Month: February 2019

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Show #441 – February 23, 2019

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Guest: Tom Ritchey

 

Tom & his cousins – Palo Alto, California
It’s all sand wild tubular construction triangulated bracing if you look closely
in the back there’s a 12 V battery a starter motor a reduction gearing system.
Tom is around 13 years old in the picture

I doubt most of us do NOT have some piece of equipment on one of our bikes that wasn’t designed and made by Tom Ritchey.  His company, Ritchey Logic is one of the most innovative and prolific in our industry.

Tom earned his stripes at a very young age as his father nurtured his curiosity and taught him pretty much whatever Tom wanted to know when it came to making things.  It wasn’t long before Tom was following his own ideas on design and innovation.

So, when Brian sat me down to watch a video of Tom in a Q&A session over in Germany a few weeks ago, I thought… what have I been waiting for?  I immediately contacted him and graciously, he not only granted the interview, but shared a lot of things I didn’t know and perhaps you didn’t either.

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Show #440 – February 16, 2019

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Guests: Kevin Mills; Bill Elliston

 

This week, Kevin Mills, Senior VP for Policy at Rails to Trails introduces us to the Great American Bike Trail – a cross country, 12-state alternative to riding on the road. With 12 states already identified and thousands of miles already in place, Kevin fills us in on what the next steps are in completing this long-held vision of the Rails to Trails organization.

Then, it’s a great conversation with Bill Elliston,  pro racer, coach, race announcer, and probably one of the most mellow and well rounded “lifers” in our sport of cycling.

Highlighted in an interview by Peter Flax back in 2017, Bill Elliston’s history and career come to life in our conversation – from his early beginnings to his work with the athletes coaches today, Bill has a great perspective on cycling.

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Show #439 – February 9, 2019

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Guests: Heidi Myers; Jonathan Asher; Phil Gaimon

 

We begin this week’s show with two timely topics.

First is the topic of distracted driving. Heidi Myers is the marketing strategist for Louis Garneau and I caught up with her to talk about an initiative Louis launched late last year – Don’t Text & Drive. On December 22, 2017, one of Louis’ team members, 22 year old Jason Lowndes – was hit and killed by a distracted driver. The follow summer, Louis was hit and suffered a concussion.

Out of those two incidents and the pain and suffering that they have caused, Louis decided to launch the International Con’t Text & Drive Initiative.

Our second topic is about land and water conservancy and a plea for our help in getting Congress to reauthorize and important bill that will guarantee the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Jonathan Asher of the Wilderness Society Action Fund fills us in on the LWCF, the approaching legislation, and why this is so important to all of us who value our national lands.

Lastly, we have a fun and lively conversation with ex-pro racer Phil Gaimon. After pro-racing, Phil wanted and needed to reinvent himself. He has a college degree, has started businesses, and of course, still rides his bike. But, combining all of his expertise and adding cookies, hill climbs, controversies, and KOM’s, Phil has become somewhat of a YouTube phenom as his “Worst Retirement Ever” series is downloaded and viewed thousands and thousands of times.

Oh yeah – we also talk about his book, Draft Animals – and the controversy that erupted over it.

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Show #438 – February 2, 2019

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Guests: Deb Banks; Michael Roth

Our show this evening begins with a delightful conversation! Deb Banks, AKA the Rivetress, IS in fact the proprietor of Rivet Cycle Works manufacturing a line of classically beautiful and functional leather saddles. But wait, there’s way more to Deb than saddles. With a PhD in education, Deb spent 30 years in academia before deciding to head out of Boulder and back to California where she grew up.

Today, she wears not only the Rivet hat, but also has a key role in RUSA, Randonenneurs USA, as well as putting together a brevet series in Northern California.

Still recovering from a major crash back in 2014, Deb is hoping to get to PBP this year too.

After a break, we chat with Michael Roth from AEG, he world’s leading sports and live entertainment company. AEG is the producer of the Amgen Tour of California, among a whole lot of other things, and this week the 2019 routes were introduced, touting the longest and most challenging men’s and women’s routes in the race’s 14 year history.

We’ll ask Michael about the routes, who might be showing up to race, and about some of the charitable things that have come out of the partnership between Amgen and AEG – including a very respectable donation to the Red Cross after the California fires last fall.

I want to give a shout out to longtime bicycle fanatic and self proclaimed aficionado Jim Langley for reaching one amazing milestone.
When we spoke with Jim way back in 2013, he had just completed 73,000 miles over a 20 year period – not missing a day of riding. Fast forward to this week where Jim just posted 9,164 daily consecutive riding days – equaling 25 years! He told me he wasn’t always sure he was going to make it, getting older and all… but, clearly that is NOT the case. So, if you have a moment and want to congratulate him, you can find him at jim@jimlangley.net.