Month: December 2019

The Spokesmen Cycling Podcast

$100,000 For A Bicycle? In Conversation with Michael Mourechek of Festka

Episode 233

Monday 23rd December 2019

SPONSOR: Jenson USA

HOST: Carlton Reid

GUEST: Michael Mourechek, cofounder of Festka

NOTES:

Forbes article on Festka.

TRANSCRIPT

Carlton Reid 0:13
Welcome to Episode 233 of the spokesmen cycling podcast. This show was published on Monday 23rd December 2019.

David Bernstein 0:24
The Spokesmen Cycling Podcast is brought to you by Jenson USA, where you’ll always find a great selection of products at amazing prices with unparalleled customer service. For more information, just go to Jensonusa.com/thespokesmen. Hey everybody, it’s David from the Fredcast cycling podcast at theFredcast.com. I’m one of the hosts and producers of the spokesmen cycling roundtable podcast. For show notes, links and all sorts of other information please visit our website at the-spokesmen.com. And now, here are the spokesmen.

Carlton Reid 1:08
Hi there I’m Carlton Reid and this episode of the Spokesmen Podcast is a bonus show, my little Christmas present for you. It’s an interview with Michael Moure?ek, cofounder of the lustworthy bicycle brand Festka of the Czech Republic. The company was in the news recently with a $35,000 carbon road bike painted to look like porcelain so I called Michael for a chat, and we talk about this particular paint job as well as why one Festka bike recently sold for $100,000 in a charity auction. Festka is co-owned by a billionaire and I’ve just written a story about the brand for Forbes. Check it out at Forbes.com/sites/carltonreid

Michael, tell me about the world. The reason we’re talking to you today and you’ve had some media on this in the last few days is this project that you’ve been working on for like 13 months for this, this Bangkok bicycle collector. So tell me about that before we get into into Feska as a whole,

Michael Moure?ek 2:22
This was a very interesting project for us because we love for this difficult project. And this client was amazing because he gives us a freedom and he just influence us with his life and then we have complete freedom. So we know about him that the collect the bike, so he has a more than 40 full custom bikes, and he also collects the porcelain. So for us, was this like a good idea to works with illustrator named Michal Ba?ák, which is an amazing guy. He did a lot of porcelain stuff. And there was a long time ago in our heads

Michael Moure?ek 3:17
to do something what represent like check porcelain or check glass school. So this was a good opportunity for us. So why they took the 13 months was because the client wants to have a lot of personal details. So we was drawing on the paper, lot of sketches and this just took us like a six months to send him the sketches and discuss every detail so if you sit on the bike, you’ll see that there is a lot of small pictures and everyone somehow it’s connected with his life with his life past the Finally. So this was interesting on one time and I think that this create for him really personal.

Carlton Reid 4:12
do you know Is he going to be riding this bicycle or is this a bicycle for his wall?

Michael Moure?ek 4:16
Yeah, definitely. No no no, no no definitely definitely will be righted by his house. It’s looks like like temporarily cyclists museum. So, so he has a bike display in his house, but he used them the majority of the bike or what I can see on his social media. He writes so and with that bike, he discussed with us mainly about the the riding specification. So the bike is ready to be used so he has handlebars would you normally use nothing fancy There was there’s a lot of stuff, which tells everyone that this biker should be used in the future.

Carlton Reid 5:08
How did he find you in the first place?

Michael Moure?ek 5:10
This project has one exception because normally we do this directly with the customers, the sky. Talk first with our dealer in Bangkok, so somehow it goes through him. But after that he used our client service. Bangkok it’s a good market for us maybe surprisingly, but Bangkok has a very unique thing that there isn’t one only one route where is it possible to ride a bike like this safely? It’s around the airport, which is open it’s it was a great for the cyclist and it’s open 24 hour per day. So, it’s a big city. So it’s every hour, you can met the cyclists there and you can join them. So and this created a specific market because it’s some kind of the socialising so people need to care what they wear for example like in jersey businesses in Bangkok a little bit different in the rest of the world so because you go to ride the bike and it’s the similar like in the Europe we go to the pub, so we want to be well dressed and show maybe our social status wherever. And in the Bangkok somehow. This works similar with was riding the bike around the airport because you met always the same people and you need to show them new new stuff. So it’s it’s it’s changed Little bit business and we have quite a lot customers there and majority of them owns custom by

Carlton Reid 7:10
the basic is it’s a Spectre it’s a standard kind of a I’m saying standard here it’s it’s your your base model and then people then customise from there.

Michael Moure?ek 7:21
Yeah, yeah, actually it’s not based model It’s a race model. So this is the same bike what for example, check track national team use for for the road races and they have also a version of this frame for for the track so it’s very stiff. So this is another thing will show that the clients really want to use this bike because if not, probably will go for the cheapest frame or maybe for the most expensive frame to make the show off. So and hate to say this Really race oriented frame?

Carlton Reid 8:03
Because I’ve seen his social media. I mean, he rides in Europe. So he comes and does like events in Europe as well, doesn’t he? So you may be right, right. And one of them

Michael Moure?ek 8:12
yeah, maybe maybe we didn’t have a chance to meet him during this process, but hopefully I hope that we will meet here in the Europe or during my travelling to Asia.

Carlton Reid 8:27
So this was basically a $35,000 bicycle.

Michael Moure?ek 8:33
Yeah, it is. It is. It’s Yeah, it’s hard to say like that. Because in this cases,

Unknown Speaker 8:42
the price it’s

Unknown Speaker 8:46
it’s, it’s very hard to set up the price because

Michael Moure?ek 8:50
we did this art bike or a bike together with an artist in the past. So there is I don’t know. Let’s say seven. Bye. Like that already from the past, and we always try to choose the artist which has a good value and there is no can predict that his work will be more expensive in the future. So, so far all the bytes what we did in this art edition keep the price or maybe today price is higher levels on the beginning and very often the price for the artwork it’s a higher than the material cost for the bike and for the components

Carlton Reid 9:42
because it and the components front you took the logos off Didn’t you have the of the components

Michael Moure?ek 9:48
with Yeah, yeah, we took a logo, we redesign the strum group said so because in Georgian over there is like a civil sticker and we changes we change that And there was some people from from a solid and I was impressed at how how this looks so there’s so many small details we ask also the lightweight to use like different buildings and etc so so there is a small tuning also on on the components yeah we remove the logo from the seatpost and etc but this is a some kind of the standard stuff what we do because we try to always think about the bike like complete thing so all the components need to play

Unknown Speaker 10:40
Yeah, so

Michael Moure?ek 10:43
nothing special for for us like to to redesign the groups and it’s quite common for us.

Carlton Reid 10:50
And how many bicycles are you? customising a year and a how many bicycles are you selling a year so how big is the custom part of your business

Unknown Speaker 10:59
in the past was like

Michael Moure?ek 11:03
when we start like, so we start like a 10 years ago. So then immediately we start to sell our bike. So in real estates took us like a five years to reach the limit to reach the level of where we are today with r&d and production capacity and etc. So it took us, let’s say, five years to develop the product. Then until now It took us another four years to set up the production and all the processes so we wasn’t in a hurry in the past year, so it will change right now. So for example, past two past three years, we keep our production on 200 frames per year. We have a production capacity for 500. So for the next year, we plan to reach higher number on the beginning of the hundred personal fall reframe was for custom,

then

we start to step by step represent something would we call Core Collection, it’s standard design. Then we have some kind of the limited edition of designs. And these full custom today 70% of our customer by the base design, maybe they change the colour too much with the car wherever. And the 30% of our production is the unique things for each writer

Carlton Reid 12:42
set to tell me how you make your frames because it’s not I mean, most carbon frames are in mold. This is not in mold frames.

Michael Moure?ek 12:51
No. There’s two things. So first, it’s a pupil connection. So which is not so unique but What it’s quite unique or not so usually it’s the filament building cubes what we use because 10 years ago when we start thinking to produce the bike, we we have a freedom because we don’t have any past. So, we was looking to to the future so we were searching what I mean try to guess what the the carbon industry can move in 1020 years perspective. So, so and we took the inspiration for the aircraft industry and in these days was a big hype around the Boeing Dreamliner. And for example, Boeing Dreamliner, main tube of displaying some main was the same technology like v2 A tubes. So in the shortcut for us what is very important is that these tubes are made by the machine by the robots. So if you compare the moulds production It’s the hand made the job. So this is the people will make a mistake because they think that we are handmade company, which is not a true the big brands are handmade because they need to take like 500 or 700 pieces of the pre pregs and they need to put them by the hand inside the moles and it’s quite unhealthy. There is a lot of space for some mistakes and etc. So in our case, the robots do our job they are very precise. They are always in the same mood because they don’t have the family issues and wild party. So they every every day, produce the perfect cube for us. And and then we use the human hands to assembly them so thing that we have absolutely freedom to do any size, what we need. So normally we offer 24 sizes like stock sizes, let’s say and plus the custom one We can change the tube if we need it. So I remember that in the past, we did a few frames for very heavy people. So they don’t have the same job like I use. And in our workflow, it’s quite easy to change up just for them. So this is different way how to produce the stuff from the carbon not so common for bicycle industry. It’s a very niche in the bicycle industry. But it’s very common in the different kinds of industries like automotive aircraft industry or the gas bottles today are made from the carbon and it’s very similar technology like that used for the tubes.

Carlton Reid 15:51
and where are you? The robots are somewhere different and then you get them shipped in and then you assemble where do you assemble

Michael Moure?ek 16:00
We, we produce the tube in the souls of the Czech Republic by the coincidences there in a very small city when I was born and I didn’t know it, we have a company like that there. And these guys are amazing. It was the company was a phone by two students in the 1993, if I remember correctly, and there was a one student who studied like aircraft engineering and the composite material. And the other one was the student who studied robotic scientists, and one professor, put them together and say, one, hey, you should design it to the robots for your colleague. And you should, you should try to do something and they try it. And they found the company. And what is amazing for us is that these guys Build Own robots. So and they also make the programme for them. So if today I need something, they completely control. The they they really control their production because very often people buy some machine but they don’t know who make the software for them. So they they have a lot of possibilities what they can do with them, but not unlimited. And these guys are very unique and the carbon words with that with that possibilities. So today we are very connected even our head of r&d as a table in that company and for the next year you will be employed by the company because it’s it’s better, it’s cheaper for us so, so we are very close. So they do so today we have let’s say free spots on the robot so we can even change everything like an hour before. So so they produce that you for us but we do together the r&d because we need to know What how to make the tube or what we want to receive for the final product. So it’s a very close partnership

Carlton Reid 18:09
and they then making that mainly for aerospace normally

Michael Moure?ek 18:16
they do like like the tubes or beams goes to company who produced robots and these robots working in the automotive industry for example, they do like stuff for military, I saw that they do like the car, RPG from the car horn and stuff like that. Any kind of the product and very often a very high end with some sophisticated needs. So the they do been so which are the base of very precise copying machine, for example. So so it’s hard to imagine But it’s very often it’s looks like a very ordinary product like normal aluminium beans made from the carbon, but they are so, so good that they know how to design the layers of the carbon inside that the product absorb some kind of the vibration for example. So, so, I remember that they did one project for some line production line in automotive industry and they replace the aluminium beam with the carbon beings and the lines goes 15 times faster than before. So, this is a huge impact to their business. So, so they do this kind of

very high end engineering.

Carlton Reid 19:49
So you get the tubes, this very high end engineering tubes and and you then have a factory or workshop where you then put these things together.

Michael Moure?ek 20:00
Yes, yes, yes. So we have we, yeah, so we do own r&d. So it’s, we always need to tell them what we want. So then we receive the tubes from them very often two times per week. And we need to mentor them and put them to the Jake made the lamination around the joints. You know, we need to prepare the carbon for the paint job. We have our own paint job. So we paint them and we do assembly and etc.

Carlton Reid 20:33
And how many people have you got working there and they go

Michael Moure?ek 20:37
to today it’s working for us 18 people. So in the past was a more of as close to 30 when we was really working on the r&d stuff. Now all the team has 18 members,

Carlton Reid 20:52
and tell me about the company. You said before that you were you’ve been you’ve been going for 10 years. Was it was 2010 when you you were founded Yes, yes. And how you say it was you and a business partner

Michael Moure?ek 21:08
It was a me and my friend Ond?ej Novotný it happened that

Unknown Speaker 21:12
was a

Michael Moure?ek 21:15
the real beginning was in the same day when I have a birthday so I was on the bar and Ond?ej was the first guy who came and my parents called me and they asked me to buy a bike so they want to give me the birthday gift the bike and was a funny situation for me because it was the first time in my life in my life when I was in a position to buy to buy because previously I receive always the bike from the team so people pay me for it and I never have a freedom to choose the group said which is the brand the colour and etc. So so I was 30 years old the guy was quite a lot experience with with the bikes and will never bought the bike for himself. So, it was a unique situation for me and it was a very you know Andre in the days was a very curious what brand are will choose and etc and I I told him that I will not going in that way that I will first study little bit worries the the steel tubes right now what is in the offer and then I will select some frame builder who will put the tubes together for me and etc. And he was very impressed with that possibility because he didn’t know it. So he was immediately on the board and actually we didn’t need this bike so so we take a time and we want to make it a nice project for us. So we started travelling we visited a lot of frame builders here in the Czech Republic was in the past it was a nice scene of the frame building. But no one fits to our needs. So we went to the delay. I know the language. I have a lot of connection there so we were the data layer and during the struggling we realised that almost no one has under control all the skills would you need to have if you want to build the perfect bike so it was a guys who doesn’t understand my writers needs they don’t know how to how to transfer them to the geometry if there is one someone who understand what I won, the craftsmanship wasn’t on the good level. If these both things works, they frozen with the designs are in the 80s so so we can’t find the perfect frame of the for us who owns all these so we went back and do the Republic and we want to do this like a project. And so we start to searching for some commitments guys, and we want to build our perfect by just like a project and me falling in love with that would be so different. stabilities and the chariot public is a perfect industry country whereas a lot of like a basic research and basic industry and we saw like the possibilities of high end industry would we we can transfer to, to the simplest things like the bike frame is it So, this is how all these start

Carlton Reid 24:25
and then you Andre and yourself, you you you created a business and then it could you have backing from a billionaire was was that from the start or was that later on?

Michael Moure?ek 24:42
It was later on because

we was we will start we start with a steel. And we on the beginning we can’t imagine that we will jump to the car bonus so soon, but somehow it happened and we we did cover some possibilities in the carbon and titanium as well. And, and we and we, we burn all our money, what we put to the business together as the Andre. So first finance think of our company was through the fund raising so in 2012 we made like own private fundraising project call it 200 and we promised people to deliver 200 carbon frames which we did actually wasn’t 235 remember correctly we produce around the seven day because the production cost was the higher than the price what we promise So, but but it helped us to develop our first carbon frame together with a comeback and Later on with a chicken University and etc. And basically this was the really base of our future. Today, I hope I can say hi in production. And so we show something with that. And we need the money to to fund the company to fund the production. We know that we are on the some direction what we feel that can bring something what is not on the market right now. And yeah, so we need the money for it. So we make this connection with that billionaire guy.

Carlton Reid 26:47
So how do i mean that? That’s fascinating. How do you make a connection with a billionaire guy because that’s not an everyday occurrence with Is he a cyclist? What Where’s interest?

Michael Moure?ek 26:57
No, no A good question

Unknown Speaker 27:03
is happened that

Michael Moure?ek 27:07
one, so so we will searching for it. So it wasn’t like there was no secret that we was searching for the partner. And we was talking with Mr. Zdenek Bakala, which is his owner of the Quickstep team. So it’s a Czech guy who owns the team. And, and we had a meeting with him and he was very happy to when he imagined that he can own something like that, but the we don’t like the people around him. So basically, we say no. And this was a funny because then the Forbes magazine made the interview with us and Mr. Bakala confirm that we say no. In that negotiation So this thing’s maybe go public that we searching for someone and the big guys are interesting to invest to our company. And then one my friend knows these guy and this guy, and he called me if we if I want to set up a meeting with him, so he set up the meeting. We have a one lunch, he asked us about the business. He set up the next day, the lunch again, and he asked us for some question, and we was impressed how good homework he did overnight. So he started the business. He, I don’t know, he asked us for the 15 questions and the 10 questions was perfectly on point. So yeah, so we made a deal with him. Michal Korecký.

Carlton Reid 28:53
Because people do get into the bike industry. Often, often they’re they’re very much into Yes. And they assume they’re going to make lots of money and then they get into the bicycle industry and discover it’s actually a cottage industry in many respects that you don’t make much money in this industry so so is your billionaire mean this is this is Michal? Yes. That this is he’s still happy with with the bicycle industry and with you.

Michael Moure?ek 29:27
Far hard to say. So I think that we have, we have a maybe different vision about about the future because you name it so these guys want to push the business always to the big numbers. And we feel more our potential in this niche, let’s say luxury business, because this was the original idea behind the first car to Create the very high end bike which are perfect in every point of view. So there need to be perfect components. Perfect material. Perfect frame, very nice design and everything you need to be perfect. And this was our revision. Yeah, and we want to keep this so yeah. So so in that we have a different direction. And as I mentioned before, they will be changed in our own struction soon, which will reflect exactly what I name it right now.

Carlton Reid 30:42
So let’s go backwards a bit because you mentioned there your your when your birthday, the bicycle that you could choose and the fact that you were a bicycle racer, and you got bikes given by him so tell me about your bicycle racing career, Michael

Michael Moure?ek 31:00
I remember that when was the Olympic Games in Seoul which was 1986 if I remember correctly I was sick and I saw it I it’s like a flashback when I call to my brother to see the TV and there was a team pursuit race on it and I was so fascinated with the guys on this bike with the full disk wheels and Aero helmet and this skinsuit and this was something but I was like a tour guy living somewhere in the mountains. So I can’t imagine how can happen that someone do this sports, so I forgot it on it. And during the high school, I started there was some discussion and the people asked me what will be my dream job and I say the Pro Cycling and they smile me say I could be Pro racer. So I start to take this stuff seriously. And I become to be one of the best like a junior racer. I get them Medal from the world championship team pursuit. So somehow my dream come true. And I have like a very big results. When I was Junior then I moved from the junior category directly to to the Italy I was racing for small teams and Italy was in these days the small teams was very often the good this team was a connected with the pro team. So first year I was in team was connected with the Mercatona-Uno you know, and then I was on the farm of Mapei. And it was a very interesting experience for me the I need to return back to the Czech Republic to make a military service so I can ride a bike also during the military service but I need to stay here in the Czech Republic and then I stay with that pro continental military team in the end of my career in year 2006 so during that time I was a 10 time champion on the on the road on the on the track so like nothing special

Carlton Reid 33:30
I think it’s quite special so 2006 you retire you’ve been lately you’re the age of 26 so there’s four years but what the gap be so 2006 to 2010 when you found it fast go What were you doing in those four years?

Michael Moure?ek 33:47
Yeah, first I maybe I I quit but I still have a contract. When I quit my I realised that my I will be never like the winner of the Tour de France and etc. was also the complicated situation because I was very often so close to sign the contract, but it was a in these days the the Germany like a very strong economic doesn’t have a pro component to the team. So it was quite complicated situation. So it was a pragmatic decision. So I I say my saved cell that I’m not too old to try something new and one of my friend

Unknown Speaker 34:36
searching for someone who can

Michael Moure?ek 34:40
be ahead of his political campaign because he wants to become to be the major of the proximity. So and I say this is interesting, so maybe this could be like a good restart for for myself. So I say I can I can quit riding the bike in immediately. And I can start to working for you. So and this happened. So the next four years I was working in the marketing. And mainly I did the political campaigns. So something and then I realised that it’s not so good for my karma. So I was looking to, to go back to the site.

Carlton Reid 35:25
And then you found it faster with Ondreh. And now Festka. You told me before means fixie, in effect in Czech.

Michael Moure?ek 35:35
It is but it’s a little bit complicated. The first car it’s it’s a very old check. name for the fixed bike. Perfect See, but it means of the trek bike not the fixie, what become to be popular in over the year 2000 wherever. So and I know this word Because since my trek career my coach or the old writer always call the track bike Festka so and I have this background and there was a free com domain and I never want to put my name on on on the frame because I since the beginning I want to create the project the people will be working together on the frame so it’s doesn’t make sense to put my name on it because it’s not only my work, so yeah, so I just take this again, there was a pragmatic decision so people can there was no connection between this name and anything else. So if you put to the Google it’s works for us and etc. So, so again, nothing special just a pragmatic decision, and I like this word and deed. Make

Carlton Reid 37:00
fixies as well I mean it was that goal was got a good

Michael Moure?ek 37:05
we yeah this is this is all the people think that we started as a fixie, actually it’s a true so on the beginning we made the fixie bike but in reality we made like maybe 10 bikes, like a fixed gear bikes because we give ourself first two years for the studying the business, the cycling market because we don’t have this experience. So we must open to do everything what the clients wants from us. So from this early ages of the first car, we made it full suspension bikes, for example, mountain bikes, the travelling bikes and etc. So and we’ll learn from our mistakes in that so and everything somehow influence us for the future. So the fixie was amazing school for us because there was a client who doesn’t have any experiences of cycling so they asked us for for the things what the experience cyclists never asked for like to like paint spokes. The I don’t know the the they want to have a different letter on the on the settle and it’s a draw so and we wants to fulfil their wishes and and from these days comes this our experience today that we can make gold leaves on the subtle and etc. And we have experienced that this works so it was a good school for us but no business and yeah, there’s maybe 10 people owns the

fixie bike. Right okay.

Carlton Reid 39:00
Now tell me about the Doppler because the Doppler is it’s half its carbon and a half, it’s titanium. So what were the were the different tubes there.

Michael Moure?ek 39:12
This become, actually, this was one of the few things what the billionaire on the board influenced us because he he asked us if he can make the titanium frame I say, again, based on my experience from the racing, I say, okay, it’s not a big deal to do world titanium frame, but to make the perfect titanium by frame, it’s a different kind of thing. So, but luckily in the past was in the Czech Republic, the company named Moratti and it was it’s a company today they produce the, the part for the engine and maybe somebody And for the US military. So again, very high end industry focusing on welding the titanium and in the 90s they don’t have a work. So, they started doing somehow the bicycle parts and they use all the experience and they transfer this to the bike. So, they have a very unique technology. And in 2004, this company bought Honeywell, so they immediately quit the bike production and, and I come back the CEO of this company and he helped us to develop our titanium programme. So we started doing the titanium frame, and then I did a lot of people call me holidays before the Christmas time like now and they they want to have something like a combination of the carbon and titanium something like this. flights do or Enigma, or this titanium blocks and the carbon to plain sight. And I always say that hey, it doesn’t make sense to me because this is the solution what was here a long time ago and it’s always felt like Allen frames, look frames and energised as a matter of the one the glue will be old enough. And there was so many reason don’t don’t do this because one of them rules will be at Invesco that we never do anything without the purpose. And in that kind I need to see the purpose but the people push me and I say okay, I don’t remember it was 2016 during the Christmas and I say I will be thinking about each tube separately. So I saw with the head you and I realised that the to make the carbon head you it’s the much more easier and much more better for the frame than To use the titanium one. So then I thinking about the main joobs top tube and the downtube. And I think that these guys are who by this by our people who wants to have the modern version of the titanium Pike, so they still wants to feel and see the titanium. So the main cubes are from titanium, the bottom bracket, it’s somehow just the holder for the bearings. So, perfect the things to save the way to with a carbon chainstays are responsible for the the power transmission so definitely the carbon is better for that application the titanium as a lot of troubles with the diameter of the capacitor acid carbonic was the perfect solution. Seats days are responsible for the conforte titanium can afford for the perfect come forth and the last things was a seat post and Our solution with an integrated seatpost it’s the weight it’s a 185 grammes wherever all the seatpost with the with the lock for the settled, so we can save a lot of weight on it. So and if you put this together, I think that somehow it’s works and it’s a good frame still you feel the titanium and the weight of this bike. It’s 1100 grammes. So it’s lighter than the luck solution. So yeah, so this is it. So and we, we know how to how to work with identity and how do works with a carbon. So the joints what works looks like Lux. Actually, this is not the luxus the special way how we do this elimination and one of the magic things it’s and so we need to do, the very complicated stuff was How to prefer the titanium for for for that.

Carlton Reid 44:05
And what’s the light? What? What’s the lightest bike that you can do with with a road disc brake

Unknown Speaker 44:11
bike?

Michael Moure?ek 44:13
This is always the question of the people asked me for and I my answer is easily 500 grammes, but you need to ask me if this bike will be good or not so, so it’s a it’s always a combination of the stiffeners. The the riding for the bike need to be stable and the high speed which is the weakness of the ultra light frame, etc. So today, I think that the 750 grammes, let’s say, it’s the border and I don’t feel the reason to go below. Low that way

Carlton Reid 45:01
so for full bike you can get that to like 5.8 kilos

Unknown Speaker 45:07
for the full

Michael Moure?ek 45:10
in the you asked me for the disc version so a few months ago we made it to the disco version of the bike and the weight was a 5.6 kilos and still the and the target wasn’t to make the lightest disc bike on the world The reason the target was to make the perfect bike with no

issues so is

all the gears would you need

no light component, the DVD blue

and this crazy things what to do to wait we need to do to to reach the limit. So all the components on it are let’s say stop. One so it’s a 5.6 with a very light tires It was 5.5 But after I decided to use the normal tires for it so I’m so it could be less and in with the with the same bike with the rim brake so it will be close to five I guess.

Carlton Reid 46:19
Now when you mentioned before about when you’re in your your pro career that you couldn’t choose your bag you are given your bike. So pros given bikes, and they can’t choose so they couldn’t, no pro could choose your bike and say I want to ride on that bike because that’s the best bike. They’ve got a ride on on spec bikes, that sounds kind of unfair, that they can’t ride on the best bikes in the world.

It’s a business behind that. So it’s it’s a it’s a change

Michael Moure?ek 46:50
over the year 2000. So in the 90s if you will be the team director and so maybe You will be we will visit me and say Hey Michael, I believe that the with your friend we can win the Tour de France I say okay I believe in your skills and in your writers and what do you want and probably will be asked me for I don’t know 60 maybe 80 frames I will say okay well let’s make a deal today if you are by producer you will never ask me for the quality of the bike you always asked me how much money I can give you. So if you are a good manager, I believe that you are so you’re you’re conditioned condition will be like 300 bikes, not frames but full build bikes, and I know something from 500,000 euros or even close to a million euros per year, like like like the minimum. So this is the this is the condition so What the protein can have right now. So So today on Tour de France, you can see the people who can afford it to pay the rider. It doesn’t mean that these products are the best. It’s nothing against to this product. But this was a one of the best bigger surprise for myself. When I was racer, I lived in the bubble of the Pro Cycling. So I know a lot of brands, but all these brands can afford it to pay the rider. Then I discover a lot of niche brands, good brands, like I don’t know, like a Chris King had said, I always fight with a headset on my race bike. So when I quit, and I discovered there is some guy named named Chris king who made this amazing headset. I never have an issue with that right now. So I’m thirsty. So many nice, nice components, and this company can survive without support to the big race.

Carlton Reid 49:10
So, are you making electric bikes for people? You know, like, where they can fit the battery?

Unknown Speaker 49:17
Is that a great? No

Michael Moure?ek 49:22
definitely it’s a big market for a must production by we the people pushing us to do this as well. So during the Christmas I will maybe it’s happened in the future, we are in we we will be tested the very specific engine in the beginning of the next year. Which is unique because it spreads to every our current frame. So So this seems to be interesting to me that I can Be sure that nothing change with behaviour of the bike or with the feeling with the rider has. And it’s just the option if you if you select any our bike and you just ask us for the engine, like like an upsell or something what is there it will be maybe possible the funnel, what I like on that solution is that it’s just the one and a half kilo which means that the battery has a one kilo so if you want to enjoy the bike without the help from the engine, you just need to keep the battery at home. So in the relative your bike will have just the 500 grammes on the top and when we talk about our 5.6 kilos dispersion bike, so it will be 6.1 still you will have lighter frame We like to bike then the majority of the population. So So this seems to be interesting. Yeah, so there’s a few things that need to be solved. Like the the temperature of the engine inside you, etc. So but it’s looks promising so I think that is 80% change that we will offer this auction in the future. Nothing What it’s my personal taste if you asked me for it, but I understand the clients who lives somewhere in the Alps for example, so there is no where to go. So this support makes sense for them.

Carlton Reid 51:50
So the bicycles you are making, as you said before, they are luxury product. So the people who are buying them Bye bye absolute definition have to be rich. So no, no Go on then.

Michael Moure?ek 52:08
No, no, this is

this is an interesting because if your dream will be to own to the Ferrari, for example or authors car and I don’t know you are you working behind the desk or in the supermarket? Probably you can never afford a car like that. Even if you win the money in the lottery, you will have no money for the maintenance. So for many people, this dream, it’s closed forever, but to have a dream bike from from flashcard say it’s okay so our bike starts at, I don’t know seven 6000 euros if you don’t want to do the compromise You need to be ready to pay somewhere around 10,000 euros. But still, the value of this bike you can enjoy for next 20 years. So basically, it’s just your decision or the priorities. So we have I’m surprised with how many let’s say ordinary people are definitely not Richard people we have in our fiscal family, so it’s not a matter of the money. It’s a matter of preference.

Carlton Reid 53:40
Thanks to Michael Moure?ek there. Links to Festka and my Forbes articles about the company can be found on the show notes at the hyphen spokesmen com On the last episode I had promised I’d be talking with academic John Steylin but this bonus episode bumped that show into 2020. Meanwhile, get out there and ride

Wednesday 4th December 2019

SPONSOR: Jenson USA

HOST: Carlton Reid

GUEST: Josh Reid (YouTube vids and Instagram pix “joshreids”)

MAIN PIC BY: Juan Bettoli

In this episode of the Spokesmen Cycling Podcast supported by Jenson USA I interviewed my intrepid cycle-touring son who is now back in the UK after his four-month journey from China.

Josh picked up a carbon gravel bike at the Giant factory in Shanghai, China, so I thought it would make a good story arc for Josh to almost finish his trip by visiting the Giant factory in the Netherlands. I rode across to Lelystad to meet him, and, after a factory tour, we cycled the 70 or so kilometres to Amsterdam where, the next day, I started the interview while we were riding on the famous cycleway that cuts through the National museum of the Netherlands. The rest of the interview was conducted in our living room at home.

TRANSCRIPT

Chinese cycle tourist 0:02
That’s called the Wonderful World? It was written in World War Two.

Chinese cycle tourist 0:07
Very beautiful.

Chinese cycle tourist 0:30
Okay, Do you recognise the song? Yeah.

Carlton Reid 0:34
That rather unorthodox opener was by a Chinese cycle tourist who spotted my son Josh in the Shinyiang province of China and decided to serenade him by the roadside with his little guitar to entertain his three fellow cycle tourists, all of whom were recording the episode on their phones. I’m Carlton Reid and in this episode of the Spokesmen Cycling Podcast supported by Jenson USA I interview my intrepid cycle-touring son who is now back in the UK after his four-month journey from China. Josh picked up a carbon gravel bike at the Giant factory in Shanghai, China, so I thought it would make a good story arc for josh to almost finish his trip by visiting the Giant factory in the Netherlands. I rode across to Lelystad to meet him, and, after a factory tour, we cycled the 70 or so kilometres to Amsterdam where, the next day, I started the interview while we were riding on the famous cycleway that cuts through the National museum of the Netherlands..

Carlton Reid 1:47
So we went to the Giant factory yesterday, Josh, and you got bits and bobs on your bike. So what did you get sorted?

Josh Reid 1:53
I’ve got two new tyres. Quick look through my gears

Carlton Reid 1:57
Okay, so you left Shanghai — we are going to hear some music as we’re coming through the coming through the cycle path of the Rijksmuseum here. And Josh, you got some new tyres Why do you need new tyres?

Josh Reid 2:10
Because the delamination of the tube and the tyre on my tubeless tyres was coming undone of it and it has getting a bit of

Josh Reid 2:20
bloating. Okay,

Carlton Reid 2:22
We’ll go round Josh. So the tyres in fact, we’re just carry on going round, Josh. We’ll just go through that.

Carlton Reid 2:32
So the tyres delaminated for the tubeless tyres, you had no punctures in effect.

Josh Reid 2:37
Now I had my rear tyre was going down a little bit but it’s put more sealantand they seal.

Carlton Reid 2:42
So from now on, would you use tubeless tyres?

Josh Reid 2:44
Oh yeah, definitely, I’m a total convert.

Carlton Reid 2:47
So what you got on here? You got two front panniers.

Josh Reid 2:50
Yeah. Arkel. Yeah, brilliant brand.

Carlton Reid 2:55
And then you bodged on your front bag. You’ve got a you basically you’re carrying Northface

Chinese cycle tourist 3:01
duffel bag,

Carlton Reid 3:02
and you bought that to being a bikepacking bag.

Josh Reid 3:05
Yeah. So I just cut it up and zip tied o. It rubs on the tyre sometimes, but just tighten zip ties. It

Unknown Speaker 3:11
works. All right.

Carlton Reid 3:12
So what you got on the front there and what’s actually in there,

Josh Reid 3:15
Just clothes and my bivvysac.

Josh Reid 3:19
on the front, and then you also GoPro on the front.

Josh Reid 3:23
Yeah. And I’ve got a Restrap frame bag with

Josh Reid 3:29
And a Giant toptube bag.

Carlton Reid 3:32
And do they give you that at the factory?

Josh Reid 3:33
No, Giant they gave me that in Urumgi in Xinjiang. I was at a bike shop but they just gave me that and a load of oil and sealant.

Carlton Reid 3:42
Did you visit lots of Giant shops?

Josh Reid 3:44
Yeah. So all the way through China. I visited

Josh Reid 3:46
lots of Giant shops. In every big city there’s a Giant shop in China.

Carlton Reid 3:51
Let’s squeeze through here, Josh, get away from the traffic

Carlton Reid 3:54
Everybody else is squeezing through I think we ought to to.

Unknown Speaker 3:58
Of course the cars just get stuck when we go we get very nicely

Unknown Speaker 4:09
stuck by a traffic jam

Unknown Speaker 4:13
go right, follow the cyclists, go on

Unknown Speaker 4:16
We’re riding aimlessly around Amsterdam it’s nice to go through with all the cyclists.

Carlton Reid 4:22
And then on the back Josh, well, apart from the bags you’ve got a memento you’ve got, what’s that?

Josh Reid 4:29
I’ve got a Vietnamese hat which I got on the border of China and that’s lasted quite well cuz you’ve been in the back of your bike all that time starting to fall apart a little bit but gives more character.

Carlton Reid 4:43
You’d be wearing it as well or was it just decorative?

Josh Reid 4:45
No, I’ve been wearing it in the desert

Josh Reid 4:48
when it was very hot, but then it’s got cold so I’m not wearing it,

Carlton Reid 4:52
Why’d you want to do what you did? Why did you even think, where did it come from? Where did the idea come from? And why did you want to do it?

Josh Reid 5:03
Well, I’ve heard stories of your cycle tours. I want to do big one on my own. And what a better way to do it then cycling home you always getting closer rather than going away you if you cycling away from home, you always like thinking I’ll just go back now. Whereas if I’m always going home, so I’m always getting closer.

Carlton Reid 5:24
Yeah, so most people kind of the route you did we’ll go through that in a minute but you did you were kind of going the opposite way that most people would would would do it so people would normally cycle to Shanghai to China. Yeah. And you from Shanghai from China. So you’re going the opposite way to most cycle tourists. Did you see many in China?

Josh Reid 5:42
I saw two go in the opposite direction. Well, Western cycle tourists anyway. They were both going towards Beijing. Yes, I didn’t see many Westerners in China part from a few tourist spots. Terracotta warriors. There was a few in Shanghai not wasn’t many, many tourists at all. I saw more in Tajikistan along the Pamir highway. There was a lot of cycle tourists because

Carlton Reid 6:13
Pamir Highway is now like a magnet, fly in.

Josh Reid 6:16
fly into Djumbe which is the capital of Xinjianng. Then they cycle Pamir highway. There’s there’s three routes you can take, you can take one, the Wakan corridor, which I didn’t do was it was really sandy. And a lot of people push their bikes along that. But it’s it’s beautiful. Like the mountains are incredible.

Carlton Reid 6:35
You do that with a fat bike?

Josh Reid 6:37
Yeah, that’d be cool. It was very there’s a lot of corrugatations on the road because of all the trucks on there. And you’ve got the just the normal Pamir Highway which is the route I took. And then you also have the Botang Valley which the person who actually told me first about the highway in China. They did the Bontang Valley, which cuts off a bit, but like goes into the middle of nowhere. And is you need to take a lot of food with you. And I didn’t take any cooking equipment. So I decided to just stay on the main-ish road, which is still full of potholes.

Carlton Reid 7:15
And the Pamir ighway is is an attraction because it’s the second highest kind of road you can get to and it’s just beautiful mountains around why why people going out to do the highway.

Josh Reid 7:27
It’s just it’s beautiful scenery. It’s like next to Afghanistan for 300 kilometres.

Carlton Reid 7:33
The border Yeah, you can see over the river.

Josh Reid 7:36
And it’s like the roof of the world. People call it is beautiful. It’s very tough. You go up to I think the highest point I was on that trip was 4600 metres.

Carlton Reid 7:46
You mentioned Afghanistan. So before you did this trip, and you were sitting there on your phone or an iPad researching the geopolitics of the region. You’d ask me, can I go here? Can I go there? Answer was not really because it was war there, and there’s fighting here. So has this trip, giving you a better appreciation of geopolitics, then the fact that you can’t really go there? And here’s the reason why you can get go there?.

Josh Reid 8:13
Yeah, definitely. I also realise that there’s this friendliness everywhere. And in the news, you hear a few bad eggs, but generally, people are very kind. Yeah, I went to a lot of countries that probably wouldn’t have I didn’t even know Tajikistan existed until until I decided to cycle there. Originally, I was going to cycle through China into Kazakhstan. You stay in Kazakhstan, all the way across, but then this cycle tourist in China, and told me to go to Panir Highway, so I did.

Carlton Reid 8:45
So that was a detour? Yes. It wasn’t like being your route.

Josh Reid 8:48
Yeah, I took quite a few detours. Yeah, it wasn’t a fast and out route.

Carlton Reid 8:53
So let’s just stress that this wasn’t a record breaking attempt. This wasn’t raising money for charity, you weren’t doing this for a bet

Josh Reid 9:04
This was just fun. It was just enjoyment type two fun.

Carlton Reid 9:08
Yeah. So you could in other words detour so if you want to record breaking attempt you’re not detour you’re going to be no down. But did you do head down days as well?

Josh Reid 9:19
It’s not fun if you don’t do head down days. Yeah definitely push myself but I didn’t have lights that lasted long enough. So I do 260 kilometres and want to keep on going. But the lights are dying.

Carlton Reid 9:33
That’s a good point about equipment for a future trip. What would you take different

Unknown Speaker 9:38
to what you took on this trip?

Josh Reid 9:39
I definitely take better lights that lasted longer. Dynamo I’d get a dynamo. That’s that’s pretty much it though. I’d go a lot lighter.

Carlton Reid 9:47
Josh but you were light and you have no cooking equipment. You didn’t have a tent.

Josh Reid 9:52
I had a lot of souvenirs.

Carlton Reid 9:55
You had more souvenirs in your bag than anything else, you’re right. So the things that you You would maybe take different Europe because your electronics you had you had a fair bit of electronic you had a phone. You had a GPS tracker, you had a drone and GoPro

Josh Reid 10:08
I a GoPro two pros.

Carlton Reid 10:11
So that’s a lot of electronic equipment. So you were a bit stuffed there if you couldn’t get electricity. So how are you coping with no electricity,

Josh Reid 10:19
I had two battery packs. And then I’d stop in a hotel or hostel every week or two. And people offer you a combination or times you just charge up when you could.

Carlton Reid 10:31
But what about solar power? Do you have a

Josh Reid 10:35
Yeah, you can power a lot of people did like the cycle tourists on the Pamir highway had solar devices. But if you got Dynamo you don’t need that

Josh Reid 10:44
just allows you to keep on going a lot longer if you haven’t got a dynamo.

Carlton Reid 10:47
So that’s something you consider the future. Future trips will be just different ways that are powering you. Yeah. And how you gonna have you going to go lighter. I’m trying to understand

Josh Reid 10:57
I wouldn’t have the two front panniers on the front. I’d have just a frame bag, one on the handlebars, the rear, rear saddle bag,

Carlton Reid 11:08
but the I mean half of that front bag was probably the drone, wasn’t it?

Josh Reid 11:11
Yeah. and an air mattress.

Carlton Reid 11:16
Yes, it’s a very comfortable air mattress. Yeah, yeah.

Chinese cycle tourist 11:19
So that is that is

Carlton Reid 11:20
that’s your one big luxury isn’t it?

Josh Reid 11:22
It’s very, very comfortable. But when especially when you’re tired, sometimes too tifed to pump it up. It takes like three or four minutes to flow into it. And especially when you’re at altitude, this is no way you want to do that.

Carlton Reid 11:37
And just because you’re so knackered, you kind of you you’re falling off your bike and you just falling into bed

Josh Reid 11:42
you don’t want to be pretty much I was pretty lucky where my lights died most of the time that there was times where my lights would die and I’d be at look across the road and they’d be a watermelon stand. And I’d go up to it and they’d give me a watermelon for free. And then they have a like a bed in there and they just say I could sleep for the night.

Carlton Reid 11:58
Let’s talk about. well, let’s talk about the route. So we’re not looking at a map here. We’re not looking at your GPS tracker. Let’s just go from memory. So you’re in Shanghai.

Carlton Reid 12:09
Yeah. Do you know remember provinces

Josh Reid 12:11
Well, I beelined for Xijianng in like pretty much centre of China. It’s just on the way, way up to towards Xijiang It’s where the Terracotta warriors are. It was the old capital city of China.

Josh Reid 12:29
It’s where the

Unknown Speaker 12:32
the Silk Road starts.

Josh Reid 12:37
So I wiggled my way out there

Unknown Speaker 12:39
If I remember correctly the descend down into Xijiang was incredible to see like mountain mountains and through gorgeous, yes. Beautiful. That descent

Carlton Reid 12:52
and you only had a set time. I mean, you did get an extension but you only had like that was it 30 days visa to originally get out of China and 30 days, which is

Josh Reid 13:00
pretty tough. Yeah, so I got my Chinese visa in Bangkok, which saved me a lot of money. It was, like, half the price of what it cost me in the UK. And then I cycled from, like 20 days. And because I was I probably could have cycled through China in 30 days, if I’d been pushing it and like, going every day with because I was doing a few detours to different tourist sites across the last few days doing that, so I was like, I don’t want to risk having to pay a fine. And the border. I’m not I’m not racing, I may as well just and where I did get the, the visa renewal was where the Great Wall is. So I was like, I was spending a few days looking around here.

Carlton Reid 13:44
Okay, so you successfully didn’t go into Mongolia. That would have stuffed your whole trip, wouldn’t it?

Carlton Reid 13:48
Yeah, I’d gone into Mongolia because then you can’t get into other countries. But where did you go from from from China?

Josh Reid 13:55
from China. I went into Kazakhstan, and then into Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and then Uzbekistan? And then I went back into Kazakhstan.

Carlton Reid 14:05
Uzbekistan, were you not allowed to fly drones yeah

Josh Reid 14:07
So like so I smuggle some of my drone into Uzbekistan

Carlton Reid 14:11
If any of those Uzbekistan secret police are listening to this No you didn’t you didn’t have your drone at that point.

Josh Reid 14:17
They were very friendly at the border.

Josh Reid 14:20
They didn’t they didn’t scan your bag but they did. They there was there’s like one guy was like, no you don’t discount and let’s just go but this one army guy really wanted some bags count. So you just said awesome two bags. So I gave him the two bags that didn’t have the donor. So that that was pretty lucky.

Carlton Reid 14:41
Because you’re on a bicycle and yet yet, you’re really not very threatening. If you’re on a bicycle. Do you think you are given more leeway on searches on on just in general, in all parts of the world you’ve been in because you’re a crazy cyclist and you bet and of course you’re by yourself and you’re young. Giving you’re given a lot of leeway

Josh Reid 15:02
probably that definitely scan some countries definitely scan the bags like properly especially going out of China although they didn’t find the drone so

Carlton Reid 15:12
because you also had to GoPros you said so you what you were doing videos and you got more and more followers as you’re going along so people like to the like that 10 minute travelogues basically have you on the I’m assuming it was the iPhone you’re holding it

Josh Reid 15:30
down those things on the iPhone.

Carlton Reid 15:32
And then you are doing the video the cutting the video including dropping footage in from all on the iPhone. Yeah. So that is travelling light in that, you know, not carrying a laptop that you’re doing everything on the iPhone. Yeah, and that worked. Okay, could you had lots of extra time to be able to do that sort of thing. I’ll just

Josh Reid 15:51
when I got darker and spend a few days, like an hour or so every night. Where was the last one you’ve just said that

Carlton Reid 15:58
Tajikstan. So we’re from there?

Unknown Speaker 16:00
into Uzbekistan

Josh Reid 16:04
Yeah, and the buildings out there are really beautiful, lots of light blue mosaic mosques This is Yeah, the roads still pretty bad though all Central Asia, Asian roads are pretty bad. Yeah, the food is terrible. This is terrible. Yeah. Out there I was pretty much living on bread and tomatoes.

Carlton Reid 16:24
Because I want to say Here you are – at least you attempt to be – vegan. Yeah. So you’ve been a vegan for how long?

Josh Reid 16:31
Four years.

Carlton Reid 16:33
Okay, and how vegan was this trip?

Josh Reid 16:37
Like, almost the whole way. Like just there’s only a few occasions where I accidentally ate horse cheese.

Carlton Reid 16:45
How did you accidentally eat horse cheese, Josh?

Josh Reid 16:47
I was going down a descent and I saw these like balls and they look like date balls or something. Something like that really sweet and I was craving something sweet. So as I all I’ll try one of those Then I buy into it is really sour. And then a few miles down the road. I see someone milking a horse. Oops. Okay, yeah. And then when you eating with local families and you don’t speak the language and they’re quite poor, and like in Central Asia, you tend to have just one plate with lots of utensils around and you share the meal. So you just got to eat around the meat, but he actually might have a little bit

Carlton Reid 17:34
So when I’ve been touring in exotic places and you’ve been exactly that situation, and I’ve had like goats killed for me all sorts at you often find that you’re given the choicest cuts of meat, and they’re almost saying like, No, no, you have this is the best bit of meat we’ve got. You have this? Yeah, you didn’t get any of that. You could avoid eating meat?

Josh Reid 17:55
Most of the time. In Tajikstan we were invited – me and a German guy – were invited to for a meal with a family and we didn’t ask for any food they just set off a tea and then loads of soups were brought out. And I thought it was just vegetable soup but it was actually liver in there. And that night I was sick seven times. So I’ve been cycling all day dehydrate anyway and then being sick all night really dehydrated in the morning and like really dehydrated, like pissing brown.

Carlton Reid 18:29
That was the worst day or an awful day cycling after that. Is that the day you broke the glasses?

Josh Reid 18:34
Yeah, so I was leaning over to grab a plastic bag that is about to fly away and landed on my glasses. Cuz I didn’t want to get up as I was so out of it. And then the roads that were terrible as well. So I’ll just hang potholes constantly all day with a banging headache and then had food poisoning.

Carlton Reid 18:52
Was that you lowest day, mentally?

Josh Reid 18:56
Yeah, probably. That’s all you can do. No, it’s going to keep on going. Yeah. Especially with a German guy at that point yeah so I was just following this guy and just trying to hold on to the wheel

Carlton Reid 19:09
so you have cycled with with people here and there

Josh Reid 19:11
yeah i think that cycle with three people in total all along the highway me at the end yeah right damn yeah

Josh Reid 19:20
yeah so most of the cycle tourists on the on the Pamir highway and then not really many going through Europe either

Carlton Reid 19:27
so it’s off season yeah you’re coming through and really the back end of the

Unknown Speaker 19:31
season

Carlton Reid 19:33
not many cycles I mean we we we got the ferry from Amsterdam to Newcastle I mean there’s no other bikes no bad and there will be lots of bikes normally on that ferry service so yeah the season is finished for cycle tourists Of course

Carlton Reid 19:48
so which country we got to now well most cycle turn I think we got to where

Carlton Reid 19:55
we encounter the Caspian Sea yet.

Josh Reid 19:58
No. Okay. So where go backwards and where are we, um, I’ve been cycling through the desert and Uzbekistan and then I slept in a few abandoned buildings which was good. Give me a shelter was it gets cold and at night and then I’m cycling with a German guy still a different different German guy cycled two German guys and we we get to the Caspian Sea and we get to the ferry port and no one knows when the last part left no one knows when the next one’s going so we just I blow up my blow up and just sleep for three days while I’m waiting for a ferry to turn up.

Carlton Reid 20:34
So it’s not like the DFDS ferry were not

Josh Reid 20:38
can’t really call it a ferry. It’s more like a freight ship.

Carlton Reid 20:41
Ship that’s that happens to be taking people but it’s taken goods.

Josh Reid 20:45
Yeah, pretty much just taken. It was it was a new train on they’re going across. So I think Kazachstan maybe was shipping and then you were on the ferry for quite a while but you’re on so we left at night. And I went to sleep expecting to be almost in Azerbaijan by the morning. I poked my head out the window and I could still see Kazachstan. So we were stuck at sea for 30 hours just anchored up next to Kaxachstan because there was a storm out the sea apparently. So what should have taken 30 hours to 70 me got more food, but it was rationed. The food is good, but then I had to fill up on bread and tomato ketchup.

Carlton Reid 21:30
And then you got off the boat and where are you then?

Josh Reid 21:33
in Azerbaijan, which is good. Lots of good pomegranate.

Carlton Reid 21:36
Okay, so we’re now you were the pomegranate in Azerbaijan. Where’d you go from there?

Josh Reid 21:42
In a cycle through all of Azerbaijan, into Georgia. I get to Tblisi.

Carlton Reid 21:48
Christian now?

Carlton Reid 21:50
Yeah. So that was your last Islamic country?

Josh Reid 21:53
Yeah. Food is good in Georgia, huh? Lots of root vegetables and other stuff. Like that the Russians like really liked Georgian food. It’s like an Italian. They’re Italian basically, it’s Georgian. And then I went into Turkey after that. So I wasn’t in Georgia for too long for like a week. Right last

Carlton Reid 22:17
and then yet the north of Turkey Yeah, coming down south Mamaris anything you’re staying at the top. I stay.

Josh Reid 22:24
I hug the coast of the Black Sea all the way along and dissemble is great. You always always got tea in every place you stopped.

Carlton Reid 22:33
And tell me about the bike shops.

Carlton Reid 22:35
Yeah, you’ve, you’ve been to because you had to go to bike shops here and there for

Josh Reid 22:40
Yeah, for running repair. So China was brilliant. In every, every city there’s a Giant shop. So always just if I needed something, I just stopped in a Giant shop and they were always able to sort me out. So like my bolt broke in China. When I was in, in the desert in the Gobi Desert

Josh Reid 22:59
by Was cycled like 300 kilometres and in I think it was

Josh Reid 23:07
happy that

Josh Reid 23:10
they were able to drill out the bolt as they knew they know what they’re doing. And that was solid, but then it broke again on the border of Afghanistan and I tried a few times for people to drill out but because they don’t know what they’re doing and they’re using way too big drill bits and they’re not mechanics they didn’t do a good job and I was I was pretty scared for the bike. So I always got them to stop but then it like this you can’t see where that hole is anymore. So I just had to zip time and bodge it but ended up all right.

Carlton Reid 23:48
And then you had a bike shop in just outside Istanbul again, another Giant bike shop.

Josh Reid 23:52
Yep, they were very good. So I just turned up they were a bit curious. Well, why is doing with all the And where I come for come from explained and they gave me one of them mechanics in there. Let me sleep on the sofa for two or three days really helped me out

Carlton Reid 24:11
Was in Georgia where there was a was a restaurant called Bicycletta?

Josh Reid 24:15
That’s in Bulgaria

Carlton Reid 24:16
That was in Bulgaria yeah okay so I haven’t got there yet okay, let’s let’s let’s talk about that in a second.

Josh Reid 24:20
Okay, so you’re still in Istanbul.

Carlton Reid 24:22
And how do you get from because Istanbul we’re now Asia across across the Bosphorus and then you’re kind of Europe. Yeah. So how did you get across the Bosphorus?

Josh Reid 24:31
I got a ferry just the easiest way just a quick ferry Yeah. 10 minutes. Okay, so

Carlton Reid 24:40
10 minute ferry and all of a sudden you’re in your you’re in Europe, you’ve come across cycle Asia.

Josh Reid 24:44
Yeh, all the way across Asia into Europe.

Carlton Reid 24:49
And is that see across the Bosphorus and you saw in Turkey for a little bit?

Josh Reid 24:53
Yeah, so I was in Turkey for another two days. But it really rained quite hard that I didn’t quite get Rain day. We just had a few rain days along the Black Sea coast is known for its rain there. So I’ve gone through the whole of Central Asia without seeing any rain, and then going to take in getting rain again. It wasn’t so nice.

Carlton Reid 25:17
You were racing against the weather in many respects, yeah. You know, if you’re still coming through Europe in December, you’re gonna get lots of rain days. Yeah. So there was that aspect to it you were trying to get

Josh Reid 25:28
well, there was there’s lots of places in Turkey I’d love to go to. And that kind of Yeah. Along the Mediterranean, cool. But is getting cold in Europe. So I decided to skip it. And the issues with Syria at the time, as I said on the Black Sea coast, I can come back at some point.

Carlton Reid 25:47
So you’re in Turkey, where do you go from Turkey?

Josh Reid 25:50
I went briefly into Greece. I was in Greece for about an hour maybe. So I went across the border at 11 o’clock at night, and then cycle I was going to maybe sleep In Greece, but I just decided to keep on going. And then I went to Bulgaria. I slept under a service station that was closed for the night

Carlton Reid 26:11
to get Wi Fi there because getting Wi Fi in some odd places, are you? Yeah. service stations have got WiFi. WiFi cafes have got Wi Fi so you are ringing up on FaceTime and

Josh Reid 26:22
Yeah, so I don’t I don’t have as a never had a SIM card the whole way across.

Carlton Reid 26:26
You’re now in Bulgaria.

Josh Reid 26:27
Yeah, I didn’t sleep outside too much. Actually. I always was gonna sleep outside. And then people would just offer me places to say people you’ve just met in the evenings and yes, I was one night I was camping in a field while setting up my tent and then a guard dog started barking at me. And then this guy comes over security. I just asked me a few questions. He can’t really speak English but kind of understood I’d cycled from China. And then he gets a pad of paper out through the house. Draws person once at me, like, basically measn come to my house. So there’s a there’s a better open his loft or a warm shower. And he feeds me.

Carlton Reid 27:11
So were you worried at all that any of these people you thinking on these can be mass murderers and I’ve got no idea,

Josh Reid 27:19
I suppose but you just got to trust people sometimes.

Carlton Reid 27:23
Well, they’re trusting you, you could be a mass murderer. Yeah. So it’s trust on both sides, isn’t it?

Josh Reid 27:28
I didn’t experience anything, anything bad. So people are generally kind and you were sleeping in mosques. In Turkey I slept in a lot of mosques that you just turn up to a mosque, knock on the door and they’ll they’ll help you out.

Carlton Reid 27:40
Tell us about the village where you were where the guy said look, anybody in this village

Carlton Reid 27:46
will put you up.

Josh Reid 27:46
So in Tajikistan. I was

Josh Reid 27:50
cycling towards the Afghanistan border. I’ve not reached it yet.

Josh Reid 27:56
It was getting dark. And I was cycling through this village and there was a lot of guys and girls going to pray to the mosque and then one of them just comes up to me and asked him so I was all right. And I was asked to be Is there any way to camp around town? And he said there’s if you ask anyone in this village, you can stay in their house. So it takes me up to theseyobs you in like Europe, you wouldn’t not even go up to and he says, You got anywhere for this guy to stay. And he takes me to his grandma’s house and gives me an Uzbekistan kind of like Central Asian just basically sleeping on the floor. But it’s really comfortable your warm building I’m used to sleeping outside so that’s nice. And then feeds me all night and gives me a tour on around the area in the in the morning. And then sets me oh I see I need to be exotic. In

Carlton Reid 28:58
in land such as that beautiful Pretty exotic even into Europe, you’re still getting that people helping you out and you’re you’re no longer just a cyclist. Yeah, you could be anybody. And you’re still getting this kind of help from people that you’ve never met before. Yeah. Who were just that, you know, the kindness of strangers, even in Europe.

Unknown Speaker 29:19
Now, in

Josh Reid 29:21
Bulgaria, again, I was cycling past an Italian restaurant, and one of the waiters jumps out, says you want to try some pizza? And like, sure. And then the owner comes up to me, like, just me a little bit. And then he just says, the meals on the house have a three course meal. And then I’m about to leave and he asked what I’m gonna do, I’m gonna I was gonna sleep outside of town. And he’s like, No, no, don’t do that. I’ll get your hostel. Leave your bike here. Come back in the morning. And you know, we’ll make some breakfast, and you can have a coffee and he can he also told me a route to go in the morning. So follow that the next day. So, but we go out the restaurant and walking towards the hostel. And he’s like, I’ll just put you in this hotel. So he puts me up in a hotel for the night. Which is really cool.

Carlton Reid 30:10
Because we were also, you know, we were keeping tabs on you were bringing you and you were bringing us and stuff. We were trying to get you in hotels, and using booking.com look Josh we’ll get you in this posh hotel here. And you ever often actually said, No, I don’t want to stay there. I want to stay in a hostel. Yeah. So why do you want even though we were willing to put you up in a place, nice, comfortable hotel. Why do you then say no, I want a hostel

Josh Reid 30:37
Because when I’m cycling, hours and hours and hours in my own head and a hostel way easier to go and talk to someone. So it’s nice to like speak to speak to other people, especially through China and Central Asia where not many people speak huge amount of English. So it’s nice to speak to other travellers and usually find people who speak English in a hostel.

Carlton Reid 31:00
So in a hotel, you’re a bit more isolated, anonymous and isolated, you kind of shut yourself away.

Josh Reid 31:05
Yeah, I’m isolated all day. So yeah,

Carlton Reid 31:08
yeah. Okay, Bulgaria so this was a the restaurant was called Bicylterra. And where was that in Sofia, Sofia so that if anybody’s in Sofia. There’s a fantastic restaurant called La Bicicletta Trattoria — https://sites.google.com/view/labiciclettatrattoria

Josh Reid 31:25
Yeah, yeah.

Carlton Reid 31:26
Cool. Okay, so from Sofia, we’re in Bulgaria. Where do we go? Where’d you go next?

Josh Reid 31:31
From Bulgaria and to Serbia. And the drivers were dreadful. I got hit one point by wing mirror – I cycled on like, not the highway to start with. And there was trucks and so much traffic on there, coming very close to me. So I decided to go on to the the toll road which just opened and there was like one car every minute. And I had a massive hard shoulder and I felt way safer.

Carlton Reid 31:59
So let’s let’s talk about that then. So what kind of roads have been on? Obviously in the desert there’s not a lot you can do you and I do on a corrugated road probably under a dirt road a lot of the times, but what about in China with a bike paths?

Josh Reid 32:14
The bike paths in China were very good. The roads are really good as well. You always if you didn’t have a bike path, he had a massive hard shoulder there was there was times where I’d cycle from one city to city and it would be a bike path all the way along. So there was a lot of mopeds on there and like little farm, yeah, pretty fresh. And I drafted them quite a lot of the time.

Carlton Reid 32:35
So the tractors were on the cycle paths?

Josh Reid 32:37
Not the tractors but like you’ve got little tuk-tuk’s kind of thing. So I’d cycle on them quite a lot.

Carlton Reid 32:43
And then the next time where you got just a tonne of bike paths basically the Netherlands or those you got all right and Austria.

Josh Reid 32:50
There were some good bike paths in Austria.

Josh Reid 32:53
You’re following the river. Yeah, the Danube

Carlton Reid 32:56
you if you were following parts of the the Euro velo route But in Hungary,

Josh Reid 33:02
it was way too wiggly. I didn’t like it. So I just took to the roads. And the bike routes went like that. Anyway, Austria got pretty good. So these are the bike paths your Eurovelo routes next to the river. Yeah. Yeah. And Austria and Germany. The route was good. But in Hungary and Serbia wasn’t so good.

Carlton Reid 33:20
So we were in Bulgaria. Where do we go after Bulgaria, Serbia? Where do we go after Serbia?

Josh Reid 33:27
Into Slovakia, and then into Hungary. So Budapest? Actually, no, I went into Hungary first from Serbia, and then into Slovakia and then into Austria. And then Germany.

Carlton Reid 33:42
And these are the countries are going you know, the the contrast to this.

Josh Reid 33:45
Yeah. So I was going to like, sometimes three countries in a day, so Austria, so you in Budapest. I spent a day off there, had my birthday in Budapest. So I went to the Budapest baths on the birthday and actually met another traveller from Vietnam, and he happens to be in Budapest at the same time. So it was nice to go just

Carlton Reid 34:06
by accident. You met in the baths or?,

Josh Reid 34:09
He messaged me on Instagram and like, said, you’re in Budapest. And I was like, yeah. And then went to the baths.

Carlton Reid 34:16
Wasn’t there somebody in Centeal Asia that I follow on Instagram. And you kind of somehow worked out.

Josh Reid 34:26
No, there was someone in

Josh Reid 34:30
Uzbeckistan.

Josh Reid 34:32
Some account that follows you on Twitter. They saw me when they were cycling around, and we were chatting for a bit. Yeah, very for me the couple cycling from England around the world.

Carlton Reid 34:46
Okay, so Okay, we’re now in Vienna. Yep. So the baths are in Budapest?

Josh Reid 34:53
Then I went to Bratislava. And then Vienna, and then my gears stopped working in Vienna, which is probably have been better if they stop working somewhere in Central Asia is cheaper, cheaper?

Carlton Reid 35:03
All the bike repair starting to get very expensive.

Josh Reid 35:06
Yeah. So I had to replace all my gears cables in Vienna.

Carlton Reid 35:14
Giant shop or was this just a

Carlton Reid 35:16
just a random shop?

Josh Reid 35:17
Probably should have gone to a Giant shop. It was closed at the time. I think

Carlton Reid 35:20
Vienna is where you also popped in to see Tubolito?

Carlton Reid 35:23
Yeah, that was cool.

Carlton Reid 35:24
So these are the guys who have got the very, very light, robust orange

Carlton Reid 35:32
tubes, inner tubes, yeah?

Carlton Reid 35:34
So you popped into there for me so you can take some photographs and stuff. Yeah,

Josh Reid 35:37
They were very friendly.

Carlton Reid 35:38
I’ll do an article on that at some point. Yeah. And that’s coming up.

Carlton Reid 35:41
So anyway, they are in Vienna.

Carlton Reid 35:42
Yeah. So they then because that was when we said Oh, Josh needs a bike shop. So they advise you where to go for the bike shop. Yeah. And only that was pretty rainy day wasn’t it was pretty

Josh Reid 35:51
Yeah. Yep. That was a good day to have off. You’re in Vienna. Where do you go from Vienna.

Josh Reid 35:56
from Vienna. I headed towards

Carlton Reid 36:02
To Germany? Salzburg you go through so yeah.

Josh Reid 36:05
So I went on a bit of a detour into Hallstadt.

Carlton Reid 36:08
Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah. And

Josh Reid 36:11
then to Salzburg where I stayed with my first Warm Showers. It’s just basically it’s like couch surfing.

Carlton Reid 36:21
Should we do this? Is it something, you know, to feed back into the global machine?

Josh Reid 36:28
I definitely I’ll definitely do it when I get my own place.

Carlton Reid 36:31
In Germany. You then tell me that tale about waking up in the morning.

Josh Reid 36:37
Okay, so

Josh Reid 36:38
the train passes. I was

Josh Reid 36:41
really tired and I was sleeping at 11 o’clock at night. I go down to to reach my bottle to get a drink. And I grabbed my tyre. So I’m like, maybe I should stop cycling. So I go in the next field set up my bivi .

Josh Reid 36:58
sleep Then get up in the morning.

Josh Reid 37:02
I go to the toilet. And as if in slow motion a train come past as I’m going to the toilet. You have no way basically. Yeah. In front of the train line. Yeah. And then I just basically panoramic a train. I continue packing all my stuff and then a police car rocks up and two policemen come out. Question me in German, I don’t I don’t speak German, sorry. And then they asked if that’s my bike, and what I’m doing sleeping in a field. I tell it tell my story, then they get very chatty after that. But basically someone had called up and said, it looks like there’s been an accident as a bike in a field in a body bag. In a field, but it was all right. So as soon as they realise your’re tame?

Josh Reid 37:48
Yeah, you’re free to go. Yeah, no problem.

Josh Reid 37:51
Yeah, police have been very friendly on the trip. Once they realise what I’m doing in Xijiang, like the the Muslim province of China. You can only stay in certain hotels in a town with foreigners aren’t allowed in certain hotels. But I was I was going to count this night but I went there’s a checkpoint in Xijiang every 40 kilometres that you’ve got to basically get get your passport out and like spend an hour telling them what you do and they don’t talk to each other so it’s like you’ve got to do it over and over again to the police forces in each cell each different area yeah talking to the elders of each 40 kilometres go tell the same story they don’t know you’re coming but I think China do that on purpose just to give it a control. But I go through this checkpoint and they escort me into town with flashing lights and if they can’t get my bike into the into the police car, so they get me to follow but they they take me they say I’m if I’m hungry, and so they take me out for dinner. So they basically brought me into this restaurant with two policemen and I’m sitting down, I’m eating with chopsticks not very well, and they’re not eating at all it is watching me. So I don’t know what these cooks are thinking all these people in the restaurant like this guy is getting arrested in that and the police are paying for his meal. But it takes them like an hour and a half before they find a hotel that I can sleep in. We tried a few that they the police didn’t even know today, which is the thing is there’s no tourists in this part China. Start booking this hotel it’s about to pay. And then two more police cars rock up and 10 SWAT guys jump out of these cars with bulletproof shield guns and batons and rush into the hotel and like, like saying, what are you doing here? Why are you in this town in the middle of nowhere in the province that China don’t like you go into and they start taking me away and put my bike violently, which I wasn’t too happy about into their into their truck and are about to whisk me away. And then one of them gets on the radio. No, you can actually stay there. So reassembled my bike, get out of the van and go back into the hotel. But it still takes like, an hour and a half, two hours before I get a hotel room.

Carlton Reid 40:08
Isn’t it two in the morning

Josh Reid 40:09
in the morning, I found this very funny to start with when they all rock up and it’s just me in the Lycra really smelly. Just like really wanted to sleep and they’re trying to like it’s really funny to start with and then it just didn’t happen you don’t get a hotel room till 2am It’s not funny anymore.

Carlton Reid 40:27
Was that the night when because President Xi was there in your you’re in one place where you were you didn’t actually know why the SWAT team were there. But was that the day the day that the President was there because it was not at the Rainbow mountains that the President next day and that’s why there’s loads of SWAT around

Josh Reid 40:46
no no this was further back. But this before I went into Xijiang this was in its there were the sand dunes are in

Josh Reid 40:55
Oh, I forgot. It’s

Josh Reid 40:59
It’s where the The Grotto. These are the really famous grottos in China with all the paintings on the wall. And that’s where the President Xi, there’s lots of police about but I didn’t went on a big detour to go I went on a detour in a Sunday in a sandstorm to get to these sand dunes and this these quarters, and then on the way back.

Josh Reid 41:27
I slept under the road because they don’t like camping. So I generally went to set up camp when I was getting dark. So people wouldn’t see where you’re going. And then wake up when it before it’s like.

Carlton Reid 41:39
So we’re still in. Like, that’s where we’re back into China. Now. Let’s go back into into Germany. So you waiting in the morning this train passes. You’re in Germany. So where are you after Germany? How much of Germany even?

Josh Reid 41:58
So I stopped off in Munich.

Josh Reid 42:01
I have my second Warm showers, that very friendly couple from America who show me around Munich, which is really cool. It’s always nice when you have a local to show you around, they know where to go. And then I went towards Luxembourg

Josh Reid 42:20
and the Vennbahn.

Carlton Reid 42:21
On that note, we will stop there for a quick commercial break and we will cut across to David

Chinese cycle tourist 42:28
Thnakd Carlton. Thanks so much and hi everybody. It’s David, and I am here, you know why I’m here, I’m here to talk about our longtime loyal and fantastic sponsor, Jenson USA at www.Jensonusa.com/thespokesmen. Remember, that’s jensonusa.com. Now, what’s Jenson USA Well, if you don’t know by now you should. Jenson usa.com is the place where you’re going to find all the things that you need for your complete Cycling lifestyle complete bikes, mountain bikes, road bikes, gravel grinders, everything in between components, apparel, accessory, tools, shoes, really gifts, everything you can imagine that you would need for your cycling lifestyle. We’re not talking about off branded stuff. We are talking about name brands that you know, love and need for your cycling lifestyle. You’re going to find those name brands at incredible low prices. And that’s all going to be coupled with unparalleled customer service. If you haven’t been to Jenson USA before, I urge you to do it right now and every time you need something for cycling because they’re going to have it at great prices, and you’re going to be very, very satisfied with their customer service. Go ahead and check them out. That’s Jensonusa.com/thespokesmen. Our thanks to Jenson USA for supporting the spokesmen cycling roundtable podcast, and our thanks to you for supporting our sponsor, Jenson USA. Alright, Carlton, back to you.

Carlton Reid 44:08
Thanks, David. And we are back with Josh Reid, globe-girdler-extraordinare, as they used to say in the 1890s when people were cycling around the world at that point, so just you remembered

Josh Reid 44:22
So the detour I took was to Dunhuang, whether the big sand dunes on its Mogao caves where the

Josh Reid 44:31
Chinese president was.

Carlton Reid 44:33
Okay, so President Xi was there and you didn’t know at the time. Now there’s lots of lots of

Carlton Reid 44:38
security forces they were they were following you on an angle and that’s where the President’s just been, it’s always going to be a day or something. So that’s why there’s lots of security presence.

Josh Reid 44:49
So I, I go along the sand dunes but it’s fenced off. So I try and find somewhere where I could kind of climb over the fence, and I’m about to climb over this fence. And then a Chinese guy comes up to me and says, follow me. So I follow him. And he shows somewhere I can camp. And then he has a key to a gate. So he lets me through the gate and says, you can go up there if you want to take some pictures of top of the sand dunes. You can put the sand dunes or do you like come to the bottom of them. But he’s had Be careful because people have wandered in there and never come back.

Carlton Reid 45:22
That’s my funnest thing of cycle touring was going into place like the Sahara, and sleeping on sand dunes. And then you’ve got the sky. Yeah, and that’s one of the benefits when people think of sleeping in outdoors. We haven’t got a tent, but yeah, you just look up in the sky.

Josh Reid 45:40
Yeah, I slept under the stars every night. It is

Josh Reid 45:42
amazing just sleeping under the stars is just unbelievable. So I went from China. When it was at night it was still really humid. So I’d be in my bivvisac and I’d be sweating to go in through Central Asia and it’s actually all right it’s quite pleasant. Sleep in the baby except when you up on 4000 metres. It’s bloody freezing. And then into Europe when your toes are cold every night. I didn’t carry any warm socks, only thin cycling socks. So my feet were always freezing.

Carlton Reid 46:11
So we have reached the Vennbahn, because that’s how it’s spelled, but it’s called it’s the fen. It’s actually an F. It’s the it’s like the Fenlands, the Fenway. So you’re on the Vennbahn, which is this fantastic cycleway through Luxembourg. So you hit Luxembourg, basically. Yep. And there’s very cute photographs, which you kind of pre researched.

Josh Reid 46:36
I did my first cycle tour with you in Luxembourg when I was six or seven. So I asked you to find those photos. You send them across, eventually found them. And by accident, I go past the like little town that we got some of those photos in so I recreated them.

Carlton Reid 46:56
Yeah, that was really cute. So the photograph of you as a seven year old In front of this or the castle behind, and then you’ve you’ve asked somebody to take the photograph. Yeah, there you are in the exactly the same place. That’s amazing to see it. So it’s basically a press trip, but I

Josh Reid 47:12
did all those years ago. I didn’t try and go there though. That was just an accident. Okay,

Carlton Reid 47:17
so you’ve you get to Troisverges which is the start of the Vennbahn and you got 125 kilometres to do which goes into Germany and turned yep to Belgium. So describe what you’ve been doing on that route and

Josh Reid 47:36
Basically cycling and then taking footage for you.

Carlton Reid 47:41
Yes, to get me some drone photographs. I’ve got a Guardian piece coming up. So yeah, took some photographs. Good. I didn’t see Monschau in daylight.

Josh Reid 47:48
Yeah, that was that was highlight of that little stretch. Yeah.

Josh Reid 47:52
I did actually cycle past it. And then I had a nagging thing in my brain saying, My dad said that was that was the cute town. I was like, fine, I’ll go and then I’m really glad I’m really glad I went down there. But it was down into a valley coupled climb up back up. Yeah. Which was my legs are already hurting so I wasn’t too That’s why I wasn’t too keen to go down there and a lot of days it was a nice Christmas market down and cute village. Yeah,

Carlton Reid 48:19
yeah, yeah Monschau was nice. So mancell your then your next destination is basically Arkan

Josh Reid 48:28
Yeah. And then what did the next night? So wherever I would probably say an arc and I probably slept in a field in our can.

Josh Reid 48:37
Yeah, Yeah, I did. That was no, I cycled all the way into the Netherlands that day

Carlton Reid 48:44
to Heelen.

Josh Reid 48:45
Yeah. So I I wanted to get into the Netherlands which is my last country until England, really? Yeah. So I wanted to get into even though I did a little stretch into Belgium the next day. I wanted to get into another country, a little finger.

Carlton Reid 48:58
There is a tiny little bit isn’t Maastricht.

Josh Reid 49:00
Yeah, so I got into the Netherlands that day and then had my last night coming in, in the Netherlands. So I think I slept out in the open in every country went through.

Carlton Reid 49:10
And you stayyed with somebody in Utrecht?

Josh Reid 49:13
Yeah. An old school friend.

Carlton Reid 49:15
So from Heelen to Utrecht in like a day? Or two days?

Josh Reid 49:24
One day, just one day.

Josh Reid 49:27
One day, basically, yeah, that was my last day over 100 miles.

Carlton Reid 49:31
Yeah, that’s a good point to actually ask what kind of mileages are you doing? What’s your top mileage? What’s your lowest mileage? Your average mileage?

Josh Reid 49:41
My biggest days were in China. I was doing 260 kilometres.

Carlton Reid 49:46
You could do that or you had to?

Josh Reid 49:48
I just fancied it.

Josh Reid 49:50
I could have gone further but my lights always died.

Carlton Reid 49:53
Because you got more daylight at this time of year. So that helps

Josh Reid 49:54
and then Tajikistan. It was down to like 60, or 70 kilometres a day was just up and down. At 4600 metres altitude is good and bad food poisoning some days. Yeah. And then Europe is like 180 kilometres around the hundred and 50 to 200 kilometre mark that was doing each day for four months.

Carlton Reid 50:17
So the way you’ve described it is your your base fitness is really good now. Yeah. So you’re looking to go racing again and you’re thinking well, long distance races are not going to faze you really at the moment.

Josh Reid 50:28
Yeah. Well, the world feels much smaller now.

Josh Reid 50:31
You can get to China in four months.

Carlton Reid 50:34
True. So you are now in Utrecht? Yeah. And you’re staying with a friend from school. And then we’re now coming to where I meet you.

Carlton Reid 50:46
Yeah, because you leave Utrecht

Carlton Reid 50:50
In the whole of the Netherlands you’re on bike paths, yeh?,

Josh Reid 50:52
Pretty much. Yeah. There was a time when a mountain biker past me and then took me on some trails just by nature. So then I didn’t have to look at the map. I did have to back in Europe, I had to look at the map a lot more. I took a few lot more wrong turns, whereas in China Central Asia just

Carlton Reid 51:12
One road.

Carlton Reid 51:14
You can’t be wrong. Yeah. Okay, so you’re Utrecht, you leave. We then meet up on this this coastal bike path where, you know, it’s we I can’t miss you. And we’re going to be passing at some point we’re getting closer and closer. We meet up and then we go to

Carlton Reid 51:33
see the Giant factory.

Carlton Reid 51:35
In Lelystad. So basically, you’ve gone all the way from Shanghai, Giant factory to the Giant factory in Lelystad, which is the European hub where they’re making bikes, you know, they they’re shipping the frames. Yeah, sometimes they paint them, but maybe they’re shipping them in and to sell its factories. And that’s not just you know, it’s not jyst a warehouse. It’s actually in fact making bikes.

Josh Reid 52:01
So that’s pretty cool. And then Frank,

Carlton Reid 52:04
the second in command of that place takes us around. And then we he, he lives 25 kilometres away in Almere. And so he then takes us. Yeah. On his nature route and then of course that’s where we are in any crash. Yeah. And bring you down. break your legs. Yeah, that was that was going to be dodgy because it was a cattle grid. Yeah, it was a cattle grid. And he didn’t know is there is I didn’t know

Carlton Reid 52:37
you went into it sideways.

Carlton Reid 52:39
I did my Okay, what you need kit wise we know what I need is a bike with disc brakes. Because within rim brakes, I didn’t really and because a lot of dirt around and you know, I’ve got a road bike on dirt paths and it’s like I had no brakes. I just I almost had to stare that way because I couldn’t have stopped Yeah, that was that was quite dodgy. We are nearly crashed and you would have crashed into me and we were going on a fair old lick weren’t we?

Josh Reid 53:08
Well, you two are both on really light road bikes. With no front panniers.

Carlton Reid 53:14
I’m looking behind, Josh is doing all right.

Josh Reid 53:17
Hanging on, sticking out, really wide, I’ve got two front panniers on the front with20 kilogrammes of weight on a bike. Yeah, I was keeping up but it was an effort.

Carlton Reid 53:30
But at that point we didn’t know where we’re going to sleep – were we going to sleep in Almere because I know you wanted to get to Amsterdam and after we had to get to the to the DFDS ferry, but we didn’t know where we’re going to stay but we just were so close we might as well just keep on pedalling. So we ride through the dark. We just pedal through into Amsterdam and then we did stay in a in a posh hotel. You’re with me, now. Yeah. So I’m not gonna sleep in a hostel anymore. I’m way beyond that. And my bumming out days are over. I’m gonna stay in a posh hotel. So we turn up a posh hotel with two incredibly filthy bikes.

Josh Reid 54:09
Yeah I would have just squealed them straight straight in you you didn’t want to

Carlton Reid 54:14
well they were incredibly filthy yeah they were they were something else.

Josh Reid 54:19
Uou went up to the to ask you for you and take the bikes in and I was still outside freezing shivering and then you come out and say all can’t stay there and they won’t let us bring the bikes and if we just pulled them in nothing It would have been fine.

Carlton Reid 54:31
Yeah, just pay for it and then just walk in with felt the bike and go to the room. Yeah. Okay, so then we are pretty much we’re now in Amsterdam, we’ll say the night and then we’ll try to get back to – and then you get a rainy day. don’t you?

Carlton Reid 54:50
you get a

Josh Reid 54:52
Nice getting to the ferry. It wasn’t very far but it felt further because the bad weather. Yeah, a headwind and not very nice rain. Straight into our face.

Carlton Reid 55:03
Yeah, but then we got the nice ferry trip. And then you met at the ship who who met you at the ship [in Newcastle]?

Josh Reid 55:09
My mother. My grandparents.

Carlton Reid 55:12
Yeah. And then then we cycle so your mum cycled out to see us? Yep. And we then cycle back and then what do you what do you do? You didn’t you didn’t come straight back with us, did you?

Josh Reid 55:24
I went to the bike shop.

Carlton Reid 55:26
Which bike shop?

Josh Reid 55:27
The Backyard bike shop.

Carlton Reid 55:29
And that’s the one under the Tyne bridge, yeah? So what you’re doing there

Josh Reid 55:32
I went to see Nick and had a good chat is on the way home so I may as well

Carlton Reid 55:38
And then and then basically when your way home and what have you done since you’ve been back at home?

Josh Reid 55:47
Broke a bike, got a massage.

Carlton Reid 55:51
Yeah.

Josh Reid 55:53
When it’s on is it

Carlton Reid 55:57
right now because I mean, you just bought around not doing a great deal is that is that something you want to do just like to chill out to like do nothing for a while or you’re itching to get away again What?

Josh Reid 56:10
Well, I’m in the process of entering for the Transcontinental, whether I get in or not is another thing.

Carlton Reid 56:16
So describe what that is.

Josh Reid 56:17
It’s a bikepacking race across Europe, basically self supported and you just go as fast as you can. But I definitely need better lights for that, and a dynamo.

Carlton Reid 56:30
So I know when I came back from my trips, I definitely had itchy feet. Do you do you still feel like that you want to be still moving?

Josh Reid 56:38
There’s definitely places I still want to go.

Josh Reid 56:40
I want to go racing and a bit.

Carlton Reid 56:42
So you may get into the Transcontinental, when is that?

Josh Reid 56:44
It’s and July August. So we just to two or three weeks of just riding nonstop.

Carlton Reid 56:52
Again bivvying or do people go in B&B’s for that?

Josh Reid 56:55
Bivvies. Everybody bivvies. I’m not sure about the stragglers but the top five will be in bivvies.

Carlton Reid 57:03
So basically you just ride until you …?

Josh Reid 57:06
yeah, it’s self-supported. Yeah. You ride until he can’t ride no more, sleep for two hours and then you continue riding.

Carlton Reid 57:13
So you have got this plan for the transcontinental. Yeah.

Carlton Reid 57:19
Potentially if you get it if you get it and it’s a ballot?

Josh Reid 57:23
It’s like it’s like, highly contested, they choose.

Carlton Reid 57:28
But you know, because you’re 22 and said we’re going to stress it this is a pretty young age to be doing what you’ve been doing.

Josh Reid 57:35
Yeah, people ultra-endurance tend to be a bit older. But yeah, it’s something I like racing and I like bike touring so Transcontinental is right up my street.

Carlton Reid 57:47
Okay, so that’s coming up in the in the summer if you get into that good luck with that. When you were I was certainly posting on Twitter, your your exploits and your videos and stuff. And so the Leicester cycling campaign said you must come and give a talk. So you’ve got a talk booked down there. some point, you’ve also got a talk coming up.

Josh Reid 58:11
Yeah. For the Tyne

Carlton Reid 58:13
time trial awards.

Carlton Reid 58:15
Because you’re not really done that before, have you?

Josh Reid 58:17
I’m going to be more nervous talking in front of people than II was riding along next to Afghanistan for 300 kilometres.

Carlton Reid 58:23
Thanks to Josh Reid there. The videos we mentioned can be found on YouTube and I link to them on the show notes at the

Carlton Reid 58:31
-spokesman.com.

Carlton Reid 58:34
I’ll also link to Josh’s Instagram photos, he’s joshreids on that platform, which is Josh R E I D S.

Unknown Speaker 58:46
I’m really proud of his ride

Carlton Reid 58:47
and loving the fact that he’s sort of following in my wheel tracks. He’s now spent a couple of years riding and travelling and working abroad as I did back in the

Carlton Reid 58:58
ahem – 1980s

Carlton Reid 59:01
This has been show 231 of the spokesmen cycling podcast. The next couple of shows will be one on one interviews with American cycle advocate and academics. Meanwhile, get out there and ride!

Chinese cycle tourist 59:44
[Chinese audio …]

Chinese cycle tourist 59:49
That’s my point and I want to go to England one day to find you. It sounds good. Okay, give me five. Okay. Now okay. Hope to see you, Josh.