (): I don't know how to, how to say it in any other way. You cross this border and, um, You're, you're, you're in Catalonia and on these gravel paths, just, um, you know, flying along, along the Via Verde, you, you enter Girona from, from the back, the back door, and we are, we will be staying at Hotel Nord, which I think you say that on our, on our trip there, um, which is the perfect, you know, little nest in, into the city. **** - (): And, yeah, I think it's a good, it's a good way to, to go from, from the South of France, Provence, specific architectural types, all the way into a completely different culture, a completely different, you know, language, accents, influence, uh, but you, you'll, you'll get to, you'll get to feel the connection between the two countries, between that border that's been distorted over the years and the centuries. **** - (): Um, you'll, you'll definitely get that cultural aspect of the trip because we, we felt it as we were, as we were prepping it and we have a, a, a, a nice last day ride, uh, just to, to spend the legs more, more or less, um, before we say farewell. And that's a, a good way to, um, a good way to then spend a bit of time in Girona if you want to stay in Girona or head towards Barcelona, which is another great city to explore after Montpellier in France. **** - (): Um, this, yeah, this trip kind of starts and finishes in, in two really cool points of interest as well, which is another good reason to, to come and join this adventure. [00:37:26] - ():  Craig Dalton: Amazing. Anything else you'd like to add about the trip before we go? [00:37:30] - ():  Thomas English: you know, you create some pretty special bonds over nine days. Uh, sometimes it is over the rest day. Sometimes it's straight off the first day. Um, we are going to be riding these amazing checkpoints as it are seven top, top end, uh, gravel bike. Um, 45 seat tires, which is very comfortable, but after, after eight days of proper riding, you'll probably be in need of a good rest and maybe sometime off the bike. [00:37:56] - ():  Craig Dalton: What an amazing journey and adventure. Thanks so much for coming on and telling us about this trip. It sounds fantastic. I have a love for these point to point adventures. And everything you've described from the terrain to the cultural changes that you're going to experience over the nine days makes this track travel trip. **** - (): Sound amazing. **** - (): Thank you for spending some time with us this evening. And I look forward to seeing you in France at some point. [00:38:24] - ():  Thomas English: Thanks a lot. [00:38:25] - ():  Craig Dalton: That's going to do it for this week's edition of the gravel ride podcast. I hope you enjoyed learning more about that. to Gerona adventure that Trek travel has in store for us. They've got some slots this year, I think starting at the end of April. **** - (): So head on over to track travel.com and check out some of the photos to go with. Thomas's great. Narration of the trip. **** - (): I hope everyone's 20, 24 is filled with many, a gravel adventure. **** - (): Until next time here's to finding some dirt onto your wheels.    

La pequeña Amparo nació con 64 años el 21 del mes 09 de 1937 en Barcelona. Se ve que allí la gente celebró el año nuevo del final de la Guerra Civil con un rocetón fuerte. Su padre era aragonés y su madre valenciana, que se llevaban muy bien hasta que el padre le quiso echar chorizo a la paella, mejillones al arroz a banda y cebolla a la tortilla. Por eso se fueron a Barcelona, porque allí tó eso dá iguá, es la gastronomía inglesa de aquí. Desde chiquitita ya notaron sus padres que si iba a los programas de Juan y Medio, pasaba el casting, en cualquiera de los dos. Era ácida, irónica, de las niñas que decían “Mamá, el traje de Gaspar no es de verdad, dile algo a Carmena en Twitter” Amparo cursó la EGB, el BUP y el COU en un colegio de monjas, monjas, de las de pellizcos y amenazarte con 6 años en arder en el infierno si se te veía la rodilla, por eso era cristiana católica apostólica de crucifijo que da tela de miedo encima de la cama y marcar la X de la Iglesia. Luego se matriculó en Filosofía y Letras, pero la abandonó porque en esas aulas descubrió que había gente todavía más impertinente que ella, por eso y porque vio a la actriz Asunción Sancho sobre las tablas y lo tuvo claro: “Mamá, quiero ser un árbol”. Así que con 20 años, en 1957, se apuntó al primer grupo de teatro que encontró en la guía de teléfono. Tras debutar en público con su primera obra la llamaron de la compañía del teatro Windsor, encabezada por Masillach y Amparo Soler, que eso era como si tú hubieras plantao una semillita de María Juana y te llamara Rafael Amargo. Al poquito de entrá, pero todavía en 1957, iban a estrenar una obra, de estas importantes con Premio Pulitzer, y a la primera actriz, Amparo Soler, le dio un ataque de apendicitis, así que pusieron a la otra Amparo pa ponerle tipex en las entradas sólo al apellido. Pero resultó que Amparo, Baró, la otra seguía con las grapas, deslumbró con su talento, empezando así una gran carrera profesional en el teatro. También hizo ese año una gira por Sudamérica y debutó en el cine, porque los 20 años de Amparo duraron más que la final del Falla del ‘95. Por eso de 1960-1970, trabajó menos que el que le pone sabor a fruta a los medicamentos. Sin embargo sí que pudimos verla en Televisión, de hecho participó en una de las primeras series rodadas en España, en… eso, ¡1957!. En 1980 rechazó uno de los papeles principales de “Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón” porque de qué conocía ella a ese tal Pedro y además su personaje era muy chabacano. Y así fue como Amparo Baró perdió la oportunidad de ser chica Almodóvar, porque Pedro talentoso sí, pero una mihita rencoroso también. En 1995 interpretó a Sofía, la “más anciana” de las Chicas de Oro, en su adaptación española (Juntas, pero no revueltas), que tuvo menos éxito que un entrante de endivia en una comunión. En esta época ya tenía la cara como un cachorro de Sharpei, el peinado de Pilar Bardem y el ojillo derecho un poquito Oriol Junqueras. Pero fue en 1999, su interpretación de Soledad Huete, viuda de Jarana, en “7 vidas”, la que le dio mayor éxito y reconocimiento. Durante 7 años, Sole, jubilada, comunista y roja se dedicó a darle collejas al resto de personajes, sobre todo a Javier Cámara y Toni Cantó. Posteriormente los actores contaron que las collejas eran de coger fuerza tirando el brazo pa’trá, aunque yo creo que esas sólo se las daba a Toni Cantó, porque es al que más se le nota. No le gustaba el movimiento 15M, se declaraba anárquica porque decía que no era ni de izquierdas ni de derechas, pero votaba al PP. Vamos, que Amparo Baró y su personaje de Soledad Huete se parecían lo mismo que Leticia Sabater y Ava Gardner. Tras el final de “7 vidas” pudimos verla haciendo de Jacinta en “El internado”, que esa seguro que sí votaba al PP. No le gustaba recoger premios y eso que tiene un Goya a la mejor interpretación femenina en la película de Gracia Querejeta “Siete mesas de billar francés”. Se ve que los 7 le traían suerte. Ya de abueleta se enganchó a los videojuegos a partir del anuncio que hizo del juego “Brain Training”, pero se pasó a la Wii para jugar a los de tenis y boxeo, que con lo chiquitilla que era, no se tenía que hacer ni el avatar. Desgraciadamente, el 15 de enero de 2015, que ya es mala suerte haberte tenido que comer la cuesta de enero, Amparo Baró nos dejaba a los 61 años, aunque ustedes siempre podrán recordarla cada vez que alguien suelte una colleja o le pongan endivias en los entrantes de una comunión.

El músico, compositor y productor mexicanos Last Jerónimo habla de su proyecto "Método Interactivo: La jarana jarocha en el siglo XXI (Técnicas interpretativas contemporáneas con base en la tradición)".Plataformas:https://open.spotify.com/intl-es/album/4qfw74WqPa5sFW7GnIVA2YRedes:https://manualdeson.softr.app/https://www.instagram.com/lastjeronimo/https://www.facebook.com/lastjeronimo

En el año 2015 Jonathan Lebrón Ayala, Karla Figueroa y Alexis Zárraga comenzaron desde cero con la misión de crear un portal dirigido a la generación millennial que tuviera una combinación de información con noticias que fueran contadas con humor. De ahí surgió elcalce.com, el vertical de Metro Puerto Rico que rompió esquemas y que aún hoy se posiciona entre los medios digitales más visitados en la isla. Posteriormente otras figuras como el periodista Hermes Ayala y José Encarnación continuaron a cargo del portal. Para celebrar estos ocho años juntamos a la vieja escuela con la nueva de El Calce en un podcast donde hablamos de los inicios y el presente de la casa de la jarana.

La Chicharra - Compartiendo jarana con Culturaama El Hogar del Son by Radiotelevisión de Veracruz

Vuyani Jarana | Former executive of SAA, Vodacom and current Founder at llitha Telecommunications See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Vuyani Jarana | Former executive of SAA, Vodacom and current Founder at llitha Telecommunications See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week I recount my recent trip to Girona, Spain with Trek Travel. Our knowledgeable guides took us on a 5 day adventure throughout the region exposing us to Girona's plentiful and diverse gravel. As a bonus, we were able to connect with a number of local cycling brands contributing to Girona's reputation as the hub of European cycling. Trek Travel  Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: Girona Gravel Live [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 show, I'm releasing some recordings I did during the tractor on a gravel tour. I participated in, in November. It was a great trip. I encourage you to check it out on Trek's website and I appreciate Trek's support in getting the over there to have this wonderful experience. With my friend. Was able to sit down with our guides as well as some other members of the Jarana cycling community. To give you a flavor for this wonderful cycling city. I hope you enjoy and let's dive right in Day 1 [00:00:56] Craig Dalton: Right here we are, day one, Trek Gerona Gravel tour here in Gerona, Spain here in the hotel. Nord got set up on my Trek demo bike. Not the one you'd expect for these gravel trips, but it turns out the gravel roads here in Gerona are pretty smooth and you don't need the big wide tires that I typically ride at home. So we're riding a 35 C Pirelli tire on these Damani bikes. The great thing was, Sent them over. My fit measurements had everything dialed, so it was just some quick adjustments Right before the ride. Today we did about 25 miles today as a shakeout ride. Riding along, essentially along the river, out and back on either side of the river, which a lot of fun. We got into some single track. Super smooth. Not a lot of elevation today. That's gonna come tomorrow where I'm excited that we're riding off to the Mediterranean. So great first day. Great intro. The guides. Rafa and Mickey are awesome. Mickey's a local here in Jerron and Rafa's from London. Bringing a little bit of international flavor to the trip. We've got a group of about six of us, so it's pretty easy to keep people together. I've got two friends from San Francisco along for the ride, so that is a joy and a pleasure. More later in the week, and I'll get some commentary, a little bit more specifics about the writing from Mickey Rafa along the way to to give you an idea about what to expect. It's a five day experience here in the Jonah Gravel tour. They've got some other options I think, coming online next year, but super excited for the days to come as the mileage is gonna creep up, and I'm told the technicality is gonna creep up as well. So super excited for that. We'll see how these 35 C tires on the demos go, but I'm confident we've got the right equipment for the job. Day 2 [00:02:50] Craig Dalton: Okay, so on day two of the Trek Gerona gravel tour today, we did about 60 miles of gravel, about 1800 feet of climbing on our way to the Mediterranean beach, the Mediterranean Ocean. We started in Gerona and followed the prominent river all the way to the east. Surprisingly, the whole ride, we were on gravel roads, beautiful gravel. Started out getting outta town on some small paths right next to the river. Some real fun single track to wake you up and then onto some amazing roads through forests. There's a lot of forests here. We were told that the trees that were being planted there were for the paper industry. They were super beautiful tall trees and lined in rows, and we just weaved throughout them until 29 kilometers later. We met the van, the Trek travel van, and our second guide Mickey, who had water refills and food and everything we needed for the second half of our ride out there to the coast where we went through orchards, basically this incredibly smooth gravel road. Very, very little car traffic. I think maybe we saw a few, maybe three vehicles out there the whole day, but super pleasant ride. Relatively flat for 60 miles, only 1800 feet of climbing. We got to the ocean to meet Mickey in the van again. Had an amazing lunch and a few of us decided we were gonna jump into the. It wasn't exactly warm, but it wasn't unpleasant. It was so fun to kind of get off the gravel bike in the middle of your ride and go for a swim and play around. And one of the riders, James, my friend from San Francisco, took a nap on the beach while we were in the water and we had to rouse him to get him back on the bike for our 45 kilometer return home. Adding up to, as I said, 60 miles and no idea why I'm converting miles to kilometers and vice versa. Including them in the same sentences. But anyway, I'm a bit groggy from the ride. The legs are taken a little bit to get used to it, but it's been amazing. The town's been amazing. We, we spent sunset at, on the wall here in Jerome, next to the big church, and you can see the purities and the sun was setting right over the pys. Pretty incredible Second day. Getting ready for the third day, which I guess is a little bit more technical. I'll get some of the guides on to describe some of the terrain, excuse me, that we're going through and we'll see how the legs hold up. Day 3 [00:05:29] Craig Dalton: Day three of our Jer gravel cycling tour with track travel. Today was a little bit more technical, especially with the 35 Sea Tires. We got out into some rolling farm roads and definitely off into some single track and double track. That was pretty amazing, the first 30 K or so, rolling farm roads. Just a little bit punchier than we've been experiencing. A little bit looser gravel in most cases. But nothing too technical on the. 30 K of the ride. We had this amazing stop at Ro Roca corba cycling, a new 17th century Chateau kind of building that's being converted into a cycling. Kind of lodge and Airbnb pretty amazing. They took the kind of areas that used to house the cattle underneath the building and made them into kind of the bike room and a little cafe. It's a super like rustic arc, arc ceilings beautiful stonework on the grounds. This beautiful old building, it's being renovated by a couple professional cyclists, ones who's already retired, and one who's in the Women's Pro tour today. So that was really special. Kind of get to tour that facility and definitely something. It's about 30 kilometers outside of. Jer. So kind of an interesting place to stay. You know, the ideal might be stay in Gerona for, you know, four or five days and then go out there for three or four days, or two or three days to just get a little bit of different starting point. It's a little closer to closer to some of the climbs particularly for the roadies. So, you know, if you're interested in getting out and hitting some of those climbs and having a little less distance in your legs from Gerona, that's a good option. Once we left there, the riding got a little bit more technical through some farms. Took a lot of single track. Some punchier climbs actually reminds me of what I recently experienced at, at big sugar in Arkansas. Kind of loose gravel, the sense definitely some loose gravel pushed the technical capabilities. Clearly. Track is the, has done a really good job of making roots that are gonna explore different areas of your gravel cycling ability again today. Was definitely on the more technical side, particularly if you were a newer rider of which we had at least one in today's ride. And you know, you could. Some of them were, some of the dissents were definitely making them think, but everybody went through fabulously. We even got to stop at the property, which my one of the guides fathers owned, and I'll get him on to talk about that a little bit. But it was great being able to reminisce with him and he learned to swim up there. His father owned a restaurants, a typical Catalan food restaurant in this really beautiful building, which was kind of cool to see. Then we rolled back into, I'm always looking at the GPS and amazed that, you know, we could be within seven kilometers of Jerome and still in these amazing forests and woods, riding gravel, basically all the way back into town. So another great day out there. It's interesting how they've explored. The first day was kind of getting to know your bike a little bit. Second day was that long. Ride out to the beach. Not very technical. Beautiful, beautiful gravel roads today being more technical, and we'll see what the next two days have to bring us. Day 4 [00:08:46] Craig Dalton: All right. Day four, Gerona gravel. Definitely woke up feeling a little tired, not gonna lie. Fourth day riding in a row with some big climbs. Yesterday. Got a massage yesterday afternoon, which was awesome and quite affordable here in Gerona, which was a bonus. Got up this morning, got the bikes ready. We got the route loaded up. We were riding through the fields. Kesier de Las Selva known for the cork. It's cork production. So they actually, it was kind of interesting. They, the trees kind of about five feet kind of from the ground up. Five feet they chop and that's the cork that they used to make cork bottles, flooring, everything. So that was super cool to see. We continued rolling through some dirt roads through there, through the mountain range of Lis gravis. Then we tackled a famous road climb called Santa Aea, known as the George hie Climb for Local. This was awesome. I mean, I know we're here to talk about gravel and the gravel was great that first half of the morning, but that road climb was spectacular as well. I kind of felt like it was a bonus, obviously, like we signed up for a gravel trip, but to be able to do kind of a famous climb, road climb was amazing. It was great gradient, fantastic descent. Right at the bottom of it, we turned up another dirt road and had a a 12 K climb to lunch. Great climb kind of loose. Actually more similar to riding I do at home than the first couple of days. So that was interesting. Got up to a church where Salvador Dolly was married, had some lunch, then we dropped down the kind of backside of that climb. But before we got to the bottom in Jer, we took another hard right and got into a trail system right above. Rode some steep descents through and down back into town. Those steep descents were very much like mount ta. You know, maybe 12, 15% grade going down and loose. A lot of fun. I discovered by the time I got back to town that I managed to cut the sidewall of my. But fortunately the sealant held and it was all good for me to roll back into town. We dropped a few people off and ended up going on an extended loop, a pretty vicious climb on the extended loop they call extended loops for the avid riders. My legs were screaming at me, but it was a, it was a lot of fun. We were kind of just, again, in that same area going up into the ELs Angels climb area. Steep dirt climbs pretty loose. We grinded that climb for a while, but the descent was a hell of a lot of fun. Pretty gentle loose rock, but pretty easy to handle at speed. Fun. Coming back into the town the way that route did was a lot of fun. It really felt like you were kind of entering a village, not downtown gerona like we've done in some other, the the entrances back into town. Anyway, another great day out there for day four. Super fun, super varied. The team has done a really good job of kind of making each day feel different and like many areas around the world, kind of directionally where you head outta town, the, the dirt and the gravel. Has just a different feel to it. So it's been fun to explore. We've got one more day on the official tour, and then I've got an extra day here. So we're gonna do a sixth day of riding where I think we'll head back out to the Mediterranean Ocean. Cuz how, how cool is that? Day 5 [00:12:17] Craig Dalton: All right. Day five of the Jarana. The gravel tour with truck travel, bit of a shorter day, as most of the clients were leaving today, it's the end of the official tour. So our guides took us on a really fun kind of single tracky tour through a different part of the surrounding area that we hadn't visited before. Lots of fun. Just kind of a great community day where we got to interact with the other riders a bit, and the writing wasn't too challenging nor too long as the ideal schedule had you back by noon and getting checked out of the hotel. Fortunately, we don't have to leave today. So we decided at least a few of us who were staying on a couple extra days to go out and climb the LA angels. Road climb again. We had such a good time. The day before on that climb, we thought it'd be fun to go back up. And we had some energy in our legs and a little bit of time in the afternoon to go tackle that. So we said goodbye to the other members of our tour group and our guides and headed off on a road loop. It was great. We talked about the climb a bit the other day. Just a fun group. Growed climb we saw a bunch of pros climbing up at which was always fun got to the top crews back down and put another day behind us in the books Day 6 and 7 [00:13:31] Craig Dalton: All right. Well, the official tour from track is over at day five. We had a couple extra days on our hands over in Gerona and you better believe we wanted to go out there and ride Mickey. One of our guides that you'll hear from later in this broadcast was nice enough to share. Another route. Out to the coast for us. So we really enjoyed that ride out to the coast, just super satisfying to kind of hit the Mediterranean. I shouldn't come back. Over to Gerona, but he had us go over some great trails on the way out and then a really, really fun road climb. Just gradual great fun descent down into the Mediterranean. You got to the top and you could see the ocean just super satisfying. We sat around in a cafe for gosh. Probably an hour and a half, just drinking some teas and coffees and having some snacks. We were having a great time, but we realized we needed to head back to Gerona. And Mickey's rude had us go through some similar type of terrain that we were on in our coastal roots, a few days back, those nice long flat undulating gravel trails that seemed to be pervasive in this area. So we're super appreciative of Mickey. Sharing one of his favorite routes that he loves to do with his friends, with us. So we could get another big day. You know, on the bike. I'll move on to day seven. As I'm recording this after the fact day seven, we didn't have a bunch of time left. So we decided we were going to basically revisit the route from day one, some of that nice single track and double track along by the river, it was actually fun without the group with just two of us remaining on the bikes, the kind of rip the single track a little bit harder. We were comfortable with the bikes. We'd been on them for seven days at that point. So really fun to just kind of rip the single track and nail it a little bit harder. Knowing that we could go as hard as we wanted because we had an overnight in Barcelona and then we were going to be on a plane saying a sad goodbye to Gerona. Overall. It was a fantastic trip. Jarana is a very special community. There's a reason why so many cyclists flock there it's clear whether you're a gravel cyclist road cyclist, or even mountain biker that there's ample terrain every direction outside of Jarana. And then the town itself is just really special, special. Between the old world, the old town roads and the city. City walls, the church walls. It was just a really great experience. Our guides from track were phenomenal and I wanted to introduce you to them. So I've recorded some tracks. That'll play immediately after this commentary. So you can get to know Mickey and Rafa, who were our guides throughout the week for track travel. I also was able to capture a little bit of audio from a few different sources. We talked a little bit about Roca Corp, but cycling. Both the 17th century Villa that's being converted into a cycling Airbnb, as well as there's Roca, Corbus cycling clothing, which was founded by a gentleman by the name of a test who's happening to be opening his store this month in Jarana. So it was able to get him on the mic. I had Andrew from the Airbnb. Cycling house. And then also Oscar from Castelli Castelli just opened up a flagship community store in Gerona that week we were there as well. We witnessed a number of group rides going out from the facility. So it was great to hear what Castelli's perspective was for opening that facility. And I was surprised to learn it had. Had little to do with selling. Jerseys and clothing and bib shorts, as you would imagine, and everything to do with promoting the cycling community and creating yet another hub. In Jarana for cyclists. Which brings us back to why you should all go to Jarana. As i just mentioned it's a great place to go and i highly recommend it and i hope you enjoyed this overview of my experience there. With that said let's jump right into those conversations Rapha - Trek Travel Guide [00:17:33] Craig Dalton: Okay, can I get your name and what you do with Trek? [00:17:36] Rapha: My name is Rafael and I'm a second [00:17:38] Craig Dalton: guide for Trek Travel. And [00:17:40] Rapha: where are you from? Well that's a good question cuz originally from the Philippines grew up for most of my life, 20 years in London and now anywhere in Europe. So I'm a resident of France, but I gotta find a place to live , so. [00:17:54] Craig Dalton: And how long have you been guiding for truck [00:17:56] Rapha: travel? This will be my fifth year now, guiding for truck. [00:17:59] Craig Dalton: And what does that look like? Are you always based here in Jer or are you all over the place? We, we [00:18:03] Rapha: sort of congregate here in the beginning of the year and then come back at the end of the year, but in between, we're all over [00:18:09] Craig Dalton: Europe. And are you leading, I know Trek Travel has got many, many road tours. Probably a lesser degree of gravel tours. Are you leading trips on the road and gravel [00:18:21] Rapha: for now? Yeah, and we're, we're starting off gravel next year and so it's a mainly road for the beginning. Next year we're gonna bring in unpaved which is gonna be a whole gravel series. So we have a whole unit of bikes just traveling throughout Europe, and it's gonna be exciting for next year. Yeah, [00:18:37] Craig Dalton: it's exciting. I heard, I heard from the, the extended team that you're gonna really build out the gravel experiences for next year, which is great. I think if my experience in Jerome with the gravel tour is any indication there's gonna be a lot of magical trips across Europe, helping riders discover gravel all over the. [00:18:56] Rapha: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I do a lot of the road tours and I'll see just a patch of undiscovered area and I'm thinking, Hey, where does that go? Or I'll be traveling along the hills and in between you're gonna see these gravel patches of fires and you just want to go and explore. And essentially that's what the guides that went into design these trips or, or want to do, they want to do that. They want to find out those roads. Where does it lead to? Can I connect these dots and see the town and where am I gonna. [00:19:25] Craig Dalton: Yeah, I think it's one of the things I've talked about on the podcast a lot, just the power of local knowledge as we're following the GPX files or following you guys' guides through Jer here. You know, there's a lot of nuance, a lot of little trails that you can pop onto that would be easy to miss if you just sort of saw a heat map of the area. You might just choose the carriage way instead of the the nice trails. So it's really cool and important. I. To have guides that are local to kind of pick apart the best of the best for us to ride on. [00:19:57] Rapha: Yeah, I mean this is what we do. We, this is what we do for fun. So on our time off whilst we do a lot of road riding for work on our time off, we want to go out there and ride gravel. And so this is why we get to know the places. We live around here and in the places that we research gravel all we're doing is just riding and riding and riding and then through. Time, just knowledge. You build up tracks in your head and you wanna put that onto design and then maybe create a trip around it. Find a hotel, find a restaurant, the best restaurants, best hotels to stay and yeah, it's awesome. [00:20:30] Craig Dalton: Yeah, I feel that way. Whenever anybody comes to Marin County, I just wanna show them the best of the best and not the most obvious trails, but the, the ones only the locals know. Yeah. [00:20:41] Rapha: You, you wanna share it? I mean, it's, its more fun riding a gravel. It's more fun with people, friends and random people that you meet up on [00:20:48] Craig Dalton: trails as well. Yeah. When we were, when we first arrived during the week and you were giving an overview, you were talking about kind of the progression of roots that we'd be doing during the week. I thought it was very interesting, like the thoughtfulness in, in how you guys conceived of the roots and the, the relative challenges, whether they be distance or technic. Can you talk about, you know, if someone's come coming into one of the spring trips for the Trek Travel Corona gravel tour, what would how would you describe it? [00:21:16] Rapha: Well, so, well, there was no brief in the beginning, so actually when we rode this, For the research we rode 500 kilometers in five days and it looked like a picture of a lung with all the trees of just dead ends. But once we put it all together, we decided to, okay. Day one is a bit of an introduction. Let's get you used to the surfaces, the mixed surfaces, but we're gonna keep it flat. And on the second day we're gonna add on a little bit of distance just to make sure you have endurance for grab, because it's a lot of work. You know, you're doing a lot of cadence. Mind work as well, trying to figure out what's coming up. And then day three we add technicality. Now we're having multi services, soft sand, big rocks, technical climbs, and technical descents, which, you know, your wheels dig in, you gotta react to it. And then we put all of that together for the fourth day where you. Pick up all the skills you've had and we put it all in a fourth day for you to enjoy. Yeah. Right [00:22:11] Craig Dalton: on. And can you talk about the bikes that people are offered for this [00:22:15] Rapha: trip? Okay. For this trip, we are currently running Damani 2019 s SL seven. So it has gravel wheels on it for 35 millimeter. And it's just fun. That's what it is. So it's, it's not an all out gravel. It tests your limits on this ride and you get electronic shifting. So when you really need that gear on those technical climbs, you're gonna get it. Of course you're gonna prepare for it, but you're gonna get, get the gears. Yeah. When [00:22:39] Craig Dalton: I first saw that, that was the bike spec, I mean, it almost immediately had me thinking of more the trails that we took out to the coast when the carriageway, the, the, you know, the reclaimed rail line. Right. But at the end of the day, like now, four days into this, You're pushing the limits of these bikes and it's been a hell of a lot of fun. I mean, it, I really do think it's one of, it is kind of a perfect bike for this situation because it did everything you needed to do if you were ever on the road, it felt snappy and lively and it could withstand some of the abuse we were putting it through today. [00:23:11] Rapha: Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, these, these can do rock gardens and slick rock on, on good terrain. Good. These bikes are perfect around your owner. Of course, you know, you can always go wider. You can get flat bars and you go, world is your oyster. When it comes to gravel. I mean, you ask anybody what is gravel to you and they'll give you a million answers depending on who you're talking to. So every, everyone's got their preferences, and next year, you know, who knows? We have Wider checkpoints next year and it's it's gonna cater up to 50 mil tires and it's gonna be amazing. So we have sneak preview, we have a few in the warehouse at the moment in, and we can't wait for next [00:23:48] Craig Dalton: year at a checkpoint. Yeah, I think it, I mean, the checkpoint's obviously like gonna be a little bit more versatile and you can imagine the opportunity if you have a rider on day one that's seeming a little nervous. Maybe you spec it with a 40 to begin with and maybe you swap out the wheels and maybe you put him or her on 50 millimeters just to give them additional comfort. And who knows, maybe it's even for day four, we put you on 50 millimeters cuz we know it's gonna be kind of more challenging, technically speaking. [00:24:17] Rapha: Yeah, I mean, absolutely. We're gonna, as guides, you know, we're gonna test write these. We have a few in now and we're gonna have fun and check it out. So to checkpoint with all this capabil. It's gonna be more forgiving and hopefully you'll get more people coming in and not be so scared about gravel and check it out and try, try something different from [00:24:37] Craig Dalton: road riding. Yeah, for sure. As someone who didn't grow up in gerona, what have been some of your favorite things that you've discovered in town? [00:24:43] Rapha: Oh, you know what? Last night was probably one of the best nights ever because it was random. Mickey invited me down to the cast Telluride, and we did a Night Gravel, which is absolutely epic. Like, it's add just a different layer of difficulty, not seeing too far around and the group dynamic and you know, getting to know people and. Absolute blast. [00:25:04] Craig Dalton: Yeah, we were more than a little jealous that we didn't have lights with us and our legs were probably cooked enough that we shouldn't go for another eye, but we probably would've been excited to do so. Craig, maybe next time we're gonna invite you around. Exactly. Outside of Jer, since you've done Trek travel trips in a bunch of different places, what would be like one other trip that you'd recommend? Gravel or road? Either way. Oh, that's, [00:25:26] Rapha: it's like choosing between your children really. Like I adore all the trips and, but for me, this. The classic climb of the Alps. It's so stunning. It's beautiful and it's challenging. That's one of my favorite trips. And what, [00:25:39] Craig Dalton: what classic climbs, if you can recall, some of 'em are on that [00:25:43] Rapha: trip. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, we start in a place LA Luce and the first ride you're doing quarter cord Qure. Okay. And, sorry, my mistake. Yeah. Qure. And it's a, it's a first. Already you're getting like 1500 meters of elevation in a 55 kilometer ride. So it's just day one and you're already getting straight up, okay, we're here to climb and we're gonna go all out the whole week. Nice. Of course, we, we do the epic outdoors at the end trip, sort of the icing of the cake and so that's the last climb of the, [00:26:20] Craig Dalton: of the trip. Yeah. It's certainly nice for anybody who's been watching the tour to come over and knock off any one of those climbs that are bucket list. [00:26:27] Rapha: Yeah, it is, it is a backless trip. I was fortunate, fortunate enough to climb outdoors on the TDF day in 2022, and the atmosphere there is unbelievable. Just the, the crowd cheering you on it, it just gives you an extra beat and you are just hammering up the hill just because of the people cheering you on. It's absolutely epic. And then of course you get more quieter climbs. So Wears is a great climb, but like Holyland. It's not celebrated enough for just Serenity, and it's, it's still challenging. It's 21 kilometers and but it's a good, it's a good time. Yeah. It's underrated my opinion. Amazing. My favorite call. [00:27:05] Craig Dalton: Awesome. I love your passion for it, . Thank you. Cool. And I, again, I wanted to thank you for all your help this week. It's been great getting to know you and riding with you. If it's, if it's unclear in anything we've said before, Each day we've had one of these guys riding with us and so one person's in the van and we've got one person on a bike with us. So we've had good camaraderie and lots of miles to get to know one another. So thanks again for everything [00:27:28] Rapha: this week. Thank you to, to you guys. Cause without you we wouldn't be here. And it's an absolute pleasure to be guiding you around here and it's so fun just doing own gravel. Cheers. Thank you. Miqui [00:27:38] Craig Dalton: All right, sir, can I get your name and what you do for truck travel? [00:27:42] Miqui: Yeah, so my name is Mickey Mic Reta, and I'm one of the guides of the truck travel ju gravel. [00:27:50] Craig Dalton: And not only are you one of the guides, you're a local here [00:27:52] Miqui: in Gerran. Yeah, I'm local. I'm born and raised in Gerran and I'm very happy to have you guys here in Gerona. Let's, let's [00:28:01] Craig Dalton: actually start with that. You've been in Gerona your whole life as you just. What's it been like growing up here? How has the town changed and as cycling has become more of a hub, how has it been infused into Gerona culture? [00:28:14] Miqui: So I would say cycling has always been a part of Ger. I remember as a kid going to a bunch of mountain bike races with my brother, probably. I did my mountain bike race, my first one when I was like six years old. And then, After that, it's just, it's been growing like crazy and I remember probably about eight years ago as one, it just went insane. Like all the pros started moving here and somehow it created a community that is just like a magnet for all the cyclists anywhere in the world up until the point that now I would say Juran is the cycling capital of the. [00:28:55] Craig Dalton: What is it about the roads and trails around here that you think attracted them people to gerona? Obviously, you've given us a great sample these five days of what the gravel has been like, and it's been spectacular. We've touched on some of these roads. I'd just like to hear in your words, why do you think everybody's coming here? [00:29:14] Miqui: So I would say Jona has everything you are looking for in. Or anything related to cycling? The weather is good all year round. It's true we have a rainy season, which lasts for a couple weeks or a month. We have a very few weeks in summer, which is very hot in very few weeks in winter, which is very cold. But the rest of the year is incredible. It has an. Endless options of road riding. If you wanna ride to the peer, you can, it's a long ride, but you can actually do it if you wanna ride from ju to the coast and do a nice short loop, short-ish you can do it if, yeah, I would say in ju you could be riding for almost a month and you would never repeat a single ride. [00:29:58] Craig Dalton: Yeah, I believe it. I mean, just from sampling it for this week. Yeah, for sure. And I mean, I think it's great that you've. Flat options. You've got hilly options. I think today we were up on kind of the local climb you would probably do after [00:30:12] Miqui: work. Yeah. You guys were up on Los Angeleses, which. I feel like it's just incredible to have a climb like that starting at three kilometers from the center of Una and yeah, it's, it's a long climb. It's about 10 kilometers and on top you get views of the purines. You get views of the ocean, well, the sea. Yeah. I feel like we are very lucky [00:30:33] Craig Dalton: in here. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like it's like probably one of those climbs that every local athlete knows their exact time to the top. Yeah. [00:30:41] Miqui: I would say that. People's fitness, you always ask, what's their time of Los Angeles ? [00:30:47] Craig Dalton: Yeah. That'll tell you if you're a compatible rider with them. So let's talk about the, the Trek Jer Gravel tour. I think you had a hand in a lot of the mapping, being a local and figuring out all the roots. How did you go about kind of, I always say whether it's an event organizer or a tour, it's almost like a love letter to your community and your trails, right? You're. You've got guests coming in from out of the country or out of the area and you wanna show them the best of the best. How did you go about thinking about the, the trails and roads we were [00:31:17] Miqui: on? The thing about this trip is that I had, I had to think that I couldn't make it super intense cuz sometimes we are taking guests at not super experienced on, on gravel riding or they just come from the. So I couldn't make a trip very technical, but as you guys saw, we have a few avid options after the look we do every day, which are a little more technical. But yeah, I feel like I, I was really happy when they actually said, Hey Mickey, do you want to give us a hand with this trip? Because, It's Una, I'm, I'm, that's where I started riding and I love grow riding, so actually my favorite ride of the trip is the one where we go to the coast. So we start in Una. It's super flat. We actually did on an incredible day. It was super sunny and we stop at the at the sea and yeah, we have lunch by the sea. Then after you guys went for a little swim and then we brought back to Una, we tried to stop at the brewer, which was unfortunately close that day. But yeah, I just think it's, I was very happy when Trek Travel said, Hey, do you wanna give us a [00:32:23] Craig Dalton: hand on this? Yeah. It's interesting. I think it's, it's sort of, you know, I imagine Trek travel draws a lot of road athletes Yeah. Onto their trips. So I think it is very approachable, but definitely had moments where you needed some skill. Not, you know, I think for more experienced gravel riders, riders, there was, there was no fear. It was just fun and exhilaration. But for a couple of the newer rider, When they were going down the looser descents, they were probably a little bit scared but exhilarated when they got to the bottom. Yeah. [00:32:54] Miqui: I don't think it's, it's nothing crazy. We haven't put anything on this trip, which would be like dangerous or scary for like total beginners. We've had intellectual, we, we classify rider in four levels, four being the, the most expert. And we've had people on this trip, they're like level twos and they've. They've loved the descents, they love the writing. Yeah. I think it's, it's got a great balance of hardcore and not hardcore, so. Yeah. [00:33:23] Craig Dalton: Yeah, it's super interesting. I mean, we, we sort of weave through the farmlands and into little villages, and it's been a real pleasure to kind of pop out of some woods and go through some, you know, 17th century sanctuary buildings and then back out onto some trails. It's, it's super fun. So, [00:33:39] Miqui: and that's the thing about Juran, right? So everyone, Toronto is for road cycling, but as a local, I'm a hundred percent sure that there is actually a lot more gravel riding than there is road riding in Toronto. Yeah, I [00:33:56] Craig Dalton: believe you. I mean, I think within four kilometers of town every day we've been on the dirt. Yeah. [00:34:01] Miqui: The extension of like farm roads and Yeah, just unpaved roads. I mean, I'm not talking about single track, I'm just talking. Real, what I like to call the real gravel, which is smooth and fast. [00:34:15] Craig Dalton: Yeah. You were telling me about that railroad line that used to go from the Yeah. The sea to the purities, and now it's all a gravel road. Yeah, [00:34:23] Miqui: so I would say it's about 50 years ago when they removed the, the train line, the, well, the railway, which there was a train that went from sun follow g. Which is one of the towns on the coast. And then it run all the way up to Ola and now yeah, they just remove the whole railway and they lay gravel on it and it's just an incredible, it's, it's actually a bike path, so on the weekend it's gonna be full of kids on bikes and yeah, the extension to the Villa Verde, which that it's included on the Villa Verde, is just incredible. How [00:35:02] Craig Dalton: many kilometers do you think that that trail. It's over a hundred kilometers. That's amazing. I mean, to be able to cruise, I mean, and relatively flat presumably, until it gets to the purity side. Yeah. It's [00:35:14] Miqui: totally flat. But since a train used to Yeah. Be on it, so they made sure it was super flat [00:35:20] Craig Dalton: for it. Yeah. Miles and miles and miles. Going back to the community in Ger, what are some of your favorite kind of, if a cyclist is coming to town, what are some of the go-to businesses they should [00:35:30] Miqui: visit? So if a cyclist comes in, ger, I would say most people, they would come here for about at least a week. So you're gonna have time to visit all of them, which they are all a hundred percent worth visiting. But there is a couple of places. You should a hundred percent go see if you're here for a short period of time. One of them being a coffee shop called La Fabrica, which it's only open in the mornings and lunch, so it's, it's the perfect place to brunch. Yeah. [00:36:05] Craig Dalton: Quick aside, I literally ran into someone I know, know from the United States today, and they told us to go have brunch at [00:36:13] Miqui: Left Africa Till Africa is owned by Christian Mayer and Amber Mayer. He was, well, he's a, he's a former, Yeah, they were the pioneers in Una, so they were the first ones to open a coffee shop, only focused for cyclist, of course, for everyone. And now it has become like a super great, like it's, it's a tourist attraction right now, but that's what kind of triggered the whole cycling movement in Joran. Okay. [00:36:41] Craig Dalton: So La Africa, and what's the [00:36:42] Miqui: second one? La Africa. They also have another coffee shop, which is only for. Which LA Fabric is more like brunch and food. The other coffee shop is called Espresso Mafia, which is one meal walking from La Fabrica, and that's basically where Christian roast the coffee and then you can drink it at Espresso Mafia. And then another place you should go visit in general, well, mid January. Trek and track travel. It's opening the first track store in the world, which is gonna have truck travel inside of it. And with a rental fleet, we are going to be the biggest, as in space, we're gonna have the biggest bike shop in ju, which it's pretty exciting. [00:37:29] Craig Dalton: Yeah, that's really exciting. And then finally, what's one sort of cultural place within Jerron that a tourist should visit? [00:37:36] Miqui: The whole old town itself. If you go to Juna, I highly recommend getting a walking tour of the Old Town because you're really gonna see what our culture is here and how it was in the past. And everything around the old town is just, it's just incredible. [00:37:55] Craig Dalton: Yeah. That's fun. You recommended we go up onto the wall for sunset. Yeah. And we've, we missed it the first night. The second night we, we made it up. We may have had to like randomly climb over a fence to make it there in time because we couldn't find the way up. But we got there and it was spectacular with view. Is that the purities that you're looking at out there? Yeah. You [00:38:14] Miqui: get to see Purees, you get to see a bunch of things and yeah, there is a restaurant called Aro. Which is in one of the steps. Well, there's like, Juna has 200 million cathedrals, but in one of them. On the stairs there is a restaurant called , which they actually film Game of Thrones there. And the terrace of the restaurant, it's actually on a little like flat section it has on those stairs. And I think it's a really cool location. [00:38:45] Craig Dalton: That's super. Cool. Well, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you so much for all the hospitality this week. It's been great to getting to know you and the local terrain [00:38:55] Miqui: here. Yeah. Thank you guys for coming. Girona Cycling Friends [00:38:57] Andrew - RocaCorba: All right. Can I let me get your name and let me know where we're at. What's this beautiful place? So my name is Edward Green. I'm the guest, the general manager slash I don't know what, at Rocka Culpa cycling. So we are a cycling tourism business just outside of Jer Corona in a town called Bans. We are based on a 17th century Catalan estate, or Maia as it is in Catalan. And we are basically trying to be a boutique hotel with some villas attached, which is exclusively for cyclists, road, gravel, mountain. Whatever you enjoy on two wheels is, is what we wanna do. And how far away from Ger are we? So we are currently 18 kilometers from Gerona, or 10 or 11 miles depending. Country. And about a 30 to 45 minute ride depending on, on how you get to us. Can you describe where we are in, in the villa right now? So we're downstairs basically in what used to be the old like area for the animals. So we've got some troughs around us, but we've done huge renovations to basically create our cycling dungeon down here. So we've got beautiful old vaulted Catalan ceiling. Rustic concrete floors, beautiful stone work, and then cycling history all around us with some beautiful frames. Cycling jerseys. Good coffee from the rocket espresso machine. Everything you can need for a good cycling stay. And what time of year is best to come here? Pretty much all, all year. To be honest. I don't think there's necessarily a bad month anymore, like December and Januarys tends to be quite quiet, but we see strong gravel riding in October, November, and the rest of the year is a lot of road riding. Summer is quite warm, so unless you like waking up early, probably avoid summer a little bit. But like June and September, October, probably buffer the. I'll note when you said strong gravel riding, you looked right at exactly a hundred percent. You are the epitome of what we see in November. . Tell us a little bit about the rest of the. So we are on 37 hectares and it's basically an old, what was an old family estate of the Campier family. The estate dates back to the 17th century, so 1673, and it was with the same family until 2018 when we took it over to create. What we want to create is basically cycling paradise all you need in one place. Out in the countryside, but close to Gerrin. And how many rooms do you have available here? So currently we're at eight rooms, but we'll be at 13 by April next year. So we're currently in the process literally starting today, which is very exciting of putting in five beautiful unsweet rooms in this main can poly manor house, partially they'll have views over down towards the lake onto some vineyards, but also into the courtyard and just generally over the rolling hills of, of Jerome. And tell us a little bit about the village. So just on our doorstep, we have the town of Olas which has a beautiful lake in it. It's where they had the rowing for the 92 Barcelona Olympic. It's a great place for like active people, for families, et cetera. But there's a lot of rowing. A lot of of the British university teams come out and train here. A lot of the national teams come and train as well, but generally just a fantastic place to be. Good quality of life and just down to earth and authentic. Amazing. And how do people find out about staying here? So if you have a look on Rocka coba cycling.cc, you'll find us and you can kind of do anything from there. Or if you are enjoy climbing, just Google Rocka Coba, you'll find the climb, and then you'll find us and the clothing. Amazing. Thank you. Perfect. That was great. [00:42:14] Oscar - Castilli: Okay. Can I get your name? Hi, my name is Oscar. And Oscar. Where are we standing today? Well, today we are in the, the first flag shipper store in the, in the war from Costelli here in Una. And what's the plan for the store? What are you trying to do with the community here? Well, una, you know, is the Jamaica for for European cyclists, I think all over the world. So, right now Castelli store, it's coming to. The big cycling club in Giona and well, why not in Spain? Nice. And we, we rolled by here last night and there was a big group ride going out on the gravel. Yeah. We have almost 40 people doing the full moon ride. It was amazing. So always we keep a surprise for all the riders. We stop in a food truck in the middle of the forest with fire. Some dinner and and beer. So it was super fun. That's amazing. And if someone's coming to Jerone to, to visit, do you have a calendar of events that they can look at? Yeah, they can, they can follow us on our Instagram and yeah, you can check. So, but every week we have a ride, so, and 2023, especially now it's coming a low season for the weather, but from February. So it's coming. A lot of events. Yeah. Amazing. Thanks Oscar, and congratulations on opening the new Castelli store. Yeah, big pleasure. Thanks for coming. [00:43:30] Mattias - Rococorba Clothing: All right. Right. Can you tell me your name and your shop? Mattias from Roco, COBA Clothing, Giron Mattias. Tell us a little bit about the brand. Yeah, it's a brand. It started in 2017 in the top of the mountain of Roco Coba. It's a very famous climb here in Giron, and I decided to, to put a food truck up there and to start at the same time closing brand called Roca corba. And yes, five years. Later. I just opened a new shop in GI selling all my stuff, selling online, gold wide, and really happy too. Have, what are some of the products that you sell? I sell Jersey t-shirts, shorts accessories, bags, Macs, beat ons. A lot of things sucks. Yeah. Amazing. These jerseys I see on the wall are beautiful, very colorful, very expressive. What inspires you and the, the designs? Yeah. Yeah. Right now I have like more or less 50, 60 different designs and I inspir it from everywhere. My slogan is cycling apparel inspired by the rob because we have so many different landscapes or different places and always I, I have inspired inspiration in the. In our region. Yeah. And when is the shop opening up? I hope next Thursday it will be open. Now it's ready and I have to do some things, little things, but next Thursday, big opening here in J in the center. Amazing. I'm excited. We got a preview. We are able to pick up some of your lovely clothing. You said you, you're available worldwide. Where can people find you on the. Yeah, we can find in ro.com. We have online shop with all the products and we we ship worldwide. Amazing. Thank you. Thank you. Pleasure, . [00:45:22] Craig Dalton: So that's going to do it for this first international version of the gravel ride podcast. I've been talking and dreaming about international gravel travel for some time. So I was super excited to have this opportunity with track travel. To explore Durona with their Gravel cycling tour. It was amazing trip. As I said before, I highly encourage you to check it out. As Raffa mentioned. They're unveiling a whole new series of gravel adventures for 2023. So they're really leaning into this gravel travel concept. What I loved about it was that unlike a gravel event where you might be focused on. Simply one ride when you visit somewhere amazing. Here. We were able to focus on riding every single day and there was no one ride that we needed to save ourselves for to get across the finish line. It was really about. Exploring as much as our legs could handle. I wasn't as fit as I had normally been when I've gone over to Europe in the, in the past, but it was still an amazing trip, still an amazing experience that I highly, highly recommend. If you're interested in connecting and learning more about the trip, please visit truck travel.com. If you're interested in pinging me, please visit the ridership's that's www.theridership.com. If you're able to support the show, please visit buy me a coffee.com/the gravel ride or ratings and reviews are hugely appreciated. Until next time here's to finding some dirt under your wheels

En el septingentésimo sexagésimo sexto episodio os recuerdo que la semana que viene por estas fechas no estaré en Valencia a punto de correr la Maratón, estaré en Peñafiel de cata de vinos y fiestón! Y es que maratones hay muchas pero días de fiestones de esos de mujeres malas de las que fuman y todo no hay tantas!Email: davidisasi@mac.comTwitter: @macsatineEmail: godespow@gmail.comTwitter: @GodespowEmail: carlos@sahuquillo.esTwitter: @csahuquiEmail: davidrodriguezgallego@gmail.comTwitter: @_bilitoEmail: laura.reto21k@gmail.comTwitter: @reto21kWeb: https://emilcar.fm/corriendoanyTwitter: @corriendoanyInstagram: corriendoanyTelegram: https://t.me/corriendoany

This week we sit down with Lizard Skin founder, Brian Fruit to learn the original story of the brand founded in 1993. From cycling bar tape and accessories now to baseball, hockey and lacrosse, the brand has had an interesting journey making its products in the United States. Lizard Skins Episode Sponsor: Hammerhead Karoo 2 (code: TheGravelRide for free HRM strap) Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: Lizard Skins [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 show. We welcome Brian fruit, the founder of lizard skins. Was there a skin spin part of the cycling industry since 1993. It's been quite an incredible journey for the company. Y'all know how much I love the business side stories behind the brands we know and love. So I was super excited to get into it with Brian and just learn more about the journey. With respect to their bar tape. What I find is interesting is that the material they have is definitely. Sort of on the gummy air side and you'll hear Brian, describe a bit about that product. But also it's worth noting. They offer four different sizes of kind of the diameter. Of the bar tape, which really changes the feel you can go from super thin. I E a lot of bar feel all the way out to kind of pair Ruby style, super cush. Which I think is an interesting option that you don't see across the board. A lot of times when you go into your local bike shop, You see only one diameter tape that's available. So it's an interesting thing to play around with and something I've enjoyed while testing out some of the lizard skin tape. Just before we jump in, I need to thank this week sponsor the hammerhead crew to. I am literally in Spain as you're listening to this, I'm recording this intro just before I'm boarding my flight and definitely thinking about all the adventures I'm going to have on the roads of Jarana. I thought about borrowing a computer from the group that I'm going with, but it was from another brand that I had a little bit of a bad experience with back way back when. I've come to love many things about my hammerhead computer. And I am convinced it's the most advanced GPS cycling computer available today. It's got industry leading mapping navigation and routing capabilities that set it apart from other GPS options. Free global maps with points of interest included like cafes and campsites. Mean that my riding in Gerona. I won't be without information. I'll have everything at my fingertips. As I'm saying all this, I'm literally reminding myself that I should go download the country maps. So I've got everything on hand. In my hammerhead crew to device. Hammerhead gives bi-weekly software updates. So the features are always up to date. And they're always listening. You can provide feedback to the team in hammerhead and potentially it's going to end up in a software update. You're not locked to a particular software package because they're always upgrading it. I really look for the climber feature. That's one of my favorite features these days. It was particularly poignant for me when I was riding in, uh, Bentonville Arkansas, a few weeks back at the big sugar gravel event, all those punchy climbs. I was really on the limit. I'm much more of a sit and grind on the coastal range here in California. So this punchy climbs or something I wasn't used to. So understanding exactly how far I was to the top and how many candles I could burn staying with the groups I was desperate to stay with really came in handy. So very much recommend the hammerhead crew to it's my exclusive computer. For gosh, probably over a year now. I'm not the only one singing its praises. It was named bicycling magazines, editors choice in GPS, cycling computers. For the past two years. Take a look on their websites for a limited time offer our listeners can get a free heart rate monitor with the purchase of a hammerhead crew to just visit hammerhead IO right now, and use the promo code, the gravel ride at checkout to get yours today. Remember it's an exclusive limited time offer for our podcast listeners. So don't forget that promo code, the gravel ride for that free heart rate monitor strap. Would that business behind us, let's jump right into my conversation with Brian. Hey Brian, welcome to the show. [00:04:27] Brian Fruit: Awesome. Super glad to be beyond today. [00:04:30] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I'm excited to dig into Lizard Skins a little bit, but I'd love to start out, as we always do, by a little bit about your history and how you ultimately got into cycling, and let's talk about the origin story of lizard skin. [00:04:44] Brian Fruit: Well, that's a, that's a good one. Yeah, it's been. Three decades ago now dating myself a little bit I was a college student at BYU and I got my first mountain bike. I worked, you know, most of the summer and saved up some money and got a mountain bike and, and thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it. Not just for the awesome writing that we were able to do in the mountains. Just as a way to get around campus and commute. It was just so much more liberating than fighting the parking spots. So I just fell in love with cycling. I think I'd, you know, from a very small age, I've always loved everything with wheels on it. And then this mountain bike was, that was a revelation. So fast forward a few more years and I'm a senior about to graduate and there's a company. Called Reflex bikes. [00:05:35] Craig Dalton: I remembered them. [00:05:36] Brian Fruit: yeah, they made these cool lugged frames. You know, some of them were aluminum tubes, some of 'em were carbon tubes, and they sold to another company. Look, that makes, you know, pedals and things like that. [00:05:49] Craig Dalton: And did Reflex have some sort of Utah connection or were you just familiar? [00:05:54] Brian Fruit: they were making 'em here in Utah, [00:05:56] Craig Dalton: I, Wow, I didn't know that. I had a girlfriend who had that one of those bikes in the very early nineties. [00:06:02] Brian Fruit: Did it creak? [00:06:03] Craig Dalton: It creeped. And the one thing I remembered too about it was that there was some really challenging cable routing. So when it came time to build it up, it was like a nightmare. Getting something through the bottom bracket, I think was what I struggled with. [00:06:17] Brian Fruit: Yeah. So it was a cool bike and it had a great designer and, and he had sold the business. And, and moved over to Europe actually to, to work on design there. And, and apparently there was a, a trademark issue on the name reflex. And the people that owned it were no longer willing to allow that name to be used. And so, Look just said, I think we're just done with this, but this doesn't make sense for us to be involved with. So they decided to liquidate everything. So rims and cranks and headsets, and you name it, bottom brackets, shifters, handlebar. And, and so they sent out these postcards to all these stores, and my friend worked as a bike patrol at Sundance Ski Resort, brought the. Postcard home. And I'm like, that's kind of interesting. So I drove up there the next day and I bought $300 worth of bike parts. Didn't have any money. I was just a college student and all the way home like, Oh, what am I doing? I don't have 300 bucks is the worst decision ever. And I sold all those parts that night to just random people in the apartment complex and friends that I rode with. It's cuz there was no social media back then. This is, you know, early 90. 92, I believe. And and the next day I went up there again, like, you know, being drawn to the, you know, bike parts, like the bug to the blue light zapper, and bought like $300 of the parts again and all the way home. Like, Oh, what am I doing? This is the worst decision ever. Sold all those parts again. And that was it. You know, over the next six weeks I was buying and selling parts and I sold them to bike stores and I sold them to individuals and I, I sold about $30,000 worth of parts, made a decent amount of money on that, bought my wife a wedding ring and saved up a little money for us to get married. And, and that's kind of how how my life got started. You know, in the bike world, I just kind of fell in love with the whole, the whole scene and, and not the people, but even like the smells when you walk into a bike store, I just like the smell of a bike store. It just, I know that sounds weird, but it just feels right in bike stores. I, even, when I'm on vacation, I like to go try to find a bike store to pop my head in and look around, so, [00:08:49] Craig Dalton: What an, that's an amazing kind of origin story, and I love the name dropping of reflex. It brings back very, very fond memories for me. So did you continue sort of pursuing kind of like a distribution type business model? [00:09:04] Brian Fruit: So, that lasted for about six weeks. You know, they were selling all those parts at this big discount and that just kind of made me think, man, something in the bike industry would be really fun. And we looked at two or three ideas and, and. None of 'em actually worked out. And then a friend introduced me to another friend and that guy's name was Lance Larson. And Lance had this idea of making neoprene and Velcro accessories for bicycles and calling 'em lizard skin. and but Lance wasn't a, a writer and he wasn't really familiar with the space. So he and I connected and, and in the simplest terms, the original, you know, premise was that he would make the products and I would sell 'em. It, it didn't really work out exactly like that. There was a lot more crossing over, back and forth, but Lance and I got to work together for eight and a half years. And, and built the company from nothing. The very first month we did $350 of annual sales. [00:10:09] Craig Dalton: Do you remember what the first product was that you came out with? [00:10:12] Brian Fruit: Yeah, yeah, it was the little neoprine and Velcro chainstay protector and man, they were small back then. It was like a really small length and really small diameter. And now, you know, they make the tubes so much larger. You know, the, the old one wouldn't even fit on a bike today. [00:10:29] Craig Dalton: Yep. Yeah. If you think about those old steel tube change stays that used to wrap, they were tiny, like the, like the size of your pink. [00:10:36] Brian Fruit: Yeah, so small. Exactly. And we made all kinds of fun colors and, and we made these little headset seals that would keep the dirt and grim out of the headset. And then eventually we started making fork boots, which would keep the dirt out of the front fork because the seals back then weren't very good. And then we made a same kind of a boot for the rear shock. And eventually started making rubber injection molded grips. And then we added in some BMX products. We made BMX pad sets and BMX plates and BMX shin guards and elbow guards. And and then, you know, I bought my partner out and, and that, that took several years and there wasn't a lot of extra cash, you know, cuz. Everything just seemed to go to him to, to buy him out. And, and eventually we got that all done. And, and then we were able to really kind of move forward more dramatically because we had, you know, some money to work with. [00:11:34] Craig Dalton: Right, Right, right. Yeah, I, I think back across that period that you're describing, and I do remember those original lizard skin chain guards, but I probably, I remember more. Like the arrival of color, cuz back in the early nineties, certainly on the mountain bike scene, that was the heyday of anize parts and finding any, any way to make your bike a little bit more colorful and have a little flare to it. [00:11:59] Brian Fruit: Oh, people were putting on Coca Cranks and Cook Brothers and, and you know, Paul components and everything was purple and red and yellow and, you know, green and yeah, you could buy a, a Chris King headset and it was all Rastafari and [00:12:16] Craig Dalton: Yeah, a hundred percent. A hundred percent. So, yeah, absolutely. I mean, it was, it was like there was so much innovation going on back then in the world of mountain bikes, and I mean, I think that's what I've enjoyed about the last several years in the gravel bike world is you just see that kind of innovation. No one knows exactly what's right. The bike designers have been given a lot of freedom to design bikes that, you know, range from a road plus bike to a full on bike packing bike, and they're all in this, this quote unquote new genre of gravel cycling. [00:12:49] Brian Fruit: It is fun. I rode a friend of mine's you know, bike packing bike just earlier this week, and. It was super fun, you know, it just had a, a cool geometry to it. And, and he had, he had outfitted mountain bike breaks onto his, you know, drop bar controls, and it had some significant breaks. You know, he's a bike store guy and he figured out how to do it. It was awesome. [00:13:16] Craig Dalton: at what year did you sort of transition your business partner out and start to think really like what new products could you innovate? [00:13:24] Brian Fruit: Yeah, so I bought him out in 2001 you know, early part of 2001. And you know, we, the philosophy then was like, turn over every rock just. If nothing else to see what was under underneath. And you know, we bought different equipment to do our manufacturing with. We, we just really tightened up to try to make everything more frankly more profitable and more efficient. [00:13:50] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I meant to ask earlier, did you, at what point did you bring manufacturing in-house and what does that look like from an equipment perspective? [00:13:59] Brian Fruit: So we were making these little neoprine and Velcro accessories in the United States from day one and, and still do 30 years later. So what it takes is, I mean, we did it differently. You know, in the old days, the equipment we used wasn't very efficient. We've got. Good stuff now. And so it's a dye press with a still rule dye and then that allows you to cut the fabric out in these perfect shapes. And anybody that's working on the dye press the first day, you know, you have to make sure and tell 'em, you know, if, if you're dropping the dye or if the dye is slipping outta your hands, just let it hit the ground. Like don't try to catch it, you know, cuz it's [00:14:45] Craig Dalton: Sharp all over. Yep. [00:14:47] Brian Fruit: we can, we can fix the, we can fix the dye. It's [00:14:50] Craig Dalton: And then after you, after you're dye cutting the neo printer, are you then going into a sewing process? [00:14:57] Brian Fruit: We have really nice commercial sewing machines. We use a zigzag stitch on it and we sew that in-house with different sizes of Velcro on each side. And then kind of do some trimming to make it look. And then we package it up all, you know, done in the us. So, you know, that was a good thing and we were able to make a super high quality product and, and we sold a lot of those. Eventually a lot of the brands started adding some type of a. Chain protector or you know, chain stay guard to the bikes and it, and definitely impacted our sales. But we added these other products, you know, injection molded grips, and eventually we created a great relationship with odi where they made a. a significant line of lock on grips for us under their, under their patent and technology, but sold by us, under our name and, and to our customers. [00:15:53] Craig Dalton: With ODI manufacturing in the US as well. [00:15:56] Brian Fruit: That's correct. Yep. They're out in California actually, so, you know, it's like, double hard in the United States and California , but great product and they, they have great tooling and they could make these grips just so crisp and clean and, and the technology they have just, and still have is, is second to none. So we teamed up with them on, on lock, on grips. And then eventually we really wanted to come up with a lightweight mountain by grip that was just different. And so we checked into another industry and we made some appointments and we started visiting factories, hoping to get this lightweight grip you know, maybe for cross country racing. And, and unfortunately we weren't successful in finding, you know, that. You know, through maybe another industry. But on that trip we figured out that we found a company that could make tape for us. And it was literally my, my general manager, Brad Barker. And he and I were on this trip together, and as we were about to walk out the, the the building, the business, he kind of turned around and asked them. It was like, Hey, could you guys make tape for. And they're like, Oh yeah, we could totally do that. He says, Great. I'll, I'll, I'll be in touch. So, you know, he says, Brian, I really wanna try this. I really wanna, you know, sink my teeth into it. So, you know, he was working with the factory back and forth about nine months and making samples for handlebar tape for road bikes. The first sample was like, what, 12 or 18 inches long? And we're like, Well, this is not gonna work. And then the next sample was, you know, really long, but the product didn't stretch. Well, that's not gonna work. And so we went through rendition, after rendition after rendition, frankly, not knowing how to create the proper tech kit to speed the process along, but just trial and error and. [00:18:01] Craig Dalton: was there something in the road bike market that you felt was missing like some type of performance out of the grip that you guys saw as an opportunity? [00:18:09] Brian Fruit: Yeah, that's a great a great question. We, we did feel like that there could be something different. Most of the tape that was available at that time was the synthetic cork and you know, gets dirty and it kind of slippery and it wasn't really any. as to it or any technical, anything. So when we came out with ours, it was completely different and had a much different texture and feel. It, it actually felt softer even though it was the same thickness and way more grippy and it was cleanable. You could just take a little alcohol and a, and a clean, you know, white rag or something. You could clean it right up and, and it wasn't stained and dirty. So we ended up finding a product that was gonna work and we were really proud of, of the product we had designed. And then the factory told us how much it was gonna cost and it was like one of those, you know, stressful moments and we're like, Ugh, how's this ever gonna work? Cuz Bar Tape at that time sold for 15 to $20 for, you know, the common synthetic co. [00:19:18] Craig Dalton: Yep. [00:19:19] Brian Fruit: Ours was gonna be $35. . And so we're just like, Oh, this is gonna be tough. But everybody that touched our tape loved it. And so we're like, Well, we just gotta get people to touch it, you know? Cuz once they do, they'll love it. And that's the phrase, Touch it, feel it, love it came from [00:19:39] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I, you know, it's so, it is poignant when you put your hands on some lizard skin tape, it feels different. You know, I'm riding it on my, my bike right now and. Everything you've just described is what I've felt about it, like it feels When I'm barehanded I often ride barehanded and I, I feel much more connected to the grip because of the sort of, I dunno, stickiness is the right word, but this kind of sticky quality that I feel when riding it that's quite different than court grip. [00:20:12] Brian Fruit: Yeah, it's, it's grippy, you know, and it's from this patented, you know, technology and material that that our partner supplier created in tandem with us. And and it's just been absolutely wonderful. [00:20:28] Craig Dalton: So it's, so, it's so interesting to me as, Sorry to interrupt Brian. Just as like a business journey, you sort of realize, hey, we've got something unique here, but I can't tell you about it. You've gotta feel it and touch it to believe and see. I can imagine, like in the bike industry, that's a challenge, right? To kind of just translate that into the hands of enough people to develop a passionate following to say, I'm willing to pay this premium price for this performance now that I know about it. [00:20:59] Brian Fruit: So I happened to be on a, a family trip, and again, I love bike stores, right? So we have a distributor in Guatemala that, that was selling our product and they had a bike store. So I went and visited that store while we were on this family trip. And there was a customer that came in and he had a road bike, I think it was a tri bike actually. And the handlebar tape was all falling off and, and I just happened to hand him my handlebar sample that I had and he just fell in love with it. And he told the, the manager owner of the store there, he's like, I want this. And and we told him kind of what the price was, and that's a lot of money in Guatemala. and he's like, No, no, I want that tape. Like, so give me that tape. And, and that's kind of how it's worked. Like we pay a ton more for our tape. It's not that we make a lot of money on it. We actually have a pretty tight margin on it, but the manufacturing cost is just a lot more because of what the product is and the, the materials that are, that are used. But once you feel it, it's like, . Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna splurge and I'm, I'm, This is what I want. [00:22:12] Craig Dalton: So are you still using the same manufacturing partner [00:22:15] Brian Fruit: We are, Yeah. And they've come up with, you know, new technology and, and you know, improvements to the polymer to make it, you know, even more grippy and even more durable. So it's been nice. You know, we did a complete redesign on the tape a couple years ago, two or three years ago now. And the new tape actually has a pattern on it. And if you looked at that pattern with like a, a jeweler's loop or a magnifying glass, you would see that the pattern is like, It, it's multi depth. So some of the little bumps are really deep, some are less deep, some are really shallow, just to maximize the feel and control on the bike you know, with, with these different dimensions into the pattern. So pretty technical. [00:23:05] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I think as as riders, we benefit from your obsession over this one little part of the bike. Say, how can we make it the best it can be? [00:23:15] Brian Fruit: I mean down that same conversation, and this is not a, This is me telling a bad story about myself. Unfortunately, not a good business story, but our plug that we had was really cool looking and was shiny and, and had the little lizard on it, but it did have a tendency to fall out. You know, if you didn't leave enough tape tucked in. So some people, it worked great and it never fell out, but other people, it fell out. So I wanted to get a new screw in plug and, and unfortunately we allowed ourselves to run out of plugs during that process. And probably lost a million dollars of sales just because we didn't. The actual plug that I wanted and I didn't want to go back to the old plug, cuz in my mind it already moved on to the new plug and the supplier for the new plug was being a Turkey and not making a for us. And, and we had to actually switch, you know, suppliers and, and but honestly now we have an amazing screw and plug which is a super simple thing and like, it shouldn't even be like a big thought, but. It probably cost me a ton of money making that transition, just cuz we didn't, we didn't wanna continue on with the old one and we didn't have our ducks in a row on the new one we thought we did. But but [00:24:32] Craig Dalton: I think anybody who's ever manufactured anything can commiserate with that story, myself included. [00:24:39] Brian Fruit: So, but now we got a great plug and the supplier's good and, and everything's, everything's functioning well. [00:24:46] Craig Dalton: You know, one of the, one of the things when you visit the lizards in skin site as a customer is that the first thing you see is an array of colors. And you're like, Great, if I wanna create some accent color, like you just have so many different unique colors available for the bar tape. But when you select your color and you get into it, you also then realize there's this secondary, probably much more important from a performance perspective, opportunity to choose your thick. Of color. For most riders, you probably buy bar tape and you don't even think about it. I don't know what the average is. Maybe it's a two and a half millimeter, but on your site you've got, I think it's 1.8 millimeter, 2.5, 3.2, and 4.6 millimeter bar tape, which is a pretty wide array. [00:25:35] Brian Fruit: So when we started this journey on making Hbar tape And we really tried to figure out what everybody else was doing and trying to get understanding. So we were out there with a micrometer trying to measure it and, and kind of the normal standard tape out there was about 2.5 millimeters, but nobody ever called that out. There was never any technical data. It was just a box and it. You know, Hbar tape with no detail. So we came out originally with the 2.5, which is still our very best seller and it's kind of the most common that you would see. But we had a request for some thinner tape, and there were some customers that said, Oh man, you know, you need to make it a little thinner. So then we came out with a 1.8 in limited colors. And, and we found that certain people in, in certain, you know, applications really like the thinner product and especially people with a little bit smaller hand because they just couldn't get their hand comfortably around, you know, this big fat bar. Big fat tape. Then we had a lot of people was like, Oh, why don't you make a thicker tape? You know? And I think they were like, Man, if you're gonna make a thinner one, why don't you make a thicker one? So then we came out with a 3.2 and you know, the packaging was bigger. Everything about the, the thing is just bigger. And people loved it. Like, man, it, it quickly became a great seller for us. Not better than the 2.5, but it was better than the one eight in fact. And so we've done real well with the three, two, and it lays down nice. And then we just had certain customers you know, wanting to do gravel rides, you know, cobbles, maybe they just have hands that hurt. You know, they have, could be an injury, just could be the way they are on the bike. But their hands just go numb and get sore. They. They wanted more cued. And so some people would like double wrap their bars. You know, but that, that has some challenges to it. So it came out with this 4.6 and it's a beast. It is a big, old fat role. But super comfortable when you get it on. It is a little harder to lay it down, you know? And. In all honesty, if you're wrapping 2.5, that's pretty easy. 3.2 takes a little more finesse and 4.6, it takes a decent amount of experience to make it lay nice and flat, but. [00:28:07] Craig Dalton: interesting to layer in those op those options for gravel cyclists. Obviously, like on this podcast we've got had lots of discussions around, you know, how do you create suspension? You start with your body, then the tires. Then grip tape's gonna play. Play a role in there. And again, for all the reasons you're just talking about, for some people, they're really taking a lot of abuse in their hands for one reason or another. Maybe they've got an injury and I, I could see having that option available to them, even if it's for a special purpose, a special event, wrapping your bars in a separate way. I remember back in the Perry Ru Bay classic days. When you're talking about people doing double wrap bar tape, everybody was consorting themselves in the prop peloton to find some way to make their bikes more comfortable. For days like Perry rba. [00:28:57] Brian Fruit: Yeah, and there's been a few different products made, you know, like, little gel packs and little foam pieces and stuff to put underneath there, and. And, and they work to some degree, but you know, the gel packs are break or they'll get kind of wiggly and the handlebar tape doesn't work well with it. And by doing this nice 4.6 and the 3.2, like, it just fits. It's just there. It's solid. You don't have to worry about a bump or a weird spot on there. And it, and it's been successful. [00:29:30] Craig Dalton: And as I understand things, you've been also getting feedback from a couple pro tour teams for the bar tape. [00:29:36] Brian Fruit: We were very fortunate to get a pro tour team to use the HA Bar tape many, many years ago. That first team was the con and this was kind of like a Forest Gump moment. But they were using our tape and one of their writers Johnny Hoer. Always being indebted to him. He was leading the polka dot jersey competition, the mountain mountain points in the tour, Frances, and it was a flat part of the beginning of the, of the tour. So ultimately he was doing breakaways and getting these points and on one of those days that he was in a breakaway, you know, getting a, a handful of mountain. A press car bumped him and another rider. And they went off the road and into a Bob wire fence. They hit that fence so hard that it actually pulled the P wood post outta the ground. And as just hardcore professionals, they got back on the bike, all cut up and dazed and, and jerseys and shorts all ripped up from the Bob wire. And, you know, their team gives 'em a push and off they go. You. At the end of the race, you know, Johnny gets off and he had been bandaged by the medical car and you know, they're trying to bandage him as he was riding his bike. So by the time he finished the race, you know, most of the bandages were falling off. It was a mess. And they interviewed him afterward and his attitude was like, this was an accident. I wished it wouldn't happened. This is gonna really mess up my opportunities at the tour, but it could have been worse. Let's move on. The other gentleman, writer that got hit had a very different take. His team was trying to find out who was responsible, who was gonna pay. It was just very bitter and, and interestingly enough, everyone fell in love with Johnny. And they started looking at his bike and once those chain rings he used and what kind of bike it was and what was his saddle and what kind of handlebar tape he used. Oh my goodness. Our handlebar tape started selling like crazy. [00:31:55] Brian: So all the distributors started having a run on the product and they ran out of, you know, lizards, skins, bar tape, and and boom. That was it. That was our four Gump moment. Handlebar tape became the most popular aftermarket tape in the world. And it was because, you know, one guy was was cool, you know, [00:32:17] Craig: And thrown into and thrown into a barb wire fence. I remember those images. [00:32:22] Brian: Oh. But you know, he just handled it right. You know, I think a lot of times in life we all have bad things that happen to us that are out of our control, but it's how we handle those things that kind of impact, you know. How we interact with the rest of the world [00:32:42] Craig: Yeah, as you remind me of that story, I remember very viscerally thinking about, gosh, this is gonna be another Primadonna roadie that has a tantrum. And I remember how you describe like the other team, the other writer. It was just this big to do and you know, who's gonna pay for this and how do we replace how he would've done throughout this tour juxtaposed to how Johnny handled it and how their team handled it. [00:33:10] Brian: Yeah, it was it was, it was pretty crazy. So, taught me, you know, a great lesson, right, of, you know, it's important to manage how we react you know, to, to potentially bad things, you know, happening to. So, you know, how we behave can really, you know, change overall how something goes down. [00:33:34] Craig: Yeah. Such, such an amazing journey and so cool that you've been able to do it using us manufacturing all this time. I love that part of the story. Before I let you go, Brian, I did wanna touch on one other thing because I think it's interesting. I mean, the gravel cyclist should go to your site and check out the different dimensions of bar tape and all those cool colors. You have great product. It definitely delivers that kind of grippiness and unique feel that we were talking about earlier. But I was also bemused to learn that you're also into several different sports, and I think the listeners would kind of dig hearing just a little bit about your journey into those other sports. [00:34:13] Brian: Y. So Hannah Bar tape was, was doing extremely well. And one of the guys from work Brad Barker that helped design the tape. Originally, he loved baseball. He had boys that were playing on baseball teams. Had another friend from college that, that gave me that little postcard for the sale at at Reflex actually. He. He was one of the guys that helped me feed my mountain bike passion. He had three boys that loved baseball and they were all putting this tape on baseball bats, bicycle tape on baseball bats. So it, it, it was like, Huh, is there something there? So we started making two thicknesses of baseball grip. We made a 1.1. Which is kind of the traditional thickness for baseball. And we made a 1.8, which is a little thicker. You know, think of the 3.2 in cycling, that kind of thing. And we put it out there. We won best of show for the first trade show we went to, and, and you know, nothing really happened. But when we sold the stuff into a store, it, it, it did. . So we figured out, it's like, well, we just have to increase the amount of stores. So we eventually got a bunch of stores selling it, and then there was a local probe by the name of John Buck. He connected up with us and wanted to go to a trade show and we said, That'd be great. You can share our booth and you can show your product in our booth and it, and it'll be fun. So we start that and at that show, . He brings his bats and we wrap 'em for him. And the whole time he's like feeling the bat, you know, while talking to customers about his products. And at the end of the show he's like, you know, if you made this thinner, I would use it in the pros and I would get other people to use it in the pros and I think have something. So Brad came back from that show and we talked and he says, this is, this is the convers. and we both looked at each other like 130 years of history with people using like sticky stuff, pine tar on baseball bats. Like, how in the world are we gonna change that tradition? Like, that's never gonna happen. And they were like, Yeah, probably not. And they were like, What? What should we do? And we both agreed it's a pro player, we should probably make it. So we did, we made a, a thinner version, one or a 0.5, really, really. and John started using it. Hunter Penn started using it. Big Poppy started using it like, you know, Miguel Cabret, I mean, just tons of these great players and they were sluggers and and eventually we got invited to go to the Equipment Manager show for Major League Baseball, which then led to us getting a license of Major League Baseball where we became the official bat grip on field license. for Major League Baseball and, and it was amazing and our sales grew, grew, grew, which allowed us to hire more people and get into a bigger, you know, better facility and you know, hire more designers and then continue to make more products and and grow the company. [00:37:33] Craig: Yeah, cuz now you're in baseball, hockey, lacrosse as well as cycling. [00:37:39] Brian: and recently we just added pickle. [00:37:42] Craig: Of course, the rise of pickleball, that is the moment in time we're in [00:37:48] Brian: So it and each of these sports, the product is different. So we're not just repackaging, we're actually redesigning the product each time. So you know how long it needs to be, what's the thickness, what type of a backing do we use? For cycling, we use an EVA backing, but for baseball we use afil. [00:38:09] Craig: Yeah. [00:38:10] Brian: you know, different patterns and the gripping qualities on the patterns are very different. So, we've, we've replicated ourself effectively in all these different sports. [00:38:23] Craig: When you, when you think about the business now, what percentage is cycling versus everything else? [00:38:29] Brian: Wow. I mean, in 2020, you know, there was a surge and cycling was the biggest part of the. 2021, it was still great. 2022. You know, cycling sales have, have slowed a little bit because there's a lot of inventory that's been shipped out there. So baseball is now the biggest part of the, of the business. Cycling is second, and then hockey would be third. [00:38:52] Craig: Gotcha. [00:38:53] Brian: So, [00:38:55] Craig: Yeah, super interesting story. Totally appreciate you sharing the journey with me. I enjoyed the conversation. [00:39:02] Brian: Oh, you bet. It, it's been a lot of fun. You know, I look back I, I wouldn't have wanted to go a different route, you know, I've loved the cycling industry and I actually started lizard scans and then several years later I, I started a bike store and then a couple years later I bought another bike store and, and I still have those bike stores. They're, they're great. I love 'em. And, and it, it just, it feels like walking into the Cheers bar, you know, from, from that sitcom. So when you go in the bike store, that's what it feels like, you know, it's just like, it, it's just, it's another home, right? [00:39:42] Craig: absolutely. Yeah. We all, I I hope that many of the listeners out there have that kind of relationship with their local bike shop, cuz I certainly do in my town. I love going there, I love seeing all the team that works there and, and just saying hi and having that familiar, you know, love of the sport that you can share. [00:40:00] Brian: Yeah, it's just, you know, fun getting to have friends continue to come in and get to see 'em. I mean, it's almost like a little mini fan family reunion, like every day that you go in the store. So [00:40:12] Craig: Yeah, absolutely. Well, have a great weekend, Brian, and we'll talk again soon. [00:40:17] Brian: appreciate it. Take. [00:40:19] Craig Dalton: That's going to do it for this week's edition of the gravel ride podcast. Big, thanks to Brian from lizard skin for joining I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit about his journey and are intrigued by some of the other product categories that they've found themselves in over the years. Definitely go check them out@lizardskins.com. Uh, as I mentioned earlier, that bar tape's been, it's been interesting trying out the different diameters. I'm still in the 2.4 camp, But I am curious about that 1.8 thickness bar tape as well. If you're interested in connecting with me, please join the ridership. That's w w w dot the ridership.com. That's a free global cycling community. It's hosted on slack. So it's basically a slack channel that you can communicate with other gravel, cyclists. From all around the world. If you're able to support the show, please visit buy me a coffee.com/the gravel ride. Or ratings and reviews are hugely appreciated until next time. Here's the finding some dirt under your wheels

This week we sit down with author and adventurer, Markus Stitz to discuss his new book, Great British Gravel Rides. Markus explores gravel cycling in Great Britain through the eyes of local gravel cyclists to discover amazing routes throughout the region. Markus Stitz Website  Episode Sponsor: Trek Travel - Come join us on the Girona Gravel Tour November 6th, 2022.  Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: Great British Gravel Rides [00:00:00] Craig Dalton: This week on the podcast. We welcome Marcus. Stets the author of great British gravel rides, a book of 25 routes throughout England, Wales and Scotland. . That brings us through the varied terrain in great Britain, through the eyes of community members throughout the aisle each route was designed by a gravel cyclists from that region. In an attempt to get the best. Gravel routes across England, Scotland and Wales. I enjoyed the conversation a lot and i enjoyed the approach to the book and i hope you will too Before we get started. I need to thank this week. Sponsor truck travel and the Girona gravel bike tour. Trek has been offering the Girona gravel bike tour for a number of years. And you may remember an episode I recorded with them about Yorona and what a gem it is for cycling in general, but more specifically gravel. I've been hoping and wanting to go over there myself for a number of years. And I'm excited to say that I'm going to be joining the November 6th trip. And I'd like you to join me. Yeah, I'm not kidding. Take a step back. You can do this. Come join me and ride gravel bikes in Girona trucks. Got everything organized for us from an, a wonderful hotel, right in the center of Girona as well as access to track bicycles to explore the countryside, we've got local guides that have designed amazing routes for us. So we're going to sample everything the region has to offer in this trip. I can't wait to get over there in November and I'm hoping you'll be able to join me too. It'll be so good to paddle with some of you listeners and members of the ridership community. I know we've got a handful of people signed up already and I would love to fill the hotel with people we know and love. As a special bonus, truck's going to give anybody who registers via the podcast or the ridership or free handlebar bag with their trip. So make sure when you go visit Trek, travel.com search Jarana gravel bike tour and mentioned the podcast during your registration process. There's a number of dates this year remaining, but I will be on the November 6th trip. So I'm hoping we can shape the demand and drive you to that trip. We'll have a great time. And I look forward to seeing you there. Remember that's www.trektravel.com. Search Girona gravel bike tour. With that said let's jump right into my conversation with marcus about the great british gravel rides Marcus welcome to the show. [00:02:28] Markus: Hello. [00:02:30] Craig Dalton: It's good to connect with you. I was super excited when I caught wind of this great, great Britain, gravel rides book that you penned and excited to learn a little bit more about your background as a cyclist, and what led to your passion to take on this project and do a great job kind of going throughout Britain and laying out some amazing roots for people. [00:02:51] Markus: Yeah. It's like, it's been an amazing project to work on and especially like, cuz I guess people who live in Britain have, you know, have a better idea of the country. But if you, if you're outside the country, it's such a diverse place. Like it's, it's, you know, from north to south, I think I've been to many countries in the world and it's like, it's, it's difficult to find a country, which is, which is gotten so many different places too, right. In terms of the conditions, but also the people. So my idea was really to kind of look at the community. With all the different shapes and forms it comes and, and, and do a book about it and, and recommend roots to people. Pretty much as an inspiration. [00:03:35] Craig Dalton: Yeah, I think that was a super interesting approach and look forward to getting into it with. Before we get started. Why don't we give the listener just a little bit about an idea about your background as a cyclist. [00:03:46] Markus: Yeah. So I, I think I generally came to cycling. I, I started cycling as a child. I grew up in Germany and you kind of know I'm cycling as default, I think. And I I'd never been in any cycling clubs and I wouldn't call myself like a keen cyclist when I was a child. And then pretty much picked up a mountain bike in, in my years at the university, cuz I lived in a place which had like pretty extensive for is a bit like what you possibly. Which comes really close to north American travel or the idea what we have, like big metal roads and, you know, loads of pine fors and all pretty straightforward. So it was a quite great location to, to be based and then do that. And then I finished university and went to New Zealand and. Think that spare really picked up the cycle, touring adventure, cycling mountain biking buck spent two years in Wellington, brilliant location. New Zealand in general is, is just a, a fascinating place to ride and is also one of those places like. There's. Yeah, there's, there's, there's so much outdoor possibilities and you, you know, you wouldn't, you wouldn't come to New Zealand. I would presume if you want like big city life or you want all the belts and visits of massive cities like New York or LA or whatever. I think I really like the, the mixture between having an outdoorsy life, but also still having a bit of a city lifestyle. Wellington is a capital store. Yeah. We enjoyed it. There did loads of cycling over there. And then. In my time in Wellington, I also decided in some shape or form I want to do around the world trip cycling around the world. And the initial idea was, was just a circus. So I finished my time in in Wellington and moved back to Europe. I moved to Edinburg. And while I was in Edinburgh, I had this idea, or maybe I could cycle from Edinburgh to Dunedin. Dunedin is one of the Southern cities in New Zealand. Then it's the old name for Edinburg. So there's interesting connection there. A lot of settled in that part of New Zealand. So like I could a trip from Edburg to dun and then. At some stage, I think that developed further to say, look, if I'm doing half the world anyway, I might as well do the other as well. [00:05:57] Craig Dalton: And when you, when you were approaching that Marcus, like, were you thinking at that point, like pedaling around the world is something I specifically want to do or were you more, I just wanna travel and experience different cultures and different parts of the world. [00:06:13] Markus: yeah, I think it's a travel aspect, which is which, which was the most important one. Like, and that's like, I think this is coming. I think if you look at all my work so far, like I'm I'm, I would certainly say like, for me, cycling is an amazing tool to connect with people. Like if you look at. Any cycling community. It doesn't matter which one you're looking at. I think they're all slightly different, but I think what they all have in common people who ride bike, speak to each. This is, this is I thing it's, it's like, and they either speak about bikes or you, you know, you just happen to have the same mode of transport. You talk about something else. And, and, and, and for me, that was the important one. I, you know, I was thinking about whether I'm gonna go this. I don't think there's, well, there is no single speed record for going around the world and I could have set that record. Like it would've been an easy task to do because there isn't such a thing. But that wasn't important for me that never played in my mind. I was just like, you know, it will be, you know, it'd be an interesting thing to do, but it would take away from the trip. So for me around the world trip was to meet interesting people. I met so many. Amazing people in New Zealand simply by being friends with a couple of guys that worked in a bike shop and they kind of introduced me to the cycling community in New Zealand. And when I back went back to, to Scotland, it was kind of the same. It was interesting. I came back to Scotland at night. Initially, didn't bring my bikes over to Edinburg and it was the first thing I missed. I was just like, I want my bikes here. There's such a convenient way to get around, but also to make friends if you place, that was the main, that was the main consideration. So yeah, it was, it was like, and is possibly, I guess a lot of people ask why singles speak? Why, why do you take a singles speak bike? And. I guess the most important reason for that one is you don't have to, you don't really need to care about your bike. Like, you know, it's got a chain which needs replacing every now and then there's no F around the bike. It was a pretty straightforward built. You know, everything was rock solid. Most of them were parts were steel. So, you know, like even, even transporting the bike by plane was super easy. Cuz it just Chuck it in a box. There's no area that bends or any, any other expensive part. So yeah, I think that was the, that is the kind of, and yeah, that comes across very clearly in the book right now as well. Like I'm, I'm always, there's always people first, you know, it's about. Is about the community and, and how I connect with them. And, you know, cycling is great. I really enjoy cycling. But I would, I don't think I'd be enjoying just the cycling bit as much as, as I do with the people, [00:08:58] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I mean, I think that's a big element that everybody talks about with our enjoyment of gravel. It's twofold. It's one just sort of getting off the beaten path and two, the community and the friendliness of it all. I think it's just at least today it exceeds any other form. Any other side of the sport of cycling? I don't think you just, you don't get the camaraderie that you do on the gravel side of. [00:09:20] Markus: Yeah. Yeah. And this, I mean, just on my, it's interesting to look back on around the world trip, cuz I was on the mountain bike. So I was on a SERE, which is, you know, it's a hard tail. You can, yeah, it's a typical, hard to mountain bike built. Basically. You could put some, I didn't have suspension forks, but it, you know, you could write a bit of suspension fork as well. But if I look back now and interestingly enough, I went Toor in Kansas. And I wasn't, I wasn't aware of, well, now I'm going, but back then dirty. And I wasn't really aware of that and impor and called Hedman and he introduced me to the whole Yeah, the Kansas travel community. It was awesome. It was amazing. I think there's still a, we picture in one of the pups of me and sitting, there was really sore on that. Kansas is flat a pancake and it isn't it's, it's just, that's a trade lie because the east of Kansas is very, very. The for the west, you get the, you know, the, the, the fluter it gets, but yeah, cycling along the east of is no piece of cake at all, but it's just the kinda thing. And so I kind got introduced to the idea of, I heard, you know, I had heard about bikes, but you could, you know, you might as well argue that I've a bike around the world is just, just to different bars. They have Jones's bars and instead of bars, like, and yeah, it's the, I think it's the least. There's no real conventions yet. There's no, there isn't really anything that you kind of, you don't have to have a certain thing to, to identify as Scrabble, cyclists, but you know, and that, that's the nice thing about it. It's a bit like. It's like, for me, it feels like I would've been, I, I, I would've loved to be there when mountain biking developed in Mo county. And, you know, kind of was literally about people kind of riding around on bikes, having a good time [00:11:27] Craig Dalton: Yeah. [00:11:27] Markus: doing some, doing some crazy things and not really caring about conventions whatsoever. And I think we are mid travel cycling. It's nice to be in the middle. You know, I think if I think things keep coming back, it's like the early days of the tour farms as well, which I, I basically think later foundations of what you now call ultra cycling. You know, again, there's people, you know, people just having a good time being, you know, also being ambitious about thing. And you can, you can, you can say the thing about mountain biking as well. You know, those things develop. And I think we're there with travel cycling at the moment, which is great to be right in the thick of it. No doubt. I think it will at some stage diversify as well. You know, we've got suspension forks. Now we basically have mountain bike tires now onto level bikes, but that's okay. You know, I think it's, you know, this is, this is the evolution where things go, but just being there right there right now is quite. [00:12:27] Craig Dalton: Yeah, it's certainly one of the impetus behind this podcast, beginnings was it was just such an exciting time. I thought in the sport of cycling and someone, as you know, I'd been around cycling my whole life yet. I still made mistakes when I bought my first gravel bike and realized like, oh, I didn't set it up the way I should, or I didn't make the choices I should. And I was like, if I've been around bikes and worked in bike shops and worked in the bike industry and I still managed to screw up this Purchas. There's a lot of people and a lot of questions and fast forward three years, I, I still find myself having interesting conversations with product designers and seeing interesting innovations and new options that just allow people to personalize this equipment to wherever they call home or whatever they're intending to do. [00:13:11] Markus: Yeah. And, and I think it is, I think it, it has made pretty big leaps as well. If I, I think one thing for me, which sticks out is tires. Like if I, if I look back in. So I , I think if you wanna put an official day to it, when I started travel, riding was in 2017 when I had a LER and mapped the first bike packing route in Scotland. And I know back then, I mean, your choice of tires was the 30 yard, the bike. And I could have gone for a Schal G one old round and there were a few other. Tires kicking around on the market. But if you look at right now, just 12 alone has seven different travel tires. Whoa. You know, and, and not speaking about any of the mountain bike tires, you can now, you know, if you look at a fast rolling waste tire for a mountain bike, you can stick that on a co bike these days cuz the, you know, the clearance is wide enough to, to ride those. And so I think this is where you see like how much. You know how quickly the market or the, the, the industry has progressed in, in, in those kind of aspects. So a choice is, is, is huge right now. And yeah, it's, it's, it's great. But I also think, you know, I think it's interesting because I think one thing the book of working on the book has kind of like forced me to do, and I had a keen interest as well. It's just kind of, and, and this is, I think this is where Britain is really interesting is to kinda look back to. You know, what, what you can now call pu writing, where, where did it start? And if you look at Britain, like it started in the 1920s here, cause there's been the rough. So there's been an organization called the rough stuff fellowship. And that that's, if you wanna sum it up, is people starting to ride bikes? Off the beaten track in, in rails, in England and Scotland and various things. And you know, back then, there weren't really any Tomic roads. I don't think, you know, I don't think they had the intention. Like there, there weren't deliberately riding off road, but there they did ride them off road because there was literally no other network. To use there weren't any Timex cycling paths. You know, there were a few roads back then, but not nearly as much as you have these days and they just simply rode their bikes wherever they're placed to go. And I, I think like, I have that in the introduction of my book for me, that's kind of like where it all originates. And then you look at Australia, you look at the Overlands who, again, like this is like possibly the very early stages of bike, you know, who went from a to B I think it's tricky, cuz I think what we have now is modern crab bikes. They are definitely much more advanced I'm riding at the moment. I'm riding a 1970s club Butler bike. So it's one of those bikes, you know, that, that people potentially took when there were rough stuffing and. It's awesome. Fun to ride. I'm really enjoying it for a challenge, but you also see, you know, if you've got a modern gravel bike gear, I mean, this is much more forgiving. Like I was talking to a friend about that, this breaks, for example, whoa. Like they made such a difference, especially if you ride in Scotland, you know, if you've got wind breaks and you're going down the long downhill, you have to. Three times on the downhill, because otherwise you just, your, your ribs are afterwards. So, you know, things like this, which I found is super like you, I think the concept, I think there's also two, there's interesting. Two things to clever writing. I think there's clever riding as a concept of off. And then there's bikes, you know, which. Possibly are what we, what we have now as clever bikes, truck bars, you know, a geometry, which is possibly closer to a road bike than it is to a mountain bike. Tie with, I don't think you can define that any longer, because it's been going up and up and, you know, I don't think we're far off having, I don't know if we're ever gonna get the tweet inch tiles on the bike we might do. Who knows, but I think it's kind of in my book really much picking up on the idea of travel writing as a concept. It's why, when I, when people were asking me, well, like, oh, do I need to have a travel bike? Then it was like, Take whatever bike you think is suitable off road. Bear in mind that the people who will be reading this will potentially be riding this on a 45 millimeter tire to bar bike. So, you know, there shouldn't be any, any severe to above or whatever in there. But if you ride that on a clever bike, or if you take your full as mountain bike or whatever bike, your, your thing is suit. Please do that. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna restrict anything to that concept. [00:17:56] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I thought that I saw that note at the beginning of your book and I think that's spot on. It's like ride. What you have, gravel is more about the sensation, the community. Exploration, all these different ideas above and beyond the type of bike you actually are throwing a leg over. [00:18:13] Markus: Yeah. Yeah. And this is, and yeah, and, and that, especially in Britain, this , there's many terrains. You can ride your bike over, [00:18:22] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So just finishing your, your sort of backstory, you finished the round of the world trip, and then obviously like you continue to be inspired by the sport. Of mountain biking and did some other big adventures. [00:18:36] Markus: Yeah, I think that, so, I mean, if you look at my career, if you want to call it such, I've always been a person who's been, I've been, always been inspired by many things. Like I, you know, I can't, I didn't have a straightforward career path. I did a multitude of things in my life. And when I came back from the round the world trip, but basically I had a, I had a decision to make what I'm gonna do right now. Am I gonna go back to a nine to five? I never had a nine to five job as such, but, you know, am I gonna go back to to employment and let someone else paying my wages and I'll do my fair bit, or am I gonna use all the experience I have from the, around the world trip? Cause I think what the around the world trip has really taught me is to. You can take so much stuff out of a year on the bike, into, into the life afterwards, you know, it's about leadership. It's about decision making. It's about adapting to new environ. And so I had all of, you know, all of that came with the trip. It wasn't, it wasn't just about riding a bicycle. And I felt like, you know, you can, it's gonna be a tough one to start something new. No doubt about that. But. I'm in a good position to be there. So I started working freelance and, and I have designed a route around Edinburg before I left the world. And the feedback for that was great. And I felt like, well, I'm just gonna up there and this, you know, try to establish myself as. Yeah, offering something else in a tourism industry, tourism back then in Scotland was basically bikes didn't happen, you know, bike route. Didn't really happen either. And I thought like, you know, if I can, if I can make a living out of, of, of really pushing Scotland ahead in terms of cycling route and whatever, then that'd be a great thing. And my, my background before I was marketing so if you combine around the world, trip an interest in developing new roots and having the marketing background, because in the end of the day, You know, a roots only interesting if people know about it and, and actually write it, there's nothing, nothing worse in designing a great route and no one knows about it and no people are not using it. So I kind checked that all in one goal and then also found myself cause I wanted to have a little bit of financial acuity. So I accepted a two day a week marketing role at the book festival. Back then we we're going back then. And with the idea of writing it, because I always thought like, cool. If I ever gonna write a book, it will be, would be quite good to have some, some connections in the book trade and in the book world and kinda do that. So that job paid to rent and the, the other work was kind of like, whatever focus I make that direction is gonna be great. And those were the early days of bike in Scotland and, and yeah, that's pretty much progressed since 2017 and yeah. I don't know, my, my life's taken some interesting turns. I think right now I'm sitting here possibly quite a few people know my films, which is, which is great when I started that. I would've never thought that I've written the book now I've worked with several councils and destination marketing organizations in Scotland to really help them to understand cycling and understand cycle tubing and then, and developing products for them that they can actually put to people and say, look, if you wanna come to this part of Scotland, this is what you can do. And we help you doing this. And, and that's kind of in a nutshell, this with bike packing Scotland, and this it's not just. It's not just mood planning. It's not just filmmaking. It's not just bike, you know, it's like, there's a mixture of, of all the different things and yeah, it's been a, it's been a great journey. [00:22:13] Craig Dalton: Amazing. So let's, let's talk a little bit about the book. So you, you, you've sort of endeavored to kind of cover Scotland, England, and Wales, and give gravel riders a view of the entire country, the landscape through not only your eyes, but the eyes of, of very diverse set of athletes, which, as I mentioned earlier, I thought was a really refreshing approach. Because one of the things in, in my mind, these roots that we find online, they lack personality, right? You're getting a GPX file and you're, you're seeing where something goes, but it's very hard to understand what that's going to feel like. It's very hard to get data on, you know, what kind of bike tires do I need? What kind of equipment do I need for these. Or even more importantly, like what are the communities gonna be like when I go through them? And, you know, part that's part of the reason I started a community called the ridership, because I just, I wanted an online forum to be able to connect with riders around the world and just get that real world beta, you know, so if I'm going to Scotland, I wanna talk to someone who's ridden these roads and trails and just give you a few of the inside tips about what's going on. So I'd love for you to just kind of talk about. Why you decided to approach it that way and what it meant to you and how you connected with the, the numerous athletes that helped you design roots throughout the country. [00:23:34] Markus: Yeah, so I think there's this, this, there there's two basic thoughts I had on the back of my head when I started researching a book, I think the nice thing about clever writing that it seems to be attracting much more women into this sport than, than other. Than other sports in general do. I, I do think that road cycling, although this is changing and it's a good thing to see it changing, but I still feel that road cycling is such a male dominated domain of cycling, you know, and, and, and mountain biking is more diverse. I think by its very nature, but you know, still I was looking at many cycling magazines and thought like, why is there, why is there always a male, a man in his forties with white shoulders looking angry on the form of the cover? You know, it's just, it didn't really like, it, it didn't appeal to me. And I felt like, you know, I think I, I think it's particularly hard and, and, and I guess it's the same in the us. We've seen. We've seen cycling, attracting quite a lot of new people, thankfully. And there was mainly two to, to, to the COVID restrictions and people, all of a sudden recognized I can't do anything, but I can still jump on a bicycle and have a good time. So it was possibly one of the, it was one of the good things coming out of a pandemic, but. I always feel like we didn't really cater for the people who are new to the sport. And, and, and we also didn't really cater for, for, for people of a different ethnic background. It's, you know, is just like, I, I think it was always a bit too narrow and one thing I've found on around the world trip. That's the cool thing. If you go to different countries, you see how a diverse cycling actually is, you know, how like how, how, how it switches. And that's one thing I wanted to have in there. And then the other thing I was really keen on as well is. It's public transport. Like you gets a really bad reputation in Britain most of the times, and it's nowhere near ideal. I was, I was born in Germany. And my girlfriend dips in Norway. So there's this, this, this, this country is in the world, which do much, much better at that, but it, I also think that. We're still doing okay. In this country. so I felt like, right. Okay. I want people to get to those places, ideally by train or by bus. So they don't have to own a car. If they own a car. That's fine. There's nothing, there's nothing wrong with that, but it shouldn't be, it shouldn't be a pre-condition of riding your bike, having to get to those places by car. I want to have a nice mixture of mood. So I want some easy ones in there. I want also some really gnarly ones in there because you know, whoever's gonna buy the book. They'll be at different stages in their cycling thing cycling career or whatever you wanna call it. And I also want to have landscapes in there, which are where you representative of Britain as such a diverse country. And you can kind of imagine there's a lot of logistic. Kind of like, so I came up with this metrics of kind of like, ideally. This is kind of what I feel the book should be looked like. And then, and then, and then I feel like, well, I know a few people already Jenny and mark Beaumont and a couple of other people featured in the book. So this is gonna be a great starting point, but then I really want to reach out to people, which I don't know, you know, but to wide travel byte is the only. Or not even ride travel bikes, you know, they, you happen to be riding off road. I would ly keep it as, as, as, as far as that. And yeah. And then with the help of, of My connections with the sponsors of the book, I was just building this list of people and then the other, I think the additional challenge was also that I kind of needed to slot them in. So I did the book research within other projects as well. So yeah, and, and, and it, it turned out to work pretty well. Like I was, I was fascinated by the thing and I guess the, the big takeaway for me was. It kind of felt a little bit being transferred back to the process of the round, the world trip, you know, I think around the world trip. Very much. So the, I, I did ride my bike during the day. And then in the evening I was really looking forward to speak to people, have a conversation. And, and the nice thing about this book research was so there were some people I knew and you know, we rode our bikes together and, you know, it felt like, you know, being out on a great ride with a, with a friend, you unseen for ages. And then there were the new people in the book, which I didn't know much about it. And it, that was quite as well because, you know, Takes five to 10 minutes. And then you kind of know roughly what you wanna talk about. You know, you wanna talk about the roots and, and the nice thing about this poetry. It really felt like they are taking me on their favorite roots. And they're really showing me their neck of the roots, not from a tourist perspective, but from a local's perspective, this is where a white. This is a cool cafe. You should be going to cuz they've got amazing priorities. This is the proper we should be stopping at. And, and I think that made the whole experience so much richer. And, and ultimately also I think for the reader, you know, they, I think one thing I always miss like not so much cycling guidebooks, but if you look at places guide books like lonely planet or, you know, one of the big ones. I think with lonely planet, you used to get a really authentic experience. You know, it is debatable what the world authentic actually means, but you don't get these days. I don't think so. You know, you'd be shuttled into a range of accommodation and some places, and it's a bit hit or miss some places are good. Some of them. Not so much. , you know, and I think with this approach, I was kind of my, my, my pitch to people was just like, show me around your negative woods. Take me to the cool places. You know, like take me around as you would have a great ride that it is for you. And that also came up with very different approaches. You know, I had guy who speaked guy Kek. He's super fast so we kinda went fulling to the, to the tee shop, had an iced tea, and then we went fulling again. It was great. You know, it was like, there was a thing, whereas there were other approaches where everything was a bit slower and, and a bit more relaxed and, and yeah. And yeah, I really lost the process. It was just really personable. [00:30:09] Craig Dalton: Yeah, it's super interesting. I remember in the early days of the pandemic, when a lot of the big gravel events in the United States were getting canceled, one in particular, put a call out to kind of friends and people in the community to do a virtual event on the day of their race. And what I thought was the output of that exercise is that all around the country, you have these routes created by people who absolutely love the sport and absolutely love where they live. So it was just basically, I described it as sort of a, a love letter to the gravel cycling community [00:30:43] Markus: yeah. [00:30:44] Craig Dalton: this route. And it sounds like you got a lot of that out of this experience and this process that you entered for this. [00:30:51] Markus: Yeah. Yeah. And it was like, I mean, the pandemic pandemic played. I mean, it played a key role in the book because it was, I mean, the whole idea was, was based out of, I don't know, I've stopped counting how many lockdowns we went through in the process. And cause I initially thought like I didn't. I wouldn't say I had an idea of a book in my head and when the whole thing kicked off, I was just like, maybe this is exactly the right time to do a book. Because for me writing a book was always, there was always taking, there was always something else that was taking priority. Cuz it's a big daunting project, you know? It's like I spend about it. Yeah. Like a good part of a year doing this book. If. Count in all the things and it's, you know, it, it does take, especially the writing. It really takes you. You really need to sit down and kind of write. I'm just gonna concentrate on that. And it's, you know, it's just like, it's, it's easier to do smaller projects, no doubt. But yeah, when it all kicked off, I was like, okay, if there's something good about this, You possibly find time to do this now because you'll be less distracted by other stuff you can't, there's no such thing. And, and also when you, when I, I think the interesting thing about bikes is that when we were sitting in our living rooms or in, you know, in the best case scenario or with our garden and having a bit of nature around us . All the bikes, all the other bikes are quite difficult to ride from your front door. You can ride a road bike if you happen to live in a place that has some nice roads and is not too busy. You can ride a mountain bike if you happen to live next to mountain bike trails. But. I would say for the majority of people, like there was always something, you know, for roads, either the roads are too busy or the mountain bike twelves they're okay. But you, you know, they're not great. And with travel bikes in a way, the travel bike is a, is a perfect pandemic bike because you can take it off on roads. So you can ride all of those mountain bike trails, which are okay to ride on a gravel bike. But you possibly get a little bit bored on your full assess. and you can ride those cycle paths and you can ride those quiet roads, but, you know, it's just, it's such a, it's such a lovely mixture. Like you can get so much out of, of gravel bikes without. You know, having to push for one thing or the other. And, and that became very clear. And then there's one, one interesting story in the book. And the from Trumper cycles who basically had this idea of building a wooden travel bike, and the idea kind of got shelved initially. And then when lockdown kicked off, that was basically what he focused on and came up with this beautiful piece of work. And, and is all of those little stories I tried to, you know, I think we are all getting a little bit tired of what happened in the last two to three years and you know, it come of a dire consequences for some people as well. But I also. If, if you're looking the positives to take out of like being forced to reconnect with nature, being really seeing the value that if it all fails, you can still go out there and have a bit of an adventure. And even if it's, I dunno, 10 kilometers away from home, that's, what's coming to quite clearly in the book. And, and that was an interesting thing as well. [00:34:19] Craig Dalton: As you thought about the book. And obviously there was a, there was this notion of guide book as a concept, even though you strayed away from that and made it much more personal, but as you thought about great Britain, And across Scotland, England and Wales, presumably you had some notions of like, these are, must have areas that I need to cover. My question is how much of that drove? What ended up in the book versus people you got connected with and the roots that they were saying, you've gotta, you've gotta put this route in the book. [00:34:51] Markus: It was, yeah. So I knew Scotland. Well, you know, and I there's, obviously there's some, there's, there's some bits of Scotland I really want to have featured in there. So I think Scotland, if you look at it it was. It was a bit like looking around my personal environment and you know, this is a cool place to write who do I know in that place? And, you know, do they fit in there? For the other parts of Britain, it was pretty much applying canvas, you know, I and and I think this is, this is, this is quite interesting. I guess there was one another. Bit of a guiding principle behind it is like I'm. If you look at all my work in the UK especially in Scotland, I'm a, think I'm a firm believer in that. The best places to cycle are actually the places that don't get a lot of tourism that are not overwhelmed by people. Because I, I think. Like the popularity of some glaciers, especially in the last five years with channels like Instagram and TikTok and whatever. Like, I, I, I could name a few people in Scotland places in Scotland. I wouldn't want to travel to these days because they are just like, It's for me, it's not an authentic version of what Scotland is. Like. It's a very fabricated and, you know, kind of like influencer kind of based version of what the country is like. And, and, and my, especially in Scotland, my vision, my, my picture of Scotland has always been a very different one, you know, a country which has super friendly people who are actually really, really grateful about you being in a. And, you know, visiting them, whatever. And the other thing I also felt like we, I, I, I do think, you know, I was looking at, so where are people actually living in the UK and, and you will often not find London or Milton Keens or Newcastle upon. In a guidebook because they're big cities and I think your vision of a country to travel to. So would someone who travels to put and necessarily travel to Newcast possibly not. You know, would they, would they choose London for riding a bike? Maybe not. you know, so I thought like, I want to have some, some, I want to have some odd places in there. You know, I think Oakwood around London is amazing. Cause you know, this is, this is where like people sit on top of each other. This is exactly the place where people need to go out, have an adventure. [00:37:24] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I think that approach, it, it sort of serves two masters, right? It, it, one inspires people in London of this idea that they can be a gravel cyclist living in London. And the second thing is, you know, many travelers may find themselves in London. And see that as an opportunity to ride in a place that they never thought they could ride. I, I think about in the United States, I always loathe going to Las Vegas. And then I learned about this mountain bike terrain rights out outside of Vegas that's world class. And all of a sudden it's like, okay, maybe I, I will accept a trip to Vegas because I can go sneak off and do that and get my feel of the outdoors and then experience the Zs of, of, of Las Vegas. [00:38:05] Markus: Yeah. And I guess I think the approach that kind of like, I always found, like you can basically move to any place in the world, as long as you have cool people there, you can do stuff with, you know, you, you, you, you might be in the best place in the world to ride bikes. If there, if you know, if you don't know anyone there and, and, and you, you can't connect to the people. I just, I just think the people are first and, you know, they'll show you. I don't know. And, and then I think you, you get, you get quite, and that's the thing I love about clever riding, you know, you can. There isn't really any, like, there is no such thing as a gravel trail in, especially in Britain, like we don't have those big metal roads. We have some of them, but is the majority of riding over here? it's I would say varied. You know's. Expect some odd things, you know, expect a bit of single trail expect the odd bit of road or whatever. You know, we, we don't have hundreds and hundreds of miles of long, you know, really, really extensive travel roads as such. But I think this is also that, that thing that makes it such a unique place, you know, and it's also, it's also, I. What you find when you come to here, it's the oddity of the place, you know, that any place, the thing. And, and that really came through when I traveled to the places and rode there, especially the places I hadn't really been beforehand. Everyone's proud of the place they live in, which is quite like there hasn't been a single place where people say, oh, you know, it's a. You know, mixed? No, no, they were super, you know, they were, they were, they were, they were. Super passionate about the places they live and, you know, they accept it in some cases, you know, if you wanna go riding a new car, so yeah. You need to go to some areas which are, you know, they're not tourist destinations, but it's, I always find it fascinating. Those are actually the places where you meet some really cool people, some, you know, and you get a really interesting experience. And, and, and that's the thing I. And one thing for me on the political things, we had some, some pretty interesting years in this country of, of division people voted for and against Brexit and Scottish independence were. So there was loads of stuff that, you know, where people. Pitched against each other. And I, I, I, so one thing for me that came, came across in the whole research is there's actually so much more in the country that kind of unites people than it is that it's. Dividing them, you know, and, and, and, and, and the culture over here, like wherever you wanna go, just find a pop , you'll find some interesting people from all walks of life will happily share, you know, beer with you or whatsoever. And, and, and, and, and kind of like, that's the thing I loved. And there was only, it was, it was, for me, it was kind of back to the initial reasons why I moved to, to Britain, to Scotland. Cause people were welcoming. The love it. Good chat. The love to help you. And yeah, it's, it's all really welcoming. And that, that hopefully comes across in the book. [00:41:24] Craig Dalton: Yeah, it definitely does. And again, super interesting approach. I'll put a link to everything in the show notes that people can find this book and some of your other work. And I think it's, it's a fascinating way to explore what gravel looks like in great Britain and get to know a bunch of interesting people along the way. [00:41:42] Markus: Yeah. Yeah. And and it's also, I think one thing I've forgot, which is probably a bit of improvement. Like it's, it is also, I've always found that like the people featured in the book, they're also really happy to share their knowledge, you know? So, you know, just, yeah. Like yeah. If you happen to see them and meet them, speak to them [00:42:02] Craig Dalton: absolutely. Cool. Thanks Marcus. Thanks for the time. [00:42:06] Markus: Yeah. Awesome. Thank you. [00:42:08] Craig Dalton: That's going to do it for this week's edition of the gravel ride podcast. Big, thanks to Marcus for coming on the show. . I loved learning more about gravel riding in great Britain. And I hope you enjoyed it too. Special, thanks to our friends at Trek travel. And that's your own a gravel bike tour. I hope you'll be able to join me. On the November 6th. Trip. Remember, just go to Trek, travel.com and search Girona gravel bike tour during the registration process. Make sure to mention the podcast as they're throwing in a free handlebar bag. If you're interested in connecting with me, please join the ridership@wwwdottheridership.com. It's a free global cycling community. Where you can interact with riders from around the world that are as passionate about gravel cycling. As you are. If you're able to support the show, please visit buy me a coffee.com/the gravel ride. Or ratings and reviews are hugely appreciated. Until next time here's to finding some dirt under your wheels

This week we take a virtual trip to the Canadian rockies with rider accounts from the TransRockies Gravel Royal. We hear from eventual winners, Rob Britton and Rach McBride among others to explore this 4 day gravel stage race. Episode sponsor: Trek Travel -- Come join me in Girona on Nov 6th. Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: TransRockies Gravel Royale [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, I'm bringing you coverage directly from the trans Rockies gravel Royale. You might've heard me mentioned trans Rockies, gravel rail a few times over the years. It's one of those unfortunate events with regards to COVID timing. That got scheduled right at the beginning of the pandemic and had to get postponed on a couple of occasions. But they finally got it off the ground this year. And it is such a great event. Trans Rockies organization has been producing races for over 20 years. I actually participated in a mountain bike stage race a seven day race. That they put on, gosh, probably about 10 years ago. And it was really quite an amazing experience. There's something to be said for being out there in the wilderness. traversing some amazing terrain. And then camping with everybody who just did the same thing as you that day, they do great highlight reel videos. Every night, they've got sort of a. Dining tent, and they prepare all the meals. It's an all exclusive experience. So when I heard they were doing a gravel version, I was super excited to go ultimately and do it, unfortunately that wasn't in the cards for me this year. But I did have my friend Marissa from Verde brand communications up there. Doing some interviews with some of the athletes as they were crossing the line. We were fortunate to talk to many of the stage winners and both of the ultimate winners of the event. So you'll see, during this episode, we'll go through each stage to give you a little bit of a flavor. For what transpired during the race, I'll give you a bit of an overview and then we've got a couple of just general commentaries from participants at the end of the podcast. So I hope you enjoy learning a little bit more about the trans Rockies. And with that i do need to stop and thank this week sponsor. This week we're once again, sponsored by our friends over at Trek travel and the discover Girona gravel trip. That I personally am going to be participating in on November 6th through 10th this year. And I encourage you to join me. You may recall. We did an entire episode on Jarana gravel last year. And learned a lot about this historic city. And what has become. A hub for professional cycling in Girona across the road and gravel spectrums. The city is surrounded by amazing gravel routes. And the Trek infrastructure in Girona is just top notch. It's a location of one of their service courses. So they've got a number of bikes and included in this trip. Is a bicycle rental from track. So you don't even have to travel with your bikes. As we talked about in the intro, I love the idea of multi-day gravel experiences. So whether it was the trans Rockies, gravel Royale. Or even better. A trip like this, where you can design your own experience. If you want to ride your bike from dusk till Dawn, the team attract travel can create routes for you. Or if you want to have more of a city experience and do shorter rides. And enjoy the cafes and the historic surroundings of the community of Girona. You can do that too. I am looking forward to bathing in it all, frankly, I've been dreaming about this trip for a few years, ever since I first found out about it from the group of Trek travel, and I want you to join me. So if you can. The. Trip I'll be participating in and starts on November 6th. If you register for the trip by visiting Trek, travel.com and search for that. Girona gravel bike tour. If you mentioned the podcast or the ridership, they're going to throw in a free handlebar bag. For your trip there and something you can take home with you it will be a small Momento of the time we'll share together. So I hope you'll join me there again. Simply visit Trek, travel.com and search Jarana gravel bike tour. And you'll see that November six. Trip amongst the other dates that they have available this year. And remember to mention the gravel ride podcast during your booking process. Without behind us, let's jump right into the overview of the trans Rockies gravel Royale. And hear from a number of the participants. All right. Stage one, the trans Rockies gravel Royale, Tigger pass Panorama to the, to the community of Becca it's 50 miles and 6,900 feet of climbing. We're joined today by women's race winner, Rachel McBride. And men's race winner, corey wallace from stage one [00:05:00] Rach McBride: This is Rach McBride, professional triathlete, and I guess gravel racer and mountain bike. Gracer this year. I am here at trans rocks, gravel, Royal, and just finished stage one. It was. A pretty awesome day. We started out with a nice neutral descent and Down into, from Panorama into, in Vermer and then started on the big climb up to about, I don't even know what, I don't know how high we went today. It was a really great day for me. I felt pretty strong all day. I saw, you know, there was kind of a pack of folks who went off the front and I did not stay with them. And so I was kind of on my own for most of the day back and forth with a couple of folks. And it was you know, this was probably one of the most technical. Gravel race days that I have ever done, we climbed and climbed and climbed on some gravel roads, but then it quickly went into double track that was not super rideable and there was a lot of walking and then it went into. Basically a trail that was a hiking trail and everyone was walking. I just tried to use some of my tri triathlete skills to jog a little bit up those walking sections. And it was pretty fun to just feel like you were out in the middle of with your gravel bike. And then once you reach the top of the. Of the climb and I knew I just needed to push it to the top of this climb because the rest of the ride was gonna be downhill and pretty flat. And so tactically, it was gonna pay off to spend a lot of matches on that first climb and Coming down the single track on the way down was very exciting. It was definitely quite technical didn't. I stayed on my bike for the most part, had to crash myself once when it got super, super steep and I couldn't stop myself and just need to work on some technical skills to actually. Feel comfortable riding down that in the future. And then yeah, was just like on my own got passed on the downhill by some really speedy downhill mountain bike types, but caught up with them on the flats and yeah, ended up finishing strong. There was I think everyone today is complaining about the. Final turn and the final climb because we're on a beautiful gravel road. And then turn onto basically what looks like. You're just riding into the forest and there's no trail at all and you just keep climbing up, but it was super fun. It was really exciting. And yeah, I don't know. I've never done you know, a four day stage race before, and especially with stages that are this long. So I hope I haven't burned a lot of matches. Today. I know I still have three more days to race and hope I can just keep pushing it and I may be totally dying by day four. We'll get there when we come to it. And this is why I do this sport is to just challenge myself and see how far I can go with it. [00:08:13] Cory Wallace: I'm Corey Wallace, the Kona Factory team, and we're here at day one in the trans Rockies, gravel Royal. Yeah, I finished up epic on Friday and then started the drive up here Saturday and got here last night, around eight o'clock woke up, threw some stuff in a bag and we went off bike racing. I was pretty grateful for the one hour rollout from Panora down to in Vermer before the race started, gave me a chance to woke up and then. Yeah, the race is on. Yeah, typical trans rock up a pretty gnarly climb bit. A hike, a bike is Rob my an American myself kind of, battling it out and they would drop me towards the top of the climb. And then I went pretty hard through the single track and caught 'em on the descent and attacked right away. And Rob came with me and we would work together to the finish. And I kind of knew the finish from 10 years going. We did trans Rockies here, so I did a little effort with about one K out and yeah, took the, took the win and now we're just hanging out and getting ready for day two. [00:09:10] Craig Dalton: All right onto stage two, which is Becca to Knippa CTCA highlighted by Miller pass. It's a 51 mile stage with 4,900 feet of climbing. Once again, we're joined by rich McBride. Who successfully got first place in this stage for the women? And we're also joined by second place finisher in the men's category. Rob britain [00:09:33] Rach McBride: All right. Stage two. We left Nica and came back to beautiful Nica. It has been amazing to be here in this beautiful place. My race was super fun. I just like was determined to make the battle Royal. This time around and yeah, just rode strong all day and finished with a bunch of guys, two guys who I made work with me and had a really, really fun time and made some new friends and that, and then immediately went and jumped in the pond to cool off Is the, I've just been like super impressed with NA NCA here and just the like camp atmosphere is really fun and really means that like, you get to meet new people and like, see everybody coming in and you know, Kind of get to know each other and chill, like the afternoons have been so awesome to just like, hang out and sit in the sun or sit in the pond go for a little walk. I went for a little jog this afternoon and yeah, it was pretty amazing. Yeah. I love it. And. Yeah, food's great too. good. Good evening entertainment as well with the like evening of photos and videos. So you also like get to see like what other people doing on race day and on course, which is pretty cool. Cool. How are you feeling for two more days? Two more days, man. I mean, they're gonna be longer. And I'm definitely feeling tired. And I know that like for me, the longer, the better I'm really excited about the upcoming about tomorrow. And we get to move to a new place. So that'll be cool though. I think we got really spoiled here. totally. Yeah. [00:11:22] Rob Britton: . Hi, my name's Rob Briton. I race professionally for east Overland slash felt bicycles. And right now we are on stage two of the trans Rockies gravel Royal. Currently I am in first, overall and finished second on yesterday's first stage and third on today's stage. So it's going pretty well so far. A little bit different experience than my past life, where we would sleep in hotels and have toilets. And this is more of a roughen it experience. Yeah, camping. So yeah, just hanging out in the tent at night with about 300 folks. and yeah, early starts, which is sort of the, the jam with gravel. I don't really tell you that in the gravel brochure, but yeah, most most stages start before 8:00 AM. So these ones start right around eight and they're relatively short for the races we've done this year around 80 K or. For any Americans listening about 50 miles. So that's give or take three hours and you're done before noon. So the rest of the day is just spent relaxing, which where we are right now. Looking at a pretty incredible view of we've got the cutey mountains on one side and the Rocky mountains on the other side of the valley we've got a pretty incredible. Pond or it's pond little swing hole here from a Creek, which is quite refreshing considering it's about 26, 27 degrees, or I guess 35, 80 degrees. So yeah, just taking it all in it's my first year doing this gravel gig. it's quite a bit more fun than my past life racing on the road, especially kind of the last couple years in Europe when things went from hard to much harder. So yeah, this is, this is nice. You have hamburgers for lunch and beef brisket for dinner and beer is kind of in between. So yeah, it's it's a pretty good gig, but otherwise yeah, running my felt breed carbon right now with. GX D I two, we've got a classified rear wheel on there. So it gives me kind of the option of my standard 48 with an 1134 cassette or the virtual second ring is close to a 32. So pretty killer climbing gear Schwabe G one RS tires and 45 C, which is pretty sweet for traction. And then I kinda made the last minute switch to the Fox taper cast 32 fork. So I've got just a little bit of little bit of cushion to the front end for those descend switch so far has paid off quite a bit. I don't mind carrying it up the climbs for the yeah, the mortal relaxed ASC descending. And yeah, we got two stages left. I think it's about. Tomorrow's 110 K giver take. And then the final day is kind of there at queen stage. And that's about 130 K. So I think that's around 87 miles and yeah, finishing fornia and, and call it a week and then onto whatever my next thing is, which at this point I actually don't even know, but I know I'm busy for the next month, but Yeah, all and all it's been pretty awesome being out here in BC. It's nice to race, relatively close to home. You don't get that opportunity. And certainly haven't had that for a number of years, so I'm stoked to be here. [00:14:33] Craig Dalton: The stage three, this is where the writers are really starting to feel the first two days of effort. This day's stages from Nica to canal flats. I'll actually be moving camp today and it features little ALK pass. 67 miles, 4,900 feet of climbing. We're going to be joined again by Rachel McBride who managed to successfully. When this stage as well. And then on the men's side we're joined by caleb swartz from missoula montana who came in third place on stage three [00:15:07] Rach McBride: All right. Day three, trans Rockies gravel Royal. Today was a more of an epic day than we had experienced in the past couple of days, just because it was a little bit longer and started off. Pretty much right off the bat with the Q O M climb, which was pretty challenging and still involved some walking at the top, which I think everybody was not fond of. And and then quite, I mean, for me, it was a technical descent. I was pretty, I was scared shitless going down the descent, cuz it was super fast yet. There were some technical bits. And and ended up getting up out onto the main road, the drag that was hours and hours long initially on my own. And then thankfully got caught by two guys and we then eventually. Reeled in another two guys. And there were five of us working together for a long time. And that was one of the interesting things about this course today was that it really, your success kind of depended a little bit on who you ran into and what kind of a group you had and if you were working together or not, and I really got pushed by the. Folks that I was riding with, which was awesome. And eventually we got rid of most of them except for one person. And then that guy rode me into the ground and I B I really baed at the end of the, at the start of the last climb, that was just like, you were so many hours in and then had to do this. Climb that looked like forever, even though I think it was only a minute or so. But I definitely felt a lot more tired on day three and a little bit more cracked at the end. And yeah, we landed in canal flats and had an maing dinner. The food is so fantastic here. And what else am I talking about? I was Just about gravel, gravel. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, for me this year racing, the lifetime grand Prix has meant that I have put, put triathlon on the back burner a bit though, still raced here and there. And what has kind of ended up happening? I mean, this is like my fifth weekend or fifth week in a row racing between gravel mountain bike and triathlon. And I have. Kind of felt like I've been racing into shape. And I mean, the GRA the, the punchiness and the dynamics of gravel racing and the mountain bike racing like Leadville 100 and the Leadville stage race that I did has really reminded me of just how. Much you can push in these shorter races and how much stamina my body has. And to be able to like in between all of these races, still show up and like win Boulder, 70.3 was kind of insane for me and really has meant that Yeah, that, you know, my gravel racing this year has really upped my triathlon game, which is really exciting. It's very cool to feel like still in the mix at the age of 44 in this career and being like racing in this totally new dynamic. World of gravel racing. It's a new crowd. It's a new scene. It is new competition. It is different courses a different community and yeah, just a really awesome vibe and I'm loving it. [00:18:34] Caleb Swartz: Alrighty. My name is Caleb Swartz. I'm from Madison, Wisconsin, and I live in Missoula, Montana. And I ride for giant envy, which is my own program that I put together. Cool. So tell me about your stage today. It was, it was really hard and then it was not so hard and then it was really hard again. Yeah, we hit the first major climb about, you know, less than 10 minutes in. And I immediately attacked as soon as we got there and got away a little bit and started going, then we got into like a mudslide. It was like riding through wet concrete. So then we ended up doing some running then Corey, who had some issues yesterday came through with just vengeance and just absolutely started smashing up the climb. That was quote, mostly rideable which was actually some running. Then we got into a pretty technical descent or not well, could be technical depending how fast you go. A lot of. What they call stitch up here in Canada, which we would call water bars in the states. And so I almost got dropped, but I knew if I got dropped there, I'd be in trouble for the next like 50 miles of flat draft essential riding. So then I attacked into the downhill and got a couple minutes gap. And made him chase me and we all regrouped and then basically all stayed together until we dropped one guy Josiah. And then I got dropped within the last climb and they sprinted it out. So, yeah, cool. How are you enjoying doing a stage race and camp antics and hanging out with the guys and all of that? It's really fun. I did one other stage race earlier this year. That was a similar style called trans or Sylvania epic. Similar trans. And that was a mountain bike stage race in Pennsylvania. Similar thing, like five days of racing there, camping, like similar, no, not quite this level of production, but greats too. And it's super fun to be doing point to point. And yeah, I really enjoy the, I don't. I ride my bike to be outside and getting to camp and race and be in super gorgeous areas. Like this is just as everything I love. The sport and why I raised professionally. Cool. How is your bike setup? A lot of people have had flats or mechanicals. How's your bike been doing this week? My bike setup is not quite ideal, but it's, it's going strong. No issues yet. Yeah. Knock on wood. Yeah, I. I didn't really change my gearing or anything. It's my cycle cross bike. And that's what I, I'm primarily a side cross mountain bike racer. And so my, my like gearing is I have a 42 chain ring and a 30, 10 36 cassette, which is far from ideal for like 25% chunky, like rock gardens. But so far is so good. And I'm running 42 mill tires. Well, 42, 38, cause I destroyed a tire in my race last Sunday, too. So I'm running a, running a black and tan mullet set up here. It's doing the trick and yeah, it's holding together strong and taking care of it and trying to ride smooth and minimize, minimize mistakes while going fast. Cool. What are you looking forward in last stage tomorrow? Looking forward to this big climb. I love to climb. And it'll be interesting to see how everyone else is feeling and how I'm feeling. See if I can get some time back on second place in GC. And yeah, try and, you know, anything can happen or, you know, be tough to get the overall here, but I'd love to get another stage win and really I'd love a good mountaintop finish. [00:21:55] Craig Dalton: And now on the stage four, which is the queen stage and the final stage of this year's 2022. Therese Rocky, gravel Royale. They're going from canal flats to the town of Fernie going over. Hartley pass. It's an 84 mile ride. With 7,900 feet of climbing, boy, that's going to hurt. At this stage in the game. I've I've written in Fernie and around that area during the trans Rockies. Mountain bike stage race. Absolutely stunning to rain, incredible single track and dual track. Coming into Fernie. We're joined by rich McBride again, who managed to win the stage as well as the overall title. On the men's side, we're joined by Rob Britton who won the overall title for the men. So excited to have you hear from them. And then we'll conclude by hearing from a few other athletes. Who participated in the event [00:22:50] Rob Britton: well we're here at the finish of stage four final stage of the trans Rockies gravel L in traditional fashion of my experience infer any it's raining and the temperature is dropping. Step as the final stage. Finally got my stage win searching for that for a few days now. Yeah. First stage race in gravel, done dusted kind of a bunch of first. I haven't done a capping stage race before and never done gravel stage Jason before. So certainly continues to be more different than my past life, but fun, nonetheless. I mean, The group from trans Rockies did a heck of a job, you know, taking care of us, great food every night, nice breakfast in the morning. Some of the most incredible scenery you can imagine the Kenn Rockies obviously never disappoint, but yeah it was. All said and done ended up first on the final stage. And first overall, which I'm super happy about because this was an important race with three quarters of my sponsors between felt Easton and chiro all taking part as major supporters of this stage race. So. Yeah, I'm really happy to get a win at this race and kind of, I think my first real win is a gravel pro or whatever my title is now, but yeah, definitely be back in the future and hopefully one of these days I'll finish in the sunshine for any and life will be good. [00:24:15] Rach McBride: Day four, trans Rockies, gravel, Royal. This one was a beast. If I thought that I dug deep yesterday I really went into the pain cave today. It started off I started off feeling pretty ragged and finally got a bit of a second wind or first wind, maybe about halfway. Through and suffered up the final 13 kilometer climb to the finish. I had an awesome group though, to ride with a bunch of really strong guys who we all just pushed each other and we were. Like egging each other on and coaxing each other on to stay together. It was super supportive and that was a really, really cool experience. And I don't think I would've pushed as hard had I not had such great riders and folks to be racing with my thoughts on this whole week are, I mean, Race is definitely like, unlike anything I've ever experienced in my gravel racing days, for sure. From the courses to the multi-day aspect, to the The tent, camping and the evening awards and support and awesome food and everything. It's just been a really fantastic experience to, I mean, if you want to like feel in the gravel community, this is a pretty awesome way to experience it because you're all stuck together for four days. And so you make new friends and you meet people from all over. The world really, who are doing this race. And it's a fun, little, like, You know, little town that you're in for, for a couple of days, for folks who are interested in doing this, maybe even for their first gravel race. I mean, first of all, I would say that if you are going to do this race for your first gravel race, any other race that you do will likely be seem a lot easier than anything else than anything that you would do this week. The I would definitely recommend when you're training for it to do some multiple big days in a row, because, or just do some training when you are fatigued, because you know, really doing the bigger days in the days three and four takes a lot out of you and you definitely need some stamina. And you want to. I think some of the biggest things is like you can't deplete yourself on every day, so you really need to be fueling and hydrating during your race prepping for the next days, as well as afterwards, eat a lot at dinner, eat a lot at breakfast. And what else would I say? . Yeah. Be prepared. Another tip I would give is be prepared to walk a lot with your bike because there are some technical aspects and some super steep climbs that everybody is walking. And some technical aspects that if you're not a mountain biker, you probably will be Walking with your bike, which is totally fine. I definitely walked some of the more technical sections myself. And maybe that's it. Yeah. What was your favorite moment of the week? Oh, my favorite moment of the week was definitely, you know, over because I was riding with a few guys for over the, the whole course of the race. You know, we got to know each other a little bit and there was a bit of a rivalry going on and it was just really fun to be like, I think the, the best moment for me was just. Like being out there with like new friends and pushing each other I think just that community side of things and that like new friends sort of thing was pretty awesome. [00:28:21] Jacob Paul: Hi, my name is Jacob Paul. I'm from west colon BC, and I competed in the 30 to 39 men's category of trans Rockies this week. The week went really well. Had a lot of fun out racing with everyone. I have not done a whole lot of racing, so a whole new experience riding in a group and yeah, working with other people, the course had a great mix of everything. A lot of gravel roads, a lot of single track and some pretty cool views. And yeah, I would strongly recommend this race to anyone who's interested in mountain biking and gravel biking. What was your favorite moment from the week? Hm, my favorite moment from the week was on day three when we were rolling into canal flats. And you could see all the jagged mountains above the clouds. Awesome. Sweet. Well, thank you super all. [00:29:15] Zoe Roy: . My name's Zoe. Roy, do you want me to spell it? No, that's okay. And I'm from bend Oregon, originally, Ontario, Canada, but live in bend Oregon. Awesome. What did you do for the last four days? I rode my bike over a lot of up and down. And through the woods and around mountains and hung out with a lot, a lot of really fun people. Cool. Yeah. So you're not a gravel biker, but you did a gravel event. Yeah. How was the gravel community and everyone that you met? Oh, man, your week, like, great. It was so fun. It, it was my first gravel event, gravel race ever. But I really didn't expect anything. Like for the community to be as great as they were. Yeah. I assume they would be. cool. And you're queen of the mountain Royal attempts. How were those? Oh yeah. They were fun. They were really fun. I was on, I think I had a little bit easier gearing cuz I had mountain bike gears in the. On my bike. I was on a gravel bike with flat bars and mountain bikers. So the steep uphills were to my advantage. Yeah. But they were they're, they were really fun. We thought we might as well. I thought I might as well try and see what happened. Totally. And it worked out the last two days. Awesome. What was your favorite moment of the week? Favorite moment of the week. The downhill yesterday was really fun. Yeah. If I was picking a moment during the, during the stages. Yeah. Through the creeks, it was just really fun and fast and it kept going through fun Creek crossings. Yeah. Yeah. So that good. What about your favorite camp moment? Favorite camp moment? Staying in Nico is pretty fun, was really fun cuz everyone just stuck there. Internet or wifi. Yeah. And so you're just kind of forced to hang out with each other. Yeah. So that's great. Have you been in this area? Much biking? I have a little bit around here and I did trans Rocky's the classic, the mountain bike one mm-hmm in 2019. So I have been, and I think the stage, the first stages were similar or the same. Yeah. So I have done, I've been in this area and I also work at a lodge that we rode really close to a back country, ski and hiking lodge. So we were probably within 10 K of. On the same gravel roads we take to get to the lodge. Yeah. Barry, do you wanna make a cameo? This recording? Sure. Hello? Can introduce yourself. [00:31:20] Barry Wicks: My name is Barry Wix. How was your week? Oh, it was excellent. Yeah, super fun. You know, another awesome stage race experience. Just spending four days out in the woods. Riding bikes doesn't get much better. Cool. What are you guys doing next? Where are you? This we're actually adding cam more to do a 24 hour race tomorrow, which is probably a bad idea. but I'm sure this day of rest will be very helpful, feel super fresh tomorrow. Cool. What was your favorite moment from. I think probably my favorite moment was watching Zoe go up hill really fast. That was quite impressive. I was struggling to keep up. It was inspiring to watch her just zooming up the hill, passing everybody. It was also pretty fun having the Spanish people here, the whole crew with the media team and we rode. Rael yesterday from like at least half, maybe three quarters of it. And then we were on Spanish TV afterwards. yeah, yeah. Highlight. We got be on TV potentially. We don't know actually, if we made the cut, but yeah, that's true. We might get cut out. You never know, but we were interviewed. That might might been a highlight. Good. do you need to speak Spanish? No, zero Spanish. I'm sure the subtitles be excellent. Subtitles. Cool. [00:32:32] Marisa Dobrot: Hi there. This is Marissa with trans rocks. You might have heard my voice throughout this podcast, just in the background asking some of the athletes questions. And before I sign off, Craig just wanted me to give you all a little recap of how the week went from my perspective and how the event was overall. Obviously you heard from a lot of the athletes, how they were racing and. The camp was and everything like that. So just a little bit more background where the four stages of the race were, were just amazing, beautiful mountains and terrain. Really unlike anything we obviously have in the United States which is where I'm from from Colorado. so it was just a great opportunity to get athletes out on these magnificent gravel roads. Even if some of the time the athletes might have complained a little bit, that it was a little more technical than they were probably used to in a gravel race. Having to even the pros, having to get off their bike and walk some portions. Which I think just makes the event so unique and interesting. And you really get a perspective of back country gravel over the four days. So. As you know, the, the race started out in Panorama which is a really cute little ski town ski resort and looked like it had some great downhill mountain biking for the summer. So that's where night one was. And they started right at the base of the ski hill and took off from there. And it was a neutral start. So everyone. Kind of got a chance to just chill for the morning. For that little first bit probably have some conversations with fellow writers before they really took off once they got down to town and on their way to Tager pass which that first day, and that first pass was sounded pretty challenging for a lot of the athletes. And definitely from the videos that we got from the video team. On course it was technical and a lot of people took some spills or walked down some of the technical technical sections. But overall was still super gorgeous. And can't really be going on some of that terrain on two wheels. And then ending that day out at ni PICA, which was a super beautiful place. The, the trans Rockies team had been setting up the tents and obviously getting everything set. We were in ni PICA for two days which was really cool to kind of spend a good amount of time there, like totally you cell service surrounded 360 by mountains. Really gorgeous. And Niah as a whole is is what they consider an eco resort. So a lot of the buildings that had been made were from various recycled materials and wood that they had found and things like that. And the, the creator of Niah Lyle was talked to the, to the athletes a couple times and just his vision for the resort really plays into what trans Rockies is all about, which is super cool. And definitely a place I wanna go back in the winter. Seems really beautiful for CrossCountry skiing or, or fat biking, but was in, was very enjoyable for the summer. And so that day too going out in Nico was actually a loop. So they started out from camp. Did a loop around around some mountains there did a pass called Miller pass and then looped back on some great mining, gravel roads back to camp. So I think that was a great day for everyone to just kind of explore more. The parts of the course that I was able to get out on in the morning were just beautiful. Super gorgeous, like glacier rivers going through Really have no complaints on that one. And then later that afternoon was a little stormy. It had poured down rain and everyone went hiding under like the dining tent or in their tents. We were in the media RV, which was nice. So everything got a little soaked, but I think it helped it cool it down. In the afternoon before we had dinner And I think what's super cool about having these stage races is often in one day races, you kind of are in your own zone and you get to the start line and you do your race. And. Talk to people on the course and you have a great time and you have great interactions. And then, and then the race is over and you're with your family or you're onto your next thing. Versus stage race. It's you have all of this time to really know the community and the people that you're with and really have that super cool experience making friends, and we were really lucky to have people from all over the world, come out for the inaugural. I had a group from Spain, obviously a lot of people from the us and obviously a lot of people from Canada on all over the the country, which was really awesome. So people got the chance to meet so many different kinds of people. We were grateful to also have some, some pros come out. So some people got to talk to some really fast bikers which is really awesome to have. And each night just, if you're not familiar with kind of how trans Rockies runs, they do awards for the stage. And they have a ton of categories. They have age group and the pro category. You can do it in a team. So things like that. So awards, and then we also put together some fun, little slideshow of all of the shots that we get from the media team. And then the video team puts together a pretty funny little recap video of the day which is great for the athletes to just see how the day was for everyone else and see some cool, some cool spots and things like that. And just a fun way to end the night. And then. Pretty much wraps it up and people go to bed. They're thankfully not super early mornings. Start times at 8:00 AM, but we have breakfast open at six. So people start kind of rolling around, getting ready for the day each morning, pretty early. And so day two, starting at Nica. We went out of there and we were making our way down to canal flats. That day was a less technical horse, but definitely a little bit longer. But I think people enjoyed the break of it not being quite as technical . Because the last day of the event is definitely a long, the longest day with the biggest climbing ending in fie. So the village of canal flat was awesome. And it was just like a really tiny little town nestled in the mountains, close to a lake. We were just kind of right in, in the town, which was really cool. We were, the, the tents were set up on a baseball field and we had plumbing, which was, which was a change from Nica where we just had porta potties. So I think that was a nice change for everyone going to that last day. And then on Thursday morning, took off from canal flats and head down to F. Unfortunately I was driving a truck, so I didn't get to see any of that course. Just the course footage that came back from the media team. And it looked gorgeous. That's definitely a unique course in that route pretty much the only road there, the reason that we, we couldn't really go in to the courses because there was no other way, it was kind of in between two mountains. This one mining road that they Rodee on So it was super gorgeous. The footage that the media team came back with was unreal. So gonna have to figure out how to get myself on a bike next time to cover social and do these interviews which will be exciting. And then ending in the town of fie which is another really awesome little mountain town. There's a ski hill, great hiking. Just full 360 views of just incredibly big mountains. And super dramatic a little bit different than Colorado. And so cool. And the town was super inviting. Trans Rockies has had a number of events come through fie. They'll actually be starting out in fie again in about a week for their single track six mountain bike event. So their, their team will be working hard again for a six stage stage race for those mountain bikers. And at the end, it was unfortunately a little rainy. So , people hung out for a little bit, but then they went and got some, some dry clothes and met back up again for the final banquet, which is how all trans Rock's events end. We had at the community center. infer. And we do final awards and the final video and just thank yous to the full crew and obviously all the athletes and support and the host communities and things like that. And then we say farewell. So it goes by fast for sure. Those four days But an amazing experience for myself kind of being on the outside and not fully participating, but getting to see the athletes and just be around the trans Rockies community and this new gravel community that trans Rockies is putting together on this stage. Race is really awesome. So we hope to see returning faces next year. And we also hope to, to see some new ones as well. Wanna enjoy four days of amazing gravel. That they might not necessarily do if they weren't gonna do an event like trans Rockies. So, grateful to be a part of it. And we hope you enjoyed this recap. And I wanna thank Craig for putting it together. My first adventure into doing podcasts and recording. So hope you all enjoy and we'll hopefully see you a trans Rocky's event soon. Thanks so much. [00:40:47] Craig Dalton: That's going to do it for this week's edition of the gravel ride podcast. I hope you enjoyed hearing from those athletes from the trans Rockies gravel Royale certainly does look like an amazing event. And I can personally attest to how awesome the terrain is up there in that region of Canada. Huge. Thanks to our friends. Attract travel, please consider joining me this November 6th on the Girona gravel tour trip. Just visit Trek, travel.com and search for that. Jarana gravel bike tour. And mentioned your listener of the podcast. For that free handlebar bag I look forward to spending some time and spinning some miles with you over in Girona. If you're interested in connecting with me. I encourage you to join the ridership. That's www.theridership.com. It's a free global cycling community where you can connect with over 1500 athletes from around the world and discuss anything to do with gravel cycling. If you're able to support the podcast, please visit buy me a coffee.com. Slash the gravel ride. Or ratings and reviews are hugely appreciated. Until next time here's to finding some dirt under your wheels

Fin de Fiesta cosecha Tardia 325: en su editorial Luis comenta el documental Woodstock 99- Peace love an rage- fiasco total. Fabián nos presenta un exclusivo Club de Vinos Bomvivir. Aki nos hace reflexionar sobre las distintos niveles de respiración. En gastronomía nos cuenta Couto sobre un restorán de cocina peruana en Palermo, Jarana y Luis en su columna de filosofía habla de La condición postmoderna- de Jean Francois Lyotard.

Porque no todo es tristeza en los tiempos convulsos que corren, Los Chistosos organizan la fiesta criolla. Un especial producido por Carolina Ruiz.

This week we sit down with Nick Marzano to explore his experience during the 2022 Tour Divide.  The 2022 Tour Divide began with over 200 riders following the 2,745-mile Great Divide Mountain Bike Route from north to south starting in Banff, Alberta, Canada and finishing at the US/Mexico border in Antelope Wells, New Mexico. Episode Sponsor: Trek Travel - come join The Gravel Ride Podcast crew on the November 6th trip. Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: Nick Marzano [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 show, we've got Nick Marzano from Philadelphia. Here to talk to us about the tour divide. Nick recently finished the tour divide routes during the grand depart from Banff, Canada, and made it all the way to the edge of the border of Mexico. If you don't know about the tour divide, it's roughly follows a route called the great divide mountain bike route, and it's recognized as one of the most important off pavement cycling routes in the United States of America. If not the world, the root criss crosses the continental divide from north to south, starting in Banff, Alberta, Canada, and finishing at the U S Mexico border in antelope Wells, New Mexico. I've been following the tour divide for many years. In fact, in some small part, I credit it with getting me excited. About making the transition from mountain bike, riding to gravel riding. It's an amazing accomplishment. To have achieved this event. It's 2,745 miles, and God knows how much climbing along the way. When Nick picked his head up in the ridership forum and mentioned to the community that he was doing it, I was super stoked to not only follow along. is.as he completed the route, but hear his stories along the way. It's amazing to get a firsthand account of what the tour divide experience looks like. . It varies every year, as you can imagine, with 2,745 miles. Across the United States. You've got all kinds of things to contend with. This year, there were some late season snow up in Canada. Which wreaked havoc. On the race and ended a lot of people's tour divides efforts before they even began. As you'll hear Nick persevered and had an amazing experience out there. It was a real pleasure talking to them. Before we jump into that conversation i need to thank this week sponsor trek travel You may recall last year when we had Trek on talking about the Jarana gravel bike tour, I was super excited. What you don't know is I've been talking about going on this trip since that moment in time. I'm super excited to go to Jarana this year in November, and I'm inviting you to join me. I'm going on the November 6th trip. From Trek travel just you're on a bike tour. You know, Jarana is a cycling gym. There's a reason why all the pros call it home with butter, smooth, tarmac, and perfect weather. But the road riding is just the beginning. And after that conversation with you, and I've looked at a number of routes out of Jarana and I'm super excited to get over there and experience the amazing gravel, the quiet mountain passes and the little villages of Spain. I feel like I've had this trip in my mind for. The entirety of the pandemic, and we're finally pulling it off. Trek wanted me to invite you to join me on this trip. Any of our listeners are going to get a free handlebar bag and a free pair of socks when they joined the trip. You simply head on over to Trek, travel.com and search for the Jerone gravel bike tour. It's a five day four night trip. The team over a, truck's going to handle all the logistics from the hotel to the routes. They're going to have guides on hand. It's actually one of the Trek travel service course locations. So they're gonna have a lot of beautiful track. Demani SL disc brake bikes available for us. As well as the option to bring your own, I'm super excited to get over there myself. We've got a small crew that's already signed up for this trip, but I want to invite you the listener. How amazing would it be for us to finally get together? And in Jarana of all places. I'm certainly looking forward to finally getting some dirt under my wheels in Europe, on a gravel bike. Simply visit truck travel.com. Find that you're on a gravel bike tour and make sure during booking that you mentioned, you're a gravel ride podcast listener, or a member of the ridership to get that free handlebar bag. With that said let's dive right into my conversation with nick Nick welcome to the show. [00:04:42] Nick Marzano: Hey, thanks for having me, Craig. [00:04:44] Craig Dalton: You look surprisingly refreshed considering it's not too long ago, you just completed a 2,700 mile off-road bike ride. [00:04:52] Nick Marzano: Yeah. I mean, I'm gonna rack that up to the, the food monster has been strong. The sleep monster has been strong. I've been, you know, you can indulge in both of those for, for about a solid week. I've been trying to get back to. The sleep has, has rectified itself, the, the nutrition and the food monster. I'm working on getting back to a, a normal diet. But I, yeah, I'm feeling back to a hundred percent for [00:05:15] Craig Dalton: Yeah, I gotta imagine. After an event like the tour divide, you're you just want to eat, eat, eat all day long. [00:05:22] Nick Marzano: You look sort of longingly, like whenever you pass a gas station, like, should I stop and get. 10 Snickers. Should I stop and get some little debes? But, and I typically eat pretty healthy. So it, it is kind of like no holds barred when you're, , when you're only resupplies gas stations for a few days. But yeah, trying to get back to, to some greens in my diet, some fruit [00:05:45] Craig Dalton: Nice. I've given a little bit of preamble in the intro about what the tour divide is, but it's such, it's something I've been following for, gosh, I feel like a decade and it's such an event that if the listener hasn't heard of it, you're going from Canada to Mexico. On gravel effectively, except it's pretty extreme gravel along the way. [00:06:06] Nick Marzano: Yeah, that's, that's pretty much, it, it is mostly dirt. There's some paved sections and this year. I think more than prior years, there were more paved sections because of the initially we were all looking at the, at the black fire in, in New Mexico and, and a couple of other fires that cropped up that forced some some reroutes on pavement. But we made up, we more than made up for that in difficulty with late season snow on the mountain paths in Canada, and then early season monsoons when we hit New Mexico. So it, the route looked a little different this year than it has in years past. Once you hit around New Mexico. But it was still very challenging and a lot of fun. It was very beautiful. [00:06:43] Craig Dalton: With a 2,700 mile plus route, we've got a lot of ground to cover, but as you know, I always like to start off by just learning a little bit more about your background. As a cyclist. And when you discovered gravel cycling and then let's get into, like, when did the tour divide creep into your mind as something you wanted to do? [00:07:01] Nick Marzano: Yeah, it was kind of a rapid progression. So I was a, I'm a, I'm a COVID gravel bike baby around July, 2020. I had, I had wanted to get some kind of, you know, I didn't know the terminology for it until I started researching. I wanted to get something that would, that would allow me to get offroad. I had a hybrid single speed that I had used to try to keep up with people who were doing road rides every now and then if I was on vacation, I used it for commuting almost daily. It was just like a red line, 20 Niner hybrid kicking around Philadelphia. It was great. Did you know, I would, I did like one alley cat race with it. At some point in Philly just used it for ridiculous purposes, but mostly, mostly commuting. And then around 2020, I wanted to transition into something with maybe a little, a little bit of gearing and got my first gravel bike really started listening to, you know, in the research came, wanted to, to find community and, and find some advice and came across the gravel ride podcast. Pretty soon after that. And immediately started signing up for, you know, signed up for like a 60 mile race nearby here to see if, if racing was, was something that was into, I don't remember when the concept of bike packing got a hold of me, but it was pretty quick because by the fall of that of 2020. I was, I, I, I definitely roped a couple of buddies into a 60 mile bike pack trip out to just like an overnight or out to French Creek, state park, which I know you're, I think you're familiar with, from your time out [00:08:31] Craig Dalton: absolutely. [00:08:33] Nick Marzano: Yeah. So it ramped up from there. The following year. I, we had a vacation my partner and I had a vacation planned for the finger lakes. And I said, well, why don't I try to take the long route? I've been reading a lot about bike packing. Let me meet you up at the finger lakes. And I'm gonna take a four day trip and try to link together forest roads and some rail trails that will kind of take me from near Philly up to the New York finger lakes and had fun building that route. Learned a lot, you know, about gear learned a lot about you know, how to plan resupply, how to plan, how long could I make it? I had, I had not done a, I don't believe a, a century ride at that point or had only done one century ride. So figuring out that I could link together, you know, a hundred mile days was kind of a revelation I had planned for six days. I did it in three and change. [00:09:28] Craig Dalton: Yeah, it's kind of hard, like, you know, two things there, one, like it's unusual that you have all day to ride, right? So who knows how long they can ride when they have all day to ride. And two, when you're loaded down on the bike, it's a totally different factor, right? You don't know how long can I ride with a fully loaded bike? [00:09:48] Nick Marzano: totally. Yeah. So , you know, and I, and I had sort of under I conservatively booked each of those days I had put out a sort of an itinerary for myself for six days and was really conservative and realized the other, the other concept with solo bike packing is you get to camp at the end of A long day. And if you're not worn out, you really, you don't wanna get to camp at, at six o'clock seven o'clock, there's nothing to do. You know, I'm fine with solo time. But I think I got into one campsite around like four o'clock and was just sort of twiddling my thumbs for the rest of the night. So I knew, you know, I was capable of, of pushing a little bigger and I can go, I can go further, but I kind of went down, you know, from there. Every couple of months, I would pick an event or design something where I would like add one new challenge to that. And so quickly from 2020, I kind of ramped up in that way. Let me, let me pick a new challenge to sort of add complexity to what I've been doing. Add racing into the mix, add cold weather, camping into the mix. Add, you know, you add rain and, and riding in the elements pretty quickly when you're linking big days. Yeah. And that, you know, Where are we at two years later? I feel like I've got a, a pretty good amount of experience under my belt and at least, you know, 2,600 more miles from the, the tour of divide, [00:11:05] Craig Dalton: And had you, had you had an a background with endurance athletics prior to coming to cycling? [00:11:10] Nick Marzano: Your, you know, your normal running events around Philly, do the broad street run and the Philadelphia marathon a couple of times. But it, it kills my knees. And so I knew. While I still run for just bone health and, and a little cross training that was part of the reason, you know, I wanted to get a bike in 2020 cuz I was I'm. I was pushing 40 at that point. I'm I'm now over 40 and, and wanted something that I could do much longer than I think I'll be able to do running event. [00:11:37] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Do you recall when the tour divide first came into your, your head? [00:11:43] Nick Marzano: Yeah. Yeah, so things ramped up after that finger lakes trip pretty quickly. I reached out to, I reached out to Nelson trees who, who runs the silk road, mountain race and the Atlas mountain race and asked him if I could get a last minute sign up for the Atlas mountain race that. Which is ridiculous and was probably not the right next challenge. If I'm, you know, I've talked about adding sort of stepwise challenges that would've been probably a little out of my wheelhouse, but he accepted my application and I was set to go and it got, it got canceled at the last minute, which worked out perfectly. Because I ended up going to Virginia for something called the trans Virginia five 50. Where I met this great community of bike Packers. It was a much more it's about the same length. It's a little shorter than Atlas mountain. The, the elevation really, and the, the difficulty is, you know, we'll see, I'm going to Atlas next February. We'll see if, if this checks out, but it it's a pretty difficult race. And the elevation is. Not exactly comparable, but it's, it's pretty hefty. So it was a great challenge, nonetheless, and I, you know, more importantly, I met this great community, which gets to, you know, the answer to your question is around December the organizer of the trans Virginia, five 50 Dave Landis reached out to a bunch of us and said, Hey, I'm setting aside the time I'm doing tour divide. Does anybody want to get a little training group together? Anybody who might wanna put this on their, on their calendar? And I think it was like a week after that I talked to my boss at work and said, I've been here 10 years. Can I link together PTO and, and take a month off. This is really important to me. And, and he's great. You know, my company's great. They, they said we support you completely take the time. And, and then I was, I was in, [00:13:31] Craig Dalton: That's amazing. Yeah, I think it's one of the things that as the listener does some research about tour divide and realizes like you really need to have a month long block of time available unless you're one of the elite elite athletes that might be able to do it in half a month. But that that in and of itself is a huge challenge. Let alone just the logistics of planning, your equipment, your nutrition, your pacing, everything else that goes into it. So you, you sign up for the event you graciously get the time off from your employer. You're ready to go in your mind. What type of preparation did you need to do? Obviously you've been doing some of these bike packing races at that point. You'd kind of presumably ironed out a lot of the equipment questions you might have had of what works for you. What type of bags, et cetera, but with a 2,700 mile race over the tour divide based out of Philly, what did you feel like you needed to do to prepare for that start? [00:14:29] Nick Marzano: The one of the very first things I did was get Kurt re Schneider had a, had a sale on his, just like PDF six month training guide. And a lot of people use that for the tour of divide. If you're looking for a place to start, I totally recommend it. I didn't work directly with Kurt, although I got a chance to meet him briefly at, at a. A training ride in, in April and thank him for, for putting that guide together. It was just great to have a framework. So that training framework started in January. It very quickly and. You know, I got a full swift set up because Philly winters are, are really rough and I couldn't get out early enough to not have ice on the road or, or tons of salt on the road. So I, and I was also recovering. I was nursing an injury that I, we can gloss over for now, but a, an injury from a fall on a, on a November bike packing trip that I took with the, the Virginia crew. So, yeah, it was, it was trainer straight through February. I, I started researching gear the Virginia crew and actually another guy out of, out of Philly who, who had also done that trans Virginia race. So I consider him part of that Virginia crew, but we were able to ride together once you know, once we got into late February, March. And that was it. I mean, I, I planned the schedule. I, I did. You know, picking up new equipment. I picked up a, a salsa cutthroat. My first gravel bike was a GT grade and it didn't really have the tire clearance for the sort of mud I knew we would get into or, or for the comfort that I knew I would need. So, it wasn't cheap and there are a lot of barriers to entry that, you know, I, I feel very privileged to have been able to get a second bike that quickly and and get the time off work. But at that point, nothing was really gonna stop me. It was it, you know, that once we all got very dialed on that goal and, [00:16:12] Craig Dalton: do feel like that cutthroat it's if, if you don't want to think about it, there's just so many people who have used that bike that it's kind of a no brainer to go down that road route. If you have the option of getting a new bike for it. [00:16:24] Nick Marzano: totally, [00:16:26] Craig Dalton: I don't wanna get too much into the specific training plan, but I'm just curious, like, were you encouraged to do a bunch of overnights, a bunch of big back to back days? How were you fitting this into your normal work life? [00:16:41] Nick Marzano: Yeah, a lot of it was waking up, you know, 5:00 AM jump on the trainer and it was typically one to two hour rides. Throughout the week, there would be a couple of two hour like high intensity efforts. But it was really just getting that time on the bike and, and doing the base level plan that, that Kurt provides. Then yeah, he does build in, he starts to build in, you know, back to backs. I looked for events like the one in, in April that I mentioned where I met, you know, I got to meet Kurt himself there which was another Virginia part of the Virginia endurance series, like a 250 mile overnighter called rockstar gravel. Which is great, but they, yeah. Other than that, you know, worked with my buddy, Tim, who was the, the gentleman in, in Philly, who I was training with and lined up some more overnights to French Creek and just did our best to find as much elevation and as much gravel as we could around here. That was, that was about it. I mean, the, the timing lined up in life where I, I was able to put a lot of time in the saddle Re it was the, the, the dur during the week rides were really it was really just about jumping on the bike as soon as, as soon as I got up. And, and as long as I did that, it was pretty easy to fit to, to my schedule. [00:17:55] Craig Dalton: When you were riding outdoors, were you always riding fully loaded? [00:18:00] Nick Marzano: No there, that really came closer to the like a month before, maybe a month and a half before there were a bunch of fully loaded ride. [00:18:08] Craig Dalton: Yeah, so to give the listener some perspective and it doesn't have to be precise, but when your bike is not loaded, how much did it weigh? And when you had your full tour divide kit on it, how much did it weigh? [00:18:21] Nick Marzano: So I know it's it's about 21 pounds with nothing else on it. No water, just dry weight with everything on it. I'm estimating also dry weight. No, not counting water. Based on I use air table to kind of just roll up the extra gear that I'm I'm putting on there. I think it was somewhere in the 45 pound range. Dry. Yeah. [00:18:41] Craig Dalton: got it. And as you're thinking about the tour divide, and you're starting on the start line in Canada, what type of mentality did you have with respect to sleep? Obviously, like there's all different ways of going about this and, and it may have very well evolved and changed along the way, but I'm curious as you mapped out, like what your experience was gonna look like I imagine you had a number of days goal in mind. How did that play out? And what was your thought process around. How much you were gonna sleep. [00:19:12] Nick Marzano: Yeah, I knew early on. So I had, I, I wanted to experience one of the, the, the big things I hadn't done, I'd ridden through the night, I'd ridden into like midnight 1:00 AM on the trans Virginia, five 50, but I'd never gotten through the night to see if I was capable of that. What does that feel like? And I used that training ride that rockstar gravel two 50, you know, one of my goals was I may not be competitive in this sort of way, but I'm gonna ride through the night. And I, I did it in, you know, a full push. In like a day and a half, which felt, you know, rough. But I it also didn't feel that bad. I knew, I knew that weapon was there if I wanted to use it. But the tort divide, you know, is a very different race than a 250 mile race. So I knew I wouldn't pull that out unless I was feeling awesome in the third week. And my goal was somewhere between. December before I started training, it was 23 days is what I put in the, the initial sign up. And by the end of that training, I, I was getting a little cocky and had, had posted 19 days as my goal on track leaders. I never, the like the sleep, the sleep thing was always going to be somewhere in the four to six hour mark for the majority of the race. [00:20:21] Craig Dalton: Okay. [00:20:22] Nick Marzano: And I can talk, I'm glad to talk about sleep system. I think that's kind of a lesson learned on that if you want, but yeah, that was the expectation was I wasn't going to crush myself on sleep deprivation and then you know, blow up early on and, and not be, I mean, finishing the race was so much more important than finishing the race in 19. [00:20:40] Craig Dalton: Yep. And so with that mindset around six hours of sleep a day or an evening were you riding that whole time other than resupply and things like that? Or is that sort of saying like, I'm gonna ride, I'm gonna stop and have a lunch. I'm gonna maybe take a nap. I'm gonna ride some more. How did, how did you kind of think about it? [00:20:58] Nick Marzano: it. So the way that I thought about it, oh, well, see, like there were days where this, this thinking didn't play out, but the way I thought of it was I'm gonna ride when I'm not resupplying and when I'm not sleeping. And it was when I looked back at my my data, it, it was more in the like four to five hours a night sort of range. Where that sort of, where that changed is I had a, we, I took a knee for a day as a lot of rider did just before getting into seal lake, there was a big peak Richmond peak that already had one to two feet of snow pack on it. And a, as some of your listeners may have read if they were keeping up with the tour divide, the first few days in Canada, they got hit with another major snowstorm. A lot of riders were airlifted. I came into, into the other side of Richmond peak, a little town called con Montana, soaking wet, and most of my kit was wet. So I took a day because I didn't feel comfortable going up in a snowstorm. So that was a complete day off the bike. Fill out rest. And then there was another day, right around Pinedale, which is about halfway through the race famously where you dump your bear spray, where you're out of grizzly country. Just before Pinedale, I had kind of, I hit a low point and I talked about that a little bit with that was right around the time I talked to Patrick at bikes or death and considered taking an entire other day off the bike and basically taking myself out of race mode entirely. I didn't, but I took some shorter days. and then the closer I got to, you know, once I hit Colorado got into New Mexico, I really found my stride again and was hitting some like 1 50, 200 mile days, which was kind of my expectation going in that I was gonna try to pound like one 50 to 200 a day resupply real quick and then, and then head to bed. So I deviated from that for sure. And it was, it, it was rejuvenating. And I, you know, if I, if I needed to take that time, I needed to take. but that, that was certainly not the plan going into it. [00:22:52] Craig Dalton: Yeah. So impressive. Stepping back for a second. I mean, we think about registering for an event, you know, like an SBT, gravel, or an Unbound, and there's a lottery and you pay an entrance fee. Why don't you talk about what it's like to, to enter toward divide and what it actually means? [00:23:10] Nick Marzano: Yeah. It's so, it's if you've never done a grand apart before The concept is, and, and this is how the trans Virginia five 50 is as well. The concept is that there is a course director and they're going to define the rules and they'll give you more or less information. David with the trans Virginia does an incredible job of outlining what a six day, nine day, 12 day touring pace looks like and what resupply looks like. He's just, he, he, you know, reviews the course each year. He's extremely involved in that the tort divide Is similar in that it's a grand depart where they provide the course, they provide the track leaders link. Matt and Scott I think founded track leaders. And, and so they, they provide the, the tracking, but really, I think I read in the New York times article that Matt Lee calls himself, the chief disorganize or something like that as opposed to the course director they. They're not there to monitor folks along the route. They're not there's, you know, there's obviously no resupply, it's self supported. And you don't really get any information until we got the course maybe a week before. So you sign up on a Google form you, which is your letter of intent basically. And then it's radio silence until, until that GPX file drops. In this case a week before, because they had a lot of detouring to, to figure out with those fires. [00:24:31] Craig Dalton: And is that, is that why you're given the GPS file? Obviously like the root in general is known from. What was it? The the, the mountain bike divide route is the general scope of the route. But that GPX file is, Hey, here's the current up to date thing on what passes are passable, where there's fires, where there's detours. [00:24:51] Nick Marzano: Yeah. So there is the, and there's a lot of confusion on this, by the way, too. There were some riders who didn't have the, the GPX file that you need to from. It's it's posted on, on a very old forum on bike packing.net. It gets reposted into Facebook and linked. There's not, there's not necessarily an email that goes out to all of the folks who signed up on that Google forum. So you really have to be engaged in the community on Facebook and the conversation to even find the file. But it's based on the great divide mountain bike. Which was established by the adventure cycling association, you know, decades ago as a touring route and adapted for racing, you know, in the, in the early odds, late nineties. So even without the Rero for the fires there are a couple of changes that Matt Lee who's the primary course director that he's made over the years to add more challenge. There's. Infamous section early on called Coco claims, which you hit on day one, which is like a six mile section where you are just pushing your bike up boulders at what feels like a 45 degree angle for six miles five miles that is not anywhere on the ACA map. And there are a couple of changes like that here and there. So it is it's distinct, but certainly inspired by and matches up with a large portion of the GD. [00:26:15] Craig Dalton: Yeah, and I know there's a lot of information out there on the internet and people have published guides and whatnot. How researched were you in advance about how you were gonna structure your days and is it confusing on where you're gonna resupply? Are there a lot of challenges there? How much of it do you think you had a handle on versus not when you showed. [00:26:36] Nick Marzano: Man. So there. There are so many more. I can't imagine racing this back when Matt, Matt Lee and, and others were, you know, if you, if you watch the old ride the divide documentary, which I think is on Amazon prime, I, I just, I bought the DVD cuz I, I want to have a hard copy. I can't imagine what that was like these days there are. Some really good resources online. There's a good community of people who have of veterans who are sharing resupply. So you can start to piece things together. What was still overwhelming. I was knowing what it looks like when, when boots hit the ground. Every time I've tried to put together an itinerary, it falls apart on day one because I either feel stronger or I run into. You know, I didn't know how long it would take to make it through some of these snowy sections. You can look at the snow pack layer and try to estimate that and set a target for where you want to get to. But when you put boots on the ground all of that can change. So my approach, which I, I would adapt a little bit if I did this again and, and maybe do a little bit more planning and research was to plan in the morning, set a target in the morning, using the tools that I had and, and. Try to piece together where resupply was going to be day to day, rather than it just felt too overwhelming to try to map the map out. A plan early on that I had had a good feeling I would diverge from immediately. [00:27:58] Craig Dalton: What were some of those tools at your disposal? Obviously you're looking at a map. What kind of apps were you using and were, were other writers sharing information back saying, oh, it took me eight hours to get up this pass. [00:28:10] Nick Marzano: Yeah, that, I mean, that's where it gets tricky because you're, you really shouldn't be. But I think it, it happens for sure. And you can watch track one of the, the tools that is sort of available to everyone. So within the rules is you can look at track leaders and see. Oh, this person was moving at 15 miles an hour, and then they were moving at two miles an hour for about three hours over this pass. So that probably means hike a bike. [00:28:33] Craig Dalton: So are you looking at that in real time? So say you're approaching a pass. Obviously you're aware that it's a 3000 foot climb or whatever. Are you then taking a moment and saying, gosh, well, I should do a little research to see are people crawling up this thing or are people riding? [00:28:46] Nick Marzano: yeah, in some cases for sure. Yeah. And that's kind of the, the benefit, one of the benefits of being. Mid pack or, you know, a little bit behind the, the leaders is if, if so Sahi is, is struggling at three miles an hour going across something, you know, it's pretty gnarly and, and probably hike a bike. And so you can zoom in on track leaders to their history and see those dots get closer together. And that was one tool, the other tools. So the ACA does have a great map. An app that has the map with a lot of resupply information on it. And that was super useful. You just need to be really aware of where that actually lines up with the official race route and not some folks navigated with that app and were relegated because they, they missed some of the, the unique turnoffs that Matthew Lee is built in. The other tools there's, there's a number of guides from a website called one of. Where they, they list resupply. He actually provided some updates to us like a week before, or a couple of days before, once he got the the updated course from from Matthew Lee. So those resources were great. And then there, there were some things that writers share on the Facebook community ahead of time, where people have built out elevation profiles that are really useful. You can kind of get a sense Chris Ellison showed up. I think that was his name showed up at the, at, at the Y w C a in BAMF with these laminated elevation profile maps that also had the terrain type, which you, I couldn't find anywhere else. So you could see when Jeep track was coming up, because that's always going to take you longer than you think it's always gonna be mud or snow. That was really helpful in kind of planning. How fast miles would go? Nothing, nothing really in one place. If this sounds like a hodgepodge, it really was like, let me take a look at the, [00:30:30] Craig Dalton: Yeah. [00:30:30] Nick Marzano: The surface type. Let me take a look at the elevation. Let me take a look at the, you know, whatever the Gaia snow layer looks like. and let me take a look at track leaders and then piecing all of that together. You get a sense for where you could potentially make it that day. [00:30:43] Craig Dalton: It's unquestionable that you just need to continue to be adaptable along the way. And, and, and read the tea leaves, honestly, as to what's going on, you experience so many dramatic bits of weather in the north part of the country, along the way that you couldn't have expected going in, [00:30:58] Nick Marzano: Yeah, it was intense. [00:31:00] Craig Dalton: were you using then sort of a, an iPhone or a mobile phone plus a GPS computer on your bike? [00:31:06] Nick Marzano: yeah, I was following the purple line on my ere, so just, I used like really simple ere 22 X. For most of the navigation and then I had it loaded on ride with GPS as well. If I just needed more detail or, or wanted to make sure I didn't miss turns that were coming up, I [00:31:21] Craig Dalton: I've always read that the tour divide riders tend to favor that eTrex battery powered, old style GPS device versus the bike computer kind of style. [00:31:31] Nick Marzano: Yeah. Some people seemed to get along with the bike computer. No problem. I didn't have. A dynamo hub that it lit my my headlamp really well, but I didn't really trust it to charge anything. It was a little older and had a lot of miles on it and just seemed to I didn't rely on it for, for too much battery management. So I was glad to have the, even though it's it's wasteful, but I was glad to have a, you know, a bunch of spare double A's that I could just throw in the etre. [00:31:57] Craig Dalton: Yeah. For those of you who don't know, dynamo hub actually generates. And stores electricity. Right. And can power something like your headlamp? [00:32:06] Nick Marzano: Yeah, it generates it. I don't think too many of them store it, but it will you know, you can throw power to a headlamp and then, or a a transformer is probably the wrong word converter and use it to charge up a, a cash battery as well. A, a battery bank, power bank. As you go, so during the day you could be charging the bank and then you could flip a switch and have your light on as long as you're going fast enough for that light to be, to be powered. [00:32:28] Craig Dalton: Yeah, I've heard sometimes going uphill. It doesn't actually generate enough to really shine the way. [00:32:34] Nick Marzano: Yeah. I have a sine wave beacon, which I love because it has the, the converter right in it. So. On on another bike where I also have a, a dynamo in my gravel bike, it does charge my cash battery really well during the day. And then I can plug the cash battery into the, to the beacon and power it from that. And it, it SAPs so little energy that I can charge my phone on it as well. So, but yeah, if you're going less than like five miles an hour or so, you're gonna have kind of a strobe light effect until you, until you build up a little. [00:33:06] Craig Dalton: So let's jump over to that grand depart moment. Where is that? And what was the feeling like at that point? Sounds like you had a couple buddies that were there at the start line with you. [00:33:17] Nick Marzano: Yeah, that was really beautiful. It was, it was really cool to be there with, I mean, first of all, bam is, you know, you bike packing is a, is a niche sport. And to be in a place where so many people who, you know, are ready to talk gear who have been investing as much time and energy into this Are are all lining up together and you're running into them at dinner was really exciting. But then to have a group of five, five of us from the east coast who had trained together, been on rides together was really cool. We lined up at the w or Y WCA in BMF, which is the traditional starting point and it was really subdued. There was not. Presentation like Matt Lee doesn't show up. There's not a course director sendoff. We had instructions to go off in waves of about 15, I think which is different than past years where it's just, it's a grand apart. Everybody heads out at the same time. And the reason for that was that Canada parks was a little, they, they were getting a little They were advising Matt Lee that something needed to happen because of the number of people who were showing up 170 people were, were signed up and, and they were a little nervous about 170 people departing. So I think we're doing waves for the foreseeable future with tour divide. And it seemed to work really well. Nobody was there flagging us off. It was just sort of, you know, we would check and say, is it, is it time? Is it seven 20? All right. We're going everybody. And everybody. Left and, and that was it. It was the start and finish are. So anti-climatic that it's, it's you know, it kind of underscores what bike packing is all about. We're all out there to ride our own race and have, you know, an experience that's inevitably gonna be really personal. And I love that about the sort of subdued start and finish of Tor divide, especially, but a lot of, a lot of races you'll finish in the middle of the night and nobody will, nobody will be around to to welcome you in. And there's something special about that. As fun as, you know, finish lines of at parties at big gravel races can be a lot of fun too. [00:35:14] Craig Dalton: Did you have an expectation of riding with some of the members of your crew? Or was it clear that you guys were gonna be on different paces? [00:35:20] Nick Marzano: Yeah, this is where I don't, I don't know if not that I was in any sort of contention. I don't know if I'll relegate myself for this, cuz this rule is kind of unclear you can't draft for sure. And there was no drafting. But you know, we come from the east coast. We don't have Grizzlies out here and none of us were scared out of our, out of our you know, mountain bike shoes. But we. We're gonna ride. I was gonna ride together with one or two of them through grizzly country and ended up riding with, with David Landis for a large portion of it. And riding together, didn't always look like riding side by side. We would end up at the same place. Often start from the same place. He, he, for a couple of days was on a middle of the day nap schedule and I I'm not a napper, so he would. Roll off to the side of the road and then catch up with me a little bit later. But yeah, grizzly country, it was nice to have just that conversation prevents you from having to yell hay, bear all the time as you're going through those areas. [00:36:16] Craig Dalton: Yeah, that makes sense. I gotta imagine it's. Yeah, it's next to impossible to imagine that over that distance, you're gonna feel the same. Throughout the day and nights and wanna ride at the same pace. Even there, like you said, you may end up in the same places. [00:36:31] Nick Marzano: Yeah. Having like I had explicit conversations with Tim who we started. We, we did sort of our pre ride together and we were we're supposedly, we were like on the same pace we had 19 day, 20 day goals and he, he changed up his pace pretty soon wanted to ride sort of a different race, but we had had an explicit conversation early on. We're each gonna ride our own race and if it works to ride together, great, if not, we'll yell hay, bear a lot, and we'll, we'll figure it out. David, who is just an incredibly strong rider. And I, I didn't think I was gonna be able to keep up with, I was able to keep up with him. And so that was really cool for me. It was, it was, it worked out, but we also had an explicit conversation. At breakfast one morning, we were like, Hey, you know, if you need to take off or, or if you're worried about what it looks like for us to be riding next to each other it's probably more of a concern. If you're at the front, it might look like you're drafting on track leaders. But more importantly for each of our own races, like, you know, I get it. If you need to take off, if you're feeling really good and you need to take off, or you're gonna, you're gonna do an overnight push an overnight. And I can't do that. You ride your race and it just worked out. [00:37:37] Craig Dalton: Let's paint the picture of what, what happens at night when it's time to lay your head down? [00:37:43] Nick Marzano: Yeah, well, so it, it involved more motels this year than I than I had planned for, for sure. [00:37:50] Craig Dalton: I, I mean, I, I can't blame you and a couple long bike trips that I've done, like having a night in a hotel in the middle just meant all the difference in the world. It just felt so refreshed. [00:38:00] Nick Marzano: Yeah, I knew it would be somewhere on like maybe 40% it's in bear country. If you don't find a pit toilet and there's, you know, some of the motels are pretty affordable. It's refreshing after a 200 mile day to just get four hours in a bed. And I think it did help with saddle sores were not, were not a huge issue. They, you know, But yeah, I mean the, the night basically looked like rolling in at 11, 12, sometimes two or 3:00 AM to a motel or rolling out my B and. Quick. I mean, it's, it's resupply. It is prep your stuff, and I got better at this. As we went along, hit a resupply cram as many calories as you can try to cram some protein in there as well. Try to drink as much as you can, so you don't go to bed dehydrated or wake up even more dehydrated. Figure out what your sleep situation is. If it's Bing down or if it's grabbing a motel, do that very quickly and then make a plan for tomorrow. And fall asleep as quickly as you can, so you can maximize that time. So that is really the tiring part of, I like the riding certainly physically exhausts you and, and makes that part harder. But the time management of making sure, as soon as you're off the bike, you do those sort of things. Is that wears on you after three weeks? For sure. I can't imagine. I mean, it gives me such a greater appreciation for Sophie on and Actually a member of our Virginia sort of crew Abe Kaufman finished fourth overall first American, like these are folks who are doing that at a much higher level than I was even doing that for sure. And, and it's still exhausting. Like just, you need to be on as soon as you get off the bike and make sure that you're maximizing that time. And then you wake up and throw your stuff on. Try not to Dole too much and, and get right back out. [00:39:47] Craig Dalton: How concerned were you about your busy situation and in terms of warmth when you're in the Northern part of the country? [00:39:54] Nick Marzano: Warmth, not at all. It was more about the wet. I would take a tent if I went again and oddly, you know, David had sort of the opposite reflection. He brought a tent and, and would've preferred prefer to bivy. But I think I would've been a little bit bolder camping out in some of the wetter areas. If I had had something a little more substantial but my B would let water in if it was more than a little sprinkle and then my down sleeping bag would be wet and then I would be cold and, and wet. And that's not a good recipe. [00:40:23] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Did you have days where you were concerned about where you were gonna lay your head that night? [00:40:31] Nick Marzano: Not not completely. I mean, the nice, the nice thing about the root is that there are a lot of, there are a couple of, of, of tricky sections, but really if you, if you have a B, I didn't get into a bad spot where I was, I was really worried. And I had an emergency plan. I mean, I had a ground cloth wi with me that if, if I was really caught out in a storm, I could cover myself with that, get into some dry clothes, try to get under a tree. Or at the very least find, find some sort of awning or overhang. So I never got into a, a tricky situation with that. I think I just think a tent would've been more comfortable. [00:41:09] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Gotcha. Yeah, it sounds like, I mean, there's so many unknowns yet, so much information out there that you just try to, I imagine you just try to fill your head with as much information as possible. So as we were talking about before each morning, you can say, okay, I'm in this location, kind of think I can get to here. I kind of know there's a resupply there. I kind of know there's a place where I can get some shelter and then just keep plowing forward. [00:41:35] Nick Marzano: Right. Yeah. And, and you'll make mistakes on that. I, I certainly did. We picked We both got into Del Norte, Colorado around the same time and David was like, I'm gonna get a motel. And I'm like, all right, well, I heard that there's free camping in the park. And I feel like I'm doing too many motels, so I'm gonna go camp in the park. He's like, all right, let's go camp in the park. So he was, we were, we were gonna set up a camp there together. He's got a tent so he could have broken the tent out. But I was, I was like, look at, I'm gonna go sleep under this band shell up here. It was threatening to rain. So it was like that, that looks like, you know, we could have slept, I could have rolled out my B in the toilet nearby and probably been fine. But the band shell looked like plush digs. So we went for it and around one 30 apparently this is like, well known to veterans and we are not the first to get literally hosed by, by this thought process. We the park sprinklers go off at, at one 30 in the morning. And completely. So we were protected from rain from above, but we were not protected from these fire hose, industrial sprinklers that went off at one 30 in the morning, soaking us with what felt like just heavy water I mean, it was, I don't know if there was fertilizer in it or what it was, but it was not pleasant and we spent a lot of time drying out after that. So yeah, things didn't always, didn't always work out as planned, but they. Most of the time, if you have the right info going in and you've, you've prepared enough and you know, what your, what your limits are, which I think I do. And also how, you know, how far I can push them. You can get yourself to a, you know, to a good spot to sleep almost every night. [00:43:10] Craig Dalton: That's an amazing story. How concerning is water supply along the. [00:43:15] Nick Marzano: There are a couple of sections where it's you should bring more than two liters. Most, most of the root I would be fine with two liters on my fork. Two, one liters on my fork. And then a filter along the way. And a lot of the mountain passes. You would just, it, it would be flush with water. Couple of sections towards. Especially in New Mexico where resupply and running water are a little rough. The basin is famously the, the Wyoming, the great basin in Wyoming is a nice I forget how long the stretch is, but it's over a hundred miles where you're not gonna find resupply and there's no running water in a, a big geographic basin. And. So I just had a, I had a bladder, a three liter bladder that I would fill maybe halfway and have a couple of extra liters for those sections. [00:44:02] Craig Dalton: Is that a bladder that you're going into your frame bag, that, that massive bladder. [00:44:06] Nick Marzano: Yep. I just threw, just threw it in my frame bag and then would take it out and use it to refill the, the liters on the fork. [00:44:12] Craig Dalton: Were you generally avoiding carrying anything on your back? [00:44:17] Nick Marzano: Yeah. Yeah. Some people do the hydration thing. I've just. I wasn't sure how my back would react over three weeks with a couple of extra pounds on it. So, I've avoided it, but I also haven't tried it before, so it's, you know, certainly a solution. I saw a lot of writers using [00:44:33] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Yeah. I think it would be concerning just putting any extra weight on your back, given how much torture I'll put it, your back may take along the way. [00:44:41] Nick Marzano: Yeah, for sure. [00:44:43] Craig Dalton: What are some of the highlights along the way? I don't know what the best way to organize. This is such a long event, but maybe state by state, some of the things you enjoyed and loved about the. [00:44:53] Nick Marzano: Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. Thinking about some of the highlights was a lot of fun earlier today where you, you told me you might might throw that one at me. And it was nice going, going back through those memories. I think the snow snowy passes were really challenging. But it was also beautiful. And there were two in particular red Meadows pass. I hit midday where a couple of the passes early on. I had hit, I mean, I went over the pass just before the American border at, at 1:30 AM. And so that was kind of, that was kind of scary. I was sort of falling asleep on my bars as I was hiking through it. Didn't wanna fall asleep in, in the middle of a, a snowy mountain. Red Meadows. My breaks had been cashed early that morning. I didn't have replacement breaks. I had to make it, you know, a hundred miles to white fish to get a, get to a bike shop. And so walking over a mountain pass was like, I, I no breaks, no problem. Right. I, nobody needs breaks when you're hiking your bike over. Six miles of, of snow. And it was midday. It was warm. I was by myself at this point, David was, was behind or ahead I think, and I threw, I threw some like eighties music on and, and just some, some like dance music. And had a party just sort of dancing myself down, down the mountain to music probably expending like way too much energy, but sort of just shuffling my bike down and, and having a blast. Then Kirsten ended up. So are you, are you familiar with Kirsten at, at brush mountain lodge? And so she is She is famous within the Tor of divide and, and her brush mountain lodge is like the place that you hit after the basin, where you can get, you know, she has a pizza oven, it sort of, pay as you wish. You can stay there if, if you want. But it becomes sort of this VOR. She calls it the vortex where people it's just so nice to. To hang out and it, it it's sort of like the Bermuda triangle, like racers struggle to get out of it. And she had said a few months before the race started, Hey, you know, we're taking some time. I'm not gonna be there this year. Really sorry. But my family needs to, we're gonna do some strategic planning and reset where we're at. So I'll have, you know, maybe vending machines there I'll have, I'll have water for you, but you're not gonna get the full treatment this year. And that was kind of a. You know, a bummer for everyone understanding that she's gotta take time for herself, but is such a you know, she's such a piece of, of, of the tour divide lore, and, and she's a legend. So I showed up there and a bunch of racers were hanging out. It looked like they were eating pizza. I was like, what is happening here? This looks, if I step back in time and Kirsten was there because. For whatever. There, there was a a rainbow family gathering nearby that sort of forced her hand, somebody needed to staff this, this lodge just outside of Steamboat. So it was great. I got to chat with her. It was a bit of a vortex. I hung out for three hours there with a couple of other riders who I hadn't had a chance to catch up with. And then so that was, that was beautiful. The other, do you have time for, for two more highlights? How's [00:47:49] Craig Dalton: more highlights. Let's do it. [00:47:51] Nick Marzano: So the, before we hit the, we got, we got doused with those sprinklers in Del Norte. I had had this is a lowlight highlight. I had had a great day trying to, to breeze into Del Norte after I think 153 miles was the full. And right around right around the one 40 mark it always seemed like the last 10 to 14 miles of the day would be the hardest and they would sneak up on you. I hit Jeep track. That was Sandy. It was dark. And I didn't think I was gonna make the gas station resupply and was like outta food. I was outta water. I was done. There was nothing else open in Del Norte apart from this gas station. Pushed through all of that you know, slogged through that hit gravel was just burning at 17, 18 miles an hour down this, this gravel path to get into Del Norte in the last couple of miles, look at at Google maps and it's closed early. It, you know, according to the resupply, it should be open an hour later. Google says it's closed. So I kind of, you know, the wind goes outta my sales. That was gonna make it with like half an hour spare. But I keep pushing and come to find it's the lights are still on. It was, the Google was wrong. It was still open. So that was, that was beautiful. The, the last one I had my first major mechanical right out of, outside of lake abike, which is about 30 miles outside of Santa Fe and the route doesn't go through Santa Fe. Hub froze up and I just couldn't get my hub to grab. It was, it was grabbing every, you know, three or four pedal strokes, but I was just spinning out other than that. And so I could either try to like limp 150 miles to the next to silver city, which was probably more than 150 at that point. Or I could go off route and take time that I I would just lose trying to get down to Santa Fe. And I, I picked getting down to Santa Fe hitch hiked, which is allowed once you're off route, you can, for a mechanical, you can, you can take motorized support. Got picked up almost immediately by two incredibly kind, like one after the other hitch hitchhiker or drivers had great conversations with them. Got dropped off at the bike shop bike shop, fixed me up in two hours. I'm usually not this bold, but I went up, I had had, I'd been having good conversation with all of the guys down at mellow Velo bikes in Santa Fe and, and went up to the owner was like, Hey, I have to ask. I, you know, I wouldn't be this forward usually, but any, any chance you could gimme a ride back an hour north of here to where I left off so I can get some more miles in today. And he looked at me and he was. I was already thinking about it. Let me, you know, he gave one of his employees his, his keys and got me back up there. And the whole episode start to finish lost me five and a half hours, which is just mind blowing and these, these races. And I'll, I know I can, I can go on for a while, but the, these races can be Self supported. I don't think means self isolating and there can be kind of this mentality that we're all sort of Jeremiah Johnson's out there, but meeting people and having experiences like that along the route which I hope to pay forward in my life after that is just, that is one of the most meaningful parts of it. And that was probably, you know, went from a mechanical. That was a huge bummer and, and kind of put me into problem solving mode. When I wanted to just be in ride mode. But it turned into one of the best days of the whole trip. Because you know, the, there were, there were five people out there between the, the, the hitchhiker folks and, and mellow Velo who were absolutely like, didn't hesitate to help someone out. And that was, that was, that was really cool. [00:51:34] Craig Dalton: Yeah, such a special memory. And it's funny, I I've heard a couple other people mention that just. Leaving the tour divide with that notion that paying it forward in life is important because as you've just described, you had this moment, which could have been really shitty. Like it's not life ending or life threatening, but you could have spent 24 hours trying to get your stuff sorted out. And the fact that strangers helped you got you to a bike shop. The bike shop realized what you were doing realized, Hey, two hours out of their day out and back to get you back on. It's gonna mean the world to you and, and not much to them. And I'm sure they have the similar alternative side of that memory. Like I just did someone a solid and it probably felt good to them as well. [00:52:19] Nick Marzano: For sure. [00:52:20] Craig Dalton: Yeah. So, I mean, we could go on and on it's it's the tour divide has always been fascinating to me for all the reasons you've described along the way. It just sounds like this epic life adventure. That is gonna unfold as it unfolds. It's gonna be different every year. I know you guys experienced a lot of rough weather up in the early parts of the race in the north, getting outta Canada and to persevere through that and know that, Hey, you're gonna be on your bike for 21 days or whatever it amounted to, and you're gonna have good days and bad days. But the important thing is to just keep forward. [00:52:55] Nick Marzano: Yeah, that is, you know, JP to very repeats that a lot. If you, if you follow him on, on Instagram or Facebook, that's his, his motto. And I don't know if he coined this or it's or got it elsewhere, but yeah, riding forward, just whatever, however, you're feeling, jump on your bike. I think I, it wasn't so much life changing as, as affirming in a lot of ways. And one of them is, is that, that there is, there is so much mutability in. The weather in your attitude in, and if you can make as a principle that you just jump on your bike and don't wait for the good times to happen, but know that they will be there, deal with, if the train is tough right now, it's tough right now. It will be good. Later if it's good right now, don't set up an expectation that it will be good at mile at the, you know, the last 14 miles of the day, because oddly, those are always the hardest. It will be tough later. And if you can still jump on your bike and just ride forward regardless. And I didn't, you know, I wasn't perfect at that. I, like I said, in Pinedale, I took a day where I had to really think whether I wanted to keep riding forward. , but I hope that what you get out of this, what I get out of it hopefully is that I can reflect on that. And in moments where I'm struggling to ride forward in life in, in certain ways that I can, you know, return back from this super selfish, selfish endeavor, right. Where I'm spending a lot of money and time on myself and come back ready to like ride forward for others, pay it forward for others. And, and. You hope that all that time reflecting over three weeks on, on how you responded to those challenges can translate into something for for your return to society, to normal society. [00:54:41] Craig Dalton: Nick, I can't think of a better sentiment to end on. Amazing. I appreciate so much you sharing the story with me. As I said, opening up in this conversation offline. I hope this serves as a little archive of your experience and I, I know you got a little bit of joy outta reflecting on what some of those high points were. So thanks again. It means a lot that you shared their story with me. [00:55:02] Nick Marzano: Yeah, thank you for the opportunity, Craig. It's been great, great meeting you and getting to talk to you. [00:55:06] Craig Dalton: Cheers. Yeah. So that's going to do it for this week's edition of the gravel ride podcast, chapeau to Nick for that amazing accomplishment on the tour divide. I have to say every time I talked to someone about that route, I get more and more excited about dreaming to do it someday and myself. Huge. Thanks to our friends attract travel. I really hope you can join me in Gerona in November on the November six. Departure of the Jarana gravel bike tour. Simply visit Trek, travel.com. And search for a drone, a gravel bike tour. And remember to mention the podcast as you'll get a free handlebar bag. With your registration. If you're looking to connect with me or have any questions. Feel free to join the ridership. That's www.theridership.com. Nick is actually an active member of the ridership. So I'm sure if you have any follow-up questions for him on the tour divide, he'd be happy to respond. And if you have any questions about this gravel bike tour that we're doing in November with track, feel free to hit me up directly. I'm really looking forward to meeting some of you guys and girls out there this year has been far too long since we've gotten together. Until next time here's to finding some dirt under your wheels  

¿Algo que tienen en común las sombras y los adolescentes? Oyen ruidos fuertes y vienen corriendo a ver KAPASAO, JARANA. Caos absoluto sembrado en este Sanderlanche, todo se va a freír espárragos, pero ¿está todo perdido para Silencio? En estas diez páginas del final tenemos a abuelas corriendo en círculos, referencias a Geralt de Rivia, la economía de la escritura de escenas de acción, psoriagrís, gaslighting, servirse un güiski cuando la vida te pone a prueba, y copias convenientes. En una sola palabra: matanza. Hasta pronto, Treno. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/esquirlas-del-cosmere/message

This week we sit down with bicycle industry veteran Brad DeVaney. Brad has been with Litespeed Titanium and most recently OBED Bicycles since the early 1990's. Brad has an infectious passion for cycling that shines through in this conversation. Episode Sponsor: Trek Travel - Join me in Girona Nov 6-10, 2022 Litespeed Website OBED Website  Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: Litespeed/OBED [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 welcome Brad Davine from Lightspeed and obit bicycles. If you've been around bicycles for a while, you're probably familiar with the Lightspeed titanium brand. They've been building bikes out of Tennessee since the late 1980s. Brad joined the team as a young man in the early 1990s. And has been following his passion within the titanium frame building industry. For many, many years since he's worked with the likes of Greg Lamond and the LA Sheriff's cycling team, he's worked on projects for NASA and done a ton of exciting things for the industry. You won't meet someone who's more friendly and passionate about the sport of cycling. So we were happy to hear when they turned their attention to gravel cycling. A handful of years ago. In addition to the Lightspeed brand. The company also owns the obit brand. Obit is a direct consumer carbon brand that has been making inroads for the last few years. I've really been impressed by. Both the refinement of the design in the obit frame set its modern day gravel bike. But equally impressed with the amount of customization that the team has been able to build into your process. You can customize the paint and decal logos on the obit models before they're delivered to your door directly. I encourage you to check both brands out and give a listen to this conversation. I think you'll get a lot out of Brad's experience and how he contextualizes. The different performance between titanium frames and carbon frames. Before we dive in i need to thank a new sponsor this week our friends over at trek travel. Those avid listeners may recall. I had you in Shepard from truck travel on the show. Back in episode 98 and September of 2021. To talk about the Jarana. On a gravel experience. Since that time I've been eyeing a trip with our friends at Trek travel. I was so excited. Jarana comes up so often. In both road and gravel cycling as a place you have to discover. Certainly after that conversation with UN I was completely committed ultimately to getting over there. It took a while COVID got in the way, but I'm now settled in, on a trip on November 6th through 10th. This year in 2022, and I wanted to invite you to join me. I figured it'd be a great opportunity. I know it's not easy to get over to Europe. There's both the expense and the time you'll need to take. But I couldn't be more thrilled to commit to this trip with Trek travel and to explore the fabulous trails around Gerona. We'll be staying right in the heart of Gerona at the hotel. Nord. To experience everything the city has to offer. The track team is going to design some gravel rides around the undulating and rolling Hills around your Rona to make sure that we experience everything we can. During that week in Spain. I know I'm going to train my butt off to try to be fit because I want to ride. Everything that's possible to ride in the area. I know this trip gives a lot of flexibility for riders to explore and ride as much, or as little as they want. During the week. So there'll be options for everybody. I know it's going to be a killer experience and I'm hoping and optimistic that some of you will be able to join me. I'll put a link in the show notes for the Jarana gravel bike tour, where you can simply visit Trek, travel.com and search Jarana gravel bike tour. I'll be working with the Trek travel team to put together a little something special for any gravel ride podcasts guests that joined us on that trip. I very much, I'm looking forward to seeing some of you November six through November 10th in Spain. With all that said let's jump right into my conversation with brad davine from lightspeed and obit bicycles   [00:04:19] Craig Dalton: hey, Brad, welcome to the show. [00:04:21] Brad DeVaney: Oh, it's great to be with you, Craig. [00:04:23] Craig Dalton: I'm excited to continue our conversations. We've interacted a couple times over the years, but it's great to kind of have you on the podcast and just learn a little bit more about you. [00:04:32] Brad DeVaney: Yeah. Yeah. It's yeah, there's a lot of history, right? I mean, the and, and the topic at hand, you know, the, the gravel category it's It's that it's that common meeting spot where you all seem to be finding these days with with old friends and. [00:04:46] Craig Dalton: I feel like this is a double header episode, cuz we get to talk to you about both the light speed titanium brand and also the Obi carbon brand. And just get your unfiltered opinions on what bikes are good for what types of riders? I think that's gonna be a really valuable part of the conversation for the listener. [00:05:03] Brad DeVaney: Oh, good. Good. Yeah, that's that? That's what fires me up the most, you know, we're we're, we're really open to multiple materials. And building what we love. So, yeah. [00:05:15] Craig Dalton: Let's set the stage a little bit just by getting a little bit about your background, how, how you came to be passionate cyclist and ultimately get into the business side of the sport. [00:05:25] Brad DeVaney: Yeah. Man, I, I don't enjoy talking about myself, but you know, just a, a, a kid that grew up racing bicycles BMX road, mountain. And was really fortunate to have sponsorship when I was super young and, and you know, bikes being provided and traveling and, and living you know, a kid's dream, life racing, bicycles, and you know, everything stayed super competitive through those years. And, and [00:05:52] Craig Dalton: part of the country did you grow up in Brad? [00:05:54] Brad DeVaney: I grew up in the Southeast here in Tennessee, and you know, lot of not, not a lot of national events happened here in Tennessee. And so my, my base was Atlanta, Georgia, where you know, where Schwinn bicycle company was a, was a big deal back then. And they had a, a major distribution center there that, that our team was stocked out of. And we would go up Chicago to headquarters. Very infrequently in the three years that that I raced with the team there. And, but there was the cool thing was I was the perfect demographic within the team. I was the perfect age that they were looking to develop new products. And so, the bikes that I was riding were typically the prototypes and where the rest of the team were all on production bikes. I was getting some bikes rotated. From beneath me and, and that really lit a fire. I didn't, I didn't realize that fire would turn into a career. [00:06:47] Craig Dalton: Did you find yourself at that age, having that ability to be very discerning about, oh, this frame feels this certain different way. Even if the changes were fairly. [00:06:57] Brad DeVaney: yeah, it, it, it came to realize Sometime later, my dad was he's to this day he is, he's a Motorhead he's, he's always tuning something. It's not always race inspired, but he, he built some pretty crafty two wheeled and four wheeled race machines through the years. And growing up in a, you know, where in our garage, we. Cutting welding modifying strip it down, machine it, modify it, you know, sort of mindset. He taught me how to take caged ball bearings and Polish them and, and use valve grinding compounds, and then clean 'em and what levels of grease. And so as an 11 year old kid, I went on the road with, with a manager and teammates. And had the ability to release a wheel. And my choice of wheel at that point in time was Aniah seven B the, the seven X was the hot rim out and it was It wasn't a full double wall, but it, it had some channels within the extrusion that were, I felt were unnecessary. And the lighter seven B was just that it was lighter. It was faster. It was more fragile of course, but I had Campon Yolo track hubs with Ari seven B rims you know, spec spokes and spec nipples. I was really, really particular as an 11 year old kid, but to use that particular rim. I had to be able to lace wheels. I, I didn't have that luxury even at home. I didn't have that luxury. So when I egg shaped or, or, you know, flat spotted a rim, I could change them out. And it was, was pretty adept at it. So my, we would be at a motel, you know, somewhere in Florida or Texas or New York or wherever we were racing on any given weekend. And it wasn't uncommon on a Saturday night between, you know, Saturday and Sunday races. that, you know, there would be a, a group of dads sitting around drinking beer, watching the 11 year old monkey lace of wheel, because that was kind of a funny thing. So, yeah. Sorry for the story, but [00:09:03] Craig Dalton: No, I love [00:09:04] Brad DeVaney: it out of me. Yeah. Yeah. So, yes. To answer your question. Yes. [00:09:09] Craig Dalton: So that was back in your BMX days. And sounds like later, you kind of transitioned to road riding and, and mountain bike racing. [00:09:15] Brad DeVaney: Yeah. Yeah. The road bike came around first. You know, I was, I was almost 16 working at a local motorcycle shop before I could drive and, you know, a good form of transportation was bikes. And you know, I ultimately wanted a really good road bike and, and Made that happen. And then through my high school years really loved, loved the road bike and was racing locally off to college with that. And then during college, I was I was fortunate to have gotten some attention through the local shop and, and got some sponsorship and, and ended up on a Raleigh. Mountain bike. We were selling rallies. The local rep, you know, saw what I was doing. I was really trying to rep the brand because that's what we were selling. And, and we sold GT Raleigh and, you know, a few others, but that was, that was the aggressive rep of the day. And, and he was he was good to try to find a way to reward me and for what I was trying to do in the shop. And, and that got me my first mountain bike and, you know, off, we went always, it, it was fun. Great [00:10:17] Craig Dalton: Yeah, back those early days of mountain biking were a lot of fun. And I remember there was always, the shop teams were such an important part of the movement back then, I feel like, and you would, you would get your, you know, the brand that you sold in the shop and they would agree to give everybody a pro deal or something on the frames. And it was a really great time to be part of the sport. [00:10:36] Brad DeVaney: yeah. You know, and coming from BMX, the Raleigh thing was kind of cool. Tomak was doing his magic and. He you know, I, I couldn't call him an old friend. He was somebody that I looked up to certainly you know, BMX and, and you know, I, I was fortunate to, you know, compete at a, at a good level. It was all age group based. I was never old enough to to compete as a pro. And as he, you know, Kind of broached that he moved into mountain bikes and, and wow. What a, what a legend he game. But and that, that was sort of the pattern that I followed in my equipment choices and, and paid really, really close attention to what was happening on the world cup level of those days. And that was a driver for. [00:11:18] Craig Dalton: so after you hung up your, your sort of racing cleats, so to speak, was it immediately obvious that you wanted to go into the bike business? [00:11:26] Brad DeVaney: No, I was, I was still racing. I was still racing, working retail going to school. And that's when you know, the guys at light speed were, were a local business in the area that I was in. So. I was building outside of work. I was building in my own little shop at home where I did overhauls and rebuilds and paint jobs, and a lot of things you know, side jobs I'd do pretty much anything that involved a bicycle. But I, I was building show bikes for those guys and you know, when you're a resource and, and you turn things around as quickly as you can. You know, it turned into a job eventually to be honest. And they, they didn't really care what I was that I was studying engineering or, you know, they just needed extra help. And, and so I worked in the shop a lot. I, you know, minored tube SETSS and a aligned bikes and, you know, a lot of things within our operation. But when it came time you know, I was always ready to to design as well. And. That fell in pretty naturally. So that's, and, and I was still competitive at that point in time road and offroad was was really my focus. [00:12:35] Craig Dalton: And did you, presumably you started riding titanium bikes around that time. [00:12:39] Brad DeVaney: Yeah, it was tough. I I'd actually broken. I'd actually broken my Sera. I had a, a Hammi down seven 11 team bike. It was one of Ron keels bike. He had, he had won the, we kind of got a little bit of history. I was racing for a team that through true temper sponsorship here in Tennessee, our team acquired or was able to acquire several of the motor or not motor seven 11 true temper CADA built team bikes. They were labeled as Huffies And so Bob roll and Andy Hamson and RA Alola and you know, some of those guys at that day and age but Ron keel was the guy that was closest to my size, and I was able to get one of his bikes out of this batch, that true temper owned and, and got for us. So I'd been racing that bike for a couple of seasons working here at light speed part and full time. And when I snapped that bike I was able to you know, jump onto a loaner bike for a few weeks and then finally worked it out so that I could have my own. So, and that was, it was out of necessity. You know, I, I came onto titanium out of necessity and, and that's when I really started going bananas on design elements because I, you know, I was looking for, I came from top level steel had been working with selling. Doing, you know, Sera we had a fit cycle and used the fit kit and so forth at the retailer that I'd worked with. So I was pretty passionate about all that. And you know, when I'm, when I'm out of that environment into a manufacturing environment, I'm still working those tasks. And with that mindset out of my own home shop and Yeah, I wanna jumped onto titanium. I wanted to tune things. I wanted to change it. I wanted to get more of a, not a Columbus SL or SLX tube set. I was looking further ahead to like Columbus max [00:14:32] Craig Dalton: And I think, you know, to contextualize it a little bit for the listener, you know, this was the era where you really had, you had steel bikes and maybe some early aluminum bikes from someone like Cannondale at the time and titanium was that next level. Next generation material that I think at that point was very much a premium product in terms of how much it costs. So it felt very exotic at the time. [00:14:55] Brad DeVaney: It was, and, and, and the tube sets I knew could be advanced. That was, that was one of the things is that if you were looking at a, a light speed, a Merlin, a moots, you know, that was kind of the three big players at the time. Everything was pretty much straight gauge, round tube sets. And, you know, I, I wanted to see beyond that. I was I was, you. Driving towards a cycling specific titanium tube set. It wasn't just titanium. And I think that became one of our ad slogans back in, you know, in those early nineties, it's not just titanium it's light speed titanium. And what made it light speed titanium was the, the obsession to create. A cycling specific titanium tube set. And we did that by manipulating wall thicknesses, tapering, the tubes, shaping the tubes and all of that. Having engineering purpose, not just some visual marketing blind. So that's, that's really what we, and we continue to work by those same principles today. [00:15:56] Craig Dalton: Yeah. It's so interesting. Given the sort of production process of a carbon frame versus steel or titanium where you're really manipulating the tubes. And you're just, just a lot of hand work that goes into these products. [00:16:08] Brad DeVaney: Yeah. Yeah. [00:16:10] Craig Dalton: Well, we could go long and deep on titanium and the history of that period, [00:16:14] Brad DeVaney: a deep hole brother. It's a deep hole. Let's back away. Let's let's let's come closer to the surface. You got listeners. [00:16:21] Craig Dalton: we're gonna fast forward, but I think we've at least set the stage that you've had your hands on titanium for a few decades now as the light [00:16:30] Brad DeVaney: More than 30 years. [00:16:31] Craig Dalton: Yeah, which is amazing. And, and the brand is such a storied brand in America, producing in Tennessee when it came to gravel, starting to come to market, how quickly did light speed kind of move into that territory? [00:16:45] Brad DeVaney: Yeah, we were pushing it. Um, ,, you know, one of our brands Quintan we've got a, a, a tremendous triathlon following and not just road cyclists, not just offroad, cyclists, but also triathletes we're converging into this space. And that that's once again, AC acknowledgement to the beauty of this, this platform. But the, a real innovator within triathlon founder of the Quintana brand Dan infield, he, he drives a, a really good form for multi-sport athletes and, and he was begging me, please build me a custom gravel bike. And, and we already had a production gravel bike in the works and planned. , but we weren't wholly agreeing internally what that might become. And you know, Dan and I saw pretty eye to eye on this. And so when, when I built his bike, he really he really chanted and blew horn and wrote articles. And, you know, he, he made it a real focal point of of his website [00:17:49] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Yeah. A couple points to make, just to interrupt for a second. So when Brad talks about multiple brands, American bicycle group, the parent company owns Quintana, which is a triathlon brand. You mentioned light speed and O I D. And kind of manages all three brands along the way. So as you're taking inputs, it's just interesting, I think for the listener to understand that, and then follow up question on that custom bike and, and granted it's gonna timestamp it whatever year it was not this year. What was the design spec? What, what did your friend, what was he saying? I need for this to be a good, fun gravel bike for me. [00:18:26] Brad DeVaney: Yeah. You know, he was really he was really focused on his road, fit specs, and, and Dan has a school of thought that he teaches, he coaches it's the fist fit methodology. And he, he holds classes and I'm certified in it. And as well as thousands of other people that, that have been through his camps and. I I, I have so much respect for that. But we disagree almost every time we get together, you know, he, it's, it's fun to debate with, with someone you love so much. And but yeah, the, the whole geometry and fit principles were different. And especially in the smaller size bikes, cuz we've got a longer fork and that creates some design constraints and so forth, but he really, you know, he had this road bike and these are the stack and reach numbers that he wanted on that gravel bike. And I was like, no buddy, no, no, let's bring that. Let's let's change that let's tailor this let's change stem link let's you know, and, and, and what it really came down to was his Terrafirma was different than mine. You. His terrain is different than mine. And what we've learned over time is, you know, there's no wrong answer. It it's all about where you live and where you ride on a, on a weekly of basis. And so he still has that bike. He still loves that bike. I've probably had three or four since then. but it's, it's, you know, that's my job is, is to develop and create and, and do new things. But and, and I really don't timestamp anything. It's hard for me to look backwards because I'm, I'm trying to constantly wake up, having forgotten what I knew yesterday and look forward and remain creative and, and look for trends and, and develop them if, if possible. So. [00:20:08] Craig Dalton: When, when you started to think about gravel cycling and how light speed might play in that market, what attributes of titanium were you thinking? This is great. This is the perfect application of this material. And what potentially, what other elements were you thinking? Gosh, maybe this is not the best material for [00:20:24] Brad DeVaney: Well, I mean, you've gotta realize I, I came through the nineties with, with a lot of pro cyclists reaching out to me personally, asking for custom bikes that were gonna be rebranded. For their team use, you know, these were top level cyclists that were coming for specialty bikes, whether it be a climbing bike, a sprint bike, a time trial, bike, whatever the case may be. I'm creating the, all these specialty bikes for over a decade. And as, as we roll into the two thousands carbon, you know, clearly became king of the elite road. And, and what had changed was the, the sponsorship levels and the number of bikes that any given rider was allocated at at their pro retirement pro tour level riders, they had so many more bikes at their disposal that. You know, the old mindset of having that one great climbing bike or that one great time trial bike didn't exist anymore. They had multiples and mechanics were Uber busy because they weren't riding around with a couple of vans and, you know, a few team cars. They, they had semis pulling up stocked full of. Bikes and equipment and, you know, sponsorship went up and cost of everything changed and all with those budgets, changing titanium got washed out of the top level just on pure economics. It wasn't performance, it was pure economics. And, and then you see those economic swing into the, the retail market and the profitability of carbon became so much higher. Titanium was just, I won't say it ever became a stepchild. It still remained a nice elite product, but it was for a more mature cyclist. And it was for a cyclist that respected it from a decade prior with those business dynamics, changing our business went we, you know, we worked through that and fortunately we had grown through acquisition. We had other brands we're still working with multiple materials. Triathlon road so forth, but for light speed specifically, I'm looking at my love and my passion for road and offroad cycling coming together. And there was no better material. There was absolutely no better material. I mean, a great titanium hard tail is still a great titanium, hard tail. They bake, they make wonderful, single speaks. When you start looking at drop bar bikes and a utopian drop bar bike that you could just, you know, whacker rocks against it and it's, it doesn't care, titanium's it. And then the ride quality just plays in furthermore. So that I was, I couldn't have been more fired up to be working and obsessive in this in this category where I'm just retuning. New ideas to different tire volumes. And, you know, the, the whole formula is just, just a melting pot for me. I I'm, I'm still going nuts, having fun with it. So, [00:23:39] Craig Dalton: Yeah, your enthusiasm [00:23:40] Brad DeVaney: and, and titanium, holy cow, it's, you know, I've got some athletes who, who um, you know, we talk to on a, on a weekly basis that. You know, they're begging for both, you know, Hey, can I do a, you know, can I ride a tie bike at this event or a carbon bike or that event? And you know, we struggle with that trying to represent brands through specific athletes. [00:24:03] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Yeah. As you and [00:24:04] Brad DeVaney: me to make tougher carbon bikes and, and lighter titanium bikes. So, you know, you just, you're always balancing the virtues, right? [00:24:11] Craig Dalton: Yeah, maybe that's a good segue. Introducing the carbon brand, which is Obi. And just kind of when that came about and what the thinking was. [00:24:20] Brad DeVaney: Yeah. So, OED OED was started because we had, you know, for 20 years we've been working in the carbon channel and, and in a value stream where I had developed relationships with and, and one primary or a primary relationship with a family owned. Carbon frame maker. And I would go over and visit with them multiple times per year, depending on the number of new products and new projects we had going on. But as, as Quintana was really cruising along product wise and, and quality standards were, were just going so well. And, and, you know, the, I. Kind of had, had worked all the product that we really needed to develop and, and what happens in my job because I'm a multitasker within our business. You know, I, instead of my development mind, I'm spending more time on process and quality systems and that sort of thing. But with, with some free design space and, and on my calendar, I felt like I really encouraged. You know, the, all of our team members here that we should consider new products and consider a brand that was you know, just an adventure outdoor brand. And, and that was just dirt bikes, just fun, dirt bikes and offroad bikes. And because it really hasn't been our, our nature as a whole group. I, you know, I have this passion and it doesn't mean everybody else has to, but at that point in time, we were growing and, and a lot of our staff were also dirt minded. And the, the economics of, you know, who can afford our bikes internally and externally became a, a, an awareness. You know, we, we really became aware of, of. [00:26:10] Craig Dalton: yeah. [00:26:11] Brad DeVaney: How, how available are we with, with our passions and our products? And so it just made sense that, that we use our current suppliers and our current quality systems to deliver some products. And, and we, we started it with open model product. We didn't even design and invest in tooling. I, I love that, that we started that way. and, and came with a, a value bike with, you know, cooperation I'm developing the, the, the or designing and, and the factory was was funding the tooling, and we allowed them to sell some of those models outside of our markets and so forth. And. we evolved and, and it took off quite quickly. We were able to establish the, the brand itself was, was successful. And now we're, you know, we're producing our own clothes models that, you know, they're exclusive to us. And so yeah, it was, it's been a really, really good experience for us to re you know, re exercise the principles of how we develop products and, and who our customers are and focus on their needs. So, [00:27:20] Craig Dalton: Yeah, the timelines actually sounds pretty interesting because you know, back three, four years ago, I think it was less defined. What a, what the perfect gravel bike was gonna look like. And through a lot of trial and error from a lot of companies, I think we've arrived at these very, very versatile bikes that can handle pretty wide variety of. Gravel cycling terrain. [00:27:42] Brad DeVaney: Yep. Yeah. Yeah, it's fine because I, you know, I'm, I may be spending time in a wind tunnel, developing super arrow, cutting edge products. The next thing you know, I'm, I'm out on the dirt. Trying to find watage the most recent was finding the most efficient wheel set. For me, going to Kansas on the lowest fitness I've ever gone there. and, and understanding my efficiencies and what zones I need to be riding in. And it was such a good exercise, but I was doing so on a bike that I had had in the wind tunnel. And I knew exactly how many watch at what wind speeds and what y'all angles. And I'm, I'm literally thinking about this stuff on course and, you know, it's, it's, it's a strange place between my ears, but that's that's what [00:28:28] Craig Dalton: This is hearkening back to the kid who was lacing wheels at 11 years old in a [00:28:33] Brad DeVaney: brother, if you only knew I've got, I've got a wheel to rebuild right here beside me right now. It's [00:28:38] Craig Dalton: So when we talk about the ground up design that you ultimately arrived at with the Obi, what are some of the specs, like what type of tire size, what were some of the takeaways that you kind of took away from that process? [00:28:50] Brad DeVaney: you know, first thing is, you know, we want a racer design. We, we had a really univers. Super capable bike and, and we wanted the, the option to go fully integrated. So cable free, fully tucked cables or exposed cables. That that was one of the design requirements going in. And if you're gonna have a super clean, most modern presentation of a bike, it needs to have proven shapes. And so, so I don't know if you can see in this, but you know, I'm showing you a down tube that shrouds a water bottle extremely well, but it, it it's super functional. This, you know, this isn't a razor arrow shape, but it's so functional at the speeds that we're riding in the winds of wherever. I won't just say Kansas, but and then when, when you get to tire size, you know, This thing's gonna house some of the fine tread fifties. You start getting more Nobby you're, you're stepping down. I mean, if you're getting to a super Nobby tire that you think you're gonna be loading up with mud, it's gonna, it's gonna step down proportionately. So, so yeah, we're, we've got amazing tire cleaner. You see a, you know, a seat tube relief. so we're not wedging rocks and cracking carbon in a dumb spot. You know, when I say dumb non-intelligent spot of the frame that doesn't really have function other than stiffness. And by reshaping this tube, I'm picking up stiffness. I'm blowing out a big box section down here that really amplifies some stiffness at the BB round seat, 2 31 6 drop or capable. You see this modular brace. That actually is so that I don't have to embed rack mounts. If a guy wants to put rack or underside, it's tapped to drill for fender. So just option friendly, but super cutting edge, clean racey. I mean, even the seat stays have got a really, you know, arrow, triangular shape to it. [00:30:48] Craig Dalton: Can I ask you, did you say the C post is 31 6? [00:30:52] Brad DeVaney: yeah, 31 6. [00:30:53] Craig Dalton: Interesting. Cause I, you know, I, I'm just curious to, to get your thoughts on why that size. Yeah. [00:30:59] Brad DeVaney: Yeah. So, you know, we hear that and, and I listen to a lot of people saying, and, and we sell a lot of titanium seat posts. If you're buying a titanium seat, post a lot of people, oh, it's gotta be 27 2 so that you can get the, the soften more flexy feel. And 31 6 is, is a platform that. I'm not restricted with droppers. I'm not restricted with stationary post. It can be zero offset, rear offset. I've just got more options available for my customer. And that was a big change. That was a big change in going into this bike. And, you know, we, we do build the component selections and options with our bicycles is amazing. Any given model that you buy, you've probably. Eight different seat, post options. So it was important that every option on our shelf fit the bike and with [00:31:48] Craig Dalton: I have to say [00:31:48] Brad DeVaney: that's not possible. [00:31:49] Craig Dalton: I was playing around on the Obi site today and I have to say one of the things that I was super excited to see was basically the custom color selector. [00:31:57] Brad DeVaney: Yeah. The color blocking that we do is is a lot of fun, literally thousands of options. [00:32:02] Craig Dalton: Yeah. So you can, I mean, for the listener, you can choose your, your base color of the frame. You can choose your decal color, you can choose the color of your fork and lots of beautiful options. I have to ask just cuz of the business geek inside me. How are you doing that? Operationally? Are you building frames raw and then just leaving them, getting 'em painted. [00:32:21] Brad DeVaney: So, yeah, all of my carbon we bring in raw. I, I, you know, it's not painted over. There's no fillers, nothing is hidden from me. So our quality standard is higher. On carbon than it's ever been because we do all of the prep work, the sanding, the prep, the base coats, the painting, the graphics application. So it may as well be within defined options and let the customer choose it. It allows me a built order system. That's very complicated. It's not easy. I'm sure. There's MBAs that. Sit back and look at our business models. Oh yeah. Let's duplicate what these guys are doing. No, it's, it's not so easy even within you know, what appears to be canned options. How we process and flow is, is really a learning process. [00:33:10] Craig Dalton: It's very operationally challenging to run a customized operation. I've I've run one myself and, and I hear you. That's why I was so impressed. I love [00:33:19] Brad DeVaney: single order is custom. Yeah. That's, that's what we have to be willing to provide. [00:33:25] Craig Dalton: Are you doing that? That painting in Tennessee then? Okay. [00:33:27] Brad DeVaney: Oh yeah, yeah. Every bit of it right here in the building. Yep. [00:33:30] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Yeah. Impressive. Truly impressive of me that earnestly [00:33:34] Brad DeVaney: Thank you. Yeah, we just completely revamped our, our painting operation. We're, we're actually gonna do a little bit of a a show and tell. And, and produce some content that's gonna be coming within the next month or so that shows some of how we do it. So yeah. Be, be ready to see some of [00:33:52] Craig Dalton: Awesome. So, I mean, we started offline talking about when you've got a customer coming through the door. Now you've got a world options. You've got carbon bikes, you've got titanium bikes. How are you helping the consumer navigate [00:34:06] Brad DeVaney: It's fun. It's so much fun. Holy cow. And I'm always that contradictory guy with our sales team. They, they, it's a love, hate relationship. I'm sure for them, I, I love them, but they don't always love me. Being at I was talking about being at VWR and, and kind of standing in for some sales folks there so they could participate the hate. Um, But it, it was wonderful to have folks coming up saying, what's the difference? and the difference number one is, are, are you bothered when rocks fly off the front wheel or your buddy's front wheel and hit the down to your bike or the top tube, or, you know, hearing those stones hit your bike is bothersome. Tough and composites are, are what we build our bikes with. And that's, that's a big piece of it. These Aren. They're, they're close to what would've been super elite road bikes, not too many years ago, but we, you know, we've developed toughened composites to a point that they're very gravel worthy also that they can withstand some chainsaw and, you know, the, that the natural things that happen in gravel riding. So durability does lean towards titanium. It's, it's not impervious. You can dent a titanium bike, whereas a carbon, you dent it. It's gonna need a repair. It's just, it's just fact of the matter ride quality is something that's very, tuneable in both materials. You know, it just takes a different skill set in how you develop to. Diameters wall shapes, thicknesses, all of that. When you're, when you're obsessive about creating titanium, we go through that and provide multiple models. So we have a pure race bike. We have what I consider a high performance SUV, and then we've got something that's more of a touring model. But then we also have the full customization. If you need custom geometry, if you need custom tube selection, no problem. We can provide that. That's, that's something that our consultation process we typically take. I say we engineering will take that order from sales and go into a consultation process with with that customer and develop the bike carbon, believe it or not, isn't always the stiffest that that's where I start to contradict. The, you know, the theories of material and it's fun to have demo bikes setting, ready to ride, and a guy come back and say, wow, that carbon bike was softer than the other, or that carbon bike was softer than that titanium bike. Whereas that titanium bike is the softest of the mall. Um, And being able to tune car titanium above and below what is considered now, the carbon standard is a lot of fun for me, but having a really well tuned carbon bike and our offering is is so gratifying and That's what's really gone into this latest GVR model that, that I was just holding up and using as an example is it's is got vertical compliance, the bike. When you stand, when you corner the bike rips, it just, it responds really, really well. And it's a, it's a platform that, that I look forward to how we continue to provide that and, and what may come years down the road from. And it is, it is absolutely inspired, different performance characteristics in titanium. So I'm, I'm playing, you know, good versus evil or one versus the other. However you wanna look at whichever team you choose to join. That's I'm, I'm the guy that's that, you know, and, and playing those games and, and one advancing because of the other. And, and I think that's one of the real benefits of my job. [00:37:46] Craig Dalton: Absolutely. If people are looking to purchase a light speed bike, is that directly through you or is there a dealer network? They would go through. [00:37:53] Brad DeVaney: Both both. Yeah. That's, that's something that you know, we love our, our longstanding dealers and, and honor them in every way possible. We try to drive business through their doors. As the OED brand was created. You know, we've, we've been forced out of a lot of shops with light speed, just, just due to the business dynamics that the bigger players have created in shops today. And that's unfortunate. So in, in creating the new brand, we, we made that consumer direct whereas light speed also is available consumer direct in, in areas that That's necessary or even desired because sometimes a light speed dealer in town. Isn't the service provider for someone that's interested in a light speed and you know, so we we try to make everyone happy there and, and work, work openly. [00:38:39] Craig Dalton: Nice. And then you mentioned being out at BWR. North Carolina. And then also out in Emporia in Kansas for Unbound, are the teams traveling to other events this year? If gravel, cyclists are looking to find you and test some of these bike. [00:38:53] Brad DeVaney: Yeah, for sure. For sure. Once again, I, I feel like one of the luckiest people on earth, I would've been in Kansas. Would've been at BWR Asheville. Next stop will likely be S B T be out Steamboat. And yeah, from that point on we're, we're a little bit flexible. Just based on a lot of. Event obligations that, that our, our true event team has on their schedule, cuz we do support a lot of events within cycling and triathlon. And we have, we have a good team of folks that, that work on that [00:39:22] Craig Dalton: Right on, well, I'll make sure that the listener has in the show notes, the websites and social handles to make sure they know how to get in touch [00:39:28] Brad DeVaney: on a weekly basis. Yeah. Please do jump on the jump on the websites we keep. We keep live chat. And you know, if, if we're not in house those questions get answered first thing in the morning, and then it's always best to catch someone live. And, and I, I love the dynamic. I is listeners may not have heard in our conversation earlier. Our business has, has completely changed in the past couple of years how we've chosen to To try to really link directly with consumers and, and provide direct answers. It's, it's, it's been a, a big growth for us and we want to hear every issue. We want to know every squeak, every rattle, every great story. That's, that's something that we weren't doing. When we were wholly working through bike shops with light speed and. We're better engaged with our consumers today. And, and that really inspires our product development. And I, I try to keep those channels completely open as well, but, but we do like to communicate and answer every single question. [00:40:32] Craig Dalton: Yeah, that's great to hear. I'm sure it garners a lot of support from the cycling community, just to be able to, you know, chat someone or pick up the phone and talk to someone. I feel like for me as a consumer, you know, just makes you feel that much more connected with the brand. [00:40:45] Brad DeVaney: We hope so. That's, you know, as, as passionate cyclists that's, that's how we want to be treated. And so that's, that's what we aim to. [00:40:53] Craig Dalton: Amazing. Well, I appreciate all the time, Brad, and I appreciate your sort of lifetime, your career of putting energy into making all these fun bikes for riders around the [00:41:02] Brad DeVaney: Thank you, Craig. You're you're a giver brother. You are a true giver and much respect to you and, and what you provide right on. [00:41:11] Craig Dalton: world. Cheers. That's going to do it for this week's edition of the gravel ride podcast. Huge. Thanks for Brad coming on the show. I appreciate everything he's done in the world of gravel cycling and cycling in general with Lightspeed and the new obit brand. Huge. Thanks to Trek, travel for joining us as a sponsor. I'm very excited to join the Jarana gravel bike tour November 6th through 10th this year. And you're all invited to come with me. Check out the link in the show notes and join me for a little Spanish gravel. If you're interested in connecting with me or have any questions about that, you're on a trip. Come on over to the ridership. That's www.theridership.com. It's a free online cycling community. You can connect with writers all over the world and discuss roots, equipments, anything that's relevant to gravel cycling. It's been a really fun exercise seeing that community grow and seeing the conversations that happen in my absence. If you're able to support the podcast, please visit buy me a coffee.com/the gravel ride. And until next time. Here's to finding some dirt under your wheels

On June 10 join Genevieve Randall, Shannon Claire and guests for lively conversations about: the Chadron State College Labyrinth; Jazz in June; "Rent" at the Tada Theatre; Beatrice Community Players' production of “Desperate Measures;" Melodramas at Mahoney; and Jarana at Arts for the Soul. Also, poetry read by Matt Mason and a look at the Omaha Summer Arts Festival.

On June 10 join Genevieve Randall, Shannon Claire and guests for lively conversations about: the Chadron State College Labyrinth; Jazz in June; "Rent" at the Tada Theatre; Beatrice Community Players' production of “Desperate Measures;" Melodramas at Mahoney; and Jarana at Arts for the Soul. Also, poetry read by Matt Mason and a look at the Omaha Summer Arts Festival.

In this episode we showcase and review tequila Jarana Reposado. Make sure to follow us across all social media platforms and subscribe to us on your favorite podcast app! agavetalk.com Instagram @agavetalk TikTok @agavetalk Twitter @agavetalk facebook.com/agavetalk Spotify/ Apple/Google Podcasts "Agave Talk"

Co-hosts, Randall and Craig put a bow tie on 2021 with a look back at a few of their favorite bikes and gravel riding experiences. Episode Sponsor: Competitive Cyclist (Promo Code: TheGravelRide) Support the podcast Join The Ridership Episode transcription, please excuse the typos: In the Dirt 27 [00:00:00] Craig Dalton: Hello and welcome to in the dirt from the gravel ride podcast. I'm your host Craig Dalton. I'm going to be joined shortly by my cohost Randall Jacobs. This is going to be our final in the dirt episode for the year. And we take a look back. At 2021 and a look forward to 2022. Before we jump in, I needed to thank this week. Sponsor a competitive cyclist.  [00:00:23] Competitive cyclist is the online retailer of road. Gravel and mountain bikes, components, apparel, and accessories.  [00:00:30] Perhaps you've got a holiday gift card, burning a hole in your pocket at this point. Competitive cyclist features cycling standout brands like pock Castelli, Pearl Izumi and five 10, and an unrivaled in-house bike assembly operation. They bring personal attention of your local bike shop with the selection and convenience only possible by shopping online.  [00:00:52] I can't talk about competitive cyclists without talking about the gearheads they're equal part customer service and cycling fanatic. Gear heads or former pro athletes. Olympians and seasoned cyclists with years of experience, all available by phone, email, or chat for product recommendations. And hard won advice.  [00:01:12] I know, after my conversation with my personal gearhead, Maggie, I came away with a few ideas on how to fill my personal Christmas basket. Those hard to think of items that I knew I couldn't get family or friends to purchase for me, but I needed in the garage. As I mentioned before, I got a full setup of SRAM replacement, brake pads that I couldn't find elsewhere.  [00:01:35] I found them at competitive cyclist. And now I'm ready for all those dissents here in mill valley. Competitive cyclist has a hundred percent. Return guarantee. So anything you can get, if it doesn't look like what you needed, feel free to send it back to them. And they'll take care of you. I know I appreciate that. As I've often ended up purchasing the wrong item for my bike, something that didn't fit or was too hard to figure out how to install.  [00:02:01] And being able to send it back is a great benefit.  [00:02:05] So go now to competitive cyclist.com/the gravel ride and enter promo code the gravel ride to get 15% off your first full priced order. Plus free shipping on orders of $50 or more some exclusions apply. [00:02:20] Go right now and grab that 15% off and free shipping@competitivecyclists.com slash the gravel ride. And remember once again, that promo code is the gravel ride.  [00:02:31] The sponsors of this broadcast are very much appreciated. So be sure to go check them out. Would that business out of the way let's dive right in to my episode of in the dirt with randall jacobs Hey Randall, how you doing?  [00:02:43] Randall Jacobs: I am well, Craig happy holidays [00:02:46] Craig Dalton: Yeah, same to you. It's good to see you. It's hard to believe. This is our last episode of the  [00:02:51] Randall Jacobs: last episode of the year, indeed. So we have a lot of fun topics for today. How would you like to dive in? [00:02:57] Craig Dalton: Yeah, I think first off, I'd just like to put out a little public apology. I feel like we've had some audio issues on the podcast recently. Both on the editing side and more recently just voice levels. So I just want to shout out one, I acknowledge that those things have happened. and two, just to note of appreciation to the listeners who reached out with a lot of kindness to just say, Hey, Do you need any help? [00:03:24] Do you have any, can I offer any suggestions? Cause it's, it's well received and noted. And in fact, we're trying a different platform today, which comes super well-regarded. I know it's used by NPR and a bunch of other broadcast podcasts. Um, so hopefully the audio turns out great. And it's definitely a goal of mine in 2022 to just make sure that the audio levels don't distract from the conversation. [00:03:47] Obviously to the listener. I never do any fancy editing. I don't do a lot of stuff around that, given our, my personal capabilities, but we do want the conversation to be enjoyable, to listen to. And just for you to be able to get to know the guests or hear the conversation without anything getting in the way [00:04:06] Randall Jacobs: Yeah, and I certainly want to own my part in being a little bit overzealous with the editing capabilities of the last software platform we were using. We were using, there's a certain perfectionist tendency that I've been working through in public as a consequence of being a, you know, a part of this podcast. [00:04:24] Uh, so the other feedback that we received and the ridership was super helpful and. I will be, well, this platform doesn't allow so much, but then also just recognizing that it doesn't have to be perfect to be really good.  [00:04:36] Craig Dalton: Yeah, I think, I think, you know, part of the feedback and I had gotten this early on and it was intentional on my part to just people speak the way they speak. Right. And it's not up to me or us to edit out too much of the conversation, obviously. dog barking or fire alarm. I want to address that. But if someone says like, or as are needs of a couple of minutes or repeats a word, I don't want to feel overly compelled to edit that out because at the end of the day, the gravel ride podcast is just talking about connecting with humans and talking about the subject to gravel cycling. [00:05:10] So I think there's just some good notes for, us to take for 2020.  [00:05:15] Randall Jacobs: Yeah, well, you know, um, like, uh, I guess that's okay. Sounds good to me. [00:05:22] Craig Dalton: um, maybe.  [00:05:25] Randall Jacobs: Yeah,  [00:05:27] Craig Dalton: But otherwise, you  [00:05:27] Randall Jacobs: keep that in there.  [00:05:28] Craig Dalton: it's been a fun year. I mean, I'm, I'm personally proud that we've published episodes every single week of the year. It was a lot of effort to get to that point. I think certainly a lot of listeners have acknowledged that And I, I would be remiss in not thanking those who have become members of buy me a coffee.com or supported the podcast in any other ways, because it, it has taken a lot of effort to achieve this goal. [00:05:54] A couple of years back, I was just doing two episodes a month. So this seems like a pretty big momentous year that we should celebrate  [00:06:02] Randall Jacobs: yeah. And just looking every so often, I'll go and buy me a coffee and read the comments. Uh, just when I need to pick me up and just the, the, you know, the appreciation there really makes the effort worth it. So thank you for that as well. [00:06:13] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I mean, obviously like this isn't a money-making venture, so it's really the kind of kudos and kindness that, uh, you know, really propelled me forward.  [00:06:22] Randall Jacobs: You're not the Joe Rogan of the gravel cycling world. [00:06:26] Craig Dalton: Yeah. You know, I don't think Spotify is going to be coming, knocking on the door to purchase the gravel ride, but, uh, I'm proud of the community we have and what we do every week.  [00:06:34] Randall Jacobs: Yeah, absolutely. [00:06:36] Craig Dalton: Yeah. A couple of ones I just wanted, you know, we've had so many great episodes this year and fun ones for me. Like this has always been a journey of discovery and just these conversations I'm following my personal interests and, And hope. [00:06:50] That aligns with what the listeners are looking for. But a couple of my favorites I really did enjoy having Patrick carry on doing gravel bike skills, 1 0 1, I think that was a super useful episode. And he did a great job. Just sort of breaking down some fundamentals that newer riders may not be aware of or need to work on. [00:07:10] So that was a lot of fun. And then a couple product ones really enjoyed John Freeman from Rafa talking about shooting. Just getting into kind of the ins and outs of the construction of the shoe was an area that as, as you know, a hardware guy hadn't really explored that much. So it was pretty fascinating. [00:07:26] And then have to give a shout out to my buddy Whitman for cab helmets, just doing 3d printed helmets, I think is really interesting. And I do think is one of those trends that it's going to continue to be present in cycling gear, going for. [00:07:42] Randall Jacobs: And I particularly like the, kind of the more foundational episodes that we've done. Uh, another example, being the conversation I also had with Patrick on bike fit 1 0 1. Uh, it's great to be able to point people to a resource that was very carefully structured. But, uh, it's also digestible, uh, to help people understand an important topic that affects how we ride. [00:08:05] Craig Dalton: Yeah, a hundred percent. I wanna, I wanna, um, kind of partition those off because I do think over the course of the last three years, there's been a handful of just critical episodes that I think if you're only going to listen to five episodes of the gravel ride podcast, you should be hitting bike fit 1 0 1. [00:08:22] You should revisit our gravel bike 1 0 1 episodes. If you're thinking about purchasing a bike, the gravel bike skills episode, and there'll be a few more that I'll kind of package in there and I'll find a way in 20, 22 to point people to that to say, Hey, if you're looking to have a starting point, grab these episodes first and then. [00:08:40] get into the flow and go through the, you know, over a hundred episodes in the backcountry.  [00:08:46] Randall Jacobs: Yeah. And you know, that brings us into kind of the next phase and being part of this experience, which is community. Um, another episode I want to call out is the one I recently did with Ryan. Uh, Russ Roca over at pathless pedals. Uh, his content is very much about, uh, you know, the non-competitive aspects of cycling and makes the sport much more accessible. [00:09:09] Uh, and that's a value that you and I hold very dear and is a big value of the ridership. And, uh, you know, was the primary motivation for getting the ridership off the ground, you know, uh, uh, community of riders helping. [00:09:22] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I think that's been a theme that we've brought up in the end of dirt episodes And constantly encouraging and reminding people to join the ridership. it's something that, you know, we've depended a little bit of energy, but not as much as we would want, would have wanted to in 2021. [00:09:38] I think some of our desires were hamstrung by the ongoing pan down. The idea of getting people together and using the ridership to facilitate, you know, regional ride events and things like that. But the kernel is there and the interactions of, you know, continue to be positive and improve. [00:09:56] Randall Jacobs: Yeah. And it's at a point where. It has a certain degree of validation that allows us to access resources that might not be, uh, accessible early on in terms of partnerships with technology partners or adding new functionality and things like this. And these are conversations that we have been deeply involved in behind the scenes and hope to start seeing, uh, implementation in 2022. [00:10:19] It'll be a significant focus for me, uh, now that, uh, you know, I'm in a very good shape, uh, with, with my primary business. [00:10:27] Craig Dalton: Yeah, I think community is such an interesting topic and it's so, you know, I've always, in retrospect, always looked back at communities I've joined and discovered how much more value you get when you put in. And I think that's sort of the core of the ridership, right? The expectation it's not. Uh, Randall and correct conversation by any means. [00:10:47] In fact, there's weeks at a time that I'm just lurking and watching conversations happen. And, you know, I just encourage people to get in there. And whether it's the ridership or other communities in your life, it's just important to put yourself out there. Because you get so much more in return when you find out that, I mean, maybe it's selfish and you get a question answered that you need answered. [00:11:09] But if you can answer a question for someone else or point them in the right direction, I don't know about you, but I just get such extreme satisfaction out of that. That are really just fills me up. [00:11:19] Randall Jacobs: Yeah, it think if we're doing this right. Um, increasingly people don't know who we are when they sign up and it's, it's, it's its own thing and the ownership and the governance is decentralized and so on, and that's kind of the vision going forward, but we can learn about that a little bit later. [00:11:36] Craig Dalton: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I think you sign up and you bring your friends in and it becomes, it becomes something that you can use to connect with your local riders, your friends that you ride with every week. But then, you know, the goal has always been to just have this, this forum where people can communicate. [00:11:52] Any question they have. So obviously bike related questions, tire related questions. These can all happen at a super high level, but these regional questions and those group rides you're arranging every month will happen at an interpersonal. [00:12:05] Randall Jacobs: Yeah, who do I ride with? Also, another thing that's been really heartening to see is, uh, we have a channel in there that's just for, you know, buy, sell, gift, seek whatever. Um, and yeah, people just putting stuff up saying, I have these things that I'm not using. If anyone wants them come pick them up or pay for shipping. [00:12:22] And that like really just speaks to the ethos. Um, and, and is, is, is something that, um, I wouldn't say I'm proud of. It's something I feel grateful to be a part of and that's happening.  [00:12:33] Craig Dalton: Yeah. [00:12:33] a hundred percent, a hundred percent. And it's only gonna get better as it grows. I think this community has self-selected towards kindness and generosity, which is really, really great to see and something that I know it's important for both of us, that, that those values continue to get fostered going forward.  [00:12:51] Randall Jacobs: Hmm. Yes, yes. Yes.  [00:12:53] So bikes of the. [00:12:56] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I mean, seeing that we're at the end of the year, I just thought it, it would be cool to kind of, um, talk about bikes that caught our eye, just the bike each to kind of set the stage for maybe what we hope to see the. [00:13:09] industry doing next year.  [00:13:11] Randall Jacobs: Yeah, and I know we have very different perspectives on this, so why don't you go ahead with yours for. [00:13:16] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I mean, I still have my vision for what the perfect bike is and I don't think anything out there necessarily matches that just yet. I think there are a lot of trends. By companies are capitalizing on and they may grab one trend, I think is on point, but not another. So I'm still holding my breath for. [00:13:34] that. [00:13:35] Perfect Nash. Next gen model that'll come out. But one that I did want to highlight is the BMC ERs, L T um, I think it's unrestricted, something or other I'm kind of forgetting what the acronym was, but it was a  [00:13:51] Randall Jacobs: something that looks about right. [00:13:52] Craig Dalton: yeah, exactly. I had the S right. So it's, uh, the BMC ERs has been around for actually a couple of years and, and, uh, Tom boss over at, uh, Marine county bike coalition has one, and he's always raved about it as did, um, a contact of mine over at SRAM and RockShox, and it's a bike that has built in some suppleness into the rear. [00:14:17] I have experience with BMCs on the mountain bike side, as I was riding a 29 or hard tail for quite some time, and all is found that did a really great job of matching suppleness with performance. So it was quite interesting when this year they came out with the LT model, the LT is actually adding a micro suspension fork on the front end. [00:14:41] It's from a company called high ride over in Europe. It's only 20 millimeters of track. But I think they've matched that delicately with the amount of travel on the rear end. The suspension is right in the steer column, so it's not telescoping. So my imagination suggests that it's a fairly rigid front end, and I know they do have a lockout on it as well, but more and more, and it could be a sign of my age. [00:15:05] I'm just appreciating. Anything or any bike that can add a little suppleness to the ride. As You know, from riding out here in Marin, I'm riding the rough stuff all the time. So as we've talked about on previous episodes, there's sort of a bunch of different ways, including your body that creates suspension parts. [00:15:27] You can add the frame and it's just been interesting to me to look at the. This manifestation of those ideas in the BMC ERs LT. Uh, and I think it would be a really great bike to ride around. One thing I don't like about it, which we rant about on the show all the time is it's got a proprietary seat, post shape. [00:15:47] They did have the force forethought of this DC D shaped seed posts to add a, a shim mechanism. So you can easily go to a standard 27 2, but if you're a bike manufacturer out there and listening to me, just give me around 27 to that's fine. I need to put a dropper post in it. I don't need a fancy arrow shape and my seat posts. [00:16:09] Thank you very much.  [00:16:11] Randall Jacobs: Yeah. And the arrow shape doesn't really do anything though. D just, um, the D shaped seat post is not about arrow. It's generally about compliance. So you get a little bit more flex in the, after the post, but if you're running a 27 2 posts, that is, you know, with a decent carbon layup, that's designed for some compliance, you can achieve the same thing. [00:16:30] Uh, so it's kind of separate fluid. Um, but at least they had the forethought yeah. To, to do the, the adapter. Uh, so I don't have a huge problem with that being, being a, an avid, uh, advocate for round posts. [00:16:43] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I remember talking to you, gosh, you know, a year And a half, two years ago, just about your experience working for a bigger manufacturer. And there's so many constraints along the way that, um, get, get hoisted into the conversation. It's it's often not necessarily about is this the thing that ultimate thing that I can make. Is this thing hitting the right product life cycle, the component availability, blah, blah, blah, that that often kind of shaped the design. [00:17:12] Randall Jacobs: Yeah. And there's also, can we tell a story around this? And I've seen a number of examples. Um, one is a candy called certs. That was, there was a technology that I think rhymed with that, that ultimately was just a bolt on Alaska. Um, literally was compromising the structure of the bike and adding weight in order to give a cosmetic thing that told an untrue story about compliance. [00:17:38] Uh, so, you know, you see these things less and less, uh, fortunately, but there's still some of them D shape posts. I definitely include in there. [00:17:46] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Yeah. How about you? I know you struggle. Whenever I ask you to tell me about your favorite bikes out on the market, other than thesis, obviously, you know, what do you think, what was short of your bike of the year?  [00:18:00] Randall Jacobs: Honestly, so my bike of the year. So, so my philosophy is I want a one bike. I don't want suspension. Um, that is compromising the road experience. Uh, I want a bicycle that can do all the things really well. And the bike, you know, I looked at the allied echo and I thought that there were some really cool things happening there. [00:18:20] It's got flipped chips, front and rear. You can get a true performance road geo with a 73 head angle on the larger sizes. Um, but the first off, I don't think it's necessary to have a flip chip in the rear go with four 20 mils. Jane stays that'll work fine for an endurance road G. And if I was to do a flip chip, but just do it in the fork and have it be one that uses two different rotor sizes. [00:18:43] So you get more braking and off-road in the more upright position and I'm a smaller one 60 rotor for on-road with a more aggressive position. Um, my bike of the year is actually a bike that's been around for a long time and is still in my opinion, um, though it's expensive, uh, the category leader and that's, that's the open up, uh,  [00:19:03] Craig Dalton: And would you, would you call out the up or the, uh, or the, um, the one with the dual drops stay stays.  [00:19:10] Randall Jacobs: Um, not the upper, because I think the upper is a great bike for people who want a dedicated dirt only. And who are okay with a, you know, a less spirited on-road experience, but the, the head angle is pretty slack. You don't have enough weight over the front axle with that amount of, you know, with the head angle. [00:19:27] That's that slack, um, it's not built around the, the road wheel size. Really? You, you run 700 by 35.  [00:19:34] Uh,  [00:19:35] the open  [00:19:35] Craig Dalton: that's actually the wide, sorry, sorry to throw you off. That was The wide, that  [00:19:39] Randall Jacobs: Oh, correct? Correct. Yeah. the  [00:19:40] wide, right? Yeah. [00:19:41] Craig Dalton: lighter weight  [00:19:42] Randall Jacobs: the lighter weight one. Yeah. Yeah. Lighter paints, maybe nominally lighter layup.  [00:19:48] Um, I, yeah, I like that bike because of the geometry. [00:19:51] It's a proper endurance road, geometry generous tire clearance. I think it's 2.1 at least. Uh, I think the tire volume on wide rims run tubeless is the best way to do suspension if you want. Um, I have a design for like a, a handlebar with a little bit of suspension built into it. I like suspension stems, if you want even more. [00:20:11] And then you don't compromise the on-road experience and add all that weights and slop. Uh, so yeah, an external cable. That's easier to set up, easier to service, easier to adjust. If you need to ship your bike or pack it up for a flight, uh, it's going to be much less of a hassle. I find internal routing the way that it's done by most companies to be. [00:20:35] A very expensive weight, adding complexity, adding experience, ruining technology to make it look, um, look a certain way. And to be able to tell a story about saving half a watt or a watt of power, I find it quite silly, uh, the way it's done. So, yeah, that's my, that's my bike of the year, uh, is the open up. I do a few things differently and I will do a few things differently in a, in a future generation, but that's a great starting point. [00:21:01] It really. Uh, drug room and did it right initially. [00:21:05] Craig Dalton: Yeah. it's so funny. I mean, that was my, my second gravel bike. The one that I decided I was going to sell my road. It was going to go all in on gravel, sold the original Niner that I had, that just kind of wasn't fitting, fitting the bill for me and people ask me why I sold that. Like, you know, I loved it. I think it's great. [00:21:25] I think it ticks all those boxes that you, that you've described. You know, I, I didn't, and I've told this, I probably said this publicly and I've certainly said it privately. I didn't find, I found going to the thesis was very similar to writing. [00:21:39] Randall Jacobs: exactly. [00:21:40] Craig Dalton: You're not paying me to say this, but it's my personal opinion.  [00:21:44] Randall Jacobs: Yep. [00:21:44] Craig Dalton: Yeah. [00:21:45] I mean, it sort of slightly different intention on the bike from a design perspective, not maybe as lightweight as the, the open was or is, but very comparable in kind of performance. And, and for me, what was critically important was the fit. I am concerned about some of the trends around geometry and two blunts that. [00:22:05] Becoming popularized in the gravel bike market right now. And I'm concerned. And I had the same concern when this happened on mountain bikes. That it's actually not favoring me like where we are today from a certainly too blunt that I'm talking about the trend towards going longer, top tube slacker, head tube, short stem, and longer top tubes just never, never worked for me. [00:22:29] I've sort of in. You know, on my thesis, on the open, I would tend to ride a little bit shorter stem. [00:22:34] than maybe was customary. Um, given my height, just cause of my torso and now not to get into this trend too much. Cause I'm sure we'll cover it in 2022, but I'm a little bit concerned about getting my fit right on some of these newer.  [00:22:48] Randall Jacobs: Mm. Yeah. And where is this significant? There, there are benefits on the mountain side and really no downside, assuming you can fit to the bike properly because a mountain bike is generally. You know, the range of applications that you use a given mountain bike for is generally narrower than say, you know what I'm describing as a one bike where you'd have, you know, performance road experience all the way to a borderline cross country mountain bike experience, to a bike packing experience. [00:23:13] Um, I find that the, you know, the argument for going with a longer top tube, shorter stem is so you can fit bigger 700 C type. Um, I find it kind of silly because you could go higher volume six 50 B. You could still fit big enough, 700 C for certain applications and not compromise the on-road experience with a front end that doesn't have enough weight kids to leave it over, over the front axle for control and cornering and descending and so on. [00:23:40] I think it has as much to do with trying to differentiate. Gravel bikes enough from road bikes to justify people owning both. Uh, I think it has as much to do with that as it does to do with any sort of ostensible benefits, um, to a very, you know, increasingly narrow set of applications that such a bike is useful for. [00:24:01] Craig Dalton: yeah. I mean, you would think for me being like an entirely off-road rider for. [00:24:04] the most. This new trend would be helpful. And I am curious, try kind of these bikes. I've, I've got a couple in the garage of the haven't been a good fit. Um, I am looking to get one with a better fit just to sort of see if it, if it fits the bill for me, but I think you're right. [00:24:19] I think it is creating a greater amount of separation between the road and the gravel bikes. And to me, I don't necessarily strive for that since I don't have a road bike in the garage. Right.  [00:24:31] Randall Jacobs: Difference without distinction. It's I see it as all down. Um, that, that that's obviously I have, I have a horse in this, in this race, but, uh, that's, that's my perspective in anything I do in the future will not use that geometry philosophy.  [00:24:44] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Okay. Well, that's interesting to hear Rondo, you got an a on that, on that front. I was gifted for my wife, a bike fit this this year, and it was something that I obviously put on my Christmas list. Um, I'm increasingly concerned and, you know, should I go down the route of getting a custom bike or should I have a demo bike be offered to me in 2022? [00:25:06] I just sort of want to understand my personal parameters a little bit more and with a little bit more confidence. I know. And I appreciate you being a friend and ally on my journey. Trying to explore fit and understanding of frame geometries. Um, I'm much better equipped today at the end of 2021 than I was earlier in the year. [00:25:26] And I do think going through this fit exercise is just going to be another step forward in my understanding of, of my personal body and how it's changing over time with the.  [00:25:36] Randall Jacobs: Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Well, um, I refer you to the bike fit episode and, uh, you know, my phone number. [00:25:43] Craig Dalton: yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. So I've got it. I'll go through it locally and you know, I've listened to that episode again, just to get some more thoughts in my mind. And, uh, yeah, I know you're always there when I need to riff on bike stuff. [00:25:56] Randall Jacobs: So when we got coming up next, [00:25:58] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I mean, I think it'd be cool to just highlight maybe your favorite ride of the year.  [00:26:03] Randall Jacobs: Sure. Uh, so this is a ride that my, my dear friend Marcus Gosling invited me on. It was a group of us, I think, uh, uh, three men, two women, uh, rode from top of skyline in the Santa Cruz mountains above San Mateo, south of San Francisco. Um, where I was actually living with Marcus for a few months during the pandemic, amongst the redwoods, uh, up on the Ridge there, it was a great place to be. [00:26:29] When it wasn't, you know, when, when everyone was staying in and we went through, let's see, we went down to the coast and to Aptos, and then up through 19 marks, uh, along summit coming back north, uh, was near Mount Nominum. And so on 130 kilometers, a lot of climbing, some fun stops along the way, really wonderful conversation, uh, with people that, uh, Uh, a couple of people I hadn't met before, and then one woman I had met, but not really, uh, connected with in that sort of way. [00:27:02] And when you have that many miles, you can really get into it. And, uh, that's one of my favorite things about the ride experience. The train was fantastic too, and very varied. Uh, but it's, it was the people that really made that. So that was my ride of the year.  [00:27:14] It was called, it was called the business meeting by the way. [00:27:17] Cause, cause I think it was a weekday, I think I took the day off. So, uh, yeah, when you work in the industry that that can, that can qualify.  [00:27:24] Craig Dalton: A hundred percent. Yeah, [00:27:25] I might have to coerce you into sharing that link with me, or maybe even putting it in our ride with GPS club for the ridership. Cause that sounds like a neat loop.  [00:27:34] Randall Jacobs: sure. Yeah. Happy to. [00:27:35] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I have to say like, um, I guess it's a factor of me being limited for time, but I typically don't ever get in my car to drive and there's so much interesting stuff that I've seen in the ridership, um, in that neck of the woods and out in Pacifica that I really. [00:27:51] Get down there because it doesn't, you know, they don't have to get on an airplane to go do something interesting.  [00:27:57] Randall Jacobs: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So how about yourself? What was your ride of the year? [00:28:00] Craig Dalton: Well, speaking of airplanes, it was the one solitary time I got on an airplane with my bike this year? [00:28:07] Do you remember in the June July timeframe when it felt like we were getting a hold of the pandemic, we were on top of things, boosters or, you know, shots were getting rolled out vaccination shots and it felt like things might be getting back to that.  [00:28:21] Randall Jacobs: um, it felt like things were normal for a period. I always expected it to just be a low so, but yes, I do remember that time. [00:28:29] Craig Dalton: so I was leaning into that moment in time and our friends at envy composites out in Utah, we're putting. Uh, together an event called the , which was a ride combined with their builders, Roundup, which they bring, I forget how many, like 20 different frame builders out to Ogden, Utah, and kind of display their bicycles throughout Envy's facility. [00:28:54] So it was, I, it was too much to her exist, um, going on.  [00:28:59] Randall Jacobs: um, with NABS not happening this year. [00:29:01] Craig Dalton: Yeah, exactly. Which was so fun when we went to NABS a few years ago, just to, I mean, to stand next to someone with their creation, their hard work is just something special. Like if you, as a listener, if you ever get a chance to go to a bike show, do it, like, it's just, I mean, for the eye candy alone, it's worth walking the Isles  [00:29:20] Randall Jacobs: well I'm for reference north American hand-built bicycle show is what NABS is. And a lot of what you see from the big brands, a lot of ideas and concepts, uh, emerge from small builders, doing cool things in basements and garages, uh, which is one of the great aspects of those shows. [00:29:38] Craig Dalton: yeah, exactly. When you get a, a fabricator with a torch and some tubes, they can, they can just try different things. And it's really, what does help propel the industry for?  [00:29:48] Randall Jacobs: Very much, so very  [00:29:49] Craig Dalton: so. [00:29:49] I saw some great bikes out there. It's, you know, as far as the builder Roundup goes and I've published a bunch of episodes and, and, uh, and a summary episode that kind of has some quick hits from a number of the people I talked to, but that ride, since we're talking about favorite rides of the year, Every year, I tend to sign up for an event that probably pushes my personal fitness capabilities. [00:30:10] And I love to do that just to kind of keep me honest and keep me getting out there and finding the time to ride the bikes. And I definitely wasn't feeling prepared for a 92 mile ride and 8 8300 feet of climb. At some elevation above sea level already out there in Ogden, Utah. But I set out on the course, pretty small event, maybe 200 people, um, got to the first aid station and there was talk amongst some of the builders of flipping it around right there. [00:30:38] But when I got there, I learned that I was just going to be a straight out and back if I did that and I just couldn't resist it. If you haven't written in Utah, it's beautiful in the Wasatch mountains out there. Uh, so I kept going and like every great gravel event that I've ever participated in. You end up linking up with riders, um, out there on the course that you just share the pace with. [00:31:02] And I met a guy from contender cycles out in Utah, which was actually where I bought my open from originally. So that was cool. We chatted for many, many miles. Yeah. Very late in the day, I managed to connect with Dave from gravel stoke. And I can't remember whether he caught him. He caught me or I caught him, but we ended up together and we'd separate on the climbs. [00:31:23] And we both look at each other miserably tired at times, but we, we crusted the final climb and hit the aid station together And um, rode maybe the last. 20 miles or so together, we were staying in the same hotel room. So it was like, it was just like a great experience to have, to, you know, to connect with a friend and be able to ride. [00:31:45] And it just happened serendipitously because I don't think, you know, when you're signing up for a 90 mile ride or a hundred mile ride, it's foolish to think that you're going to ride with your friend the entire time. Like you just need to take care of your own needs. And that, for me, it's all about. I've got a ride, the climbs, my own pace. [00:32:03] I want to descend at my own pace. So it's really got to happen naturally. And when it does to me, man, it's just magic. [00:32:10] Randall Jacobs: Yeah. And Dave, uh, for anyone in Soquel, uh, gravel. Puts on some of the best rides I've been a part of as well, a really great routes, really good people. Um, you know, a lot of, a lot of social interaction and so on and just a really great ethos. Uh, so if you're in the SoCal area, check out the gravel stoke and by the way, this is, um, you know, gravel. [00:32:30] Those, a lot of those folks are in the ridership too. So if you want to connect with Dave or others, that's a great place to do it. [00:32:35] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So hopefully more of this for 2022, speaking of which, what are you, what are your hopes for 2022? I mean, I don't think we need to go into a laundry list, but what are a couple of things that are, you know,  [00:32:49] Randall Jacobs: So with regards to what we do here. Uh, so I moved to new England and living outside of Boston with, uh, with family. And I want to build out this region. I, we hosted a couple of group rides, uh, before the, the season changed to ski season. Uh, and as. The spring approaches. I want to build out this region and I want to facilitate more in-person connection and an experience like this, what the ridership is about and have that be, um, you know, something that, uh, extends to other regions as well, where there's a critical mass where people can actually meet people in person and have real in the flesh experiences and maybe. [00:33:28] Craig Dalton: I'm really excited for you to do that. I know when I spent my sort of formative years as a mountain biker in the mid Atlantic, I always looked to new England and it was a place that I would go up and race every once in a while when I can make a trip. And it. At that time, there were so many great new England bike builders. [00:33:47] And I know like Boston has just an incredible cycling community and history behind it. And that whole region up through Vermont, like I'm super excited to hopefully get out there at some point this year and ride.  [00:34:00] Randall Jacobs: You can have come, come by. You can have my apartment.  [00:34:04] Craig Dalton: I can, I can see a couch behind you where I could be sleeping. Right.  [00:34:07] Randall Jacobs: Now I'll set you up properly and I'll, I'll stay. I'll stay in a different part of the place. [00:34:14] Craig Dalton: Nice. Speaking of travel. I mean, for me, like I've been longing to ride my bike internationally. I've been fortunate that I've, I've raised my mountain bike overseas. I've also done some road touring over in France on a couple occasions and a little bit in Italy, but I really got my eye on riding gravel and specifically out in general. [00:34:35] I've been talking about a trip in March, uh, that I'm going to certainly extend to the ridership community to join me on. So if I can work out the details on that in January and obviously pandemic willing, um, I'd love to pull that off because there's just something about putting your bike on international territory that, that makes any riding fields.  [00:34:57] Randall Jacobs: yeah, Jarana keeps coming up in my conversations with these bay area folks who are of a certain means and, um, certain level of obsession with writing. Uh, you know, I have friends who've, uh, we're looking to move there and things like that. Uh, so definitely on the agenda for me as well, keeping in the loop. [00:35:15] Craig Dalton: Yeah. [00:35:15] I feel like if it's a, if you're a cyclist, it's just one of those destinations in your life that you need to get to, to find out why the pros are living there. And I did do an episode with our friends at Trek, travel about their trip to Jarana, which is the one I'm kind of eyeing. And you, you, you hear about all the great road riding there, but then to talk to the team over there. [00:35:36] How much dirt there is available and how special it can be. I'm just super stoked and excited to explore that possibility.  [00:35:44] Randall Jacobs: Very cool. Very  [00:35:45] cool. Yeah. And it's I want to do, I think that speaks to a theme generally of more, more group rides with the community in, in a general sense, wherever  [00:35:54] Craig Dalton: yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like you, I mean, in 2021, early in the year, I like, I definitely had high hopes. Getting our bay area, ridership community together more and getting some routine and having it, frankly not involve me as much. Like I'm happy to facilitate rides, but I also want others to feel compelled, to raise their hand and say, Hey, just, you know, meet me in Fairfax, California. [00:36:16] And we're going to do this route or meet me in mill valley, whatever it is.  [00:36:20] Randall Jacobs: Wait, which brings us to our shared goals for the year. [00:36:24] Craig Dalton: Yeah, exactly. Like as we talked about earlier, I think we've got a lot of big goals for the ride.  [00:36:31] Randall Jacobs: Yeah, I think, uh, building a critical mass in the region so that you can have those in-person interactions, um, you know, talking about having other people, being able to facilitate group rides and so on. Well, there's, we, we need certain features. We need, uh, we need to update our technology stack, potentially migrate away from slack to something more powerful. [00:36:51] Uh, we have a technology partner that we're talking about. Some tools that if realized, could be very helpful in coordinating rides and having, you know, being able to verify vaccination status or have a waiver or, you know, other things that are essential to, uh, making this a good tool, not just for impromptu. [00:37:10] Group rides amongst people, but also like your shop ride and things like this. They need certain tools for these, these events as well. Uh, amongst other features. [00:37:18] Craig Dalton: Yeah. [00:37:18] Yeah. exactly. I mean, it's, it's tough to even consider leaving the platform around on today just because. Everybody's comfortable there, but I do think the only reason we would leave is to add more features And add more things that I think can be beneficial to the rider community. Cause it's going to be a bit of a pain in the ass. [00:37:38] Let's call it like it is. If we ask people to move and there's going to be a little bit of effort and undoubtedly, we're going to lose a few people, but I am optimistic that if, and when we make that decision, that the types of things we're able to offer. Are going to be so next level, whether it's, you know, group conversations or tea times we can have with people or different sort of more high tech features that you were just discussing. [00:38:02] I think that can be a meaningful step forward and really something that we can lean into. [00:38:07] Randall Jacobs: Yeah. And marketplace features having a wallet that facilitates exchange between people, um, and having a different way of establishing trust on the. Like being able to look not at, not just somebody's, you know, score on eBay, how many stars they have, but look like how does this person contribute to the community? [00:38:27] Um, how have I seen them engage? Uh, and having that be part of what provides safety and say like, you know, buying a bike and having it shipped across the country,  [00:38:37] you  [00:38:37] know, this sort of thing.  [00:38:38] Craig Dalton: I think there's a lot of interesting things there. And then on the podcast, you know, I think, you know, I just want to continue the journey I'm on. I would, I would stop if I didn't feel like as a, as an individual, I was not learning every time I have these conversations. And, um, I'm looking forward to talking with more event organizers, because I think as hopefully 20, 22 kicks up and we can have more and more events again, I can highlight them because I think events are a way of highlighting regions. [00:39:07] And their events happened in a moment in time, but the, the legacy of the course creation carries on and people can go out there and commune and ride together on those type of things. So I think there's a lot there. Obviously we're going to continue to see new products come to market, and I also want to continue talking to interesting athletes alone.  [00:39:29] Randall Jacobs: Yeah. [00:39:30] And for me, I think my, you know, my next few episodes, uh, I'm quite excited about, I won't say share who they are yet. Uh, but one is a woman who started a community that I admire. Uh, both her story and her ethos and what she's doing and the scale that she's achieved with it. Uh, and then another, who's one of the key innovators in our industry, like in the early days of carbon fiber and has, has, uh, uh, created a lot of things that have seen diffuse use throughout the year. [00:39:57] And then diving more into kind of the psycho-spiritual aspects of cycling, um, with, with guests who can speak to that more deeply, I've done, uh, you know, you and I have had a couple of conversations that have delved into that a bit. And I did one episode with, uh, Ted klong, a sports psychologist early on. [00:40:14] So exploring those seems a lot more, uh, things that I'm quite excited about in 2022. [00:40:20] Craig Dalton: Yeah, well, it's going to be an exciting year. It's a lot of work doing what we do. We wouldn't do it. If we didn't get great feedback and support from the listener community. So as always keep that feedback coming, keep out there, riding and. I appreciate the time as always Randall and look forward to doing more of these in the dirt episodes and 2022. [00:40:39] Randall Jacobs: appreciate you much, my friend, and to everyone listening. Thank you for being a part of this with us.  [00:40:44] Craig Dalton: Jaris. [00:40:46] So that's going to do it. My friends for this week's edition of in the dirt from the gravel ride podcast. It's our final edition of the year, 2021. I very much appreciate you joining us each week for this journey. As we explore gravel cycling and how it fits into our lives. Big, thanks to competitive cyclist.  [00:41:06] For supporting the podcast. I remember competitive cyclists.com/the gravel ride and promo code. The gravel ride. We'll get you 15% off your order. If you're looking for information about our global cycling community called the ridership, simply visit www.theridership.com. And if you're interested in able to support the podcast financially, please visit buy me a coffee.com/the gravel ride. I love seeing the comments and your support for the podcast over the years.  [00:41:39] Is greatly appreciated. Until next time here's to finding some dirt onto your wheels

#cotorreochido con el jaranero y cantante de son Jarocho Cesar Castro quien nos cuenta el inicio de su interes por la musica y como descubrio el son jarocho para convertirse en un musico "de maceta" y tocar con Grupo Mono Blanco. Tambien platicamos de los instrumentos (jaranas, requintos, leonas, tarimas) la armonia y el dialogo musical que se utiliza para declarar los sones que se van a tocar.Cesar transmite en vivo y regularmente por sus canales de Facebook y YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/c/CESARCASTROJarochelohttps://www.facebook.com/CentroInformativoDeSonJarochohttps://www.facebook.com/RadioJarochelo

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Antonio Damascocon Beatrice Verri e Laura Cantarella"Biennale Democrazia"http://biennaledemocrazia.it/Biennale Democrazia, TorinoLe parole che curano LIVEVenerdì 8 Ottobre - 18:30Prenotazione obbligatoria: info@reteitalianaculturapopolare.orgAntonio Damasco e Fabrizio Filippellirealizzato da Rete Italiana di Cultura PopolareUn viaggio radiofonico e dal vivo che prosegue dopo le 32 notti trasmesse durante la pandemia. La radio è il mezzo scelto per continuare a raccontare storie e a parlare a un pubblico che ben presto è diventato una comunità. Una trasmissione intima andata in onda su www.tradiradio.org che oggi si trasforma, fuori e dentro la radio, in un viaggio narrativo in cinque luoghi speciali per un'unica narrazione. Parole, musiche, storie in una diretta costruita insieme al pubblico e ai suoi stati d'animo, grazie alla radio che va ad abitare piazze, terrazzi e cortili.Antonio Damasco è attore, regista teatrale, direttore artistico del Teatro delle Forme. Ha sviluppato progetti artistici in collaborazione con le comunità locali. Dal 2005 dirige la Rete Italiana di Cultura Popolare e opera nell'ambito della narrazione generativa applicata alle comunità. Lo Spaccio di cultura – Portineria di comunità è uno degli ultimi progetti realizzati grazie ai processi di attivazione di comunità.Fabrizio Filippelli è un ingegnere meccanico, specializzato in energie rinnovabili e trasporto ecocompatibile. Suona chitarra classica, violino, mandolino, mandola, tamburi a cornice dell'area mediterranea, chitarra battente, Jarana messicana. Collabora con numerosi ensemble ed artisti di musica tradizionale, in Italia, Francia e Messico. Ha partecipato, in qualità di esecutore, a numerose rassegne nazionali ed internazionali incentrate sulla valorizzazione dell'interculturalità popolare.IL POSTO DELLE PAROLEascoltare fa pensarehttps://ilpostodelleparole.it/

This week we sit down with Ewan Shepherd from Trek Travel to discuss their upcoming Girona Gravel Tour trips. We learn about the city, the cycling community and the abundance of gravel that surrounds the city. Trek Travel Gravel Tour Girona  Join The Ridership Support the Podcast Automated Transcription (please excuse the typos): Trek Travel   [00:00:00] Craig Dalton: Hello and welcome to the gravel ride podcast. I'm your host Craig Dalton.  [00:00:06] This week on the podcast, we're joined by UN shepherd European logistics manager for track travel. Based out of Girona Spain.  [00:00:14] As the longtime listener knows I've been super keen on the idea of gravel travel and super excited to see this industry grow up.  [00:00:22] We had an earlier discussion with Juan De La Roca about Southern Colorado and building that up as a gravel destination. And now we're seeing events like LIfeTime's Rad Dirt Fest crop up over there. We've also talked to event organizers over in Europe, around the gravel epic series that was conceived. During the COVID time and didn't actually get to get its races off the ground.  [00:00:46] But one of the locations we talked about in Europe was Girona. Now for road cyclist, Girona has long been part of the discussion about where professional athletes live. And there's a reason why they live there. Amazing road, riding all over the place. So I was really excited to learn originally from the gravel epic team about Girona as a travel destination for gravel cyclists.  [00:01:11] But even more excited to learn about this trip that Trek travel is putting together their Girona, gravel bike tour.  [00:01:18] They've got a couple more departures this year in November that you can still sign up for as well as a whole host of dates for 2022, starting in the spring.  [00:01:28] After talking to you. And all I can say is sign me up. It sounds amazing. I'll let him explain it in his own words, but it sounds like Jerome has a very special place for cyclists of all kinds.  [00:01:39] And the opportunities for gravel cycling are abundant outside the city center.  [00:01:44] I'm excited for you to learn more about Girona and gravel. With that said let's dive right in to my conversation with you and shepherd  [00:01:52] Ewan welcome to the show.  [00:01:53] Ewan Shepherd: Hey Craig, thank you very much for having me and thank you everybody for listening.  [00:01:58] Craig Dalton: I appreciate you joining us on a Friday evening over there in Spain, I'm super excited about the topic we're going to discuss today as the listener or the longterm listener has known. [00:02:08] I've talked about gravel travel as something I'm super excited about because as we all know, it's such a great way to explore the world and the idea of packing my bike and going somewhere exotic, like Girona Spain is super exciting to me. So when I got the opportunity to connect with Trek travel, Dig into this trip and dig into Jarana grab gravel jumped at it. [00:02:31] So you, and thank you for joining me. And let's just get started by a little bit about your background.  [00:02:37] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah, no worries. Thank you again for having me. And I guess we share something in common that we both enjoy eating well by bike. So gravel travel is definitely evident between us all. Huh. So Bob, my background it's been varied. [00:02:50] I started off as a kid, not really enjoying the power of two wheels on my own preferring Moda, power of motocross, bikes, and motor sport, and pursue the a career in motor sport. I am, I'm only 29, so it's not, it wasn't a long career. And then I decided to jump into the cycle career really because my brother threw me on an old racing bike of hairs and said, we're going trick racing of what is this. [00:03:14] And yeah. That's how I got into cycling and kind of started to learn about it. Then love cycling, all things cycling really threw me on the amount of bikes for the first time. He threw me on a cyclocross bike for the first time, took me to attract for the first time. And just more and more, I ate it up and started falling in love with with cycling and And then I thought, why not help out in my local bike shop? [00:03:37] Because I was in between jobs and bugging the owner and the mechanic calling in on the bike and asking for them to help me with this, or could they get pots or for that? And then they were like, Hey, we need an extra hand here. And you're pretty mechanically minded. Can you want to come and help us out? [00:03:53] And that's how I, it. Wrenching in a bike shop. And from there, it took me to I was actually living in Australia at the time and working in a shop debt. And then I started working for the initial prompt and dealer in Australia, which was pretty fun and interesting. Little folding bikes, which were going all over kind of the Australasia and New Zealand even send a bite that prompted the Fiji. [00:04:17] And then I moved back to the UK and was starting working for old mountain bike brands that maybe some of your listeners have heard of head of pay cycles. They're one of the first UK monocyte grants set up by, by a young family at the time who did same as me. They love motocross and enjoy bike riding. [00:04:38] And they wanted a bike to, to train on during the time that they weren't racing on the road. And so they imported mountain bikes yet to important Gary fishers at the time, because there was nothing else in Europe and or in the UK. So he, Adrian is the main designer of the car. And he designed his own on mountain bikes. [00:04:57] Did y'all say 100, was that famous plus bikes, square tube. aluminum that they rooted out pots of the frame to make it lighter. So I started working for them after they did the whole amount of bike brand and we They had two shops at the time that they just started and started in rental centers. [00:05:14] So I joined them a running one at that shops. And then they got back into the frames. And that's when started to learn more about frame design, different bikes, and the whole Enduro scene was mounted bike and jurors scene was growing. And that was something that we were really interested in the time. [00:05:34] And. I was starting to cyclocross race at a time. I would go off a weekend, so cyclocross race and come back to work. And we were designing 29 S slack long, low amount of bikes. And we also had a total. Version cause Adrian and his wife happy love to go off to all sorts of places. [00:05:53] The, they did Chile, they went and wrote the Santiago combo skeleton and Northern Spain, all of these cycle touring. And he adapted one of the hardtail Enduro steel mountain bikes and put lugs on it. So he could take. And I was like, I liked the look of that bite, but I don't really I don't want to put drop bars on it. [00:06:14] Can I put drop bars on it? Let's try it. And so here I had a 29 mountain bike slack long, whoa, with with a draw bar on it. And I was like this pretty cool. And they were looking to, they already had an exi carbon bikes. I was like, can we do this a bit lighter? Because. Yorkshire is, I know you're you have family that Craig and it's up down. [00:06:35] Dale is Dale is a small valley and it's really steep at each side. And I live in between the two national products of the north York Moors and the Yorkshire Dales. And they have so many of these little Dales. So riding across that, you'd go down and it's like down 25% down to a flat valley, then literally back up the other side, 25 to 30%. [00:06:57] So I wanted something nice and light, but to go all day across the Dales and the malls And so we were making this and thinking, oh, this could be a cool and gravel was coming on the scene at the time. And I was interested in bike packing with it and just testing out something that was a good touring bike. [00:07:18] But at the same time, I just saw touring at the time as being something that my parents did or all the people did when they retired. So I wanted something fun cause I still enjoyed enjoy mountain biking. So I wanted to take it down some trails at the same time as doing a hundred K on it, which I certainly wouldn't do on my one 60 mil. [00:07:36] Enjoy a bike, do a hundred K, but so that's where I discovered this cyclocross gravel mix. That we all call gravel today. Which Adrian at the time was like, we used to race on my, on a bikes would drop handlebars XC and downhill back in the 1980s. Cause inventing anything new it's all coming round in circles, the wheels going round, as they say. [00:08:00] So that was really my early years in the cycling industry playing with that. And then. Being honest, Googled cool bike mechanic jobs in one places which took me back to Australia. And then I wanted to go back to Europe and it took me to the warmest place at the time, which was the Canary islands which was great for gaining some exposure of just massive cyclists all at once. [00:08:24] Thousands of people on the road, just riding the bikes, having fun on holiday guided, worked in rental shops. Love the Canary island lifestyle. And then I just stumbled across Trek travel. I told the global logistics manager at one day, I was like, I want to come work for you because I want to help out on some of your big trips. [00:08:41] They were doing tour de France and big Pyrenees trips and out trips. And I just really liked the idea of offering support to. To other people, not the I'd been guy, a guy that I wanted to support the guides. I knew all the tricks of all the problems of being a guide. So I wanted to help them most of all, help back help their guests. [00:09:04] And that kind of leads me to here where I'm the European logistics coordinator for Trek travel and in our home base of drones.  [00:09:11] Craig Dalton: Amazing. It's such a, it's so interesting. As people who have been around the sport of cycling for a long time to trace back when you first started doing the thing that later became gravel cycling. [00:09:25] Because obviously as you've indicated, as we've discussed before, People have been riding drop bar bikes off-road for a long time, but it was this kind of gradual progression of componentry, frame, design, methodology, tires, brakes, all these things combined to making what was once somewhat a hacky type experience where you were maybe bringing a bike that wasn't exactly suited for the job to where we are now. [00:09:53] That depending on where you are and how you want to set up your bike. There's such a wide variety of ways in which you can configure these bikes to ride on the roads and trails wherever you live in the world.  [00:10:05] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah. It's always fascinated me coming from like a motor sport design element. [00:10:10] Always into aerodynamics working with formula two, formula three. And then I had to, I always had a love for kind of classic cause I raised something in the UK or Europe rally cross, which I don't think you have in us, but it's it's exactly that it's a cross between this second is gravel road and dirt, and you drive a little bit of each and we always used to race the classic mini Coupa's. [00:10:35] That was my classic love of cause. But yeah, that was a tangent. Sorry.  [00:10:40] Craig Dalton: No, it's an interesting perspective. I hadn't, no, one's brought that up before, but it's totally true. There's parallels in that experience because you had to have a car that drove well on the road. Capable off-road and presumably every driver, just like every rider had to make those difficult choices of, okay. [00:10:57] Do I want it to be higher performing on-road or off-road and what's that happy medium for me as a, as an athlete.  [00:11:04] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah. And I think that changes with your with you personally, you may be a road cyclist, but you have that instinct to what's down there and it's a gravel road to go off road and explore it. [00:11:18] And you want to feel safe and comfortable. You don't want to necessarily take your 23 mil tires, cotton road bike down a. The track you want a bike that's comfortable and safe to do it all.  [00:11:31] Craig Dalton: Yeah, exactly. Talking about Trek travel specifically, obviously with the track name associated with it, people associated directly with the brand, but the company itself as Trek travel. [00:11:43] Can you tell us a little bit about its origins and how long it's been operating?  [00:11:47] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah it's actually a 20th year of fun. 2020 years since charter travel was thought up in the, in Trek itself where it started with just three people brought into to en enhance the experience that people were getting when they were not just buying a bite or buying into the Trek brand, which. [00:12:09] Is ride bikes, have fun, feel good. And Chuck just wants to get more people on bikes to have fun. And one of the ways was to offer them a trip of a lifetime of vacation, of a lifetime to somewhat. And that idea grew over the last 20 years studying in the U S and then Trek bought into the protein of yeah. [00:12:30] Trek. And they started running a VIP trips to the total France and bringing clients across. But that specifically to see the tour and see the classics that the ring in Europe have the outs to, to climb out west, to do Mon Von to go to the pyramids and do the tour of my life. The real bread and butter of your. [00:12:51] And that's grown just more destinations, more places to ride more great experiences by bike. And yeah, that's brought us to now at 20 years  [00:13:01] Craig Dalton: old. Yeah. And for those of you who have not done a bike tourism trip, it really is amazing. And a luxury. It's obviously a luxury to be able to afford it, but to be able to go over and do this and to have someone plan out the best of the best to plan out the best roads, the best routes when you're coming off the Tourmalet or a mom volunteer to knowing the right cafe to stop in having extra gear for you, having a guide that, speaks the language, but more importantly can help you get integrated into the culture in my personal experience, having done several trips over and yeah. [00:13:37] It was just such a great time. If you can afford to spend that time on your bikes, spend a week on one of these trips. It's just so amazing, which is why I remained super jazzed and excited to talk about the gravel tours that track is introducing. When did you first start to see gravel cycling as something that you could package a trip around? [00:14:01] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah. I don't know who or when the first kind of the idea here's what talks about it. Cause I'm sure it's been something we're always looking at new trends, new you, new ways to travel that that people want to do. And new experiences and to we're primarily on the road, we started with mountain bike trips. [00:14:20] Think I wouldn't say five, six years ago. And dos were in small pockets in Iceland, Norway, and that's a great way to get completely off the road. But then we found a a lot of people. They still want it to, they still want it to do a bit of everything. They want it to go on the road still. [00:14:38] They wanted to do the classic climbs as well as being off the road. So it was like that mix of, we took you to this beautiful forest, but actually you want it to be on the road as well in the same week. And, but you didn't want to do it on the amount of bike. And at the time there was no real bike that we had. [00:14:56] Do it and then as the Demani that tried to money evolve, it's got this name as being the, do it all bike. Whether it's ISO speed and its ability to take why the tires it's really comfortable Fabienne Cancellara famously designed the bike to to win Piru bay and and Flanders of all the couple and mixed terrain. [00:15:14] Yeah, this this is a bite that we can use for multipurpose. And three years ago we started using it as just guides and company. People would come to drone and all they say is, Hey, can we go right gravel with, we don't want to ride the road round here. We heard the gravel is amazing. So we'd stick some hybrid tires on the demand and off we'd go, just exploring off the beaten track. [00:15:36] And that's. Where it came from and grew from that with into a week long trip here in Barona. And yeah that's why I came. That's  [00:15:46] Craig Dalton: great to hear it. It's interesting to hear that it came from the riders up and great to hear that you, as a company, listened and started to build more experiences around that, as we've talked about a little bit offline, Girona for anybody who's follows. [00:16:01] Professional road. Cycling has always had this huge allure as a destination for a lot of pros live there. So we presume there's a lot of great road riding out there. Do you feel that in the city, is, are there a ton of road cyclists around every week?  [00:16:20] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah, I would say there's, I wouldn't say there's a ton of road cyclist. [00:16:23] I'd say there's thousands of cyclists in general. On any given weekend, you can see mountain bikers road bike as gravel bike is like trick bikers nowadays. But. All the time. You can see people on bikes. It's a city which has a big network of city bikes and like docs every way. When you can pick up the city bikes for three years, you can rent the bike for the day to ride around town. [00:16:47] It's not a no that we call it a town. Although it's a city, it's very, it's a small, condensed old town. So it's great to explore by bike with all this small streets and things. And yeah, as you said it's known it's gotten more well-known because of all the professionals that live here modern, the bike roads you name it, there's many triathletes Yan for Dino to name one of the big biggest triathletes pulls this, his house. [00:17:11] And it's yeah, in Europe, it's known as one of the places where particularly I'm going to say foreign writers come from Australia and New Zealand, Canada, us they use this, is that is that personal? And I'd probably say right now in Jarana you have upwards of 8,200 pro cyclists living here which is really high for any city in the world. [00:17:34] Given the amount of pros in general, living in Jonah, and you have three of the biggest teams here locally, you have EDS Israel cycling academy have a small base here. You have a couple of continental teams, a couple of the U S continental teams have their European basis here. So you not only have teams, you have sorry. [00:17:56] You not only have writers, you have the support here as well. And they say, if you just want a massage, it's the best place in the, in Europe. Go from mass massage because of the level is so high, they used the pros. You never get a bad massage here at all because the misuse could have been rubbing right. [00:18:14] Chris from the day before he attends to you, so you get pro service, whatever you're doing, and that's not just in cycling related. I'm sure we're going to talk about this, but the coffee scene, the food scene everything has that little twist towards catering. Which is amazing. Yeah. I think that's  [00:18:32] Craig Dalton: super interesting, obviously the writing I want to be doing is off-road, but as someone who's a fan of professional cycling in general, just having that be infused as part of the city, in addition to the culture, which maybe we'll talk about a little bit more. [00:18:46] It's just going to be a fun addition to that trip for us geographic challenged Americans, where Israel.  [00:18:53] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah, so Girona is it's in Spain. It's in the region of Catalonia which is to the Northeast. We border on Spain. We bought it with Spain and Dora and France. And. Yeah. [00:19:09] And the Northeast, and  [00:19:10] Craig Dalton: It's not specifically on the coast, but how far of a ride is it to the coast from Jarana city center?  [00:19:16] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah, so Girona is it's probably for any cycling destination is really well situated. It's just a 40 minutes drive to them. And 40 minutes drive from the Pyrenees. [00:19:28] So yeah, slap bang in the middle of mountains and see and give you perspective in writing terms. I'm sorry, I'm going to talk in kilometers. But we're looking at about a nice 50 mile loop to the coast and back.  [00:19:43] Craig Dalton: Okay. And look at just having Google maps open as we speak, it looks like there is a lot of, kind of national parks base in green space, just outside the city. [00:19:53] Ewan Shepherd: literally the back of the town has a very famous climate song of UVS might be of huddle of L's angels. It's just over seven, 10 K climate just over 6% is always say to the first and last day, you're hearing Jerone. You're going to write this. If you don't write it every day. [00:20:10] And that leads into a beautiful national pocket, the bat at the back, which has miles of more, more challenging gravel all the way to the coast. And then on the inland side of Jerome, just straight into two massive valleys, which just keep going up and up and before, it you're in the parodies. [00:20:29] Craig Dalton: For those clients immediate,  [00:20:31] Ewan Shepherd: very little flat writing.  [00:20:33] Craig Dalton: Yeah. It's going to ask for those climbs immediately outside of Dharana. How much elevation do you gain to get to a local peak? Is that a thousand feet or 200 meters?  [00:20:43] Ewan Shepherd: L's angels is about 600. Elevation was very, to the very peak the closest high point around here, you're looking at about a thousand meters up to the highest peak in Catalonia itself is just shy of 2000 meters. [00:21:00] So the elevation is not super high but you are going from sea level. Most of the time But it's all the little undulations. It's a rolling terrain. I would say, yeah.  [00:21:09] Craig Dalton: Gotcha. Yeah, it certainly sounds like those, they jet up pretty quickly as a lot of coastal ranges do so for the writing, when we talk about the gravel riding in Jarana, we've talked about how great the road riding is. [00:21:21] But what does it look like to get on these gravel roads and what are they like? Are they super chopped up or are they smooth or did you get a little bit of both? I'd love to just get a sense for what you're out there. Riding.  [00:21:33] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah. I think you have a bit of everything we say, Girona is the Disneyland of cycling. [00:21:40] And I first experienced kind of the gravel, as I said, we just. Through some hybrid Taya, some 32 mil hybrid tires on a demise and went straight on lucky living out slightly outside of Toronto. So just 10 K from drone essentially itself. And it's mainly farm lands and going back to my kind of love for cycling in in the UK. [00:22:02] With the Dales and we have things called bridleways and I was in search of these things to start with because it's not well publicized gravel anyway. So you just go out the door and go, okay, take the first, left off the road. That doesn't seem like a road and see where it heads. [00:22:17] And sometimes you end up with a beautiful, smooth gravel track with that. Evidently to S at a, an extra road to people's houses all you get unlucky and you end up and it tends into single track and actually becomes quite flowing. This is actually it's maybe a mountain bike route, and you guys through a single track, really nice employee through the woods can be quiet Rocky in places. [00:22:40] This part of Spain is very Rocky with granite. I'm limestone. Costa brother, the literal translation is like a rugged coastline. So that is evident all the way through. But you have also what they call via Verde green routes, which are smooth, hard-packed almost manmade smooth gravel, Sandy tracks which becoming more and more common. [00:23:05] From Girona itself to the little towns, to get people off the roads from all levels of cyclists, from kids to families, you can see them just packed on these green ones. Which a fantastic to start a new route on, and then you head either to the mountains, or maybe you want to go to the coast and you can just hop off on to onto something. [00:23:24] As long as it doesn't say, don't go this way. Is such a friendly kind of feeling towards cyclists. The even if you I've ended up some days, just going along a little, same little track down a shoot and I'm in the back of someone's garden and raking up leaves. Oh, sorry. That's the end. To direct you back onto the track and you were meant to be down that I take you're meant to go that way, but yeah. [00:23:48] So it's a bit of everything. That's amazing.  [00:23:52] Craig Dalton: It's so cool that, to be able to leave the city and choose your own adventure and just have that ability to explore and find all kinds of different terrain that, that sounds like such a special area and not surprising why you guys decided to introduce the Girona gravel bike tour trip, which looks amazing. [00:24:13] Can we talk about that trip and what it entails?  [00:24:16] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah. So to give you an an idea of the overall of the trip, it's it's a one hotel trip based here in Jarana. Chose to base it right out of the center. We work with a really great hotel, Nord in the center. It's really cycling focused. And we do that. [00:24:33] It's based kind of off our right camp, which not to diversify what I'm talking about. It's all about eat, sleep, ride, repeat. So we make it nice and simple to focus on the writing and it's for four days of writing and it's designed to. The slightly taken on the more intermediate to advanced side of kind of people's levels. [00:24:55] So we say the most people should be have some experience. It shouldn't be their first time writing a gravel bike to get the most out of it. And we have easy days which are, like I say, just using these Greenways, getting out of the city, heading to see some of the beautiful, rugged coastline. [00:25:13] And then we have some more avid days which heads. What's the mountains. And we actually found some of our routes through used to calm. Are you still does? Comes here every year in the spring to do some training before he started his road season. And we'd always wait till he hummed, we see him here. [00:25:30] And then when we're looking on struggling, why did he go? Where did he go? Because he always seems to find some stupidly hard climbs, some great gravel climates. We didn't know that. And we actually introduced some of these to the trip and it's like a, like an outdoor as of gravel, just snaking switchbacks one after the other, up to this beautiful peak point with a big cross on the top. [00:25:53] Yeah. And then you're trying to work out where he went and then you look down the other side and oh, he went down there and you you try it. But then for. For many people, it's probably too much of a Rocky rock garden. So you end up heading back down like a beautiful the switching snaking all the way back down is the safest way sometimes. [00:26:14] But yeah, that's a, an overview of a gravel trip.  [00:26:18] Craig Dalton: Nice. I've done trips of my two trips. One. We were moving basically every year. And the second we had a home base and I have to say my preference is for that home base, because I think it allows you to just absorb the culture a little bit more and be a tourist in the city that you're staying in. [00:26:35] You don't have to pack your gear up every night. So there's something nice about having that hub and ride mom.  [00:26:41] Ewan Shepherd: Yup. Yup. It definitely just opening your suitcase, getting it, your kid out, put it in the wardrobes and you don't have to pack it again. The following day to move on. I like that it's focused on eat, sleep, right? [00:26:53] Repeat, enjoy your writing. The guy. Take care of everything else. And you're in the center of the city and you're a Stone's throw from the old town. You can go for a walk on the evenings, your afternoons and evenings. yours your own to either relax, take a massage or wander the town, go sit and sip coffee. [00:27:12] Do all the locals. Do any afternoon, go have a beer and get ready for your evening meal. And and that's what people want.  [00:27:18] Craig Dalton: Now our writers on these trips typically bring in their own bikes or are you providing a bike for them?  [00:27:23] Ewan Shepherd: Just really most people take a bike from us, the Trek demonic. [00:27:28] You can bring your own bike. It doesn't does it affect price? It doesn't affect the price, but we do it because it saves you having to pack your by like in a box and all the hassle of bringing it to the building it. Yeah. All of that. You just turn up and on the first day, your bikes there, it's already set up with your measurements, to your bike from home and ready to go. [00:27:46] You don't need to worry about it. And our guides full train mechanics and take care of your bike throughout the whole week. And particularly as gravel can be hot on your bikes. And you don't want any problems with your own bikes, cause it's only going to compromise your riding,  [00:27:58] Craig Dalton: as someone who can be hard on the bike. I appreciate that. So at the end of the day, I can hand my bike off to someone and it's going to come back to me better than I left it.  [00:28:05] Ewan Shepherd: Yep. Every day, I'm sure the guides gonna look after that bike and and give you it in the morning. Like it's brand new, no issues,  [00:28:14] Craig Dalton: particular trip. [00:28:15] Are you providing the routes like GPX files? How does it work from a kind of a day-to-day practice perspective?  [00:28:22] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah. So normally day to day, you'd wake up do your morning routine get dressed, go for breakfast. Get a hot tea, Catalan breakfast. Then head down to, to pick up your bikes from the bike room. [00:28:35] Your guides would meet you dad. Give you a kind of a morning briefing. The route has to go. We provide every guest with a Garmin, with preloaded GPS routes. And your guide is going to typically you have one guide on the bike, possibly two, and then a guide in a support vehicle following behind not only any issues that you have, but also by signature snack tables along the route. [00:28:59] So you could be riding through a wood and then suddenly. The van is just there and your guide has gone out a table and put some beautiful snacks out. So right in the moment when you're like, I wish I had put more water in my bottle, I wish that I brought an extra bar. That's when you're going to get to find your guides. [00:29:18] We know those spots well,  [00:29:20] Craig Dalton: nice. And, as athletes are going to be coming over with different ability, levels and fitness levels and sort of interest in flogging themselves levels. Is there an ability for, if we look at it a daily route and say I'd fancy doing a little bit more. [00:29:35] I want to come home with my legs broken every day. Are there those types of options and flexibility built into these things?  [00:29:41] Ewan Shepherd: Yup. Yup. It sounds like most of our guides they always want to go do more. So yeah, we yeah. Have a standard route for the day and then w what we call that the avid group for the day. [00:29:51] So I guess, Craig, this is for you the extra little add on which could be anything from an extra climb or an extra loop that you just hit the route on your GPS and adult. It'll take you. And we have a, an ethos of ride at your own pace. Yeah. I don't really ride. It's nice, right. [00:30:11] As a group, but also it's nice experience at your own pace. So we definitely encourage that. Guides will move around you rather than you having to stick to your guide. And they'll accommodate if if you've got slow riders or if you want to go up and do the route quite often you're going to have the guide wanting to go with you and show you that extra little climb or. [00:30:30] Take you on a, an extra level route or redo a route from two days ago because you, it was such an amazing experience. Definitely it does something for me.  [00:30:40] Craig Dalton: That's good to know. Yeah. For me, when I'm able to carve out this time in my life and I may be unique, but maybe not, when I go on one of these trips, since I don't have the responsibilities that I have at home, I don't have to care for my son. [00:30:54] I don't have to do, I need the things I need to do around the house. All I want to do is ride my bike and really, as long as I can prop myself up at the dinner table that night, that's about all I need to achieve in the rest of the.  [00:31:06] Ewan Shepherd: Yup. Yup. Did that have. A full vacation of a lifetime that's that's catered for you. [00:31:13] And that's definitely why I think people do a group trip or an organized talk because you mentioned that if you can afford to do it, but can you afford not to do it? If you've only got 20 days holiday a year, To spend spend your time planning for your holiday, and then once you get that to spend time working out, okay, what should I ride today? [00:31:34] Or where should we stop for lunch? Or where's the best place to have dinner tonight? It's all done for you. You can just make the most of what you want to do, which if you want to go on a cycling holiday and you want to ride your bike as much as.  [00:31:47] Craig Dalton: Yeah. And I think it's, it's further complicated when you're trying to ride gravel. [00:31:50] So I did a self guided tour in the Alps and there were it was pretty easy to understand the road routes that were famous to the famous climbs and figure that out on my own. But when it comes to gravel and this is something I've spoken about a lot on the podcast, there's just so much to be gained from having a little bit of local knowledge. [00:32:09] Because you cannot look at a path necessarily. And know, is that a super Rocky path that I'm going to be going four miles an hour on? Or is it actually, a smooth, single track that I'm going 16 miles an hour. And we can't know that from the outside, without talking to cyclists in that local area, while we still want to have that sense of adventure and allowing the ride to unfold. [00:32:34] It's just really nice in my opinion, particularly if you're going to spend the money to go travel to a destination, to just have a little bit of this served up to you and be able to get out there, worry for you.  [00:32:44] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah. Yeah, no, I definitely agree in something that you spend all the time working out, attract to go down and then suddenly it leads to nothing and you've wasted an hour of your ride to, and then you have to backtrack. [00:32:59] And that's yeah. With a small amount of time in Europe or wherever you're traveling, you want to make money. My  [00:33:06] Craig Dalton: Spanish is bad enough that if I end up in your garden, there's probably going to be an international incident. [00:33:11] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah. Yeah. But everybody's friendly hand signals are just, yes. It's I like, I think I've written in a lot of places in the world and definitely definitely Spain is a really good for.  [00:33:26] Craig Dalton: Yeah. When you have that many cyclists moving through a community, obviously the locals are experienced seeing these people and they realize, they're good for the community. [00:33:36] Hopefully we're good. Environmental stewards and polite cyclists. So it's just a symbiotic relationship for the committee.  [00:33:43] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah. Yeah. And as we are in a. Company we're based in Madison, Wisconsin. And we've also been in Jerone now for nearly six, seven years. So we have a good hold in the community. We employ, we have lots of people that work for attract travel, who live here locally. [00:34:00] Who are deep rooted in the community. So we often we work a lot with our subcontractors. We work really hard to find the best people who not only have the best winery or the best restaurant, but they have the best ethos to, to work with us and help our guests have the best experience. [00:34:19] It's not just about the product that serving, but how they're making our guests and us as a company feel. So it's really important that local aspect, but everything that's involved,  [00:34:29] Craig Dalton: such an amazing opportunity that travel affords the traveler, just the ability to see how things that are important in the culture. [00:34:37] Are manufactured and meet people who are doing them and, meet you, meet the restaurant tours. Like all of that is just what has kept me traveling my entire life and hopefully will have me continue traveling. So a couple of final questions for you. UN what is your favorite local cuisine? What can't we miss when we go there? [00:34:57] And what is your favorite part of Sharona from a tourist perspective?  [00:35:01] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah, that's a definitely a hard question. I don't even have a closer prepared, good answer. Where do I want to start? Definitely Girona has a lot of local cuisine Catalan cutline cuisine. It's a very simple way of cooking in one aspect. [00:35:18] And why. One thing that people often. Think of it all. I'll Paya, no, throw that away. It's it's not Paya that you'd come to get here. They have something called pinch Hills, which is very similar to tapas and it's one of my favorite local it's not a particular dish. [00:35:37] It's a way of eating and. In the restaurant, you have lots of little plates on the counter with little chunks of bread with on top of them, either fresh fish with with all sorts of toppings or. Saw or booty FADA, there's the sausage which they do in many different kinds of blood sausages. [00:35:56] And lots of little dishes. And often you don't sit down at a table. This is going to freak people out in COVID at times, but it's a great social way of eating because you're taking small plate and you're taking it and you're just standing in a bar basically. With everybody else who's enjoying it, but it's that great atmosphere of eating together in the center of town, which often spills out into the streets on a Friday and Saturday of just people standing out on the streets with small plates and a little what they called Canada, a little glass of the local beer, which they have a lot of really good local breweries here. [00:36:30] Which I know a lot of people love to test out all the local. And Catalonia to the complete other scale of things has some of Europe's best Michelin star restaurants like per area, just in, in Rona, this small area, up to 45 Ks from the center, you have 35 Michelin star restaurants. [00:36:50] For gastronomy it's an amazing place because of all the local ingredients of the winery. You have a lot of cider production with apple and pear farms, which you ride through. One of my favorite rides to the coast air takes you through just miles and miles of apple orchards and tail orchards which is just going to be picked in about a half a month's time. [00:37:13] It's main picking season here. Delicious. Yeah, it's a, and I haven't even talked about coffee coffee, the culture of coffee, drinking. Was brought to your owner with cyclist, cyclists, need coffee, and they need good coffee. And the Canadian Chrystia and Maya was one of the more well-known people who brought the coffee culture and his own roastery of the service costs. [00:37:34] And Lamatsia his his coffee shop. And from dad nearly 10 years ago, it sprung into. That each corner was developing its own taste for coffee. And as the locals really have a passion for it now at brewing really good speciality coffee, which, like I said, we can't live without it. [00:37:51] They definitely have a captured audience. Indeed.  [00:37:54] Craig Dalton: This is amazing. Girona has always been tops on my list of places to go and it certainly remains. In that post COVID top slot for me, I can't wait to join you on one of these trips. At some point, I know there's a couple trips left this year. [00:38:09] It looks like November 7th and November 14th are available for departure dates. And obviously once again, in the spring in 2022. So for all the listeners out there, you can just visit Trek, travel.com and just write search for Jeronica dry gravel. And you'll see the trip we've been talking about. It looks like a heck of a lot of fun and you can almost guarantee you that I'll be there one of these days. [00:38:32] Ewan Shepherd: Yeah, I will look forward to it. Look forward to meeting in person and hopefully you'll get to experience your own home and it won't be your last visit to drone, or I can assure you for that much.  [00:38:44] Craig Dalton: Thanks for all the great information you and I appreciate you joining us.  [00:38:48] That's going to do it for this week's edition of the gravel ride podcast. Big thanks to you and for joining us and telling us all about that great trip that Trek travel has organized. Again, those dates are November this year. As well as throughout the Springs to go, please visit truck travel.com. To figure out what itinerary might work for you. I hope you're stoked. Like I am.  [00:39:10] I'm desperate to get my tires overseas. And sample some of that great gravel in Spain and elsewhere in the world. We'll leave it at that for this week. If you have any questions, feel free to join us over at the ridership. Just visit www.theridership.com to join that free community. [00:39:29] If you're interested in supporting the podcast, ratings and reviews are hugely helpful. It's something easy you can do to support what I'm doing. And if you have a little bit more energy or means feel free to visit, buymeacoffee.com/thegravelride  [00:39:44] To help underwrite some of the financial costs associated with this broadcast. Until next time. Here's to finding. some dirt onto your wheels

¿Una jarana configurada electrónicamente?. En este episodio, nuestro amigo Bruno de la Cuenca nos comentará la manera de configurarla tan original. No te lo pierdas!!!

Empieza el primer fin de semana completo sin estado de alarma con una incidencia a la baja... y buen tiempo. Continúa la violencia entre Israel y Palestina y más noticias que debes conocer hoy en las 20 de Hora 25 con Pepa Bueno y Aimar Bretos.

¡Hola! Soy Arely Alondra. En el episodio de hoy te traigo una historia “La jarana de Mario” de Alec Dempster. "Esta es la historia de un niño llamado Mario y de su pasión por la música..." No olvides compartir con el hashtag #LoescucheenRadioOA Visita nuestras redes sociales Facebook: Orquestando Armonía Instagram: @orquestadeboca Twitter: @orquestadeboca Escúchanos en: Spotify Apple podcast --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/radioorquestandoarmonia/message

In this week's interview, I sit down with David Wax. David is the singer, songwriter, and founder of the incredible "David Wax Museum." In today's episode, we discuss life at the smallest college on earth, living with intention, bringing Mexican folk music to Boston, and making music and conversations that are inclusive. We get back into David Wax Museum's new album, "Euphoric Ouroboric." David and Suz also currently have a fundraiser right now for building a music studio in their backyard.  Please enjoy part deux of my interview with David Wax, and please remember to stick around after the interview to hear Me and Crystal's weekly post-interview wrap-up. She had a headache.

In this week's interview, I chat with David Wax. David is the singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and founder of the incredible, “David Wax Museum.” In today’s episode we discuss their first big TV sync, with the use of "Big Sur" on the Netflix show, “Firefly Lane.” We chat about "Guesthouse," Bike Injuries, ankle injuries, and getting the whole town of Charlottesville in on the making of the music video for Guesthouse. We also discuss David’s growth and new role of a music engineer over the last year during the pandemic, and how David Wax Museum’s 8th full length album, Euphoric Ouroboric, released on April 16th came to be.  David and Suz also currently have a fundraiser right now for building a music studio in their backyard.  I’m excited to share this first half of my interview with David Wax, and please remember to stick around after the interview to hear Crystal and I’s weekly post interview wrap-up. 

Mira, seamos sinceros, esta mierda no la lee nadie ni cuando es un especial temático o un programa de lecturas normal, ¿para qué coño voy a escribirla en un improvisado? Ya sabéis cómo va esto, no tenemos guión, no tenemos escaleta, no tenemos lecturas, ¡no tenemos nada! Pero por algún motivo tenemos descripción. ¡CHST! ¿QUÉ HACÉIS AHÍ? ¿NO VEIS QUE ESTAMOS IMPROVISANDO UN PODCAST? CALLA, NO LO DIGAS, NO LO PIENSES, DEJA QUE FLUYA, IMPROVÍSALO. TIMELINE: DOS HORAS Y PICO HABLANDO DE COSAS Y HACIENDO UN POCO EL IMBÉCIL, VAMOS, LO DE SIEMPRE. ¡Ahora puedes apoyarnos económicamente a través de la pestaña “Apoyar” de Ivoox. Apenas te costará nada y a nosotros nos ayudará a continuar con esta maravillosa tarea de divulgación del mundo del cómic! Seguidnos en Twitter e Instagram para no perderos ninguna novedad ni los chister de Fer. Twitter.com/invencibles_pod Instagram.com/invencibles_pod Y no dudéis en escribirnos lo que queráis en nuestro mail invencibles.podcast@gmail.com para que lo leamos en el siguiente episodio.

Mira, seamos sinceros, esta mierda no la lee nadie ni cuando es un especial temático o un programa de lecturas normal, ¿para qué coño voy a escribirla en un improvisado? Ya sabéis cómo va esto, no tenemos guión, no tenemos escaleta, no tenemos lecturas, ¡no tenemos nada! Pero por algún motivo tenemos descripción. ¡CHST! ¿QUÉ HACÉIS AHÍ? ¿NO VEIS QUE ESTAMOS IMPROVISANDO UN PODCAST? CALLA, NO LO DIGAS, NO LO PIENSES, DEJA QUE FLUYA, IMPROVÍSALO. TIMELINE: DOS HORAS Y PICO HABLANDO DE COSAS Y HACIENDO UN POCO EL IMBÉCIL, VAMOS, LO DE SIEMPRE. ¡Ahora puedes apoyarnos económicamente a través de la pestaña “Apoyar” de Ivoox. Apenas te costará nada y a nosotros nos ayudará a continuar con esta maravillosa tarea de divulgación del mundo del cómic! Seguidnos en Twitter e Instagram para no perderos ninguna novedad ni los chister de Fer. Twitter.com/invencibles_pod Instagram.com/invencibles_pod Y no dudéis en escribirnos lo que queráis en nuestro mail invencibles.podcast@gmail.com para que lo leamos en el siguiente episodio.

Los records están para ser superados y nosotros en este episodio tenemos el record en hacer Jarana en vivo desde un piso 23. Dale play a este episodio record en altura y risas.

Escucha nuestro primer especial de Halloween realizado en nuestro primer año como podcast. Algunos de los participantes ya se encuentran en ultratumba. Feliz Halloween 2020, el próximo será mejor. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hablemosconspoilers/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/hablemosconspoilers/support

El romance no tiene definición, porque definir dicen que limita y el amor no tiene límites...pero lo que no tiene límites es Jarana porque somos la mejor poesía oral.

DJ GIAN con 20 años de trayectoria en todo tipo de eventos y discotecas en Lima y todo el Perú. Estilo Musical : Crossover (Latin, Pop, Anglo, House , EDM, Rock, Reggaeton, Pachanga, Salsa, Retros y Actuales) ​ Caracteristicas : DJ , DVJ, Remixer, Productor Edits, Mixes y Remixes en audio y video Escúchame en Radio Moda, Planeta, Mar y Oasis los fines de semana Contratos: contacto@djgian.com www.djgian.com

Daniel Martinez shares a wonderful story of language and communication. This is from Daniel's performance with his group Jarana at The Bay in Lincoln, Nebraska during The Lincoln Crossroads Music Festival.