Let’s Not Be Stupid With Snot Rockets

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The Spokesmen Cycling Podcast (VIDEO SPECIAL)

EPISODE 252: Let’s Not Be Stupid With Snot Rockets

Monday 3rd August 2020

SPONSOR: Jenson USA

HOSTS: Carlton Reid & David Bernstein

GUEST: Jim Moss

TOPICS: We talk about Strade Bianche, the bike boom, all things Covid-19, the likelihood of the Tour de France being staged. And this show is also available as a video on YouTube.

MACHINE TRANSCRIPT

Carlton Reid 0:13
Welcome to episode 252 of the Spokesmen Cycling Podcast. This show was engineered on Monday 3rd August 2020

David Bernstein 0:24
The Spokesmen cycling roundtable 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 www.Fredcast.com. I’m one of the hosts and producers of the Spokesmen cycling roundtable podcast for shownotes links and all sorts of other information please visit our website at www.the-spokesmen.com. And now, here are the spokesmen.

Carlton Reid 1:08
Hi there I’m Carlton Reid and for today’s special episode with my co-host David Bernstein and show regular attorney Jim Moss we recorded with our webcams. You’re getting the audio only version of the show but if you want to see us in the flesh then the full episode is on Youtube. Search for it in the Youtube app or check out the embed on the-spokesmen.com We had a few issues with Jim’s audio, which I have fixed as best I can. For the next video session he’s gonna upgrade his microphone set-up. And you could be on the show too because the service we’re using — Riverside.fm — allows for video call-ins from show listeners or, in this case, show watchers. Notification of when we’re going to be throwing open the show to anybody we like the look of will be on our Twitter pages so for me that’s carltonreid all one word Naturally, you’ll have to have a Zoom-style set-up with a webcam, external mic and headphones. Come on the show, ask us questions, give us your points of view, we’d love to have you on board. It’s bound to be a tech nightmare but so long as you’re fully clothed and don’t have too many dogs barking in the background we’ll work through that. OK, let’s get into today’s episode show. We talk about Strade Bianche, the bike boom, all things Covid-19, the likelihood of the Tour de France being staged.

Carlton Reid 3:00
And welcome to Episode 242, no 252 of the spokesmen cycling podcast and it’s actually the spokesmen cycling roundtable podcast or triangular podcast anyway, because I have got two guests with me two regular guests with me today and I’m looking at the camera here, but down on my monitor here, I can see them. So I can see David Bernstein and I can see Jim moss. Hi, guys.

David Bernstein 3:34
Hello, how’s it going, Carlton?

Carlton Reid 3:37
It’s going, it’s going good. Now for people who are going to be getting this in the normal way as in via iTunes, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts and you’re getting the audio, then doing this with vision, but we’re not doing this with zoo. We’re doing it with a programme called Riverside. so new to everybody would be great. Having an internet of vision it’s been it’s been a nightmare so far to tell the truth. Looking at we’re gonna persevere we’re gonna we’re gonna first of all, we’re going to talk about what we haven’t talked together have we? We haven’t talked together together for some months so we haven’t talked about the amazingly horrible pandemic and what it’s done to our our lives. So So David, I’ll start with you because I can actually see you because Jim’s actually disappeared. Even I’m sure he’s there. What what, how are you? What are you doing? Are you have you been at home even shielding? What do you mean? What’s happening?

Carlton Reid 4:40
Yeah, so I think much like everybody out Well, first of all, knock on wood. We’ve all been safe and healthy and nobody here has gotten the dreaded so we’re happy about that. And I I know it’s been the same for you despite, you know, people in the medical profession in your life, so So it’s been it’s been interesting, but now I’ve got, Wow, my adult kids are back home working from home full time. I’m working from home. My wife is working from home. And as everybody as everybody knows, I normally travel on multiple planes a week. I haven’t seen I haven’t seen an aeroplane up close since March the second.

Carlton Reid 5:21
And Is that good? Is that good? Have you enjoyed yes and no.

Carlton Reid 5:25
Yes, and no, I mean, you know, my business requires for the most part that I visit with my clients. And so it’s difficult not to be on site with my clients. So I’m doing a lot remotely. I’m doing a lot of webinars and seminars and zoom calls sitting right here, not wearing a cycling t shirt usually but you know, for during the week, but this is I’m kind of planted here. Otherwise, you know, I think like the rest of the world doing more cycling, which has been great. My younger daughter, who some of the Fred cast listeners may remember from you And years ago, when we wrote across California together, she bought herself a new road bike, and she’s become a cyclist. So that’s cool. And I would say that as far as cycling, I would say my wife and I are in the best cycling shape we’ve we’ve been in in years. So yeah, so that’s great. And I know that it’s been really good for the bike industry. And maybe we’ll talk about that. I’m sure Jim may have some comments about that. But yeah, overall, we’re doing fine. And I think like the rest of the world looking forward to a vaccine so that we can all go back to our normal lives. But otherwise, yeah, all as well.

Carlton Reid 6:39
Jim, are you in the best cycling shape of your life?

Jim Moss 6:44
I mean, not like when I was 20 years younger, but yeah, getting good mountain. Not as good. I’m not climbing well this year, but I’m also trying a lot harder stuff. Now that Think about it. I mean, I did a mountain bike run a couple weeks ago that was like 14 Square swear words per every 10 foot of distance so they they brought in concrete caissons to keep the trail from disappearing from road I’m happy I’m happy on the road I’m climbing a lot more which was something you have to learn how to do in Colorado or you don’t right at all. Life is good where Dale and I are both healthy. The dogs are demanding more time since we’re both here constantly got one here in the studio

Jim Moss 7:35
checking for security breaches.

Jim Moss 7:39
But life is good. I’ve been working from home for 18 years so there’s nothing new here for me. But the it’s it’s exciting. I’m getting a little batty you know, just having no real outside contact. And zoom is not outside contact and mostly because you know, I’ve so many education courses I’m taking I’m just like Listening a lot to conversations where I’m not important. And so, I set that on one computer, I keep working on my other. But life is good. You know, we’re, I got all of most of my clients to close their summer camps. I’ve not had any summer camp disasters, which in the United States are going to, it’s going to be the litigation nightmare. Whenever season closed, of course, that became a monster. You spend $120,000 to go climb a mountain and then the country closes and you lose your money.

Jim Moss 8:38
And then the bike industry bike industry is just going nuts.

Jim Moss 8:42
To the point that not only can you not find bicycles to sell, but you can’t find tires. 2018 tires? Yeah, yeah. 26 inch tires have disappeared. Everybody is bringing everything out of the market. I’ve got one guy who A cycle shop is driving around Saturdays to garage sales, to learn for bikes that they can buy and refurbish and sell in the shop. The storerooms have all the shops I visited or empty or they’re filled with bikes that need repaired because there’s no more room in the back to store the repaired bikes. So the cycling industry is just in habit and you’re seeing people everywhere. I mean, it’s it’s almost as bad as skiing nowadays on our on our bike passes. It’s I call skiing, slalom skiing, because you’re, you know, you’re going around the beginners all the time. And that’s what’s what Cycling is. At one day, last week, I saw six African Americans cycling, which is fantastic. I mean, normally in the past, if you saw one a week, it was amazing.

Jim Moss 9:49
And electric bikes are now everywhere.

Jim Moss 9:54
It did a ride, a mountain bike ride, and I just had one section going uphill kick my butt. popping up 18 inches and then manoeuvre the handlebars between two trees. And by the time we got done the bikes like one place I’m laying wrapped around a tree, you know and get up and get organised and two older guys came flying through there and I was like

Jim Moss 10:18
and then I noticed that electric bikes so I laughed so

Carlton Reid 10:22
that you know that the problem of not being able to find bikes is one I mean, the mainstream media has caught on to I’ve seen it in a number of, of major newspapers in the last two weeks. I even called my local mobile bike repair guy just wanted a couple of tuneups, and he’s like damn six weeks out

David Bernstein 10:45
September

Carlton Reid 10:46
Yeah, I’m Yeah, it was. It was crazy, Carlton, how are you guys doing?

Carlton Reid 10:53
We’re doing okay. I mean, I’d like to say that I’ve I’m doing a more cycling than I have been but I I’m not really I’m doing some cycling, but roughly the same as I was probably doing before. I haven’t haven’t decreased it and I haven’t increased it, but we’re all healthy. And there’s five of us like you, David. There’s now five of us. Our full house here, including the dogs at six. So wet, wet, wet, wet, hot, hearty, hail and healthy. So we’re fine. Thank you. So

Carlton Reid 11:26
if anybody’s if anybody’s followed your social media, they know that you’ve had the opportunity to do something that we haven’t. You travelled.

Carlton Reid 11:37
You can’t go so Yes, I have. David, thank you. I have been to Switzerland, where the World Championships are going to be held in theory touchwood there’s no one around here but touchwood the World Championship UCI road World Championships will be held in September so I was able to take a train from my home in Newcastle and it was is eight o’clock in the morning and I got to VBA in Switzerland just before midnight. So it’s a long, you know, many, many connections, but I got that I didn’t have to fly, you know, because flying at the moment, I wouldn’t be very uncomfortable I would be not comfortable with train, you know, on in the UK at least. And in the Euro star train, your The seats are blocked off. So nobody can sit next to you. You’ve got your mask on yet that’s obligatory, but nobody can sit anywhere near you. Which is bad for the train companies because they can’t sell all their tickets. But it’s good for the passengers in that all of a sudden you’ve got first class rail service, you’ve got as much room as you could possibly want. So I went to Switzerland for that. Fantastic three days of riding. So I guess I am doing a bit more writing when I get to go to Switzerland. But normally No, no, I’m not doing as much as I would be. Well, it’s it’s about privileged that we are able to get out but that that might change because our our our number is creeping back up again. So we might come back into into lockdown completely. So you’re right, everybody that the bike industries appears to be booming and I’m saying appears to be because the stats aren’t in. We haven’t got all the stats, all we’ve got so far is anecdotes and bike shops selling out of stock as I tell journalists who when they bring me up and asked me these sorts of things, I’d say look, it’s fantastic that appears, we’re booming. But you actually look at the actual figures of say major stores like hallford they’re not doing that fantastic. They’re doing like maybe one 2% up it’s not like doubling of a market. It’s we need to see the figures is what I’m trying to say is we need to find out what has actually happened because if everybody sold out of bikes that’s almost And that’s just because the bike trade isn’t very good at the moment. It’s been eight nine years of being in the doldrums. So that biker hasn’t been ordering bikes for a long time. So we’ve been going very low stock levels for a long time and bike shops, no longer stock bikes, all these different factors would say, Well, of course we’ll sell a bikes instantly, because there’s no bikes in shops. Anyway. So we need to work out. Has this actually been a genuine boom, and my book, which is very pleasantly called bike boom, wrote that a few years ago that’s sold out. You can’t buy that anywhere at the moment. So clearly, people have been searching for bike boom and actually found the this book, but of course, that was the 1970s bike boom, which was a genuine bike because that lasted for four years. And they were genuinely they you know, they went from, you know, like 7 million in the US per year selling bikes. To 14 million bikes per year so that was a genuine doubling of the market and I would hazard a guess that we’re not actually in that kind of zone with the bike industry at the moment it’s just a lot of it is just artificial in that there’s just not that much stock there. Anyway, let’s get away from the bike boom and and, and and talk about racing is back. David, did you watch it yesterday? There’s got to be funky. It’s not even a classic in many respects. It’s quite a new race. But did you watch and what did you think about it?

Carlton Reid 15:36
I didn’t watch it. I was writing it’s very hot here right now. So I got it either. Right early in the morning or late late late late late in the afternoon. So no, I was out doing a 30 some odd mile ride yesterday but it was fun. Here’s what was the fun thing. It was fun watching Twitter. And and, and, and it was it was it was as if the cycling fans came out of hibernation. And you know, spring had arrived and the sun was shining, and the clouds had parted and they were finally able to chase after whatever live feeds that they could find before the live feeds got shut down to go to the next one. But I read accounts have it and from what I know it’s a it’s a I was gonna say a bad word. It’s a really hard race. And have

Carlton Reid 16:24
you gone on record somewhere, David? store DDL? No. It’s a real shame because it was a it was a beautiful race. It was really really scenically. I mean, I can imagine if because I’ll just paint a picture here is very, very dusty. Obviously the starday road Yankee White is the white roads of this area, near Sienna, and it was very, very dusty. So the motorbikes which were actually kicking up all the dust, the photographers on the back of those will that hatch to have some amazing shots of basically riders in pure dust. You can see that from the TV shot so the print magazines are gonna have some amazing shots of this race Jim Did you did you watch it? Did you see pictures of it?

Jim Moss 17:08
No. No So

Carlton Reid 17:12
what is this cycling podcast and what make a video again let’s let’s let’s talk about the races Did you watch it? No

Carlton Reid 17:26
You weren’t you know you were you were talking about the photographer’s having some great shots and I know Brian, you know our friend from Velo Images. He Yeah, he’s got this he had this series It was like before and after the peloton. It was like, This is what the guys look like when they go sign in. And then it was this is what they look like when they finish the race. And I can imagine if he did that yesterday, the photos that he would have taken and I’ve seen some of the shots it looks it looks amazing. But to see you know, what was it a large percentage of the peloton not finishing the race because it’s the It’s that difficult. And I and I do know that it’s a hilly area. I mean, cn is known as a hill town. So it’s it’s just a gorgeous place to ride through. I was interested to see this is where we’ve all become public health officials. I was interested from, you know, sort of a health perspective. How do you get because I’m, when I’m cycling, I’m cycling with my family. But like yesterday, I saw a whole team go by. There were probably eight of them in a paceline. And of course, this is in the United States where we have these crazy surges. And I thought to myself, well that that considering our new focus on hygiene, I thought, well, that doesn’t look safe. And then I start to think about the pro peloton and I am and you know, Carlton, we’ve got a lot of American sports repeat re beginning restarting here baseballs got problems where you know they’ve got several teams who basically have said well we can’t play because we’ve had too many positives soccer had issues thankfully basketball knock on wood because of the way that they’ve they’ve put everybody into this bubble they’re not but there’s no bubbles in professional cycling and if i think i think Israel What do they call that Israel startup nation had had an issue with it with a positive test. And and so I just get concerned about all these guys in this tight group breathing heavily being close together and I love cycling, but it also at the moment, I look at it and sort of gives me the willies.

Carlton Reid 19:48
I was riding in in the pack. So there’s there’s about eight riders out in Switzerland. And there was this, what you call across there in America, the snot rockets.

David Bernstein 20:01
Okay, we call it that do

Carlton Reid 20:03
you call it that Okay, so that’s not right and I’m thinking I I you should be like 20 miles ahead of me to do us not rocket at the moment that is just not on but it’s just it’s just natural for people to do that sort of thing without thinking he actually did it a few times that’s that was really annoying touchwood I haven’t come down with anything so he didn’t have anything but those sort of things are gonna be coming up in in if people going out like with your friends you can say something but if you’re racing with somebody, you’re not going to be able to say anything said these sort of you know, you pass bodily fluids when when you’re riding along at 30 miles an hour. People might not know this, but you pass bodily fluids so

Carlton Reid 20:46
disgusting. To use your term does this not rocket become an offensive tactic? Where in in the peloton and you do that so that you maybe you can get a little bit of distance and gain an advantage?

Carlton Reid 20:59
You would definitely gain advantage, you can do that and then sprint away

Jim Moss 21:03
until they take it in. It’d be an advantage until they catch and beat the living crap out of you.

Carlton Reid 21:10
Or fine you, you know, 100 Swiss francs or something. Yeah.

Carlton Reid 21:15
So that brings me on to then if we do we think the Tour de France is going to go on. Oh,

Carlton Reid 21:21
wow, he was just right there. Why, Jim?

Jim Moss 21:25
Because that’s all I’ve been doing now for three months is studying this disease. And if you believe that you can run an event and not kill somebody, or permanently, permanently cause damage to thousands of people. You’re an idiot. In Colorado, we found out that if you catch COVID-19 and you are between the ages of 20 and 40, you have a 20% higher chance of having a stroke. Wow, okay. Yes, there’s all sorts of these numbers that are coming out on these limits. Various studies that have been reported yet that I’m, you know, finding all the time. There’s another study that shows that it causes permanent damage in most people, not only to their lungs, but to the hearts, their brains, their livers and kidneys. The autopsies that they are doing on some of the deceased are showing massive clotting problems throughout their entire bodies. Gail has a new job, she’s selling PvP, everyone needs a truckload of mass or, or whatever, let me know. And in fact, a couple friends of mine from the cycling industry, of course own Chinese companies just switched him over and they’re you know, she’s going great guns with them, but the it’s just scary. My sister, this is even scaring my sister runs 29 nursing homes. She had two instances of the disease in our nursing homes one that a medical emergency they sent the patient to the hospital. The patient at the hospital got the disease but she was notified by the hospital on the way back and they were to quarantine that patient. She survived. She my sister immediately locks down the nursing homes. When somebody comes in therapist doctor employee, their temperature was taken medical history was checked that a therapists come in medical was okay. temperature was normal at 8am. At 2pm. The therapist says I’m not feeling well. temperature was one on one and climbing. She had worked with five patients. She had talked to six people all 11 got the disease to die.

Jim Moss 23:38
It is not something to play around with.

Carlton Reid 23:41
But is is it? Are you is your concern for the peloton or is your concern for potential

Carlton Reid 23:51
for both, it doesn’t matter.

Jim Moss 23:55
We, you know, obviously when I cycle I breathe hard. In fact, it’s very Number one thing on my resume that I do well and so you’re close to the race you cannot think about if you’re doing snot rockets when you ride Are you not going to get close to the riders of spectator? The whole concept of bicycle racing is you know, rear wheel, the front wheel, your breathing whatever the guy xx alien in front of you no matter what. One person in the peloton is going to pass it to everybody else. One spectator on the side of the road to pass it to the peloton.

Carlton Reid 24:35
But Jim, they think they run a race yesterday. Apparently successfully. So might that not be a test and I you just thinking because it’s bigger, the Tour de France then that’s the reason it can’t go on.

Jim Moss 24:51
I think that in two or three days we’ll find out of that race was successful.

Carlton Reid 24:56
Yeah, true, now,

Jim Moss 24:58
in one in two we made No Was there any spectators at that race? You know,

Carlton Reid 25:04
that when a huge number they would definitely stay away.

Jim Moss 25:07
So we may not know for ever maybe if a spectator got sick from it we and you could you can pass the disease and not have the symptoms you can you can carry the virus and not be sick. So we may never know it’s in and the issue is, is we don’t know enough about it to make that decision. We don’t know if you’re going to live or die. I was talking to a doctor, an ER doc in New York City. He says yeah, one of the things that you’re saying diabetics, and if you’re overweight, this is one of the things that we’re not announcing but is finding out is true if you’re an alcoholic. If you intake too much alcohol your chances of dying of this disease are greatly increased.

Carlton Reid 25:52
But, but we have to think right that the peloton, alcoholics that they

Jim Moss 25:59
spectator Are you? Yeah, sure.

Carlton Reid 26:09
Look, I think here’s the here’s, here’s, here’s the thing, and it’s the same again pick a sport. Sport is big business. Sport means billions of pounds, dollars, euros, whatever it is. And I think that if you are whether whether you’re ASO, the producers of the Tour de France, or you are an owner of an NFL franchise, or you are the manager of a football team, that’s football as in soccer. You’re watching your business suffer as as so many people are and and these are huge businesses. And I my opinion is that we that the Tour de France will start I don’t know whether or not the Tour de France will finish. And that’s that’s a concern. And what’s what’s, let’s look at it from a cycling fans perspective. Forget the business for a moment. As we saw yesterday, I told you there was like a reawakening on Twitter, which was cool. Cycling fans are hungry to watch cycling and we can talk and I’d love to about these virtual races, but cycling fans want the Tour de France to happen and they miss it. I think that if if I think French cycling fans want to see the Tour de France and so yeah, I think it’s going to start I just don’t know whether or not it will finish and I don’t know, I haven’t. I don’t know how they do either of you know, they released their protocols for what their plans are for keeping the peloton and the spectator say, I haven’t

David Bernstein 27:55
seen them.

Carlton Reid 27:57
I haven’t seen any. I mean, I’m in like registered media so I’ve been getting emails, so they have been talking about how journalists can can lessen their impact. And of course, they they cancelled the attap. Right? You know, which would have been, what 30 50,000 riders coming in from all over the world. That’s not that’s so they’ve cancelled, like the major international event where people are coming in from from every corner of the world. But I guess their thinking will we can closely monitor from now. The riders and the teams, so they’re this slightly bubble eyes, you know, it’s not as much of a bubble as basketball, but they can they can monitor them, you know, they’re testing and a great deal, etc, etc. So I assume that’s what they’re thinking is, we can monitor these guys. We can’t monitor 50,000 people coming in. But we can monitor a relatively small number of teams right? And and support staff. But that begs the question, of course, if you can do them, but what about the spectators? You’ve got no idea how many spectators they’re going to be and whether they’re gonna associate distance, but I think

Carlton Reid 29:12
I think it’s going to depend sorry to him, but I think I think it’s gonna depend on what happens because they’re still doing the donate the criterium du Dauphine. And I think that it depends on what happens there. To me, it’s like the dolphy. Ne is the rehearsal. And it always is right for the Tour de France. But this year, I think it’s not just for the race itself, but for whatever the safety and protective measures that they’re going to put in place for the fans and for the cyclists, and I think that they may learn a lot from the dopey name, and then apply that eventually to the tour. Sorry, Jim. I interrupted. No,

Jim Moss 29:46
I understand. I just First of all, I don’t even think it’s professional sports teams that are bubbling with the new term or not, you know, interacting with anybody or succeeding at that. I mean, the Marlins in baseball Excellent proof for the 21 of their players now tested positive. The basketball players in their bubbles in their hotels in Orlando are still getting together at night. You know, and partying and having a good time. The there’s a trade association here in the United States for camps that created this bubble philosophy, keep the kids in small groups, it’s going to work. All these camps are financially on the edge said we’re going to open up. We got an example here in Colorado where three days after the staff came in, they close the Camp 50 of the staff members were put up in individual hotel rooms in a hotel for two weeks. There’s a camp in Georgia just got reported by the CDC 500 kids in Camp 250 cases of the disease in one week. You know, and and, and then we go spread it and so you get back from camp and Grandmother hugs, grand son, granddaughter, whatever it is. That’s no difference in cycling, we leave the side of the road. You know where we’ve cheer was there for three hours, you’re not going to talk to the person six foot away. And when you talk to somebody long enough, do you notice you’re getting closer? So one of the things that I’ve constantly had to think about is I’m always stepping backwards because the conversations were coming together. Okay, and I’m okay, step back, step back, step back. I mean, I’m constantly stepping backwards is one of the notice that is so side of the road, it’s just going to spread like wildfire. wildfire weather jumps across the barrier to the peloton, or from the peloton back to the spectators. Who knows. Now,

Carlton Reid 31:47
so Jim, can I just be different questions? So it’s not whether you think it’ll go on? I was gonna put it on it. Do you think they ought to put it on?

Jim Moss 31:58
No. Okay. We know

Carlton Reid 32:02
That’s that sounds that where you’re coming from, you’re getting all the negatives. So clearly you think they shouldn’t put it on?

Jim Moss 32:08
Yeah, I miss it. I mean,

Jim Moss 32:11
some theories, one of the big theories a couple of the lung specialists are looking at is that exercise may keep you from getting the virus using your lungs to the maximum capacity, which is the excuse I’m using to go out and put myself at risk. And Gail, you know, is that by cycling, I’m using my lungs. And I have yet to see any cyclists that I know of, or people who are serious exercise fanatics get the disease. Unfortunately, I know an attorney in Salt Lake City, who is very serious runner, and he got the disease in March, I think in April. And actually, he says that he at even I think it was April and now here we are August. He says he’s not sure he’ll ever be able to do the kind of running in the kind of distance that he used to do so. So I think I think, you know, I don’t want to I don’t want people to think that just because you’re cyclists, you’re not going to get it. Any of it. I didn’t get it right like that at all. Yeah, right. Right. You’re not giving out a medical advice here. We’re Oh God. Oh, bad.

Carlton Reid 33:23
Yeah, we give out bad cycling advice. So you know,

Jim Moss 33:29
screw up.

Carlton Reid 33:30
Yeah, Carlton. I’m like, I’m like, Jim. I don’t think that they, I mean, I want to see the tour thoughts. But I don’t think that they should. I want to say that, at least from my perspective, and I think I’m speaking for for you guys, too, you know, Look, dear listeners, this is these aren’t. From my perspective, these aren’t political statements that we’re making and unfortunately, You know this, this becomes political on either side. The politicisation of a pandemic is just a very strange thing to me. So I just want you to know, these aren’t these are our These are our feelings about sport, and these are our feelings about health, and the health and welfare of the people that we like to follow those athletes, and also the people like us, you know, we’ve all stood at those barriers, watching races, whether that’s in the UK, or in Colorado, or Utah or France or wherever or Israel. And, and, you know, you stand at those barriers and you are very close to other people. And, and these are the kinds of situations in which any kind of an illness can be passed. And when we’re talking about a serious illness that can have that can result in death or can have lifelong issues. It’s not a political conversation, then it’s it’s one about caring for fellow

Carlton Reid 34:58
humans. So one thing so yeah, forget, forget the spectators, if you can have. So it’s like almost like the soccer thing with football where you’ve got stadiums without any spectators. And so if you could organise it, that you had the Tour de France or you have any of these major races, but you had either no or very few spectators. So the question is, I’m rephrasing the question or asking the question again, would you then be happy with the race to be on? Or is it? Is it still no, it’ll still be back to the athletes?

Carlton Reid 35:34
I don’t think they’re there. I don’t think the plan is to put the cyclists in a bubble. The plan is, you know, to put in extra protocols at their hotels and those kinds of things, but they’re not putting them in a bubble in as we’ve seen elsewhere, without a bubble. The possibility goes up, the probability goes up. And so and so and seriously, how are you going to keep French fans off the roads? You know, gendarme there’s not enough gendarmes in France to keep the fans off the roads. So so we’ve got the fan problem. We’ve got the peloton problem. So do your question. Do I think they should do I think from a safety? No, they shouldn’t. Even even with your hypothetical.

Jim Moss 36:17
The reason why I get media badges is so I can get closer.

David Bernstein 36:22
Yeah, right, right.

Jim Moss 36:25
I don’t want to be on the one side of the fence. I want to be on the inside. I want to see the spokes go by, you know. Mm hmm. You know, that’s what makes bicycle racing. So phenomenal. Crap. If you get eight people together in Denver, and they’re riding together, there’s three people standing on the sidelines cheering it’s a bicycle race. Right? You get four friends together. There’s always a race to the top of the hill, and or the county sign or whatever, right? Yeah, exactly. There’s always a race and we know where they are. pillar to post Lookout Mountain here in Gold, right? You leave the pillar and you stop the timer at the post. And and I’m still trying to get mine so it measures in minutes rather than hours. But it’s what we do. It’s what cycle would put cycle racing so far add up, in my opinion, all the other sports because the people can reach out and touch and get in trouble and they do. The cyclists. You can’t do I mean, maybe la you can get that close to the sweat falls on you in a basketball game but not in baseball, not in football, only in cycling other others fans right next to the cyclists when they’re playing.

Carlton Reid 37:42
Hmm, this is why I thought when I went on this trip to Switzerland, I think they’ve been very optimistic and thinking that this this race will go ahead. I mean, they showed us all the protocols that are taking, gonna be taking place all the safety measures or the barriers that they’re gonna be putting on where Normally, there wouldn’t be barriers for the spectators on the hill sections, etc, etc. But it really won’t take that many people coming down with it before before the world championships to happen for it to collapse a world championship. So at the turn of France or the dolphin a, I mean, well, how many how many riders will it take 110 support staff? How many will it take for them think right? No, no all races and in that how good Switzerland has prepared and Switzerland is very, very low. Our numbers low it’s the best place in the world. Big Data has shown that Switzerland is actually the best place in the world. However, if the tour of France is cancelled, then I can’t see that race going on in Switzerland no matter how many measures they put in place, and no matter how many, or how low the our rate is in Switzerland right now. It’s gonna be a cascading effect, isn’t it? So they’re very optimistic to get me and other journalists across there. They want to rescue their, their tourist season they want people to come I just think that is so optimistic to expect this these events to carry on so I’m torn on with the should carry them on so I’m not with you, David or Jim. They shouldn’t carry them on. I am torn on whether they will go on so when when I was invited to the attap and you know, many, many months ago that got cancelled. I put it up my mind. I was then about 10 days ago, I was invited to the tap again. I did not think Rob better get some training in here. I’m going to be a tap. I’m still thinking, no, I don’t think the hotel will will be on and lo and behold what is now about four days ago. You know, they’ve agreed that it’s Not gonna go on. So yeah, I don’t think it’s gonna happen. But I’d love to ask Jim I said I’d love to see it happen. It’s gonna happen.

David Bernstein 40:08
And you have the foresight of having medical knowledge in your household. Right? You’re getting better information than 99% of the world is when you made that decision. You’re trying to interpret

David Bernstein 40:22
what’s going on?

Carlton Reid 40:24
Well, my doctor wife actually was quite worried about me going to Switzerland. And it was only when I was there, and you’re on the ground and you see all the measures and you see how normal it is in Switzerland. You know, you’re wearing a mask on public transport, but restaurants, everything is open, everything is fine. And there is no massive cases in Switzerland. It’s it’s almost back to normal. And they had days early. So the guy I was riding with the guide. He had it he said 70% of verbiage. Residents probably had it. And then what they did is they they tackled it hard, very, very early and almost eradicated it. Whereas most other countries and I’m including US and the UK in this, were far more lackadaisical, didn’t stamp on it hard. And we are now suffering the repercussions from that. Now,

Jim Moss 41:24
I have a friend in New Zealand who has been sending me and posting things about skiing in New Zealand, New Zealand did the same thing they stamped on the heart and the ski resorts are full. And everyone’s having a good time. When you they’re going to eventually close the ports and close the airports because that’s where the disease is coming from.

Carlton Reid 41:43
Yeah, so let me let me ask you guys a question. I brought it up before and that is these virtual races. You know, the ones for the pros are doing races on Zwift and things like that. Did you guys want, Carlton’s making a face? Did you guys watch?

Carlton Reid 41:57
No Gotta be hardcore. Really, really hardcore to get a kick out of that? No. Yeah, the answer is no. And you David,

Carlton Reid 42:10
no. But listen, listen, there’s people No, no, no not at all. And I’m not a fan of swift we can talk about that another time but but you know, there are people who watch others play just regular video games, you know, whether it’s Call of Duty or, or whatever. So, it’s the same thing, right? It’s like watching somebody play a video game except they’re in their basement sweating away trying to, you know, beat the other guy to the volcano in the swift Island or something. People

Jim Moss 42:35
always ask me why I don’t go watching professional sports. I mean, Denver has every professional sports team that there is and more than any other city in the United States and I’ve seen the Broncos once, the Rockies once and the nuggets once and I’m done. You know, once a decade, I guess these professional sports and people ask me that because everyone wears orange and blue and everyone wears Whatever I said was just like sex. I’d rather participate personally, there’s

Carlton Reid 43:07
there’s so many good show titles in this show, Carlton, I don’t know how you’re gonna choose but okay.

Carlton Reid 43:13
Now I’m just visualising it and

Jim Moss 43:16
I need it.

Carlton Reid 43:20
So it’s okay. You’re in the best shape of your life. Yeah, fine.

Carlton Reid 43:24
Bad. You know, you know on those lines I mean, we were talking about about bikes. You know, who has done incredibly well during this pandemic with their bikes? peloton.

Carlton Reid 43:38
Oh, yeah, so

Carlton Reid 43:40
they’re completely sold out. Yeah. And, and, you know, I poopoo that I say, Oh, that’s not real cycling. You know, I took my real my real bike up to a trainer. But you know, they’ve done very, very well. And that’s, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s a little bit like swift and Some ways, but they’ve done yeah. Wouldn’t you like?

Carlton Reid 44:04
Yeah, they kind of benefited from people ridiculing it something wrong a few months before the pandemic started. So it’s almost like perfect PR for them. It ramped up the awareness of this thing. pandemic starts lockdown starts boom. That’s all you can do. It’s amazing. He couldn’t have planned it better in fact, forget China virus it’s pretty peloton by manufacture this in our lab.

Jim Moss 44:34
No, it was manufactured by dogs.

Jim Moss 44:38
Dogs created the virus think about Oh, yeah.

Carlton Reid 44:44
So my dog has never had so many walks in his life.

Carlton Reid 44:48
Oh, yeah. Well, this is just as crazy as demon sperm, isn’t it? So come on. This is just

Jim Moss 44:54
as easy as bad. There’s so study of the day that estimated 60% of all gyms. fitness facilities will not reopen. Not because they’re not going to survive but because people have switched their training to in home, and they all bought weights, they all bought whatever they need. When you see the new gym that’s a mirror, you put it on your wall and it’s like, peloton but you lift weights with other people that saw this unfold. I saw on Forbes. Yeah. And that’s the next thing that the studies are showing up as who’s not going to open up to this. How many retail stores 40% of nonprofits are going to go under. You know, we’re going to have a major economic repercussion worldwide is going to last for decades.

Carlton Reid 45:42
Oh yeah, this is 10, 20, 30 years of impact.

Jim Moss 45:46
Honestly, I don’t care if ASO has a bad year. I care about whether or not my neighbours Do you know, yeah, in that case, let’s not be stupid.

Carlton Reid 45:59
There’s your Show title. Let’s not be stupid.

Jim Moss 46:04
Well, what about the sale of Buffs? I got my mask on back to writing got my

Carlton Reid 46:09
mask. That’s what I do now. Actually, I got one so I got one of those. Yet when I did the what’s the granfondo in Italy?

David Bernstein 46:21
Hang on,

Carlton Reid 46:23
though right now the Maratona. Okay. Yeah, when I did the Maratona they that’s so stupid. I do look at my jersey on the wall. They gave me a great Buff, and yeah, I wear that when I ride. And then if I need to, I just pull it up over my face. It’s great. And by the way, if it’s cold morning, it keeps your neck warm. It’s excellent.

Carlton Reid 46:41
Which is when I was working that race yesterday. There was a few teams Trek Segafredo had a team mask. And then lots of the other teams Didn’t they were just wearing surgical mask and you thinking these guys are paid to play logos on jerseys cap Everything and they haven’t done team masks Are they crazy? You just go to the interview afterwards and you put on your mask and and and why are they having said all team fans should be sporting their favourite teams masks if you’re a football fan if you’re a cycling fan, you should be getting your, your your team’s fit mask and there just doesn’t seem that many available and I’m very surprised at last.

Carlton Reid 47:30
Yeah, I agree with you.

Carlton Reid 47:33
David are talking about commercial things. Can you can you give us an an an ad break at this point, David? Absolutely. Well,

Carlton Reid 47:41
and it’s I mean, to me it’s not even an ad it’s more like a like a tribute. It’s a tribute. No, everyone knows that our our longtime loyal and devoted and we really appreciate sponsor is Jenson USA and go to Jensonusa.com/thespokesmen whenever you need anything you know you you can’t find things in your local store Jim said it. And while when Jim said that I immediately went to JensonUSA.com/thespokesmen and I looked to see what they have and they’ve got a good selection of items in stock. If you’re looking for tires, you’re looking for tubes if you’re looking for components or tools because you know, your mobile bike repair guys six weeks out is mine is I looked you can find that stuff on Jenson USA right now they are open. They have free shipping over $60 and I mean, they even complete bikes. So Jim said for instance, you know, you can’t find a complete bike, you know, I look just Orbea, a Colnago, Rocky Mountain, you name it. The brands, you know, and I say this all the time, but amazing selection, great prices, and unparalleled customer service. What do I mean by that? When you call on the phone, you’re going to get a gear advisor. Now gear advisor isn’t just some person you know in a phone call This is somebody like you like me who rides, they ride to work, they ride home or they go on the trails at lunchtime, and they’re just like you and they’ve written the stuff that you’re asking about so they can give you expert advice. So check them out. It’s Jensonusa.com/thespokesmen. And we do ask that you use that URL, because then they know that you heard about them right here on the Spokesmen. So we appreciate you supporting them. We really appreciate them supporting us. Make sure you use that URL at Jenson USA. It’s www.Jensonusa.com/thespokesmen. Now back to you, Carlton.

Carlton Reid 49:39
Thank you, David. I’m assuming I haven’t checked this but I’m assuming they Jenson USA that is they, like many companies are working remotely. So those gear advisors I’m assuming are not gonna be in. In the normal depot. They’re going to be at home doing give advice. Do you know that Why, David? Does it send a website?

Carlton Reid 50:02
I haven’t it. It doesn’t say on their website. It does say that, for instance, they’re doing curbside pickup for those of you in Southern California, if you don’t want to wait for shipping, you can go and, you know, it’s just like when you get your to go items and they bring it up to your car. But I’m gonna guess that you’re right. And it’s, you know, these days, it’s easy to work from home.

Jim Moss 50:22
I also think one of the other things that I’ve noticed, especially in the cycling industry is what European companies are no longer here in the US. Where I think we’re losing a lot of companies, I mean, not just from the attrition of competitiveness in the cycling industry, but because the communication is just easier to close down an operation than it is to try and keep it open during this period of time. I’ve been tracking down several companies that seem to have just, I don’t know if that’s this or because of lack of interbike slash trade show. downloading and that’s a whole nother spokesmen we talked about sea otter trade show that type stuff or other marketing issues or the virus but several companies have just sort of faded away

Carlton Reid 51:14
at interbike with claps anyway it wasn’t it that wasn’t going on Coronavirus

Jim Moss 51:21
Yeah, exactly. It already died. It was

Carlton Reid 51:23
so we’re already remodelling our society in many ways even before the virus So David, saying he’s doing remote things you’re probably doing some more remote things previously. Yeah.

Carlton Reid 51:36
Yeah, yeah. Some but but again, still putting my button in an aeroplane seat most of the time and going to go into see people. It’s interesting. You know, there was supposed to be another a new outdoor industry trade show. There’s going to be this summer right here in Salt Lake City. And actually, we know the person who was putting it on because he’s put on press camp. And of course before that he was at interbike. But of course it was postponed until next year as well. But it’s funny, Jim, you’re talking about European companies that it reminded me a friend emailed me recently. A I think it was a velonews article about something, some press release that FSA had put out. And they, they, they referred to them to them as an Italian company. And he, he, he emailed me and said, When did they become an Italian company? Because I think you were there at the beginning of that company, then Italian office, but they’re not Italian.

Carlton Reid 52:35
Well, I’ve just ordered a headset from my Giant bike and it’s an FSA. So, David, yeah.

Carlton Reid 52:43
I have in this drawer, I think I still have the original trademark, or copyright.

Carlton Reid 52:52
People who let’s let’s go through that bet that history day because a lot of people who’ve listened to this show before might know but tell us Tell us again about your your your your start in the industry FSA, even knowing people like Josh Hon and stuff at school.

Carlton Reid 53:10
Well, Josh, that’s a different story. Josh and I met in high school. And if you don’t know, Josh is a for those of you who may not know, originally was working with his father at Dahon, the folding bike company, and of course now, running Tern the folding bike company with a bike company, I think is probably the better way to say it. No, no, I met Josh in high school. No, my start in the industry was in 1989 when I was working for the parent company of Tioga, the mountain bike company and BMX component company and of course, we own Shogun and we also did, we were it was a Japanese trading company. So we dealt with there at one point, we touched 70% of the Shimano product that moved around the world. So that was a big And then from there, I started my own marketing company in the bike business. And one of the brands that I helped start was FSA. So and I and it’s, it’s I love seeing that logo on people’s jerseys at the Tour de France or, you know, on almost every bike out there, you said you’re ordering a headset for your giant and it’s an FSA. Anyways, oh, yeah, I did a lot of marketing and PR and sales in the bike industry all around the world that was a tonne of fun. And then I left the bike industry and instead started podcasting. And how long have we been doing this Carlton

Carlton Reid 54:32
2006 — 14 years

Carlton Reid 54:37
In podcast terms, it said so long time. Let’s find out where people can can find each other at the moment on social media, which might be a bit different to before so I’ll start with David David, where can we where can we find you and what are you doing on social media right now?

Carlton Reid 54:58
So it’s funny i was i was just opened up my phone to see to make sure I had my, my Instagram name right, which is Fredcast and that’s probably where you can find me I am a an infrequent poster. And when I post it’s usually bikes or dog. So when

Carlton Reid 55:16
you’re cycling through an oil painting yesterday, I want

Carlton Reid 55:20
to paint a painting. Yeah, it was a gorgeous ride. And that that picture was taken. I mean, as the crow flies, probably three miles from my house was just beautiful

Carlton Reid 55:28
filters. So you are you boosting some of that or was that literally you were riding through that. That’s

Carlton Reid 55:33
what it looked like. Yeah, that was pretty awesome. Okay, and then if you look, here are some pictures from from last week when I rode to Evanston, Wyoming, which was a lot of fun, too. And, and it’s funny because if you look at each of them, you’re looking at a gravel road or a dirt road. And of course, I’m on my road bike. But you know, sometimes you can’t avoid that here. No, so you find me on Instagram. I am Fred cast. And it’s funny. I would have to go back to Twitter and see when the last time was I tweeted, it’s probably Been a couple of years. I just don’t tend to a wheel.

Carlton Reid 56:05
I know you got me into this.

David Bernstein 56:07
Yeah, you’re prolific.

Carlton Reid 56:08
Yeah, yeah, you got me into this I blame you definitely.

Carlton Reid 56:12
But while Jim is telling us where we can find him I’ll look up and I’ll let you know when the last time.

Carlton Reid 56:17
So Jim,

Jim Moss 56:19
recreationlaw, I post continuously on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook, and I never go to those sites. I use a service I posted it puts the stuff out at the right time. I see Facebook as a never ending black hole of information, which 30% of it makes me furious and the other 70% agree with so best way to find me is just to email me at recreation dot law gmail. com or go to my website, recreation dash lawn calm.

Carlton Reid 56:57
Not much is done. And and you can Email me too. I’m the Fred cast @ gmail . com. Last time I tweeted was 125 days ago when we did a lockdown edition of the spokesmen with Calton, Donna, Tim, Jim and, and Richard Masoner from Cyclelicious.

Carlton Reid 57:17
Yeah. As a good show 125 That’s a long time ago. Yeah, I’m talking 125 seconds probably. Maybe maybe minutes, maybe minutes. Yeah, yeah. Perfect.

Jim Moss 57:32
I would call read column on TweetDeck.

Carlton Reid 57:39
Well, I recommend that to everybody, you know, definitely get a column with me. And so yeah, I’m as as you can kind of like, bad preview there. I’m definitely prolific on Twitter. I agree with you, Jim. About the black hole. That is Facebook. I will post on Facebook. Don’t expect an answer. People send me like stuff on messenger. And I’ll answer it maybe three months later, when I open messenger up. You know if it was our we’re trying to reach you urgently and it’s like, are you still trying to reach me urgently? When you, you know, eight months ago. So Twitter Carlton Reid is where I’m definitely at Instagram, his dogs, and of course, Forbes. So forbes.com

Carlton Reid 58:27
Thanks to my co-host David Bernstein and show regular Jim Moss. Don’t forget, as well as listening to today’s show you can also see us come alive in our home studios because we recorded moving images with our webcams. The moving is mainly waving our hands about and some surreptitious keyboard action so don’t go expecting any visuals of us on our bikes or anything. You can watch this episode on YouTube at the-spokesmen.com which is also where you can find a show transcript and links and stuff. And as I mentioned in the intro, YOU could be on the next show … meanwhile, get out there and ride.