“Vagan” Birkenstocks, Leadville to Latvia and Other Cycling Confessions

Hey hey check out this week’s episode of the Bonk Babes. 

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Bonk Babes – IG – @bonkbabespodcast
Grace Washburn – IG – @gracewashburn
Danni Shrosbree – IG – @danni_shrosbree
Esma Taylor – IG – @_esmataylor

In this conversation, the hosts discuss various aspects of cycling, including seasonal changes, personal race experiences, and the challenges faced by women in racing. Danni shares her experience racing in Latvia, highlighting cultural differences and race organization. The group discusses the importance of separate starts for women and men, crit racing challenges, and the dynamics of hydration strategies during long races. They also touch on controversies in racing, particularly regarding Lauren Stevens’ disqualification, and the evolving landscape of gravel racing and personal choices in event participation.

Okay. I had no clue what kind of fabric that was. And I was wearing my new Birkenstocks at dinner. And everyone was like, if you’re vegan, then why are you wearing Birkenstocks? And I was like, cuz I like them. And they’re like, oh, what about the cow? And I was like, what? But weren’t you just talking about eating steak just now? No, no, that was like uh 3 years ago. No, no, that wasn’t me. That was my twin sister, Rebecca. Well, yeah. But you know, I just bought myself a steak for dinner tonight, so I’m like I love steak. I’m like, “Hey everyone, welcome back to the Bonk Babes podcast, episode 3. Again, thanks for all the love and support over these last two episodes. This week, we’re going to talk about Leadville, recapping Danny’s race from the weekend, and going over how Esma’s crit race in Littleton went. We’re also going to get into some other fun stuff, so stick around. Thanks for tuning in and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram @bong babesodcast and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Let’s get into it. [Music] Happy New Year. Oh man. As if as if it’s already August. Oh my gosh, that’s insane. It’s sad. Yeah, I’m already preparing for next year since I’ve bummed out on this. Same. Although, you know, when you’re kind of ready for jumper season, I’m kind of getting that. What’s a jumper? Oh, sweater. Sweater season. Jumper season. Yeah, it’s 37°. Oh, you do Fahrenheit. 100° Fahrenheit. I think 100° Fahrenheit is like hot. Hot. Yeah, it’s hot here. Is it hot? It’s hot. Hot. I don’t know what the conversion is, but it’s near like 40°. So, whatever that is for you. It is 98.6 there. Yeah, that’s hot. Hot. Fahrenheit. Hot. Danny, do you want to talk about your race this past weekend? Oh, yeah. I was in forgot I went. Uh, I was in Lapia. Um, we know that I had to Google where this was last time. Honestly, you know, like when you land in a country, you kind of get a vibe of the culture quite quick. Like here, I just couldn’t work it out. Arguably, the drivers are worse than like the UK. They just Wait, where is it again? Um, it’s like something. It’s like heading towards Sweden. I’m looking it up. I need I don’t know where Sweden is. Oh, like Scandinavia. like the Scandinavia region, but it’s like I’m going to show [ __ ] Oh, yeah. It’s like between Lithuania and Estonia, sandwiched between them two. That’s not going to mean anything to Okay. How can I help? Northern Europe. Northern Europe. Yeah. Oh, like, okay. Poland, not couple of There you go. Geography. I’ve never been there. I am going to Belgium next year. Oh, unreal. It’s cool there. You’ll have some chips and beer. No doubt. Beer, but your dinner. Okay. Yeah. Um Yeah. So, yeah. And like as soon as we landed, the flight was also 4 hours and I thought it was like an hour and a half. So, everything I got was like super wrong. We went to this they were like, “Oh, the race organizer picked us up. Uh, and we were staying in like his family home accommodation and he was like, “Oh, we’ll stop at this gas station to get cuz we were starving.” So, the food it’s like these really nice traditional wraps and like we pulled over and there was like a it’s like all in Latvian, but it’s like I could tell which one was a vegetarian option and I was like, I’ll have that. But then the people, you know, when you like they just seem so angry at you and like I was just trying to say vegetarian and she was going, “No.” And I was like pointing at the sign, she just kept and anyway, I got um Carlos to translate and this thing came out and it looked like shredded beef and like and then there was like 20 wasps around me and I was like, “Oh no.” So I just like binned it. Um then yeah, then there was a lot of drivers that wanted to kill us. But the race itself was really fun. We did like a fun little prologue thing. It was like 4 minutes long through the woods. And then the race day was like it’s quite fast gravel. I’d say like more road racy vibe. So it was quite long 45k. So Oh, okay. Like 90 mi. Okay. Um and it wasn’t like it wasn’t technical apart from like there was just like sand sections. Um, so there was this one hill when the racer like split up to six of us, then this one section, sand section at the end. I kind of just messed up positioning a bit. I got fifth, but it was all pretty close to be honest between us front. And it was just fun to be back racing. But yeah, I like I just couldn’t work out the culture of this place. Like they just you couldn’t tell if they liked you or not. I would be so bad there. Did they do a separate women’s and men’s start there? Yeah, it was actually so good. And what was even better is the organizer messaged me like when it was all kicking off with Did you see the Belgium UCI race where it all kicked off? Um he was like, “Oh, we were going to set you women off in front first and then set the men off like I think it was like 30 minutes behind or something, but he was like, “We’ve worked out that they’re going to you’re going to be all be coming into the finish together.” there and I was like, “Yeah, honestly, just set us off an hour after them. Like, who cares? It’s a It’s going to be a 5 hour race. It’s not like we’re going to be finishing in the dark or anything.” Uh, so yeah, they were so good. They set us off an hour. I think it ended up being Yeah. 40 minutes after the men, right? Um, and like we saw a couple of old men like um older men that did like the 60 like the shorter route, but like didn’t interrupt it at all. Oh, wow. So you like didn’t even come across really like age groupers or anything at all. It was actually so good. So it’s nice to like see that it can be done and I think it’s just an excuse for a lot of organizers. Oh well absolutely. Like don’t get me wrong I know there’s a lot of work that goes into organizing the event but an extra hour an extra hour especially the UCI events because they are not long at all. They’re road races you know. I was doing a crit series here last week and they put the women the pro women with like the cat three four men for all the way. It was the worst thing ever. I literally I did the first one and I didn’t do any other ones till little day. You started your together. Yeah. Yeah. And there were so many crashes and it was just the men. I had literally like five men deck it in front of me and I’m just like I’m done. I just stopped. I was like that I’m not risking myself to race with cat three men like but what is their reason for that? I I don’t I have no idea. And this is like we’re talking about like a 30 to 45 minute race. Like Mhm. that is crazy. Normally they do it because there’s not enough women signed up so they’ll just combine it to save time. But like the race director at a crit last year and like I think there was it was in Indiana and there was three cat four five girls that showed up or maybe four. So it’s like we obviously didn’t have enough but we already had the time like booked out in the barricades book. So we were like let’s just run it with just the girls and just combine all the women. Yeah. I was going to say that’s what they used to do in the London crit scene actually if there wasn’t enough. But they’d even like they’d handicap it. So they like set off the women like uh like the cat 34s like a lap in advance like to give them a head start. Yeah. I think there’s there’s you know the argument of like build it and they’ll come right. So, I understand like if there’s 10 women showing up, right? Like from a race director’s perspective, like I get it, but like if you don’t even give them the option, um there’s a lot of people who race out here, like a lot of women who race, but like there’s a lot of women who also see that combined field and they’re like, nah. Like that’s not there’s no I would not do that. Yeah. Especially crit racing like at those speeds racing crashes. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. That’s wild. Gee, I don’t blame you. I would have pulled out as well. I just can’t be asked for the races anymore. I’m supposed to do. It’s a shame because there’s a race in a couple of weeks in Belgium and last year I absolutely loved the course and I entered it again but then I was like suddenly remembered like we were we got set off behind the I think it was even like the 60 plus men like I think 20 20 minutes after them or something and we just caught them all up and it was single track. Yeah. And uh we had literally can’t go around. you were literally taking the worst lines to get around these guys. And like I do feel sorry for them because yeah, it’s not their fault. And I I think there I think the problem with like some of these posts that have come out is like like some of the girls are getting responses like, “Hey, it’s their race too. They want to they want to go to the world champs and everything, which I totally respect, but it’s like and like they have their own race. So it is more the organizers to get to get annoyed at them because like everyone should be able to do their own race but at the end of the day when I suppose when it’s a pro field and they’re trying to earn money and maybe their sponsors are dependent on the result and when it’s sanctioned like I’m all for like if it’s a non-sanctioned just like weekn night race I’m like all for cutting my teeth with the men like it’s not that big of a deal but when there’s like points on the line and you’re racing against people trying to upgrade, it gets diceier and like it’s just and you’re paying like $70 for a local race to do it. You know what I mean? The cost of it. But like, yeah, it seems to be especially the Belgium races and like Holland races cuz the start of the year we did this turnout one and there was like 12 of us girls fighting to the end. In the final there was like a single track section and then opened up into a sprint finish and um the final like 6K a guy crashed in front of us. Four girls got away and then we had to fight for the final places and we were like what the hell? Our result was decided on that. Um, and it’s the similar with this race in a couple of weeks and now I can’t be asked to go. Yeah. Wait, Ema, how since you weren’t on the podcast last week, how was Littleton? Littleton was great. I like I love that race. I think um the women definitely get So now switching to like the pro, right? like the women don’t have to start the race at 8:45 p.m. 9:00 p.m. So like we kind of get the best uh sun. Uh we don’t even get um I didn’t even notice like the sun setting glare like it just was like the weather was cool. Littleton’s been the one race I’ve done, the one crit that I’ve done the most of in my bike racing career cuz I moved out to Colorado um like committed to bike racing and Littleton was like my first one of my first big crits. So um I’m really comfortable at that race. It’s more technical which I also like. Um there ended up being a crash at like eight laps to go and the field split a bit and then the break went um and I missed the break. But I had so much fun. Like it was like a really good race to end on and then obviously Robert crashed so that kind of sucked. But um my race went well. Roberts was going to go well. Did everyone just like ride over the top of him looking at those bruises and cuts. I mean, it was literally in the apex of the last lap. So, there was like one line, especially in the first 20 wheels when you’re taking it at that speed. So, like yeah, he kind of Yeah. One of the team cadence skyline, whatever that team is, they posted a video, like someone on their team posted a video of this little guy crashing in the corner, but he just like flipped. Yeah. So, so the thing with Littleton I I watched that video and I didn’t like look at it that closely, but there’s a few rain gutters. There’s like uh there’s a big rain gutter and then there’s a corner that kind of has like a bit of a lip and um a pothole cover and like a lot of people’s wheels are kind of popping up especially out of that rain gutter cuz it’s like a proper dip. Um, so I don’t know if he got like kicked out or what happened in that video, but there the men also going back to the time that you race, like they’re racing in the pitch black and it’s not super well lit. Um, it’s funny cuz it’s like there’s like this appeal of doing a twilight race. It’s really It’s like kind of cool and fun, but until you do it, then you’re like, I can’t see the wheel in front of me. You know, I think the men’s race was definitely pretty dangerous. Uh lots of crashes. We actually when we were in the hospital, we had two friends down the hallway at the ER from a crash in the same race. So yeah, but the women’s race was good. Um yeah, I like racing. So I watched the women’s race, the live stream, but like also granted it was at 7:40 p.m. Colorado time. So, it was it started at 9:40 p.m. Eastern time. So, I watched the whole women’s race and the there was like two male uh Yeah. commentators. I was like, “What’s the word?” We got you. Um there’s two male commentators and they were naming everyone like wrong. Yeah, they’re really It was kind of funny. Like Anna Hicks was coming up and they were like, “That’s Olivia. I don’t remember her last name, but I was like, “That is not Olivia. That’s Anna Hick.” I was like, “You can tell.” Shout out Anna. She definitely like that was a fun race. She was um putting some hurt in people’s legs and Yeah, she slayed for sure. She’s very strong. Yeah, she is. She’s great. Um yeah, it was a good race though. I The women race pretty safe um for the most part. You know, obviously there’s always some sketchy moments or sketchy wheels, but like I I think I’m like especially watching so many of the men’s races, I’m just like grateful to be in the women’s field. It’s a bit more control. Did you do Redlands this year? No. No, it’s so expensive. Is it? It’s so expensive. Um we were going to and then last minute the team had to drop because we couldn’t find a director. And you need a you need a DS or else you get fined for not having a DS. It’s crazy. You’re just like how it just stacks up. Danny and I will do it next year. Yeah. Good. She’ll be the director sport. Be the car driver. Perfect. I’ll drive my Subaru skirt. Gosh, everyone better watch out cuz whenever I was watching the tour and I’d see the cars driving, I was like, crazy. Honestly, it’s actually really impressive. Yeah. But also, when you’re following one on a bike, it’s not until after you realize what you’ve done and how dangerous it is. It’s so fun though to ride through the caravan. It’s like it’s awesome. Think I would get car sickness. It’s so good. Oh no. Are you one of them? Okay, maybe Grace isn’t driving. No. No. If I’ll drive, I’ll be fine. But like if I was sitting in the back of one with like an actual like in the tour or like some other race where they drive crazy, I would like I can cram a lot of people in there. It’s like a clown car. That would be terrible. Yeah, I can imagine you driving pretty like rad. Grace, thank you. You should tell Trey that. Is that not He thinks that I’m an awful driver. Oh no, Trey. Yeah, I have I mean, yeah, I did crash my car in like February, but minor setback for a major comeback, right? It was like uh it was like my first month of living in Pennsylvania and there was like a quarter of an inch of snow on the ground. Like a light little a dusting a dusting of snow. And I was pulling into my apartment complex. I was like slightly down. Yeah. I like literally slammed on the brakes and turned at the same time and then I literally just like slid into this girl. The worst should Yeah. The And I like literally was like, “Oh my gosh, I’m such an idiot.” Because I was like, “I should know this from biking.” But like I just panicked. And the funniest thing was that she was on the phone with her boyfriend and I was on the phone with Trey while we both crashed. So we were both like, “Oh gosh, a couple of girls.” So, I was when I was up in Andor at the start of the year, it was such heavy snow and I had to leave early and for some reason I thought in my head I had to have it in like a high gear to go down the hill and then you’re not. You’re meant to have it in a low gear. So, I was like flying down this hill and then it wasn’t until after my parents were like, “No, you’re doing it the wrong way so fast.” Yeah. But then the worst it got worse, I undid my window cuz like British car in Europe. So like the toll’s over there. So I had to like climb the other side to get to the toll. Then the window just cuz it got stuck a little bit. So I pressed it again. Window fell down, disappeared. I had to drive 3 hours in minus 8. I like zipped up my hood. Terrible. Yeah. Brad was like, “I leave you for like a week and you ruin everything.” You ruined it. I am a good driver, I promise. Mhm. Funny. Um, did you guys watch the Leadville live stream at all? Yeah, the the live stream was pretty crappy, but I decided to watch it. It was like nodding and then I was like, “Oh, it was okay.” I was I definitely watched it most of it and then I had to go out for a ride, but like it was kind of fun to watch it. Wait, so Trey was telling me that they were trying to follow Melissa with the helicopter and it was it was that lives in Esmo’s basement. It was funny. I texted WY. I was like, “How like how was it?” Like, “Great job. Um, you got some air time.” And he goes in all caps. Yeah. Because they thought I was the women’s leader. But Matt, when you see that descending footage when they’re passing, oh my gosh, it is like chaos. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Like Wild with the handle like uh mountain bike bars too. Oh yeah. My gosh. Kate Courtney descending Coline. That was insane. Yeah. I didn’t watch it for very long cuz I had to go out for a ride, but I watched like the beginning part. Yeah, it was nice. Yeah, it was it was wild. It was But we watched like the recap part. Did you guys see that Lauren Stevens got DQed? Yeah, I was about to say that. But but now she’s like breaking. Yeah. But like if Okay, I haven’t got a problem with her, but she is always trying to like break the rules somehow. So she did this post like I mean obviously it’s really crappy because she like she still did an amazing race. There’s no denying that. But like I feel like she always feels like there’s a special rule book for her and she’s always got away with it. So I feel like something like this needed to happen. for her to be like, “Oh [ __ ] like they will actually DQ me.” Yeah. Yeah. Trey and I were talking about it this morning and we were like he said if no one else is in the feed zone with a bottle cuz she was at or the aid station cuz she got an illegal feed at the aid station which I guess it’s just like the lifetime water hand up. Yeah. And like you have to get off your bike and fill up your water. But he was like, “If no one else is at the aid station doing bottle handups, couldn’t you tell that that’s not allowed?” And I was like, “Oh, I guess that is true thinking about it that way.” But cuz it was I think it was was it a race earlier this year where I don’t know. Oh, no. Steamboat last year. I think she got towed and like it all kicked off there, didn’t it? And I feel like there’s been so many of these little things that have happened like maybe this will just make her realize like [ __ ] I do just need to follow the rules. Yeah. Or just like be more be more conscious of them cuz like when uh Trey and Drew did Dust Bowl 100, the race in Indiana, Dust Bowl has a rule where you can only get fed inside of the like at the aid station which is at mile 40 and mile like 60 I think. But um you can’t do handups. You have to uncip one foot, put your foot on the ground, and then you can keep going. But there was a group of guys who were getting handups. And Trey was like after Drew, they like quote unquote cheated. Did you listen to the podcast, Danny, where they like at the Michigan gravel race like from coast to coast, they got an illegal feed because they missed the feed zone. So then Drew’s wife met up with the guys like five miles down the road and was like, “I don’t know what to do because they don’t they won’t have two bottles for the next 80 miles.” So she was like panicking and they took them and then someone snitched on them. But it is like I think that’s the biggest thing is that I don’t think people try and like it’s kind of like a panic like I need my fuel. Well, and that’s what I was saying. I was like she probably like or her the person feeding her was probably like well she doesn’t take it at this aid station. I think it was like 15 mi in or something. I mean, it was so early. Yeah. So, I think that the person feeding her was like, “If she doesn’t get this bottle, she doesn’t get another one until power line, which is like 28 miles in, I think, or like the bottom of it.” Um, I may be totally wrong on that though. But I think it is like reading the rules, but I think it’s hard because every race is so different. Yeah. But also, it’s like you do have to check cuz like Drew and Trey literally were checking the dust bowl rules. Yeah. And like I mean if someone snitches then that’s what’s going to be interesting cuz I’m doing that gravel world event and it’s self supported so like no feeds. No feeds. Interesting. So and it’s going to be interesting to see. Obviously to be honest I’m a bit used with used to that like a lot of events like this race last weekend I just had to take a a pack and stuff but like it’s going to be interesting cuz it is 150 miles and obviously it is going to be hot. So, we are going to have to stop at some point. How long is it? 150 miles. Oh [ __ ] Yeah. So, like it’s I’m actually really intrigued like how everyone’s going to do it like you know it’s like are we going to be a group of put extra like bottle cage on maybe too and just like drop those bottles and I mean will people start with four liters and then like fill up or will they start with less and fill up earlier? But then if you’re with a group I don’t know. They have aid stations there. Yeah, but I don’t I think you have to So, like you would have to get off your bike. Yeah. So, yeah. I feel like at least the women would Isn’t that what I feel like I’ve heard about it before where women normally are like, “Oh, we’re going to stop here and pee.” But the men are kind of just like they’ll just like go up the road and then pee really quick and then like get back on their bike and then by the time that they’re back on the group’s there. Interesting. The field’s actually looking pretty stack. I feel like it’s going to be like a mini umbrella. It’s a big payout. Yeah. What are you going to do for peeing? Are you going to have to pee your pants? Yeah, maybe. I So brave. To be honest, I’m normally pretty good when I when I have my like electrolytes and stuff. It kind of stops you weeing. Really? We uh but I mean I won’t be like a lot of the girls even in tracker like two hours in they’re pissing themselves. I’m like, “Chill, girls.” Yeah. That’s never happened to me. And then, no, it was actually at like hour 10 I had to let one out. Yeah. But that makes sense. Acceptable. Yeah. Yeah. Um Yeah. And that was when I had the cut on my leg and then I felt so bad for the ambulance guy cuz he’s just like cutting out piss pissy shorts. That is so funny. Oh, like I do you know what’s so funny about this sport is like if you think we’re cycling along and we like snot rocket we piss ourselves we squat and like we anywhere like imagine just like walking down the street and like snot rocketing like squatting for a week. It’s like you put Lyra on it’s so acceptable. Oh funny but yeah. No I know. Yeah, we were talking about it in I was at this shop on Friday getting a bike fit and it’s in Bloomington, Indiana. Shout out John Becker. He’s the best fitter in Indiana. So, yeah. Didn’t you drive eight hours for a bike fit? That’s crazy. Well, so I mean it’s like right by where Trey lives, but the race that I did a week, two weeks ago, I DNFed because my ankle hurt so badly cuz I’ve been having like ankle issues since Unbound and I was like, “Oh, it’ll get better. It’ll get better. It’ll get better.” I just stopped and I was like, “Okay, I need to go and get a bike.” But I went there and one of their mechanics was like, “Oh, triathletes, they pee on their bikes.” And I was like, “Oh, yeah. Sorry, Becker. My mugg has pee on it from Unbound. It’s not two two months later, it still has pee.” No, I’m joking. All the guys in there were like, “Ew.” Oh, man. Sometimes it’s Yeah. Yeah. Anyways, Leadville, uh, back on Leadville, Dylan did good. Yeah. Yeah. A fair one. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, maybe it’s cuz he like he was funny cuz they was he was obviously chatting about it like I’ve only got a 36 chain ring on and blah blah blah. And I’m like, dude, that’s probably why you did okay cuz you’re not trying to ride a stupid chain ring that’s no one actually needs. Like, don’t you see this? Like people are just riding these chain rings and it’s like, cool, you’re blowing your legs off. Yeah. Yeah. Did you see I think Sophia had the wrong chain ring on. I’m gonna look it up. No, I think I think she said 36 or maybe 38. What? Yeah, Grace. Um, what did she say? Do you know who I think did a ride was Sarah somewhere? Oh my gosh. So strong. Unreal. And like she’s barely done I think we started mountain biking the same time. So basically when you’re forced to in lifetime. I mean, she did so good last year, too. Like, she’s just Yeah. stairstepping. She’s good at those consistent hills. Yeah. She’s from Vermont, I think, New Hampshire. So, yeah, the riding there is perfect for not Leadville cuz it’s like the altitude, but like just climbing in general. That altitude does sound horrendous. I was like, “Yeah, I’ll do it next year.” And now I look at it all, I’m like, “Do I want to?” Yeah. That’s why I feel like I’ve always been like, “Oh, I want to do Leadville. Oh, I want to do Unbound 200. And then it like gets up to the year of and I’m like, “Oh, I’m glad that I didn’t sign myself up.” Yeah. I like really want to do Leadville. I think that’s a bucket list. Yeah. Yeah. We’ve been talking about that for the last like 3 years. Yeah. One day. Maybe we should just all do it together. Yeah. because well Trey and Robert did it three years ago like in 2022 and Ezra and I were like next year we’re gonna do it five years later we never did it’s so I keep like like last night I was like oh talking about all these series and I was like I need to stop the problem like right now especially I’m feeling in the gravel scene is like everyone’s like you feel like you have to do these series you know everyone’s like are you doing the gravel series are you doing this and I’m Why why am I not just doing what I want to do? Like obviously I have some sponsor obligations like tracker I’m about yeah whatever but like around that why am I feeling so like especially the European stuff when there’s not actually much money in it it’s like well do you think that well so for gravel earth is there a bigger payout like if you get a better overall position at the end of the series? Top 10 but like it’s not it’s nowhere near what Lifetime is. So, like that’s why I’d probably I I am I’d love to do do Lifetime properly again. I don’t know if that’ll be next year or a year after. Like I haven’t decided yet, but or I’m like or do I just go and do these events I want to do like just do but not be in more people are kind of just like building their calendar based off what they like A and B like where they could earn the most money. like it’s a race they like, but it’s also a race where they’re like, I have a better chance at this race and it has a payout. Like I don’t know, especially in like the road scene, too, when it’s it’s so expensive to travel and race every weekend. You start kind of like pick and choosing your battles. Um, prize money and the crits you’re doing. Yeah, some of them. Some of them, some of them are decent. At Littleton, it was like $50 pre ladies. Oh my gosh, horrible. I was like, absolutely not. Who is trying to get $50 right now? Anna. Oh, did she win it? I don’t know. I was like sacrificing like the end sprint for a $50 pre is crazy to me. Yeah. I’m going to call you out so bad if I see you going for a pre in a crit ever. Never because I know like what? Well, so Esna came on my like collegiate training trip like two, three years ago. I don’t know. Yeah, but um I think it was 3 years ago and we were doing a practice race and Esma was in front of me and I was trying to sprint around her and I looked down at my Garmin and my heart rate, kid you not, was at 220 beats per minute. Wait, what? Yes. And so I literally sat back down and I was like, “Okay, we’re just going to stop right here. Asma can take the dub. Like, it’s fine.” 20. Yeah. High heart rate. Oh, yeah. My max heart rate I think is like 207 normally and like Jesus my What’s your resting like 170? No. No, my resting heart rate is like 62 beats per minute. Like it’s pretty low. It’s pretty like average. Yeah, but like 25. So yeah, Danny, that’s how Roberts is like 48 or something. Mine’s 34, right? And like every time I stand up, I go so dizzy and I I swear I’m like, whoa. I don’t know if it’s a good thing. Does Aren’t you anemic? Yeah. Does that have to do with it? Um, no. I think I don’t know. My I think it’s also like genetics. My dad has a really low resting heart rate. Oh, gotcha. Yeah. No, once my heart rate goes up for like a sprint or something, I think I like my heart just like explodes and I can’t bounce back from it. So I know myself to never do anything like that. Yeah. Hunting for So like Tulsa tough is that must be good money. Yeah, Tulsa’s good. I do want to come and like just like the hillier one. Um Tulsa two races have a hill. Crybaby is like the notorious hillb so fun. And then the day before that Snake Alley would be fun. Um Bucks County has a good hill, Danny. And that’s in PA by Grace. Where? Wait, wasn’t that re was that recently or was that in the spring? No, that’s that’s actually I think in September. Esma, there’s going to be a USA crit and state college next year. They had the like first year race this year and it wasn’t a USA crit, but did you go? I think no, that was the same weekend as Dust Bowl. So, okay. Yeah, that’d be fun. I’ll come out. So, what is this Dust Bowl? It is a gravel race. Yeah, it’s a gravel race in Indiana. It’s like the biggest gravel race in Indiana, but uh it’s super flat. It has 160 turns in the 100 mile race. So that’s why when you get the GPX Wait, I’m gonna try and find the Wait, school would be fun to do too next year. Well, so like people were asking me why I wasn’t doing it, but part of the reason was because I helped Mark with like social media stuff the day of uh who’s the race promoter. And then also I was like, “This course is not for me.” Oh my gosh, that is literally unbound. Yeah, that’s so funny. That’s crazy. Do you know what? It’s funny cuz the race I did at the weekend was like super flat, but like that like champagne gravel, but it’s still loose. And like obly cuz I’ve not raced in like a month or so or whatever, like in a while properly. And I, you know, you like I just did tire pressure and everything wrong. Every corner I was like nearly sipping out so bad. I was like, “Oh, am I okay?” Danny, what are your favorite tires for Grav? Um I am with Schwabby at the moment. Oh, you’re sponsored by them? Yeah, I kind Well, it’s quite a loose partnership, but basically from halfway through the year, I went to them and I was like, “Uh, can I cuz I was I was with a distributor who was like with Pirelli and Pirelli have one really good tire, the M is super fast, but I just don’t feel like they have the range yet.” Like Mhm. I know they’re trying to build it like a a better one that’s faster but grippier, but like honestly I went to run the M’s at se on the seaotter course and they were so slippy on that gravel so I literally swapped to Schwab. Yeah, the sea otter course was really like loose I feel like. And like they’ve just got the range. Um yeah, the and Schwabby just came out with those 55s too which is nice. Yeah. Can your bike fit those? Yeah. 2.2. too. I want to get some of those because I have those and the G1 RS Pros and 50s. Yeah, but yeah, now they have the 55. So, I want to try those. I don’t know what to run for gravel worlds actually. Apparently, last year what? Really? Oh, so it’s sand. Oh, wait. Cuz is that the course that they did USA Cycling Nats on like two years ago? Yeah, I So, I did Oh my gosh. What’s uh Robadoo which is Robu in Nebraska same similar area right is Travel Worlds Nebraska. Yeah it is Lincoln and it was just yeah it was so sandy. Yeah actually yeah that’s where uh Nats was and that’s what everyone said two years ago. Yeah. So like it’s kind of I guess I don’t I’m not the expert but like with cycle cross at least right when you have those narrower tires you kind of cut through the sand a bit better actually. But then weirdly like we had this sand pit this weekend like towards the finish and my friend had like 50s on I think and I I had 45s and she was like floating through it whereas like okay I I cuz it was proper deep and I got like proper stuck in one section and I so I was like maybe I’ll have like a bigger one on the front. I don’t know. It’s hard cuz they do say that the smaller ones cut through. But yeah, cuz I know maybe Dylan did it one year, but I know like Drew has done it and Trey raced in Nebraska. So, you could always ask them what they think cuz when Trey raced it was like the super super sandy. I feel like having like a a fatter slick on the front and then like a sand tire and then a skinny one on the back. Yeah. Yeah, that’s interesting. Yeah, I was actually thinking about that today. I don’t know freaking choices these days. Remember when this like wasn’t everyone just ran whatever time like I was like three these So I go to Sweden this weekend and again it’s like pretty fast gravel but then there’s like one section that’s pretty not like you want a bit more grip cuz at this this race everyone does go like full slick and then they they slide out and crash. So I’m like a rather So you’re doing a race in Sweden? Another one. Yeah. Okay. I’m so stupid. I should have just flown straight to Sweden cuz it’s an hour flight from where I was. Oh. But then Brad was going away. So I was like, “Oh, I’ll come back.” So I’ve flown all the way back. And now he’s gone already. And I’m like, “Shit, now I’ve got to do such a mission of a journey again on Wednesday.” So yeah, then I So I fly to Sweden on Wednesday, do the race Saturday, stupid early flight back Sunday, fly to Nebraska on the Wednesday, get out of there on the Sunday. I am like in and out. I don’t want to hang Nebraska. Are you tired ever? Yeah. Like, hello. Look at my face. You look great. I uh But then after Nebraska, I’ve got like two weeks at home before next block. So, it’s just like blocks and then I’ll like I feel like gravel goes so late in the season. Like roads wrapping up like I’m just about done. I have track nationals next not this weekend but next weekend and then I’m like literally done. So yeah, it’s all because of this race in Jerona that starts in February. Yeah, I feel like there’s one in the US that starts in February, too. It’s stupid. And like and what’s annoying is it used to be a small race. I used to when I was uh when I raced like more on the road I used to drive up from this used to be a stage race in Valencia then drive up to do this Lantai which was like a tiny little local race. Now it’s like everyone’s talking about it in their off season about oh have you recon this be in Lant’s like oh I’m not going to be at peak fitness but everyone’s clearly training for this race. Um but it does my head in. I might I might I’m so tempted just to not even do it, but then it’s like on my doorstep. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um but I think I want to come back and do Midsouth next year. Oh, fun. Were you there this year? Two years ago. I missed the fire. Yeah, I was there last year. Or this year? Yeah. Yeah. This year and last year. Did your ride upload? Did you just say that? No. It’s about to turn off. Guys, this is annoying me. sponsor us. Yeah, Wahoo. Shout out to Wahoo. Look, Wahoo. I do love you, but it’s not uploading my ride. Are you sponsored by Wahoo, Danny? Yeah, I am. Oh, I got a special stick. Oh, cute. Oh, they’re going to make me a strawberry one, I think. Cute. Oh, that’ll be cute. Well, I was telling Danny this. I was like, I feel like everything in every single store is like strawberry themed. Yeah. Yeah, it’s a Yeah, it’s a trend. Yeah, it is a trend, guys. Guys, I’m It’s like lab boooos. Stupid. Strawberries and lab boooos are trending. All the men listening are going to be like, “What the fuck?” Oh, so but yeah, I don’t know what’s going on with it. I think maybe it’s my phone. We’ll blame my phone. Robert’s broken like 10 garments cuz they’ve just stopped working. They just like one day won’t turn back on. Yeah, I used to have that with my car. I’ve had my Garmin for five or six years. I’ve had it for a while. Nice. Yeah. I have never had a head unit for that long. They always break. Yeah. Like my mom, I gave her my hammer head and one, she cracked it. Two, I was like, “Thanks, mom.” She’s like, “Here, you can take it back.” I was like, “Great.” Um, she cracked it, but then also it won’t turn on anymore. So, I don’t know what that’s all about, but yeah, it also takes like 10 years to turn on. Yeah, actually I So, Brad, he always gets like my handme-downs and he had I think I But it was a pretty new one anyway, but I just had two of them and I was like, you can have this one. And anyway, he goes on this ride. We go out together and he decides he cracked. This was like in winter. So he decides to do route to start which took him down like some alley like weird single track alley that he then got chased by dogs. Oh then no. And then he was like lifted his bike up and then the wahoo somehow fell it off and like cracked the screen. It was like honestly I got back from this ride and he was like I’ve not even been home that long. Traumatized. But then when we came back, like he’s had this cracked wahoo by his bed, like by our bed for like ages. And when we came back, he was like, “When did you break this wahoo?” I was like, “Are you serious? Do you not remember that time that you got chased by dogs and went on off cuz you were too tired to carry on with the ride?” That’s so funny. He was funny. Every year he goes, “Who are we sponsored by this year, Dad?” A, how cute. That’s funny. But and then he’ll like sell his bike and it’s got half my group set and I’m like, “Yeah, can I have some of that?” Dinner’s on you. Take your commission. Yeah. Sharing is caring. That’s how I feel with Trey shipping all my bikes and taking them apart and putting them back together. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s I wish more mechanic stuff. Maybe Trey can teach him. Yeah. At Big Sugar. Is Brad coming to Big Sugar? Yeah. A little boyfriend clinic. Yeah. Yeah. We’re waiting on cuz he’s got to do like loads of more Quark stuff in the US now. So, he’s waiting to find out what he’s doing and then I’ll book if I’ve got any money left. Yeah. Quack. Is that how you say it? Quack. Quack. Yeah. Everyone says like quack or like it’s like why are you reading that? Yeah. It’s like uh pawormal and how everyone says past normal. But then if I say p normal, they’re like, “Why are you saying that?” And I’m like, “You guys p.” No, that’s how you’re supposed to say it. That’s how a French rep says it. Wait, Danny, how do you say it? [Music] P. I think I just go p. No, I go panel mau. Pan. Yeah. Oh, maybe just p. Wait, that’s what you said, guys. I think p and p. Same. Same. Yeah, I just had the little English Yeah. twang on it. I mean, I probably should know cuz I was like literally in their team car getting a lift the other day when he was part of it. Danny, do you have a pair of Birkenstocks? Uh, yeah. Did you know that those were made out of cows? Oh, that’s cute. Like, seriously, I just learned that the other day. Well, that kind surprised me. Yeah, the suede. The suede. Yeah, it would be like New Okay. I had no clue what kind of fabric that was. And I was wearing my new Birkenstocks at dinner. And everyone was like, “If you’re vegan, then why are you wearing Birkenstocks?” And I was like, “Cuz I like them.” And they’re like, “Oh, what about the cow?” And I was like, “What? But weren’t you just talking about eating steak just now?” No, no, that was like uh 3 years ago. No, no, that wasn’t me. That was my twin sister, Rebecca. Well, yeah. Do you know I just bought myself a steak for dinner tonight. So I’m like I love steak. I’m like Oh yeah. I don’t even We need to make up a new category because vegan. It’s vegan. Vaguely vegan. Okay. Vegan. I like that. Mhm. That’s why cheese and stuff. So what is like vaguely vegetarian? Vegetarian. This is so weird. I’m a vegetarian. Oh, wait. What is uh Kim Kardashian is like a Oh, she has something. No, she No, she like literally has She had this term and she was saying it and she was like, “Yeah, it’s because I’m I’m vegetarian, but I eat I eat meat sometimes.” Is that how she’s Yeah. And then she’ll And then she’ll have like a brand on it like next week cuz she’s got that kind of cash. Yeah. trademark. That family have so many kids and I don’t know who the dads are. Yeah, I do. No, I used Yeah, I do actually. What was the um Keeping Up with the Kardashians? Keeping up. Is it still a thing? No, but now they have uh I don’t know what the the Hulu one’s just called the Kardashians and it’s like a different take on it where they can just like talk to the camera. Like they can talk to their family and then like look at the camera. It’s not like reality TV. It’s something else that they call it. Vlogging. Vlogging. Yeah. They have the big production camera and they’re just holding it. They’ve got so much cash. Imagine like bringing them to a bike race. I would actually love Kardashians. Yeah, some of them ride. I worked with a few of them at Specialized. They actually ride. Yeah, but not like road bikes. Yeah, like ebikes or something. Or gravel bikes. Yeah, ebikes. Ebikes. What with like still like the commuters? And did you guys like um like rhinestone them out? Like the ebikes? That’s funny. No, that’d be fun. I would do that to my bike. I would too. Wild. That’s quite cool. Yeah, maybe they would come to a bike race then. Yeah. Let’s ease them in. Let’s bring them to Lebo. Yeah. There you go. Ease them in. There’s a lot of celebrities, right? They were like SBT. Yeah, cuz it’s in Steamboat. Yeah. Did you guys see uh the Well, I got an email from SBT or No, they posted on their Instagram talking about how the finish and start next year is going to be in downtown. Whoa. But it said it like at the very bottom. It was like start and finish line downtown in whatever laps or whatever. I’m not sure. But this past year, the start and the finish, I think. I’m not quite sure on the start, but the finish was like in the middle of nowhere. Yeah. Yeah. Like it was on like a country road. Yeah. Maybe I will do that race one year. Well, I basically I entered it last year. I think it was for last year. I couldn’t go. So then they were like, “Oh, you can defer your entry.” I was like, “Great.” Then I went to enter this year and they’re like, “Oh, no, you still have to pay full price. It just means you’re guaranteed a place.” And I was like, “What? No.” Yeah. Ciao. Yeah. Um, but I get they can’t afford to like lose out either, but it’s 300 and something dollars and like But also though, I think it’s different cuz you’re a pro woman. So, you wouldn’t be taking the spot of like an amateur. Yeah, that’s cuz the pro women and the pro men I think, and correct me if I’m wrong, like big sugar, you could sign up for the pro women, pro men race whenever, and like they don’t really have a high cap on it. Like the amateur race is already sold out and there’s a wait list. Really? Are you going to erase as well, Grace? Yeah, as of now. Oh, maybe I We’ll see how my ankle works. That would be fun. Oh, yeah. Come. Yeah. I do love that race. I do want to go back and do it properly. That was when my bike went missing last time and I was riding around on Dylan’s bike. Did you hear about this? Wait, what? Did it get stolen? No, like Sorry, missing. It was Frontier. So I didn’t realize how bad Frontier Airlines was. As soon as I said that, everyone was like, “Yeah, that’s why your bike went like missing.” So I Yeah. arrived and they were like, “We don’t know where your bike is and we don’t know when it’s coming in.” And I was like, “Great. It’s 3 days until the race.” Um, so then I’d like go back to the airport each day. They were like, “Nothing.” So Dylan was like, “This is so classic Dylan.” Like, “Oh, I’ve got a spare bike.” It’s like and we were both on factor at the time. So it was like the same model, but obviously he has a stupid stem that’s like so long. So I was like supermaning this bike. First ride I did, we have our brakes round the different way. So I’m like sending it down the descent, pulling the wrong brake. And then I was like, “Oh no.” And uh and then the evening before the race, I was like to Brad, I was like, “I’m not going to race this anymore. I’m just going to get round it cuz I cannot race this bike. Like I’m just not used to it at all. Um then it arrived but then it had like been battered so my rotors were bent. Oh no. So then I was like like literally late at night trying to sort everything out with the bike and then 14 miles into the race this girl like totally crossed my wheel, flipped like wiped me out and it was when it was still a Pelaton. Then I spent the whole race just like chasing back on my own and I I think I got like 18th but it was just like miserable experience. But then I loved the course so I was like okay I need to go back and do that and not lose my bike. Not lose. When I flew United they like track your bike or they track all your luggage. Yeah. They’re good scan it, don’t they? United is so nice. I feel like I mean like I’ve definitely had some bad luck but more often than not they’re pretty good about it. Yeah. Yeah. What’s your like biggest hate with airlines? Biggest take or like hate like Oh, hate. Uh I don’t know. Oh, what? Oh, well, I guess it’s like when you have to pay 75 bucks to check your bike bag, but then I was going to say to check golf bags, it’s freaking 30 bucks. And then sometimes I’ll go to the airport now. Yeah. I think it was last year when Trey and I were flying out for Ezan Robert’s wedding and they were like, “Oh, recreational equipment like hockey and golf clubs are free.” So I was like, “Okay, my bike is a recreational equipment.” So I checked free. And then it was like, “What’s in your bag?” And then I like called the lady over and I was like, “Oh, like bikes aren’t on here.” and she was like, “Bikes aren’t recreational. Like, you have to pay $75 for them.” And I was like, “That makes no sense.” So, that’s what I would say. Yeah. I was getting a United Credit card for like pretty cheap annual and you can fly your um bike bag for free. Stop. That’s what Robert and I do because you get I think it’s um first I depending on which card you get you can get first bag check bag free or first and second and then so if you’re like if you just do the first check bag free your bike bag counts as a check bag with United if it’s under 50 and it will be free and then you can just take a carry-on. Yeah. So that’s cool. But like to like this end, we’ll book with it’s like British Airways operated by American Airlines, right? So like the British Airways thing is the same thing. It’s like sport equipment is classed as like a bike bag, a checked in bag, but like just contact the airline before and say I’m bringing a bike. So I’ll do that and I’ll be like can you make sure this is on for the return flight as well? Then I’m returning home and they’ll American allies like, “Nope, you got to pay. You got to pay.” And I’m like, “What the hell?” Like cracks me. I hate flying with my bike. So do I. It’s such a pain. Although my bike box is like easy. Pretty easy. What kind do you have? I have like the Evok one with the handlebar. The pro. The pro. That one. I have like the cheapest Ebok one and it is so bad. That’s a soft one. I like bought it from someone that I used to work with and it’s terrible. Yeah, I have a tulie that has just like it was so expensive. Like it was over $1,000 for this tulie and like structurally it’s already like within a couple uses it’s structurally really damaged. Like it doesn’t stand up straight. It’s so annoying. So it just constantly falls over. Like I’ll be dragging it across the airport and it just falls over. That’s what my Evok bag does. And it like literally like sags over and I’m like, “You’re [ __ ] kidding me.” Julie is too. And I’m like, “This was literally like $1,500.” Like, “What?” Sorry, you guys. What? Well, okay. The lady at the American Airlines thing when I was like or Delta, I don’t even know. I was like, “Can you put like a fragile sticker on this when you check it?” and she was like, “Um, they can tell that there’s a bike in here.” And I literally look at her and I go, “There’s a $10,000 bike in here. Can you please put the fragile sticker on it?” And she goes, “Well, if it’s that expensive, then you should have purchased insurance for it.” And I’m like, “Oh my god, it’s that expensive then you guys shouldn’t [ __ ] throw it into the plane.” Like, I’m like, “Put a freaking fragile sticker on it.” The other thing that cracks me is like you know when you go to oversize and I don’t know if they have a phobia of touching the bags but like you’ll be trying to lift on your own like put in the bag and you’ll be like falling over and you’re trying to angle it and they’re just stood there like Yeah. Yeah. And one time one time I gave them my bag. I loaded it on the thing. I watched them. They picked it up, took it off and walked out the front door of it and I was like, “Oh my god.” God, like did my bike just get stolen? But they must have been going to like some other oversized luggage place, but he like saw me struggle, put it on the cart, they took it off the cart, and just literally walk out the front door with it. I was like, “Oh, no.” They literally just watch you, don’t they? And like the ones that are a bit higher up as well, you’re like deadlifting your bike box and they’re like, “Yeah, I reckon there’s like someone just like watching us on camera or something like let’s watch them struggle.” And it’s and even getting on the freaking buses to get I know if you got car hire like no one wants to help you. They’re like I’m like I’m not touching that. Yeah. As you have to go, right? Yeah. Big jump. As love you guys. Bye. Love you. Bye. [Music]