Tom Butler: 0:04

This is the Cycling Over 60 podcast, season three, episode 11, cycling Gifts, and I'm your host, tom Butler. I want to remind everyone who listens to Cycling with 16 that while I talk about my experiences, it is an advice. You shouldn't follow my example without consulting with the proper professionals. I will give you a good example of this. First, some background. The lab work I had done in October revealed that I'm not generating as much insulin as needed Currently. I believe this is the result of damage to my pancreas. The decreased insulin production means that my blood glucose is high.

Tom Butler: 0:51

My strategy for a while has been to use exercise to burn up my blood glucose. That is why, on Strava, you will see that I often do a glucose burn activity after meals. When insulin is released into the blood, it triggers the response of a protein called a facilitated diffusion glucose transporter, or GLUT, g-l-u-t In skeletal muscle, insulin triggers the response of GLUT4. Insulin causes GLUT4 to come to the surface of the muscle cell and facilitate the transfer of glucose into the cell. What is important for me and others who have low insulin levels as part of metabolic syndrome is that GLUT4 also goes to the surface of the cell and brings in glucose during exercise. In fact, one researcher I listened to made the comment that GLUT4 is more important than insulin and muscle glucose uptake. The more GLUT4 activity I can stimulate without insulin, the more glucose can be taken up by my bloodstream and used for muscle function, and that, of course, results in lower blood glucose levels.

Tom Butler: 1:56

I have been reading about how to get non-insulin induced GLUT4 action and I found something that indicated that electric muscle stimulation, also known as EMS, could stimulate glute force similar to exercise. So I decided to see if I could use EMS to determine if it had any impact on my glucose levels. We have now come to the part where I illustrate that you shouldn't do what I do. I connected the pads of an EMS unit to my quads. When I sent a video to someone showing the contractions that the EMS unit was producing, they responded by saying wow, that's strong. I felt fine with it being strong because I wanted to have a lot of muscle action to test my theory that I would be able to stimulate glute four with EMS. But when I woke up the next day, I found out what wow that strong means. The moment I stepped out of bed and felt serious muscle soreness in both legs. I wish I had set the EMS to a lower setting. It took four days for the pain to go away. Again, don't do everything that I am trying. I still am optimistic that EMS could help me burn some blood glucose, but I'm a little gun-shy about it at the moment.

Tom Butler: 3:06

I saw something on social media that looks really fun. Apparently, there's a section of Highway 1 in California that is opening up to cars next spring. Till that happens, it sounds like Highway 1 doesn't have many cars on that section of the road. If you aren't aware, highway 1 goes along the California coast and there are simply fantastic views from the road. Highway 1 is open for local traffic, but through traffic is routed around the area. For example, if I get a driving route from Cambria heading north to Big Sur, I get completely routed around a section of Highway 1. However, choosing a bike route on Google instead keeps me on Highway 1. The video I listened to, posted on the Cycling Central Coast Instagram page, recommended starting at Ragged Point, which is about 15 miles north of San Simeon. In the video they talk about a 40-mile ride north, starting at Ragged Point. I didn't hear a stopping point, but Lime Kiln Creek Bridge is 22.5 miles north of Ragged Point, and Google shows that you can bike the whole way. That route would be 45.2 miles round trip with 3,409 feet of elevation. I'd really like to figure out a way to do this ride, because it would be such a unique opportunity to experience an incredible part of the Pacific Coast without worrying about car traffic, so I'm going to keep working on it.

Tom Butler: 4:27

Speaking of great trips, I featured Road Scholar on the podcast on May 14th. I love how they combine adventure and learning on their tours. Their director of PR, kelsey Perry, shared with me their current list of top 10 trending tour destinations. They identified five domestic and five international destinations. The number one trending domestic destination is Lincoln, new Hampshire. Road Scholar has a trip called the Nature of New Hampshire. It looks like a wonderful experience. You can go to the Road Scholar website to learn more about this trip and others. Just remember that the road in Road Scholar is spelled like the thing you ride on. I will put a link to the show notes, to the press release that talks about all the trending tour destinations, and I'm also going to have to add New Hampshire as a list of places where I want to ride. It is the holiday season and, if you are like me, it isn't easy finding gifts for people. I decided this week to go out and talk to some local bike shops and get their input on gifts for cyclists. Here's what I learned and what's your name.

Speaker 2: 5:37

I'm Peyton over at Tacoma Bike.

Tom Butler: 5:40

So tell me a clothing item, like a new cyclist just getting into it, what might be a clothing item that, like every cyclist needs?

Speaker 2: 5:49

Padded shorts. Okay, 110% of the time, that'd be the first thing I'd get. Don't mess around with jerseys or fancy riding shorts. You don't even need fancy riding shoes. Protect your butt, okay. That's key.

Tom Butler: 6:05

Step number one so are you looking for a particular kind of padding, or are they pretty much all the same? What do you think about that?

Speaker 2: 6:14

If you look at the price tags on them they would beg to differ that there's a big difference. But I would say you know anything that feels comfortable on you something low profile, nothing too bulky, just enough to get you through your ride.

Tom Butler: 6:29

Now you said shorts and not bibs.

Speaker 2: 6:33

Yeah, for the everyman. You can get away with wearing padded shorts underneath your casual clothes for the most part and go about your day. If you're hitting those longer rides, those 50 to 100 milers, then kit up, get your jerseys, get your bibs, get your fancy shoes, get ready for a long day of ridin'. But the Everyman pair of padded shorts is pretty much all you need.

Tom Butler: 6:59

Now, it's not. It doesn't get really cold here in Tacoma, but it gets cold enough. What do you think as far as what's a recommendation for cold weather?

Speaker 2: 7:10

riding. I'd say if you're going to go out for a colder morning ride, nice paired gloves, Don't need anything too crazy, Maybe a nice little thermal under layer underneath your regular riding clothes. But once you get pedaling, it's you know you're going to get nice and toasty pretty quick and then you're relieved that it's a little chilly out.

Tom Butler: 7:37

Now, you know, thinking about a cyclist that has everything. What might you think about like an accessory that that someone might consider? What's your name?

Speaker 4: 7:47

my name is nick thanks um, a great accessory for the cyclist who has everything, especially a road cyclist. It's going to be the garmin variant radar tail light. It's going to alert you on your computer when cars are coming up behind you, give you a heads up so that you can make sure you're in a safe space on the road.

Tom Butler: 8:06

Okay, tell me about a bike that you carry. That's a hot commodity right now.

Speaker 4: 8:11

Probably one of our hottest bikes is the Kona Rove. It's a very universal gravel bike. You know a lot of people like it for one bike to do it all Commute, do some gravel rides, ride on the road Super versatile bike. We're seeing a lot of road cyclists switch to gravel just for the safety factor of being away from vehicles. I ride a gravel bike. I like it.

Tom Butler: 8:34

Okay, so tell me you say you like the gravel scene.

Speaker 2: 8:40

Yeah, I would say gravel is, like you said, a lot safer of a scene because it is something that's super versatile. You don't necessarily need to go drive to a trailhead or, you know, up to some fancy mountain resort to go have a lot of fun. It's one of the bikes that you can just leave your front door, start pedaling and the world's your trail, you know. Whereas you might need to do a little bit more route planning if you're a roadie, if you're riding a big old enduro bike, downhill bike, you know you're not going to have too much fun on your commute to work.

Speaker 2: 9:18

But a gravel bike, especially something like the Kona Rove or pretty much anything from Kona, their new Orboros, that's another one that's going to be more on that playful trail side of things, something that's going to be great. If you're really big into camping road trips, just throw it on the back of your rig. You could even use it to go camping. That's the beauty of gravel. You don't even need a car. You can just load up everything that you could ever want and just start going.

Tom Butler: 9:51

Love it what's your name? My? Name is wes and where are we here? We're at trek tacoma north end great, so let me uh know your opinion. Like if I've got someone there's a fairly experienced cyclist and I'm looking for some apparel to get up, what might you steer me to?

Speaker 5: 10:12

Rafa makes a lot of really good stuff, find a lot of experienced riders, spend a lot of time in the saddle. They tend to buy a good pair of like bib shorts once and then they kind of ride them to death a little bit. So sometimes refreshing a pair of bib shorts for someone who's ridden a lot of miles can be a big change. So looking at that is a great idea if you can get the sizing. Now you mentioned Rafa, would you endorse their padding?

Speaker 5: 10:35

At the end of the day, everybody has a different body and there's certain brands of pads that will work great for some people and great for others. Across the board, rafa has a pretty overwhelmingly positive feedback on their padding, so yeah, I think they do a really good job. Is it perfect for everybody? Maybe not, but really good choice.

Tom Butler: 10:54

Now, how about tools? If I'm like I want to kind of get a basic set of tools, what might be in that basic pack of tools?

Speaker 5: 11:03

are we talking about experienced cyclist again or a new cyclist?

Tom Butler: 11:07

I would say someone that's not really got like this was starting like like getting a set of tools to maybe do some minor stuff repairs at home in the garage, things like that so a good set of allen wrenches is huge.

Speaker 5: 11:20

That's going to be a great place to start. A pedal wrench and then some good chain maintenance items, so some degreaser, chain cleaner, some good chain lube, that sort of stuff to keep your chain up and running. That's going to cover most of what the new cyclist is going to need. And then, if you're going to do some more at-home maintenance stuff, a chain breaker, probably a great addition to that, and that'll get you through most stuff. If you have a carbon bike, if you're getting a nicer bike, then definitely throw a torque wrench into that.

Tom Butler: 11:52

Okay, now is there like a brand of tools that you guys recommend. What do you guys carry? I guess is what I would ask.

Speaker 5: 12:00

Yeah, so Park Tool is a really good safe bet. You're going to get a quality tool that's going to cover most of what you need to do. I find that in the bike shop here, we talk about tools all the time right.

Speaker 5: 12:12

Yeah okay, and there's certain companies that make exceptional versions of all tools. Okay. So like, for instance, wera makes great Allen keys. If you want an amazing set of Allen keys, wera is an awesome place to go. Nippex makes great side cutters and housing cutters, stuff like that, so there's always those specialty tools that there's one that stands out Park Tool, though. Pretty much anything they make is going to be an 8 out of 10. You're going to get something that's effective and you could use for the rest of your life, right?

Tom Butler: 12:49

But if you wanted to get a little fancy, you could look at some of those more special things. So let's say that I really want to go out and I and buy a new bike. Yeah, for for someone, what's a hot trek bike right now?

Speaker 5: 12:57

I mean we get so much attention on the checkpoints okay so our gravel bikes tons of people love them.

Speaker 5: 13:05

they're awesome like quiver killers. So with one bike you could do mountain bike trails, you could do road rides with friends, you could commute on it, you could do long distance touring. Just fits so many different types of riding that it tends to stand out as a really high draw. There's one right behind you that just got set up for a customer Amazing, amazing rigs to do just about anything. And then e-bikes are huge right now. A lot of folks coming in looking at e-bikes of all price ranges and styles and types of bike.

Tom Butler: 13:36

So are you seeing, or have you seen, a shift from people that are road bikers to grabbing a gravel bike Absolutely Because they're finding it to open up a lot of stuff? What would you say that like the rider who's going to really enjoy a gravel bike, do you have a way of kind of conceptualizing who that would be?

Speaker 5: 14:01

So a very repeated theme is somebody who's been road biking for many years and finds traffic daunting these days, maybe some not-so-smart drivers out there and maybe some friends who've had some incidences and wanting to continue their love for riding, but wanting to do it in places where there's not quite as many cars and so that gravel bike fits. That need so much because the form factor, your interaction with the bike, is super, super similar. It just allows you to go do it on gravel roads and trails and stuff in places where cars can't be near. So that's a very common one. And then big tires are just comfy. So a lot of people who like riding but they're maybe not out there to break the world speed record and just want to have an enjoyable, pleasant experience that couple miles an hour slower that nice, big, soft tires get you is worth the trade off for them for that comfort.

Tom Butler: 15:01

So I'm looking at this bike, which is beautiful. It's a beautiful black checkpoint and it's got a rear rack on it with some nice bags on it waterproof bags on it. Yep, this kind of looks like a swiss army knife of a bike exactly to me.

Speaker 5: 15:20

Yeah, okay yep, so we also. You don't see them here, they're in the back right now. But he also has a second set of wheels. Okay, so we have one set of wheels set up for gravel, one set for road, and so then this one bike with that second set of wheels is going to cover doing STP local road rides. And then he's got a buddy that's also going to be doing a lot of bike packing, so longer trips, loading all of the tent and equipment onto the bike and riding several days and living off the bike. So that's what this one is intended to be set up for for this guy.

Tom Butler: 15:55

Nice, yeah Well, thank you so much. Oh, of course, yeah, anytime. Since Rafa Brand was brought up, I thought I would just comment on it a bit. 2023 marked the seventh consecutive year of loss for Rafa. It'll be interesting to see if they report some good news in 2024. No-transcript.

Speaker 6: 16:40

Hey, I'm Shawna and we are currently at Free Range Cycles in Fremont, Seattle.

Tom Butler: 16:45

Well, thanks for taking some time, shawna, and you're the owner here, right? I am, yes, okay, so I expect you to know absolutely everything.

Speaker 6: 16:51

We'll see.

Tom Butler: 16:53

So here's what I'm doing. I'm talking about Christmas gifts, and so there's like one Christmas gift a saddle. So you might know that it's like the cyclist in my life wants a new saddle. But how would you even accommodate something like that? Is that even possible?

Speaker 6: 17:12

You know that's a really good question. Something that I've been really excited about the last couple of years that we've done is we've created what is called a saddle library. So basically folks can pay 20 bucks. They get access to all the saddles in our library for up to a week per saddle and then once you find you know the Cinderella slipper that fits, then that 20 bucks goes towards your purchase so you could get your loved one a saddle, or you could just get them a $20 gift card for the saddle library and then they can kind of pick out which one is the best fit for them.

Tom Butler: 17:46

So you could maybe take a guess like maybe this person's going to like this they like a little wider saddle or something and you could actually get one. Put it under the tree and then they could come, they could try it out and exchange it. Is that correct?

Speaker 3: 17:59

Well what I think would be.

Speaker 6: 18:05

Probably the best way is just to get a gift card for the saddle library. Yeah, the tricky thing about guessing is I feel like it's so hard. I'm often surprised by what I think might be comfortable for somebody and what's actually comfortable for them. So, yeah, I would say just go with the gift card.

Speaker 3: 18:18

Yeah.

Speaker 6: 18:19

You know it's $20 to play and then that will ultimately go back towards their purchase.

Tom Butler: 18:24

Yeah, how about helmets? The same thing, or do you think helmets are a little bit easier?

Speaker 6: 18:28

You know, helmets are a little bit easier. The helmets that we carry have a little bit more of a general universal sizing system, at least a couple of them. So I would feel more confident getting somebody on a helmet than on a saddle, for sure.

Tom Butler: 18:43

Okay yeah, would feel more confident getting somebody on a helmet than on a saddle, for sure, okay, yeah, do you feel like there's general categories of helmets that that could dial it in easier?

Speaker 6: 18:52

for sure, you know, we kind of just started carrying a couple models. We have one that is like a more universal fit. It has a visor on the front, which some, some folks really like. That one's a little bit less expensive. Basically, with helmets you're paying for weight and you're paying for air holes. So the more air holes a helmet has, usually the more expensive it is. So the less expensive one they oftentimes will have a visor and those are more universally sized. The more expensive ones are a little bit more closely profiled and they have a little bit better airflow with them.

Tom Butler: 19:29

Where you are here in Seattle. I'm guessing that you have a lot of customers that are commuters.

Speaker 6: 19:35

We do Predominantly commuters, yeah.

Tom Butler: 19:37

Now what would you say is like a hot gift for a commuter.

Speaker 6: 19:40

Oh, that's a good question. A bell is a really good one and, especially in the dark time of year, reflective wear. So we have some really cool reflectors that I like. We have some that look like a little pizza that you can put the toppings on, uh, or your whoever's getting the gift can put the pizza toppings on.

Tom Butler: 20:00

That's fun.

Speaker 6: 20:01

Yeah, we have some triangles that I have a cutout in the center that still allow the rear light to flash through the triangle and the triangle itself is reflective, so we have a lot of different reflective accessories that I think, if you have a loved one that's commuting in this area in winter, really crucial to have them be visible.

Tom Butler: 20:20

Now you talked about bells. I'm thinking there must be a wide range of bells.

Speaker 6: 20:25

There are, and there's one that I love. It's definitely not a cheap date it's 62 bucks but I've had mine for 10 years and the spring has never gone bad and it's still dings as well as the day I got it. The company's called Spur Cycle S-P-U-R Cycle. It's fantastic.

Speaker 3: 20:45

Nice, I can't rate those highly enough.

Speaker 6: 20:47

But there are some less expensive ones that don't have quite the same flash factor that also work just as well.

Tom Butler: 20:53

So how about if I wanted to splurge and get a bike for the cyclist of my life? What would you say is a hot bicycle right now?

Speaker 6: 21:00

Man hot bikes right now. The Sur surly midnight special is one that we really love. It's great for you know, I have one that I use is primarily my gravel bike and my co-worker uses his as a commuter. It's really versatile. It's kind of happy in a lot of lanes. The surly bridge club is another one. If you, we have a customer who just got one to go mushroom hunting with because it has wide tires and super low gearing. So it's great in town because we have a lot of hills in seattle, but you can also take it off road that's awesome, yeah well, thanks so much for taking the time.

Speaker 6: 21:34

Yeah, thank you so much, really appreciate it shido lee montlake bikes nice to meet you.

Tom Butler: 21:40

You too, a few questions about like shopping for the cyclist in your life. So one is how likely is it that a cyclist is going to want an extra set of wheels built up?

Speaker 7: 21:54

I think that's a very distinct cyclist. That's not very likely they're out there, but those are the ones that are going to want really expensive wheels, I would assume.

Tom Butler: 22:02

Okay, Like a cyclocross rider, maybe that uses the bike for other things.

Speaker 7: 22:07

Yeah, if you're racing, doing gravel riding even mountain stuff, there's a reason to have multiple wheels, Especially here we have so many different trains to ride on, it's good to have a couple different tire choices, which, with tubeless, it makes sense to just have a second set of wheels to plug and play.

Tom Butler: 22:20

When you say they're probably going to be expensive. What makes them expensive? What's the difference between a cheap wheel and an expensive wheel? Oh, gosh.

Speaker 7: 22:29

Engineering and technology has moved a long way to become seamless with the bike industry. So you don't have to worry about getting a hand-built set of wheels anymore. For one of those reasons there An entry-level set of good carbon wheels will run you about $1,100 from a shop with a manufacturer to support it and there's all sorts of supports that come behind those. Specialized, for example, has carbon wheels that they give lifetime warranties on. Things like that, I think exceed standard prices from what we're used to, because you get more support on the back end like that and you're still again getting getting hand-built wheel. But wheel building has become so common now it's taking on in-house so you can get that kind of quality without having to go into a shop and get in a repair queue to have your wheel built. All the prices are going up for all of those reasons okay, okay.

Tom Butler: 23:18

Now another thing is what is an accessory that you think is a is a good accessory to get a cyclist?

Speaker 7: 23:27

Bags. Bags are always good Handlebar bags, frame bags. There are all sorts of good little saddle bags. There's all sorts of options out there, from complete waterproofing options to just a casual sunny day ride. That way you can get everything off of your body and put it on the bike. And there's advancements on where those bag placements are on bikes to help keep the weight centered with the rider as well. So for a very respectful entry point you can get in fun bags. We've got some here that little mushrooms and cookies and donuts and stuff that will go onto your bike.

Tom Butler: 23:56

Nice. So do you have a brand that you guys like?

Speaker 7: 23:59

I don't personally. We really just brought these in. It's something that kind of just started with taking on actual themes like a mushroom it looks like a Mario mushroom Things like that are just kind of starting to show up. The companies we have over here called Snacks we just grabbed them out of one of our distributor catalogs.

Tom Butler: 24:19

Okay, I love it. A final question is let's say like a stocking stuffer, I love it. A final question is let's say like a stocking stuffer, let's say I have somebody that rides long rides and so I think I'd like to buy a bunch of stuff that they might consume for energy or whatever on the bike and throw it in what would be a good bunch of things to grab.

Speaker 7: 24:37

There's all sorts of nutrition out there. Carb is a good one to take note of. Tailwind is a good one to take note of. There are all sorts of energy packs out there that have gels. Shot blocks is a common one. Things like that are really great. They're inexpensive and you can just load up the stock and be really good with them. Cool.

Tom Butler: 24:54

All right. Well, thank you so much. Yeah, you're welcome, tom, and your name.

Speaker 8: 24:58

Carolyn Eaton.

Tom Butler: 24:59

Nice to meet you, Carolyn.

Speaker 8: 25:00

Nice to meet you.

Tom Butler: 25:00

So so I am wondering I'm talking to people about shopping for the bicyclists in your life and you have brompton bikes here we do and I'm wondering who is it that you would buy a brompton bike for if you wanted to go like all out for christmas? And who's, who's the brompton users out there?

Speaker 8: 25:17

yeah, it's, it's a mix of people it's people who are commuting, who live in small apartments or want to be able to bring their bike into their office and not lock it up on city streets.

Speaker 8: 25:27

So they fold up, nice and compact and small. They actually roll behind you like a piece of luggage or a suitcase. So if you're getting on the light rail, it's a nice thing to quickly fold, hop on the train with the other people who use it. A lot are people who travel on, people who have RVs or motorhomes that they're traveling in or even just want to put in the trunk of the car park and be able to ride a couple miles to go run errands. People on boats love them because they fold up and you can sail into a marina somewhere and go right around whatever city you're in. So it's a wide mix. People who do airline travel a lot also really like the versatility of something you can just pack and go yeah, yeah, the other thing they spotted would fit under a christmas tree pretty well, it would fit underneath the christmas tree.

Speaker 8: 26:14

They come in. Uh, nice, fun festive colors. We definitely. You know, it's one of those things that we tell it we tend to sell them in pairs. Yeah, it's like oh, I want that one. I those things that we tell it.

Speaker 5: 26:23

We tend to sell them in pairs, you know, it's like oh, I want that one.

Speaker 8: 26:24

I'll get that one for my spouse, so it's kind of a fun. You know recreational all-around bikes and they are kind of designed for that commuter. You know two to ten mile kind of commute, but we definitely have customers who ride them a lot farther than that um you know, we see several of them on the stp. Every year I have a customer who's literally ridden around the world on his Brompton.

Tom Butler: 26:47

So that's cool.

Tom Butler: 26:48

They're a fun, versatile bank Awesome. Well, thank you so much. You're welcome. As I was recording at Mountlake Bicycle Shop, a woman came from what looked like the office area. My hope was that it was one of the co-owners of the shop. Since I knew that one of the shop owners is a woman, I was very happy that it was Carolyn and I got to speak with her. I love it that I got to interview Shauna at Free Range Cycles and Carolyn at Mount Lake Bicycle Shop. I believe it is important to have women-owned cycling shops. What's your name?

Speaker 9: 27:19

I'm Peter Fisher and we're here at Northwest Bicycle.

Tom Butler: 27:22

Nice to meet you, peter. Yeah, so talk to me a little bit. If you're out there shopping for Christmas stuff for a cyclist in your life and it happens to be a someone that is a mountain biker, what might you be looking for differently than like for road cycling?

Speaker 9: 27:40

Well, especially this time of the year and with the winter that we're having, for a mountain biker that rides year round, right now it's a great time to get somebody set up so their toes and feet stay warm and dry. It's a little bit different out on a road bike, where you're out in the wind all the time. You tend to need a little bit different layering. Mountain bikes it's short burst power and you're in the woods, so you're out in the wind all the time. You tend to need a little bit different layering. Mountain bikes it's short burst power and you're in the woods, so you're generating heat more and you're retaining it more. So slightly different needs. And then outside that it's trying to keep your bike clean of muck, so it's good to ride the next time around.

Tom Butler: 28:21

So it's a lot of cleaning stuff and the right clothing. If you were going to recommend like some cleaning stuff, that sounds to me like maybe some good stocking stuffers, certainly, and what would you say would be like a starter pack, maybe of cleaning stuff for a mountain biker.

Speaker 9: 28:37

The basics are you can never go wrong with chain lube, a decent chain lube that will hold up well in wet weather, primarily, and then some good cleaning brushes. You know those are the real basics to get somebody. You know beyond that there are cleaners and degreasers and all sorts of stuff. It's always subjective to what somebody might have already, of course, but that would be my kind of go-to.

Tom Butler: 29:04

Now, what about mountain biking shoes? It seems like those are going to be very different Road bike shoes. Are you getting clips? Are you getting cleatless? What are you doing there?

Speaker 9: 29:16

So, the whole, I'd say 80% of our market is people wearing flat pedals. I am an anomaly. I've been clipped in for 30 years and I ride clipped in on downhill bikes and cross country I just flat pedals scare me. I'm not good enough for flats. But you know, traditionally a decent mountain bike shoe, specifically, is a stiff platform, you know, much like a road shoe. However, it does break at the toes so you can walk and has a better sole right for walking around and gaining traction. You know if you're having to push up a muddy hill as an example, which presumably you don't need on a road bike.

Tom Butler: 29:55

Yeah Right, is there a brand or a couple brands of shoes that you?

Speaker 9: 30:00

really like. There's a number of good ones. That's always dependent upon, I mean, somebody's foot, but certainly for a long time we've done a lot of the 510 brand. I think they're great shoes, ride concepts there's so many. Right now we're in a good place in the bike industry where there's a lot of great product, cool.

Tom Butler: 30:21

Right now we're in a good place in the bike industry where there's a lot of great product. Cool yeah. So then, if you wanted to go all out and put a mountain bike under the tree for someone, what's a hot mountain bike right now?

Speaker 9: 30:32

So the industry has changed a lot in the last few years, I would argue. Probably one of the more hot ones would be an electric mountain bike. You know we see more of those going increasingly. You know somebody wanted to throw a lot of money at the problem. A good full suspension electric mountain bike would probably be very well received.

Tom Butler: 30:52

And so if they were going to come here to your shop, what might you steer them to? They're like I'm looking for a really nice higher end electric mountain bike. What would you steer them to?

Speaker 9: 31:03

It kind of depends on the rider and where they want to be, because geometries and amounts of travel are dependent. You know you've got to find the right tool for the right job. We do a lot with the specialized Levo in various build kits. Rocky Mountain has a great product, both the Instinct and the Altitude, and then we do quite a bit with Transition as well. Those are kind of the three electric platforms.

Tom Butler: 31:29

We do a substantial amount with Great yeah Well, thanks so much for your input. Yeah, all right, Bye.

Speaker 9: 31:36

You're welcome.

Tom Butler: 31:37

I am here with one of my favorite bike people, Brett Babb.

Speaker 10: 31:40

Hey Tom.

Tom Butler: 31:41

How are you doing? I'm doing well. How are you man?

Speaker 10: 31:42

Good, good Good.

Tom Butler: 31:43

So we did an episode on July 12th about bikepacking, mm-hmm. And today I wanted to stop in and just pick your brain. I'm doing an episode on holiday gifts, yeah, and so what would you say is like a good holiday gift for someone who's like just getting into bikepacking?

Speaker 10: 32:07

Well, when you're getting into it, you know, keeping in mind there's a lot of stuff to gather. So, you know, for someone that's just getting into it, you know there's a lot of options. You know, something that bikepackers can always use is little gadget bags or just bags in general. Tubes are a great thing. They're probably going to be going through tubes a lot, you know, if they know how to work on their bike any kind of tooling. But but bags I mean bags are a real big thing. Depends on your price point as well, you know. But bags are always a good thing to have. You know you can never have too many bags. You always got so much stuff to carry and bags are the only way. So I would say bags and then just consumables tubes, chain, chain, lube, something that they're going to be using pretty often, so on a bag like up here, a waterproof bag, is a really good idea.

Tom Butler: 32:58

Do you think across the board it's a good idea. It's like a safe idea to have a waterproof bag.

Speaker 10: 33:03

Yeah, I mean, it's definitely not a bad idea. And the good thing about the waterproof bags is they work in the wet or the dry. If it was the other way around, you know I'd say no. You know, having a non-waterproof bag, you might need some waterproofing in the winter, you know. So I would say waterproofing in general will kind of encompass every need that a bag would need. Yeah, I go waterproof on pretty much all my stuff, just in case you have that day that you didn't expect rain and you get it and you know now your stuff's nice and dry still. So Do you have a bag brand that you like? Yeah, I like Ortlieb. Surly and Salsa are making some good stuff. But I fell in love with Ortlieb pretty quick when I got their stinger bag 16 liter stinger bag and it was just really nice. It does not bolt on or anything, it's all using straps and that thing is really secure. So I was just like man. I think Orleap is my company, so I like Orleap personally.

Tom Butler: 34:05

For someone that has a cyclist in their life, who's kind of like you, that's more experienced with bikepacking, what would you think of might be something that they could go out and get as a gift that someone who has more stuff yeah would need one thing that comes to my head, to come to my mind right off the bat, is again, like consumables.

Speaker 10: 34:28

You know even someone that has everything for bike packing. They're going to go through consumables. And what I mean by that is, um, you know, cooking fuel, if they're one to. You know, heat up food, a water filter. You know you go through those a lot. You can never have enough of those. Even like little cooking stoves I have probably like three or four of those, even though you really only use one at a time. Cooking stoves are something that that are each one's different, have different features. So cooking stoves, water filters, the fuel for the for the stoves. And again, like tubes, you know if they're, if they're not running tubeless tubes. Consumables are always a great, a great way to go, especially if somebody already has everything. But you know you go through consumables no matter what.

Tom Butler: 35:12

So is there like a bomb proof tube out there?

Speaker 10: 35:19

I wish I get that question a lot. Okay, unfortunately, no, no one's came up with that yet. Tubeless is a great way to go. Even even you know gravel riding or even doing bike packing, tubeless is a good way to go, and the fix for tubeless is popping a tube in. You know so, again with the consumable thing, you're going to be using those regularly. Unfortunately not, though, man. I mean, if we can get a solid tire that felt as good as a pneumatic tire, that'd be great but yeah, we're not there now.

Tom Butler: 35:51

How about, like the person that has like everything you know fully loaded, but something that might be kind of on the outside there that you could get that person? That's related to bikepacking but is not maybe a typical thing that someone has.

Speaker 10: 36:08

Yeah, well, you know, for that person that has everything and they're going out regularly, they have their setup pretty much done. A GPS locator is a great thing to have. You can never be too safe out there and you know, even if you tell people, hey, I'm going to be in this general area, if I don't come out at this time, you know, send help. It doesn't hurt to have a gps locator on hand.

Speaker 10: 36:31

Um, garmin makes the uh I think it's the uh in reach yeah that's their garmin, uh, garmin, the one garmin makes, and you know, if you pay like a premium fee, you can message people from it and so you don't have to have any cell signal. It works off the, the GPS satellites, and then you can also like, create breadcrumbs to find your way out of the spot that you're in, as well as getting to a spot and and also locating people if anything you know comes up, trouble wise and also locating people, if anything you know comes up trouble wise.

Tom Butler: 37:04

That's awesome. I love that. And then finally, we're sitting here in your shop. You're actually right by your work stand yeah you know, and it seems like service is something that every cyclist needs, and so what do you think about service as a gift? What recommendation might you have?

Speaker 10: 37:20

Yeah, well, for the bike packers, you know, if they're doing it year-round, like the people that ride mountain in the rain or even road in the rain, you know water is one of your worst enemies.

Speaker 10: 37:32

Water gets in your bearing surfaces, water gets in your chain, and so getting a service that would open those bearing surfaces up, clean it all out, dry it out out, pack some fresh grease in, put some bearings back in a bearing service service would be nice, especially if it had, you know, all the other component adjustments along with it. You know derailleurs, shifting braking, you know chewing up the wheels, putting some tension on those. But I feel like, especially living in the north pacific, northwest, bearing surfaces that are a thing that really get neglected just because you don't see them. You know your bike's rolling fine, you know you. You don't realize it right away. It's one of those things to where, once you get it done, you're like, oh okay, I needed to get that done because it feels so much better, you know, but it's such a gradual decline in in performance and feel that you don't really feel it. Yeah, bearing services man. Bearing services man.

Tom Butler: 38:28

Bearing services and just standard bike services in general. Well, those are all fantastic recommendations.

Speaker 10: 38:30

So thanks for taking the time to give some of your thoughts and have a good holiday. Yeah, happy holidays, man, take care.

Tom Butler: 38:36

I only ran into one cyclist as I was going around doing interviews and I felt like I simply had to get her input on holiday gifts. So your name.

Speaker 3: 38:45

Margie.

Tom Butler: 38:46

Okay, margie, I see you're here at a bike shop and I'm wondering if you could get one cycling-related gift for Christmas. What would it be?

Speaker 3: 38:54

I would like to have awesome cycling tights that are really, really warm, so that when it's 40 degrees or even maybe even 38 degrees, I'd be fine, and I'd like them to be padded with a really, really nice pad so I don't have to like layer a bunch of stuff perfect.

Tom Butler: 39:16

So are you, would you use them like almost every day these days?

Speaker 3: 39:20

yeah, I would have used them today okay. I had another pair of tights on on top of what you see here, because I'm layering, layering and it's a drag.

Tom Butler: 39:30

Okay, well, margie's family you now know what she needs for Christmas. Thank you so much. Okay, bye-bye. Shout out to all the people who spoke with me. I think they all did a great job, with someone just walking into their shop and shoving a mic in their face. They were awesome. I'll mention that I was turned down by two places, so I really appreciate those who did contribute, and a very special thank you to margie. I would really like to hear from you on the topic of holiday gifts for cyclists. What is a cycling-related present that you want? Look for the post on the Cycling Over 60 Instagram on this episode and leave a comment about what you would want if you could get your ideal cycling gift this year. I hope that the holiday festivities and shopping and all the other activities this time of year aren't keeping you from getting out on rides. Sometimes a long ride is just the best antidote for holiday craziness. I think, and remember, age is just a gear change. Thank you.