Podcasts about Otter

This week we sit down with Bryce Wood from Colorado's Alchemy Bicycles to discuss the companies' titanium and carbon gravel bikes. Presenting Sponsor: Competitive Cyclist.  Code THEGRAVELRIDE for 15% off Support the podcast Join The Ridership Automated Transcription (please excuse the typos): Alchemy Bicycles [00:00:00] Craig Dalton:  [00:00:05] Hello and welcome to the gravel rod podcast. I'm your host Craig Dalton. This week on the podcast, we have Bryce wood from alchemy bikes in Colorado. You may recognize Bryce's voice from my Sea Otter Roundup episode, where I got to know the brand a little bit, but I was certainly curious to dig deeper. So I was happy to have him on for a full show.  [00:00:27] Before we jump in, I need to thank this week. Sponsor competitive cyclist.  [00:00:32] Competitive Cyclist and the online specialty retailer of road, gravel and mountain bikes, components, apparel, and accessories, featuring cycling standout brands like pock Castelli, Pearl Izumi, and five 10, an unrivaled in-house bike assembly operation. They bring the personalized attention of the local bike shop along with the selection and convenience only available while shopping online.  [00:00:57] The real difference that competitive cyclists are the gearheads. Equal parts, customer service and cycling fanatics gear heads are 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.  [00:01:15] You may recall from the last couple of episodes that I had a really great experience with my own personal gear head, Maggie, as she walked me through the various gravel bikes they have available for sale on competitive cyclist.com. Today. I have to say, I wasted a lot of time perusing items on competitive cyclist. I'd been given a gift certificate and I wanted to pick up something for myself. So I found myself going through the clothing, the gloves, the components, all kinds of stuff. I think I filled my cart with $500 worth of stuff before I backed it off and got down to my gift certificate amount.  [00:01:52] I'm somewhat proud of myself. I ended up with a nice mix of practical things, as well as some things I've been lusting after for a while, I got some replacement disc brake pads, and also a digital tire gauge. I talked about that a little bit before on the pod, how I thought it would be curious to be able to really see precise.  [00:02:11] Measurement as to what PSI I'm running between the different wheel sets, just to make sure that I'm getting out there and understanding what various tire pressures are going to do. I've got some tests coming up in the future that I'd really want to know what range I'm in. As I test some new tires and new some new products.  [00:02:29] The team over a competitive cyclist has generously offered 15% off for all podcast listeners. So go to competitive cyclists.com/the gravel ride and enter promo code the gravel ride. Get that 15% off your first full price purchase. Plus free shipping on orders of $50 or more,  [00:02:48] Some exclusions apply. Go right now and get 15% off. Plus free shipping@competitivecyclists.com slash the gravel ride entering promo code the gravel ride.  [00:03:00] I mentioned that was on the site this morning, picking out some things for myself. I actually got a shipping notification today already. So they're doing same day shipping in some instances. So you can be confident@competitivecyclists.com. They've got your back for holiday gift purchases, things you need to get in a timely fashion. Go over to competitive cyclists.com/the gravel ride [00:03:23] With that business behind us, let's jump right into my interview with Bryce, from alchemy bikes. Bryce. Welcome to the show.  [00:03:29] Bryce Wood: Thanks for having me. I'm really excited to be here.  [00:03:32] Craig Dalton: Yeah, definitely. Ever since our brief conversation at , I've been super excited to get you on board and just learn a little bit more about the alchemy brand. You're done some super interesting stuff in gravel. [00:03:44] So why don't we just start by a little bit of the backstory of alchemy.  [00:03:49] Bryce Wood: Yeah. So alchemy was founded in 2008 in Austin, Texas by Ryan who still owns the company still comes into the office every day. And there he met our designer and engineer. Matt met shoes that they aligned on. [00:04:05] You know what they wanted to do in the bike industry. And Matt was a crit racing and as a six foot four, 230 pounds guy, he was having a hard time finding frames that were rigid enough for him and could support him during that kind of a race. So he was really interested in building his own frame. [00:04:27] And so that's how alchemy got its start. Moved to Denver, Colorado, where we currently are about two years after the fact. So we've been here in Denver for a little over a decade. And this is where we. Design and produce manufacturer and also bring customers in to have that experiences is all right here in Denver. [00:04:49] So we're really fortunate to have the Colorado people supporting us  [00:04:54] Craig Dalton: super interesting. So of those first bikes that were made, were they manufacturing out of steel or titanium or carbon at that?  [00:05:01] Bryce Wood: So Matt was actually doing he was experimenting with a wet carbon play app. And those were the first carbon bikes that he produced, not really under an alchemy badge. [00:05:10] We started building out a metal and a carbon fiber is a more expensive and In depth product to work with, you need a lot of specialized tooling. And it's relatively expensive. So carbon fiber didn't come until a few years into Alchemy's existence.  [00:05:29] Craig Dalton: Yeah, that's super interesting. [00:05:30] Yeah. I feel like the number of people. Manufacturing with carbon in the us is pretty small. So I was super excited when I learned that you were doing that in Colorado. So can you walk through the sort of carbon fiber construction process that you're using on the frames? [00:05:48] Bryce Wood: We do everything here starting with a CAD rendering. So we designed the frame, make sure that it looks good to us on a computer screen. After that we're gonna 3d print out a model so that we can hold in our hands and make sure that we've got the design cues that we're looking for. Everything is where it needs to be. [00:06:07] From there we do a pre preg carbon construction. So we get sheets of unidirectional carbon on our large rolls. And we use the CNC plotter to cut those sheets into shapes that we can lay up. So we use, different orientations of the fibers for different components. We build all the. [00:06:28] The frames in a tube to construction so that we can change the carbon layup of a change day or a bottom bracket shell, which needs to be really rigid. And that layup is going to be very different from the seat stays are the top two or the down or the C2 where we need compliance. So building in that tube to tube construction, really not only allows us to offer a custom geometry really easily, but also allows us. [00:06:55] Tune and dial in the ride, feel of that bike to a degree that we don't see from a lot of manufacturers,  [00:07:03] Craig Dalton: are you alternating some of the sort of tube dimensions or the layups on a size by size basis?  [00:07:10] Bryce Wood: So how we have it Plotted out for like our Atlas line on the Ronin line is we make these tubes extra long and then we can MITRE them down and MITRE them in different angles to create a unique geometries for the new rogue. [00:07:29] It's a little bit of a different venture for us. We're doing an advanced monocoque construction where there's. Tube the tube, but there are less components. So like the down tube and head chamber are one piece that allows us to have less junctions, which means less weights and more strength. [00:07:48] But it means that we do need different sized molds for every different sized frame.  [00:07:54] Craig Dalton: Gotcha. On that tube to tube construction, how has, how are the tubes bonded together?  [00:08:00] Bryce Wood: Yeah, the tubes are bonded through an overwrapping process. So basically we put a very fine layer of a proxy that holds the tubes together. [00:08:09] Once they've been mitered and put into a jig to hold the geometry in place, and then we take Dozens of sheets of carbon. And we wrapped them in different orientations to join those tubes together. After they'd been wrapped, they go into a vacuum bag and then into a large oven and they're cured in that oven so that those overwrap pieces become part of the frame itself. [00:08:37] Interesting.  [00:08:37] Craig Dalton: And then once that process is done, is there like sanding and finish work that happens on carbon.  [00:08:44] Bryce Wood: Yeah, there is. So we use we, we machine our own molds and house and we use a silicone and latex bladder. So we get really good compression out of our tubes and they come out of the molds extremely smooth, the overwrap process that vacuum bag tends to add a little bit of texture on those wrapped surfaces. [00:09:05] And we do need to sand those to be.  [00:09:08] Craig Dalton: Got it. Got it. Thanks for that. I, I think about carbon fiber as more of that model. Production process and less. You know what you've described, which is really interesting. It for me it share it. I start thinking about the visuals of, it's steel or titanium frame building process, where you're putting it in a jig and you're bonding and you're welding them all together. [00:09:27] So it's interesting and clear to me and hopefully the listener. You can really make a lot of adjustments pretty easily in the process by having those tube forms that are a little bit longer and just chop them down and MITRE them to the appropriate size for what the customer's looking for. [00:09:44] Bryce Wood: Yeah. It's definitely unique. And. And you don't see that in, in any mass produced frames, it's all going to be a monocot construction, which is easy to produce. And you can to a certain degree still tune those tubes to do what you want them to. You add different layers here. And there but you lose the ability to do that custom geometry, which is something that our customers, I think really value and something that is one of the pillars that we built alchemy on. [00:10:12] And we'll do that forever.  [00:10:14] Craig Dalton: Yeah. It's certainly rather unique that you can get a carbon fiber frame custom fitted to your own personal specifications.  [00:10:23] Bryce Wood: Yeah, there's really only a few companies in the country doing that. So we're really happy to be helping to lead that charge. [00:10:31] Craig Dalton: Let's talk a little bit more about Alchemy's journey. You mentioned that the co-founders started out by building road bikes or criteria bikes to fit their needs, and eventually started to offer them under the alchemy brand. At what point did it start to expand to the mountain bike and gravel road? [00:10:47] Bryce Wood: As soon as we noticed that there was a market for gravel we dove into that head first. So we, we offered pretty early on a true gravel bike, not just a cyclocross frame that we build as a gravel bike, but a true gravel frame. That took on all the cues in design and performance that people were looking for out of that discipline. [00:11:11] Mountain bikes came because. A lot of us rode mountain bikes and we really wanted to be able to have something under us that for our company name and that's actually really taken off and become probably the biggest department at alchemy is our Arcos mountain bike.  [00:11:29] Craig Dalton: Yeah. [00:11:30] Interesting. I imagine. One sitting there in Colorado understood pretty hard, pretty darn hard to not want to build a mountain bike being in that location. And to imagine, as far as the mountain bike landscape goes again, being able to offer these custom capabilities for the bike is pretty unique in this space. [00:11:49] Bryce Wood: We've found that there's not a lot of demand for custom mountain frames. The bike itself and the discipline itself is so dynamic. It's not like a road or gravel where you find yourself in a stagnant position for long amounts of time. You're always pivoting and and moving on the bike and. [00:12:12] That combined with your suspension means that there's not a huge demand for it. We still offer custom geometry on our hard tail mountain bikes, because that's a little bit more similar to the road in gravel side of things. But we are not currently offering custom geometry on the full suspension, carbon Pikes. [00:12:30] Craig Dalton: Understood. So on the gravel bike, you mentioned, you saw the trend beginning and you started to design a bike specific for gravel. Can you talk about some of those design considerations in the original bike and was that original bike? The Ronan,  [00:12:45] Bryce Wood: The original bike was actually the eighth on a map bike. [00:12:48] We wanted it to not be as, as. As a cyclocross bike or a road bike but we wanted to stay away from something that was too slack. We wanted it to be really comfortable and capable and just have that extra clearance that you need on a gravel bike. As this sport has evolved. [00:13:09] We've. Notice that the original eighth on is not looking like what gravel bikes are looking like today that they're getting longer. They're getting slacker there. The demand for Mount mounting points and racks and fenders has really increased. And it looked a lot like a cyclocross bike that I would think of today, but for the time it was a little bit different than that. [00:13:31] The new rogue is really moving into that contemporary design where we've got really slack had tubes and bikes really meant it's purpose built for adventure.  [00:13:42] Craig Dalton: Gotcha. So let's talk about your, you've got two models currently, and one of them has two materials. So you've got the Ronin in both carbon, fiber and titanium. [00:13:53] Why don't we start there and talk about the intention of that bike, the type of writer it's looking to serve, and maybe spend a moment or two in terms of if a writer sort of keys in on the Ronin as being the bike for them, how do you talk to them about titanium versus carbon?  [00:14:10] Bryce Wood: Yeah. So the Ronin was the next iteration of that original life on and had just expanded and dialed in what a gravel cyclist is looking for. [00:14:21] We kept it True to that same design element of the Aidan, where we wanted relatively steep geometry that makes the bike feel really lively and responsive. But we wanted that, that clearance and the capability that comes from a grapple machine. That bike's been in our stable. [00:14:44] A couple of years now two and a half years. And it's still relevant. I think for those people who are interested in gravel, but also want to be able to ride on the road from time to time. And also those people who. Our maybe racing gravel. So that's the bike that I would recommend if somebody is looking to do Unbound gravel and be competitive. [00:15:05] I push them towards the Ronin instead of the rogue. If you want that quiver killing bike, that bike that you can maybe have two wheel sets for, and it's going to be really capable off-road, but still be able to keep up with your group ride with your friends on the road. That bike is going to be. [00:15:20] It's going to serve you really well. The distinction between carbon and titanium, just like on the road it's gonna, it's gonna be really dependent on your goals and your riding style and what you want that bike to do well. So if you live here in the foothills and you're riding up mountains all day long That carbon fiber, the responsiveness and that the rigidity, and it is really going to serve you. [00:15:46] And in that purpose if comfort is your main concern or you spend a lot of time doing endurance riding the forgiveness and the compliance and the titanium frame is really going to benefit you and make you a lot more comfortable. It, the weight gain between carbon and titanium. [00:16:04] Titanium being a little bit heavier is really not a huge consideration for most people. It's about 200 grams in our frame, depending on frame size. So it really comes down to do I want this bike to be fast and responsive or would I rather it be comfortable and easier to live with on those longer rides? [00:16:26] Craig Dalton: Are both the titanium and carbon fiber versions offering the same accommodation for tire size.  [00:16:33] Bryce Wood: They do. Yeah. So we called form our titanium tubing and house, and that's how we achieve the rear tire clearance. We do an S bend seat, stay and chain stay to allow the exact same clearance. So you can fit a 45 seat tire and both C carbon and titanium. [00:16:51] Craig Dalton: And then on the six 50 tires, I think I noted that you can go up to two, want 2.1.  [00:16:57] Bryce Wood: That's correct.  [00:16:58] Craig Dalton: Yes, sir. And with the two Ronin models, correct me if I'm wrong, but these are models that if a customer is working with you, you do offer a custom geometry and modifications.  [00:17:10] Bryce Wood: Yeah. So every bit of that from the build spec to the frame, geometry, to the finish options for all. [00:17:17] Craig Dalton: Cool. And now let's talk about the rogue. Say you began your journey with model one, then you moved over to the Ronan and then this year you've introduced the rogue. Tell me about the philosophy behind it and where you see this sitting next to the Ronin lineup.  [00:17:34] Bryce Wood: Yeah. It's that next progression and gravel, right? [00:17:37] Everybody this sport has really Taken over a large part of the industry. And it's really growing exponentially year over year. And the people as they keep riding, they find out. What they need out of a gravel bike. And so this is that answer to the last decade of people riding gravel and expressing their needs. [00:18:03] We'll still be keeping the Ronin in the lineup, but the road is just a great compliment to it. If you're that cyclist to is expressly riding off road, you want to get out of traffic and off the road. The road is going to be your bike. If you want to do light bike packing and you want to get lost the rogues, the bike for you. [00:18:25] So it's not going to be as steep or as racy feeling as the Ronin is. It's going to be that bike that can take you anywhere and keep you comfortable and have all the Accessories and accompaniments that you want when you're on a long distance ride away from civilization.  [00:18:45] Craig Dalton: Gotcha. [00:18:45] So when talking about how you've made it a little bit, slacker, wider tires, tire clearance, any other bits of the geometry that have changed for this style of.  [00:18:56] Bryce Wood: Yeah. Definitely. So we've dropped the seat stays and we have carved out the lower section of the seat tube. And both of these design elements are going to give that rear end a lot more compliance. [00:19:09] So we've actually got a couple millimeters of travel built into that rear end just through. The carbon construction of the frame that paired with those larger tires is really going to help to keep you a lot more comfortable. Also with the rogue, we've added more mounting points so that you can add racks and pioneers and make that. [00:19:33] A little bit more capable and other design features the SRAM universal derail your hanger, or D H we added that because we've, it's been around on the mountain bike side of things for awhile. And I think for a bike that you're really taking off road and adventuring and exploring with that makes sense to have that product on the bike, because it really protects your drive train when you're in. [00:19:58] Those situations where you might have tight clearance of rocks around your things get really muddy. You've got that re rail feature to keep your chain where it needs to be. And if you do happen to go down, it's also going to protect your derailer so that you don't find yourself in a bad place when you're far away from  [00:20:16] Craig Dalton: This might be a little bit difficult question to answer, but could you describe what that Ude H looks like and how it differs from a traditional derailleur hanger? [00:20:26] Bryce Wood: Yeah the UDA H is It bolts on to the rear dropouts. You've got a bolt that enters the driver's side and bolt onto the actual hanger. That's on the non drive side of that. Right dropout. It has a feature on the inside that helps to re rail your chain. So if you're on a really bumpy surface or your drill is not properly adjusted and it's, and you shifts into that first position instead of your chain going in between the cog and the dropout and jamming up the drill, you're hanging. [00:21:03] Spit it back up onto that, that first cog. So you're not going to have that situation anymore where you miss shift or the chain gets rattled off into your frame. Another great feature of it is that it actually rotates because of how it's Because of how it's attached to the frame. It rotates backwards in the event of a crash. [00:21:22] So instead of it breaking your derail yer as a knuckle or at the melting point, it's just going to rotate and get your derail your out of the way. So hangers have been doing this for us for years, but only in a lateral capacity. So if you crash on your side, Your hanger is built to, to break right? [00:21:42] To protect your earlier. This kind of takes that a step further in an oblique impact. Or if you just catch it earlier on a rock or something, it's just going to rotate that back and give you a better chance of your drill. You're surviving that situation.  [00:21:57] Craig Dalton: Got it. And when you're removing the rear axle to take the wheel off, is it still attached to the frame or is it, does it come off with that removal of an axle? [00:22:06] Bryce Wood: Nope. It's the exact same once that drill your hangers now said everything works the exact same as your traditional through actual system.  [00:22:13] Craig Dalton: Got it. Thanks. I appreciate that. So would the rogue, if I'm someone who fits the bill, but still does a little bit of road riding with this bike, what do you slap a road wheel set on this? [00:22:25] What am I feeling that's different than the Ronan?  [00:22:28] Bryce Wood: Yeah, it's still a road configuration, right? You still got dropped handlebars. You still, you're still going to be in relatively the same position. But this bike is going to put you in a little bit more upright position. It's a little bit shorter. [00:22:42] And you're gonna, you're gonna notice that the bike is not quite as responsive when you're sprinting or climbing up the hill as a Ronan or a road bike would be. So while it's still going to be perfectly happily written on the road, it really is built to Excel off.  [00:23:00] Craig Dalton: Yeah, that makes sense. I think something you said a few minutes ago was really interesting to me just talking about, the decade that we've been riding gravel and how this bike is the culmination of that. [00:23:11] And I have to say, when I met you at sea Otter and I looked and understood the specs of this bike, I really do feel like it's on point with the moment and the journey that certainly speaking for myself that I've been on as a rider and where I want to see the speck of these bikes.  [00:23:26] Bryce Wood: Yeah. It just takes everything that, that one step further. [00:23:30] It's like gravel without limitations, right? Where a Ronan's going to serve you. In 90% of the situations that you find yourself in. But it's lacking a little something. If you're a true gravel, officiant auto, and that's where you spend most of your time writing, you're going to want the option to run a larger tire. [00:23:47] You're going to want mounts on your forks and your rear end. You're going to want that, that slacker more comfortable, more stable geometry on those rough roads. So it's really built for.  [00:23:59] Craig Dalton: Yeah, it's interesting. I certainly have been public about my journey. And I think when I originally started gravel riding, I sold my road bike and said this is going to be my road bike and my gravel bike. [00:24:10] And I made certain compromises to accommodate for this notion in my head that I would still ride on the road a lot. And over the years, absolutely. I've just discovered that. Nine times out of 10, I really want to be off-road immediately as quickly as possible and stay off the roads. And my choice of equipment has gradually moved towards that acknowledgement of, Hey, if 90% of my riding is exclusively off-road and being where I live, it's fairly technical. [00:24:37] I do need to optimize around that. And as you said, certainly I've got to drop our bikes. I want to put a road wheel set on it. It's fine. I'm not going to win any criteriums on it, but I wasn't going to do that.  [00:24:49] Bryce Wood: Exactly. Yeah. If you're riding nine times out of 10 on the gravel, that one time out of 10, that bike still gonna, still going to be fun to ride on the road. [00:24:56] But you're going to have all the capability that you really need those nine times out of 10. So yeah that's really how we do this. Yeah, I think it  [00:25:06] would  [00:25:06] Craig Dalton: be interesting if people coming from the road side of the market are willing and able mentally to make that leap all the way over to the rogue right off the bat. [00:25:14] Or if they still like me needed an interim step on a bike that quote unquote felt like it was going to be more of a road.  [00:25:21] Bryce Wood: Yeah. It's been really interesting working with all of our customers and seeing that transition on their own journeys. And we've got a true road bike. We've got an all road bike, we've got the racy gravel bike, and now we've got the rogue and we're seeing people that are. [00:25:40] Are a little hesitant and they're going to just step up to that all road bike and get the 38 C tire clearance and go off road, 20 or 30% of the time. And I think that it's a good thing to have, all those steps in between because there all those bikes are gonna really be tailored for each individual riders needs. [00:25:58] If you're on the road all the time, Craig, who's got a bike for that. If you want to get off the road a little bit. Cool. We've got something that, that suits that need as well. I don't think we're seeing a lot of people make that transition, that full transition from roads to rogue right now unless, they, in that situation where they can own multiple bikes in which case that's the best case scenario is to have that true road and to have a true. [00:26:24] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Yeah, no doubt. It's a good segue. I would love to just hear from you about the customer journey. So what does it like alchemy bikes sells direct to consumer from the website. Why don't you talk through what that experience looks like, how you tend to work with customers and what type of timeline it takes to get one of these bikes underneath them? [00:26:46] Bryce Wood: Yeah. While we do offer all of the bikes available for immediate purchase on the website. We find that not a lot of people go that route. Most people when they're spending that much money on something like this, they want to talk to somebody first. So we, most of the bikes that we sell, we've got that conversation with that customer before they actually makes a purchase. [00:27:08] I'm the main point of contact at alchemy for all of our road and gravel customers who are looking to purchase a bike. And if they've got questions about specking it out or they need a fitting first I'm the person that they're going to talk to about it. So the customer journey really starts with that first phone call. [00:27:24] Hi, my name is blank. This is what I'm looking for. And then we can talk a little bit more about their individual needs and we can land on. That platform first. Okay. You need a rogue. And then where are you going to be riding? What's your riding style. That's going to bring us to determining what kind of gearing or drive, train that you need. [00:27:47] And then the hardest part of the whole process is what color do I want the bike to be? Everyone gets hung up there. So after, after we've determined all that with the customer. We send them a copy of their geometry. We send them a rendering of their paint and we send them a build sheet, detailing all the components that we're going to build their bike with and we get approval from them. [00:28:09] And then we take a deposit and the production team gets to work and we start ordering components. Typically we like to try to keep the customer updated as their frame moves through the production. So I'll send them a picture of their frame after it's been over wrapped before it has paint on it so that they can be a part of that bike coming to life. [00:28:28] The question. A timeline and delivery is a tricky one in this day and age and largely it's dependent on their component choices. So we can turn around a custom geometry custom painted frame. And about eight weeks we have stock sizing that's paint, ready that we can paint and turn around in about two or three weeks. [00:28:51] And the main holdup right now is going to be components. Every small builder as well as the big guys are also feeling that squeeze right now. There's some components that we've got decent availability of, and we can turn that bike around in 10 or 11 weeks on. And there's some stuff that is in such high demand in such short supply that it's gonna, it's going to be a couple months before. [00:29:14] Before we can deliver that bike. The great thing is that we can make concessions and we can work with that customer and say, Hey, this product is going to be out of stock. We can get you the bike quicker. If would entertain moving to one of these other options. So we can work with you every step of the way to get you that bike when you need it at the price you need it. [00:29:33] And. I'm really hold your hand through it. That  [00:29:37] Craig Dalton: makes a lot of sense. I certainly love getting those check-in points with manufacturers on what the supply chains looking like, because it has been grim and reported as grim on multiple episodes of this podcast. So I think everybody at this point is accustomed not happy about, but accustomed to the idea that they may have to be flexible or. [00:29:58] Bryce Wood: Yes. We're very fortunate to have excellent customers and most of them are completely understanding and, they'd like their bike next week, but they know it's going to take a little bit longer than that. And they're very nice to us. And and we're very appreciative of. [00:30:14] Craig Dalton: 100%. You mentioned the paint jobs and the option to get custom paint. I think you have about a half dozen stock colors and then unlimited options on the custom paint. Are you doing that painting in house or is that a partner? They're in the Denver area?  [00:30:30] Bryce Wood: Yeah, we have our own pain studio here in the facility. [00:30:33] So we're doing all of the wet paint and all of the cerakote here in house.  [00:30:38] Craig Dalton: The rogue that we looked at sea Otter had that cerakote paint technology. And it, can you describe what that is and how it differs from a wet paint?  [00:30:48] Bryce Wood: Yeah. Sarah code's been around for a little while. It started to make its way into the bicycle industry in the last year or two. [00:30:56] It is a polymer ceramic coding And the actual, the colors are suspended in five that that polymer so that makes it extremely Finn and a lot more tough than it's a wet paint counterparts. So it's about a six, the thickness of a wet paint. And. Easily twice as strong, so we can still expect to see where out of it. [00:31:27] Just because that's it's not impervious to it, but it's toughness related to its thickness is quite remarkable compared to wet paint. We can't do as many unique things. We can't do a lot of pearlescent colors. We can't do color shifting But we can still do a lot of different design details and Sarah code. [00:31:48] So it's a really a perfect coding for the road that we're expecting to see a lot of off-road usage. And we don't want your down to, to get chips in it from Erin rocks, flying up from your front tire and leaning it against a tree. All of that stuff is gonna hold up a whole lot better with. [00:32:10] Is  [00:32:10] Craig Dalton: the cerakote applied in a different way than a wet paint.  [00:32:13] Bryce Wood: It's applied in the same way and that it is sprayed through an air gun. But it needs to be baked and that's really where it achieves that toughness. So we have to bake it for a couple hours after the coatings applied. [00:32:26] Okay.  [00:32:27] Craig Dalton: Cool. Thank you for letting me explore some of my sort of deep personal questions on this. I love what you've been doing with the brand and super excited to expose listeners to what alchemy is all about.  [00:32:39] Bryce Wood: Thanks. We're really excited about the direction that cycling is going and people wanting to get off road, and we really want to be a part of that, and we appreciate you bringing in Some visibility, not only to our brand, but to, to gravel cycling in general. [00:32:55] Craig Dalton: Fantastic. Thanks for your time.  [00:32:58] Bryce Wood: Thanks a lot, Craig. Nice to talk to you.  [00:33:00] Craig Dalton: Big, thanks to Bryce for joining us this week.  [00:33:03] I really like what they've done with the alchemy rogue bicycle. I think they're spot on in the spec and the versatility of that bike. And it looks like it's going to be a. A hell of a lot of fun to ride. I also want to give a shout out to our friends at competitive cyclist. Remember visit competitive cyclist.com/the gravel ride and enter promo code.  [00:33:22] Gravel ride  [00:33:23] To get 15% off your first full price purchase.  [00:33:26] If you're interested in connecting with me and other gravel cyclists around the world, I encourage you to check out the ridership. The ridership is a free global gravel and adventure cycling community. [00:33:37] I think of it as an online forum where you can ask any question you want connect with other riders, create group rides, and generally share our love and passion for the sport of gravel cycling. Simply visit www.theridership.com for more information.  [00:33:54] Finally, just a quick shout out to those of you who have become members or supporters@buymeacoffee.com slash the gravel ride. It means a ton every time a new contribution comes in and just helps pay for the overhead of the show and a portion of the time that I dedicate every week to bringing you the best gravel cycling content.  [00:34:15] Until next time. Here's to finding some dirt under your wheels

Transcripts are a word for word manuscript of your podcast, so creating transcripts from episodes of your podcast is a great idea if you're looking to increase your show's discoverability.So in today's episode, you'll learn about three of the best transcripts and services available to you.Transcription Services we recommend:Otter.aiRevHappy Scribe Record your podcasting question at Speakpipe.com/Buzzsprout to be featured on a future episode.Review Podcasting Q&A in Podchaser or Apple Podcasts to let us know what you think of the show.

Dan & Scott share good 403(b) advocacy news. Dan discusses his talk to teachers in Albuquerque.   Albuquerque Teacher Residency Partnership When Bad Vendors Offer Good Investing Choices Plan Rating Project Podcast Meridian Wealth Management 403bwise.org

Jennifer Otter Bickerdike is an author and a rock 'n' roll cultural historian who has been in the centre of the music industry for the last 30 years. She sat down with Georgina Godwin to discuss her latest book, ‘Being Britney: Pieces of a Modern Icon'.

The hilarious Chad Daniels joins Chet from Ferguson Falls Minnesota To discuss otters and fire wood and to give the single greatest inspirational halftime speech ever written. Gotta hear this!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Awkward meetings abound as our heroes are drawn together. Gail writes an email. Vanessa is standoffish, but she really cares. Janus decides to not back down. And we are all certain that Gail's shack is not a love shack. Cast and Crew: Game Master: Jordan Green (they/them) Vanessa the Witch (she/her): played by Fay Onyx (ze/hir) Janus the Ghoul (she/her): played by Tobi Hill-Meyer (she/her) Gail the Ghost (she/her): played by William (Billie) Rain (ze/hir) Audio Editing: Ryan Boelter (he/they) Sound Design: Fay Onyx Transcription: Nikki Yager (she/her), with help from Fay Onyx, using Otter.ai Content warnings are listed at the bottom of these show notes. TRANSCRIPT For maximum accessibility, each transcript has four formats. Online transcript: https://writingalchemy.net/2021/11/22/transcript-of-inside-the-first-responders-training-program-part-2/ Word doc with low-vision friendly font Veranda: Writing Alchemy E41 Transcript Pdf with dyslexia friendly font OpenDyslexic3: Writing Alchemy E41 Transcript OpenDyslexic3 Low contrast blue on black pdf: Writing Alchemy E41 Transcript blue on black Main transcripts page: https://writing-alchemy.net/podcast-2/transcripts/ Transcription by: Nikki Yager (she/her), with help from Fay Onyx, using Otter.ai LINKS Game System Monsterhearts 2: https://buriedwithoutceremony.com/monsterhearts Podcast Recommendation Hit the Bricks: https://hitthebricks.com/ Support Writing Alchemy Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/WritingAlchemy Ko-fi donation: https://ko-fi.com/S6S4BFL0 Tee Public Store: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/writing-alchemy?ref_id=8162 Writing Alchemy Links Website: https://writing-alchemy.net/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/@writing_alchemy Contact Fay: https://writingalchemy.net/about/contact-form/ Podcast RSS feed: https://writing-alchemy.net/feed/podcast Jordan's Link Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/jordonaut Tobi's Link Website: https://tobihillmeyer.com/ William's (Billie's) Links Website: http://www.billierain.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/billierain Ryan's Link Twitter: https://twitter.com/lordneptune Nikki's Link Linktree: https://linktr.ee/BeholdertoNoOne MUSIC AND SOUND EFFECT CREDITS Intro: Kickin' in the Turbo (Alasdair Cooper) / CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Game theme: Levels Of Greatness by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution License Light medieval music: Pippin the Hunchback (Kevin MacLeod) / CC BY 3.0 Humorous guitar music: My Lady Carey's Dompe composed by Anonymous and played by Jon Sayles and available at http://www.jsayles.com/familypages/earlymusic.htm Gail's crush wonder music: The Forest and the Trees (Kevin MacLeod) / CC BY 3.0 Tinkly crush music: The Flight of the Lulu by Possimiste from Free Music Archive Soft piano music: Touching Moments Two - Higher (Kevin MacLeod) / CC BY 3.0 Uplifting slow piano music: There Is Romance (Kevin MacLeod) / CC BY 3.0 Optimistic guitar music: Green Fields by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License Mid-roll music: The Place Where I'll Return To (Alasdair Cooper) / CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Humorous guitar music: Saltarello by Anonymous and played by Jon Sayles and available at http://www.jsayles.com/familypages/earlymusic.htm Sensual jazz music: Isolated (Kevin MacLeod) / CC BY 3.0 Dramatic folk music: Kings of Tara (Kevin MacLeod) / CC BY 3.0 Hip and spooky synthetic track: Spellbound (Kevin MacLeod) / CC BY 3.0 Geiger counter sounds : Radioactive Machine by leonelmail | License: Creative Commons 0 Outro: Everybody's Got Problems That Aren't Mine (Chris Zabriskie) / CC BY 4.0 CONTENT WARNINGS Social awkwardness and anxiety, uncomfortable public displays of affection, discussion of recent violence  

Everyone should be so lucky as to have a colleague like Scott Olsen who works hard to educate his colleagues at Foothill-DeAnza Community College District about saving for retirement.   Foothill DeAnza-Community College District Bogleheads Plan Rating Project Podcast Meridian Wealth Management 403bwise.org

Growing healthy trees starts with choosing the right plant for the right place, and good planting technique. And with adequate care early in the tree's life, you'll be well on your way to the shade, blooms, privacy screening, wildlife habitat, or whatever you're trying to achieve with the new addition to your landscape. In part 1 of this 2 part episode on trees, Greg Jordan, Emma Erler and Nate Bernitz talk about all this and more. Then look for part 2, which will focus on pruning and tree problems and solutions.  Featured Question: How to transplant established trees?  Featured Plant: Tamarack (Larix laricina)  Closing Tip: Transporting Trees from the Nursery  Promotions  Listener Survey  Webinar on Designing for Winter Interest and Wildlife  Resources  Planting and Care of Tree Seedlings  Planting and Mulching Trees and Shrubs  List of Trees for New Hampshire Landscapes  Transplanting or Moving Trees and Shrubs in the Landscape  Subscribe to the monthly Granite State Gardening newsletter.  Email us questions, suggestions and feedback at gsg.pod@unh.edu  Transcript by Otter.ai (Pending)

We discuss 2022 403(b) and 457(b) contribution limit increase and an article and report that seem to suggest AIG may be getting behind single vendor push. Or maybe we are just crazy.  2022 403(b) Contribution Limits 2022 457(b) Contribution Limits PlanSponsor: K-12 School Districts Confused About Retirement Benefits AIG Report: Meeting Retirement Needs of K-12 Employees Meridian Wealth Management 403bwise.org

Otter Cove Diner – onlyinokshow.com

durée : 00:25:13 - Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano (5/5) - par : Judith Chaine - Aujourd'hui, Anne Sofie von Otter revient sur son mari, Benny Fredriksson, grand homme de théâtre qui s'est suicidé en mars 2018 après avoir été accusé de harcèlement sexuel. - réalisé par : Lionel Quantin

durée : 00:25:26 - Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano (4/5) - par : Judith Chaine - Aujourd'hui Anne Sofie von Otter nous parle de sa relation aux chefs, clé de voûte de la vie du chanteur… - réalisé par : Lionel Quantin

On today's episode of the Only in OK Show, we are taking you to the Otter Cove Diner in Miami, Oklahoma.   The Otter Cove Diner & Gift Shop is a new "classic" diner built out of the remains of an historic 1920's Texaco on Main Street in Miami, Oklahoma.  The Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma has rejuvenated a piece of Route 66 history right next to the RT66 Gateway.  At this diner, you can get a classic diner experience(milkshakes, burgers, and much more), put your favorite song on the jukebox and just enjoy the history and murals.   Miami was founded in 1891. Lead and zinc mining established by 1918, caused it to boom. It is the capital of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, after which it is named, the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma, the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma, the Peoria Tribe of Indians and the Shawnee.   The Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma is made up of descendants of the Ottawa who migrated from Canada.  The name “Ottawa” is from the Indian word “adawe” meaning to trade. This name was appropriate because of the extensive trading with other tribes and their eventual involvement with the French.   We also discuss the OSU's launch of Oklahoma Aerospace Institute for Research and Education.    Check out our sponsor for this episode - MasterThreads   #TravelOK #onlyinokshow #Oklahoma #MadeinOklahoma #oklaproud #itunes #podcast #okherewego #traveloklahoma #diner #rt66  #route66 #motherroad #kickson66 #icecream #Ottawa #OSU #OAIRE

durée : 00:25:18 - Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano (3/5) - par : Judith Chaine - Dans ce troisième volet de nos entretiens, Anne Sofie von Otter évoque ses rôles de travestis, ses enfants et ses relations avec ses collègues de scène. - réalisé par : Lionel Quantin

durée : 00:25:09 - Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano (2/5) - par : Judith Chaine - Aujourd'hui, nous poursuivons les récits d'enfance d'Anne Sofie von Otter… Après les voyages en Saab à travers l'Angleterre dans les années 60, les après-midi à jouer avec Peggy son cochon d'Inde adoré, la voici évoquant l'école et ses premières aspirations en termes de professions. - réalisé par : Lionel Quantin

durée : 00:25:18 - Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano (1/5) - par : Judith Chaine - Dans ce premier volet de nos entretiens, la mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter nous parle de son enfance à Londres, de ses étés en Suède et de ses parents. - réalisé par : Lionel Quantin

Back in the can for round two, this time with a lot less alcohol, Tai Smith shares how it's felt going  from a low time Otter pilot to a few thousand hours, low time jumps to hitting it with a wingsuit, and how hardcore COVID rules have put an real exclamation point on incredible experiences like our spectacular trip across the Mediterranean.  Join us on this edition of Lunatic Fringe for a few proper laughs and a couple of songs with a proper Kiwi jump pilot.

Crystal Gonzalez is the founder of a non-profit that assists non-profits. She was also a 5th grade student of Dan's way back in the early 2000's. RevComm Foundation Meridian Wealth Management 403bwise.org

It's time to put yourself in position and produce at a higher level than ever before. Whether you run your own business, work as a part of a team, or work in a traditional company, these 7 pro tips are micro changes that have the potential to create macro results. Join me and Tiffany Farley live from the studio as we share some of our top keys to producing at a high capacity.  Links we mention:  Slack: https://slack.com/ Otter: https://otter.ai/ Instapaper: https://www.instapaper.com/ Sow a seed and help us change this generation before it's too late: http://bit.ly/2B81pjY Give by PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/miracleword Give by CashApp or Venmo: $MWgive Subscribe to The Last Gen Podcast for students: https://miracleword.com/lastgen Get exclusive emails and our free magazine here: http://bit.ly/2WlgS6N Get text messages from me: http://bit.ly/2XoOapG I want to highly recommend our online training courses found at https://www.miraclewordu.com/ Each course is designed to equip you with biblical knowledge that will give you the fuel to overcome in every area of life. Our brand new course "Divine Prosperity" is now available in Miracle Word University! For more great content, follow me on Instagram: @tedshuttlesworth and Facebook: @MiracleWordMinistries

Learn about one of Alaska's deadly creatures, and why they are feared worse than death. Join our email list https://legendsfromthepacific.ck.page/32ca50bd23 *We respect your privacy. We will not share your email. You can unsubscribe at any time. Theme Song: "Mystery" by Tavana, courtesy of HI*Sessions Sound Effects: Sound Effects Factory Music Coordinator: Matt Duffy AKA DJ TripleBypass Featured song: "Dearly" by Eden Kai, courtesy of HI*Sessions Link to this episode on our website https://legendsfromthepacific.com/76-otterman Please give us a rating, write a review, subscribe, follow us, and share us with your friends and family. ***** Join our email list and claim your exclusive unaired episode today: "Hawaii's Faceless Ghost - Mujina" (Unaired Episode) https://legendsfromthepacific.ck.page/32ca50bd23 *We respect your privacy. We will not share your email. You can unsubscribe at any time. Listen to Kamu's unaired paranormal experiences by becoming a Patreon supporter today: https://www.patreon.com/legendsfromthepacific Send your unusual Pacific experience to be shared on a future episode. https://legendsfromthepacific.com/feedback  ***** Link to our website's Fan Art Section Link to send us your feedback and Asian and/or Pacific encounters ***** Instagram: legendsfromthepacific Twitter: LegendsPacific https://legendsfromthepacific.com

NY teaching couple had saved $2 million in their 403(b) and 457(b) plans by October 2019. We catch up with them to see where they are now. We also discuss their summer side hustle: running a popular, hands-on summer camp (total amount saved revealed at 54:54). Wealthy Teachers (pod #80) Meridian Wealth Management 403bwise.org

Deer hunting is coming soon and we talk with Fergus Falls Area Wildlife Supervisor Mike Oehler about the status of wildlife in his area, which includes Fergus Falls, Otter Tail county, and the Alexandria area. Plus we talk bear, ducks, prairie chickens and more. All about the woods, prairie and fields.

Tonight, we'll read another excerpt from “The Wind in the Willows” by Kenneth Grahame, published in 1908.This story centers around four small animals: Mole, Rat, Toad, and Badger. Their stories take place in the countryside of Edwardian England.If you'd like to start with the first episode, it aired on March 22, 2021. To follow along easily in order, go to snoozecast.com/series.In the last episode, the two little friends Water Rat and Mole spend more time in Mr. Badger's cozy underground dwelling with Mr. Otter before returning safely home.— read by 'V' — See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Cullen Roche, author, money manager, and one of the most astute financial minds we know has some big news.  Pragcap Discipline Funds Meridian Wealth Management 403bwise.org

In this episode, podcast editor and content creator Rachel Bond joins the show. We talk about how The Practice of Therapy Podcast gets made. If you have a podcast of your own, Rachel gives tips for promoting it on social media. Plus, we chat about saving time on social media by batching content, creating a calendar, and even outsourcing. Tune in as Rachel talks about helping students for FREE with Affordable College Prep. Plus, I have an exciting announcement at the end of the show – you don't want to miss it! Meet Rachel Bond Rachel Bond graduated with her MBA in 2019. After college, she freelanced full-time as a writer, content creator, and podcast editor. Plus, Rachel completed the Disney College Program and two years of AmeriCorps service. Recently, Rachel and Dr. Alan Seidman started a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) called Affordable College Prep (ACP). As Vice President and Managing Director of Affordable College Prep, Rachel aims to help students from lower-income backgrounds make affordable college choices and complete higher education using their free coaching. Rachel loves to help students with their college applications, essays, and scholarship search. Learn more at affordablecollegeprep.com. How The Practice of Therapy Podcast Gets Made Gordon uploads audio from the interview, which is pulled from Zoom into Google Drive. From there, we go into an audio editing software and upload the audio into a template. Rachel takes time to comb through the audio and cut anything out. From there, we will plug the audio into Levelator. The Levelator is a free software that will level, compress, and normalize the audio in a matter of minutes. In iTunes, Rachel can finish the id3 tags. The id3 tags are bits of information that display on the track. For instance, she always makes sure there's an artist name, album name, year, genre, etc. At this point, everything is done for the audio, so it's ready for our podcast hosting service. We use Libsyn – and they will distribute the podcast to all of the apps like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon. From there, Rachel will upload the complete audio into Otter.ai, which is a transcription service. Depending on how long the audio is, it could take a few minutes to 15 minutes to finish. Once finished, we will have a written version of the podcast, also known as a transcript. Using the transcript, Rachel will write the podcast show notes that get uploaded to Libsyn and WordPress. You can always check out our show notes on the practiceoftherapy.com Promoting Your Podcast on Social Media Promoting your podcast on social media is a great tool to get listeners and guests on your show. Each social media platform is different, so it does take time to alter your posts, but it's worth it. For instance, in Canva, you can change your graphics based on where you post them. Also, you can't post as much text on Twitter as you can on Instagram. Plus, the links don't work on Instagram as well as they do on LinkedIn. So there's a lot of tweaking that is time-consuming, but it's worth it. Saving Time With Social Media Outsourcing is a great way to save time on this. Another great way to save time on social media is by creating a calendar. It can help you visualize all your planned posts for the next weeks or months ahead. Buffer is a software designed to manage social accounts by scheduling posts to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. IGTV is another social media tool you can utilize for your podcast. If you're recording a podcast, record with the video on! That way, you can use the video to promote your podcast, tease the episode, and introduce the guest to your audience. Free Advising With Affordable College Prep If you need help with anything college, Rachel wants to be the person to give a helping hand. All of the Affordable College Prep services are currently free to high school and college students. We help students with their college applications, essays, and finding scholarships. We also help students who are looking into grad school. According to the National Center for Education, about 59% of students seeking a bachelor's degree at a 4-year institution have completed that degree within six years. A big part of the problem is not finding the right school that will fit the student financially. Not only do we want to help students get into college, but we also want to see them graduate. You can follow us on Instagram @AffordableCollegePrep You can also check out our website AffordableCollegePrep.com Rachel's Favorite Practice of Therapy Podcast Episodes Whitney & James Owens | Using The Enneagram In Your Practice | TPOT 191 Check out the course: Understanding & Utilizing the Enneagram (10 CE Hours) Andréa Jones | Beating Social Media Overwhelm In Private Practice | TPOT 181 LaRonda Starling | Self-Care In Times of Crisis | TPOT 131 BEST OF: Social Justice In and Out of the Therapy Room | TPOT 158 Being transparent… Some of the resources below use affiliate links which simply means we receive a commission if you purchase using the links, at no extra cost to you. Thanks for using the links! Rachel Bond's Resources Rachel on LinkedIn Affordable College Prep Affordable College Prep on Instagram The Affordable College Prep Facebook Group Affordable College Prep on Twitter Resources Use the promo code "GORDON" to get 2 months of Therapy Notes free. Blueprint Health: First month free with promo code TPOTPODCAST Using Google Workspace As A Practice Platform Course Free Webinar: Using Google Workspace for Practice Management Get Your Copy of The Full Focus Planner   Join the Google Workspace for Therapists Users Group Follow @PracticeofTherapy on Instagram Meet Gordon Brewer, MEd, LMFT Gordon is the person behind The Practice of Therapy Podcast & Blog. He is also President and Founder of Kingsport Counseling Associates, PLLC. He is a therapist, consultant, business mentor, trainer, and writer. PLEASE Subscribe to The Practice of Therapy Podcast wherever you listen to it. Follow us on Twitter @therapistlearn, and Pinterest, “Like” us on Facebook.

This week Adam and Andy discuss their recent viral moment, welcome ALL of their new Sud friends, and startle all Suds new and old with otter and baby seal facts and scenarios. Oh yeah and we talk about our Evening Booze but can't help but get sidetracked. 0:00 Cold Open 2:10 Intro 8:42 Mail Time 21:25 Squirrel Going Walnuts 27:32 Lost in Afghanistan 35:23 Rolling a Roadside Yaris 48:22 A Restless Anus 59:00 Close Send us emails! adamalsoandy@gmail.com Tik Tok: @adamalsoandy Facebook: @adamalsoandy Twitter: @adamalsoandy Instragram: @adamalsoandy Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0wWImCkh76lpYmGdmXzrQZ iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adam-and-andy/id1529984241 adam-andy.com

403bwise launches school district 403(b) & 457(b) database and A-F rating system. Dan and Scott discuss initiative that they hope will bring sunshine and accountability.  Search the Database A-F Rating System Explained Meridian Wealth Management 403bwise.org

In this episode of Country-ish Jon & Stamos get together and talk about Jon's wild weekend in Raleigh. A lady removed her eyeball, Jon finally received his championship belt, and a visit to North Carolina State University's campus theatre to relive some early acting memories. There's a non-streaker at the Panthers game and a couple of silly Philly fans who were arrested for having sex in the stadium bathroom. Then it's time for "Best Trends” as Raiders head coach Jon Gruden resigns after the NFL leaks his personal emails.  And on October 14th it's National Dessert Day & Be Bald and Be Free Day. Next up, the "Troll Patrol” leaves a comment for Mike “The Situation” from the Jersey Shore (and from prison). After that, it's time to play "How Much Is That Screen Actors Guild Residual Check?” with a check for foreign royalties. Then in "Who's Zooming Who" Steve Gilispie joins the show and plays "F/Marry/Kill" between Amy Schumer, Illiza Schlesinger, and Sarah Silverman. And finally in "Small Town News” dogs and people are being brutalized by a gang of OTTERS in Anchorage Alaska! This show is brutal but will add a little bling bling for your ding ding. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

British MP killed, NB land acknowledgement, Gary Paulsen Obit, Red Sea oil tanker, Otter sea grass, Feature: Brian Thomas Isaac and more

A St Paul mayoral candidate debate Tuesday night revealed that Melvin Carter can Otter with the best of them. We got some help understanding sentencing guidelines, but we still were left struggling. Gustavus Adolphus College power washed an 18th century botanist for essentially being an advocate for CRT. Johnny Heidt with guitar news.

This week's episode is a quick round up from the 2021 Sea Otter Classic featuring quick conversations with BMC, Specialized, Alchemy Bikes, Kogel, Sage, USWE, Panaracer, CushCore, Scott and T9. Support the Podcast Join The Ridership Automated Transcription (please excuse the typos): Sea Otter Round Up [00:00:00] Craig Dalton:  [00:00:09] Hello and welcome to the gravel ride podcast. I'm your host, Craig Dalton. If you're a regular listener, you may have been expecting part two of our fun Q and a episode. Building on last week's part one. I had the opportunity to head down to the sea Otter classic in Monterey, California on Friday. And I was able to pick up a few short interviews that I thought were worth sharing. There's some great imagery and stories coming out from that story to vent that I thought it would be good to share in a timely fashion.  [00:00:40] For those of you who aren't familiar with the Seattle classic. It's an event that's been going on for, I believe 31 years in Northern California. It's got a rich history, starting with mountain bike racing and later added almost every discipline you can imagine to its four day weekend calendar.  [00:00:59] It's also become quite a large consumer show for the bike industry. So there's booths from hundreds of manufacturers from around the world.  [00:01:06] I took the opportunity to catch up with some old friends and do some quick interviews with some gravel companies that I think you might be interested in. This will also serve as the jumping off point for a few longer form interviews i'll do later in the year. [00:01:19] This year is October date was pandemic related. The event normally takes place in April.  [00:01:24] So we'll be coming back around on our calendar shortly in 2022.  [00:01:28] Of note, the Sea Otter classic was purchased by Lifetime back in August of 2021. So this is the first edition produced by the seawater team owned by Lifetime.  [00:01:40] Regardless of what type of cyclist you are. If you don't mind a huge crowd, the Sea Otter classic is a great place to geek out over great parts. Watch some killer racing and enjoy the Monterey bay peninsula. With all that said let's jump right into my 10 interviews throughout the sea Otter classic  [00:01:59] Andrew Sjogren (BMC): Yeah, this is Andrew here with BMC USA. And what are we looking at here today? We're looking at our brand new URS LT gravel bike. That's ready for any trail you can throw at it. Yeah. Tell  [00:02:11] Craig Dalton: us about some of the features. [00:02:12] The frame's been in market for maybe a year last season, but it's got some significant upgrades that I can just tell by looking  [00:02:20] Andrew Sjogren (BMC): at it today. Totally. Yeah. So the new addition at the end of the name there LT for long-term. Comes with our new MTT fork, which is micro travel technology.  [00:02:28] Craig Dalton: The, tell us a little bit more about the  [00:02:30] Andrew Sjogren (BMC): suspension. So with the MTT on the rear, you have a carbon flex chain stay that allows for 20 mils of rear wheel travel, damned with an elastomer that's at the top allows you to maintain traction while you're on. But the new edition with the pork here is a new partnership with Hi Ride , which is a high-end a there come from the motor sport side of things, and they've made a new damper, which has allowed for 20 mils of oil dam suspension that allows it to not overheat like a spring driven system would be, and still has the capabilities of locking out all in a lightweight package. [00:03:03] That doesn't affect the geometry whatsoever. Now for  [00:03:06] Craig Dalton: the uninitiated, when you look at this bike, you may not notice where the suspension is happening. Can you tell us it's not the two telescoping fork legs? Can you tell us how it's happening?  [00:03:15] Andrew Sjogren (BMC): Yeah. Happening all essentially in the steer tube. So the entire damper unit is at the base of this. [00:03:20] Makes it so that it's super clean, simple, doesn't disrupt the lines of the bike, but still has a super effective method of getting you a more traction on the trails. Nice.  [00:03:29] Craig Dalton: And the bike is made out of what frame material  [00:03:32] Andrew Sjogren (BMC): a to full carbon frame, and even the fork itself has carbon lowers. So carbon it's full suspension. [00:03:38] Craig Dalton: Nice. It's a great looking bike, great execution, and I appreciate the time.  [00:03:41] Andrew Sjogren (BMC): Awesome. Thank you for having me. [00:03:43] Craig Dalton: Okay. Can I get your name and company name?  [00:03:45] Ard Kessels (Kogel): Yeah, I'm art with Kogel bearings.  [00:03:48] Craig Dalton: Thanks art. And what are you showing here at Sea Otter?  [00:03:50] Ard Kessels (Kogel): We have a line of fully gravel approved oversized gorilla cages. So we build them super stiff so he can take him off. We just introduced a line of custom colored titanium bolts. [00:04:01] So you can get your entire bike matched up.  [00:04:04] Craig Dalton: I was just talking to one of your colleagues. Cause one of the things from the outside, when I've looked at these products was the complexity of installing it. Could you describe like what you need to do to your existing rear derailleur to install the.  [00:04:16] Ard Kessels (Kogel): The installation of an oversized cage requires you to take your derailleur apart. [00:04:20] So not just remove it from the bike, but completely take it off in pieces. It's, there's no set procedure. So depending on your model of derailleur, some are super easy. Some are definitely recommended to bring to a bike shop,  [00:04:33] Craig Dalton: and it's really just removing the existing cage. And depending on how, whether it's SRAM or Shimano, how complicated they make that process, that's really what. [00:04:42] Complicated or not complicated. Is that correct?  [00:04:44] Ard Kessels (Kogel): Correct. Yes. And there is no line, one derailleur from a brand might be easy and the same derailleur from or another deter from the same brand might be complicated. And just  [00:04:54] Craig Dalton: really quickly, could you tell the listener, what is the advantage of going for one of these bigger polices? [00:05:00] Ard Kessels (Kogel): Absolutely. The idea behind it is to open up the chain. So by using a bigger wheel, the chain doesn't have to articulate as much as it has around a small pulley. Bending a chain takes it takes energy. So by this, you reduce the friction by about one or two Watts.  [00:05:16] Craig Dalton: Awesome. Thanks Ard. Thanks.  [00:05:19] All right. Can I get your name and company?  [00:05:21] Bed Edwards (Specialized): Yeah, sure. My name is Ben Edwards. I work with Specialized and part of the road and gravel team.  [00:05:25] Craig Dalton: Nice. Ben, can you tell us about the new crux we're looking at?  [00:05:28] Bed Edwards (Specialized): Yeah, we're super stoked to bring the all new Crux to riders. This thing just dropped yesterday and I think people know the crux as a cross bike, right? [00:05:35] This is like a world champion for in cross bike, but the little, the kind of the dirty secret crux all has had is that it was a bad-ass gravel bike. And so the new. While it retains a lot of that performance heritage from the cross side is really embracing that, that gravel identity. But beyond that, we've used our Athos which of any of the writers know the Athos it's a 585 Graham road frame. [00:05:56] We found a way to make these crazy light and incredibly riding road bikes at a carbon. We've now taken those learnings to the crux. So the new crux, the frame set for S works 725. And you're looking at a complete bike at 7.2 kilos, which is almost unheard of on the roadside, with a stock bike. [00:06:16] And that's what we're doing in gravel now. So that's a key thing that makes that bike. The unbelievable ride quality it delivers is that incredible, lightweight, which is pretty unheard of. And gravel beyond that, we've added some incredible capability by making sure it has room for 47 C tires. So you can, Hey, you want to race on the 30 eights. [00:06:34] Awesome. You're going to get into some rough. It's got room for this 40 sevens on their incredible capability. For  [00:06:40] Craig Dalton: sure. Nice. I was going to ask you about some of the additional capabilities that have been built in this model versus the older kind of more pure crossbite crux that people had. [00:06:49] Bed Edwards (Specialized): Yeah, for sure. So that, that, that tire clearance is a big one. We know. For awhile there, 40 was thought of as Hey, 40 is the right size for gravel. We know now these bikes are capable of so much more. So we really feel like to unlock the bikes. Potential riders have to be able to say, Hey, maybe I want to put a 47 on it, or with a bike like this 725 grand frame. [00:07:08] It's pretty amazing on the road. If you wanna have another set of wheels and throw a set of 20 eights or thirties on it, you've got an amazing platform that allows you. If you thought  [00:07:16] Craig Dalton: about the gravel market on a spectrum from sort of a road plus bike to an adventure bike packing bike, where would you describe this new crux is sitting? [00:07:25] Yeah,  [00:07:26] Bed Edwards (Specialized): this thing is it's honestly the perfect compliment to our day. With that Diverge, you've got that incredible suspend, the rider, really compliance without any compromise with that future shock. So that's really what we're looking at. As I say, like adventure explore bike, or like crazy long miles when that comfort's key. [00:07:40] This is really sitting on that performance side of the spectrum, right? When you went that more stripped down, super new. Race day or just real fast gravel riding. That's really what that crux is holding down for us now, while we should also mention this is still what our world cup, cross riders are going to be on. [00:07:55] And we've had writers like Jed next D bar, world cyclocross champion. He'll be racing this bike as his key cross bike.  [00:08:01] Craig Dalton: Awesome. Thanks for  [00:08:02] Bed Edwards (Specialized): the time. Yeah, no problem. Thanks for taking in. [00:08:04] Craig Dalton: Okay. Can I get your name and  [00:08:05] Jason (USWE): company? Yeah, Jason McCune with a USWE sports. Thanks, Jason. What are we looking at here today? Today we've got our line of epic hydration backs. We're looking specifically at the epic eight for those of you that are familiar with our brand our kind of our claim to fame as the hardest. [00:08:19] It's a one buckle harness system. You've got four way adjustability on all four sides and it's got elastic built into it as well. So you can really cinch it down and move around on the bike without the pack, moving on you that's really what people, who are riding mountain bikes and doing all these activities really want to. [00:08:35] Yeah. As I've seen  [00:08:35] Craig Dalton: some of the athletes like Amanda nom and ride it, that crossover strapping mechanism is what's most visually noticeable about the pack. And now that I've gotten the overview from you and looking at it more closely, I do see how that the sort of the hip side straps are highly adjustable and tuneable. [00:08:53] Jason (USWE): Yeah. So you can adjust from the sides that go into the yard. That come that way. And then also over the shoulders. So it's really nice. And even when you get it tightened up, up on you, it's got elastic. So when you're moving around on the. Yeah, it allows the freedom of your body to move. [00:09:08] And the packs just stand where it's at. That's the beauty of it. It's not bouncing all over the place. It's just becomes really part of your body.  [00:09:15] Craig Dalton: The first pack you showed me, do you still get access to a typical cycling Jersey pocket?  [00:09:20] Jason (USWE): So I'm glad you asked me that because yeah, like for, especially for like gravel enthusiasts and stuff like that, the packs are designed, so they sit up high. [00:09:28] So if you're running late, And you still want access to your pockets to get goose or something real quick. Yeah. All that stuff's totally accessible. And that's what makes that's part of the beauty of it. Awesome. Thanks for the time. Yeah, no worries. Thank you. [00:09:41]  [00:09:41] Craig Dalton: Okay. Can I get your name and your company?  [00:09:43] Bryce (Alchemy): I'm Bryce with Alchemy bicycles.  [00:09:45] Craig Dalton: Bryce, what are we looking at here today?  [00:09:47] Bryce (Alchemy): This is our all new alchemy rogue. This is the latest addition to our gravel lineup. We still have the Ronin, which is going to be our kind of racier, fast steeper geometry, gravel bike the rogue. [00:09:59] We want it to be more of an adventure offering. This bike is going to have a little bit longer wheel base Clint clearance for bigger tires. We wanted to build it with the SRAM, Ugh, H so that you get a little bit more peace of mind. You don't have to worry about throwing your chain. You don't have to worry about that rear drill. [00:10:16] You're taking knocks so much and a lot slacker geometry. So we've got a 70 degree head tube angle on this thing. So it can really be a lot more capable and stable on that. We also designed it to have a lot more compliance than the Ronan. So you'll notice the scallop seat stay as well as the drops or sorry, the scallop seat tube, as well as the drop seat stays. [00:10:38] That's going to give you a lot better comfort rugged terrain designed it with capability to run a wireless or hydraulic dropper post. Still has a big beefy bottom bracket shell. So when you get out of the saddle, you're going to have that powertrains for that you want. Nice.  [00:10:53] Craig Dalton: Can you specify what tire size, the speical at  [00:10:56] Bryce (Alchemy): least 700 by 50 C. [00:10:58] You could probably get a little bit bigger on that depending on your wheel and tire combo,  [00:11:02] Craig Dalton: plate size there, and talk a little bit about your manufacturing process and where you're doing that.  [00:11:06] Bryce (Alchemy): So we manufacture this bike in Denver, Colorado. This is a. Semi mana cock construction. We produce the tubes individually, so like the down tube and head to our one piece the bottom bracket, shell and C tube, as well as the chain stay, yolk are one piece. [00:11:23] And then we wrap those tubes together in an overwrap process to join them. So we also do all of our own painting house. This bike is completely fabricated from the design stage to finishing right in Denver.  [00:11:36] Craig Dalton: Amazing. Now this rogue model is, has stock sizes. Your own and model is also available in custom sizes. [00:11:42] Is that.  [00:11:43] Bryce (Alchemy): That is correct. So the rogue, we're trying to hit a little bit better price point and make the bike more accessible to people. We are offering a lot more stock sizes than we offer typically on our other bicycles. The rogue is gonna come in an extra small, to an extra large the Ronan is available in sock sizes, but we can do custom geo on. [00:12:03] This  [00:12:03] Craig Dalton: rogue we're looking at as a beautiful finish to it. Can you talk about the finish? I think there's something unique about the way it's  [00:12:08] Bryce (Alchemy): applied. Yeah, so we have started using cerakote. It's been around for a little while in the bicycle industry, but as far as I know, we're the first people doing it in house as a manufacturer. [00:12:19] Sarah coat is a pretty remarkable material in that. It's extremely thin and at the same time, extremely true. So we get a really lightweight finish. We get something that you don't have to worry so much about your tire throwing rocks up into, or leaning it against a tree. It's gonna hold up really well and it looks pretty phenomenal, too. [00:12:41] Awesome.  [00:12:42] Craig Dalton: Congrats on the bike. It looks great.  [00:12:43] Bryce (Alchemy): Thank you very much. [00:12:45] Craig Dalton: All right. Can I get your  [00:12:46] Jeff (Panaracer): name and company? I'm Jeff Zell and I'm with Panaracer. Jeff. Good to see,  [00:12:51] Craig Dalton: let's talk a little bit about the gravel king tire lineup. And specifically as the gravel king has grown in size and a recently introduced a 700 by 50. Can you just talk about the trends you're seeing and why panel issues go in that direction  [00:13:04] Jeff (Panaracer): now? [00:13:05] Yeah, it's a really good question because we've been around with gravels since really the inception or the idea of the concept of gravel riding. And at that time, a lot of people were using cross bikes or other bikes with lower frame clearances that even at 32 was big four, but as the popularity of the sport grew, and because we had seen what was happening, we were able to respond to that and create. [00:13:26] Wits that we're going to correspond with what frame manufacturers were doing because everyone wanted wider tires. So we went with a 35 people, thought we were crazy. We went with it with 40, and that we ended up doing a 43 with people. Thought we were really nuts today. 30 eights are really the goal, 30 eights to forties depending. [00:13:45] Who's making the tire are really the go-to for the tire with, for people. And we continue to see the need to go bigger, which is where the idea for the 700 by 50 came from what type  [00:13:56] Craig Dalton: of ride quality is a 750 providing for the rider? Is it, what type of solution is it creating sort of suspension and volume and traction are those, all the things you're keying. [00:14:06] Jeff (Panaracer): It is, and there's a little bit more to it than people really think one of the biggest questions that we always get or are, is what PSI should I ride my bike at? And so much of that is dependent on the type of riding you do, what kind of writer that you are what the terrain is that you're riding on and what you're looking to get out of it. [00:14:24] When you go to a 50, you're looking for something that's going to end up being a little bit more comfortable that you can run perhaps at a little bit greater pressure than you might normally. On a lower or sorry, on a smaller diameter tire. Sorry, not smaller diameter, but smaller width tire. And that allows for a little bit more room to dial in exactly what you want with it, and also load your bike up more for people that are wanting to take their gravel bikes more on adventures rather than just a two hour gravel ride or gravel event. [00:14:53] Yeah,  [00:14:54] Craig Dalton: I think it's really fascinating as the frame designers have began to embrace those bigger sizes. You may run a 700 by 50 during certain parts of your season. Maybe it's the off season when you're doing bike packing, and then you can easily go a little bit narrower and go back down to that 700 by 40 for your race  [00:15:09] Jeff (Panaracer): wheels. [00:15:10] That's exactly right. And we want to have a tire there for everybody's need.  [00:15:13] Craig Dalton: I'm a big fan of the gravel king and I'm a big fan of Panorai sir. And I just wanted to acknowledge and appreciate the amount of support you've provided the gravel events seen over the years throughout the pandemic. [00:15:23] I know that you guys continued to back a lot of the. Race course event organizers throughout the pandemic, and you've done it in 2021 and we'll continue to do it. So on behalf of this gravel rider and racer, thanks to Panorai, sir, for all that great support.  [00:15:37] Jeff (Panaracer): You're very welcome Craig, and thanks for what you do too. [00:15:39] It's great to have you getting all the news about gravel out there.  [00:15:42] Craig Dalton: Cheers. [00:15:43] All right. Can you tell me your name and company? [00:15:46] Dan (CushCore): Yeah, I'm Dan .  [00:15:47] Craig Dalton: Dan, can you tell us about CushCore and how the product is evolving to support gravel? Cyclists?  [00:15:52] Dan (CushCore): Yeah, so we launched a product or an insert for gravel bikes Kush cores engineered foam insert. So wraps inside your tire. So it's the tubeless system. [00:16:03] You still use sealant if you need it. And it's designed to do a few things. The obvious benefit is going to protect your rim from big impacts, but it's uniquely shaped and it's part of our patents like a wedge shape. So push it against the tire sidewall. So you get a stiff sidewall, even at low tire pressure. [00:16:21] So you can run the lower tire pressure without that getting a squirmy tire and also without dinging your room rim or getting a pit.  [00:16:29] Craig Dalton: Nice. And are you seeing riders run lower pressure now because of this type of  [00:16:34] Dan (CushCore): product? Absolutely. A lot of feedback we get from gravel writers is that they can definitely run lower pressure and not, like I mentioned, eliminate that squirm while cornering and and haven't got flats. [00:16:47] Yeah,  [00:16:47] Craig Dalton: that rigidity of the sidewall seems appealing. Cause obviously we've been lowering our pressure progressively to get more compliance, but there is a bottom line to that you can't go further than  [00:16:58] Dan (CushCore): for sure. That's another way we described the product as it was designed to solve the tire pressure dilemma. [00:17:04] So high tire pressure. Is good for stability and I stable tire and less likely to ding your rim or get a pinch flat, but it's a bouncy ride. So you actually, it's a high rolling resistance actually, because it's not conforming to the road. And then, but low tire pressure is great for traction compliant, tread patch for comfort, but it's the. [00:17:24] Pinch flat. It's easy to dinger him, et cetera. So with Kush core, you can solve both of those problems. Get the best of both  [00:17:31] Craig Dalton: worlds. What does the installation process look like? It's a completely sealed unit. So obviously I've got my raw rim and wheel in hand. What's next?  [00:17:40] Dan (CushCore): Yes. Yeah. Like you mentioned, the Kush core is made in the mold, so it's not zip-tied together. [00:17:44] Strapped together. And it's designed to fit tight against the rim. So we'll Mount the insert on the rim first and then basically draped the tire over that. And then start with one side by tucking the beat in with your hands. You get to the tight side, you might need a tire lever to finish that law was a little bit  [00:18:01] Craig Dalton: off. [00:18:02] And when I'm doing my sealant insert, I'm pushing that through the valve core. Is that still possible?  [00:18:09] Dan (CushCore): That's how we do it as well. And then our valves are unique. It comes with a set. It actually has three holes. The normal let's say longitude, no hole. And then there's whole holes that go crosswise. [00:18:20] So that allows the sealant to get in. It allows you to set the air pressure with the cush core would be normally on top of a valve. And then also that allows you to clean that out really easily. Right on. Thanks for the overview. Yeah. Thank you. [00:18:34] Craig Dalton: All right. Can I get your name and company?  [00:18:36] Dave (Sage): My name is David Rosen and my company has Sage titanium bicycles, Dave. Good to  [00:18:41] Craig Dalton: talk to you again, I'll reference our earlier episode in the show notes for people, but it did want to stop you here at sea Otter. And just talk about the new storm king GP. [00:18:50] Excellent.  [00:18:51] Dave (Sage): Happy to chat. What.  [00:18:52] Craig Dalton: First thing since we're we have listeners, not viewers. You've got that Rudy suspension fork on  [00:18:58] Dave (Sage): there. Ultimate's this mentioned four. Yes, it's fantastic. It's 40 millimeters. That trap. Gravel fork. It's really progressive. Like it's not what I was expecting it to be. [00:19:08] It was in the past other suspension forks that I've dealt with are a little bit harsher in terms of the travel. This is a lot smoother and it just, it works great on washboards. That's the easiest way to describe it  [00:19:21] Craig Dalton: about the beautiful storm king that you brought to the envy show earlier this year. [00:19:26] How have you modified the storm king in lieu of the spec with the explore group? Oh, and the suspension fork.  [00:19:32] Dave (Sage): So this one, I actually suspension corrected the geometry of the frame. So the axle, the crown on this is taller than a standard envy adventure fork, which I would use normally on the regular storm Kings. [00:19:45] And so as the reason. I actually slackened out the head angle by a little bit, I think a quarter of a degree if I remember correctly. And then just changed up some of the other geometry measurements of the bike to really offset for the taller fork. The reach is actually similar on the handlebar reach on the regular storm king versus the GP is similar, but the actual top tube Blaine on the GP is. [00:20:11] So I'm having you run a shorter stem kind of more mountain biking style because of the suspension fork and just accounting for dive in the fork and larger tires and that sort of thing. So an evolution of the standard storm king. When you  [00:20:26] Craig Dalton: were thinking about the GP versus the storm king storm Kings was a very capable bike. [00:20:31] Still is an incredibly capable bike. What were you thinking differently? What type of rider were you thinking about when you came to the storm king GP?  [00:20:40] Dave (Sage): A similar rider. It's definitely for adventure style, riding bike packing, long days in the country, that sort of thing. GP actually stands for Gifford Pincho which is actually the Gifford Pincho national forest, which is in Southern Washington. [00:20:53] So it borders right up against Oregon. And it's, I forget the numbers, but I want to say it's hundreds of thousands or a hundred thousand square miles or something crazy. Look it up online Gifford Pinchot national forest, and there are the stats and, but there's plenty of gravel, plenty of mountains, streams, lakes, all that sort of stuff. [00:21:10] And it's a lot more back country adventure. And it's the same rider who was getting the storm king originally. But now with the added suspension, it gives you a little bit more comfort for further adventures of just going deeper into the woods kind of thing. And so that was the purpose. Building a suspension corrected bike  [00:21:29] Craig Dalton: right on Dave. [00:21:30] I appreciate you being progressive in thinking about the new types of riders that are entering the sport, the new types of things we're going to continue to do with these drop bar bikes as always the finished work is exceptional on the Sage bikes. I encourage everybody out there to go seek out a picture of this bike and UHIN. [00:21:47] Dave (Sage): Thank you very much. Yeah, it's up on our website, Sage titanium.com. Swam has it. There's it's floating around on social media. So just look for the storm king GP and it's the one and only right on. [00:21:58] Craig Dalton: All right. Can I get your name and company name?  [00:22:01] John (T9): I'm John D prey from both shield T9 [00:22:04] Craig Dalton: John. I have to stop by. Cause as I was just telling you T9 is my favorite lib. Can you just talk a little bit more about what's behind the T nine  [00:22:10] John (T9): loop? Absolutely. This is the thing about T nine is it's both the protection and the lube and it's good in dry or wet environments. [00:22:19] It's a wax base. The carrier evaporates away after a few hours and you're left with just a wax coating. So if your chain gets dusty, it'll just rinse rate off. If it gets wet, it'll sluff off. You can use it in the winter, snow won't stick to it. Everything good about T nine is everything that's good about T nine? [00:22:37] Craig Dalton: Yeah, just for clarity. It's a wax based loop, but it isn't the type of solution that you have to remove the chain, soak it in wax and put it back on. It's a lot simpler than that. It's  [00:22:46] John (T9): Old school in the sense that it's wax, but it's new school in the sense of the internet to dip it into a pan of wax on your stove. [00:22:53] Truth story.  [00:22:55] Craig Dalton: Exactly why I love the lube. I appreciate you coming out. I hope that you have a great weekend here at Seattle. Oh, cool. Thanks  [00:22:59] John (T9): man. Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the event. [00:23:02] Craig Dalton: So that's going to do it for this week's edition of the gravel ride podcast. I hope you enjoyed those quick interviews from the sea Otter classic. [00:23:09] I'm really excited to dig in deeper on the BMC bike. We talked about the alchemy bike. And that Scott, hopefully we can get those guys back on the show and do a little bit deeper dive. Into the intention behind those bikes, all three of them were quite sexy.  [00:23:24] In general, I had a blast down at seawater.  [00:23:27] Between the 9,000 odd athletes competing in the hundreds and hundreds of spectators around it's quite a big show. So it's not the same as going off to some of those gravel events. We love often the mountains where you get the serenity. But if you're a fan of the sport and a fan of geeking out over bike parts, and you like to see the latest and greatest.  [00:23:46] The sea Otter classic is a great place to visit. It's like wandering around one giant bike shop. So that's going to do it for us next week. We'll be back with part two of our fun Q and a episode. Until next time. Here's to finding some dirt onto your wheels.  [00:24:03] 

California choir director quits teaching and moves to Iowa to farm. We have questions.  Choir Teacher + Author on F.I.R.E. Seed Saver Exchange Meridian Wealth Management 403bwise.org  

Welcome to another episode of Spooky Gay Bullsh!t, our new weekly hangout where we break down all of the hot topics from the world of the weird, the scary, and issues that affect the LGBTQIA2+ community! This week, we cover: Megan Thee Ghost Hunter, Lynda Carter getting embraced by the gay bear community, misgendering is deemed a Human Rights offence in Canada, field trips on party buses, a gang of otters taking over Anchorage, and two minutes of Drag Race is back! See you next Friday for more Spooky Gay Bullsh!t! Join the Secret Society That Doesn't Suck for exclusive weekly mini episodes, livestreams, and a whole lot more! patreon.com/thatsspooky Get yourself some of our limited edition Spooky Season merch before it's gone! thatsspooky.com/store Check out our website for show notes, photos, and more at thatsspooky.com Follow us on Instagram for photos from today's episode and all the memes @thatsspookypod We're on Twitter! Follow us at @thatsspookypod Don't forget to send your spooky gay B.S. to spookygaybs@gmail.com

You are going to love our chat today with Ty Cohen, a longtime entrepreneur, who is now taking over the world of online publishing. There's a lot of money to be made with Amazon Publishing, and whether you are a writer or not, Ty teaches people how to get your books published in the world's biggest online bookstore. His students consist of writers who want to get their content out to the masses, authority figures who publish in order to get leads for their courses and high ticket offers, as well as people who use ghostwriters to publish a series of books with a huge audience behind them.   Listen in as Ty talks about what niches to publish in, how to find out what your audience is reading before you pick a subject, and how he teaches his students to market. He also discusses where to advertise, how to repurpose your content and where to find people to write for you as well as create audio books. Lastly, Ty chats about some opportunities he has outside of the publishing world and his thoughts on NFTs and leaving a legacy. After you have listened and realized the opportunity behind publishing, check out our chats with Laura Gale and Rob Kosberg for even more insight and vision into the world of self-publishing.    “In internet marketing we always hear that you want to go with the niches, which is fine sometimes. But when you want to make a lot of money…when you want to be to the point where you are continuously making cash where it's hard to shut it off, you want to go where the markets are wide and evergreen.” - Ty Cohen    Some Topics We Discussed Include:   What niches to look at when publishing Example of categories where  Ty's students are crushing it, including Ty's teenage son who is make $4K a month publishing in one particular category The easiest way to get someone to buy from you Writing a book vs. hiring a ghostwriter Creating a journey for your reader where they will want to buy from you over and over again The one important approach that most non-fiction authors are missing The 3 must have criteria when you are doing your market research How to repurpose the book you've already made and where to hire people to make it an easy process   Resources From Ty Cohen:   KCFLive.com KindleCashFlow.com   References and Links Mentioned:   Upwork Guru Fiverr  Rev.com  Otter.ai  Are you ready to be EPIC with us?! Then grab our EGP Letter here! Want to get the Action Guide from this episode? Grab them here! Check out our awesome YouTube Channel channel, made for digital marketers and business pros looking for actionable insights, where we dish out meaningful content, relevant topics, and transparent discussions with industry experts. Join the Facebook Community - be sure to hop in our Facebook group to chat with us, our other amazing guests that we've had on the show, and fellow entrepreneurs! We also have a new PodHacker YouTube Channel where you can learn how to build, grow, and monetize a podcast with our unique "PodHacks." We post tutorials, tips, and interview clips that help podcasters scale their show and make more money from their efforts. This episode is sponsored by Easy Webinar - be sure to check out this special deal for our listeners. How To Publish And Market A Book Into Millions In Sales - Rob Kosberg A Step-By-Step Blueprint To Write And Publish Your Book - Laura Gale

Featured This Episode #79: Interview with Jen Hartmann with Royal Ball Run http://www.royalballrun.com/ MAKING A ROYAL DIFFERENCE The inspiration for the Royal Ball Run for Autism organization stems from the now 1 in 59 children who are diagnosed with autism each year. We will be running to celebrate their achievements, their courage, and their future! Our goal is to increase awareness of autism and to support (and celebrate!) families and children touched by autism. Proceeds from the Royal Ball Run for Autism support local programs dedicated to autism treatment and awareness. In our first nine years, the Royal Ball Run for Autism has invested more than $230,000 in local autism programs thanks to the tremendous support of our participants, partners and sponsors. In addition to local autism programs, Royal Ball Run for Autism has developed a Quad City area autism resource guide, The Royal Guide. Click here to view http://theroyalguide.org/ The Royal Guide NEW RACE DATE: 10/10 at 10am for our 10th Anniversary! Announcing a special 10th Anniversary date with hopes we can host you all safely — and with fewer restrictions due to Covid than we might have during our traditional month of June. Registration and Course info here. We'll also be honoring one of our founding members and our Royal Ball Run King, Scott Holtan, by naming this year's race the Scott Holtan Royal Ball Run for Autism. Scott tragically passed away earlier this year due to Covid. The entire Royal Ball Run family will be celebrating his life and his legacy in all we do. You can learn more at http://theroyalguide.org/ This episode is transcribed via OTTER.AI & will be available at autisminactionpodcast.com Please visit autisminactionpodcast.com for more information. If you are interested in learning how to help your child set smart goals or how to talk to your child about becoming an influencer on social media please check out https://lifeskillsadvocate.com/raising-a-wannabe-youtube-star-free-email-course/ or https://lifeskillsadvocate.com/helping-your-teen-set-smart-goals-course/ Check out the Social Skills Course now available at https://lifeskillsadvocate.com/conversation-skills-video-course/ Find us on social media at https://www.facebook.com/AUTISMINACTIONPODCAST/ JOIN OUR FB GROUP at https://www.facebook.com/groups/2433480950016553 Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/autisminactionpodcast/ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIVxtEr2KYi3jVEKq_P7_3Q --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/autisminaction/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/autisminaction/support

This is not an Onion story. The Newport Beach, California owner of Tax Deferred Services, a firm that provides 403(b)/457(b) plan compliance for more than 300 California school districts was arrested in what the California Department of Insurance (CDI) called a “$4 million securities fraud scheme." Owner of Large 403(b)/457(b) Compliance Firm Booked Meridian Wealth Management 403bwise.org

Can digital platforms be the key to finally providing mental health services to children? Rebecca Egger believes so, and joins us to discuss how her company, Little Otter, is helping children access help when they need it.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In August of 2005, Johan and Jenna Otter went to Glacier National Park to celebrate Jenna's graduating highschool. Their first hike at Glacier on the Grinnell trail would change their lives forever when Jenna bumped into a mother grizzly. Hear the story of how these two survived, and how you can avoid grizzly attacks yourself.You can read Johan's book “A grizzly tale: a father and daughter survival story” for more information. Follow us on Instagram,  Facebook, and check out our website GetOutAlivePodcast.com and join us on Patreon!You can find Ashley at TheAngryOlogist on Twitter and Nick is an enigma. Thanks for listening!Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/getoutalivepodcast)

This week we sit down with Kav Helmet CEO and Founder, Whitman Kwok to discuss the companies' innovative 3D printing technology that can produce a custom fitted helmet for every rider.   Kav Helmets  The Ridership Support the Podcast   Automated Transcription (please excuse the typos)   Kav Helmets [00:00:00] Craig Dalton: Hello and welcome to the gravel ride. Podcast. I'm your host, Craig Dalton.  [00:00:08] This week on the show, we've got Whitman Kwok the founder and CEO of Kav Helmets.  [00:00:14] Kav Helmets may yet to be a household name in the cycling industry. But you'll learn. The team has a rich history in the cycling helmet market. They're innovative approach to manufacturing. Using 3d printing technology is a novel approach. And creates a uniquely custom helmet for each rider. I'll let Whitman get into the ins and the outs of the technology but i'm a big fan of the approach as additive technology just opens up a lot of possibilities for where material is laid in the helmet. [00:00:45] If you're planning on attending this year, sea Otter classic in Monterrey, California, the Kav team will be showing off their 3d printing technology. There they'll even be 3d printing, some key chains, which I think will showcase how the process actually works. If you're not in the area or not attending seawater, be sure to visit the Kav website as they're opening up orders for all.  [00:01:08] Before we jump into this week show, I need. To thank our sponsor. Today's program is brought to you by Athletic Greens, the health and wellness. Wellness company that makes comprehensive daily nutrition really, really. Simple. [00:01:19] With so many stressors in life, it's difficult to maintain effective nutritional habits and give our bodies the nutrients it needs to survive. Our busy schedules, poor sleep, massive gravel rides. The environment works dress or simply. Not eating enough of the right foods can leave us deficient and key nutritional.  [00:01:38] Areas. by athletic greens is a category leading superfood product. That brings comprehensive and convenient daily nutrition to everybody. Keeping up with the research, knowing what to do and taking a bunch of pills and capsules is hard on the stomach and hard to keep up with. To help each of us be at our best. They simply provide a better path to nutrition by giving you the one thing. With all the best things. [00:02:03] One tasty scoop of AG1 contained 75 vitamins minerals, and whole food sourced ingredients, including a multivitamin multimineral probiotic, green superfood blend [00:02:13] And more in one convenient daily serving.  [00:02:16] The special blend of high quality bioavailable ingredients in a scoop of AIG one work together to fill the nutritional gaps in your diet, support, energy, and focus aid with gut health and digestion and support a healthy immune system. Effectively replacing multiple products or pills with one healthy delicious Drink . [00:02:36] As many of you know, I've been an athletic greens subscriber for about the last five years. So I truly appreciate their support of the podcast. If you're interested in learning more, just visit athletic greens.com/the gravel ride. The team at athletic greens, we'll throw in a free one-year supply of vitamin D and five free travel packs with your purchase.  [00:02:59] Again, simply visit athleticgreens.com/thegravelride to take control of your health and give AG1 a try today. [00:03:08] With that said let's dive right into my conversation with Whitman from Kav Helmets. It's. [00:03:13] Whitman. Welcome to the show.  [00:03:16] Whitman Kwok: That is correct. Really looking forward to our discussion. Yeah, me too.  [00:03:20] Craig Dalton: The manufacturing and additive tech geek in me is really looking forward to this conversation. [00:03:26] Definitely want to learn how calf helmets came about and what your journey is to creating this bike helmets. And more importantly, what the benefits are for riders in the gravel scene. So let's jump in and let's just in your own words, let us know about cab helmets, how it started and what the vision is. [00:03:46] Whitman Kwok: Yeah, absolutely. There's a lot of impact, even in that simple question. I think fundamentally the vision was. Oh, providing a concierge service to athletes. I had always, as a competitor cycles in college, tweak my gear, adjusted everything from crank buy-ins to handlebar lengths and all, everything to get the most performance and also just make the bike an extension of myself. [00:04:10] And I don't think anything has changed in the intervening years. And I think in all the sports that we talked to, whether it's a hockey players or something the gears are really important part of the athletic experience. And so for cab it was obvious to us that the helmet market is really large. [00:04:26] It is a largely at this point a undifferentiated product where there isn't a dominant player per se. There isn't a apple or a Tesla or a Peloton where people just all grab it gravitate to. And as long as you. For the last 30 years, there's been a lot of tweaking and incremental improvements on injection molded foam helmets. [00:04:46] And I think what we bring with Kav is this generational leap like Tesla's done with electric cars to a whole new mode of thinking around making a helmet or anything for that matter. That's completely custom to the individual. And the moment you do that there's a whole bunch of benefits that we're able to realize. [00:05:06] There's the obvious ones around comfort that there's 8 billion sizes that we can provide one for every man, woman, child on the planet. And but there's a huge number of performance. Benefits and protection is always top of mind when you're talking about helmets. And the fact that we can tailor the protective characteristics to. [00:05:23] And individual and how they ride, how fast they're riding the weight profiles, things like that gives a massive potential improvement in protection over just a standard kind of one or two or three size fits all. I'm fortunate. I have a number of co-founders and colleagues that we found in the company together. [00:05:42] And I think we all had different experiences, but the same. Echo and voice in the back of our head, that there's just a lot better way to do this. And so I'll do a quick shout out to there. And obviously there's a lot of different areas that we can talk through. But Mike Lowe is our VP of products and he was the VP of events, concepts at Euro bell. [00:06:03] He also worked closely with Ridell. He did early work with Lance Armstrong's time trial helmet, and worked on all the iconic bike helmets. Since. He's been just fantastic to learn from that whole industry or the homicide. There's a lot of honest, non-obvious quirks and things in the industry. [00:06:20] And it's a very close knit industry. And so there's a lot of great people that we've been able to meet and work through Mike. And on the technology side, they started migrating. Amazing technologists from Google small company called Google and relatively early employee there, I'm working on search quality and YouTube, one of their, two of their smaller products. [00:06:39] And and he brings this immense knowledge, not just in software, which ironically is where 78% of our IP is. But also a really great understanding of hardware and kind of physics and mechanical engineering. You really have to. That kind of polymath approach in order to build something like a superior helmet. [00:06:58] So anyway, it's a long-winded way of talking. It's on the people we work with our early vision and some of the high level benefits and can let you pick and choose your own adventure from there.  [00:07:08] Craig Dalton: Yeah. So I alluded a little bit to it in the intro, but just so we don't lose this concept right off the jump, because it's easy for the listener to think about this as a traditional helmet, but let's talk about how it's manufactured because you didn't specifically mention that. [00:07:24] And I think it's one of the most fascinating parts of the process.  [00:07:28] Whitman Kwok: Yeah, no I do that a lot because I think we always think of it from the N and consumer's perspective. What did they get? And how we get there is really intriguing from an engineering perspective. And I often gloss over it. [00:07:42] Yeah, we we blended a bunch of material sciences additive manufacturing and software in order to develop the helmets. And I'll speak a little bit more of the additive manufacturing sites since you asked about it, but yes, each of these helmets is 3d printed here in Redwood city, California for the individual. [00:08:00] And so everything is made to order that has huge implications to everything. Not just manufacturing, but the whole customer. That's alluding to and being kind of concert servers are giving people exactly what they want. And so when an order comes in, we're taking measurements and we dynamically generate actually all the engineering terms, all the CAD files, the dimensions and everything for the helmet. [00:08:25] And it's not the case that we're just taking three or six or even 12, like shells and then like carving something. We are literally building the helmet from the inside out. So I think, whereas the current concept, the off the shelf is you get two or three sizes and you've got the shell that defines the helmet. [00:08:46] And then you got to force fit your head into that use foam padding, or several lock things to just sense your head loosely in this kind of bucket idea. And for us you're actually taking the meds. We dynamic create that we define all the offsets that we need to generate and ensure the level of protection than we want for that rider. [00:09:06] Then we send it through our own what we call printer management software. So we actually have a farm of these 3d printers. So you can imagine it being like analogous to like a data center except of having all these servers slotted in these racks. We've got 3d printers slotted in the. And it basically just creates like all the different parts that you need for your helmet. [00:09:26] And we have a QA process throughout to measure and make sure what we're printing is exactly meets specs of what we want. And we have to build a lot of that in dynamically because each helmet is custom. And then we do a kind of final finishing process that's done by hand. So you get the best of both worlds of this precision 3d printed. [00:09:47] But hand-finished and lovingly made here in our shop in Redwood city.  [00:09:51] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I imagine for some of the listeners, this might be a mind-bending discussion because a lot of people haven't seen 3d printing inaction, no one way to visualize it. And this may or may not be a great way, but since I have a seven-year-old in the house if you imagine sort of building from Legos and you're building from the ground, And you keep building successfully on top of each other. [00:10:15] It's in my mind how 3d printing works, right? You've got the material that's in this printer and it's being laid out layer by layer. And this is based on the very customized measurements that you've received from the future owner of the helmet. So again, the, in the interest of helping to visualize it's being built from the ground up around your individual, Once you've placed the order. [00:10:43] Whitman Kwok: That's right. And the analogy I like to use is making a soft cone right. Or going into the yogurt machine. And yeah we basically, it can imagine we're taking our proprietary polymers and it's coming out of this very high-tech yogurt machine. But rather than having, it dumped like eight ounces of yogurt into the cup. [00:11:00] We're a precision layering, at a fraction of a millimeter at a time. These very intricate engineered what we call energy management system and your helmet. And and so it's a little bit like growing the part on this bed. And we're, as you say, we're creating a slice at a time. [00:11:17] That's a fraction of a millimeter and kind of building up. And each layer is being laid down by this very sophisticated yogurt machine. And and at the end of the. Yeah, exactly. You have a helmet. That's not on a custom fit, but it's not solid. Like it's not like an injection molded part where you're just dumping a bunch of plastic into a mold or or foam where you're like exploding blowing up the foam into a mold we're actually creating like this really complicated, polygon and hex structure within the helmet which is designed to Trumbull really efficiently to provide good. [00:11:51] But also takes up the fraction of the weight because most of your helmet actually turns out to be air in this case.  [00:11:56] Craig Dalton: Yeah. That's an interesting, you hear the phrase fits like a glove, but this is even the next level of that it's like fits like a glove that has been specifically designed for your personal hand. [00:12:08] Whitman Kwok: That's why it would be like an iron man glove, right? Like it's one thing to have a fabric that you stretched over your head. It's quite an honor to have this in case structure that still has the same sensation of a security right. And being fit like glove, but it's hard right on the outside to protect you. [00:12:25] And so it is a next level sensation.  [00:12:28] Craig Dalton: So when I think about, the helmet I have in the garage, I think about, it's got some internal kind of frame and a dial that helps it fit. I understand from your earlier discussion, I can throw that piece out because I don't need that piece anymore because the helmet is built to order to the shape of my personal head. [00:12:46] I then, if I think about the exterior of the helmet, I often have a hard plastic layer and then not knowing a ton about the interior, but it sounds like we're injecting molding. We're injecting foam. Into a Kavity that kind of creates that if you, if that's accurate and feel free to fill in any details there, but why don't you juxtapose what the outside and the inside of the cab helmet effectively, how that differs and how it changes? [00:13:15] Whitman Kwok: Yeah. I think the cycling analogy would be it's almost like a monocoque structure, right? If you have a psych, a carbon fiber cycling frame, where for all practical purposes, Like all the tubing and lugs and everything joined in a way where it just behaves as one monolithic well-balanced, machine in terms of and in the traditional process, like you said that in the higher end helmets, you have a, typically like a polycarbonate shell, that's a couple of mils thick and they injection mold, some EPS foam into that have some type of density or multiple densities and The nice thing. [00:13:49] And so each of those things play a part and they're trying to compensate for different deficiencies in the foam. And so is not it sticks to cement, right? And so you don't want that because it's going to cause bad rotational energies on impact. It's also not very durable and gets eaten up. [00:14:05] So you have to then create this one millimeter shell to protect it. With all the venting that you put in, it's pretty common now to put like a plastic interior chassis to keep the helmet together on impact. And so I just suppose that with additive manufacturing or 3d printing, because what we're doing is integrating everything into one coherent design, right? [00:14:26] And so when we're laying down each layer of plastic, we are actually. Integrating the shell with the crumple zone with the chassis, so to speak. And by integrating it just like a well-made carbon fiber frame, we can reduce all the interfaces. And so the helmet's more compact. You don't have air gaps, so to speak. [00:14:46] It's a lot lighter because we're only putting material where it's needed. It's like the old steel frames, or living on frames where they're double butted or triple butted. We can reinforce it in the right areas. And and it gives us a lot of ability to fine tune each aspect of the helmet. [00:15:01] So that instead of saying, having a universally, a universal density of foam across the helmet for different impact zones and we learned a lot of this actually from our experience in hockey we can tailor the impact behaviors, of the based on location of the helmet as well, It just gives us just like carbon fiber and forensic gives us a lot. [00:15:20] The analogy is like the layup, right? The carbon fiber. And what carbon fiber is you use and the residence. We have just a lot more control than just pumping a bunch of foam beets into a mold.  [00:15:31] Craig Dalton: Yeah. That's interesting. And maybe it goes back to some earlier podcasts I've had in discussion around carbon fiber frames and just talking about, how you. [00:15:40] Layer something differently where it needs more protection, maybe under the bottom bracket, whereas you don't need to use those same layers elsewhere in the frame where you want to have a little bit more compliance. So I imagine given the team's experience in helmet design, it was really liberating to just freely. [00:15:57] Think about how, and where do we want to put material, because really the sky's the limit, right? You can optimize around. What's going to be best. For impact protection, both on the, hard impacts like hard and fast as well as slower impacts. I imagine you can, you're free to really design something that performs well across a couple of different factors. [00:16:21] Whitman Kwok: Yeah, no, that's exactly right. Like we have a lot more control in the general use case. And I think in the future as we've done a little bit of this on hockey and we'll bring it into the bike market. What the individual characteristics actually matter a lot, because at the end of the day for a cycling helmet, we have, twenty-five maybe 30 millimeters of offset we can work with. [00:16:42] If we make it much larger than that people balk at what they look like, there's certain brands that are known for safety. But they're also known for making your head look like a mushroom, right? We don't want that. We want people to love, frankly, we're in the homeless. [00:16:53] We want to attract people who, frankly, don't wear helmets into the market. I'm gonna do that. We need a thinner profile. And so the way to actually make a safer helmet is have information about what they're riding, right? A commuter, ride with I commute every day and finish going like 1230 miles an hour. [00:17:09] That's a very different profile than. A road sort of groundwater going downhill at 30, 40 miles an hour. There, that's a factor of three difference in velocity. And if you think about kinetic energy, the velocity is a square root, right? So that's like a, that's a nine, almost an order of magnitude difference in impactful file. [00:17:27] So there is gain and exactly what we just talked about, but there's an even bigger gain because we know the athlete and we have that relationship like moving forward. Knowing that their commuter or their downhill racer and their weight, their mass makes a big difference to a kid who weighs a hundred pounds. [00:17:44] It's just going to be way different than someone who's 220. And again, you have a two X factor there that isn't something, that's a comedy for an issue where it's one size fits. All right.  [00:17:55] Craig Dalton: Now the business has been selling helmets for over a year and a half. Primarily in hockey and most recently in bike, do you want to talk about why hockey was the entry point and maybe some of the things you've learned across the customers you've been serving in that space? [00:18:11] Whitman Kwok: Yeah, no, absolutely. So there are a couple of factors that came into play. So one was frankly, what w what could get it to market the quickest. We just wanted to provide value to people as quickly as possible. The second, where was where's the biggest need? And between those two, and there was a little bit of a personal reason as well. [00:18:29] But the first two were clearly the overriding. From a technical perspective, it turns out making a hockey helmet is just easier than making a bike helmet. One of the characteristic reasons just wait is not quite as big of a factor in the hockey. And so we wanted to basically use the hockey market as our Tesla Roadster, right? [00:18:48] Knowing that it's a limited market, it's smaller, but people are willing to pay for the equipment. They're willing to pay the premium. And and we can launch quicker. The second piece of why they pay a premium is that as you can imagine, the concussion rate per activity hour in hockey is almost parallel or equal to. [00:19:03] And meeting quite high, whereas in cycling, it's somewhat incidental, right? If you get in a crash and get an, a concussion in hockey, 3, 5, 10 times a game, you're taking impacts to the head and getting pinned against the board and falling on the ice. And so we thought that the market would benefit significantly from our protective technologies in that space. [00:19:25] And. The third reason, which just made me very cognizant of it was my son plays hockey. And when we started the company, his team had six concussions on it. And they were only 12 years old at the time. And there was just an outcry, I think with the parents and all the clubs that I talked to did not feel like there was enough being done. [00:19:42] And the. Equipment manufacturers and hockey are generally about two to three generations on behind any of the other helmet markets as well. So the need was greater. The products were even further inferior and and we thought we could help people sooner in that market than any other market. [00:20:01] Craig Dalton: You talked about how as a company and the way you're producing the helmets, that you can evolve with the market and you're understanding. Yeah. Within the hockey market, since you've been there the longest, are you doing things differently for a child's size helmet versus the NHL players that you work with? [00:20:20] Whitman Kwok: Yeah yes. Besides the fit we've actually made modifications to, I should, I would draw the analogy that it's a case that a surprisingly large number of the benefits for either of those extremes helps. And so they now Joel users in the late nineties, early two thousands car manufacturers are realizing like women had difficulty like getting their groceries in the trunk. [00:20:40] And because the trunk actually came all the way up to the top of the back and they now if you open the trunk of a car, it, the trunk dips down past the lights right down to the bumper. There's this carve-out. And so you don't have to lift your groceries, like over a wall, so to speak, you can just slide it in. [00:20:53] Watching. Buy groceries at the time was like a motivating factor for that. But we found that obviously that benefited everyone. Like I don't, I'm lazy. I don't want to list the groceries I don't have to. And so I'll give a kind of example that, which is kids wears glasses, a lot. [00:21:06] And so we ended up putting in little cutouts for people wear glasses so that it actually just slides in. So a hockey helmet actually comes down further than a. And traditionally, there are pads that go up against your temple. And so you can imagine if you wear glasses, you're literally shoving these glasses into these temples and that the pads are forcing your, the sidearms or your glasses into your temples for an hour and a half while you play hockey really uncomfortable situation. [00:21:35] And we did that and that ended up bending, benefiting a bunch of adults rests and things that. It turns out like the ice rinks are really dry. So like wearing contacts, it's not always actually comfortable. So say, and vice versa, like there's been a bunch of benefits because obviously the professional levels that impact are taking it's just an extreme example and it really drives some of the protective technologies. [00:21:58] And even if they No, the squirts and mites don't necessarily have the same level of impact there. There's still a deeper understanding. I think of the types of checking that goes on that informed our products for the kids.  [00:22:11] Craig Dalton: Gotcha. Obviously, given your pedigree as a cyclist and your co founders coming to the bike market was something that you were eager to do. [00:22:19] Can you talk about the introduction of the first bike helmet and what the goals were there and how for the list of. They should think about whether a cab helmet is right for them.  [00:22:32] Whitman Kwok: Yeah. It's interesting because the engineering side of me and product matter one, be very specific about the goals. [00:22:38] Oh, we want to hit this weight target and this usability. But what we ended up doing is taking a step back and asking the conceptually what do we want to, what's our mission, right? A reminder, what's our mission of the company on this build the best protective gear on. And as a very important corollary that the best gear is no use of no one wants to wear it. [00:22:54] So it's got adjust look and feel fantastic. And when we're doing these new technologies, I think it was important for us to blue sky it and not bound herself by certain things. So our goal is just make the best helmet possible. And this. An all road category, right? So with a focus really on gravel and road cyclist, but with the knowledge of knowing that, a lot of cross-country mountain bikers use road helmets, and a lot of commuters would ultimately use it. [00:23:24] But if we looking at personas and interviewing people, we focus on the road and gravel side of things. And then from there we really just built around it. And I think honestly I'm glad we've done it that way, because we found a lot of surprising things that I think if we constrain ourselves early on, we would not have done. [00:23:39] One of them being, for example our interior fit pad system is just radically different from a traditional fabric fit pack. And it would not have come if we said yeah, we just want sweat management, whatever way moisture at this level or thermal capabilities. [00:23:56] But anyway, I happy to go into the details of that, but what we ended up coming out with, I think is we've focused on fit and the protective qualities, what we ended up with was the ability to make something that as least as dynamic as other helmets out there is significantly cooler. Riding. [00:24:15] And has all the protective qualities. And again, it has some of these comfort features built in on the inside. That, again, we didn't necessarily envision, but the advantage of having a new prototype every week, that we're all riding is you tend to iterate quite quickly through, and I think we're on version 32 right now. [00:24:30] And 33 is like on the printing press. It's going quick.  [00:24:33] Craig Dalton: Yeah, I think that's one of those really cool things about doing both additive manufacturing and domestic manufacturing is that you can continue tweaking the product to optimize it based on consumer feedback which is really powerful.  [00:24:50] Whitman Kwok: Yeah. [00:24:50] Know that's right. We we have the benefit now that we're far enough along and we're starting to include like a larger and larger swath of people into the kind of the test. And so we had our Kickstarter about a month ago and we had a 20 plus like early adopters sign up through that. [00:25:05] And we were shipping out shipping helmets out to them and looking forward to get the next wave of feedback and and just improving. And in real time, before we ship out our production ones at the end of the year,  [00:25:16] Craig Dalton: yes. At the process of ordering is a little bit different than, traditionally you might use. [00:25:21] No your size, small, medium, or large, and put an order in, or go to your local bicycle retailer for the cab helmets. You're sending out a kind of measurement fit kit and actually working at a concierge level with the purchaser, right?  [00:25:38] Whitman Kwok: Yeah, that's right. We the fit process has been really interesting for us. [00:25:42] I think we're on our third version of the process. Fundamentally, I'm you sign up, we send you this fit kit and it's a caliper and a tape measure. And that allows us we take six points off of your head. And with those six points, we actually map it to a database of 3000 head scans that we've accumulated and basically a little bit of like machine learning type of thing. [00:26:07] Where we're then extrapolating footnote 16. Other aspects of your head in terms of, the curvature and more details and maybe those six points would initially seem to provide. And we then send out basically we call it like a fit cap and just fun looking, little cap that we 3d print. [00:26:24] And you can just literally stick it on and wear around the house and slept getting a fine suit, where you get your initial measurement, you put on that. And then you use just some minor tweaks oh, you know what the arm hole just a little bit bigger. Or for me personally, like I like it a little more snug, around the waist. [00:26:39] And so that, that fit cap gives us some of the subjective feedback, that, that individuals tend to have in terms of how they liked their helmets and fit. And then from there, yeah we generate the the helmet for them and send it to them and ride straight their doorstep conveniently. [00:26:52] And and then they can enjoy it. And. We've actually found quite a few hockey players. I'm surprisingly, I've gotten multiple helmets because they liked it so much. And it's not a common thing actually in hockey to do that. But they've gotten like different colors and versions of the helmet. [00:27:06] Craig Dalton: Interesting. Interesting. And then this sort of manufacturing geek in me asked to ask, so the, each helmet presumably comes out of one machine is built in one single process.  [00:27:19] Whitman Kwok: So we actually do you want to in parallel, so we break up the helmet into sub segments and that allows us to print individual pieces. [00:27:27] It also turns out it gives us some additional engineering design flexibility that you don't get when you print them all as a monolithic structure. And then we basically bond them together. Again, carbon fiber resident type of analogy, holds true here that there's a little bit of. Attachment mechanism and then we adhere everything together. [00:27:44] And the effectively the joints end up being, stronger than the sub-components and and then, yeah, and then we attach on the straps and do some final QA checks and literally sign off on the box and and then send it on its way.  [00:27:57] Craig Dalton: Nice. One of the sort of visual elements that you'll see for the listener when they go over to the website, which I can include in the show notes is there's a. [00:28:06] Honeycomb look across the sort of front and middle of the helmet. Is there a sort of design rationale behind the honeycomb?  [00:28:16] Whitman Kwok: Yeah, it is. It's it's an engineer circles. It's w it's known as one of the most efficient energy absorbing structures. It crumbles really well. Which is what you want, obviously in something like that. [00:28:28] And even better than foam because in foam, what you tend to have is what's called a densification phase where after the foam, if you've got, let's just say 20 millimeters of foam or 20 millimeters from once you start getting past about a third if you've ever been in an accident, looked at your home and you'll see this it'll crack. [00:28:46] And the foam doesn't compress any further. And so you can think of it like suspension on your mountain bike or your gravel bike. If you have suspension on it it's all about the travel, right? At the end of the day, to absorb the impact you want the most travel without bottoming out. So when you hit a bump, you want to utilize whatever the 30, 45 millimeters of travel that you got. And do you use the full 45 millimeters? You will have had the best ride that you could possibly have had, for that circumstance if you bought them out, obviously not good. Particularly we're talking about your head and if you only do 10 minutes, 10 millimeters of that trial, Then you're not fully utilizing your equipment. [00:29:19] And so foam has that issue where once it densifies at some point it doesn't compress any further. And so you tend to only get a fraction of that travel. The nice thing about the hacks is that you get nearly the full travel. So the full offset of the helmet can be used to compress it and protect you. [00:29:39] It also turns out to be quite. And has this other really important ancillary benefit, which is you may not necessarily always be able to see it when someone's riding, but the honeycomb structure extends into, on the interior as well, which means you have an open face structure on your head. And so he can dissipate really easily away from your head as opposed to foam, which is obviously known for beer coolers and other things that has insulating properties, that trap heat. [00:30:05] So we actually had early versus the helmet that didn't even have venting on it. And the helmet was actually quite cool. I wouldn't say it's the coolest, but it was comparable to the other eight helmets. I have sitting in my shed that I used for testing purposes. And then in the moment we opened it up and added the actual venting, like it's a game changer total game. [00:30:25] And particularly these last like week or two where we've had some hundred, a hundred degree days, you really feel.  [00:30:31] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. The the sort of follower of me on Instagram, might've seen me Dawn, one of these helmets a few months back when we were able to meet face to face. It is really, you can definitely feel the weight difference. [00:30:46] It's marginal, but it's absolutely there and our conversation around crumple zones and that idea of. Protection travel in a helmet is super fascinating via the honeycomb design for those listeners and may fall in this camp. What's the guidance by the industry in terms of how frequently you should replace a helmet? [00:31:09] Whitman Kwok: You know what I do think that varies. The most common I hear is somewhere in the range of three to five years. I think the challenge though, is it's like how often you need to change your bike. It varies so much by your circumstances, meaning if you're like me and somewhat klutzy and you're pulling your bike out and you're dropping your helmet and the process, or my helmet, I don't know how many times my helmet has fallen off my handlebars. [00:31:31] Every time it's fallen, like you could have, imagine that impact just compresses the foam just a little bit, right in that one area. And honestly, one or two times it isn't going to be the be all end, all. For me, it's a little unsettling to not know, it's not like my toothbrush that has a wear indicator. [00:31:47] It says, okay. Time to change those bristles. And so the nice thing with the 3d printing, the polymers that we're using, the design that helmet is that there's a step function aspect of it. Like we've designed it so that if you're dropping it casually, it doesn't activate any of that travel. [00:32:02] Like it, it stays rigid. And it's going to Maintain that performance indefinitely. And so you don't really have to worry about it. We offer a five-year warranty on our helmets and and because we're confident around that which I think is an industry leading whatever warranty. [00:32:20] So I think, again, I think that the. Wisdom is three to five years, but I think it varies really significantly and it, and I think it's tough to provide  [00:32:29] Craig Dalton: that, that makes sense. Yeah, that makes sense. I think, there's a lot of us maybe who have been fortunate to, to not have crashed and you don't see the. [00:32:38] Obvious bits of damage to your helmet, but I'm definitely one of those who, whenever I have a conversation about how much and how much the technology, I think to myself, gosh, almost everything in my garage is a PR is probably a pretty long in the tooth in terms of when I should be considering making a replacement. [00:32:58] Whitman Kwok: Yeah, that's right. It's it's one of those pieces of equipment that's easy to ignore, right? Cause it's not like your bike bond brackets squeaking. Your rim brakes rubbing. It's not going to do that and tell you right. That it needs maintenance or help. Yet obviously it protects the most important part of your body. [00:33:13] And so it is pretty critical to have at least inspect it and have some regular interval that you swap it out.  [00:33:20] Craig Dalton: Yeah, absolutely. It's a good reminder to everybody and women. I really appreciate you joining us on the podcast and talking us through this technology. I think the. The tech geek in all of us can really appreciate from listening to you how different the 3d printing technology enables you to think as a helmet manufacturer. [00:33:41] And it's very comforting to know that you've got smart people around you, including yourself and veterans of the industry who have just been thinking about this helmet from the ground. And how to make the best possible experience for consumers. So I know you I'll send people over to the website where they can find more information about the helmet. [00:34:02] Are these available for new orders at this point?  [00:34:05] Whitman Kwok: We will be taking new orders in about two or three weeks. I'm not sure when this is airing. We wanted to make sure that all the early backers on our Kickstarter were well taken care of. And so we've, we're in a good shape there. And then we'll begin opening up borders. [00:34:20] We'll be at the Seattle classic. So for anyone who's there it'd be great drop by our booth. Look out for us. You can see that the helmets firsthand and we'll be definitely taking orders at that point.  [00:34:31] Craig Dalton: Amazing. Yeah. I've seen that. I've seen a couple of people in my Instagram feed who were clearly some of your earliest supporters. [00:34:37] Who've gotten their helmets in already. So that's exciting to see. So once again, Whitman, thanks a ton for this overview. I really appreciated it. And I hope everybody listening got a lot out of this conversation.  [00:34:51] Whitman Kwok: Yeah. Thanks. Thanks Dan and Craig, I'm always happy to talk helmets or anything related to the cycling. [00:34:56] So thanks for having me.  [00:34:58] Craig Dalton: So that's going to do it for this week's edition of the gravel ride podcast. Thank you very much to Whitman and the cab helmets team for joining us and talking all about 3d printing helmets. I think it was a fascinating discussion. Definitely check out their website. They're over at calves, sports.com to see a little bit of behind the scenes about the process.  [00:35:18] The guarantees. Auntie's around the helmet and just what a custom fitted helmet could do for. You're cycling enjoyment. As always, if you're interested in giving us feedback and encourage you to join us over at the ridership. Our ship, just visit www.theridership.com.  [00:35:35] That is our free global cycling community for gravel and adventure, cyclists, to talk about the products and experiences and trails and events. We all love. If you're interested in supporting the podcast, ratings and reviews are hugely helpful in the podcast game, our read everything that. You put out there and appreciate it very much.  [00:35:57] If you're able to financially support the show, simply visit buy me a coffee.com/the gravel ride. I've put a number of options out there. From one-time support as well as a monthly subscription that simply. Helps underwrite this broadcast. [00:36:13] So that's going to do it for us. Until next time here's to finding some dirt under To your wheels

The battle in the sewers comes to a conclusion. More spells are slung, and healing-both physical and emotional, is needed.

"Be very clear on why you want to write a book because that will drive every step of the writing process." Susan Crossman The writing process is different for every individual, yet the overall goal is to bring out an engaging and worthwhile read for their audiences. Susan Crossman has been helping writers to bring forth their ideas and believes that understanding the writing process and acquiring the suitable skill set is key to becoming a successful writer. Susan Crossman helps spiritually-focused coaches, leaders, and innovators write and publish books that make a difference in their businesses and in their world through a variety of high-impact one-on-one and group coaching programs that are profound, inspiring, and fun! She takes great joy in fulfilling her mission of supporting more peace on the planet, and she believes that a well-written book can be a powerful force for good in our world. Susan Crossman is a writer and adventuress who lives to harness the power of a good story well told. In recent years she has gone ziplining in Costa Rica, luging down a mountain in New Zealand, and trekking in the hills north of Khatmandu. She has hiked among the ruins of Macchu Pichu, danced until dawn at a London nightclub and enjoyed a Christmas Day picnic in the south of France. Having written five traditionally-published books herself, Susan works as a book coach and editor to help other forward-thinking entrepreneurs polish their stories to make a difference in the world. She also speaks several languages and she has earned both a Master Practitioner designation in Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) and a Master's degree in English. She is trained in the Language, and Behavior (LAB) Profile and the Enneagram system of personality profiling, and she is a certified Awakening Coach. Susan also knows the human heart inside out and upside down. She's a writer's writer who teaches and a reader's writer who inspires. More than anything else, she is a storyteller. As a content marketer, Susan heads a team that helps organizations add value to client relationships through outstanding content marketing programs. If you need help telling your business story online, please see the array of content marketing services Crossman Communications makes available through Content with Clarity. In today's episode, Susan will discuss the writing process and the guiding principles when writing a book.   Listen in!   Social Media https://www.facebook.com/CrossmanCommunications/ http://www.linkedin.com/in/susancrossman   https://twitter.com/CrossmanCom I've been a writer since I was a little girl, and that's what I've done with my entire career. [4:05] I recognized along the way that I wanted to write a book, so my first book took me 13 years to write. [4:43] I recognized that I had this skill set that can be very helpful for other people who want to write books. [4:58] I've written five books now, and I have a skill set around it and understand the process. [5:03] Now I help other people write the books that will make a difference in their worlds because sometimes we need a little help. [5:08] There are so many ways of writing a book, and everybody has a slightly different process for doing it, but we judge ourselves terribly when we're writing books, and yet we don't need to do that. [6:05] Many people come to me and say they have no idea how to write a book which means that there's a lack of knowledge about the process itself. [7:45] When I was writing my first book, the writing itself didn't get in my way one little bit; rather, it was everything else around writing a book that I didn't know how to do. [8:00] You go through certain phases as you're writing a book, and the more you know about that, the more confident you can be in approaching that book. [8:16] That first book is a book that is not supported by our brain because we haven't developed the neural network that needs to be in place for us to be writing fluidly and comfortable. [8:46] The other piece that seems to be an issue for many people is lack of focus. [9:26] It is okay if it's unfamiliar because it's unfamiliar for just about everybody that first time they write a book, just keep at it and don't give up. [11:56] Many people don't have enough commitment, but you almost have to be obsessed with getting this book done. [12:11] If you're serious about this, make a commitment and have that same time to write every day or every week. [12:40] A novel can be a much more challenging project to get leverage on than a nonfiction book because we can justify a nonfiction book as part of our thought leadership. [14:06] I would invite everyone to entertain the idea that you have a real purpose in writing a book for the world and yourself. [15:15] Commercial break [16:30] Currently, about 80% of the North American population has thought about writing a book someday. [18:04] 40% of that 80% get started and do a start-up of some sort, but only 2% of that 40% go ahead and finish their manuscript. [18:25] It does take a huge amount of commitment to finish a book, and it's important to get some leverage on ourselves to take that project right through to the finish line. [19:34] The important thing about commitment is to have a time and a place when you consistently work on that book. [19:48] If it seems inconvenient to you to carve out time, whatever it is, recognize it's not for the rest of your life; rather, it is only for the time it takes to get the book done. [21:37] I've learned that when I commit to sit down at a specific time, in a specific place consistently for a specific period, the writing Genie finds out how to get hold of me. [22:43] Many people feel they have to be perfect writers and have reasons why they can't write a book; however, that's not the truth. [23:28] You can ask for help with your writing, so take advantage of the people who love you and even strangers who love to do this for fun, and send that book out for assistance. [24:25] Many of my clients are using Otter.ai, which you speak into it, and it generates a transcript of everything you say, sends it to your inbox, and then you edit that. [26:02] You are becoming an author, and that is worth putting yourself out for because it is a big deal to become an author. [27:24] Find out from yourself why you want to write a book and be very clear on your way because that will drive every step of the writing process. [29:37] ………………………………………………… Thank you to our January sponsor!  KukuaBiz can provide dedicated and affordable talent from Kenya to help you grow and scale your business. Virtual employees are skilled in administrative functions, sales, podcast management, video editing, marketing, social media marketing, website design and management, and more. Learn more: https://www.kukuabiz.com    

Shayanne Wright is a Los Angeles based two time startup builder. Currently, she helps executive assistants manage and measure the right tasks in company operations while getting them off the craziness of Email/ Slack/ Calendar and onto the Office Otter software. This enables them to send tasks in one click, organize their task list, and get real time insights on their reports.In this episode, Shayanne shares why she started a software company to support EAs, and how assistants can support their executives throughout the fundraising process. Show Notes -> leaderassistant.com/134Premium Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membershipBook -> leaderassistantbook.comEvents -> leaderassistantlive.comFree Community -> leaderassistant.com/community

Fall isn't just for putting the garden to bed, it's also for investing in next year's rewards and successes. With thoughtful planting and care, fall-planted bulbs will provide magnificent blooms spring after spring. Likewise, garlic can provide easy rewards come up early summer if they get off to the right start in the fall. And if there's ever a time to give some attention to your lawn, it's in the fall when conditions are best for an array of tasks that can really make a difference. In this episode of Granite State Gardening, UNH Extension's Emma Erler and Nate Bernitz share proven tips and solutions for fall yard & garden efforts with big rewards.  ·         Featured Plant: Glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa species)·         Closing tip: food preservation basics Resources: ·         Naturalizing bulbs·         Protecting bulbs from wildlife·         Growing garlic·         National center for home food preservation·         Using Manure in the Garden event Connect with us at @askunhextension on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to the monthly Granite State Gardening newsletter. Email us questions, suggestions and feedback at gsg.pod@unh.edu Transcript by Otter.ai

Clare takes on a challenging coastal route from Lochbuie to Carsaig on the island of Mull. Her guide is Wendy Lloyd who – like most islanders – has several strings to her bow. As well as working for Christian Aid, farming pigs on her croft, and hosting visitors in a yurt, she is interested in helping people navigate pilgrimage walking routes across Mull and over to Iona. She tells Clare about all of this as they attempt a long and arduous hike across slippy rocks and through shoulder-high bracken but the rewards are immense with spectacular scenery and obliging wildlife. Scroll down to the foot of the Ramblings webpage to the 'related links' box where there is further information available. Presenter: Clare Balding Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Karen Gregor

Tonight, we'll read another excerpt from “The Wind in the Willows” by Kenneth Grahame, published in 1908.This story centers around four small animals: Mole, Rat, Toad, and Badger. Their stories take place in the countryside of Edwardian England.If you'd like to start with the first episode, it aired on March 22, 2021. To follow along easily in order, go to snoozecast.com/series.In the last episode, the two little friends Water Rat and Mole pay a surprise visit to Mr. Badger during a snow storm. They are treated to the badgers warm hospitality, and meet other various guests that drop by, including Mr. Otter.— read by 'V' —See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Former Minneapolis city council member Don Samuels joins us to start the show. San F5ransisco mayor London Breed pulled an Otter from Animal House when she was asked why she didn't wear a mask indoors at The Black Cat Club. An important garage ruling and Johnny Heidt with guitar news.

We've been there before, in the cold forest and wind blasted rivers of wild Alaska, where we discovered not all otters are cute and cuddly. The Kushtaka are shapeshifters of a sometimes wicked whimsy. We've been there before, but you asked for more… So join Roq and Max now as they delve into the lore of the Kushtaka. Check us out on Youtube! Please help our sweet-baby-child channel grow up big and strong!!  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsVFPYuzslHokI2VxJgbAA Some of you have asked how you can support the podcast. How about buying us a coffee? Help 'keep the lights on' as well as keeping us caffeinated! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/nightmarespod Also, our Patreon Page is Live! We have fun bonus episodes and scary sleep stories for y'all! Please support our friendly podcast! https://www.patreon.com/Nightmarespodcast Find us at: www.nightmarespodcast.net Email us at: nightmarespodcast@gmail.com Please, take the quick second and rate, review and subscribe at ITunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nightmares-daydreams-podcast/id1476373753