5. How We Started Cycling

Everyone's road (or trail) to cycling has a different start, as well as twists and turns. On this episode, Kristin and Steve are looking back and digging deep into the photo archives to share how they each started cycling, the bikes that have come (and gone), and how their cycling has evolved since they started cycling together.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

This is Kristen.

SPEAKER_00 0:05

And this is Steve. And you're listening to Cycling Together, a show about all things bikes, riding, and riding together.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Show five. Show five. And um for show five.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Yep. Maybe this should be the last show we actually say the number of the show, and we'll we'll I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

I mean it's a big number. Babies we talk about like until they're, I don't know, 78 months old. Um you're probably right. It's just exciting every time we get our you know what together to get up here.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

It is. And you know, the weeks go by and all of a sudden it's showtime again, and the the more those come up, the faster winter will be over.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

That's true. This week was kind of a slog. I have been fighting off illness. So unfortunately, I have not been able to ride at all, except for today. Today we did get out for a fat bike ride.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Yeah, the fresh air was good for you.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

It really, it really was. It was definitely one of those where I thought.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

And it's been so cold today at being, I don't know what, 35. It was mild.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Balmy.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Yeah, balmy.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Welcome to New England. It's all good. It's balmy. Yeah, it felt really good. You've been out a couple of times. Um, I know everybody's been out posting awesome pictures of fat bikes.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

They have at the same time, it seems like everybody's been sick.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

So well, that's yeah, that's just how it is.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Yeah, it's it's been a a sickly winter for a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

And it's so hard. It's I will say the biggest change from when I was younger um is that I'll be like, oh, I haven't ridden in so long. And then I realize it's been three days. Right. Okay, maybe maybe it hasn't been. So I've been I've been good about trying to let my body dictate, but today was right on that cusp of is it better to rest or is it better to get outside and get some fresh air? We did four miles, we did about a uh an hour.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Yeah, and the fat bikes in the snow. Yeah, and it was nice, it was really nice. We just yeah, just kind of yeah, tooled around and I may have regrets later.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Anyway, what are we talking about this week?

SPEAKER_00 2:12

We're talking about riding together, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Yes, so one of the things we really want to do is to talk to people about how they got started riding. And we thought show number five was a great time for us to share our stories about how we started cycling. And and we're not talking about like I was a kid and I had a bike and it had a really cool banana seat. I mean, obviously bikes is.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

I did have a I had a bike with a very cool banana seat. Um but that that and that dates uh that that certainly dates us.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

In the big Oh, yeah, the big high handlebars.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

But more like when I guess we're gonna talk about when it became an intention that you were riding a bike and not just a just a thing. Oh, okay. You know what I'm saying? So let's start with you. Okay. The bike guy. Um because I have these great pictures, which I definitely will pull up of you with your um your cannon dail that your mom talks about when you bought and you slept with it in your bedroom. So how did you get started basically riding bikes? When did riding bikes become like just thing we did to think I'm doing?

SPEAKER_00 3:36

It is makes sense. Yeah, and it is. It's it's a little bit harder for me to separate that that child, those childhood bikes from when I actually rode. So we'll just go real quick through the childhood bikes. Okay, right. So, yes, there was the the banana seat bike and and so forth and all that kind of stuff. Uh that I started jump building jumps for and and so forth. But but it then it got to a point where and then I had a I had a BMX bike, which I really only used for transportation. So it was just one of those, it was the well, it's the 80s.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

How old are we talking? Yeah, okay, 80s. Yeah, 1910, 11, sure it's 12.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Yeah, and and it's the 80s, and so and then there's all these BMX movies, right? And BMXs were hot, and so I wanted a BMX bike with the I wanted this blue and yellow BMX bike with the mag wheels and so forth. Um, but I used that mainly for transportation. We lived about like it was just just over a mile out of the center of town. So I would ride, I could ride that into town very easily.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Um and and then we moved into town. So right in the center of town, a block away from the from the middle and high school.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Right. So that was just walking now. And um, and then it but then it was I needed like real transportation. A BMX bike was not, and and I'm and actually, and I'm and obviously that is not a bike you can just comfortably ride around.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

We just saw two kids, kids, uh young adults in downtown, the town next door, and so on BMX bikes, like using them as soon media, those bikes are too small for you.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Yeah, right, because they're you know they're designed for that. Yeah, they're designed for a sub-minute sprint track situation. Yeah, so standing around on the uh then I got my let's see, oh, I got it my first 10 speed, and when we say 10 speed, that was when you actually multiplied the front and the rear. So it was two in the front and uh and five in the back.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

Uh bougie, man.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

Yeah, and it was and it was from Sears. Okay, right? And um, and so that was that was my first road bike that was, and that was transportation. Like I could go anywhere, and including the like the next towns over, yep, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:05

So um for the record, you are from central New York, Cazanovia, Syracuse area. Yeah, so pretty rural, yeah, within the and cool towns in the in between, right?

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Like right, yeah, right, yeah, yeah, very rural, lots of hills, lots of hills, lots of distance between a lot of the towns. Yep. And um, and then you know, and then at the time I had uh girlfriends in other towns because that came up from skiing, so everybody's skiing at the same mountains. And so you're so you're meeting the people from different towns.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Girlfriends were yeah, so by the way, he's one of those guys that's friendly with all his girlfriends, so like I know them, they're lovely. I didn't realize you didn't live in these things.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Not from there, I'm not in that area.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

Oh, I haven't met them.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

No, no, no, we're we're talking now. You're you're talking 12, 13, 14.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

You had a girlfriend when you were 12.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Not 12. 13, 14, 15, let's call it. All right. Okay. So, and so I could go see them on my bike. Okay. Right? Yes. Um, and that led to a love of being out on the road on a road bike. Okay. And then I saved up my money and I bought a used Cannon R600 with um what is now called Altegra, but it was um it was Shimano 600 at the time. Okay. Um, and that was so that was a real serious road bike.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

And you didn't you didn't have anyone, I mean, I know your friend wrote, but you didn't have anyone like to look to for this kind of stuff, right? You didn't, you didn't you're not from a family that rides bikes. No, you're not like it just it just somehow spoke to your soul.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

It somehow spoke to my soul. And all right, so a very distinct memory is we uh I found a performance bike catalog. So for whatever reason, like shoved into the book racks in one of my classes.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

Okay, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:07

Wild. And so and and be and because there was no internet at the time, you you would you would have no idea like performance bike existed unless you were really into the world and and uh well, I mean, I was started to get bicycling magazine to the time, so that I'm sure they had ads and that, but but things were starting to come up like that, and so this catalog just opened up the world of bike stuff, right? Yeah, I mean, and a weird place to find it too. It is a weird place to find it, and I don't know if it was a teachers or where it came from.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

It's just fate, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

It was, right? And and so, um, and it yeah, it and so just like the the gear, the gear of bikes spoke to me, and I just loved riding my bike. And I there's another memory I have. So I was in the next town over in Manlius, and I we uh and this was uh my my best friend Chris and I were over there, also his best man seeing a couple girls, and so we walk into the house, and there's a box sitting there of dura ace parts of her father's. He had just like gotten.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

And yeah, I'm I'm there just sitting there drooling over the dura ace parts, like brand new. Oh, yeah, brand new, yeah. He hit he can afford things like that, so and he had unboxed everything, right? So now he had everything out of the boxes, and it was, you know, just so the sort of the raw parts sitting there in a box ready for probably a build or something.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

Yeah, and that was just and you guys um you guys worked on your own stuff because you didn't have the money for brand new Dura Ace stuff, right? Like you had to save up stuffing your own stuff. So that's how you learned, but then you also started racing, right? When did you talk about you know you oh you know what?

SPEAKER_00 10:02

Actually, I'm I'm sorry, there was actually a I forgot about the bike in between.

SPEAKER_02 10:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

So after the after the Sears Road bike, I got a Raleigh Technium. So that came from like a sports store in the mall, actually.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

Um the Raleigh Technium was a pretty cool bike. I mean, it was aluminum tubes uh made 6061 aluminum tubes made by Boeing. Okay. Uh um that were in steel lugs, basically. And uh it was a I mean, this was a pretty cool bike. It was a little bit of a noodle. Um what does the noodle mean? Uh it mean it was flexi. Oh, right. But what is the bike? And I and I still have that, I still have that frame.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Is that the bike Anders is riding?

SPEAKER_00 10:49

Yeah, yeah. That's the one, that's sort of that salmon colored one.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

So you so you have taken that bike.

unknown 10:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

That's why we needed a bike shop for you. Um, yeah, because you've taken that bike and you made it into an e-bike for him.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Yeah, with an e-bike wheel. An e-bike wheel, which I just think is yeah, and in flat bars and so forth.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

It's perfect because like, unless you know what you're looking at, it kind of looks like a beater bike, which is what you need around college, but you wouldn't know it's an an e-bike. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Um and that and that's the first bike that I tinkered with. Okay. Learned how to fix things, try, you know, did a few upgrades here and there. Um, you know, you're constantly changing your bar tape, you know, it's just all that that kind of stuff. It's all about the each. Um, and then and then from there I got that canada.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Okay, and then okay, so then I have this one picture, a very distinctive picture in my head of you with a blue bike and you're the canada. You're putting it on or taking it off the back of a car like you're at an event. Like I think you were at a race. Like what how do you make the jump from how do you even know where races are? Like, how do you again? We had no internet.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

Well, I know we had no internet. It was, it was you it was difficult. You're right. And and it's hard to um there was there was no internet, there was not the kind of mapping that you have with you when you're riding, so you actually had to sort of just go out into the into the world and figure your way around.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

Do you think that's why you're so good at it now? At like putting roots together. Um did you have a bike shop that you like no no no frequented? No, not at all.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Because they were too far, they were all in, they were all in Syracuse. There was one that opened in Manlius for a little while, so that we would stop at every now and then, but didn't actually last that long. Um Okay. So this oh, and so there was a um uh you know, USA, it was USA Cycling, and um they produced a magazine or a paper, right? And so in there you would have races published and so forth. And so you'd see these things in there um that you'd be like, oh, like look, there's a race near me, we should figure out and go do that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

I love that it's we shouldn't go, we should go and watch it. You were like, we should go do that. I mean, I just think that's right remarkable. And if it's up, okay, so that takes us to end of high school.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

To end of high school, I guess. Yes. Okay, and then you went to Yeah, so and for graduation from high school, I got a mountain bike. So I got my first mountain bike. Okay, what was it? That was a diamondback.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

A diamond bag. Um, okay, and so then you went. Do you want to jump right to UMass? No, let's let's we can Oh, you did go to Lehigh because you have a jersey.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

You have a So I went yeah, I went to Lehigh and I joined the cycling team there. Yep. Um, and you know, I I did what we're gonna call urban mountain bike riding there. So I just got this mountain bike.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

And well, yeah, because basically the campus was my mountain bike playground.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Yes. Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

So I would be jumping and dropping off of everything I could possibly find. I loved you. Right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

So you managed to fit two bikes into your dorm room?

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Yes, because I didn't because I didn't get a dorm. They were, you know, oversold like so many colleges do. Okay. So my dorm room was a large, large room off of the side of the lounge. So there were four guys of us, four guys in there, and we had our own bathroom. Okay. It was a massive room. It was like a supposed to be like a function room, I'm sure. Something like that. They made it into our dorm room. So it was huge. So you had plenty of room, too.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

Plenty of room, probably two bicycles. Were you like other than this? Like how many other students had but were you tootling around by yourself? Like who Oh, yeah. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

Yeah, okay. Yep. Um, but I didn't I'm trying to think of the races that I might have done at Lehigh. See, I I did I was not doing so well as a student at Lehigh.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

Because you were living in a lounge.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Yeah, because I was living in a lounge. You're absolutely right. Uh no, yes, yes. And I was and I was I do, and I was I was kept up till through 2-3 a.m.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

ping pong.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

Ping pong, the TV. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

Because back then we hung out in the lounge because we didn't have the internet. There was nowhere else for us to go. Correct.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

The lounge was very, very active at all times of the day. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

So Lehigh, a bit of a bust.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

Lehigh was a bit of a bust in terms of in terms of the like the cycling team and so forth. Yeah. Um and then and then, yeah, and then I transferred, well, and then a year home taking classes while I filed transfer paperwork, and then I went to UMass.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

And you brought your two bikes with you.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

I brought my two bikes with me. Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

Because you say to the kids all the time, what's there to do at UMass? You can ride your bike. And they do, I mean, even Sophie, who is our more active cyclist, looks at you like you're a bit bananas, you know, like there are other things to do at UMass than to ride your bike everywhere. Did you join any other clubs?

SPEAKER_00 16:01

Did you just Yeah, so there I was on the UMass cycling team. And so I did race there.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

Were you part of any other club at UMass? Or was it all cycling?

SPEAKER_00 16:09

Uh I did the Hang Gliding Club.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

Yeah, oh yeah. And uh for clubs, that might have been it. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

So you joined the cycling team. Yep. You were actually on the notable alumni page of the cycling club.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

And you rode. You raced. Yeah, racing. Yep. Yeah. And then you hurt yourself.

SPEAKER_00 16:32

I yes, it was the West Point race, I hurt myself.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

Yeah. Yeah. And that took me out for the rest of the season. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

Okay. And that was road. That was road. That was road.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Yeah, I was involved in like a 30-person pile up.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

Ooh.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

Um, and now, and then I've got pictures of you racing mountain bikes in your UMass kit.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

Yeah, so jersey. The UMass cycling team was really just road. Yes. And so, but then I really um I I mean I was very active on my mountain bike um at UMass. And at that point, while I was um at home, I had built a custom Kona hot.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

Is that the light purple one?

SPEAKER_00 17:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Okay, we're gonna talk about bike regrets at some point.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

Um and that was a phenomenal bike. So, and and so, and then after the sort of that crash road, I uh was still active with the club, but I decided to do more mountain bike racing. So then I sort of sought out more mountain bike races and did a bunch of those, which the team, which the club didn't really do. Okay. So it was more me and whoever I could find to go to these things.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Cool. All right, and then you graduated. Yep, you graduated and got a job. Yeah, and you were you were just you were just riding.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

Yeah, and so at that point, um I was mainly mountain biking after I graduated, yes, with my first job. Yeah, I would be out on the mountain bike all the time.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

Cool. And then we met.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

Then we met.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

And we ran right at the city because we're together a long time. Okay, so that's when I come into the story. And I am I I it's the most common question I get is or expect question so much just assumption. So you must have always ridden your bike. And and I I shake your head.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

No, I no, I did not.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

Well, because I rode when I was a teenager, I had a bike at a at a 10 speed. She was white. I have two very distinct memories of riding bikes. One, and we talked about it with my dad, is my dad worked all the time, owned a business. Um, and then one day he just came downstairs, I think it was 11, and he was like, We should go for a bike ride. I don't know what my reaction was because I was a teenager, so I was uphill. But we did. We we jumped on these bikes, and um, I remember dad complaining the whole time because his brakes were rubbing, like the whole time. These were not bikes that were well maintained, they were just bikes, right? Um, but I do remember I'm I'm from outside of Boston and we were riding, and he points at something, he's like, Look, what's that? And it was the town of Lincoln. Okay, I did not know where the town of Lincoln was. We had rivet ridden forever, it was fantastic. We then stopped and had pancakes at an old train station, and then this is where the story gets a little fuzzy because he and I think we went to go see Breaking Away in the theater, right? But but but you have informed us that the time the cr chronologically that does not work out correct that we either saw breaking away because it was showing again.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

You could have been showing in a small theater, you know, for like uh Right, yeah, or we saw American Flyers, yeah. Guess is the timing wise you would have seen American Flyers.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

But you were like, Don't you remember the boobs? I don't even remember the movie. Honestly, I don't remember going to the movie. Dad remembers that part of it. Right. We never did it again. I don't know why. And then fast forward a couple years in high school, I borrowed my mom. My mom had a big blue 10-speed and I rode it to a babysitting job. And I had my backpack on one shoulder because we're Gen X and that's what we did. And I right and I the bike was too big for me. And so I went over the handlebars and the book back came, hit me in the back of it, basically slammed my head into the and I broke my nose. Oh, oh yeah. No, I brought I my whole face. I didn't know it. I didn't know this one. I had road rash on my face. My mom brought she worked as a nurse. She brought me to the ER, and every doctor who walked by her, because they were all her friends, were like, Do you think her nose is broken? And they'd be like, and that was that was like probably the last time I really rode a bike. When you and I met, I was a rollerblader. Yeah. Like that's what I did. I had moved from New York City. Rollerblades were great because I didn't have to lock them up or get wherever. Same idea. I used them for transportation.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

You know, the coolest thing about New York City is that if you rollerblade to the Upper East Side to go hang out with your friends and get the free drinks for ladies' night, um, it's downhill when you live in Midtown. So then you just roll home. So, anyways, then we met. So we met at a party. How did we decide that I should get a bicycle? Do you remember? Because I well, so I don't how did you first of all have you ever had a girlfriend ride bikes with you?

SPEAKER_00 21:54

No.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Okay.

unknown 21:56

No.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

So um, I mean, I was living in that apartment, my first apartment when I got my first job out of college when we met, right? Yep. And and that's where I was I was mountain biking heavily, right? I mean, just all the time. I was exploring all the trails.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

And you live, I mean, you were you were outside the Worcester area, great area for for riding bikes, like trails. Yeah, it really was. Better now, but it wasn't like still 25 years ago. We're talking about it.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

Right, but these were not mountain bike trails either, right? I mean, you know, mountain biking was not big then. So um, yeah, so you were just you were just finding all the little trails that existed everywhere, yeah. And stringing them all together. Yeah, right. Um, so because of that, because I think I was mainly invested in mountain biking at the time.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

That's where it was sort of I I I can't remember exactly either, but I must we must have been like, well, I gotta get you on a mountain bike.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

I must have, yeah, it must have been a combination. I mean, I downhill skied. I'm not my parents think that me being athletic now is just hilarious because I was a profound uh bookworm couch potato. But I was active. Again, I I downhilled ski. Right. I must have expressed some interest in doing the thing you were doing, which is a smart way when you're dating someone.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

That must have been it, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:20

You were you must have been like, but we but an investment had to be made because we bought uh I bought, I must have bought it.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

You did, yes. Trek. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

Somehow it was to buy I was living at home, so I wasn't paying rent.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

It was a trek. It was I think it was an 820.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

It was blue and gray.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

Yeah, it was blue and gray. Yeah, and and just new it was brand new. It came from Bike Alley in Worcester. That's right. Yep. Um, and you know, it was one of those case uh well it it's kind of profound to look back that that that was probably their first entry-level mountain bike.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Okay, right?

SPEAKER_00 23:58

And I don't even think it had a front shock.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

No, I think it did.

SPEAKER_00 24:02

No, I'm no, it did not.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

I can actually check because I think I have a picture. Is that the bike I had when we went to Stowe? Probably.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

Probably. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

So we did go up to Stowe Vermont.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

And I think that's the bike you had when you took you to your first race, but we can we can get to that too.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

You also convinced me. Well, not convinced me. I mean, I will say I I think I was a willing participant in all of this. Yeah, I think you were. I I really liked it right off the bat. I will say I like things where I can go fast. Yeah, right? Right. I mean, you think about it. I like rollerblading.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

Right, rollerblading. I like downhill skiing.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

I don't like hiking and walking. Right. I mean, I will. I wasn't a runner, but I did run, and I do find running more funner than walking because it's faster. So it makes some kind of sense. No, it does make sense, actually. Mountain biking was something that I, you know, and I like being outside and I like solo type challenging things. I like learning things like learning how to rollerblade, learning how to ski. Um, and then yes, you signed up for a race. You signed up for a race.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

Yeah, I remember that. So that was at Northfield Mountain.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

Is that where that was?

SPEAKER_00 25:18

Yeah, and it was it was midsummer and it was so hot.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

Brutal.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

It was so hot, it was so dry.

SPEAKER_01 25:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

And um, you actually finished the race. I have no idea what place, it does not matter because you finished the race.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

I was dead last. Oh, yeah. And I know that because for years my name would show up on Google searches because they had the results up. Right. I was dead last. I mean, I should have been dead last. Um, I do remember passing someone, an older gentleman from the category ahead of me. I mean, very proud of myself.

SPEAKER_00 25:55

I mean, but the thing is, you finished and I did not finish that race. I did not because I was choking down on the dust. It was very, very hot. Uh if you remember that. The dust was so bad that it, I mean, you you just couldn't breathe if you were in the mid-pack and back at the start. It was just, yeah, it was unbearable.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

I I I do think it's uh that race is probably a great indicator of all future endeavors for me, which is I had no idea what we had signed up for. I was completely unprepared for it. Uh, I had zero expectations. Actually, Sophie and I were talking about this today. That one thing I do well is um if I know I haven't prepared for something, then I am okay with the results. Where like she and maybe even you are like, well, I'm not gonna do it. Cause I know I'm I I didn't prepare and I'm gonna suck. And I'm like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna suck. It's fine. Like I can't be mad about a thing I didn't prepare for, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna not gonna do it. Not gonna do it, right? Yeah. Um so yeah, but you didn't finish did we camp? I feel like that was a camp. That might have been our first like camping thing. I feel like we camped.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

I can't even recall that, maybe. I do. Yeah, okay. It's far enough away that we definitely could have yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

So then we we got married, right?

SPEAKER_00 27:24

And it's yeah, that that race was probably before we got married. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

We went to an we went to a numba fest.

SPEAKER_00 27:31

We went to a numba fest.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

Like one of the not first. One of the first. No, I know I don't know. I know. Early. It was early. Number and I mean we were we were I was still wearing my Wheaton College class of 1994 sweatshirt as like a thing I actually wore.

SPEAKER_00 27:47

So that was pretty much we gave a hundred dollars to the um to the fund to buy the Vietnam property trail system, which was a lot of money for us at the time being just broke toward early 20s somethings.

SPEAKER_01 28:04

Yeah, so we got married, and at some point you must have sold the trek because that started the spin of eBay frame purchases and build-ups that I used to see the annual, the annual build-up of bikes.

SPEAKER_00 28:23

The annual was it that frequent?

SPEAKER_01 28:25

It was very frequent. Like there would be, I used to say that I would worry, I was gonna worry that we were in trouble when you stopped building me bikes because it didn't take a lot for you to be like, oh, you rode it a couple of times. Let's sell it and we'll build something else.

SPEAKER_02 28:43

Right.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

I really I really was very and I would say mountain bike was our lead bike, but we had road bikes. I mean, there were road bikes through all this. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

But I think mountain bikes were our yeah, there was well, so and then I was in my Cannodale mountain bike phase. So right, so I built I built up a bunch of of Canadale mountain bikes for you.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

And I bought you a brand new Canon. And then, yes, and then we What was that for? That was a road bike.

SPEAKER_00 29:13

Yep, so that was a Canada R1000 with Altegra. Yes. Um and also came from Bike Alley.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

That's when I learned the value of a lesson, which is don't get too attached to bicycles because after a couple years you sold it. Because it wasn't quite that I had that one for a while.

SPEAKER_00 29:29

No, it was that was great.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

It was but at some point you sold it, and I was like, I did, but that was um, and you were like, No, you have to no, I kept that I had probably had that for five years.

SPEAKER_00 29:39

Okay, yeah, and and you had gotten so you I'd got that road bike and you got a specialized uh it was probably an LA um road bike. Yeah, you probably forgot about that one.

SPEAKER_01 29:49

I didn't even remember that bike, I just remember the red, white, and blue one.

SPEAKER_00 29:52

I mean, so we were definitely road riding and mountain biking.

SPEAKER_01 29:55

Yes, and then we had babies. I had babies, and that's when I think we shifted to road because it was harder to get out. I wasn't that confident in my skills.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

Oh, maybe that's when we got you the road bike because I was still doing a lot of mountain biking at that time.

SPEAKER_01 30:14

But I was like I can't get out and ride and worry about hurting myself, and like it's hard enough to get up the hills, so maybe it would be easier on a road. Like, I do remember that.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

I can see that being your thinking.

SPEAKER_01 30:27

Yep, yeah, and so then around this time you built me that well, we can talk about all the different bikes, but it wasn't until you built me the Le Monde that we still have that I was like, Oh, this is a nice bike. This is a I like this bike. Like, I yeah that you felt that connection to your bicycle, right? Right. So that was when the kids were younger, and that's the other question I get a lot. It's like, how did you do it when the kids were younger? I didn't, I did not. In fact, I had the podcast and Manic Mommies at the time, and so and you didn't have the bike shop, you you had a job, right? And you had a job, you have a job now, you had a job where somebody else paid you. Uh and there's one episode I remember listening to, and I was like, Aaron was like, what's Steve up to? I was like, Oh, well it's Saturday, so he's out for his bike ride. Like that, like I'm at home with the kids and I'm recording this nonsense and stuff for your multi-hour.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

I you know, and I bet I think at that time I was definitely more into the road, and I was doing a lot of road rides with a couple of different groups around.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

You also had that job, the Mass DEP.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

Mm-hmm. Oh, that's right. Right? And you had a lot of so that then kicked off the road riding from the mountain bike riding. So there were three guys at this job I had who would go out at lunchtime and do a road ride.

SPEAKER_02 31:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:56

And government work. And I want to say I didn't have a road bike at that time. So I pieced together that uh that Raleigh Technium, which was not, was, which was not back, it was not fully assembled. I had to piece back together parts, got that technium running, then started riding with those guys at lunch.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

That's probably what we then bought you the yeah, so that's why we bought the Canon Dale. There was a reason.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

Yeah, that's what that's what reinvigorated my road riding again.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:26

See?

SPEAKER_00 32:27

Oh my goodness. I know.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

Okay. So we did that for a while, kind of bumbled around for a while. Then you started Steve the Bite Guy, which really was a road y, it's the Velo studio.

SPEAKER_00 32:40

That's right. Yeah, it really started. Very road oriented. You were very in your road.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

And then and you were and you were servicing triathlons.

SPEAKER_00 32:50

Oh, yes, and I was and I was doing neutral support at triathlons. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 32:55

Because because I wrote to a local triathlon. Um, remember this? I wrote to a local triathlon organizer as you. And I was like, oh, I've just opened a new mobile bike service, and I'd be interested in maybe providing neutral race support. And they called you like an hour later, you're still in bed. I hadn't even told you. And you're like, What?

SPEAKER_00 33:19

Yeah, and I hear you come running. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:25

Um, and then you were doing that, and I was like, Well, if you're not getting paid, oh, you came home and you were like, You should do triathlons. I swear some of these people just woke up this morning and decided to do a triathlon.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

Oh, they definitely woke up that morning and decided to do a triathlon. And it I mean, in terms of they woke up that morning and decided to pull their bike out for the triathlon.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

Yeah, they were local sprints. They were so we we basically said, Well, if he's working for free, you can give me a free triathlon. And that was around my 40th, that was around my well, that would have been 10, 12 years, right? I had just turned 40, I had the kids were older, I was starting to feel better and ready to be active, and so I started doing triathlon, which was all road, and that was on the Le Monde. Yep, that was on the Le Monde, and then you got into Cyclocross. How did you discover Cyclocross?

SPEAKER_00 34:19

Uh through Alex and Jason.

SPEAKER_01 34:23

Oh, is that that's how you okay? So so that's a couple of friend of ours who it's funny, the wives, Alex and I were like, we should get the boys together. But Jason was like, Well, I mean, I know you say he rides bikes, but like does he? But then you rode your bike, your blue. Was that the blue, or was that a you rode a bike?

SPEAKER_00 34:46

That was a cyclocross bike, but I I I want to say I I got that or I built that. I remember getting the frame because Jason said I should do cyclocross racing.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

Okay, so then the blue must not have been in play. You rode something up to the softball field.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

Oh, that would have been my road race.

SPEAKER_01 35:05

He saw the bike and he said, Oh, yes, he does ride bikes. Oh, that's I will I will connect with him. Like that's where that's when the the love match made between you and Jason.

SPEAKER_00 35:16

Right.

SPEAKER_01 35:17

Right?

SPEAKER_00 35:17

Because Yeah, that was probably my I have a Le Mon tete course, okay, which is titanium and carbon, and and that would and he was like, That's okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:26

So he introduced so he had been doing cycle cross. He introduced you to it.

SPEAKER_00 35:31

Yeah, he said I should race. And we were up at a where was that first race? No, yes, we were up at a wedding in New Hampshire, and we had to like leave a little early so I could come down to Lancaster to do my first cross race with Jason.

SPEAKER_02 35:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

Okay, I don't remember that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

Wedding for your cousin.

SPEAKER_01 35:53

Oh. Oh.

SPEAKER_00 35:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:55

Really? Fascinating. Okay. And then Alex and I watched and said, Alex and I did triathlon together, and we said, We are not doing this. This is very, very stupid.

unknown 36:07

Right.

SPEAKER_01 36:07

And then the next year we had skin suits.

SPEAKER_00 36:09

And then, yeah, the next year you had skin suits, and there you are in a crossbike.

SPEAKER_01 36:16

And and I remember Alex saying, We went to some clinics because that's what we do. And Alex said to me, Um, why are you so comfortable on dirt? Because again, she was a triathlete. I I was doing triathlon with her. Yeah, call myself an adult onset athlete. Um, and I was like, Oh my gosh, I used to mountain bike. Like, I literally, it was like a past life experience. Like that I I I I'm comfortable on dirt because I had you know ridden on dirt.

SPEAKER_00 36:49

This is actually kind of fascinating to talk about this because you realize we rode mountain bikes for a bit together. Yes, and then you kind of stopped. Yes, and I went into a road phase and and you didn't really ride the road that much uh with me, and then you got into the triathlons.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

Well, we started riding the road more and yep, and then I started doing triathlons.

SPEAKER_00 37:13

So, really, there was that bit of riding together, mountain biking, but then it was not all that much. I mean, I wasn't riding, I wasn't riding with the you know, the triathlons, I wasn't doing that with you. No, so then really it was the cross racing which we were started to really be doing the same riding together all the time.

SPEAKER_01 37:31

Yes, and that's when I was like, so you had built me a lovely focus, it was aluminum, and I remember picking it up and then picking up your bike, which was carbon, and saying, What the hell? Because and I get it, you weren't sure that I was gonna be interested, but I also was like, shouldn't someone who's new be on a lighter bike? Like, that's always the catch, right?

SPEAKER_00 37:59

It is always a catch. You know what? There, and there's a whole podcast to discuss about this in the future.

SPEAKER_01 38:03

It's really hard, and you did a really good job of lightening her.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

Yeah, but we put your you hit your bike on a diet.

SPEAKER_01 38:09

Yeah, we put the bike on the diet, and then it did. It brought us together, it brought Sophie started doing it, Anders started doing it. It was like the first time, like we were all riding together. We were doing the same. There's like another show which I would love to do, which is about racing with your kids, because it was so great to be able to say, like, it's one thing when you are watching your kid on the sidelines, and I'm never gonna coach my kid, let's be clear. Like, I that's what coach is for, but to be like, Oh, you gotta, you know, I know it's hard, you gotta put yourself out there, right? But they're just sitting there, seeing you sit there. Yeah, and they're like drinking your coffee. They don't see you putting yourself out there, right, in a professional capacity, right? You're just mom and dad. But when they see you flat, when they see you fail, when they see you, when you race with them, it's such an amazing experience and an opportunity to be a guidepost to them, to be like, this is yes, that is hard, and I did fail. And look at how I handled that. Yeah, like I'm I will always be grateful for those experiences.

SPEAKER_00 39:14

And you know, and because of the nature of what a cross race is, when something goes wrong with your kids on course, you have to sit there behind the tape and and and uh encourage them with your words, but you cannot do anything to help them.

SPEAKER_01 39:29

So they have to be, but then you know, I remember like run with that bike, run with that bike, right? I remember flatting in Connecticut, and Sophie watched me having to run, like to run the bike, like a mile to get to the end. And I was smiling and I was laughing, this ridiculous, just ridiculous, right? And she and I talked about that. Like how I had two options. I could, I could throw my bike, I could kick the dirt, I could, or I could just like this is racing.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:55

And sure enough, a couple weeks later, she at Gloucester, she had Had a problem with her derailer.

SPEAKER_00 40:01

Her derailer imploded.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

It and she and she had to run through. And of course, she's like, everybody thinks they're so clever. They're like, you should find a good mechanic. But um yeah, how often do you get to say, you say be a good sport, be a good but to show them? How do you how many times do you get to show them right that you're how what that looks like? Yeah. Okay. And that brings us to kind of back to well then then fat bikes, which we talked about in the fat bike episode, right? We we started fat biking.

SPEAKER_00 40:35

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 40:36

Which then brought us back to mountain biking, right?

SPEAKER_00 40:40

The circle of the yeah, you're right. So I'm and I had I mean, I can't even remember really what mountain bike I was using. Um and again, these things all came around for me. Like, you know, I had I had the really the nice road bikes early on, then I moved to mountain biking, then I didn't have a road bike at all until we got that that nice Cannondale after I showed interest in road biking again. Um and then back into road riding, and I can't even think of what mountain bike it it if I I'm sure I had them. Oh well, I always had the Kona. In fact, that's that's what it was. It was the Kona from college that I sort of resurrected and got that going again. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:27

It and you're right, and when you reflect back while we ride together all the time. Well, I always rode with you, let me say that. I always rode with you. I do remember, I don't remember when it was, but I was like, I'm gonna ride my bike to work, and you were like by yourself? And I was like, I I am, I can do it. I've mapped it out and my I've driven it, I have some good back ways, and and I think you were really nervous. I had never, I was not someone who rode by herself.

SPEAKER_02 41:57

Right.

SPEAKER_01 41:58

Right. So that was a big change. But these days, I mean, we ride a lot together. We really do a lot, a lot together. Um, but we really didn't, yeah. It was, I mean, because we had kids and we had like now you're my chief playmate, so you have to ride my bike.

SPEAKER_00 42:17

That's true. When yeah, well, until your kids can just be left by themselves, there's one or the other can go for a ride.

SPEAKER_01 42:24

I mean, we went, we did, we have plenty of pictures of them in the draggy things. We rode together in that way. We rode as families, we rode, but the way we ride today, you're absolutely right. It was Cyclocross that started that that kind of thing where it was just kind of expected that we would go together. Yeah, you know, and there are times where you know, you sign up for things and I think I can do I I should do that. Like, I can do that now. Um, or times where you're like, I'm not sure you can do that. And I'm like, I can do that. Um I think doing the Panmas Challenge was a big for the first time, which is two days, 200 miles effectively, was a big maybe turning point in your head when you realized that I could probably do more than you than we had thought about.

SPEAKER_00 43:16

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 43:17

Right? I signed up for the PMC, yeah, and you had to train for that.

SPEAKER_00 43:20

So that that sort of leveled up your your riding, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 43:24

Yeah, and it leveled up also my like interest in signing up for stuff and and realizing what opportunity was for there. So, anyway, that's our story. That's how we started cycling together, and we are really excited to bring other stories of of people, of different people, yes.

SPEAKER_00 43:42

How they started riding together.

SPEAKER_01 43:44

I don't think everyone's gonna have a twenty-five years ago. Um, so I do want to talk about one thing, which is the bikes of our past that maybe we have some regrets about.

SPEAKER_00 43:56

I don't know, that seems like a whole nother podcast.

SPEAKER_01 43:58

It could be, but there's two I would like to give some honorable mention. Okay. Number one is the Kona.

SPEAKER_00 44:03

Yeah. Now that Kona was a beautiful pale purple gray. Kona Hot was uh their their top model that were actually handmade by Tom Teesdale in California.

SPEAKER_01 44:17

You are not making this better.

SPEAKER_00 44:18

And each one was custom painted individually. Uh and so that had, and it was a 90s bike, so it was fade, it was purple, purple metallic fade to gray metallic. It was really cool. Now And what did you do to it? The paint job was hammered, it was beaten up, and the and the labels, and the labels which were under the clear coat had then peeled up and could come up, and so it leaving sort of this clear coat outline, which was dull.

SPEAKER_01 44:48

Shabby chic now.

SPEAKER_00 44:49

Anyway, and yes, I stripped it down and I painted it. Not a very good job on it.

SPEAKER_01 44:55

Oh, it was heartbreaking. Yeah, it's like blue, like it was like somewhere between this blue and those. Did you get rid of it?

SPEAKER_00 45:04

No, I still have that frame. You do, yeah. In fact, I've thought about going to take it to a powder coder and having it done nicely. And I've thought about you can actually put on disc brake tabs on the back and then turn it into a grab a bike, if you will. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:22

I think the only bike in my past that I have regrets about maybe getting rid of was that cool Cannondale.

SPEAKER_00 45:31

The the the Delta V? Oh, the Delta V one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:34

I see pictures of it now. I'm sure it would ride like crap.

SPEAKER_00 45:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:38

And and I will say that when I got into mountain biking, anytime I got into cycling, I was big on reading all your magazines and I was reading all the, and there was a great article, maybe in bicycle magazine, with somebody who was like, anyone who tells you in mountain biking, the equipment that things were better in the old days.

SPEAKER_00 45:57

Oh, right.

SPEAKER_01 45:59

I loved this article. The the it was like it was all about being a more welcoming community. Some things don't change. Um, but the article was like, the equipment was bad, the helmets were bad, the trails were bad, everything was bad. But it's such a cool looking bike. I have a picture of it.

SPEAKER_00 46:19

I will definitely I mean I thought your blue and yellow one was a little bit better looking, but that was blue and yellow.

SPEAKER_01 46:25

Oh, which one was blue and yellow?

SPEAKER_00 46:26

No, the blue and yellow was was um, you know, was it was not a delta one. Oh the delta one was the one with the the cr crazy tubes that sort of have an X pattern in the middle.

SPEAKER_01 46:36

Oh, I think it was dark blue. I think about the blue and yellow one. I'm playing with the blue and yellow one.

SPEAKER_00 46:41

Oh yeah, so that one was very cool looking bike. Yeah, it had a headshock and yeah. Yeah, yeah, it was very cool bike.

SPEAKER_01 46:47

With the headshock.

SPEAKER_00 46:48

That got we sold that, and I want to say it went to like Switzerland.

SPEAKER_01 46:53

Really?

SPEAKER_00 46:53

Yeah.

unknown 46:54

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:56

I mean, all those bike builds are why you are so good today at like during the pandemic when we had no parts and we had no right, and and you had to we introduced that service and you were fixing stuff. I that is that is where you got those skills. There's no question in my mind that just all those all those bike builds you did. All right. Well, that's it. That's our story. So if you would like to actually share your story, um give us a uh drop us a line. Um, we have a couple of people on our list. Um, do you have anything else for this episode? I don't think we have any scene while scrollings, do we?

SPEAKER_00 47:39

Oh, scene while scrolling. There has to be something we saw while scrolling this week, right?

SPEAKER_01 47:44

I saw that I joined the Mass Bike Board of Directors. There we go. I mean, I might have put it out there. Yeah. There we go. That's a big thing. Yeah, it is. I'm really excited about it. I'm really, I'm really excited about the idea that I feel like there's only so much you and I can do to move the needle on making cycling more welcoming and and more uh on all levels, right? Like, um, so I'm I'm I'm stoked. I don't know enough now to know what I'm gonna be doing. What you're gonna be getting yourself into, but yeah, other than you know, helping. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:21

You have a lot to offer, so it's though. Thanks. They will appreciate you.

SPEAKER_01 48:26

That's awesome. All right. Is that it for this episode? That is it. All right, so let's wrap this up. Cycling Together with Kristen and Steve is a production of Steve the Bike Guy, an independent bike shop in eastern Massachusetts and Sundon Marketing.

SPEAKER_00 48:39

If you like the show, please leave a review or share with a friend. For show notes, links, or to leave a comment, question, or topic suggestion, visit cycling together. And you can follow the shop on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube at Steve theBike Guy.

SPEAKER_01 48:55

Thank you for joining the ride. See you next time.