Robin: What are we talking about in this episode?

Piper: Here we go. So we talk about coaching students, really rough students, okay? We talk about people being unkind. Then we bring it up and we talk about monkeys and motorcycles. We talk about clothing and clothing.

Robin: Big feet. Are we gonna do fashion? Can we please do fashion?

Piper: fashion? We talk about, um, big hands and tiny , palms, , and we and hooves, And you guys make fun of me because I had to borrow my 10 year old's, um, headphones. They look great and they don't fit quite right. , they're perfect.

Robin: They're now a permanent fixture in this podcast. . God, what else should we talk about in this episode?

Piper: We talk about twisty roads, group riding and group riding. We should talk about group riding.

Robin: Yes. Let's talk about all these things in that specific order. Piper, why don't you introduce us?

Piper: Welcome to T R O. I'm Piper. There is Tim Clark and also Rob and Dean. We're missing, uh, the sickly, uh, Travis who has Covid with all of his kids. Although we secretly think that he is partying with a bunch of friends tonight, just pretending like he can't be here. Um, we're so excited that you've joined us and thank you for including me. I can't believe I'm one of the boys . Holy crap. Oh, yes. Uh, and we can't wait for you to listen to us talk about really important things. Is that it? I think so. That sounds

Robin: good. Here we go. Catch me up on the class you just coached.

Piper: Oh my God. .

Robin: Now I might use the infos. You gotta subdue. I mean, I guess maybe that's public knowledge that that's more of a, yeah.

Piper: Not everyone has natural abilities. . Usually you have, you know, a handful of those people in a class, but when all 11 students are struggling from the get-go, even, I mean, we even had some students who couldn't get their name out during introduction. Like they were, the nerves were really high, they were really freaked out. Wow. Oh my. So on exercise two and exercise three, I think the, I think the allotted time is somewhere between 35 and 45 minutes. Right. And, and I've always been a big believer that if you, if you put in the extra time in two and three, you know, it pays dividends. Exercise

Robin: two is a beast that takes a long time,

Piper: but three, the starting and stopping, if you can get them Really, oh see, that's the one where I spend a lot, a lot of, anyways, exercise two. We spent an hour and 32 minutes. Exercise three. We spent an hour and 47 minutes, and we had people dropping bikes. And then, I mean, typically when you walk up to somebody and say, Hey, why do you think that happened? They're like, oh, because I had my handlebars turned and I panicked and squeezed the front brake. You'd walk up and say, why do you think that happened? And they're like, I don't know. It just dropped. It fell over. I don't know. . Wow. Uh, uh, exercise four. Uh, one of the students walked up to me with, after watching my demo of the shifting, he walked up to me with his helmet and said, ah, I think I'm good. I'm, I'm just gonna go .

Robin: I mean, so he That's the Gooden student. That's the, that's the, the student that, that did what

Piper: was necessary. Yes. That was great. Then, then I think we canceled somebody out and exercise five. And then day two, so we didn't get anything past exercise five on day one, day two, we counted someone out on exercise six, cuz I just thought he was gonna kill himself. And so I just kept going back to like the students and I'm like, congratulations .

Robin: I, I've heard of this happening on rare occasion, but that is, that is, that is hard. That is a hard number to beat in terms of, we made it only this far. That's a rough class.

Piper: It was well too. And then, I mean, I, I had a plane to catch on, you know, Sunday night, something, I can't, I can't be here until midnight. Um, but it worked out. Everybody el, everybody who stayed, everybody who survived all of the rounds passed, which I couldn't even believe it. .

Robin: That's good to hear. The other interactive moment of bullshit that you had to go through.

Piper: I have two stories that are actually really good. So, We, we have this coach, her name is Julie. She's amazing. She's 65. She has four boys and nine grandkids, and she's the shit I, I feel like I'm gonna be in a nursing home by the time I'm 65. So the fact that she's hustling the way that she does is so impressive. But she, um, she had this class of BRC two students. Well, so to start it off, one of the students was a half an hour late and he called me and I literally had to help him drive into the parking lot. I'm on the phone. Okay, now park here. Okay, great. Now open your door. Now get out now Walk to this side of the building. Now walk to the back of the building. He had me on the phone. He told me he was three minutes away. Put we, we, we stayed on the phone for 17 minutes. So he is super late. . He like, oh no. But he was sweet on the phone. So then I get this text message halfway through the day and Julie's like, this guy has been awful. He's being really rude and being really mean. So I send the text. Do you want me to. kick his ass and also kick him out. If he's not gonna play nice with the others on the playground, he can go, no, it's okay. I'll figure it out. Mm-hmm. . So apparently at one point he comes like, he's not, he can't follow the path of travel. He doesn't understand anything. He's not media objectives going on. He's, I mean, he is cuz he's a good writer, but he's still not understanding what the hell he is supposed to be doing. So he comes, you know, he does something and Julie says, well, okay, that, you know, next time I really, I need you to stop here, do this. And he starts screaming at her and expletives and um, and I guess she finally was like, listen here, , if you don't wanna be here, if you're not enjoying the class, if you don't want your endorsement, then there's the door goodbye. And she said, and you know, also knock it off, like, treat me with respect or get the hell out. Yeah. Apparently unbeknownst to her at the time when she turned around, When? Oh yeah. Cuz she turned around to like walk somewhere. He flipped her off. So she did not see that. Anyhow, he gets through the, he gets through the skills, he fails the written test and he is an asshole about that. Right. And so she sits with him? Yeah, she sits with him and reads him the questions cuz he's having issues reading. This is after

Robin: being abused. This, I would do this. So condescendingly, I would read it like it was a fairytale G bed night story. . , right? Oh my god. Number one, let's talk about,

Piper: I wouldn't, I would say you failed. Bye. You've been a dick all day. Yeah. I don't have to help you. It's not required. Right. Anyways, so he passes and we don't, we don't give, uh, completion cards out day of class. We. , I hold onto 'em. I make sure everybody's done their e-course. I make sure everything is filled out right. I make sure all the tests are right and then I mail them in the mail. Well, his, his got lost in the mail, . And anyhow, so he call , he calls and it's so strange cuz he leaves one message of like, Hey, I don't know where my card is. It hasn't shown up. And then three minutes later he calls and leaves this totally different message. What the hell is this? This is bullshit. I'm, I have no idea. Like he was, he was two totally different people. And so, uh, we call him back and say, I can mail you another one, or you can come pick it up. From, you know, from me on Saturday I coach a class. Oh, come pick it up. This is bullshit, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. So he comes to pick it up. Well, I had left it in my car, in my backpack so that he and I could be pulled away from the group and we could have a little chat. Cuz I was furious and I, you know, yeah. I took it outta my bag and I said, listen, if I would've known sooner what actually had gone down that day, you wouldn't be getting this. But I don't have, at this point, my hands are tied. You've taken the written test, you've passed the riding test. It's legally now it's right. It's, it's a thing. I even called the state and said, can I just send this guy back his money and tell him to go pound salt? And they said, well, because he passed both the tests, I would just go ahead and give it to him. So anyways, what you can play

Robin: with, you gotta tell him you need a role model.

Piper: Oh my God. So then I get, so he lights me up and I am telling you I have the names. He called me in that moment, like, I haven't been called since middle school in high school. Holy shit. Oh yeah. I, I, I'm just like, I, I, I can't say any of those here. But they were not nice. Mm-hmm. They were not kind. And what was so great is that a couple of the guys from the dealership next door heard the way he was talking to me and chased him to his car, Oh, that is epic. Yeah, it was great. He then gets in and wheels down the road and he, he, you know, and I, and I actually told him the only reason I was giving, it's not good. I said, the only reason I'm giving this to you is because Karma's a real bitch and you wanna ride a motorcycle, go ride a motorcycle, anyhow.

Tim: Oh, okay. So he's one of those guys that's gonna get in a road rage,

Piper: Jackson. Oh. I don't know how he has made it 60 something years. I just couldn't, and I can't imagine talking to a woman in that way, let alone two women that way. But anyhow, that was that. Then three days prior to that, we have this student who, he's one of the cl, he's like the class clown that thinks, I mean, he just makes a joke outta everything. And by the end of day two, the b r c we have just like, we're all just sick of him. , it's three women, right? It's Julie and I. And then we have a new coach who's doing some of her mentorship coaching. She's 21, he's in his mid forties. Um, anyhow, he's got three daughters at home. This all kind of plays into it, right? He has three young children at home. So Julie and I are setting up the coach and we're having our other coach read the cards. And right before she starts reading, he says, Hey, um, I gotta talk to you about something. Do you want me to tell you this in private, or do you want me to tell you in front of all the other students? And she's like, listen, I don't really have time for this today. Like, right. Cuz jokes are, he's been annoying and saying stupid things and it's, he's never had anything serious to say. It's all been these dumb jokes. And she's like, just go for it. What do you need? Right? And he says something along the lines of like, you know, that, um, that rash I got isn't clearing up. Is, is yours like right, the rash, like the, yeah. Mm-hmm. .

Robin: Like, what the

Piper: fuck? Yeah. Okay. Oh no, but wait, first I screwed it up. First. He says, I have good news and I have bad news. , I have good news, I have bad news. And she says, okay, what's the good news? Well, I don't have any good news. Did you just throw up? Are you okay? Robin ?

Robin: Oh, I do that spontaneously.

Piper: He says, I have good news. I have bad news. Good news is while I don't have any good news, bad news is the rash I got isn't clearing up. Is your rash clearing up? And she doesn't know what to say. She's just like, um, anyways, so she starts reading the. This is exercise five, where they go around in, you know, the, oh no, this is extra. Wait, is this five anyways? No. Yeah, anyway, whatever. It's where they go around in a circle. Oh, okay. This is, this is, um, 13 where they go around in a circle and then they line up for the swerve 13. Okay. So they cross because they're going over obstacles. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I let, so they go and she tells me like, this is what he said, and I could just feel like every, I just felt like the, the crawl up your neck of like, everything was thumping. Right. And I, I thought I was gonna have a, a. Cardiac issue. And so I stop him in the front of the line and I put my hand on the front of his bike and I said, Hey, so I got good news and I got bad news. . Did you kick him out? I said, the good news is no. I asked her, I said, do you want me to toss him? And she said, no, but I want you to, you know, I want you to tell him to knock that off. So anyways, I said, I got good news and bad news. The good news is I'm not gonna kick you out yet. The bad news is you say anything like that ever again. Like, do not talk to us that way. Do you understand? Um, yeah. Or you're gone. Yes. I was just trying to be funny. It was just supposed to be a joke. And I was like, that is disgusting. You're, you're disgusting. I was like, she is 20 years younger than you. Yeah. And you have three girls at home. Would you want some perv saying that to your daughters? I don't think so. Like Jesus, what is wrong with people? Well, I

Robin: don't know. Yeah, it's a complex world. frighteningly.

Piper: Complicated world. Yeah. But truly, like we haven't had any of that in the last. Three years, four years. This is our fourth season. And the season now, it's like season's just starting everyone I know, but I haven't had a single issue like that before. All of a sudden, these people are coming

Tim: out. I don't know. It seems like, you know, when you see public figures get by without any consequence for that sort of misogyny, it seems like it's given all these assholes a green light. Yeah. They're like, well, I can do that too. I can make that joke. That joke's funny to me. It made my beer drinking friends laugh. Yeah. And it's like, yeah,

Piper: nobody finds it funny. Yeah. And he was, I mean, I could, he was totally like taken aback that I said anything, but I'm just like, this is, this is disgusting. You're making all of us uncomfortable and your jokes are stupid. Like, come up with something, you know?

Robin: Yeah. Is, is he,

Tim: you know, acting surprised that no one's ever told me this was. Bad before.

Piper: That's exactly what it seemed like. Like, oh, I always get away with these dumb, these dumb jokes. But anyhow, it's not hell, it's fine. It was good. It was all, it's, everything's good. I still love my job, , for the

Robin: most part. Well, the job is great. Good. And when you separate yourself from it, it gets it to be even

Piper: better. Yeah. But see, that's the thing. And I, I know she didn't, she didn't want to say it and she would probably deny it if I brought, I mean, I brought it up, but she would deny it. I think there was some fear. He was a scary looking dude. Like the, you know, the first guy, that's the worst. And, and yeah, when he, when when we. By my car, he carries. I mean, he had a gun on his belt, and this person does not look like someone who has the self-control not to use it. And so I'm sure she felt some fear and like they're talking about doing active shooter training for coaches. It's crazy what's going on right now. Like it, so I think she didn't wanna kick him out because she was by herself. I mean, you know, it's, and yeah, I don't know. And I think too, sometimes as a business owner, um, I especially feel like you worry about your reputation and you worry about, you know, Google Review. You're like a slave to these reviews. Like you can't review a crappy student, but they can review the hell outta you. And so I think oftentimes we're over accommodating Yeah. Because of, you know, because of that issue too. Well,

Robin: not everybody has the magic voice. If you don't have the golden, the golden response. Then, yeah, there's gonna be a lot of trip up. I guess I am fortunate in that I've got enough momentum that I'm not afraid of a bad writeup or a bad reading from a customer, because I know that I can get fi if I ask politely enough, I'm gonna get three to five positive reviews from the rest, and one in five, I'll, I'll take four out of five stars. Yeah,

Piper: I, I agree. And I think before we had 160 reviews on Google, five star, I would've, you know, now I care a little bit less. But in the beginning, you know, uh, you only have five reviews and one person gives you a crappy one. It can like , it can be

Robin: the, it's drastic. It's this momentous, drastic situation. Yeah, yeah. But at the same time, people also know, yeah. I can think about, yeah, people, people know, they know when they look at the reviews that, well, this person's getting 3.5 out of five. And then when they read the complaints, they can, you know, when they see all. What's the, the, the type, the spelling issues, you just know, right. I'm glad this person's not riding a bike. Yeah. Right.

Tim: That sounds like my, uh, filtering of Amazon reviews is like . I go almost straight to the one star. To see if they're idiots. Yeah. If they've got something like, like, no, this, this, seriously, like I did everything I could. I talked to everybody I could. They wouldn't back it up and it's the, the pile ship product, then I won't buy their thing, but, but yeah. Yeah. ,

Piper: I read an, I read an Amazon review. I think it's for like a banana peeler or a banana slicer or something. It . I spent hours, if not days reading the reviews because they were so funny. , I guess some people are so funny. I just, I wish some of those are great. I wish I had half of the, you know the wittiness that some people do.

Robin: I got this friend Jason Boris, he's a coach outta Texas and he posted something where he was just like, I'm getting sick of Amazon's descriptive text. Oh, here it is. Here it is. I'm about over Amazon. I'm looking for a two . I'm about over Amazon. I'm looking for pool table rail cushions. This is the description. The pool ladder. Rubber bumpers are very practical and can be applied in many places in daily life. You can give them to your parents, friends, neighbors, and others who need it, strengthen your relationships. These rubber bumpers have a very clever design, . The whole shape is a triangular column and there's a circular notch in the middle, which can be a good fit to the radiant of the table. Not easy to fall off.

Piper: So is it, is it like one of those AI things like a, like a robot wrote it? Um,

Robin: maybe more than like, who did that? Likely it's just Chinese, you know, it might be a Chinese product. English as your third language. Yeah. English as your 17th language. Yes. And so we all commented that he needs to take pictures that represent that description in a way where like it just brings the whole family

Piper: together. Oh, that's a good plan. Yeah. . Are we supposed to talk about some motorcycle stuff? Well,

Robin: yeah, yeah. This is your episode? Yeah. I rode

Tim: a motorcycle yesterday. Oh no, it was fantastic. Which one? Oh God. the monkey. Oh, it was my first commute on the monkey. The scooter. Oh yeah. It was good. . It was good. It was good. I, I, so today I just ordered, uh, new, uh, subtle handle bars for it. So the, uh, pullback is a little too much. I, uh, I'm getting ones that are, you know, a little flatter. Yeah. They'll, they'll still hit my knee,

Piper: but I sold my monkey for a Zuma. Don't judge me right now. Oh, did you? Yeah. .

Tim: Well, those are both contenders. Ain't nothing wrong with the Zuma. Oh,

Piper: it's, it's

Robin: so much. So, wait, you had a monkey, what year was yours?

Piper: 2022.

Robin: Okay. Yeah. So it's like the new model minibike. Was it a sport touring monkey?

Piper: It was so cute. It was, it was a b s monkey. I don't know if it was sport touring, but it was . It was, it was darling, it was red. Um, I bought it for my daughter cuz she wanted a motorcycle and we thought she'd be commuting from school to work and home. And, and then we moved too far away for her to, to do that on a monkey, so. Oh. And then my, my school needed a scooter, so the monkey went, bought the scooter. But I did, I did ride my, it's, it's a scooter. I never thought I'd own a scooter. ,

Robin: hold on, I'll reel this. As it pertains to sport touring or is universal to motorcycling as a whole.

Piper: Let's talk about women's motorcycle gloves. No, I'm just kidding. I don't wanna talk about that cuz it pisses me off. Well, why is that? I had, I bought a new pair of Alpine Star. Is it Alpine Star? Or why have I heard people say Alpine Star A? Which is it? Stars. I heard Alpine Star. I go with Alpine. Okay. Alpine Star gloves. Mm-hmm. . And my options were pink hot, pink hot, hot pink and turquoise. And the only other pair that I found that were like acceptable were white and black, which were pretty cool. But they had that thing where the seams are sewn on the inside of the fingers and they were rubbing. But Jesus outta my finger. So anyways, I went with like hot, hot pink. I'm so pissed about it. It clashes with my motorcycle for one. And like I searched far and wide for a female glove with a gauntlet and the mm-hmm. , like the little webs on the pinky and the ring finger. It's like, it's like they don't think that we can ride, you know what I mean? So they give us these little girly gloves. Yeah. It really, it really super pisses me off. But I took the Aurelia out. Yeah. And I forgot to check the air in my front tire, so I went rolling down. Yeah. The motorcycle coach didn't do the tea clocks. And I went rolling down, um, the hill and very quickly realized that I had absolutely no air in my front tire. So that was fun. Wow.

Robin: Uh uh. But you. Good. Yeah,

Piper: I just rolled Okay. Right into a gas station and filled it up. But I was like, you know, it was one of those moments where you're just like, why do I do this? I don't practice what I preach. .

Tim: Yeah. I'm I'm not super good at that. I was just in a hurry. Is it a motorcycle? Yes. Check. Let's

Piper: ride. I know. I'm so dumb. . It was so dumb.

Robin: so dumb. I do, I hear my confirm that that thing has two wheels. Let's go ride it. Oh,

Tim: so go. Going back to the gloves. Um, are they gendered at all or are they just going by

Piper: sizing? No, they're gendered. I mean like, like alpine stars has the,

Tim: okay. Yeah. So like I'm a person who always has a hard time finding glove. that fit my hands because my gorilla

Robin: hands are really weird. You got drummer and bass player hands, man

Tim: bubbles. My thumb is, my thumb is, mm-hmm. Lo located very low on my palm for some fucking reason. So I end up with like, that's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. So I, I got gloves that never quite fit. Yeah. Right. And yeah, it's frustrating. So usually what happens if I get 'em that they're wide enough to fit my palms, the fingers are too short. Yep. Which doesn't make sense at all to me. .

Piper: Yeah. It's

Tim: so frustrating. Yeah. I, I don't know what is wrong with the proportions of my hand, but it's, it's wrong.

Robin: It's wrong. And you're either wearing spaghetti fingers or a boxing

Piper: mit, like, and then also like the shoes, women's shoes typically suck, like they're tooth. Like I, I don't have wide feet. It's not like I have like a elephant. Put print, but like pos, they're wider than, yeah, they're wider than like, I guess some small teeny tiny lady person. And so I also then only have the

Tim: choice of, oh, I, I have the same problem with that too. It's such a pain. I've got the big feet. I've got the wide feet. Yeah. And no one really makes a wide boot on purpose. Yeah. There's some that are accidentally wider than others and there's a little bit of like people pass on in the forums. This one fits. Yeah. And then you try it and it

Robin: doesn't, is it suffice of to say then, then this is like one of those areas where if we wanted to bring more people into the pronoun discussion, it's time to like ditch all that for the gear? Yeah. I want red gloves of these particular scale. Yeah, brand, make them not okay. And we've also set these, we, we have some parts bin builds of gloves over here, you know, that were, that were just leftover material. There you go, ladies. And they're pink, you know, thumb up like

Piper: your ass. But it's the same thing with motorcycles. And Robin, you and I have been talking about, right, me riding an article about, about the best motorcycle for short female rider. And I think I told you for whatever reason that really pissed me off. And not at you. Just at like, at the fact that that is what is so highly Google searched because if I'm being really honest, Like, I've had classes where my female writers are really tall and my dudes are really short. So Yeah. Why? We've all been, um, you know, sort of trained to Google search female thing. Right. Versus just like a short writer. I . It's all about the, in seam is what it, what's right. Like if you could be six foot four and if you have no legs, you've forgotten no legs. That's it. Mm-hmm. . So,

Robin: right. One of the people that just signed up for sevens is eight foot 13. She's, she's very tall, but. The way her, uh, inseam is working, she's gonna be extremely comfortable on her full on sport bike for the entire tour because it just fits. She's got the reach Yeah. And the legs to go with that profile. And I think that that's j that is just math. And why we take math and turn it into gender related purchase will never make sense when it could just be like what fits and gets the job done. Like whenever I shop for my own lingerie, I like to, I, I don't need to see men's, you know, men's body stocking.

Piper: I actually, I think we are moving away from that. Yeah. I think we are moving away from that. And I, and it's slow and it's tedious, but I think we are going to get away from that eventually. But it's funny,

Robin: there's gotta be a lot of forgiveness in it. We need a lot of forgiveness

Piper: as we go through the process. Absolutely, absolutely. And there has been, you know what I mean? But I've, I've, I, I've even experienced on like, you know, when I pull up to, well, when my husband and I ride anywhere together, they're sort of like, and you're on the back, right? Yeah. I mean, Tim's great, but I can ride circles around him. He's still kind of on the newer side of riding. Right? Because he's not a maniac. He doesn't ride. I you, I mean he, he's progressing like anybody else typically would just Right. Your normal rider. But I, it's like I, I'm like a rider on cocaine. Well, wait, that maybe, that didn't sound like Yeah. You are like on the bike all the time. If I don't have to be in a car, I'm not in a car ever. Right. If, if, um, if I don't have to take kids somewhere, I don't care if it's 30 degrees out. I don't care if it had just snowed and it's sort of, kind of cleared up. I am riding my bike and so, I mean, I, I probably have a hundred thousand miles under my belt. This I have the coolest thing to tell you. I actually met, you know, I sort of believe that the world just kind of works out the way that like, right, there's, there's lots of things that happen serendipitously. I met this gal, speaking of eight four. She's actually, uh, six five, and she's, um, she's in the tech field. Uh, she goes by Lili James and her YouTube channel is the twirling tech goddess. And sh , she, she's a CU graduate right now. Like she's graduating this year and she creates things that like, you know, like this headpiece on her dress that twirls and spins and does all these really cool things. It's all tech, right? But she's using it for, um, like to make clothing. And so I was like, Ooh, ooh, we should get together and figure out how to make something stronger than Kevlar cheaper than Dima lightweight, right? All this like, let's work. So we're actually gonna, we're we're making this catcall clothing. We're moving it right along. Yeah.

Robin: Tim is your photographer product by product. I can build your website. Cool. awesome. And

Piper: Travis can, he can do my background music. He

Robin: probably, yeah, he could.

Piper: Yeah, yeah. Anyhow, I'm wor so I'm working on it and by I I mean she, so it's gonna happen. It'll happen.

Robin: I believe you. I think you should be wicked too.

Piper: I'm also gonna write a, uh, a book this year.

Robin: Are you? I wanna do that. Yeah, go on.

Piper: Yeah. Really? Yeah. I'm gonna write a book. I very cool. I mean, honestly, my whole life, uh, I, people have told me I should write a book cuz my, cuz my life is so, it it like stories that I have. People don't believe half of 'em . Um, and everybody says you should write a book and then I kid you not. I was at a Chinese restaurant the other day and I got a fortune cookie and I opened it up and it said, you should write a book. And I was like, that's it. That was the sign I needed .

Tim: Yes, I'm gonna do it. Absolutely.

Robin: Is there gonna be a theme to it? What system are you gonna use to write it? What's the process by which, what are you gonna do?

Piper: I'm, as I'm as close to knowing all of that as I am to launching my first clothing wine . I don't know. So we're getting close. I have no idea.

Tim: This is good. Yeah, this is good. I just, it's like, just, yeah. Just start, yeah. Yeah, well, I, I, I talked. It's like, just start, start the momentum and the rest will come.

Piper: I talked to a ghost writer who basically said like, the last thing that you wanna do is say like, this thing happened, and then this other thing happened, and then this other thing happened.

Tim: So, yeah, no one wants a bullet

Robin: list. So we have this amazing interview with Joanna Noble. She's pretty freaking wicked. I've hung out with her in a regular Zoom meeting that happens every week, and she really, she knows her noise. So we're gonna break right now to go to the interview with Joanne Noble, a relatively new writer who immediately took on like 300 miles right off the bat on a BMW. G s 1250 disappeared into the horizon and now has hundreds of thousands of miles. Perhaps Maggie interviews her, so take it away, Maggie.

Maggie: Joanna Noble welcome. Can you share with the audience a little bit about yourself and how you got to riding and what you do where you

Johanna: are? Just a loaded question. That's a big question. That's a big ask. . Uh, alright. So my riding started out, oh, five years ago. I got, I only years ago. Um, and I went and took a basic writer course. Like, like lots of other people, uh, jokingly in my household. We make jokes that, uh, I sent my daughter and my husband actually to take the class first. and it was just like a daddy daughter date kind of thing. But they all claimed that I had total, you know, nefarious reasons for getting them to ride so that I could learn to ride myself later on. Um, and about a year later, I went and took my first basic rider course, had never touched a motorcycle in my life, didn't have, didn't have any of those influences from other people. So it was just really, it was really new to me and I went and I took this class and I remember just being nervous as all get out. And, uh, I, yeah, I passed my class, like barely scraping past, you know, doing the box exercise that everybody gets nervous about. Uh, and I got my license and I walked into the D M V the next day and said, gimme my license. They gave me my license and I got on the motorcycle that we owned at the time and I rode 300 miles. To go fishing lit. Wow. ,

Maggie: literally to go fishing right out, right out the

Johanna: box. Right out the box. I right out of the box, I just, uh, I did, I took the bike and I rode 300 miles through the mountain passes here in Alaska, and, uh, and went fishing. And the next day, uh, after my fishing tour, I loaded up pans full of fish, all frozen, and rode myself back home at another three to 400 miles. It's like pouring buckets of rain. I had no idea what I was doing. Uh, and I was hooked. I was so hooked. I just wasn't, it was something that I was just gonna do for the rest of my life and I knew it. So, uh, now I run around. Riding all over the place. Uh, I have done, I think I call it my a hundred thousand mile hat. I have a ball cap that I wear and I'm, I'm just coming up on 120,000 miles that I've ridden in the last, oh, over summers,

Maggie: m

Johanna: g the first summer of my license, after I got that, after I did my fishing trip, I went and the first summer I went and I bought myself a new motorcycle, new to me. I found it in the middle of nowhere, Alaska bought a, bought a Suzuki Vrom. And I looked at my husband and I said, Hey, so I'm thinking of doing a motorcycle trip. And he goes, so what are you thinking of doing? And I said, thinking I'm gonna go like go travel for like three months on a motorcycle. And he just looked at me and he went, are you crazy? And I said, nah, let's go do it. I'm gonna do it. And he goes, well, when are you thinking of doing this? Like, next year? And I said, no, I'm thinking I'm gonna leave like next week. Oh. and he just looked at me and he goes, what? And I said, yeah, yeah, I think I'm gonna leave next week. So I called the school where I was working. I called my sister, uh, and I said, Hey, I'm gonna go do this motorcycle trip. And I literally got on the motorcycle 10 days later and rode out of the state of Alaska into Canada. Had again, it was like, obviously I'm a, I'm a bit of a junkie and I just go and do crazy things all the time. But it was just one of those things. And I did, I rode 35,000 miles that year. Um, that, that three and a half, four months, I did 35,000 miles traveling. I had hit like 10 states and then Western United States. And I camped the whole way. I did national parks camping and just got out there and just, just rode and just met new people and experienced lots of cool stuff. And it was, I was a brand new rider. Brand new rider. It was the most phenomenal experience of my life. Just going out, figuring out how to get tires. Cause I had no idea. I didn't know how to change a tire, didn't know how to do anything except I knew how to get on the bike and how to ride it in direction, . And that's what I did. Uh, no g p s, you know, I just did everything off of maps and just went and went gang busters and camped all over the place.

Maggie: people that are listening, just digest on that for a second. Joanna, in her first year, 35,000 miles out the box does a trip, A long distance trip out of Alaska. First of all, let's relet back in. You live in Alaska? .

Johanna: I live in Alaska.

Maggie: A big rugged state. Then you go into Canada, another large rugged territory, and you just figured it out. You just camped. And Anne, you had no previous experience riding. So this is only just five years ago. You just put to shame probably. I don't know. I don't know how many,

Johanna: 90% of our eyes, so to say. I got a little obsessed about riding. Might be an understatement. Might just a little bit.

Maggie: Did you document fi pictures,

Johanna: video, anything? I did, I took pictures. Um, you know, it was like the old, the old, I didn't have cameras on my helmet. I didn't have any of that stuff, you know, it was just like riding down the road, going like this, Hey, selfie, you know, . So, um, it, it was just, um, and I, and everywhere I stopped, every night I would stop and go and we would, I would go and I would hike. Uh, I would go and find, find a lake, find something, and go hike and just go see what was there, what was there, you know? I just would pick where I went and every morning I'd get up and I'd look at the map and I'd go, well, which way am I gonna go today? You know, It's the most ridiculous thing. And I, I, even to this day, I still love that I did it. Still love

Maggie: it. And I think it's amazing that you did. I love that you did it. That sounds really inspiring and I love that you Yeah, I love that you did it. And, you know, you mentioned something before, you had no bad habits or no influences because you, you were new to riding and that probably was a good, a good thing for you in this sense. You know, you didn't have any preconceived notions and you just kind of figured it out. And guess what? You survived. You're back,

Johanna: you're here. . I did survive. Uh, the only reason it's , the story that I don't, the, the story is that, you know, the only reason I stopped, uh, It was because I had a head on collision in Utah. Oof. So yeah, I was coming through a, I was coming through a traffic situation and I looked at it and, uh, I was behind a big box truck and this big box truck pulled out, pulled out, and I gave him space. And then all of a sudden, a Ford Taurus swerved came into the lane of traffic that I was in, uh, in a construction zone and hit me head on. And I wedged the bike underneath the , underneath the car, and I went over the car. So I tell people I slid the hood like Daisy Duke, but not near as cute, just . So after that I packed up, uh, and spent a few months in recovery. Uh, I didn't have any broken bones, didn't have anything cause I am an at gat girl. I wear all of my gear mm-hmm. and it was 105 that day and I still wore all of my gear. It was sweating buckets in my goretex and, uh, crashed. And then, um, went home, came home to Alaska, recovered, and then, uh, six months later I was back out on the road again with part of the women's world relay. So yeah, I do a lot of stuff, but it was a great trip and I wouldn't trade that, that crash scenario. I would never trade that even for all of the miles that I got to do. Riding that and having that experie.

Maggie: Uh, what is the women's

Johanna: relay? Oh, so a few years back there was a program out there, it was called the Women's World Rider Relay. And, um, there were women from all over the world that they had a baton and a flag, and they literally were riding it from one country to another. Uh, ended up crossing over into multiple countries, came here to the United States. And in the United States we call, we created another program. Side by side with it, which was called the ripple relay. And that ripple relay was to travel a baton and a flag to every state in the United States. And I was, they were coming to Washington and I said, wait a minute, what about Alaska? And they said, no, no, no, it's too far. We're not going to Alaska. And I went, the heck, you're not going to Alaska. So I bought a bike in Washington state. literally flew down there and all these women came from the world relay and the ripple relay. And they met me in Washington state and they crossed me over into Canada. And then I took it and ran through four provinces and territories in Canada, ending up in Alaska with that relay, and then took that baton and then we transferred it over to Hawaii.

Maggie: That sounds awesome. So they

Johanna: do it every year, or No, they don't. It's a, it was a big undertaking and it's one of those things that we're, we're all talking about whether or not we're gonna. Bring it back again cuz we were really, were wanting to make it so that it happened in every country, but there were obviously some countries that women weren't allow to ride in. There were what countries that Americans can't cross into or, so what we were trying to do is find women from each country to come to the border and pass off that, that baton too. Yeah. So when, uh, when Canada needed it, it traveled all the way through Canada and then it came into the United States and then they took it and they traveled it down through South America. . It was super cool and that was one of the bigger instigators, uh, to me deciding to look towards doing things in the motorcycle industry for work. So it just was a, it was a big empowerment moment for a lot of women all around the world. It was just phenomenal. It brought together from all walks of life and in all socioeconomic classes and races and everything to just get out there and really empower women. And it was one of the most phenomenal experiences of my life too. It sounds amazing. I am going to send you the Facebook . Yes. Ill send you the, I'll send you the links for it, but you should look it up. Uh, I know that it was also, uh, Haley who ran the program and started the program and she was featured in, I think, the American Motorcyclist magazine. Okay. So, uh, definitely something for you to check out.

Maggie: Yeah. I

Johanna: had no idea. All the things that Max gets to learn from, from the weird, you know, coffers of Joe's brain, .

Maggie: So you said that you came to motorcycling five years ago, so not a long time, but you don't sound or talk or ride like someone that's only been riding a few years because hearing just a couple of the things you've already done is amazing. So tell us some more about other big rides and trips.

Johanna: Well, I've done lots of other cool stuff. Uh, I am one of the women in, in the United States that has actually done the 48 states in 10 days. Uh, the association, oh, I'm pretty of that thing. Yeah. So I did that two years ago. I did that one. Um, a friend of mine, Carrie Miller, and I went and did the 48 10 we started over in the East coast and rode all 48 states in 10 days. That was a, that was a big challenge that she, and I just wanted to just prove that we could do it. It was just a, it was just like a, Hey, let's just do it. Uh, I do things, I do those 1000 miles that, that they have available, things like that. Um, generally in the industry, if somebody says, Hey Joe, we need this. I'll go, can I ride there on my motorcycle and come do that ? So, uh, I, I've had a dealership up in Minnesota that I've done a lot of cool things with that. Uh, they took me last year I got to go and I rode to Minnesota and they took me and took me to the American, uh, Mo the the am the motorcycle races, what are they called? Big Moto America and I got to go hang out at Mo America. That was amazing. Ooh, I've never got to see that stuff before. So I actually sat and hung out, um, with a lot of the different riders. I got to meet a lot of different racers and things like that, that were over at Moto America. That was so cool. Uh, for a nerd coming out of Alaska that that doesn't get to experience a lot of those things. We don't, you know, we don't have all of the track days. We don't have all of those things that people have and or even have access to easily. And when I say easily, that means like within seven days of being able to get there, um, . Because for me, if I wanna go anywhere, it's either by a flight or it's riding through Canada to get somewhere. So that's probably what started the, the desperation of getting out of Alaska was the desperation for me being willing to ride long distances to get places. Um, so last summer I got to do, . And then after that I went and, um, I got to be part of a program out there. It's called Moto Relief Project. So Moto Relief Project is, uh, P T S D and uh, P t s d clinics for first responders and, uh, combat veterans who are veterans in general. Uh, they run rides every, gosh, almost every, every two weeks, uh, during the summer. And you go there for a week and they take you and they run some of. Trail. Some of the rides that they do are through Colorado Backcountry, uh, or Arizona. And they take you and your ride for a week and you get to meet other veterans and do cool stuff together on motorcycles. So that's part of my summer, last summer was doing that and then running some of their routes so that I could see what other routes are that they have that they typically use in Arizona and in Colorado. And uh, so I've been going and doing different things, helping moto relief project, work with veterans with P T S D, which is really cool. Yeah.

Maggie: This started out with you sending your husband and daughter to ride. Are they as avid uh, riders as you

Johanna: are for being in Alaska? Sure. . , they, yeah. And, and, and, uh, it's terrible to say, but I don't find. , I don't find as many people as I'd like to that go out and do the amount of crazy things I do. Um, I am working on my, uh, third, fourth b, fourth state, b d r. Um, my husband has wonderfully been able to go and do one, but, uh, I'm working on my fourth. So then I did portions of, uh, Colorado last year, Arizona, uh, New Mexico and Wyoming. So I've been kind of working my way through some of the BDRs by going and taking trainings and then doing tours along with them, with other riders that are out there. So they're great companies out there that provide that kind of support. For somebody like me coming out of Alaska, not having. Uh, readily accessible trainings or not knowing that territory. That's how I get to do that. So going out and finding these tours and, and groups that, that will go and do the backcountry and camp and do the crazy things that I'll do. That's what I do. And, uh, yeah, it's a lot of fun. I have a, I just have a great time doing it.

Maggie: Yeah. And this is, this, this is on the side, or this is your full-time thing now?

Johanna: Motorcycle. No, I, no, I, I tell everybody right now, I'm fun employed. Uh, I'm fun employed with a lot of F words. Um, I don't usually, Uh, I, I tend to get to ride a lot during the year, uh, just because I come out of state and I go to aim. Um, I do help work with a couple of dealerships up in Alaska, so I do get the opportunity to go to aim, and then in my off season from what I do as a motorcycle instructor, I then go and take extra trainings and as many trainings as I can. And I do advocacy work, uh, with the state of Alaska now to advocate, writer, education and training. And I just get opportunities where I just. I just sit down and go, Hey, I'm gonna go do a tour and I'm gonna throw a training with it. That way I can improve my skills and gets to see all of these really cool, cool and beautiful places in the United States. And then as somebody calls and says, Hey Joe, we need you to go and attend this event for, uh, motorcycle awareness over in this state. And I go, sure, let me just hop on the bike and I'll ride over there. And they go, no, no, no, you can fly. And I go, no, no, no. I can ride . So, um, so I take an extra, you know, 24 48 hours and zip myself across the United States in order to do it. It's a lot of tire wear, but uh, it's still a lot of fun. Um, but that I do the trainings and I do the tours on the side during my off season from, from being an instructor.

Maggie: So far what's been your best trip, your favorite trip? What was the best trip you've

Johanna: done? Wow. . I will still say that first opportunity. That first one? Yeah. Yeah. I'll still say that. That was cuz it was just really just trying to figure it out and just taking the time to do anything that I wanted to. I didn't have to worry about my kids. I didn't have to worry about the dog. I didn't have to worry about the cat, didn't have to, all I had to do was call home every now and again to the husband and say, Hey, I'm not dead. Uh, but it was for me to get out and see the different cultures that are across the United States. And that was just a phenomenal trip. And don't regret it. Not

Maggie: one bit. You just went out on your own. You had to figure it out. You didn't have any fears at all. Or you're just one of those people that's like, Hey, I, I know, I'll

Johanna: figure it out. I, you know, there were times when, you know, you, the anxiety would push up and you just go, what am I doing? And I'm like, I'm out here. I'm unsupported. Uh, at one point. I decided one time I was in, I was in Moab and that was, uh, I was down in Moab and I saw the, there's a big set of chica, uh, and I'm trying to remember what the name is, of this pass that goes down into canyon Lanes and it goes down to the white rim in Canyonlands, and it's this big dirt track that's down there. And you think, oh, okay. It's a dirt track. Eh, you know, it's a vro. I can do that. Right. It's a vro. I can do that. Yeah. And I, I get to the gate and I look at the, the person running the gate and they're like, yeah, I don't think you should do that on that bike. And I had, there was this, uh, guy with me and he was from Argentina and he was on a K L R and doesn't speak any English. And I'm like, I don't care. It doesn't matter. And he's, he decides that he's gonna go down. That all I got, I'm just gonna follow that dude. I'm gonna follow that dude. They're like, no, if you crash down there, we're not gonna come save you. And I was like, well, Can't be that bad, right? Can't be that bad. , I'd never been in the dirt before. Uh, I'd never experienced riding in sand before, none of that. And I thought, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna give it a whirl. So I go and I start riding this long track that keeps swerving back, cutting back and forth across the cliff faces. And every time I hit sand, I'd never ridden sand. I'd hit the sand and it'd just go. And I'd fall over and I'd get back up and I'd ride down and I'd hit the next corner and I'd go sand and I'd fall over again. And it just kept doing that. And it, I did that the whole way down. It was the most, it was the most ridiculous thing ever. And then I went and I got to the bottom and I was standing there and I'm like, that was the craziest thing I've ever done that that. Crazy. I came down here unsupported. It's not like I can get fuel down there. You can't, there's no rescue services. Even if you've got a garment, even if you've got all of your beacons, it doesn't matter. They're not coming to get you. And I said, well, ah, you know, ride the rim. So I went out there riding the rim and the rim is all calcium. And you go and you ride around and that's why it's called the white rim. And it's all calcium and you go ride around it. And uh, if you fall to the left, it's calcium. If you fall to the right, it's iron oxide. So I get done riding this whole thing. I come back up that hill, uh, get myself all the way back up again. Never having ridden sand. I was filthy. It. Crazy. I was bruised. I was banged up. Everything was, I've broken parts on the bike. It was just, it was cr, it was insane. Uh, I get up to the top and I ride back to the campground where I'm gonna stay and I get there and there's this Argentinian guy and his wife and a whole bunch of other people that I've been, that I've come across and met. None of them speak English. I don't speak Spanish. I don't speak any of the languages that they're using cuz some of 'em are from hi. They're from all over the place. And I ride up and I get off the bike and they just look at me and they just start laughing. The biggest laughter I've ever heard in my life. And I'm just standing there and I'm going, what? And they're like, Broke bike. And I'm like, yes. They said mirror. And I went, okay. So I go walking, I go walking over to the, to the, uh, to the showers, right? And I still have all of it. I still have all my gear on, and I wish that I had, I wish that I had gotten a picture of it, because as I'm standing there looking at myself in the mirror, , the left side of my body is all white, and the right side of my body is all red And this woman is standing there in the showers and she's just, she comes out, she looks at me and she just gives me this like shrieking little thing. And I go and I walk into the shower, full head, head toe gear, all my gear still on, and I literally walk into the shower and I just turn it on and I just stand there and it just RINs, you know, and everything just comes out. And I walk back out of the shower and this woman is looking at her child and she's saying how ridiculous it is that she's speaking in another language. And she's saying it's so ridiculous that this person just came in here in the full motorcycle gear and rinsed off like that. And it happened to be my native language. She was saying this in Dutch and laughing at her and I, oh, it took off my helmet. And I looked at her and I responded to her in Dutch . And I said there was no other way for me to get all of that clean. And then she and her daughter just started laughing. She goes, you're a woman. And I said, I am. And she goes, you are filthy. And I going, I am. She goes, did you have fun? It was like a 10 year old girl. She goes, did you have fun? And I said, I had so much fun. And after that, like the next two days in the campground, that little girl and that mom would come over and every day go, so what did you do today on the motorcycle ? And at that point, you know, you go, oh my gosh, look at what I can do to influence other women and girls to get into doing exactly what we have the joy of doing most days of our lives. And it was worth every minute of it.

Maggie: I love that attitude. You weren't thinking about, oh shit, look at my bike. Oh shit, I'm dirty. Why did I do that? You were all like, oh, I should clean off. I should not be red on one side and white on the

Johanna: other. That's I'm gonna go buy some epoxy. And yeah, ,

Maggie: I love that he just walked into the shower

Johanna: like a, okay. Yeah. And I think that that's the biggest thing with all travels that I do. If I stop at a gas station, if I stop at a national park, if I stop somewhere, it doesn't matter where I stop. As soon as that comes off. And now, as soon as people see the helmet that I have, um, they go, oh my gosh, you're a girl. And they come over and they start talking and asking questions. Get women, women always come over and. I'm so impressed that you're doing this on your own. They see me come barrel and pass them, you know, they're in their cars and they see me come barrel and pass them well, and I have my little devil horns on, or my, or my ears on now. And they come past and they go, oh my gosh. And they stop when they see me at a , at a rest stop or at a gas station as I'm standing there at my motorcycle eating a protein bar. And they go, oh my gosh, you are doing this all by yourself. And I go, I do, I do this all by myself. I, I am very blessed to be able to do it. My husband is really good about, he's okay with me going and traveling like that. My kids, uh, don't ride as extensively as I do, but, uh, they both are so supportive, me going and riding and doing the crazy things that I do. And, and they enjoy the photos. They enjoy seeing what I do. They, uh, they eventually got me a camera that I put on my helmet and I have to record footage and send it to 'em, but, I do and I get people from all over just going, it's just so impressive that women are out there and doing this. And I try to make myself approachable at these different places so that women can understand that they can do it. And I tell women all the time, I said, I don't care if you're gonna go in your car. I don't care if you're gonna go in on a motorcycle, just get out and go see this beautiful country we live in. Go see it. Go learn the different experiences that are out there. Go learn about the different cultures that are out there and just experience it no matter what. But of course, if you can do it on a motorcycle, do it on a motorcycle. It's always worth it. , always.

Maggie: Uh, may I ask how tall you

Johanna: are? I am five 11. Okay. I'm a tall girl on a tall bike. Bought a tall bike on purpose. Not for me because I'm the short one in my family, . Oh,

Maggie: well you are Dutch and I know Dutch people are

Johanna: right. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, my daughter has a 37 inch in sea. My husband has a 36 inch en holy cow. My son has a a 34 inch en sea, so my 33 inch en seam, uh, I, when we were looking at the first motorcycle we were gonna buy, I looked at bikes and I went, oh my gosh, my daughter won't fit that. Or My son, my husband won't fit that. It's too small. It's too small, it's too small. And that's how I ended up on an adventure. . So the first bike I bought was a K L R. It has a massive inseam to it and it was almost too tall for me. It is. It is really tall and, and for me, I have to tiptoe on the K L R. Um, and so we bought the K L R because we wanted something that was super durable and that we could all crash on cuz we knew we would Right. We knew that as new riders, that was most likely to happen even with training. Um, but we really wanted something that was gonna be tall enough for all of us to fit on cuz we were all gonna be sharing that bike. So that's what we got was our first bike was a K L R. Yeah. Tall bike.

Maggie: That's a fun bike. Not that I've ridden one. It, it

Johanna: looks like fun. It is a super fun bike. Uh, it is. I I work in shooting sports and I often say that LR is the, is the AK 47 of the motorcycle world. You can take it in the water, you can dunk it everywhere, you can do all kinds of things with it. You can beat the snot out of it and it'll still function. Uh, so Klr is what we started with. We just figured that was an affordable, uh, good size bike that would fit, uh, any of us that are, that are taller like that. So that was the first bike we got. And then, uh, I bought the Vrom, that was the next one. And then when I totaled the Vrom, I got myself a Triumph tiger and that sound on a BMW g s. So I, uh, I tend to be, I'm a little hard on my bikes with this much mileage. I admit it. I'm a little hard on my bikes.

Maggie: 125,000

Johanna: miles you said? Yeah, this summer I'll top this summer, I'll top out of, I'm guessing that the summer I'll finish out with a hundred, 30, 140,000 miles. I might hit 150 if I, if I. a lot depends on how, how much I get out of state and how many cross countries I end up having to do this year for other stuff. So yeah, it's a crazy amount.

Maggie: What is the plan for this year? This, uh,

Johanna: this summer? So in, well tomorrow I'm getting on a plane and I am flying into Salt Lake. I have a bike that's currently parked in Salt Lake. Uh, and I will take that bike and I head up to Idaho and I'm doing some training classes up in Idaho. And then from there I am zipping down to Arizona and I'm meeting some friends, uh, that are with the Moto Relief Project. And we're going to go and run some tracks and some trails, put down some, uh, video footage for promotional use for motor relief project. Um, and from there I will go up to Colorado and I have, uh, some work to do in Colorado. We'll see what, uh, what kinds of shenanigans I can get into. There's a couple things there that I, uh, last year as I was riding through Colorado, I crashed my bike. And so there's a goal that I have to get it through one of the passes that are there. So I have to see if that passes available and I'm gonna go do it. I'm gonna go do it. Um, if it's not available, then I'll come back to it again. Um, and then I'm coming back home and working with a local ride program to get new rider coaches certified. And then I'm going back out in June for the B M W M O A over in Virginia. So I'm gonna be going there with Moto Relief Project to, uh, to do some stuff for them and, uh, meet my friends from just ride five, uh, one of the Moto clothing companies that's out there for women. Uh, there's some great friends mine that run that. So I'm going out to the MOA with them. And then I have lots of other shenanigans that are really, I'll be doing. Project. We have some women's rides coming up. They need people to come and wrench on bikes and get them all prepped for riders that come in because when uh, people come project, we provide all the bikes, we provide lodging, we provide everything that they need for the entire week. All they have to do is get there and it's all paid for. And so that means we have to do all that bike maintenance, right? So yeah, I'm gonna go down and wrench a whole bunch of bikes. I'm gonna wrench on some bikes, travel around, have fun. I, that's, that's the name of the game, right? So that's why I say I'm unemployed. That's why unemployed, , that's about all I got right now. Uh, but a lot of my other travels also include me going and doing things for, um, I'm also a rifle instructor. I coach, uh, Olympic development, shooting sports in the state of Alaska. And so a lot of my other travels include me going and working with other people that are out in the, uh, shooting sports community. So I stay pretty busy. I stay busy.

Maggie: Sounds like it. I love that. You, as much as possible, you ride to your destinations, even if it's across the country you're riding. So commuting doesn't seem to even exist in your world. It's just a ride. .

Johanna: It's, it's commuting. I commute to my, I commute to the motorcycle range where I work, which is like 10 or 15 minutes from my house. Uh, but I tell people, I said, if you want to go and ride 15 minutes to go get a cup, a thing of ice cream, I'll go with you to do that. Uh, if you tell me that you want to go and punch down a thousand miles, yeah, I'll go do that. Sure. . If you tell me you want to go and do some off, off-road work our stuff and you wanna go and ride some dirt, some gravel roads, I'll go. Sure, I'll do that. If you tell me you wanna ride to the Arctic Circle or you wanna ride up to the Arctic Ocean, I'll go, sure, I'll do that. You tell me you wanna go from the Pacific to the Atlantic. I'll go, sure, I'll do that. Uh, at this point I just look at it and I go, whatever shenanigans, somebody is willing to look at me and go, Joe, let's go do a shenanigan. I will go and ride shenanigans. I think it's when you guys sit down and talk about being obsessed with riding, I have definitely hit that obsession level in what I go do. And I love it and it is so much fun.

Maggie: You preemptively answered my last question, which is usually, what is your Riding Obsession? you've already answered it so I don't have to ask that now. It's uh,

Johanna: yeah, it's all of it. Yes. Whatever I can do, you just tell me and, and I'll see whether or not I can fit it in my docket and whether or not I'm crazy enough to do it and whether or not I have enough tread on my tires to do it. There you go.

Maggie: I love that people just, especially females, come up to you and you know, they're inspired, they see you on the bike, they, they see you doing things that you don't see a lot of women do. Not that there aren't women rider. There are, I have to say the majority of the female rider are the women rider that I see, uh, are on cruisers. I can understand I have a naked bike, a little tall for me, but I'm five two. I could use a couple more of those inches, but I'm not, so I have a different issue. But regardless, like just going for it and knowing that it's gonna be okay, not that this is about class and instructing, but the thing that I see with people that struggle in. Basic riding courses is they're afraid of falling. Well, sure, but it's gonna happen. , sorry. It's gonna happen and it's the slow stuff. If you can master that, you'll be better off cuz it's not as hard to get going and get some speed. That fear of falling and, and here you are, you rode over sand, fell over, got back up, rolled over in sand again. And I've done that by the way too. I was going to park the bike and I was turning and then I hit sand and I was going a little too slow. I don't know that would've mattered to if I was going faster cuz I hit that sand bar. I was like, burp fell over anyway. And you. Picking yourself back up and getting back on the bike. I think that's the biggest lesson in everything is anything that has happened to you that wasn't planned , that you did not say, okay, I plan to fall here. You just got yourself back up, dust yourself back off and got back on

Johanna: the bike. That's exactly what has to happen every time. And it's not that when I started riding, I wasn't fearful of falling. I, I, I was, um, but I into it and just said, you know, I, I have a, I have a great bike, right? The bikes that I've had, and when you go from a K L R to a to a a. A tiger and to a vrom and to a bike, to a to a gs. And that's, that's what, um, I had a gsa. Now I'm on a gs. Sounds really awful when I say that's how many bikes I've done through, um, But when you, when you look at these things and it, in the adventure riding world, we look at it and go, you're going to fall, right? So we, we teach you how to fall with style. Um, and, and we, we purposefully sit down and go, you are going to fall. You're going to hit those sand traps, you're going to hit those things. And as soon as you do, get on the bike, do your Captain Morgan and, and be proud of the fact that you are getting back up. . So the times that I have fallen down like that, I just stand there and I, I know that I look at it and I look at the bike every time and I go, ah, okay. And I, I self-assess what on earth happened, uh, or I look at the people that are around me and go, so, so what did you see happen? Because that was just like crazy stuff that just happened, right? And they go, yes, that was crazy stuff, Joe. We don't wanna see that again. And I go, okay, And I do. I get back up on the bike and I'm a big girl, right? You know, you don't, you don't see it. Most people aren't gonna see it through a podcast. I'm a big girl. I'm, I'm five 11, but I'm not, I'm not a featherweight either. And I'm a big girl and I, I, the other joke that I make a lot of times is Bumbles Bounce. So Rudolph the Red Nose reindeer, the big puffy white guy, he throws himself off the cliff and he comes back up and he bounces back up and he starts doing all of his Bumble stuff again. That's me. I fall down. And I get myself back up and I go, bumbles Bounce. And I say it almost every time. Bumbles bounce. And I hop back up and I lift up that bike and I look over the bike and I go, okay, let's go try this again. Let's go, let's go do this again. Because there is nothing that, uh, a bike fall, A bike fall shouldn't be the reason that you stop riding. I, I, I had a head-on crash for goodness sakes. Uh, I didn't stop riding. I went off a 30 foot cliff. I didn't stop riding. I went off a 10 foot embankment. I didn't stop riding. Uh, I, you know, did all of, I've done all of these crazy things and I would not trade a minute of any of that, right? I wouldn't say, if you could take away my crash, I would just stop riding. I would not trade a minute of any of that because there are so many places that I've gotten to see so many places that I've been able to go to on a motorcycle, traveling around. That I would've never done if I hadn't have done it on a bike. And that bike, that bike is my lifeline to the outside world. It is my lifeline to adventure, and that's what I've used it for. And that's the whole thing behind all of this. That's what it all comes down to that session. Right. That's the fun part of all of it. I don't care about the crashes. The crashes don't stop me. We just keep going. Bumbles, bounce.

Maggie: I'm gonna steal that one. Bumbles

Johanna: bounce. Bumbles, bounce . Yes.

Maggie: And it's so much fun. Did you say you went off a 30

Johanna: foot cliff? Yeah. Yeah. Uh, I wondered if I got that helmet laying around somewhere. I probably do. I did. I was, uh, I took a training last year in April. Um, and the end of the training course, uh, the instructor that I had and myself, uh, he was really fabulous and he said, let's go, says Joe, you're. you're in a place where you're really competent in what you do. And he goes, let's go. Let's go. Just have fun. Right? We left a lot of the other people that were training, uh, to the side and, and he took me off into the, off into the other parts of the, of the track. And we went and did stuff. And, um, I was, we were finishing up and I was on a downhill slope coming down, uh, and was a pretty steep little embankment. Uh, and, uh, the rider that was in front of me, he slowed down just a little bit and when he slowed down, I moved forward onto the brakes and I did a grab, then a squeeze, right? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. , which ended up popping my throttle a little bit. And right at that opportune time of popping my throttle, I was in a sand pocket and it spun the bike, uh, 90 degrees and when it spun the bike, 90 degrees, the bike, and I went off the side of the cliff. So, um, as I was going off, I took the bike and threw it away from me as much as I could, thinking maybe I would stay on the cliff side. And I didn't, uh, hit the, I hit the edge of the cliff. The bike was already going down in front of me. I hit the edge of the cliff and, uh, . And then I proceeded to fall down the 30 foot, so it was a 30 foot straight drop down to the bottom. I remember tumbling a couple of times. Uh, my helmet was just absolutely destroyed. But again, I had all of my gear on and I hit the bottom. And I remember just laying there and I started counting my fingers and I was going one, two, touching each of my fingers. And, uh, people came running up from everywhere because there was a training course that was. Underneath that, that cliff where I fell. And so the training class was down there, there was about 30 students in there. And I started touching my fingers, and then I started wiggling my toes inside of my boots. And I went to go and detach my helmet. And by then all the guys had run up and we're going, no, no, no, don't do anything. And I'm like, no, no, no, I'm okay. And I detached my helmet and I stood up and I took it off. And I just stood there and the whole class just stood there staring at me. And um, it was rather traumatic for them. Uh, I don't . I don't know what that looks like. Uh, I wish that I had had video footage of it. Uh, everybody who was in the area, uh, there were people living in their houses that were sitting on their back porches, and they saw it. And everybody who says, everybody who saw it says, oh my gosh, that was one of the most traumatic things that they've ever seen. Uh, I was on a GSA at the time, and it completely totaled out the gsa. I mean, just mangled the crud out of it. And it totaled the gsa. My helmet was destroyed. I sent the helmet to Shoey and she actually took a look at the helmet and went, holy cow. Um, all through the inside of the foam, uh, the helmet was just, it's all cracked and destroyed. They sent me the helmet back with a new helmet. Um, but it was just, it was just a real, it was a, it was a big crash. And I'm sure that for everybody who saw it, it was traumatic. Uh, the instructor that was riding with me, he, you know, he felt awful about it. The instructor that. At the bottom of the hill who was, was training me. He saw the whole thing happen and he was traumatized by it. And I went home, you know, went home, recovered, and then went back to that same training program with those same instructors. And I said, okay. So since I didn't make it out of my level one class, technically do I get to do level one again? and those poor guys, they, they were really good about it. And I came back into the next to the Level one course again and they went, you really still can't ride. And I said, well, I really could ride then too. It's, and they're going, we just, they were traumatized. Those poor guys. I, I really did feel bad for them cuz even as an instructor, I can relate when one of my students even drops a bike on the, on the thing, let alone somebody taking a 30 foot dive off of a cliff. Um, and it was just, it was really traumatic for them. But I did, I took off the helmet, I stood up and I went over to the bike and I did my Captain Morgan on the bike . And I said, you am that first. You better take a effing picture. And they took a picture of me pointing up at the top of the cliff and going, yeah, So it was just, uh, I mean, it was just when I got home. and everybody just went, I can't believe I didn't have any broken bones. Uh, I had some scrapes and bruises, but no broken bones. And we're talking about, it's a 30 foot, it was a 30 foot straight down drop. And I remember the air and just going, just be gumpy. Just be gumpy jumpy. Just be gumpy, right? Bumbles bounce. And I got to the bottom and I did, I unclicked everything. And I said, y'all, y'all better take your picture because bubbles bounce. And they took picture. Everybody, all the cameras came out, like every camera in the entire training course came out. And neighbors that were out at their, on their decks that were out there, they all got in their cars and drove over because they all figured and so did the class. They all figured that once I hit the bottom of that cliff, that they were not going to be coming upon somebody who wouldn't have any injuries. And I literally walked away from that crash. Left the bike sitting there in the middle of the Arizona desert and walked away from a crash and came back to those training instructors and said, we can do this. You can trust me as a rider. I can trust you as an instructor. It has nothing to do with any of that. It just was a happenstance. It was just a cra it, I know what happened. I won't do it again. Let's go and train again and let's go ride again and let's go see this beautiful, this beautiful country that we've got every time. That's what I do.

Maggie: I love that. That's the lesson out of everything. I think that anybody can take anybody, male, female, in life, let alone in riding, but I love

Johanna: that. Yeah. It's my overall philosophy. Get out, ride, have fun, and just get up and do it again. Do it again and again and again, and just enjoy.

Maggie: So you were talking about you need to update your Instagram, so you YouTube anything that people can

Johanna: follow your adventures. Oh my gosh. I, you know, I, I have saved hours and hours and thousands of hours. I have hundreds, hundreds of hours of video footage. Right? Because I do have a camera , I'm pointing at the camera on my helmet. I do have one . Um, and I do take footage and then I look at it and I'm like, oh, oh, my A D H D brain goes, oh my gosh, that's a lot of editing. . Yeah. I have, uh, footage from my 48 10. I have footage from many of the rides, the BDRs, everything that I've done in the last three, four years. I have footage for all of it. I do have an Instagram. Uh, my Instagram is black hearted writer and uh, I do have an Instagram. Yes, I'm on Facebook like everybody else and their crazy self. Um, I'm on Facebook and. But I was really bad about not putting all of my stuff up last summer from Instagram. So now I'm like going through and it's wintertime. So this is the perfect time for me to make lots of these little updates. So, uh, downloading footage from all of my shenanigans that I pulled last year, I've got it all set on the computer. Now. I just need to actually sit down and do all of the video editing. So, do I have a YouTube? No. Do I need to? Yes. Cuz everybody says, Joe, Joe, please. And really, I think what everybody wants is they just want the crash footage. That's really what everybody wants. Hmm.

Maggie: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Of course people would be curious, but no, I I think it'd be nice to see some of the footage of, of the things you're seeing that you can only appreciate on the bike. It's different when you're surrounded by metal, you know, in a car. You're getting into areas again that probably not a lot of people are like planning vacations around. There's a lot to see besides the big draws that families will often vacation in. Something you said also is, you know, getting out, seeing the beautiful country, meeting people, it sounds like there aren't aliens among us. It sounds like people are people and , we are of the same species, whether, uh, some of us like to acknowledge it or not. So I think that's another important thing

Johanna: that you said. I do. I trust people. I found that more often, more often than not, as soon as I ride up on a motorcycle. People are always kind and always friendly and they'll always look at you and go, so where are you going? Where are you from? And of course, I have the benefit of having an Alaska license plate. So people always do the, oh my gosh, did you really come all the way from Alaska? And I go, not today. Sitting in Maine in Bar Harbor, BA Haba, and somebody says to me, oh my gosh, did you really come all the way from Alaska? I go, not today, but yes I did come all the way from Alaska. And they go, I can't believe you did it. And you just go, I know. So get out and do it too. I forget a lot of times because of where I live and living in Alaska is just such a sweet pocket that many people don't go to. And I think a lot of times I forget just how amazing, even just Alaska is, and I get distracted as I'm riding and I just keep paying attention to everything, which is why I got the scene a camera for the helmet, because then I'll go, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I gotta take a picture. Instead of me taking off my gloves and stopping somewhere and, and doing a lot of video and all of those things. So everything I have is video footage that's either on my phone or the bike as I'm. Going different crazy places and doing crazy things. And I says, please, please start showing us footage. And as I ride, people add into my Instagram or they come into my Facebook as I meet people, they, they're always asking and they're going, Hey, can you, can, can we, can we see warp what you're doing? And I do, I get feedback from people all the time going, oh, but you're out there and you're doing these amazing things. We just love seeing where you're going. And I just, I get, I get overwhelmed with the amount of photos that, or even the video footage. The video footage is probably the most intimidating to me, is doing the editing of that. I still, my plan was to take it and break it into, you know, a segment where it's like zipping through and, and making it so that I don't have, I don't know how many megabytes of footage it was. Hundred 28 as D Card. Um, But I have to break it down into sizable chunks and uh, I need to put it up on a YouTube. So eventually I'll get my Instagram and YouTube. That's the goal for the rest of this winter. Cuz it's still winter in Alaska. It's literally, I'm sitting here and I'm supposed to get a foot of snow tonight and I'm watching it snow as we're, as we're doing the podcast. So that's our and winter activity, you know, when it comes to doing all this,

Maggie: I can relate, you know, when you've put off doing a thing and it, it, it keeps collecting and then, you know, you think, oh God, that's a lot to do. AI tools are getting better and better. Some of the video editors can help with editing also. You've got kids, two of them .

Johanna: Well I have something similar to what you have and that is a tech guy, . Yes. Yes. That can do my editing. Yes. Uh, it's just a matter of motivating said tech guy to to do my editing. Uh, But yes, uh, yeah, I know you're calling me on the carpet for it and I'm like, bumbles bounce. I just need to get up and do it. , I get up and Bumbles bounce. I just have to get up and do it. .

Maggie: Okay, so people can find you on

Johanna: Instagram. They can. Black hearted writer is my Instagram handle.

Maggie: Soon your YouTube and Instagram will be up

Johanna: and running. They will be. Yep.

Maggie: I'm gonna have you recap again. What is your riding

Johanna: obsession? My Riding Obsession is getting out and seeing as much of this beautiful country as I can. I just love it and it doesn't matter if it's, doesn't matter if it's on the asphalt, doesn't matter if it's in the back country, doesn't matter if it's on a scooter, doesn't matter if it's on a gsa. Doesn't matter what it is, as long as I get the opportunity to go out and do it. So if that means I can do it on a track, I'll experience that. Do anything and everything will work. Four tires. That's my riding obsess.

Robin: And we're back. .

Piper: Hey, welcome

Robin: back. That was amazing. That is a great interview. So Joanna, lots of great stories to tell and an amazing writer. Uh, but she's also one of those few writers where she's doing everything herself. Hold on. Look at Piper right now.

Piper: I don't wanna talk about this. Oh yes, I'm wearing my daughters

Robin: I feel like I'm in junior high. . This is adorable.

Piper: Listen, I just hijacked my daughter's ear. These mic,

Robin: that's gonna be the featured image on this podcast episode. No, please, no, Tim. His cover on the very first one is his leg and a cast with painted toenails. . He ran over his own leg with a t w. That's right.

Tim: No, it was an excess. 2 25. No, 2, 2 50.

Piper: I mean, I just got my toenails painted. So if you wanna take a, if that could be the cover instead. I'm sorry,

Robin: this is legal. This is, it's you and those headphones hiding behind that pop filter. What do you guys think about this too? So we're gonna do like a subset series with Brian Ringer. A little bit of just me and Brian. So Brian and I are planning, we're gonna start a new sub series for the TRO podcast. It's just map planning. It's Brian isms, so they're gonna be little stories told and map builds of specific areas. One thing we get with Trip sevens is my knees are done at about 250 to 300 miles. My bike's sporty, whatever. So 250 to 300 miles. I'm like, that's my day. I mean, I can keep going. I've done 400, 500, 608. I can do it. I don't really wanna. And then there are people that, uh, that like get halfway through the day and they're like, are we almost there? You know, a hundred miles in, I can't, I don't know, like my knees . Just stop riding. What we're gonna do is take every destination on the sevens tour and we're going to create a, a radius bonus route in that area. So when we arrive there, if anybody like Tim, he only takes breaks from riding to sleep. Then he'll have more riding to do. Actually, I think Tim sleeps on the bike anymore

Tim: while we're riding. I'm looking at like all these squiggly lines that go off up onto the mountain ridge and go, oh, , oh, that looks fun, . Oh, we real, oh, we're not going there, are we? Okay? We're not going

Robin: yet. Let's so self-defeating. It's so self because the ride we, you know, those roads are beautiful. It's like we're going onto a beautiful road. He's like, but if we do this beautiful road, that beautiful road next to what won't happen, I'm like, we just, just write up

Piper: That's how I feel about group rides. Not, not in general, but typically you get stuck with somebody who's going really slow. My bike doesn't go slow. So you got some big old bagger in the back and you're just like, come on.

Robin: Yeah, we don't play that. Oh, yes. Like

Piper: I've had my clutch in for the last four miles. Yeah. Go.

Robin: Yeah. Let me see if I remember. My entire spiel from the Canam tours with the Trip sevens tour logic in it. It's something like, right, everybody gather around. Here we go. Here's what we're doing. The deal is this. Leave a minimum of a two second following distance at all times. It should take you at least two seconds to arrive at the same object as the writer ahead of you. That will change with speed. Everybody agree? No smile. No smile. Alright, good. That's stated. Nobody is required to keep up. You are under a no obligation to pretend like it's your responsibility to go as fast as the person ahead of you. In fact, I advise that you not do that. Is everybody clear on that? Not smile, not smile, not smile. You are responsible for the person behind you in a long, straight, but you are not responsible for them at all in any series of curves. That's your time. Use it. Do what you will. Passing. This is the big one. This is what you triggered with me when the time is appropriate. And you're not going to startle the rider in front of you, nor are you gonna create any kind of dangerous havoc with the traffic around you. Yes, pass. And if you're passed, wave them by, make the space, make it happen. But passing is a good thing. It's a good thing to get around. Whoever it is, it's in your lane. And that's why we only take five people on these tours. And so far I've not yet been pushed by a customer though. I think that time will come where a customer is like, Hey Robin, you ain't all that anymore. You know, . Like, I just think that getting stuck behind somebody is either a sign that something's not being done right, or the numbers are too big.

Piper: I think it's different when you're like going with, with your friends on a group ride. You know, you don't have those like, uh, you. Like, this means gas and this means whatever. But you don't wanna take a, you don't, you know, and I've, I've, like, in this particular group, I've, I've become, I've become known as like the person that just goes too fast and doesn't wait for their friends. So, so now nobody wants, you know, to ride with me because they're all on these little slow bikes and I'm,

Robin: well, I mean, they can, you can do you wait for 'em at the next turn? Because that's the biggest thing. Like, are you waiting for them to,

Piper: oh, I'm like having tea. Like, I'm like sitting outside, like, you know what I mean? Like, I've stopped, I'm like, I have found a nice restaurant. I've had a, an appetizer due. Yes. . I understand. It's not good. It's, um, I don't think it, I don't, it's not possible to make certain bikes go that slow.

Robin: Oh yeah. Maybe.

Piper: If I wanna b burn my clutch, then yes. Sure. Right. I mean, I've rid, yeah, I've ridden the Alia and the BRC too. Yeah. Will I ever do that again? Probably not. I had to replace my clutch almost immediately. .

Robin: Yeah. That's not fair. Are you riding the rear brake at all? Of course. Okay. So you get it. I mean, of course you really need to go on the seventh tour. .

Piper: I would love to. The seventh tour is fun. Can it be in June? Wait, no. Can it be in July? That's the seventh month. No.

Robin: Okay. You wanna be in the middle of Tennessee in July? I don't, yeah,

Piper: it's a, I go fast enough. It's my per own personal air conditioning

Robin: that, that don't Well, yeah. Uh, let's see, what are we doing in July? I think in July I have a perspective tour around Lake Michigan, but that's, I'm only in that for the month. No, no you don't. Lake Michigan tour? Nah, it the, it's for the nbs. Mm. It is not now.

Tim: Lake Superior might not be terrible at that time of year. Zoom in. Can't remember when the black flies

Robin: hit, right? Uh, we do have the Whis Disco tour. That's gonna be fun. What's

Piper: a whi

Robin: disco? Whis Disco is a Tim, Travis Robin thing that you're definitely welcome at that we, we've hodgepodged every year and turned it into a half day. That should have been three. And it, it's just anything in what's called the Driftless area of Wisconsin. So in our previous episode, we interviewed Dale Hoke, who is kind of a master of those roads, but eh, I mean, he just knows the same roads we do. He just happens to be doling 'em out to people who needed access to. Like we know those roads. Yeah. When we go

Tim: out we just wander. He's actually like consolidating him into coherent rides that he can share. Yeah. Cool. It's like you got half a day do this. Yeah. You have a three day weekend. Do this.

Robin: So Tim, Travis and I will trade it up a little bit. I like to look for the double, the double letter roads cuz they do it ABCs, it's alphabet soup. So I'll look for the double letters. Travis will do a combination of the double levers and the hollows and then Tim is like full on hollows ridges and what was the other one? He goat roads the hell out of it. In a great way. Yeah.

Tim: I mean there's a couple that I've got like if I'm in the area, they're just like magnets. I can't stay away. They're so such fun little roads and a lot of times they're like, 12 feet wide, awesome shoulder to shoulder and just, you know, surrounded by woods, surrounded by hills, where you're always popping around a corner and seeing a new vista, or a cow, or a goat , something to keep you on your toes. I feel like I have learned that it's not,

Piper: I need to get a dual sport to hang out with you guys, don't I? No,

Robin: you don't

Tim: have to. It's okay. No, I, I am doing all of this on street tires.

Robin: He is. Oh, but okay. He's also a freak of a positive nature. A very, I mean, that as a serious compliment. The, the thing about the Driftless area is that it's very hilly, so there's a lot of fun elevation changes. I understand you're in Colorado, but the, the deal with the drivi is that, uh, it's a section of the state among other states where, uh, it was, is it untouched by glaciers or it was the only part of the state that was correct. Okay. So the glaciers didn't reach it. Cool. So hill roads. Yeah.

Tim: So unlike, unlike riding around Colorado where you've got great twisty roads, but they are, the mountains are so big that going around them requires so much distance. Oh yeah. But you've got that level of twisty, but there's just a hill between you and the next twisty road. Yeah. So is this just complicated web of roads out there? It's beautiful. So it's just, you can link twisty road after twisty road all

Piper: day. I, I took a trip to Idaho couple years ago and it was like that too. Same idea. Yeah, a little bit, right? It didn't take very, yeah, it didn't take long to get there and we were just like, it was so much fun. Oh my

Robin: gosh. Yeah. I think that's where we're going. Are we, are we looking at, here's Maggie Dean, are we looking at Idaho? We're looking at Idaho, Utah, that kind of thing. We shall see.

Piper: Well, you guys should come to Colorado because Longmont especially, right where we moved out of is like the brew capital of the world. Like there are so many breweries and, um, yeah, there's like distilleries and all that stuff. It's crazy. But is it all

Robin: IPAs?

Piper: No. No. Okay. No. And like,

Tim: that's good. Madison went through a crazy hazy. I p a phase. I can't stand at here where they were out doing each other. Oh no, me neither. I am, uh, I'm like a mellow oatmeal stout

Robin: kind of guy.

Piper: Yeah. Porter. I, I, I actually like, um, uh, um, none of those

Tim: you've gotten into the sours

Piper: at all? Yes. It's not, it's the other thing. It's the, um, Ciders, that's what it is. And I don't like sours, but I like ciders and we have this really cool cery. Ooh, up the street I this so good. I hate ipa. I don't know. Whoever came up with that has no taste buds. They did some sort of study where people that like IPAs are like crazy.

Tim: I'm gonna send you the study. We've got a brewer close to here that has been putting out some of the best stuff I've ever had. That's so good. In terms of hard cider. It, some of it you don't even realize that there's any alcohol in it. Yeah. It just tastes like spiced cider. Yeah. Is fantastic.

Piper: Oh, I love hot cider too, like apple cider. Um,

Robin: do I need to pour a drink? I

Piper: might have to have a drink. . I got nothing here. I've got nothing. But the whole plan for coming to New Orleans was to like drink a lot and let our kids just like play in the pool. Like good, responsible parents that we are. You know what I mean? Yes. And I haven't had anything. Nothing. Nothing.

Robin: You need to get out that door and have a date night and like, not

Tim: a single

Piper: hurricane. Nothing. I know. That's what I said. This is, I I feel gypped a lot. I feel a lot

Robin: of gypped. Well, let's change that. Piper, it is our honor and pleasure to have you on board. Thank you for joining us for this. I'm glad that you said yes to being a part of this podcast. I hope that we'll be able to keep the schedule and now that everything's more like fluid, uh, and nice job with giving Travis the covid thing Well done. Like that mail order thing. That was

Tim: perfect. Sneaky. Sneaky. Yeah, I know. I,

Piper: it's, I got some extras. I've got extra Covid s if you want me to send it to people,

Robin: cs.com. Order online now. . This has been awesome. For tro.bike, I'm Robin Dean. I'm

Piper: Tim Clark. And I'm Piper.

Robin: Safe travels everyone. Good

Travis: tidings we bring, and also some gin because it's almost Easter and we are snowed in. We're doing podcast tonight.