Tag: Red Kite Prayer

Posted on

Show #483 – December 21, 2019

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Guests: Patrick Brady; Manuel Tajada; Michelle Duffy; Dennis Markatos-Soriano

This week we have the proverbial smorgasbord of shows! 4 guests whose topics range from California, Spain, to Colorado, and finally to the East Coast!

Usually, when we think about Patrick Brady, we think Red Kite Prayer and road bikes, right?

Well, Patrick is wearing a new cap these days as interim executive director of the California Mountain Bike Coalition. In a state so large with so many different areas in which to ride, there are also a plethora of organizations that manage mountain bike issues. So, now there is CAMBT – And, with a new 501(c) 4 designation, there is a new mission – to improve and increase trail access for mountain biking throughout California by providing a unified statewide voice for organizations and individuals.

And, we’ll find out why Patrick is a great choice to head it up.

Then, we head to Barcelona, Spain to speak with Race Director Manuel Tajada about the Garmin Titan Desert Race. Who knew that upwards of 700 people have been competing through the mountains and dunes of Morocco for a week, followed by an entourage of medical assistance, restaurants, technical support, and a spa-like encampment each night?

About to launch its 15th year, the race will also see 5-time TdF winner Miguel Indurain join the ranks with the hope of finishing!

Then, it’s back to the U.S. to speak with the director of off-road events for Lifetime , Michelle Duffy. In the past year, Lifetime has acquired Crusher in the Tushar, Dirty Kanza, and recently announced the new Big Sugar gravel races as the organization looks to expand its already large offering of other events.

To say that gravel is the thing these days was perfectly illustrated when Big Sugar sold out in 4 minutes of when it was announced.

And, finally – Dennis Markatos-Soriano, executive direction of the East Coast Greenway Alliance brings us up to date on the progress made in 2019 on the 3,000 mile north to south – or, if you prefer, south to north – connectors that make walking and biking safer and more enjoyable.

Posted on

Show #446 – March 30, 2019

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Guests: Patrick Brady; Molly Hurford; David & Emily Lafferty

First up, is the conversation I had with Red Kite Prayer’s Patrick Brady about the judging process at NAHBS.

It’s just not that simple – go around the show, ooo and ahhh about a bike and give it a blue ribbon! In fact, along with frame builder Tom Kellogg and journalist Nick Legan, Patrick has his work cut out for him with a multitude of categories, a show floor full of gorgeous bikes, and a lot of folks hoping to garner one of the top awards. You can also read Patrick’s blow-by-blow (bike-by-bike here)

We speak with Molly Hurford, who is often a guest on TOC. Molly just released an article yesterday titled, Why Sleep Is Critical for Athletes.

With lengthening daylight hours, the recent time change back to daylight savings time, and the outrageous work schedules many of us keep, it’s a wonder that sleep even gets on our day-to-day calendar.

BUT, when you take all of those things and then add intense athletic endeavor… lack of sleep is a recipe for disaster.

You can also learn more about Molly’s new book, Shred Girls! (Out May 7th)

Finally it’s off to the Granite State for a talk with husband and wife team, David and Emily Lafferty. Their company, Cycles Chinook, offers custom titanium tandems. They’ve built bikes for several blind stokers, including the first RAAM blind tandem team. It’s all about your fit, your ride preferences, and where you want to go. They have a cute how-‘they-met-story too!

Posted on

Show #379 – December 16, 2017

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Guests: Leah Missbach Day; Aimee Ross; Patrick Brady

Twas the week before Christmas and there is snow on the ground here in NE Ohio.

But, we’ll bring some conversations to warm the heart as we look at our last “gift giving” show for the season.

My first guest is the co-founder of World Bicycle Relief, Leah Missbach Day. When Leah and her husband F.K. learned of the devastating tsunami in 2005, they flew to Indonesia to see how they could help. Out of that trip, World Bicycle Relief was founded and now, 12 years later, the organization is approaching 400,000 bicycles on the ground and working in a variety of African and Indonesian countries.

Leah gives us some insight into who needs these bicycles and how they help to keep people healthy, educate the young girls and women who receive a bike, and keep businesses thriving.

Then, IMBA‘s director of brand development Aimee Ross tells us about the “Dig In” campaign that is giving 68 mountain bike projects a lifeline in the form of grants and assistance. Aimee takes us back to the beginning of the mountain bike era and propels us forward explaining how IMBA helps facilitate projects all over the U.S. with its local chapters and millions of volunteers hours.

Lastly, Red Kite Prayer’s Patrick Brady gives us his first-hand insight into the fires that have been and are still devastating California. Evacuated from his home for almost two weeks, Patrick tells us about the scores of boxes that have arrived to help local riders who lost everything to the fires as well as what the Sonoma Pride campaign is doing to get peoples’ lives back on track.

If you are ready to write those year-end giving checks, perhaps one of more of these three conversations will help you make up your mind.

Happy holidays from The Outspoken Cyclist! And, here’s to a peaceful, healthy, and happy 2018!

 

 

Posted on

Show #318 – October 22, 2016

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Guests: Patrick Brady, Stephen Bilenky, Jason Sumner

Earlier this week, NPR’s Terry Gross (Fresh Air from WHYY in Philadelphia) interviewed Columbia Law Professor Tim Wu. He coined the term Net Neutrality and studies how and what we see on our screens. In a new book, The Attention Merchants, Professor Wu discusses how we are literally sucked in to such applications as FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram, and pretty much everything else we see and search on our electronic devices. He also notes that we want everything for free – but is that the best way to get what we really want?

So, while this doesn’t directly address the conversation I have with our first guest, it does preface the proposal of paying for what we like and want with Red Kite Prayer‘s Patrick Brady. Earlier this week, Patrick introduced the idea of a “subscription model” to the popular cycling blog and I wanted to find out his thinking about asking for support in this way, how it might affect his sponsors as well as his readers, and what he sees the future might be for this kind of thinking.

We also talk with master frame builder Stephen Bilenky. He and his daughter Bina, started the Philly Bike Show a short 6 years ago and today it is one of the premiere bicycle events on the east coast . The PBE Show is coming up next weekend and I caught up with Stephen on the road to the new east coast Interbike Show Cyclofest to hear what is new at this year’s Expo.

Finally, we review the Bicycling Complete Book of Road Cycling Skills – 2nd edition with its author Jason Sumner. Jason’s book offers practical, intelligent, and cleanly described information on how to ride faster, stronger, longer, and safer!

Posted on

Show #264 – September 19, 2015 – Interbike!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Guests: Patrick Brady, Joni Taylor, Amanda Batty

If it’s middle of September, it must be Interbike! And, so it was… opening last Monday at Bootleg Canyon outside of Las Vegas, the annual U.S. trade show had its share of good and bad press.

This week, we have the privilege of three perspectives on the show: two from journalists and one a vendor.

First up is my friend and often the eyes and ears of events I can’t attend, Red Kite Prayer’s Patrick Brady.  As always, Patrick has a keen sense of what is trending and where the market is strong.  Patrick gives us his review of the new SRAM Red electronic shifting group, where he sees the eBike market heading, and some insight into the size and scope of the show.

Then, we talk with a really good friend of mine and the U.S. importer/owner of TexMarket, Joni Taylor.  As Joni says, “we’re the biggest apparel manufacturer no one has ever heard about”.  And, it’s true. TexMarket offers concept to finished product on a large or small scale from fine Italian fabrics for shops, groups, and most of the teams you see on the road.  Because of her long association with the bicycle industry, Joni has yet another unique perspective on this year’s show as well as the incident we are calling “SOCKGATE”.

So, after our news, we will talk about “sockgate” with journalist Amanda Batty.  You may remember our conversation with Amanda a few months ago when she was summarily pushed out of Pink Bike for her stand against what she termed the misogynist attitudes among those she worked for at Pink Bike and her commentary about it. Which circles right back around to Patrick Brady who stood right up for her in his column “Too Many White Guys” in Red Kite Prayer.

Forgoing Interbike this year – for a variety of reasons – Amanda gives us her take on the “scandal” and once again painstakingly explains why the industry should be looking forward – not back!

So… want to know more about Interbike 2015? Here we go….

Posted on

Show #247 – May 23, 2015

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Guests: RKP’s Patrick Brady; Jackie Crowell

Last week, Amanda Batty shared her experiences – good and bad – about her work with the online site Pink Bike.

While she chose to resign from the column she wrote for them, she emphasized that the real issues are much more broad and insidious than just those she experienced with the editors of the site. Rather, she hoped her final commentary detailing the underlying sexism that runs throughout the bike industry as a whole would prompt a new conversation on a broader stage.

So, in steps Patrick Brady from Red Kite Prayer whose entry last week, Pink Gate took up that conversation and then THIS week, he followed it up with a new commentary with the controversial title of “Too Many White Guys.”

Certain to attract attention – both pro and con – I read it with some satisfaction that he had touched upon a lot of the issues in a way that could result in positive and ongoing change.  So, my first conversation this evening is with Patrick Brady.

After some news, we head on down to Atlanta to speak with Jackie Crowell.
The elite woman’s rider and multi-time champion was diagnosed with a glioblastoma – a brain tumor that usually has a 99+% death sentence attached to it. Yet, today Jackie’s scans are clear, she is racing her bike, and she just returned from the Amgen Tour of California after serving as the Ambassador to the Women’s Elite Team(s).

And, in her usual positive and upbeat way, she has come to a new understanding of her life and the role cancer is playing in it as well as how cycling fits in with all that she has experienced in her short 27 years.

Posted on

Show #246 – May 16, 2015

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Guests: Amanda Batty; Les Barzcewski

As has often been noted many times in history, there are outspoken and brave folks who end up being “shot at” – whether metaphorically or in reality – those champions who stand up, fight for what they believe to be just and fair, and find themselves in the cross hairs for doing so.

And then, there are unsung heroes  – people who have given themselves to their disciplines, given back to the community, are exemplary human beings, and who have garnered love and respect – and whose stories might not be told except by some little twist of fate that brings them to the attention of the public.

Tonight we have shining examples of both.

Amanda Batty is a tough girl – she is a pro downhill mountain bike racer, a chef, a ski racer, and a journalist. And it is in that capacity – writing a popular, outspoken, and sometimes controversial column for the online site Pink Bike – that she found herself in the position of having to make a choice to take the poison arrows being flung at her or to state her case and then eventually resign.

It all started when another writer included the following line in his review of a bike: “it will, much like your girlfriend after a few shots, do pretty much anything you ask of it.”  Amanda wrote a column calling him out and used the term “rape culture” in her commentary.

The indictments were swift and profuse; many were threatening and mean. And, the editors at the site not only did not defend her; but, by their inaction in a way condoned the misogynistic and crass comments.

Amanda joins me tonight in an emotional interview that sheds light just how far our industry and our culture has to go to show respect and honor to women.

Then, we will move on to someone many of you might not know; but, reach back into the history books just a couple of decades and ask any of the riders and racers of the day about Leslie Barzcewski and you will actually be able to hear them smile!

Bob Roll called him a legend.  Nelson Vails said: “he’s my lifetime brother”. He taught me to drive a stick (shift car)”[and], we went on many many road trips and traveled the world like brothers.”

Les was a #1 Junior champion, took a silver medal in the worlds, and yet, as fate would have it – was a bridesmaid – not a bride – more than once when President Jimmy Carter decided we weren’t going to attend the 1980 Moscow Olympics and then again when his teammate, Nelson beat him across the line by a mere 4” to move him to alternate instead of competitor at the 1984 Games.

But, Les has no regrets. He is still riding – though not racing. He’s still full of amazing stories of our sport from “back in the day”. And, he’s a delightful guest.

Posted on

Show #231 – January 31, 2015

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Guests: Patrick Brady from Winter Press Camp; Master Frame Builder Richard Sachs

Super Bowl? Phoenix Open? No No No … The Outspoken Cyclist!

REMINDER ALERT! Our annual 10-day Radiothon that helps support WJCU – the station that in turn supports The Outspoken Cyclist by giving us the amazing facilities we are privileged to use for our show each week – begins next Friday, February 6th.

Once a year, we ask for your support – be it $5 or $500 – to help us continue to make the improvements we need to keep our station state-of-the-art. All of us, including Tim and me, are volunteers here at WJCU and we are all very grateful for the opportunity that is afforded us here.

All of the money pledged during Radiothon goes directly to WJCU – not to the college or to anyone who works here or produces a show here.

We will open the on line portal for your giving pleasure next Friday evening, February 6th, at 6:30pm Eastern time (www.wjcu.org) . Tim and I will also be available to take your pledges on Saturday, February 7th and Saturday, February 14th, from 5:30-6:30 eastern. We hope you will consider supporting WJCU and our show.
On with the show!

This evening, we have the honor to once again speak with master frame builder Richard Sachs. Our conversation ranges from his thoughts on how frame building has changed from his early days – more than 40 years ago – to his take on the U.S. Cyclocross Nationals in Austin, Texas a couple of weeks ago.

Richard has the uncanny ability to cut right to the chase (as in not mince words) about what’s so in the sometimes seemingly mystical world of custom frames. In fact, he reels those ideas right back down to earth in a direct and insightful way. Richard joins me in the second half of the show.

We also speak with RKP’s Patrick Brady. Patrick joins me from Winter Press Camp in Westlake Village, California. This January version of the popular Summer Press Camp that is offered in Park City, Utah in June is meant to give companies who are launching some new product and ideas a jump start in the pre-season. Patrick tells us about Shimano’s new eBike – very different from the ones we think about on the market today; and, he gives a glowing report to a brand new Italian apparel company.

Posted on

Show #206 – August 9, 2014

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Guests: Angie Ridgel from the Gay Games; Krysti Scrymgeour of team Specialized-Lululemon; Patrick Brady, “Why We Ride”

This week, we welcome the Gay Games to Cleveland! And, I speak with Angie Ridgel about her role as coordinator of several of the cycling events. With over 8,000 athletes and 35 events, Cleveland will be rocking and rolling from North to South and East t West! Welcome!

Women’s cycling is finally becoming the star that needs to shine brightly for our sport. The famed Specialized-Lululemon team will be ending its contract with these two sponsors at years’ end and I speak with the team owner/manager Krysti Scrymgeour about Project-X, the new crowd funding venture to give everyone an opportunity to “own” a pro cycling team. Krysti believes that this innovative idea will bring a lot of attention, not only from likely sponsors, but to the dilemma of funding women’s racing in general. It’s time to step it up a notch!

Finally, poet, author, and Red Kite Prayer blogger Patrick Brady will talk with us about his book “Why We Ride” and read a chapter. Padraig has thought long and hard about the many years and many miles he’s ridden and has eloquently put those thoughts into short beautifully written chapters you can pick up and read any time of day or night.

Posted on

Show #201 – July 5, 2014

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Guests: Professional cyclist Jackie Crowell; Chairman of the Board of the new American Bicycling Education Association Mighk Wilson; and Patrick Brady

It’s show #201 and with it… we are introducing a new theme song. As Greg said “it’s ear candy” and it was time for an “audio redecorating”. Hope you like it.

This week, we are speaking with Jackie Crowell. Jackie is an 8-time National Champion on track and road, a coach, a mechanical engineer, and a cancer patient. Last year, as she posted her best time and place in some prestigious races, she presented with symptoms that turned out to be brain cancer. But, while she is still in treatment, she is living a life filled with hope, love, work, and cycling! Jackie’s speech at the Breaking Away from Cancer dinner at this year’s Amgen Tour of California will blow you away!

We also welcome back to the show transportation planner Mighk Wilson. Mighk also just became the president of the board of the brand new ABEA – The American Bicycling Education Association. And, that’s what he will share with us today.  It’s a new direction for the education of cyclists, drivers, law enforcement, and transportation specialists.

Finally, we’ll hear Red Kite Prayer‘s Patrick Brady offer his review on the new book by George Hincapie – The Loyal Lieutenant – Leading Out Lance and Pushing Through the Pain on the Rocky Road to Paris  – and you might be surprised by what he has to say.

So, hope you had a great 4th of July and are ready for another great edition of The Outspoken Cyclist!