Tom Butler: 0:04

This is the Cycling Over 60 podcast, season three, episode six. Author Adam Porter, and I'm your host, tom Butler. Here is a brief update before I get into this week's interview. On an absolutely beautiful fall day recently, I attended my first cyclocross race. It was part of a series in the Seattle area called MFG Cyclocross, administered by Off Camber Productions. Garen decided to try out cyclocross and since he has supported me so much, I wanted to return the favor, but of course I also just wanted to take in the scene.

Tom Butler: 0:49

I think Garren did well for his first time. It did seem like the course was good for beginners. Unfortunately, early on he went down and his bike was run over. That caused a problem and he needed to spend some time with a mechanic in the middle of the race, so obviously that killed his overall time. However, it seemed like he put in some decent lap times for a beginner. If you just go off lap times, he was kind of the middle of the pack of about 68 riders, and part of the context is that the first time he ever rode cyclocross was before this race, when he was getting to know the course, so next time will be a much different experience. He probably does need to put in some practice time, like just focusing on his bike handling skills. I think that alone could shave off a bit of time. We will see how well he does again this coming weekend, and it looks like this course is going to be a bit more challenging.

Tom Butler: 1:43

There were some impressive older riders at this event. They included 81-year-old James Wagner, who came in fifth of 17 riders in the Category 4 60-plus group. Also, vicki Spring, at 71, won the Women's Category 3 and 4 group. There were four other riders in her group. After watching it, I think I should try to do at least one race next fall. That gives me a whole year to prepare. I'm not saying I'm doing it for sure, but I think I will take some free CycleCross classes and see how it goes. Kelly will join us for the first time this weekend. It'll be interesting to see how she feels about me doing it next fall.

Tom Butler: 2:25

I have spent more time than I plan to lately on Zwift. I think I have the basics down and I have started a Cycling Over 60 club on the Zwift Companion app. I don't get it why there are two different apps, but I now have them both. I have to say that I hate taking my bike on and off the Wahoo trainer. I plan to put my FX3 on the trainer and leave it there for the winter. However, I'm using it more to carry things now that I have a set of panniers for the FX3. So that means that I would like to put something else on the Wahoo, so I've decided to instead build a quote bike for the trainer. I say quote bike because it's not going to have everything that a bike would have on it, for example, brakes. I was thinking about buying a Zwift Ride Smart Frame, but I don't really want to spend the $800. So I'm going to buy a cheap frame somewhere and build it up to use on the Wahoo. We will see if I can manage to do that for less than $800. While I did start the Cycling Over 60 Zwift Club, I'm still getting used to all the features of the club, but hopefully soon I'm going to start scheduling some group rides. My understanding is that you can invite anybody that's part of the club to join in events. Hopefully I'll get that rolling soon, but for now I'm actually without a bike on the trainer altogether.

Tom Butler: 3:48

I had lab work done for 82 different parameters last week. A few of them just compared two other parameters. An example is the omega-6 and omega-3 ratio. So I don't really see that as like a separate parameter. I've received all but a couple of results right now like a separate parameter. I've received all but a couple of results right now.

Tom Butler: 4:08

Glucose tolerance and insulin response were two things that I was most interested in. My glucose spike during the glucose tolerance test was quite high. I was expecting that, because I avoid almost all simple carbs, so I'm pretty sensitive to any sugar. This glucose tolerance test involved ingesting 75 grams of glucose in less than 5 minutes. Then blood glucose levels are checked every hour. In my case, glucose was taken 3 times. My fasting glucose started out a little high At the 1 hour mark. It went significantly above the normal response range and it was even higher at the 2 hour test. However, I was surprised to see at the 3 hour mark that it came down into a normal range. That's very good news. At least I think it is. I think it shows that the beta cells in my pancreas are still functioning well. My fasting insulin at both the one-hour and two-hour values were normal. I'm happy about that. The range given for the lab for normal fasting insulin is 2.0 to 18.4. If you're curious, the unit of measure is microinternational units per milliliter. Dr Lustig wants to see the fasting insulin below 10. Mine was 7, so that makes me feel good about it. Actually, I am less worried about my glucose being a little high than my insulin being elevated, worried about my glucose being a little high than my insulin being elevated.

Tom Butler: 5:27

I do think that anyone who has an A1c above 5.7 should have both a glucose tolerance and an insulin response test done. Of course, I'm not a doctor, so there might be reasons to not have it done. Outside of my glucose, almost everything looks good. There are a couple things that don't look great, but nothing too worrisome. I say this but I haven't spoken to the clinic that ordered the test yet, so there might be some things that they're going to say that need to be improved. I do have one test result that makes me nervous. I'm not going to mention anything about it yet because it's very confusing. Hopefully I will be able to come back later and say that it turned out to be nothing, but I do think that test result will need to have some follow-up tests to confirm that I don't have anything to worry about. All in all, I am really pleased with how the labs came out and I see these tests as a good place to start trying to look at how to improve my individual health.

Tom Butler: 6:34

From time to time I get someone who reaches out to offer to come on the podcast. I am really happy that author Adam Porter contacted me. He has written some really fun books that I think can help kids to see the joy of cycling. I wanted listeners to hear about the books, so here is our conversation. I like to find all kinds of cycling related topics to cover here on the podcast and this week I have invited Adam Porter on and maybe we just might be helping you with your holiday shopping and here this of year. Welcome, adam, to the Cycling for 60 podcast.

Adam Porter: 7:07

Yeah, thanks so much for having me, Tom. Super glad to be here.

Tom Butler: 7:11

Adam is an author and I wanted to have him share about his books and also about his connection to cycling. We'll start with this what is your earliest memory of biking?

Adam Porter: 7:22

Maybe I'll go with the most prominent one here, because I think there's a story which I just don't remember it very much. I think there's a story of a tricycle getting run over in the driveway. You know, I think there's a story I like to tell my kids, just because it's kind of funny. I ran over my friend's head on our bikes one time because he fell in front of me and I couldn't dodge him. But really the memory I have the most about early bike riding was now.

Adam Porter: 7:48

We didn't grow up with tons of money or anything. So one summer I think it was my dad bought me and my older brother these two brand new Schwinn bikes and that was just the coolest thing ever for us. They were, I think they had a name like Z-Factor or Z-Force, you know something very 90s, and they had some neon colors on them right, and it was just like the coolest thing to get these brand new bikes that were really nice and just a great present from my dad, something that you know. It was just a cool thing and you know, really just rode that bike a ton. I mean, we moved to a new neighborhood not too long after that and I can just remember riding for for hours around this neighborhood. You know didn't have any friends yet or anything there, and we would just kind of ride around and, you know, enjoy that. So that's, that's probably my most prominent early memory of biking.

Tom Butler: 8:38

There's just something about, you know, just standing there looking at a brand new bike, you know, brush, paint, job, everything, just knowing, okay, I'm going to get on this thing and take off. There is something to me like magical about that.

Adam Porter: 8:54

Absolutely. I think that's you know. We'll talk about it maybe a little bit more later too, but probably has something to do with my current taste in bikes too. Is that early bike memory?

Tom Butler: 9:03

Well, talk about your progression, of your cycling, how, how did that happen?

Adam Porter: 9:09

Yeah, I mean really from being a kid, you know, like once I grew up and you know we maybe rode bikes a little bit as teenagers, you know, here and there if we had to, you know it became not as cool to have a bike. Uh, then there I didn't really cycle for a while, I mean really a long time, and at some point this is what my kids were I just had. Well, I just say just, but I had three kids at the time and now we have five, but they were pretty young and I just picked up this Goodwill Schwinn bike that was a hybrid bike and I was just like, hey, this will be kind of fun, you know I can ride it. We lived close to a mountain where you could hike, you know. So I thought that's like a mile away. I can just ride it a little bit here and there for some extra exercise. So I was kind of fooling around with that. I mean it was pretty junky. The seat had a big rip in it, you know, like it just wasn't. It got me around a little bit and I put a trailer on it and we'd go to the park and have a great time with the kids. So I was doing that.

Adam Porter: 10:06

And then a friend of mine, who's been a friend since high school, he started getting into cycling and he was riding around a little bit more and had bought a for what we knew at the time was a little bit better of a mountain bike. And him and I went riding on his mountain bike and my goodwill bike and, uh, you know, I think we rode maybe 14 miles and that felt like it was, you know, a hundred or whatever. Um, you know, it felt like a lot, but it was a lot of fun and we really liked it. So he's he sort of was ahead of me with that. He was sort of the catalyst for a lot of this. And you know, he went out and bought a really nice specialized bike, a road bike, and you know, sort of kick things off for us to get a little bit more serious about riding together, cause it was we're a couple of busy dads hey, this maybe is a great way that we can get to hang out a little bit more and have a fun hobby around it too. So he did that and then I started looking around for a used bike as well and really since then just started getting into the hobby, right? So it was, hey, okay, now I've got a real bike, and I'll put that in quotes a real bike, you know, maybe I should buy a kit.

Adam Porter: 11:14

So I've got first set of you know, real cycling clothes. There too, which my wife would always make fun of. She was like, oh you know, why are you going out to just to do a quick ride? You're going to wear all this fancy stuff. And she's like joking that she would go buy herself like a chef's outfit whenever she's going to cook, like you know, french toast or something, because you have to have the right clothes for what you're doing.

Adam Porter: 11:33

Yeah, so then from there I just started. You know picking up more stuff. You know exploring different gear. You know adding to the bike. You know what I had, upgrading a few things and eventually landing with what I have now is seven bikes. We can talk a little bit more about that too. But then I just got into doing things like races. So me and the same friend went out to Kansas for the first time a couple years back and did Unbound Gravel, and that was just a blast. Yeah, it's really just progressed from there to the point where it's a full-fledged hobby. I have a bike closet at my house, which is where I store all of my bikes and all the gear. So it's out of the garage and, you know, into a specific place now. So that's kind of it really. I was that was 2020. So it hasn't been a super long time but, you know, long enough to really enjoy it and, you know, come to love it but you know long enough to really enjoy it and you know come to love it.

Tom Butler: 12:28

You talked in an interview about being out in nature on the bike and I'm wondering if you could talk about that a bit. What do you find attractive about that?

Adam Porter: 12:35

yeah, and truthfully I mean even thinking about that one right now, like I need more of that right now. It's been a busy couple months. I think maybe everything in my house broke in some way or another, so so I've been repairing things around the house and the cars and everything and working really hard and it's like you know, that stress relief of getting outside is such a great thing. I mean, I live in kind of an interesting place where it's like I'm pretty much right in the city but I can head just up north a little bit and get out in the open pretty easily. So it's kind of this cool thing where I can get out and there's a river called the Salt River. That's maybe a 40-minute ride from my house.

Adam Porter: 13:10

That I like to do and just that stress relief of unplugging from everything Now you don't fully unplug from all electronics.

Adam Porter: 13:18

You've got the Garmin, you've got the bike computer, you've got the lights and all the things, but you're unplugging from the normal things of life. And you know, I think it's just a great stress relief for me to get outside in the fresh air in this way and just traveling along, you know, out in the desert in Arizona and, you know, just enjoying the nature there, and I do always try to, because I tend to get caught up in thoughts pretty quick into the rides. But I do try to make sure I take a moment to just breathe a little bit, purposefully, take a look around, check out the mountains and the view and the cactus and all the things you know. Sometimes I see some wild horses out there in the desert too. So you know I was kind of keeping an eye out for those things. But you know, really it's just just like anyone. Our jobs can be stressful and getting out in nature is a fantastic way to unwind from that.

Tom Butler: 14:06

Can you talk about your interest in Cannondale bikes? You mentioned what seven bikes? Is that what I heard?

Adam Porter: 14:12

It's up to seven right now. Now do all seven ride? Not quite, but there's seven bikes with some ready to go and some that are, you know, in progress. You know, like I was saying, I think my the nineties styling of those Schwinn's, you know, sort of influenced the Cannondales for me. But when I started riding with my friend, like I mentioned, you know, I started looking around at used bikes and, you know, as I was checking them out, I was like man, these Cannondales are just, they have the look that I like. There's something about those late 90s, early 2000s. They had the double logo on it. You know I had the logo kind of all over the place as made in the USA and they were in my price range. I thought they looked the coolest and they were in the price range that I was okay to get into there and it really just took off from there.

Adam Porter: 14:57

I started, you know, learning more about the various kinds of models that they had. I joined a Facebook group that's for vintage Cannondale owners and discovered this entire community that loves these bikes from this era. Um, you know even people that, like you, would meet in the in the group that would say like, oh yeah, I designed the Cannondale logo. You know what I mean. Like you just learn different cool things about the history of the company and how they were so innovative at the time. Um, you know, found, like the lefty, for example, like, what a cool bike. I don't own one, I haven't, I mean I've I've, you know, had one around briefly, but I haven't kept one for myself and what a, what a cool idea, innovative model of how to have a bike, right? So so yeah, I just took off from there. I sort of landed at the. They're called the XS 800 and it's the cyclocross bike from the early 2000s and that's sort of the one I landed on being my favorite, not only because it could do sort of the gravel bike riding, but it's also had the road bike look to it as well, and they're also very hard to find.

Adam Porter: 15:54

So for those vintage Cannondale owners, it's like kind of finding a unicorn is finding one of these cyclocross bikes that is in pretty good working order. Somehow I managed to find four of them. So I've got four of them and, uh, you know, really love them. It's, it's a fun bike. I've, you know, put some new parts on it and everything too. But, um, you know, I'd even like we were in the middle of vacation in Colorado and I had been talking to this guy who had one of these bikes and I like interrupted them in the middle of the family trip. I'm like I'm meeting this guy in Colorado, you know, on the way to the family gathering and I'm going to pick up this bike. You know, honey, is that okay? Like um. So you know it's been a blast just like being involved with that and like hunting. I'm kind of a, I kind of liked that sort of thing, I like finding treasures, you know. So I think the vintage part of the biking and the Cannondales has been a cool thing.

Tom Butler: 16:44

I love that, I really do. Now is there a particular Cannondale that you would really like to own? You talked about this one being special, but is there another one out there that you're really hoping to find?

Adam Porter: 16:56

Well, at this point I think I've satisfied my vintage Cannondale itch pretty well, so I'd really love a modern one. I'd sort of I'd love to get a top stone lefty, uh, you know, with some bright colors in it. Um, so I definitely would be still loyal to the Cannondale bikes there, but I think I'm ready for the upgrade into some of the newer stuff too you mentioned your five children, and there is a wide range of ages there.

Tom Butler: 17:26

I'm wondering if you can talk a bit about what you would like to instill in them at their different ages about the value of cycling in their lives.

Adam Porter: 17:36

Yeah. So yeah, five kids, three girls, two boys, the oldest is 15 and the youngest is seven, so it's a great group, it's a party everywhere we go. We're a big group, you know, and really and I'll just maybe even get into the book part about this a little bit One of the cool things I want to pass along from my cycling adventure here is just how you can turn something and branch off from things that are a passion into some cool, creative work. So creating these books has been a really fun offshoot of enjoying cycling, and I would love for them I do love that they get to be along on that journey with me. I've gone to some events, and they've come with me to like to help sell the books or talk about them. They've gone to some story time things that I've done. It's just getting them getting to see that part of it, I think, is really cool. So, whether it's cycling for them or something else, you know, I love that. They just got that experience of seeing me turn something that was a hobby into something that had another outlet to it. So that's one thing I think.

Adam Porter: 18:36

Cycling in general, though, has been just a great way for all of us to connect. I think that's sort of like a dad thing that they see from me is like, hey, we go on bike rides with dad. You know it's like a specific thing that we do together. So there's so many just memories of you know short and somewhat longer bike rides that we all have and you know that's just one of the things I I hope they take you know from their, their childhood, you know, specifically related to cycling, which is some of those great memories and conversations.

Adam Porter: 19:02

You know I just completed my first race with my, my middle uh, who's my son, abram, and you know that was such a cool experience to like just getting to coach him to do these, the really the longest rides he'd ever done, um, and to talk through it and talk about just like things that you learn along the way and you know some of the perseverance that goes into that. So you know, I think it's just one avenue that you build memories and build, you know, fun experiences together. So I'm hoping that you know, when they're even older, it continues to be a thing where it's like, hey, we're going to visit dad, mom, and hey, we're going to go on a bike ride with dad. You know, even in their twenties or thirties or whatever it may be.

Tom Butler: 19:39

Well, I can tell you, I have a 24 year old daughter and cycling has become a big part of how we spend time together. There's just, uh, you know something about getting out together and and my wife picked up a bike. She picked up a cruise bike, so it's a little bit of a different bike, a recumbent, and so all four of us my daughter, her husband and my wife we all go out and have some adventures together, and we have. I think 2025 is going to be filled with really fun events, so I do think that it's, it's something that can, that can keep going. Yeah, you, you, you mentioned that you found this avenue, that is a creative avenue, maybe a bit of a passion that's connected to cycling, and that's your, your books, and I, like you know, first talk about. Did you have you always thought of yourself as a, as an author, as a writer, or was that something new?

Adam Porter: 20:43

it's pretty new. Uh, truthfully, it was something I thought about when I was a kid, just one of those things you think about. You know, I had like, oh, I want to be a pilot, you know, maybe a writer. You know, you're influenced by different things. I read a lot of comic books when I was a kid, so I thought it'd be pretty cool to be a writer. You know, going into being an adult an adult not not so much, you know, it wasn't something that you know, I mean, I think going to writing papers in college, you know it's like that wasn't my most favorite part of that experience. So, you know, truly like writing is something that you know has been a work in progress for sure.

Adam Porter: 21:13

I think, really, the starting point was the passion to create the book, like that was really the thing. It wasn't that was like you know, a aspiring writer or anything, but I just had the idea for the book and it was like, well, I'm going to have to write it. You know, I'm going to have to get into that and figure that out a little bit. And you know, I think one of the fun parts about that is I really, you know, if you, if you check out the books, like I really decided on a very specific style to it. There's a certain writing style that's just sort of it's a little bit more like to me. It makes it feel like you could be the center of the story.

Adam Porter: 21:49

It's not necessarily about a person necessarily, so yeah, so it was really the idea of the book first, and then the writing part had to come along with that, and it's been a lot of fun. I mean, I can tell you there's been a lot of edits for each book I'd finished. I probably finished each one 20 different times and then gone back and change something. And or my wife would read it and say like this sounds weird, you know, or this doesn't make sense, or a kid wouldn't understand that, or just you know, there's all kinds of different things that you know she would point out, or even sharing some with my kids, tons of edits that went into it. But you know, all along the way, a fun experience and you know it's kind of created some of that passion for that there too. But a lot of it just comes down to the project itself and that's the thing I'm the most excited about.

Tom Butler: 22:26

So when you had the idea to write the book, it was always focused on kids. I think that's right.

Adam Porter: 22:34

Well, yeah, I wanted to be a kid's book, but I wanted it to be a book that would display the adult reality of cycling. So it's not really a book about, like, a kid learning to ride a bike or you know, you know, falling down or something like that, you know, but it's just more about the experience that the adults have.

Tom Butler: 22:56

So I think you I heard you say that you did some research, like you went out to look at what's out there as far as books on bike. Can you talk a bit about what you found?

Adam Porter: 23:08

the book and, you know, sort of planted in my brain there, and then all of a sudden I thought maybe I could make this book and that led me to saying, well, is there already something like it out there? Like you know, if it already exists, like I'll just buy that and I'll enjoy that, you know. So, yeah, I did some research, you know, looking around for different books, and I found a lot of really cool ones. You know, there's a lot that are focused on learning how to ride a bike, which is a great thing for kids and a very great idea for the book creator too, because that's very kid-friendly, very accessible and every kid's going to go through that experience of learning how to ride a bike for the first time.

Adam Porter: 23:50

What I didn't really see a lot of really were books that I felt like were connected to the hobby and experience of cycling, what I experienced by going to a bike race and the bike culture that you run into there. So, you know, I didn't really see a lot of that. I'm sure there was some out there maybe someone that listens might even point one out that I didn't catch in my research, but I didn't really feel like I found many that kind of hit that spot. So you know, really, that was part of my original vision, really was to bring out that, you know, unique spot of kids books. That would be hey, maybe this could help the young son understand what his mom gets up at 5am every morning to go do right and rides her bike in the morning, or you know, uh, what it's like to be in the bike race and things like that.

Adam Porter: 24:34

So that was really kind of from the start. I wanted to, you know, really hit at that unique spot, to to share with the kids hey, this is what you know the hobby isn't really like and some of the cool things about it. And then the cyclist could really read the book to their kids and be like, hey, that looks like my bike. Or you know, like, the books have a computer on the pages, right, that tell you like how fast you're going and things like that, and they could talk about things that their computer tells them. You know. So just a way to connect on those very specific parts of the hobby with with your young kids.

Tom Butler: 25:05

So can you you've got two books out and can you talk a bit about the focus of the different books?

Adam Porter: 25:11

So the first book, um, and truthfully, when I started on the whole adventure here, the idea was I only had the idea for one book, you know I just thought, hey, this could be a really cool thing. I sort of had it pictured in my mind about what it would be like. So that was the first one I made and it's called Morning Ride and just like the title says which is kind of a cool thing too if you use Strava and you don't name your ride, what's it gonna call it? It's gonna call it a morning ride. No-transcript what a morning ride is like. You know, the rider gets up before the sun is out, rides up to the top of a mountain, sees a sunset, rides by the beach, uh, gets a stop for a breakfast burrito, which is something I really like with bike riding. It sometimes gets me through a ride, is picturing the breakfast burrito at the end of it or, in his case here in the book, in the middle of it and then makes their way home. So it's a very simple story but again, I think it translates. This is what I think about the Vintage Kando group I'm a part of. On Facebook. People post about their rides all the time and I'm like well, this book kind of tells the story of what one of those rides are like, and that was really the purpose of the morning ride general approach to creating the book.

Adam Porter: 27:01

But this one just takes you through starting out at the starting line of a race, of a gravel bike race, and the hero of the story is a mom who has her family cheering her along from the sidelines and the book just takes you through the experience of the race. So going out from the starting line, riding through some neighborhood in front of some houses, and then you start getting into some bad weather, so there's some rain, there's some struggles with rain and mud and then you know, eventually that breaks through, there's a stop at an aid station to refuel a little bit and there's some experience of getting really tired. And you know what I've certainly experienced on races. I've been on having a little bit of a bonking experience where you run out of steam and maybe take a fall and then eventually celebrating at the end across the finish line. So that's 101 mile race Again, just translating some of that experience of a bike race to the kids.

Adam Porter: 27:49

And one of the things I really love about the 101 mile race specifically, is the hero of the story here the mom. It's not like the book is about whether she's going to finish first or not. You know, let me see, here I have her finishing in 623rd place out of 845 people, right, and I just love that reality of it because for many people that ride these races and this is definitely me, you know, whenever I've been in a race I am not vying for anywhere close to first place, right. So just that experience of like, hey, you did it and you accomplished it, you know, even if it was something that was hard for you, as maybe a beginner or someone that's just, you know, not in that tip top shape like the the top athletes are, um. And then there's there's actually a picture too, which I really love.

Adam Porter: 28:30

The very last picture of the book is the mom having to finish the race and her husband and her two kids are sort of surrounding her and and congratulating her on finishing the race. And. And actually the picture is a play on a picture I sent to my illustrator, which was a picture that someone took of me finishing a race with my kids and my wife Bybee. They just swapped out some of the genders there for that, but it's kind of a special thing for me knowing like, hey, this picture is there, but it's actually based off of one of my experiences in finishing a race there too. So, yeah, those are the two books. Yeah, again, very simple stories. There's no particular moral to the story necessarily, and I kind of wanted that on purpose. I just want it to be a simple, experiential type of a story.

Tom Butler: 29:12

I think there's a couple of things I really love about it. One is when you talk about being an experience, it's an experience that mirrors like what it's like you know, a morning ride is very typical.

Tom Butler: 29:26

Uh, being out on a, on a big group races, is a pretty typical thing. So it, you know it, it does mirror that and I think that's wonderful. And the second thing is I love the fact that you have this mom is a hero, you know, and kind of putting it out there that you know, yeah, this is a, this is a thing that's typical. You know that moms get on their bikes and they do these things and they're supported by by the family. I just love that aspect as well. Yeah, love that aspect as well. Yeah, you have kind of an element of the books that is meant to be a part of the experience, if I understand this right. Can you talk about kind of the image search component of the books?

Adam Porter: 30:14

And I think what you're referring to is like just some of the different background details we put into the book.

Tom Butler: 30:23

Yeah, is that what you're thinking. Ok, yeah, yeah.

Adam Porter: 30:25

I mean, you know when I first had the idea for the book. Some of the books I love reading to my kids are ones where you really kind of look around and you're like, oh look, here's sort of a hidden thing in the picture. You know what I mean? Hey, check out the birds over there, right? Like just really small details that aren't really part of the core story but are fun to talk about and look at.

Adam Porter: 30:48

So just for example, in the morning ride book there's a page where the riders had a flat tire and is stopped over to change the flat tire, and on this page there's sort of a hidden hawk that's flying through the air and at first glance on the page you can't quite see it, but it's there, right? So it's just things like that that I think are really fun for kids. And again, when I would read books that were sort of like that to my kids, those are some of the really interesting parts that we'd end up talking a lot about is some of the small details that were within the story. So, so definitely something I wanted to bring into, you know, all the books I'm going to have the ones I've come out with and ones that are in the future- I think it sounds to me like that's something that can really engage younger kids into the book.

Tom Butler: 31:35

Absolutely yeah.

Adam Porter: 31:35

Yeah.

Tom Butler: 31:36

That's awesome, awesome. That must have been a discussion you had to have with your illustrator. Um, can you talk a little bit about your illustrator?

Adam Porter: 31:45

yeah, absolutely so. Yeah, alissa whetstone, you know, uh, she's great. I I am amazed at how like easily it was to, or easy it was to, work with her on some of those details. So I basically create the book in a PowerPoint with some images that would just give a hint at. This is generally what I'm thinking about for this page, and I would write out details and I'd write out things like oh, there's a cat over here or there's this kind of detail over there.

Adam Porter: 32:10

At the same time, when we met and talked about the book, I said, hey, as you have ideas yourself, put them in there. You know what I mean, like go for it, like put them in there. You know what I mean, like go for it, like creative license to make it, you know, cool and things even from your own experience. So she did a ton of that. But, yeah, we definitely coordinated on a lot of those things. We would. We talk some of them over us.

Adam Porter: 32:26

There'd be some times where I'd go like, hmm, I think we need maybe one or two more little details on this page, something for the kids to find and take a look at. So you know, I just was amazed at how well she translated my rough notes and PowerPoint into real pictures that look fantastic. And that was such an important part to me creating these books is that I wanted them to be hand-drawn and illustrated in that way. So she used a watercolor style and she makes it all herself. There's nothing digital about it. She sends me the originals. I've got a stack of the original you know pictures here at home now and that's just to me it's just a really important part. I wanted it to feel a little bit like a work of art and she definitely accomplished that.

Tom Butler: 33:11

So cool. Now you mentioned the computer on the page, which to me is intriguing, because when I'm on a ride, you know that data, that, that picture, that visual whatever of the, the computer is very much a part of my ride and I'm looking at it a lot. Was that in your mind from the beginning or did that kind of come about in some way?

Adam Porter: 33:37

Yeah, I mean, I do the same as you there. So I'm constantly looking at especially on the races, when it's really kicking my butt and I'm trying to figure out, okay, what's the next milestone that I'm getting to, where I can feel like I've made some progress and have the ending to look forward to there. But I would say that came along pretty early as I was starting to flesh out just the flow of the book. I, as I was starting to flesh out just the flow of the book, I just sort of had that idea of oh, wouldn't it be cool if there was the computer on each page that was telling you the stats at that moment in time. So it was pretty early on.

Adam Porter: 34:07

I mean, I'd say that was maybe one of the first handful of ideas I really had about the book overall and it's just something that really kind of stuck through and has been something that I've heard a lot of great feedback on as well. So, as some parents have, you know, responded and shared things with me, like they've talked about how much their kids like that part, which I think is super cool and again that was part of just the idea was to have a way to generate conversation, you know and tell those. You tell your own stories to your kids about, or you know our grandkids about. You know things that you see on your bike computer and what it's telling you, and you know what that has you know different stories from your own ride. So, yeah, it was just another one of those ways that I wanted to feel like a cyclist would pick up the book and relate to it.

Tom Butler: 34:49

So this might be maybe too open of a question, but you're experiencing cycling. You know you've got this club that you're involved in and you're experiencing that. You know from your perspective and you know different layers going out, enjoying nature, enjoying searching for particular bikes, really adult things and then you're kind of you're involved in this aspect of cycling where you're, you're thinking about it from the perspective of children and I'm wondering do you have thoughts about, like this universal appeal of the bicycle?

Adam Porter: 35:31

yeah, I mean, I think at different levels, I would think it's pretty universally appealing. I think you know there's there's certain places where maybe it goes into a realm that not everyone would enjoy, but I think about taking a ride around the neighborhood with good weather. I don't know if I could think of something that wouldn't enjoy that to some degree. You know what I mean. But when you start talking about riding 25 miles and maybe for some people much less than that I talked about my first one being like maybe 14. And that was kind of a stretch for me.

Adam Porter: 36:01

I remember taking my wife out on one, you know, because I was trying to get her to get into this with me as well, and I think we maybe did 15 miles and that was a lot for her. I probably overdid it, you know. I probably overdid it a little bit with her. So I think that's certain levels of enjoyment that I think anyone would really be into. And then there's certain places that I think as you get into the hobby you find the enjoyment in places that maybe not everyone else would. But yeah, I would think overall that it's a pretty universally enjoyable. Has to do with just the quality of time you get with people too. I feel like any time I've had a bike ride with my kids or a friend or whoever like good conversation, typically happens it puts people in a good mood.

Tom Butler: 36:48

When I was a kid, the bicycle was a real form of transportation. I was, I grew up in a pretty small town and you know you get on the bike and you know you're going someplace. You know you're gonna go hang out with some people and it was the motor transportation. Do you, do you have that in your family? Is that still something? Is the bike a form of transportation for your kids?

Adam Porter: 37:14

I don't think so. My son my son probably the most. I mean he does most of like the he's going to get out and ride around with his buddies in the neighborhood kind of a thing, the more classic kind of deal that you know we probably had as kids. So he probably does the most of that. The other kids, you know, truthfully, most of our places that we need them to be are too far away for them to cycle by themselves. You know it's a good, good bit away. So, yeah, for us right now not not too much of a mode of transportation, um, more, more for recreation. That's mostly how I've used it as well. Like you know, riding to work would be, you know, okay for me, but it's a little little bit of a long one for a commute within the day.

Tom Butler: 37:54

You talked about being in the city, kind of living in the city. How do you feel as a parent? Do you feel it's safe for your kids to get on a bike, or do you kind of worry about that?

Adam Porter: 38:04

I do worry about it.

Adam Porter: 38:06

I think even when my son and I were training for this recent race that we did, we were going down a pretty, you know, typical sort of street in our neighborhood area and, you know, a car just zoomed by on a turn as we had the green light and I mean we were literally within feet of of getting hit by the car there.

Adam Porter: 38:26

Um, and I felt like we were just pretty lucky.

Adam Porter: 38:29

Um, I think, within, within the more core of the neighborhood, I feel typically pretty good about that and I think it's vital you know that as I get out and ride with them and I'm teaching them about being safe and, you know, also being confident and not overly worrying about those things. But I think, even for myself, you know, road biking has probably been less and less for me and I've done more trail riding just because, even for my the peacefulness side of it, to me, I like not having to worry about cars zipping around me and just get a little bit more of that, you know, enjoyment from knowing, all right, it's just me riding out here and you know, maybe there's another bike that's going to be around, but nothing else. So I think it's definitely a mix, you know, but I think it's vital to you know, continue to teach them about being safe and aware, and those are good skills that are going to translate into, you know, driving one day for the kids which I've got, one that's going to be starting to drive next month.

Tom Butler: 39:21

So yeah, well, hang on there. Yeah, right, exactly.

Adam Porter: 39:27

Yeah, I wouldn't mind slowing that down a little bit, but I'm also excited for her. She's, you know she's going to do a great job.

Tom Butler: 39:33

That's cool. I imagine that you've inspired families to be more active to get on bikes. I really think that that's an outcome. If you get a kid that gets excited about a story and reading a story, I think they're going to be asking if, as a family, they can go out and ride or asking a parent to go ride. How does that feel to think about inspiring a family they can go out and ride or asking a parent to go ride? How does that feel to think about inspiring a family that way?

Adam Porter: 40:04

yeah, I mean, that's been the best part of this whole experience of creating these books. It's really just getting feedback from people that have, you know, purchased them and read them to their kids. It it really just makes me really happy. I mean number one my own kids loving the books and enjoying them. That's the thing that's made me the happiest. But otherwise, the stories I get, I mean I've certainly had people tell me like, oh, my son loves your book. He brings it out every day and wants to read it and I'm sure that didn't last forever, but even for a little. That that's pretty amazing.

Adam Porter: 40:39

I've had parents talk to me about, you know, going on bike rides the next day after reading the book, you know, which is again makes me really happy. There's a family that we, uh, we know here that's, you know, we're part of a homeschooling community and, um, a mom who has older kids, you know, not even the target audience for my book, you know, much past the point. They bought the book and read it and they all went riding bikes together. They told us about that. So I was like that's so cool, that's awesome. So, yeah, I love that part and I think that, you know, as a parent right now, you know, kind of trying to reduce how much time is on screens and, like you know, get kids outside more, like I think riding a bike is a great way to do that and will bring energy and life, you know, into uh, to what we do every day. So so, yeah, if it, you know, if it continues to do that along the way, that's going to be, you know, a great thing about, about the project for sure.

Tom Butler: 41:35

You have another project called Our Bike Story. Can you talk a bit about that?

Adam Porter: 41:41

You know, again, this was just an idea that came along later on through the journey here of creating the first two books. And you know what it is. It's just an interactive journal and you know, the idea behind it for me was I wanted, you know, a parent or grandparent to be able to if you're the journaling type and not everybody is, uh, but if you're the journaling type to be able to write down memories from the bike rides, or I mean, kids say all kinds of funny things all the time, right, so you can write those down and maybe you saw something really interesting on a ride that you both talk about for a while. I mean, my son will sometimes talk about this, this, like desert fox we saw out on one ride that we took together, you know. So, just recording those small memories in there, and my hope was that, hey, when your kids are all grown up, this book might be on your bookshelf. You take it down and you sort of have this window into this very specific activity that you did right, because I think journaling to me, like I've done journaling at different times, but sometimes it's just this overarching, like all of life kind of journal, like I get a little bit overwhelmed there and you know what do I write like. But to have something that's very specific, just for the bike rides, I think will be awesome for people to, you know, all along the way reference back to things and look at those memories, and I just feel like that's going to create this sort of really good window and tunnel back into those moments of time with your kids. So that's the idea behind it.

Adam Porter: 43:05

It's actually filled with quite a few different things. It's got pages to where you can check off different repairs that you've made on your bikes. It's got places where you can record what bikes you even owned. There's some crossword puzzles in there. There's places where you can check off different locations or things you've seen along your rides. There's even places to draw in the book. So you and your child saw something on the road. You want to take a second to draw it in there. You know tape some pictures onto the book, like all kinds of different. You know things like that. And of course, there's just, you know, pages of journal. The rides is the core of the book there. But yeah, so it's just sort of an additional fun thing that I had the idea for and, you know, spent some time putting it together and I think it's you know something that could be. You know something that you would cherish throughout your life, as you have those books and maybe even transition from having kids to grandkids and continuing those memories there.

Tom Butler: 44:05

Well, you mentioned like a grandparent connecting through the book. Have you gotten any feedback about that happening or what do you think about that, as you know, as a possibility for a grandparent to use it as a connection tool?

Adam Porter: 44:20

I mean, I think it would fit perfectly. I think, you know, I would imagine for most grandparents it's not every day you get to ride bikes with the kids. Right, it's going to be on a more periodic basis. So I think even having that being part of the visit with the grandkids could be really fun. You know, you go over to grandpa's house.

Adam Porter: 44:40

Hey, we're going to work on this journal a little bit. We're going to go on a bike ride, we're going to talk about some of those memories and write them down together, complete some of the interactive pages. I think that would be fantastic and I think that again, would be very treasured by anyone that engages in it. So our bike store is pretty new. I just completed it not too too long ago and most I've sold at racing events that I've done to parents. So I haven't had a lot of grandparent feedback on something like that yet. But I imagine, as you know, we continue to make efforts to have it be known. We'll get we'll get more stories there, but I certainly think it would be a great, great fit for anyone who's riding with kids and wants to capture some of those memories.

Tom Butler: 45:23

Well, it feels like that for me. It feels like that takes those times that you spend together and, like you say, it logs them in something that both the person, the grandparent, can look at and also grandkids can look at and and have is something they keep for a long time. So there's these three projects the, the two books and and the our bike story project, and again, you know, we're coming into a holiday season and I'm just suggesting these for for people. If you have grandkids or you have kids that are in that age range, consider it because you know, I think most people listening to the podcast, cycling is a big part of their life and, uh, you know, it's an opportunity to to share that and even to pass it on. How about future projects? Book projects Do you think you'll continue to produce books about bikes?

Adam Porter: 46:26

Yeah, I've got things working right now, so holding in my hand a just printed version of my next book, just as a way that I can hold it in my hands before it's going off to the illustrator here, to Alyssa, but it's, I would say, within hours of being ready to have the drawing begin on it. So I won't spoil the title or the topic yet on that one. But you can follow me on social media and you'll see some posts start to come around once the drawing starts on that one. You'll see some posts start to come around once the drawing starts on that one. Right now I would say I've got plans for three more books and I would imagine I'll continue to go from there as well. Actually, I probably have ideas for more than that, but I've got at least a manuscript started for three more and sort of an outline and a progression of those books. So I'm definitely excited to continue to produce these. They're a lot of fun to make. I think they're just a blast and I'm definitely excited to continue there. So I'm hoping maybe by the new year the next book will be done and out. But we'll just kind of see how the process goes.

Adam Porter: 47:33

And there's two big chunks to it. One is well, actually the first one would just be writing it and putting it all together, but then once the illustrating starts, that's a couple months in the works and then after that there's a lot of formatting and you know work in the program there to have it, all you know, come out correctly and you know it's all a good and fun process. I mean, I still remember getting the first copy in the mail of Morning Ride and then my goal was to have that before my 40th birthday. So we got it in the mail, I think maybe three or four days before that and I got to kind of check that out and it was just a very cool experience. I actually told my wife, hey, can you read this to the kids? I just want to sit back and see what it's like to have this read to them here. So, um, you know such a cool process. So, yeah, definitely you know more in the works and more ideas uh, bounce around in my head about, uh, additional books that's awesome.

Tom Butler: 48:27

Well, I I'm gonna pitch you a story idea right now, okay here we go all right yeah, this is the whole reason to have you on.

Tom Butler: 48:33

Well, not, but anyway, we did this really fun thing where we put our bikes on a ferry, took a ferry across and did a ride on an island up here. So you know, I'm pitching that you throw your family in a van or on a plane whatever, on a train I don't know, and come up and experience a ferry ride and do a book around that experience. I think that would be wonderful.

Adam Porter: 48:59

I mean, I am all for that idea. I was telling you before we started recording here that we went and visited your neck of the woods last year and we did a couple of ferry rides. And I was specifically thinking, while I was there I was like I saw some people getting on the ferry with a bike. I was like that looks amazing. I want to do that so bad. I can't remember the name of the island we went to that day. Everywhere we drove around I could see like, oh, this is where I'd be riding. This would be so great, you know. So I'm all for that idea.

Tom Butler: 49:29

Yeah, we'll see you have this like professional excuse to do that.

Adam Porter: 49:34

Exactly exactly.

Tom Butler: 49:35

I'm imagining that you know getting out on a bike and it gives you some space to really think creatively. You know, is that the case? The ideas just really come while you're riding.

Adam Porter: 49:48

Yeah, I mean, once the ball got rolling on this and I knew it was a reality, that I could make, you know, a book happen all the way, I would have ideas while I was writing. Uh, you know whether it was something I saw and I was like, ooh, I'm going to put that in the book. You know, just as a small detail. Or you know, I even thought of multiple books. I mean, I've I've thought of books on bike rides that I ended up get going. No, I'm not going to do that one. You know, certainly I've had plenty of ideas all along the way. So definitely a thinking space for me being out on the bike.

Tom Butler: 50:21

How do people get a copy of the book? How do they follow you on social media, all that stuff? How do people stay connected.

Adam Porter: 50:28

So really easy there. I mean I use Instagram the most. I mean I've got a full-time job, I've got the five kids. I just don't have the time to put my efforts into every social media type there is. I have a small presence on Facebook. You can find me. You know my company name is Bike Lane Co. So you can find me on Facebook or Instagram.

Adam Porter: 50:47

Instagram is the most active, for sure, so you can definitely find me there. You can actually download free coloring pages as well. So if you want to add to the book experience and get a couple coloring pages that are directly from the book, you can read the book to your kids or grandkids and then print the coloring pages and make your own. So that's there on Instagram. And then you can find the books on Amazon. I've got links all over Instagram, but you can search for Morning Ride or 101 Mile Race or Our Bike Story on Amazon and you'll find it popping up right there. You can order them directly from there.

Adam Porter: 51:24

I'm also happy, if you reach out to me directly, I would be happy to send you a signed copy so we can make an arrangement there to do that. I've got a small inventory here at my house. So if that's something that you enjoy, I'm happy to do that too, and I usually throw in a couple of coloring pages along with those as well. So any of that works and overall I'm just just. I'm always happy to hear from people. So if anyone checks out, you know what I've done and you like it. You have something to say about it. You got a picture of you read it to your kids like I love that kind of thing, so I would definitely encourage anyone to share if they pick one up awesome, adam.

Tom Butler: 51:50

Thank you so much for coming on and sharing this. I am really excited about what you're doing because I love cycling and I love seeing kids out on bikes. Just today, I saw two really young kids with spikes down the center of their bike helmets. They looked like they were going out with their mom having a great time, and so anything that introduces kids to cycling and in the way that you're doing, I think, is wonderful, and so just good job at doing that and thanks so much for joining me yeah, thanks for having me.

Tom Butler: 52:30

It's a blast well, good luck, uh, with all your writing endeavors, and if you're coming up here and you need someone to to kind of guide you on a ferry ride for for a two-story, let me know be careful what you wish for there.

Tom Butler: 52:48

I like it all right, take care now. Thanks, bye. I love it that there is an interplay between Adam's writing and his cycling. It seems to me that the more he writes, the more passion he has for cycling. The podcast is that way for me. I am so glad I am still doing episodes. It keeps me searching for all kinds of information about cycling that I would never have been exposed to otherwise. I'm hoping you have a little cyclist in your life that might find that Adam's books fan the flames of their interest.

Tom Butler: 53:29

I recently heard a comment from somebody in their late 60s that once our generation dies, there won't be anyone involved in cycling clubs anymore. I sure hope that isn't true. I hope we find ways to inspire kids to get on bikes and to ride with others. There is so much really awesome work being done by cycling clubs all over the place. I certainly hope that you are part of a cycling club and community that inspires you to get out and experience the world on two wheels, and I hope you are experiencing the return that being active provides. Remember, age is just a gear change.