The Sprocket Podcast

Trevor Spangle organized a new event in Lebanon, Oregon this year, the Swift Summit 200/100, one that he described as “part brevet, part gran fondo, part self-supported endurance road race.”  We host a speed-dating-styled roundup of 7 participants on their experiences with the event, including hills, gravel, climbing, heat exhaustion, vomit, and, of course, successful completion.  Many thanks to all of the people who came in to share their stories!  This is definitely one to catch next year.

Also, join You Hear So Deep (A Swift Summit NW Bicycle Community Campout) on October 15 2017!

photo credit Apelbaum Studios

Thanks to our generous sponsor The Beer Mongers and our Patreon donors that keep us going!

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Galen Mook & Jess “DJ Hot Mic” are hosts on Cambridge’s BikeTalk 88.1, a live radio show broadcasting every other Wednesday at 8pm EST on FM & web.  They’ve been visiting Oregon’s prime locations including Bend, Hood River, & Portland.  Small catch: it’s been really smoky here due to some cataclysmic wildfires – they haven’t seen any mountains yet.  Enter Bikabout.com: their friends Megan (who’s been on the show before) and Kyle Ramey got out of dodge for awhile to avoid the smoke from the Eagle Creek Fire, and dropped into the studio as well.  We catch up with them and find out what’s next for the bicycle travel guide website and the people behind it.

(if you missed the BikeTalk 88.1 episodes Brock was on, hear them: in studio on bike fun, and call-in about 2017 Biketown vandalism)

Thanks to our generous sponsor The Beer Mongers and our Patreon donors that keep us going!

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Eric Iverson & Ross Putnam rode the famed Oregon Outback route to view the 2017 total eclipse.  We love getting audio from peoples’ adventures, and they were kind enough to send voice memos specifically for us while on the trip.  They also posted quite a few #trailtips on the @graveneutral Instagram account!  So we stitched them into a neat little documentary of their trip for your listening pleasure.  Be sure to watch their daily recap videos on Eric’s personal account as well for even more adventure that we didn’t include in this episode.

Day 1 video montage

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Aaron & Anna took an end-of-summer bike camping trip, and recorded a little audio!

Thanks to our generous sponsor The Beer Mongers and our Patreon donors that keep us going!

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Brad Wade is a cross-country bicycle tourist from Newfoundland, and he is unique in his physiology: his heart is located in a different part of his body than most people’s, and only has one functional lung.  That hasn’t stopped him from adventuring!  We chat with him near the end of his trip about his experiences, health, food access, and (of course) his gear.  Aaron Green, author of We Were Like Sons and founder of The Regrainery, joined us in this conversation.

Follow Brad’s adventures on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/btwade212/

Thanks to our generous sponsor The Beer Mongers and our Patreon donors that keep us going!

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Emily & Jessica are involved in Bike Loud!  The organization coordinates the concerns of their members & those of their surrounding community with direct actions that make needs evident – like blocking a lane of traffic with hay bales to emphasise the need for fewer lanes on a busy street where people have been hurt or killed.  What’s the best response to adversity?  Absurdity.  Check in with them to get involved, or how you can spark your own activism & advocacy in your own area.

Also: Aaron takes Anna on her first bike camping trip, and Brock rides in a friend’s car to the beach.

Thanks to our generous sponsor The Beer Mongers and our Patreon donors that keep us going!

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From oregonlive.com

From streetsblog.org

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Some helpful mechanical advice on brake adjustments from Don B

More Detroit stuff from Bill C

From Ben in HI:

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Wayne Norman is a long-time donor to our show with a road trip happening now and an incredible story of recovering from a health scare to keep on moving from Adventure To Adventure!

Also, Brock & Guthrie ask everyone how their eclipse experiences were.

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Headlines

From pantone.com via Richard Wezensky: THE PRINCE ESTATE AND PANTONE UNVEIL 

From bikeportland.org: How can our community support the fight against white supremacy?

Mail

A dispatch from Eric and Ross

Actually we got so many voicemails!

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#spy30 #document the streetcar’s not the only thing in motion pic.twitter.com/Pifaa3gqka

— Nagisa Day (@nuggit) July 8, 2017

Aaron & Anna joined Team Lime for our friend Lily’s 30th birthday party, which happened to be a transit-system-based adventure scavenger hunt event all over Portland!  Jesse, also a member of Team Lime, also comes into the studio so that they can all relive the adventure.  From posed photos with transit operators, to karaoke on a party bus, #spy30 happened.  Listen for the details!

Thanks to our generous sponsor The Beer Mongers and our Patreon donors that keep us going!

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Lizzy took a huge bike tour over 6 months covering all 48 contiguous states, with a pet rat, Beefy, in tow, and ate a vegan diet the whole time.  She tells us some tales from the road.  Did we mention she’s a friend of Superfan Aqua?  Check out her adventures from multiple tours at withinbikingdistance.com

Brock took a huge ride and saw a giant salamander, and Aaron is finally gonna go bike camping after switching his daily ride.

Thanks to our generous sponsor The Beer Mongers and our Patreon donors that keep us going!

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Headlines

Mail

From Jason Aufdenburg: “Still awaiting The Sprocket Podcast stickers!”

Dan and Phil ask if you remember that time all the plants turned to chocolate.

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Back in 2016 in the fall, Team Japan came to Portland to participate in the Disaster Relief Trials.  Their ringleader Tad, a professor from a university in Japan, organized the Rice Cooker Ride with the help of DRT organizer Mike Cobb, and they demonstrated a resilient method for preparing simple food during a potential disaster scenario, a traditional wood-burning stove used to prepare rice that they easily transported by bicycle.  Brock & Aaron attended the ride and caught some audio from the event, including an interview that local television station KATU used to create a story about the ride on the evening news.  There was also a body cam compilation made of scenes from the ride!

We were grateful for the chance to meet Team Japan, and look forward to seeing them again someday soon!