Biker to Podcaster with Luke #455

Yo, what's up everyone and welcome back to the fast life podcast on today's episode.

I'm sitting down with Luke goes by banker on a Harley on Instagram and he is half of

the Moto State podcast.

It's a podcast kicked off last year that I found myself listening to quite a bit.

They do a great job of putting topics out there that I think is engaging and interesting

and I love their perspective.

So Luke is somebody I've known for a while now he's a big supporter of my show and I'm

happy to have him on the show.

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Now let's get into this episode with my man Luke.

Hey guys, you ready to let the dogs out?

How are you feeling over there?

If this was like six inches lower and I was that's what I want to find for the studio

upstairs.

What about just trimming the legs?

No, I want to be deeper in the chair.

Actually in the chair.

I got.

Yeah.

Like high like this.

Yeah.

To me, that's why I've always liked the table style podcast is that I have something

to kind of like, you're not just here goes.

Yeah.

It feels weird, right?

Yeah.

And I don't mind sitting in couches and like open spaces, but I want to be deep in it to

where, you know, I don't know, just kind of in something feels a little more natural

to yeah.

Yeah.

Sitting out in it.

So because right here, I just, you know, just trying to get comfortable and whatnot.

But it's funny, dude.

Yeah.

Y'all's podcast, man.

The Motosate podcast.

I don't consume a lot of motorcycle podcasts, just simply out of.

I don't even know why.

I just think maybe just I try to find stuff that I'm interested in and, you know, whatnot,

but I'm not like a podcast every day kind of guy.

Okay.

But I found that y'alls has been basically you're putting it out there the right way.

Like I see a headline.

I'm like, oh, shit.

I want to hear their point on this.

I appreciate that.

And I think it's probably influenced me to start putting a little bit more context in

a title.

Okay.

As opposed to before, I used to say Baker Drive Train 2.

Sure.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

No, I get you.

I think it's a fine line of given the listener or viewer an idea of what's going to be on.

But also, I mean, I don't want to say click bait, but you got to get their attention right

at the end of the day, besides just the thumbnail.

And our thumbnails are consistent.

They won't use the same background.

We'll use this color scheme this year, a different one next year, blah, blah, blah.

But yeah, it's being intentional with that.

But it's worked out pretty well.

And I appreciate you saying that.

I mean, we, I don't know, I mean, we've put a lot of thought into it and we've tried to

mix it up with what's been out there, whether, I mean, 75% of it's motorcycle shit.

I get it.

And it always will be.

But we didn't want to paint ourselves into a corner where that's all we talked about.

You can only talk about winter builds so many times or whatever, you know, or especially

like, well, what pegs are you running or what floorboards like, all right.

So we're not in a position where we're building our own bikes, where there's something else

we could talk about like you, which is awesome.

And I, I, I watch a lot of that from you.

But you know, talking about life and because there's, there's, we feel strongly there's

a segment out there that wants to hear about life and wants to hear about, we've talked

about parenting.

We, we, you know, we just released this week, we talked about, you know, the internet has

receipts, right?

We kind of talked about easy rider and that stuff and just, but not just them.

It was about like, we went from talking about, you know, be careful what you put out there

and how do you, how are you teaching your kids to be, be responsible on, on social media.

So I think when people can find motorcycle related content through a channel like yours,

but then they can also get some insight to how you parent or how you handle your careers

and things like that, that there's a, there's a unique opportunity to humanize the get,

or the, the host of the podcast and people can connect with it.

And I think if you, if you, the guests we've had on, we've talked about parenting, we talked

about, or, and, or talked about how they run the company.

That's like what, like one person that comes to mind is like tab performance in the exhaust

company that, you know, the way we're talking to Casey on their first episode was about,

you know, how they treated their clients and how they also treated their employees.

And that, to me, that warmed my heart.

It's like, oh, there's still some good people out there that you're not just employee one,

two, three, four, five, you know, you're, you're, you're Luke, you're Jace.

You've been here five years, 10 years.

Thank you for your service.

And so it's nice to hear those things.

And it's an opportunity to see the kind of peek behind the curtain of those companies

as well. But it's funny.

You say, you know, you don't watch a lot of motorcycle content.

I, well, I listen to a podcast every day until I started making one.

And then, you know, it gets tough.

Yeah. I have maybe a handful that I regularly watch.

And then I'll binge watch a few on YouTube.

When I drive places, though, when I'm going to be trapped in the car for hours,

like when I rode up there or drove up to, and I saw you guys up in St. Louis and stuff.

I mean, it was podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, right?

But I think that there's a lot out there.

And even like as an OG Rogan listener, I can't even, I, I'm very selective

of what I watch of his, you know what I mean?

When I first started listening to podcasts, every time he put a podcast that I was like,

I'm learning who Rhonda Patrick is today.

And I guess my gut health is whatever.

Like it's I was almost consuming too much stuff that made it too muddy in my head all the time.

You got to overwhelm yourself.

Yeah. It's easy to do.

And, you know, motorcycle stuff, like you kind of said it best.

It does kind of get, it does get repetitive.

You know, when I first started interviewing people, I found that the,

the paths to a motorcycle business are very similar in a lot of ways.

Sure.

And so I felt like I was hearing the same story, but a few different,

but it was, it was seven PM instead of five PM.

It was a winter night instead of a summer night.

It was like these small things were different about someone's origin story in it.

And, you know, I started feeling like, man, I got to find a way to extract something deeper.

And so you get in these deeper conversations and you get so far off of,

well, I only listen to podcasts.

I wanted to hear about the gas caps this guy's makes, right?

Sure. Yeah.

And we're over here talking about something much deeper, you know, and that's where it gets kind

of difficult in my overthinking mind to stay on track with like, we're a motorcycle podcast.

But to your point of what we just said, like we can go so far off the tangent of, you know,

I came here to talk to you about handlebars today, but we talked about social media all day.

You know, it's like, even if you try not to plan, you plan not to do it, it sometimes happens.

And then if you go off a list, then it feels contrived.

It doesn't feel like a conversation is much sometimes.

Yeah. I mean, you know, for me, talking points, I have those notes, you know, for either and

whether it's a guest or not, right?

Like I got some talking points because I will get off in a tangent.

Oh, shit. I need to bring this back in, right? Those things happen.

But I mean, I guess I'll look at podcasts as, you know, listen, this is the framework,

but we don't have to, we don't have to stay to that.

And if the listener doesn't like it, then, and they're not going to listen to me anymore,

because of that one episode, they weren't really committed to it to begin with, you know?

What do you think is like being someone that was on the other side of podcasting,

now being on this side of it, what do you think is some of the things that you didn't know?

Or, you know, a major topic that or a major difference of like not knowing that this is

how it is or whatever, you know?

You know, there was so much, I knew that there would be a lot of work to start one.

I'll start there. And there was even more work to do than that.

But then once we got rolling, I guess I got lucky. We got lucky in that, you know, we had some

guests early on and it was easy to set up. But how hard it can be to get a guest

at times, especially ones you really want that maybe are a higher profile, even just

trying to get ahold of them. I think that the, I think, I won't say hard, the most time-consuming,

I didn't realize how time-consuming the social media and marketing it was going to be. And

looking back on it, I should have realized that and I probably didn't put enough thought into that

part of it. Oh, I'll run the socials and no big deal, but it takes work and it takes intentionality.

So it's, you know, we use a program called Riverside and it gives you like the AI like

with everything else gives you some, you know, 20 second and 50 second clips that you can use.

So cool that I want to use this and this and this. So I've got to download all three and patch

them together and make a reel just like anywhere else. But that takes a lot of work and I'm trying

to do one of those four times a week. Yeah. And then some stories and then, you know, repost some

stuff from our sponsor and, you know, it just, so it's become, it really has become a part-time

job and I'm not complaining. Like I knew what I signed up for, but that's probably been the time

piece of it and, and making sure that, you know, that my daughter understands that she sees me on

the phone and on social media, like she understands why I'm on there. I'm not, I'm not just around

on my phone, right? Yeah. And my partner knows like, Hey, I'm not ignoring you. We have limited

time together, but I've got to get this real. I've got to, you know, I've got certain things I've

got to take care of. So just being intentional and figuring out when that works. And sometimes

that's waking up at 5am and knocking that out or staying up late and go ahead and creating those

on a Sunday for the whole week. And I know, yeah, right. I want to do that. It don't always happen,

but that's ideally what I try to do, or it's just waking up early, laying in bed and knocking it

out before I start my day. So that's probably been the biggest thing. Just the, I don't think I

expected as many hours I put into it that I'm actually putting in. How many like per podcast

outside of the actual sitting down and having a conversation, how much time do you think you have

if you were to associate it like a normal job? Like this podcast, I have seven hours in prep and,

you know, whatever, three hours or two hours. Yeah. I mean, I think if you put in like prep

time, especially with a guest, so, you know, getting, I try to get on the phone with them for

even 10 or 15 minutes, just kind of get in the lay of the land, make them feel more comfortable,

especially if they don't, they haven't been on many podcasts before. So if you think of that,

research your guests or research the subject, the social media aspect, I mean, I've probably put in

not including record time, probably two to three hours per episode. And then the social media

are marketed on top of that. And then we have a discord, like he used for Patreon, we have,

we used old school discord. So I need to be present in that from every day, at least check it,

you know, a couple times a day. So there's that. And then we make Patreon only episodes.

And so recording those and getting those out there, we do a once a month,

like we do a Google meets, like just with the top tier paid Patreon, we, they get 30 minutes

with us, we shoot the shit and have fun, drink some beers. So there's, there's a lot that goes on

behind the scenes. And again, that's what I signed up for. And for me, it was a big passion project.

This community has given me so much. And I blame a lot of that on you, like, in a good way. I mean,

it was your, you know, it started with the five dirty bikers podcast was the first podcast I

ever listened to you. And then you were a guest, let me try this fast life out. I was like, Oh,

wow, what's this long distance riding? What's Oh, there's something besides my hog chapter,

I didn't know. I mean, I was just some, some idiot in St. Louis and oh, I can customize

my bag or how? Oh, cool. And so a huge rabbit hole and spend a whole lot of money, but it's also

put me put me on the road and putting out laying down a lot of miles. And I've learned that that

is like my own therapy. And so what every what this community has given me, this is me trying to

get back in some form of fashion. And it's been it's been a lot of fun. Yeah, it's a good point

you made because like, I remember someone told me once that like, they said your podcast is like

the next step after you listen to like, like, in no way does this mean like, don't shade

any other thing. But like, they said, well, I found motorcycle content through a blockhead.

But then I felt like some of the content he was making, it just like I had friend, I hadn't

created friends in a community now. And I didn't need to know how to, you know, change my oil or

some kind of more newer, newer rider kind of content. And this is years ago. And so like,

then I found your podcast, and it was like the next layer of motorcycling from, you know, once

you form communities, how to how to get them together, then going on trips and going out and

being vulnerable and stuff like that. And I was like, Oh, that was an intentional like I just,

you know, from where, you know, being this thing for so long, naturally, I'm talking about these

things that are more present in my life. Right. And I mean, honestly, even as someone that's been

riding since 2003, like I would say that I only really found community in this within like the

last 10 years. Okay, you know what I mean? And that's because mainly because of social media and

things like that, because you could find the people that are into the bikes you're into and

you kind of get a chance to kind of sift through the ones that are the bad apples,

right? Or maybe that you don't drive with as much. Yeah, you just don't connect with, right?

Yeah. Well, the same thing with podcasts, right? Like every podcast or YouTube channel is a little

bit different. So you're going to take nuggets from each, right? Like I really love two lane guys.

So that's a very different podcast than yours, right? And not that one's good or bad. It's just

you take nuggets from each. And so, you know, listen to yours and I learned about two lane and I

learned about so many others and you're even down the road and Waco Bogeybiker. I mean, that's,

for me, that's fun listening to him or watching him on YouTube because he's

two, three years into riding and I was there. Not that long ago, I was there and it's cool to like

see that experience and kind of relive it through him vicariously. Yeah. And I think for me, that's

such an out of sight, out of mind concept of like what it's like to be new at this again, because

it's, you know, when I experienced a new thing of motorcycling, it was the world was such a

different place by back then. Oh, for sure. I mean, we had my space, you know, right? Right.

It was, it was different and I, I don't think it's better that I've got it or not. I just think

it's like it's, it's a unique perspective. I'm never going to get to have of like what it's like

to have found, you know, the campouts or traveling or whatever because I, you know,

I mean, I didn't find traveling on a motorcycle until 10 years ago. Okay. You know what I mean?

And I found it through happenstance of like being around other people that were doing stuff, but

there was not a place I could go find that on the internet. Sure. Or there probably was. I just

wasn't tuned to that. Yeah. To find it. You know what I mean? Sure. I mean, I did a couple weekend

trips for listening to any podcast ever. Yeah. And then, but learn, I learned through your podcast

and fighter bikers too. Like whoever, um, several of them that how, how to really approach it,

a better way to approach it. Yeah. Because y'all, I think at the end of the day, we're all sharing

our experiences. So you shared your experience about, you know, whatever it was and, and also

bike nights. So I looked at bike nights so much differently and, um, I never had trouble being

outgoing, but just taking a different approach in bike nights, but back to traveling. Sorry.

You know, just like how to pack down. Yeah. Yeah. You know, whether it's phone holders or

things like that, like just, I mean, sharing those experiences goes a long way because then,

um, I like to go down the rabbit hole. Like, all right, what was he talking about? All right,

let me, let me look that up. And so it's fun. It feels more authentic, right? Sure. And this

is something I used to say before when I was in the big world, bagger world, like it was not

common for people to ride those bikes. And I was very, very out of place because me and my buddies

were traveling the country on these bikes. And we were those dudes that would go and ride from

here to San Francisco and do all this shit that I'd still do this day, but the whole industry

didn't give a shit. You know what I mean? It just wasn't built around that. It was built around how

much money that I put in this and there's, there's quality. There was, there was that.

But to sit in a parking lot, right? Or to, we're loading all these bikes up and we're going to

Arizona bike week. And then, you know, me and my buddy are showing up to Arizona bike week and

go into all the shows with our dirty bugged out bikes. Right. And we're not getting any love,

but it showed. I learned a lot in that time. And even though at, at, at the, at that moment, I felt

more jaded, not jaded, but like more like I want, like opposing them, like because they weren't into

what I was into, but I was kind of like doing something fringe in their world that nobody

else is doing. So why am I mad at them for not doing this? You know, and that's when I kind of

moved into the dyna culture and things like that. Sure. And the flip side, why, why, why are they

holding that against you? That makes no sense. And they really did. They didn't give a fuck that I

existed. You know what I'm saying? So it was just like, Hey, look at me. I'm doing something that

none of y'all are doing and I'm cooler. You know, it's kind of like a, it was like my own shit

kind of thing, you know, but, um, man, I do, when my little brother was around a lot more,

I used to tell him, like, dude, I wish I could, you were 18 or no, you were 20 years old and you

rode a Sturgis. You know what I mean? Yeah. You were 21 years old and you're riding to Indian

apolis. Like you were doing stuff that I wish I would have known about or had access to or had

someone to kind of take me into it, you know, younger. For sure. I mean, look at forever,

right? Kyle's son. I mean, I watched, I mean, I've probably watched that video three or four

times. If I'm ever going to be envious and just straight hate on somebody for no reason, it's

going to be one of his kids. Well, as they continue to grow in this, this awesome culture and having,

you know, parents like you, the level of jealousy I have for his son is unreal. And then the admiration

I have for Kyle, I mean, I always thought the world of him, but in still do, but as a parent,

like man, good for you. I mean, to be able not to just doing it, but have the ability to do it.

When he was talking about sharing, like going to Sturgis on the soft toe is, you know, that,

to me like that, that's winning the lottery. You know what I mean? Absolutely. Straight up.

Sure. Yeah. I, I, I hadn't seen him in a while. Bumped into him a couple of weekends ago at

Cycle Showcase. And I was like, man, good on you. What do you do with your son taking the

long way home and all that? Like, oh, so awesome. Like, ah, and I don't think my daughter's ever,

I just have one kid. She's 13 going on 24. And you know, I don't, she may be a motorcycle rider

one day, but it won't be anytime soon. And I hope it will be. And I hope I get to experience that.

But there's no, at 18, she's not going to be riding anywhere. And if she isn't going to ride,

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No, I feel you on that man. It's definitely different. Well, again, like back to y'all's

podcast, like I think it's I don't know where to kind of like step into this like segment or

this area of it, but it's like it's nice to have a podcast where the people's perspective is

somewhere different than where I'm from. Okay, because you know, early we're you when we first

started talking, we're you know, your perspective or you can kind of familiarize yourself with a

lot of the audience because a lot of your audience and my audience as well, they do have normal jobs

like a banker or work at the, you know, driving trucks or whatever, right? I do this for a living

like and so I have, I think sometimes I have a harder time connecting with an audience

on career stuff because this is my job, right? Sure. And my perspective of my podcast is from

the industry side out as opposed to like, I feel like y'all's perspective in the

episodes that I've listened to has been more from a writer's perspective in to

culture. Yeah, yeah. For sure. Which is a good perspective. It's something that I think that

makes the core essence of each individual podcast something different. That's why we can probably

have the same guess and have completely different conversations. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, for sure.

Yeah, we I mean, you can certainly relate to them as a business owner, right? And then the industry

side where we'll talk to them probably a little bit on the business side, but maybe culture and then

and how they're treating their clients, their employees. And then what does that look like?

How are they developing new products and what, you know, how do they get there? Like, how do we see

these type of footpegs or what handlebars or whatever? Yeah, sometimes it's like I have to

remind myself that the way I'm asking the question for the audience needs to be reworded or restructured

that way. They're explaining what we're even talking about. Yeah, you know, when you're talking about

hey, why make that grip, you know, if you're going to spend 50 to 100 grand R&D and some grips,

you want to make sure it'll work on more than one bike. And most people are like, well,

they wouldn't probably think about that. They think about, oh, well, the new roguelads are out.

Why don't I have grips yet? Right. Well, how many is it just going to be a CBO with a new throttle

grip or is all the bikes going this direction? Well, I really enjoy that industry insight when

you have, you know, whoever you have on the show within the industry, because I don't think about

that. Right. Just like you said, like, well, in the great, I don't have a 24 or 25 model motorcycle

either. But it makes sense. Like the R&D and the piece of it that goes into it, there is that lag.

And I, you know, I just don't think about that always. I think that that insight's really good.

Do you have like a favorite type of podcast that you've been a part of? Like, because I think we

naturally do have conversations that we find ourselves more enjoying to be in.

Have you found anything like that within doing the stuff that you,

like your favorite, like subject or? I mean, it could be subject or it could be like,

like, for instance, like some people really just like to hear an origin story. Oh, sure. Yeah.

Some people like to hear not so much of a debate, but maybe on a more debate scale of things,

you know, perspective wise, I love, I love to be challenged and I love to challenge someone,

you know, and, and I've said it many times in our episodes, I want to, I want to listen to understand,

not respond. So, and hopefully get that in return. But, and I'm, you know, agnostic to the subject,

but I like a good debate or a good, just something thought provoking. And whether that's, you know,

more recently we talked about, you know, influencers versus real writers or whatever,

what that means because that's, you can ask 100 people and you're going to get 120

opinions on that. But I love that. And I love the origin story. For me is probably one of my

favorites just because I ride because I lost an uncle. And so who was a writer and he made,

and that one made me want to ride. So that, you know, for a personal experience that I always

like to ask that, like what got you into riding. And I don't expect a heartfelt pulling your

heart and strings story like mine, but it's, it's fun to hear here. So how were you when you

started riding? I was 40. 40? Yeah. So 47. Damn, that's crazy. Yeah. But going back to wishing I

could have started when I was 20, but how amazing is it to also find something at 40 and for it to

like become such a big part of your life? So I would say, so finding riding, I found it. I just

couldn't justify doing it. You know, when I was married and had kids and we were fortunate to have

rental property and had some land in Southeast Missouri, like, Hey, I want to go do the selfish

thing. You're going to go ride a motorcycle because I knew she wasn't going to ride. And my kid was

two years old. She ain't riding with me. And I was being selfish enough at that time. And that's

a whole another story. But, but, but I, you know, I just couldn't do it. And I never actually never

even brought it up because I just knew. And so I, you know, went through separation and divorce and,

you know, where, where my therapy was was down in that land, that farm and that we had a hobby

farm. And when that went away, like, I mean, I needed something new. And so my uncle had passed

right before that. He had a couple bikes. And so I was like, Hey, once this divorce is final,

because I don't want to buy it while I was still technically married. So I'm buying that heritage

off the estate. And I sure did. And the rest is history from there. And that was,

that was life changing. Like, what would you say, like, as you, at that time, and this is me just

completely wanting a perspective of, of like a rider's, you know, what were the steps that you

took to find culture, to find your tribe or to find, to go through the pathways to get to

into this world? I mean, it really started with hog chapter, because I didn't, I didn't really

have any. What does that look like today? Like I, I'm a hog member because I got a new bike.

But yeah, I mean, I was at 40. I was the youngest son of a bitch in there by, by 10 years at least.

So it was, but it was a good starting point. It was group rides. They were slow paced and I needed

that. Yeah, I quickly outgrew that. And it was hard to find. There's, I mean, I'm still friends

with, with probably a handful or more folks from that hog chapter. They're all, you know, a little

bit older than me. And it's hard to spend a lot of time with them when I'm going to three different

soccer games this weekend. Your kids are grown and in the military or you're a grandparent now.

Yeah, we're just at two different stages of life, right? So for me, it was making social media or

just going to different bike nights and meeting people and trying to get an idea of a vibe and

maybe go for some rides. Were you, were you based out of St. Louis at the time? Yeah. I know that you

were in, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Yeah. So I moved to St. Louis 20 years ago. Okay. So yeah,

there were four minutes. So, so meeting some friends. So there's very, I've got a small group

of people I rode with. And then honestly, social media and these podcasts and I listened to and

meeting people, going to bike cycle showcase or whatever, meeting people. And then that's where

that grew. And I mean, I've never had like a tight knit group like you've got to that road with.

There's friends that I ride with maybe a weekend trip or even a day trip. But these solo, these

trips I take are all solo just because I'm a single dad. So I mean, planning a long trip for a week

is usually when Sophia's on vacation with her mom or on spring break or whatever it is,

where I don't have to ask to change the schedule, you know, that's, that's just,

it's not just me. It's my co-parent that I'm impacting into and that's, I do that enough

I have to do for work like right now. So yes, it's, I don't know that it's better or worse

or even that matters. But like, I got to experience traveling on a motorcycle with a group first. So

I feel like I got to be a student in it as opposed to maybe you getting thrown into the fire of

sure figuring it out, you know, and I don't know that I was, I remember the, the, like some of the

first solo trips I ever did, just kind of like feeling like, am I safe? Sure. It's okay. Oh,

absolutely. You know, but now it's like, I've gotten used to it where there's parts, there's some

types of trips that I kind of prefer to be solo. And then there's times where I really miss having

that close group of friends and sure, you know, not to go into the subject too deep, but like

I realized now how rare and hard it is to cultivate a group like I've had. Oh, sure. You

know what I mean? No doubt. You know, it's kind of like it kind of always happened naturally. And

so when those kind of like they run their course, they play out and it doesn't happen right over

again. It's kind of like, oh, shit, like that's, that's a very unique position that I got to be

in for a long time. So yeah, you know, we've all, a lot of me and the friends have grown apart in

different ways. You know, no, no animosity, just life. Yeah. Someone's getting married. Someone's

having kids. Someone's buying a house. They can't travel the way. And, you know, like I said, my

life is much different than theirs. Sure. You know, so every year, to me, I'm planning a trip to

Born Free every year. I'm planning a trip, a trip to Sturgis every year, because it's technically

work. You know what I mean? Yeah. And it's fun, but you still need to make an appearance there.

Yeah. Yeah. And they might be like, well, you know, we've done Born Free the last four years,

we want to do a trip to, you know, Key West, Florida or Maine or whatever. And I'm like, dude,

I can't justify going there right now. Like, I don't, I don't have the money to just do a trip

that's not going to also coincide work. And so that's how it gets hard to kind of cultivate

those. Sure. Yeah. I think, you know, also, I'm an only child. So I'm used to doing things on my

entire life. So a solo trip, you mean I can wake up at 5am or 8am and hit the road or whatever.

What was like some of your initial, if you can remember, maybe obstacles to doing a solo trip,

you know, that you kind of were worried about that wasn't a big deal or something?

Yeah. Well, I mean, is this safe? Is this really what I want to do? Should I, you know,

especially early on, do I need to be on the interstate for that long? You know, not knowing

like Reverr app or whatever these other apps, just not ignorant. So you don't know what you

don't know, right? So plant trip planning, I think was probably the biggest thing because

I'm used to planning things out. You know, I'm a planner too. Yeah. I mean, I mean, I know when

I'm gonna have my daughter, I know when I got to work, you know, and I know I have a pretty good

idea. I'm gonna have to work late most days. That's fine. Or log back in later night. But

those things, I'm used to structure. So that not knowing how to create that structure, I think,

was probably kept me from me being more hesitant in taking longer trips earlier on in my riding

journey. One of the things that like when I did my big trip where I was on the road for so long

that bike, the hardest part was being such a planner that in order to really get this experience,

I had to let some things just be what they were going to be. Yeah. And it was against every bit

of my nature to want to control the situation and where I need to be at certain times. If I'm not

there, I'm stressing out or where the case may be. And I think by the end of the trip, I had kind of

worked out a lot of that stuff to where I was a little bit more fluid with things and less

rigid down stuff. But I really wish I could have started that trip fluid and already been in that

place because I think I could have accomplished a lot more on that trip that I was planning to do.

Yeah, it's interesting in my journey and in riding, I started very structured, very rigid as you put

it. And I realized I'm just blasting miles every day. And some of it just timing. I want to cover

10 states in seven days. Well, you just bolster the wall for seven days. And I did that and

I accomplished a lot of goals of checking off states and putting miles in per day and on a trip.

Cool. And a couple of years ago, I was like, no, I fuck this. So I knew that I was going to leave

St. Louis on this on whatever day. I knew I was going to hit your bike night here on a Tuesday

night and get myself a day and a half to get down here. Got right through broken boat, never had,

loved it, want to go back tomorrow if I could. And I knew that I needed to have lunch with some

friends in Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday afternoon. Damn. And that's it. So was that when you did

the podcast with the dudes in Oklahoma that trip? I know it was last year. So the year before last.

So I was here on a Tuesday night, met Devin. You were at the Covington's working. So

just missed you. So I headed north out of here and my thought was, all right, Wednesday is just

going to lay down a bunch of miles and hate I-35 for a while. Well, I got up that morning, it was

raining a little bit. So I just, I laid around in the hotel room for an extra hour, let it blow by

because whatever. And like, oh, there's this country singer I like, Aaron Vinecourt playing

Lawrence, Kansas. Well, I'm going to go there tonight. So I went there and I hung out with the

band and help them load up through you all. That's cool. You know? And then I got the next day,

I was like, all right, hit the road and head north and the wind just beat the shit out of me. I only

did like three and 15 miles that day. And I was like, I don't care. That's cool. It's fine. I stopped

in Omaha, took a picture of the bike in front of where they play the college world series,

didn't know that my Tennessee volunteers were going to win the world series, you know, a month

later. Nice. You know, like little things like that. And then, you know, looped around and hit

the Dakotas just in Minnesota and spent the night. And then Friday and Saturday had lunch

in Des Moines with some friends and then rode back. I was like, do I want to spend the night?

Now I'm just going to ride back. Yeah. And that was a game changer for me and not just riding,

but just relaxing. Like it's okay. Yeah, mentally, like it's okay. Things aren't going to go your

way in life, riding a motorcycle, whatever it happens. And it, it, I learned a lot on that.

It was a lot. I'm glad that was a solo trip. I'm glad that, that I was able to have, be mindful

enough to take that in and realize, Hey, it's not just about riding. Like you can relax a little

more in life too, you know, and letting go of things. And, you know, I even like, I compared to

like the step one of the 12 step programs. It's, you know, I'm going to butcher this, but basically

accepting what you control and accepting you can't control everything else. Like,

the only what you can control and it's under your power and what decisions you make is what you

can control. And that really hit home for me on that trip. And it was great. Like, and that's,

that's, that's really set me mentally in a really good place the last couple of years.

Yeah. My buddy Tommy told me that it was, he worded it as a managing expectations. Yes. And

over the course of, you know, when I did the FXR tour originally and all the planning that

went into it, you understand the planning and I had sponsors for the event and you're hurting cats

and you have all this going on. And so in my head, I had this vision, if this goes down,

it's going to work and everybody's going to be happy. Right. You know, sponsors are happy,

builders are happy, the, the, the dealerships, the people that attended are going to be happy.

And when things go awry a little bit, it just, to me, it's like, oh, fuck, this is a, this is a

bust. You know, and so after the trip, having conversations with Tommy, they used to run

cowboy Harley, you know, he told me that. And I've always kind of kept that in, in my mind.

That's the one thing about like changing like the way you think is like, it's not a switch. It's a,

it's a gradual thing of reminding yourself and reminding yourself and reminding yourself.

Yeah. As opposed to, you know, you don't just wake up one day and you're just like,

not an overthinker anymore, not a, you know, a controlling asshole. Like you have to

wean it off a little bit or you have to be intentional, right? So it starts with step one,

like you've got to be intentional and commit to doing that. And but the biggest thing that I learned

is giving yourself grace. You're going to fuck up. You're going to make mistakes. And like,

I can't imagine playing the FXR tour. Like you, you were juggling more balls than

hand-building a bike. Hand-building a bike. So, you know, something can go right.

It's, of course, you know, I mean, that Murphy's law, it's not all that's going to go right. And

it's hard to give yourself grace when you're a planner. And but what I learned about myself was

going into something, I expected everything to go right because I planned it out. Yeah. Guess what?

Karma's a bitch. You know, things are going to happen, right? So I learned to get myself some

grace has gone a long way. Yeah, I think that's kind of like the, the new path or the path that

I've been on since 2023 doing that stuff is just like really working on different aspects of like

my mentality to, because the stress that comes from all that stuff is just like it, it, it's,

it's ways, you know what I mean? Oh yeah. It literally would. And it did for a lot of ways.

And I think it made me in a lot of ways not great to be around, you know? Okay. Because

that stress has to get released on to certain people or it doesn't have to, but it did. It ends

up doing that. Yeah. It's usually the people you love the most, right? Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean,

there's certainly, I look at, I mean, a parent's relationship with their kid,

especially in teenage years. Man, it's a roller coaster, right? But I,

I think that we, my daughter and I have a stronger relationship now because of me being in a better

place mentally. And, you know, we had a big blow up last year, but we've gotten through that. And

I don't know that we have gotten through it as well or definitely not as quick or as quickly as we have

in a healthy way if it hadn't been for, you know, oh, working on myself mentally. And that's the

help of a therapist. I mean, I'm not afraid to admit it. I mean, we just, I've been seeing the

same guy for 13 years. And so that's, you're a good client for him. Yeah. I mean, he's, he's

getting ready to retire. I think I know why I said, you know, but take all that baggage you gave

him. Yeah. Well, he can't, he can't stand me anymore. And I've paid him a lot of money. So

I'll pay this house off. But no, it just, it takes work and I'm, I'm not perfect at it. And,

and I talk a lot, we talk a lot about Ryan, I talk a lot about this on the podcast. And,

and, but it's because we want to share with folks like there's nothing wrong. There's no shame in,

you know, working on your mental health and seeing a therapist. Taylor was big on that. Yeah.

When he talked about that. Man, that was such a fun podcast. Yeah. Especially when,

obviously it wasn't aired when he would take a break and his microphone was turned way up and we

can still hear him pee, but, but I give him a hard time. Sorry, Taylor. But, you know, I mean,

he talks a lot about that and with himself and shared his journey. Yeah. He had a pretty gnarly

end of last year, you know, with a close friend of his passing away with the life changing thing

of him getting out of the military. Yeah. I mean, that was his identity in a lot of ways, you know.

You know, so he's, and then going from Sunday, San Diego to Louisville, Louisville, you know,

feet of snow, you know, like it's going to, there's no way it wouldn't affect you mentally. Oh,

yeah. I mean, yeah. When I, we were there in December and had a beer with him and I was like,

how are you doing? He's like, man, it's a lot colder here than San Diego. Yeah. Welcome, buddy.

As soon as the sun is shining at 70 degrees, he's going to, I mean, he's already thriving

and doing well there, but it's going to, it's going to be a good time watching that community,

which already exists, but it's just going to be a good time watching. Taylor's a great asset to

things like that. You know, he can be a good ringleader, so to say for that. And that's a,

that's a thing that like, I think the motorcycle scenes sometimes have a hard time with. Some of

us are just better at building community. Sure. Right. Like a leader in that sense, not saying a

leader of men, but they're a leader of the ability to bring people together in a way. Right. And I

see some people that are good at it, but they struggle with the people that maybe not want

that or they don't want to feel like they're following somebody or something like that. There's

a lot of, I mean, obviously the motorcycle world is full of a lot of ranges of ego or mochismo

or, you know, whatever, personalities. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and, and sometimes I feel like

communities have a hard time to grow because the dude that's trying to do the hard work of putting

the bike together and do, do all the stuff behind the scenes that happens. Like we were talking about

with the podcast, they do all that work so that this can exist, but yet they get a lot of backlash

or maybe for lack of a better term, hate from people that think that they're doing it for the

you know, the path on the back or the personal gain or whatever, you know. Yeah. Here in Texas,

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again, 1-800-LAWTIGERS, the first call you make. No, I agree. I mean, I think that you got to think

beyond the end of your nose, right? And the people that don't get angry or maybe they're just jealous

of that person who's really just trying to create, at least they create community, bring people

together. I used to say like, with the bike night, with the camp out, the things that we did, I just

created the things I wanted to go do. Yes. And it was at the right time where a lot of other people

wanted that shit too, right? But if I would have been surrounded by a lot of dudes that were like,

you know, like making it hell for me to do this thing to bring people together, it wouldn't,

you know, the bike night would have never lasted. The camp out would have ended way earlier than it did.

Well, you created a platform. Well, that's kind of what, you know, like the way we run

T-Bar Tuesday is there's no business attached to it. And we did that so that it, you know,

I handed that off essentially to Trey years ago, and he runs the Instagram page now. You know,

so there's like always this ability that this thing can exist, but it's not a place where you're

going to buy a T-Bar Tuesday t-shirt. There's nobody profiting off of it. It's a, it's just an

information. Community. It's a community. But you created a platform and that's, you've also created

a platform with this podcast. The difference is people are watching it and they're not together.

So it takes the personality piece out of it. And if people would, I think, I think I shouldn't

say like, let's go sound bad. If people would listen to me, but no, but, you know, if, if you,

folks would take a approach from a 30,000 foot view of a bike night or putting together a bike

night like T-Bar Tuesday or just a small get together, the same thing is putting a podcast

together in that you're just trying to bring people together. That's all you're trying to do

at the end of the day, but you're just trying to bring them together in person. And, and, but

again, people just can't get out of their own way. Unfortunately. Yeah. I mean, with, with the,

the camp out became, it grew into a lot of work and then trying to figure out a way to, to make it,

make some money to justify it got hard. You know, like we used to tell people like,

Sandoval would, every once in a while he would cut us like, uh, I think he cuts the check like

the second year it was like 500 bucks, you know, and then it got to a point where it was like

two grand at the height. Okay. So we're making two grand and all, all I did with that money

was give it back to our group and then we traveled on it, right? Cause you know, that was the whole

deal, but like two grand to bring 1500 people to an event and not, not throwing shade at Sandoval,

just saying for that to only be in, you know, his camp rounds going to make 50 something grand,

right? Like, and for me to want to put a $5 ahead and then I got a lot of backlash from that,

you know, and it kind of, and it kind of like, I should have just, you know,

looked past it and just did it and, and found a way to continue to keep the camp out going,

but it, to me, it did kind of run its course in a lot of ways. You know what I mean? Well,

I just energy wise. Sure. Well, I mean, mentally, no, no. So I was like, I'm going to go and oh,

it's ending. Shit. You know, I mean, it just, it was a tough time a year for me. Um,

this fall is really tough with my daughter's sport schedule. Usually we're, she's on three

soccer teams and a volleyball team in the fall. So, I mean, I'm just an unpaid Uber driver is

all I am. So, and I, I really hate to miss games. I really, really hate to miss, especially soccer

games. I grew up playing soccer. I get to warm her up for every game still. And that, yeah,

there's definitely an aspect of that, you know, but, but back to the camp, I mean, I can't imagine,

I've never put anything that big together. I can't imagine, I mean, what that's like,

it's got to take a toll on you as well. And, and you get to a point in your life. And I always

appreciate when you talked about, well, I need to, I need to be compensated at least a little bit

for my time and effort into this. I agree. Like, I mean, I've, I'm at a place in my life too. I want

to be, you know, if I'm putting that much work into something, I want some kind of compensation

or something, anything. We tried, we did the t-shirt thing for a while, but that, that would just,

that was stressful because you're, you would take, you know, you would put three to $4,000

up for shirts. And then it's like, okay, well, if it rains, that's a gamble. Then I'm now this camp,

I'll just cost me 12 grand or 1200 bucks. You know what I mean? Or 2000 or whatever else I don't sell.

Or, you know, like it would happen normally, like, oh, well, this year, we had a lot of mediums show

up. Next year, it's out of 4XL show up and you never know what size to get. And so it was just

kind of like a, it just wasn't, I don't know. And also you're not getting rich off t-shirts.

You're not getting rich. That's the thing is that like, you're not getting rich doing podcasts.

You're realistically not getting rich doing anything in the motorcycle community. You're

really not. Right. You know, even I have an intimate relationship, not intimate like sexually, but

I have a very close relationship with Mike and Grant from Born Free. Sure. And I know a lot of

the things that inter-workings of that event, they are making money for sure. They're not hiding that.

Right. They ain't getting rich. Right. You know what I mean? To host an event the size it is,

the insurance and this and that and porta-potties and you, the things that you don't even think about.

Right. Right. Come into play. And then the other aspect, and this is where it got weird for our

camp out and where I see how they still struggle with this now is like, you have to, when it's

just 40 of us sitting around a campfire, you're not looking to me to be entertained. When you have

1500 people there that aren't necessarily of the mindset of our podcast listeners.

Yeah. They're like, yo, we're here. What, what's, what do we do now? Like, oh, you go do whatever

the hell you want. Right. You go ride or you camp or you party or you drink or there's some drugs

over there if you want. Yeah, exactly. You know, like, I'm, this isn't, this is, there's no itinerary

here. Right. Right. And when we started making itineraries, that's when it got really a lot of

work. Like we had the club style games and all the giveaways. We had to coordinate with all

these brands, the giveaway stuff. It got to be so much work that, and then you'd have these people

show up and then, you know, like, yeah, just, they weren't like the core people that were traveling

the country, you know, coming to, you know, just do this sleep in the dirt with it. Just

so many things changed. Sure. And it just made it not feel. Well, yeah, those dynamics, I'm sure

changed a lot as a group, right? Like you just get a lot more, you got a more diverse crowd and

doesn't fit. It sounds like it didn't fit what you really envisioned for it to be. Yeah. I didn't

like the fact that, and not that they'll shade anybody, but it just got to a point where a lot

of people that, even like people from here, original folks, were starting to get air, like,

not every means, but like campers. Gotcha. And so the campers were on a whole different side

of the campground. And so it took away from this communal element that would take place around the

fire. Now there's these individual parties at campers. And because they spend so much money on

a camper, they wouldn't leave it. Right. Sure. You know, and so it's not like a campsite where,

like from my parking lot to the end of the parking lot, there's another camp. Let's go see

what they're doing and see if they got any beer left. Right. No, this camper is like down the

street. Like it's, it's a good walk, right? Right. And so it created a lot of these

separations of things. And my thing was like, when you hear these amazing stories of these,

you know, one or two dudes left Boston and they met people here and there. Sure. And a convoy

started and they pulled up at the campground at 2am. Like I want them to be greeted by a fire and

beer and people doing what they're doing. Or the guy swapping his motor out there. Yeah. Someone

drove numerous, some parts from Arkansas, whatever it was. I've heard you want to find,

like you want to meet them with the same energy they just put in. Oh, sure. You know, not like,

hey, thanks for traveling the country and going through all the weather issues.

Sorry, there's a Mustang going by. Yeah. All the hardships you had so that you can come watch

us sitting campers and be comfortable. Yeah. Like it just wasn't the thing, you know, and

again, it's me overthinking everything. Well, I mean, again, you get that it grows that quickly

and you get that many people, then things are going to spread, right? Like, you know, people

aren't going to, you're going to get different personalities. So you're going to have the guy

on the camper or the person who, you know, actually drove their truck there. And like I said,

you said while going, and I was saying with you is the managing expectations. Like, you know,

I can't expect everybody to come to the campground and do it the way that I want them to do it,

right? They're going to do it their way. And their way tends to go that direction. And that's

kind of where I felt like, you know, well, fuck, I mean, that just means it isn't what it used to

be. And it's not fun for me anymore. Right. And so I don't want to do this anymore. Yeah. It's

like what I said about the podcast, right? I'll do this until it's not fun. Yeah. You know,

because I'm not making any money. You weren't making money at the camp out. It's kind of

the same principle, right? Like, is the ROI personally there for you? And that investment's

just gratitude and mentality and just having fun, not necessarily money. Yeah. Yeah. It's,

you know, in talking about the podcast, like I said it, you know, there's, for sure, like this

pays a significant, not a significant, it pays a portion of my livelihood, right? Sure. And it

has since probably 2022 is when I would say that this podcast generated like something I would

consider to be real money. You know what I mean? In real money, I'm not, again, I can't not work on

the bikes and paint the bikes. Right. But this could pay the shop rent. Yeah. You know what I mean?

It made a difference. Yeah. It could pay, it paid a bill, basically. Yeah. And then it paid another

one and another one. And it got to a point where it was paying like a decent amount of bills. And

you're like, fuck, man, like that's cool. And you kind of, then you have this other incentive to

never stop or give up or sure, whatever, because it becomes a viable part of like your, your ecosystem,

right? Yeah. For you probably might have heard me, I was really planning on shutting the shop down.

Definitely a mustang. I was really going to go full fourth in trying to full time podcast.

Because in 2023, I could if I didn't have the shop. Gotcha. And at the time I had Covington,

I had these other individuals that I would paint for that I didn't necessarily have to do it here.

Right. So I'm like, okay, well, I can go travel around and do this podcast.

Yeah. And paint as well. And paint as well, but not have to have this,

you know, couple of grand a month, you know, nut I have to get off of. Sure. You know what I mean?

So then the economy with shit. Yeah. So they're sorry. So let me ask you a question. So you've

been obviously doing the podcast thing much longer than I have. What is your thoughts on the podcast

in the motorcycle community podcast world now compared to three years, five, seven years ago?

I think I've always said that you don't see a lot of consistency from people

with podcasting. I think that it's one of those outside looking in ignorant perspectives. It looks

like a very easy thing. You're just talking. And you can always tell when someone does start a podcast

and they're just talking because you feel like you didn't actually get anything out of this.

What did I just listen to? And not to say that I've had those recently every once

while you're just maybe you're just having a good time and you're not paying attention to

an agenda that you might have had or some kind of direction you wanted to take it. So they do slip.

But I think the other thing is that people think you're going to get rich off of this.

And so after they do 10 episodes and they realize that the consistency of showing up becomes difficult.

Yeah. You end up getting people coming and going a lot. Sure. And then they make a big stink. I'm

bringing the podcast back and they get a couple. Yeah, I loved it. And they do it. And they do it

for another five episodes. Yeah. You know, see, there's a lot of the inconsistency that comes

around. But it's kind of like the old furniture store that's going out of business for the 10th

time. Yeah. You know, perfect example. And I wouldn't say that there's there's not like I've

publicly supported almost everybody that's that's like podcast has came out.

Nowadays, a lot of the information is easier to obtain, but half of the ones that were video

originally were I helped them do that. Okay. Tulane life. Tucker speed. Sure. LFG. You know,

a lot of these people I would I would show them all the stuff because I spent all the money and

did all the stuff the wrong way and figured out what worked and then I would help them find the

ways into it. Right. So it's never I've never been against like people doing it. I just think that

it's my my thing I would say to people is like, understand what you're doing it for.

What is your point? What is your perspective? If so and so talks to you, what are you getting

differently than if they were to talk to, you know, the Motorstate podcast or mine or, you know,

Taylor's right? It's to it's to bring something unique to the table. Otherwise, like it is kind

of a cesspool. It can become a saturated market man. Yeah. And and with that, I think you can

you can lose quality. Yeah, you do as a whole as well. Not about years or a mind, but as a whole.

Yeah. I mean, if you're doing if your podcast is good and people enjoy it, then

you're always going to have listeners, right? Sure. So it's not to say that because other

people do piss poor podcasts, it's hurting my podcast, right? Right. Right. Not nothing like

that. But I just think it's about being intentional with what you're doing. It's like maybe taking,

having a little bit more respect for the work that goes into doing podcasts that it's not just

there is a percentage of us doing this right here with, you know, two hours, whatever we end up

being at that this was two hours. You know, for a fact, it was two hours because that's what the

podcast says on it, right? Sure. But there is a lot of back in work. Yeah. There is a lot of

stuff that you have to figure out. There's a lot of things about consistency. And when it's not your

full-time job, the people that are listening to it don't care if it is or not. Like, hey, you said

you're going to put up podcasts every week. Where the fuck is it at? Right. You know, you said you're

going to do this. Where is it at? And that's one thing that I've been bad at that I've tried to

stop doing is projecting things before I can actually know if I can pull it off or not. Sure.

You know what I mean? Over-promise. Yeah. It's like the intention is there and the goal and

the planning is there, but there's so many things out of my power that I honestly couldn't. I couldn't

actually stand behind this because I don't have all the, I'm not controlling all the strings to

make it work. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. And I think where that I would imagine is more

challenging for you is because you're doing this. You have to have one of these. You have to have

someone on the couch or at the table with you. You're not just doing that on your own. Unless,

you know, I mean, you're not doing a podcast just you. So that. That's, trust me, if I could figure

out how to do that and not be so in my head about it, then I would love to because I, like when I

listened to the podcast that you and Ryan did on influences versus real writers, right? I literally

had so much I wanted to say. Oh, come on. To chime into that, right? Yeah. And part of me,

not in chime in a way like you're wrong, but like add to the conversation, right? And so part of me

was like, man, that might be a good Patreon podcast for me to just write these thoughts down

and talk about it. Sure. But the same way that like I'm still kind of learning how to do YouTube

videos, like not learning how to do it, learning how to do it in a way that I can manage the

expectation, right? The hardest thing about podcasting for a lot of people is figuring out

how to do it consistently. And so the same thing with making a YouTube video, I need to figure

out how to do it consistently. I have made a promise to myself and maybe you promised the

people that I want to try to put two videos that are not podcasts out a month this year. And some

months it's going to be easy to do four and this month it's hard. I don't even know if I'll be able

to do one, right? Just workload and because that's a content piece right there that I'm waiting on

parts and then there's a content piece over there and whatever. But it's just like the consistency

of things is like really when it comes to content, social media, YouTube, all this podcast, it's just

about being consistent. Because your audience wants to know that every week you're going to show up

with something else for them. And that's how you build all that stuff. I forgot where you had asked

me about on that. Well, your thoughts around just where motorcycle community podcasts are now

compared to five, seven years ago. And there's definitely a lot more. I mean, everyone's got one

now to your point. Not everyone's consistent. I've always felt like all brands at some point

we're going to have some form of podcast within their brand. And it makes sense to do that.

You know, Biltwell has when I was on their podcast recently. Otto's a great dude.

Fuel Moto just started one. Oh, they did. Nice. I think it's more, it's more like talking about

their product and like the analytics, not analytics, we were talking about analytics,

but just talking about the numbers behind it and more of the. Now, a podcast like that,

I could see them hitting a wall where, okay, now you've really laid out all this stuff. But

how do you continue to have something to talk about? What I do appreciate though,

they're keeping them like 20 minutes long. And so what you got to, you're going to, I mean,

I'll nerd out on that stuff. But after 20, 25 minutes, I'm, you know, I've got bandwidth just

like everyone else. Yeah. And that makes sense. And I think that's maybe a good, like what you

brought up is probably a good way to kind of describe the way podcasts have gone from where

most of us were doing them in the Joe Rogan format where it's like, Hey, we're sitting down and I'm

not cutting this off until I feel like we're done. Right. Right. And attention span since the beginning

of our podcast versus now is much different where I can't tell you that if I do a podcast,

it's an hour and 20 minutes versus a three hour one, then one gets more. I really don't know that

because most of mine, it's either, it either works or it doesn't. Okay. Or it either hits

real hard and you know, I have a four hour podcast that literally will have, you know,

a hundred thousand views or I'll have an hour and 20 minutes where the dude has a hundred

thousand views. Right. Sure. So it's like, there's no rhyme or reason. Yeah. But when it comes to brand

stuff, and I think that like Revzilla does this because they're, they have a podcast and it's

always been high in the charts, but it's really just information about products that they're

putting out or that they sell. Yeah. Right. So it's kind of like, it sucks that it's in this

category of podcasts for analytically, for like us to like, you know, be able to leverage to brands

of whatever, you know, the numbers that they all want to know. Because it is in form,

audio form a podcast, because you can listen to it through your headphones. Yeah. But it's not

really the format of what I would say a traditional podcast would be about. Sure. Because if you're

going to talk about, you know, the Kuriaka and floorboards, when you think of a podcast, I don't

really want a product explanation of it. I want, I thought you're going to have Kuriaka on. Yeah.

Yeah. And so now you're just, you're basically just giving me a long-winded sales pitch of this

product. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, especially like floorboards. I mean, yeah,

it's floorboards, right? Exactly. Like, if you want to talk about it, and I guess here's FuelMilder,

right? Let's talk about a cam. And let's talk about that. Well, that's, that's information that,

like, I think that a lot of us would want to know. And if, if, I mean, you could argue that maybe

that could be a YouTube video if it's 20 minutes long. Sure. But, and maybe they have video,

maybe it's a video, they also take the audio out and throw it into your audio or into a podcast

video. Yeah, absolutely. And I'm just curious to your take, because I mean, for me, I went into,

right, I went into this, and he's been in the podcast world for almost about as long as you,

and I'm honestly new to it. But for me, it was really important to go into this and take it,

I mean, we're having fun, but we take it serious. We're going to put an episode out every week.

It's going to be what we feel is quality content out of respect to people that have been doing it

a long time. And I don't look at this as just, oh, haha, look at, you know, dick jokes and whatever.

Like, you know, I want, I want something serious. So, but I agree with you. There's a lot out there

that the 10 episodes kind of is like the magic number. Like if you can get past 10 consistently,

you're probably going to do okay. But it's usually 10 where they fall off. Yeah. I mean, Jeff Holt,

you know, I saw him at, uh, at parts and labor at the beginning of the year, and he told me,

hey, I'm finally getting my podcast out. He's like, I got so many, I got 10 episodes recorded.

I'm like, dude, just, just do them and put them out. Like when you, in my opinion, when you build

a cache up, it's good when you have to travel like we were talking about earlier, and I need to put

out some episodes. So I have like four recorded and ready to release. But like, dude, just recording

podcasts over the course of a year and then storing them, like some of this stuff is time

sensitive. You know what I mean? Absolutely. Like, like if I, if I, if this was strictly about

your origin story, where you came from and, you know, how you got into motorcycles, and that's

all we really talked about, then that podcast can sit on a shelf for as long as it needs to before

it comes out. Cause it's not, we're not talking about the easy writer stuff or the new Harleys

that came out. Mama tried. Mama tried, whatever, right? Yeah. But when you, when you shelve those

things that are kind of, you know, which in a podcast, you will have perspectives on current

events a lot of times. For sure. You know, we keep, we try to keep two in the bank and they are

generic in that they're not time sensitive to your point. So cause we both have full-time jobs,

we're parents, life happens. I'm on the road. He's on the road, whatever. So there's some weeks

we can't record. So I mean, that's going to happen Monday. It's a probably one we recorded

first week of January and we haven't released it because I'm on the road this part of the week and

then mama tried it, you know, Thursday through Sunday. So what do you do? Yeah, it happens. Yeah.

But again, like staying the courses, I think the goal and I mean, honestly, the same thing is you

never know who's following you. You never know who's listening to your podcast. Oh, absolutely.

Yeah. And I've, I've been reached out from people before I'm like, holy shit, like that's cool that,

you know, you listen to it or you know who I am or whatever, you know, it's always,

it's always surreal, you know, but I mean, the thing is that like when I started doing the podcast,

I, you know, not to be a hypocrite, I was no different than the guys that, you know,

I'm talking about this, just shooting the shit in the garage with no agenda. I thought I had

agenda, but compared to the agenda that I try to carry today, it's night and day. You know,

oh, sure. Well, you've learned, right? Yeah, you learned. Yeah. And I mean, we got so out of

a great foot, but that's because Ryan's experience. Thank God. Like, you know, you know, you know,

when I approached Ryan with this idea, five dirty bikers had recently ended and I was like,

I don't understand if you need some time. That was a big part of your life for seven years. Yeah,

give me some time. And, but I told him, I was like, I need someone that knows how to do this.

But I want them to also teach me. Like I'm not just trying to, you know, ride coattails here.

Yeah. And Ryan's taught me a lot of things and he's like, well, you ought to consider this,

this and this. And I'm like, Oh, I need, you don't know what you don't know. Right? Yeah.

And it was kind of funny. Like he, I was like, he'll give me some time to think about it. So I,

you know, I backed off and about a month later, I circled back around and we had a couple of

conversations because we had met before, but only once. We've only met once in person. For real?

Yeah. And so we'll get to hang out and mama tried this week. That's cool. Yeah, it'll be fun. But,

you know, he, you know, it's funny. He started talking, what have you thought about this? What

about this? A lot of us thinking this conversation. And this went on for like three or four or five

weeks. And finally I was like, Hey, man, sounds like you're interested. He's like, Yeah, I guess I

am, you know, in the rest of his history. It's been a lot of fun. And I hope I'm not coming across

to anyone that I'm no expert at this. And I'm not making fun of folks that are just starting because

seven months or eight months ago, that was me. That was us started. I'm just curious your take

on it. And yeah, I would just say to, to make it short and sweet, just, just have a, have a

perspective, a unique one. You know, if, if you aren't in the industry, you don't have anything,

then be the perspective of I'm the new writer and I'm here to ask questions. I'm here to, I'm a

student or what just find a way to where like there's a perspective that makes sense as to why

people should listen to you. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. That's, and that's kind of, I think my

perspective of it was, you know, I'm, I'm being a part of the industry. I have access to these people.

Yeah. I've already, I'm already doing essentially podcasts with them all the time. Right. Might as

well put the microphone on. We're having these conversations, right? Turn the camera on. Yeah.

And I mean, it goes from like, you know, not a lot of structure, but substance. Sure. You know,

like I will say that if you can get over like a lot of my follies and my speech, you know,

whether it's, you know, me saying like, or, or here's the deal or whatever. Sure. Comfort word

I've chosen for that, that time. And there's a lot of great substance in a lot of the episodes

that we've put out over the last, you know, eight years now. And, you know, and I try to be mindful

of that going forward now as they're like, I want these to always have value of some sort in it.

Sure. And so I need to make sure that as much as I would like to just get fucked up and drink

and party and tell dick jokes, because sometimes when you're in those parties upstairs in the studio

and sure time, it's Vegas. You don't know what time it is. And you're like, Oh, shit, we just did

six hours. No windows, no clock. Yeah. Like what the hell. And some of the, a lot of the times

those podcasts never get released, but ever nobody walks out here goes, Oh man, we're not going to

put that out. The hell that was fucking fun. Sure. Absolutely. Yeah. No, that's what I really

appreciate about your podcast. Like it's everyone has a good time. It's, you know, whether in it,

I'm not saying getting fucked up or whatever, but just, you know, the conversation is always good.

There's there's a lot of quality there with it. You know, not to make this about my podcast, but

the other thing I try to think of it of is that there's a lot of with the body of work that's

out there. Not that anybody's going to go back and listen to each one. I don't, there's no way I

could ever, I tried to do that with Rogan when he first came out. And I think I was, when I started

listening to Rogan, it was like 800. Gotcha. And I was like, I'm going to go back and listen to each

one. I was like, that ain't, to those out there that do, that have that, that I appreciate that.

I thank you. But I want people to know that like the same that there's, it's like an album,

like a musician. There's going to be this time you got this type of music, and then it evolves into

this. And our podcast is that way. There's, there's, there's an era when it was like FXR Mike and

T bar Jesus, and they were on all the time. And that those are my go-tos. And then there was

the fast life crew with James, Cody and dragon and all them. And then there was the Devon and then,

you know, like, and who knows what it's going to be now, you know? Yeah. But it's just an evolution

of it. And there's not that anyone's better or worse or bad or whatever. It's just,

man, to be a part of it at that time, how awesome. Yeah. You know, it's fine.

Two things would go back. One that, you know, you talked about how, you know,

you want to quality and, you know, people look back on there, you know, they go back to small

episodes, they're, they get something from it. And Ryan's always looked, his approach to it was,

it is a YouTube channel. And he's like, I want to leave a legacy, you know, for my kids, my grandkids,

my grandkids, kids, like when I'm not around, hey, my great, great grandpa was pretty cool back in the

day. And this may seem goofy then, but it is, hopefully they understand that those cool thing

he was doing, you're doing in the future, you know, it was cool now. And so I've always appreciated

that approach and never thought about it. But it's like, yeah, I guess one day, you know,

you know, when, when Jerry Covington passed away, you know, his wife asked me to send a direct link

to the podcast because she wanted to hear his voice. The same thing happened with the family

from Bassani, you know, so it's like, there's an aspect of it, you know, where you, you've spoken

to someone that did something crazy, you know, not crazy, but like did something impactful in the

industry, but their family now has this thing they can listen to, right? And when my grandfather

passed away in 19, I remember it because I was already deep into doing the podcast.

And I was like, man, I should sit down and just do a pot. I was so scared to do it.

Like I didn't think I'd be able to like, hold it together. You know what I mean? So,

but, you know, those kind of aspects of it, that's a unique part of it where it's a personal thing.

You know what I mean? For the people that might. No, and I, you know, like when Ryan said that here

and you say that, sure, your story, like I have a VHS tape of when I was like three or four and

it's me and my grandpa hanging out. One of my grandpas. It's like, I covet that thing. Like,

man, you know, it's in a safe. Like it's, you know, I need to get it switched over to like CD-ROM

or whatever it is now, or if I guess thumb drive, sorry, I'm old. But, you know, and I, like every

time that plays, it's like chills. And I'm sure those families felt the same way. I mean, it's,

there's something there. And I just never thought of it that way.

You know, and, you know, that's, that's kind of what we were talking about. I was talking about

with the FXR division before you walked in. Is it, you know, advertising is what allows all this

shit to exist outside of, you know, this can exist for free. Like, you know, we can spend the money

to go buy the video equipment to make the YouTube, all that stuff and just put it out there. Right.

So there is that. It doesn't mean that we have to get paid or there has to be a financial

compensation, but it does become a lot of work as we've kind of talked about. And the thing is like

everything, everything exists because of advertising. Like Born Free exists because

people advertise their sponsors. That's how that show exists without all that stuff.

You know, and of course, like they've grown it to that point where they have the ticket

sells and they can justify and build this whole thing. Right. But you still need advertisers.

Magazines need advertisers. TV needs advertisers. That's how TV exists. You know, without paramount

selling advertisement slots, they don't have a studio to make movies. Right. Right. So advertising

is literally the financial way that all the arts exist. You know, you can make music for free,

but the radio is only going to put it on if there's an advertisement

paying for the radio to exist. Spotify is only going to put it on if there's an advertisement

for it to exist. So in a way, a lot of creative things are funded by advertising. Oh, yeah. Right.

And so it is kind of like, it's becoming a weird world. And this kind of ties back into the

conversation that you and Ryan were having on Yalls podcast about influencers and shit like that,

where, you know, not, not to go completely and make this all about that, but like,

it made me think about my path in this space. Right. Like I was a, I grew up painting and doing

these bikes, you know, every once in a while, a brand would hit you up and be like, Hey,

you want to run my air cleaner? It was very rare. Right. Cause I was never a big builder in that

space where, you know, guys like Billy Lane and stuff would get essence with, Hey,

what are you building? We want to make sure that you're building with our motors. Here's a motor.

Yeah. Here's two, you know, Baker, same thing. They wanted it on those big name bikers. Like

they've always existed. And it's just that the medium has changed to where it's now it's a block

head more than it's a Billy Lane. Yeah. You know, because there's a trackable thing because of

analytics now, which back then, like you didn't know, like you didn't know you, you spend $10,000

to get the back page of a magazine and had no idea what it's all tangible now. It can be tracked

since wild. Well, what happens is, I guess where I was trying to get with it is like,

well, now that all of this marketing, like, I don't know that they realized it like that,

that $10,000 for that magazine is how information was shared to in our worlds. That's how we, we

got all that, right? That $10,000 sponsorship at the Buffalo chip was how we had the show to

where we built the bikes to take it to the show so it could be seen like it's, it's like an economy,

if you will. Right. So yeah, they want to return on investment, but essentially they're also helping

fund the existence of the culture they're trying to market to. Yeah. Right. Yep. Well, now what

happened with social media in a super quick blanketed generalization is in 2016, when influencing

really became a thing that started happening within the motorcycle world, there was already people

that were already a decent height of things like YouTubers, like Adam Sandoval, things like that

that already existed. Sure. I never got anything for free. And so after I started my podcast and

you guys eloquently did it in y'all's podcast, none of this shit's for free. It's some

type of work that you're doing to get it, but it, you know, did I physically give you 20 bucks for

that part? No. Right. Right. And so there's this economy that was created because of advertising

and social media. They created the influencer, not the influencer came around. Right. Right. It's

more like, Hey, we see that you have an audience we would like for you to run our part. And I

remember the first time someone said, Hey, will you run this? And how much do you want to run it?

I'm like, Whoa, what? You're giving it to me and you're going to pay me to do it?

Is this real? Yeah, exactly. Cause I'm used to the, I only get paid whenever that thing goes from

black to brown, you know, vice versa. Right. So it, it, and I, and I've said it on this podcast

so much that I don't trust this money because it's not the way I've ever made money. And I feel

like it can go away like that. And it did. Yeah. You know what I mean? So what, what happened is

all these influencers and podcasts and YouTube channels started to get monetized through,

trust me, the YouTube monetization for our world is, is dog shit. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like

there was times where like guys like Blockhead and Cruzy and them were making a good money,

but they changed algorithm. The next thing you know, it goes from you making 10 grand a

month to making two grand a month, unless you play the new game, right? Well now, because of the

influencer economy growing to what it is and now Facebook and the whole meta thing is like, Hey,

screw that. You, you have 20,000 people, just give us $1,000 a month and we'll make sure that

everybody sees this. And so now that money does not go into the motorcycle community at all.

That goes, that's $1,000 that now goes into meta that doesn't do anything for bike shows,

podcasts. It doesn't create anything that you can actually consume or better this community,

but they sold more air cleaners, right? And if, if, if our, if our culture as motorcycling

continues down that path and it only goes to where you get, you don't realize that some of this

money is keeping culture alive, then you're going to have a culturalist thing that doesn't,

you know, there's no mama tries. There's no things that lose its identity. Yeah. Cause how are you

going to track what you're going to get mama tried if you go sponsor that event? Yeah. Oh,

there's this many door swings that came in there, but that doesn't mean compared to like how many

people bought your shit, right? You know, no, I agree. And I think, you know, back, you talked

about, you know, the influencers became a thing and 16 and that sounds about right. I think, you

people thought, Oh, there's, there wasn't influencers before 16. Well, yeah, there was.

It was absolutely. It just looked way different. Yeah. Like I knew that Michael Jordan was wearing

Nike or wearing Jordans or drinking Gatorade or whatever. It's always existed, right? But so it

goes back to what I was saying about guys like Billy Lane before, right? They were on this pedestal

from these things they had built. So we kind of associated that with like, if I ever want to get

to that level, I got to bust my ass and become this right creative in some kind of way. Well,

when the things changed and it became about like just making good posts on social media,

and trust me, there's work that goes into that, whether you pick up a camera, like personality,

you know, all these things kind of come into it. But before you could just be have no personality

and make good work in the economy of custom motorcycles or tools or whatever wanted you

to work with your tools and your products. Therefore, you didn't have to have, you didn't

have to be a Ryan Cruisey on camera, right? Right. You could just be a mute that fucking

makes badass stuff or whatever. And the next thing you know, like you're at the top. So that,

for me in my world, that was a big change because all the places I wanted to be in the

custom paint world, that changed. Where I wanted to be the best and baddest to be able to be in

all these magazines and teach and do all this stuff. And then that kind of changed. The magazines

went away. The companies that wanted to like the IWATAs and SATAs and these companies, like you

had to be a paint nerd. Like you couldn't be like me and be more of a motorcyclist at paints.

You had to be a painter only. And so it kind of like cut off the ability for whenever I grew up,

I saw guys like Hot Dog and, and you know, people that worked at like cutting boy cuttington and

stuff that were like, they were hot rod guys or bike guys, but they also were painters. And they

got supported by the by the industries that they were in. Sure. You know, I get nothing in the

paint world. I don't get, I don't get dick. But I get flake, middle flake. Thank you paint hover.

Pretty sure. Are there painters out there that get? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I mean, I just don't know

that world. And I'm not saying that to woe is me. I don't play that game is what I'm getting at.

I don't play the paint game the way that I would need to play it to be valid in that world, which

that's a choice I made, not a choice they made. Right. Yeah. It's an interest. Speaking of, and

just in the, in my perspective, in the motorcycle community, it's an interesting world we're in

now where you have influencers who are hawking parts that maybe don't know how to even install that

part. Or, you know, they're not actual bike builders, but they, they bolt on parts. And I'm

not saying one's right or wrong. Yeah. Listen, you do your thing. I'm going to do mine, you know,

no harm, no foul. It's just an interesting world we're in now. And in granted, back in the day,

I'm sure you had folks that were pushing some kind of product that they've never used in their life.

I mean, there's always been that aspect of it. But in the motorcycle community, I mean, I guess

I come from my mindset is just like, if you're, if you're hawking parts, you know a little bit

about them. I hope you know a little bit about them. I think that's a, I feel like that's a

journal expectation in this community. It could be wrong, but it's certainly my, my expectation.

Yeah. There's, there's two tangents. We can kind of go off of that because

for, for, let's just say a company that I'm very near and dear with Arlen S, it makes sense for them

to give or to partner with a large YouTube channel, even if they're not builders or installers savvy

to get them to showcase their product on the thing, you're going to get probably

eyes on your products, but that's the goal, right? Yeah. So the one, the one hypothetical that I

feel like could happen, most of, most of custom motorcycles has moved to, to bolt on. There's

very little things that you have to do that are, that are like skill based within doing a custom

bagger, right? Sure. There is motor work, there is suspension tuning, things like that. So there is

still like layers, but there's not really a fabrication element to it. Most of the designs,

most of the things that are being made are being made to really bolt on, click together,

very, you know, do it in your garage, right? Yeah. And that makes that, that, that's important to

have that because it creates a bigger economy for this all to kind of go because now there's no

added layer of barrier of entry. Like you don't have to find a unique specialist that puts this

on. It's a gateway drug. It is. To do more stuff. Here's, this is the law of this, the law of

attraction, if you will, is if everybody has it and everybody can have it, it's not cool anymore.

Sure. It will run its course. What I've seen happen is a lot of the communities in which

I've been a part of for the last 10 years, 20 years actually in the custom motorcycle industry,

they're, they've gone from the baggers to the FXRs and now the choppers to these things that are

harder to have. They want to be challenged. They want to be challenged, but yes, 100%,

that sort of bulls down to is you want to challenge and most people can't just buy an FXR.

Right. I mean, you can buy one, but you can't maintain it. You can't keep it on the road. You

don't know what to do, blah, blah, blah. You know what I mean? But as the road glide, you can buy

that. You can finance it. Got a warranty. Got a warranty. Yeah. If that light comes on, you take

it to the dealership. You know what I mean? That's, that's me. That was me. Yeah. 2021 bought, bought

my street glide, right? And I didn't understand and I'm still learning. I got a lot to learn. I have

an FXR, but I want it in a raffle, right? So I am talking about learning motors, how they work

on motorcycles. Chris helps me a lot and Mikey and I figure helps me a lot. And I mean, they're

doing a lot of work, but they're also showing me things that I want to learn. I want to do it. But

to your point, you're exactly right. Well, what I was saying is more of a hypothetical thing. Like,

I wonder if because that's typically what happens is more the taste makers, which for everybody

out there listening, there's taste makers and everything. It's not that it's not that certain

people within the motorcycle world are objectively out there trying to be a taste maker. It's just

they're following their heart and what they're interested in and where they're kind of, uh,

where they're, you know, just drawn to, right? Yeah. And I think that a lot of people, like myself

included in this, this why I can kind of attest to it is that I've been doing the custom motorcycle

thing for a long time, but I found myself like the big old bagger thing, there was more fabrication

that went into that than on the performance bagger, right? But then the performance bagger

solved a lot more problems because it was a much more user friendly motorcycle as a final product,

right? Yeah. The FXRs made me have to learn a little bit more about motorcycling, like, like

maintaining things, like tuning it, like, you know, uh, you know, aligning things. Like it didn't

just click together like, like, right? The chopper was a whole another world. And it, it opened up

a can of worms in my, in my world of wanting to learn these skills that aren't really valid for the

bagger world. But man, it feels really cool to make this thing that nobody else has. Oh, yeah.

You know, and so I think what I wonder is if there's going to be like this, uh, this shift where

a lot more, which I feel like is happening, but it's more happening behind the scenes of a lot

of people going towards more custom handmade bikes than off the showroom kind of stuff. You know what

I mean? I think, I think you're already seeing that in some, some small way at least. I mean,

I think not that the chopper scene never went away, but it feel, you know, it's going to ebb and

flow. I think it's more appealing right now to people that it never was before. Yes. Yeah. Or

people like me and my journey where, and you too, right? Like where, although you've customized

bikes, but you really want to take it a step further, right? Be challenged more, learn more.

And that's where I'm at. I mean, I'm not ready to get a welder out, but I want to learn how to,

like what you're doing, I want to learn how to tear apart the primary and what I'm looking at and

what to look for. I want to learn that. That's where I'm at in my journey. Yeah. So, and then

there'll always be those people that they're going to buy the new bagger every four or five years or

soft tail or whatever, because they want the warranty. That's fine too. Let go for it, man.

You know, that's, and that's going to keep the heart, it's going to keep the motor company in

business. 100%. And that's kind of where I, there is, there is, you know, the custom motorcycle

industry is a section of motorcycling. Oh yeah. It is not the thing. It is not the only thing.

You know, when I, when I started meeting all the, the damn Hokahey guys and, and the, the,

the Chris Hoppers and the, and the Iceman and I was like, Oh my God, like, that's insane. Like,

the amount of miles these dudes do and, and, and there's a part of that that's like kind of like,

man, I don't know if I'm ready for that, but there's a part of me that that might be a challenge that

I want to like jump into at some point. My like, the Hokahey sounds super interesting. It does.

You know what I mean? That, that's wild. Like, that's a whole, and talk about customization

completely different than what you and I are used to, right? Exactly. They're, they're customizing.

They look like they're on a fucking spaceship. Yeah. They're retrofitting a bike to do something

just insanely different than what we. The tanks, they got like 14 iPads on it. I don't know what's

going on. It looks like Star Trek or something, man. I don't know. It's wild. And I'm not making fun

of it. It's awesome. It's really cool. But it just, there's just all these different worlds of it,

right? And so that's, you know, maybe calling back to the podcast question. Yeah. There's a

perspective there that I'm sure there has to be somebody that has a podcast that's really,

I think there is actually now that I'm thinking about it. I can't think of it off the top of my

head, but they use a road mile marker for each one of their episodes. Oh, we, oh my gosh, we were,

we were on it, right? Oh, I'm sorry. I want to forget, but yes, yes. And I think they kind of

tackle a lot of that kind of ultra travel stuff on theirs. Maybe I could be wrong. Yes. Yeah,

he does. Yes. So yeah, you have someone that's a perspective. Yeah, he, he does that. He does,

he's one of those mile crushers. Yeah, yeah. And good for them. That's awesome. That's awesome.

Man, I'm glad it existed, or it exists because it gives people like so many different,

I don't know, like worlds to learn about. You know what I'm saying? Well, you know, it's another

part of the community that, you know, you want to learn about, right? There's the chopper scene,

there's how you got the mile crushing scene. And it's like, man, that's just a whole

another ballgame, like to do a hundred thousand miles in a hundred days. Yes. I used to kind of

really like boast and brag about like my little 30,000 a year kind of thing. And then it's like,

you have, I sat down to the podcast of Chris Hopper years ago and I'm like, man, you did like

four of my years of riding in a hundred days. Yeah. And I'm like, okay, like there's what you did

in a year in a month. Like that's wild. Yeah. And then this, who's the guy that did, was it a hundred?

Yeah. I think they just broke the record. Yeah. And Chris was going to go on it and do it with him

or something like that. But 140,000 miles in 140 days, I think is what it was. Yeah,

something 120, whatever it was. Yeah. I think the goal was 140 and he ended up being like

one little bit less or something like that. Man, that's good for him, dude. That's,

that's to me, that's a lot of cool stuff in the motorcycle world. Yeah. And they're raising money.

Right there. I mean, Robert, he's a hundred miles, hundred days, hundred thousand dollars. He raised

$120,000 or whatever it was. Yeah. Good on him, man. Like that's also lost in the grand scheme of

things of all this, like how much money the motorcycle community as a whole raises for

various charities. Yeah. That's what all, that's, that's what I knew when my uncle was right, was

alive and he rode, he, they did a big toy run every year and they raised other money throughout

the year, but it was all about kids and that was, you know, I think about that a lot. I wonder if

like maybe versions of like people in my generation, like, because I think you're a Gen X. Yeah.

I'm Gen, I'm a millennial, but like I'm not the first year millennial. So I think both of us are

kind of in this bridge thing where we're a little bit of both, right? Because you kind of grew up

with, you know, computers and emails the same way that I did, but also got to have an analog

childhood in a way, right? I wonder if like, because most of like my

view of charitable things has been the bad side of it, the corruption of things, like I've watched

toy runs here turn into like shit shows, right? Gotcha. But I've also done like the hood toy runs

where like we all would ride to like a, you know, it's more put on by like the black motorcycle set,

minority set, like we would ride to like a harvest part of town and literally hand toys to kids.

That's awesome. Like no middle man, you know, let's get a big teddy bear and strap it to our

bike that no kid fucking wants a teddy bear this big. That's cool for five minutes. Yeah, it's cool

for you on your ride and you know, all this stuff, but like when you hand the kids this stuff or you

see that like that, that was impactful. Yeah. And so I think that sometimes the charity stuff, I feel

like my personal side of it is I feel very, I don't trust it, you know? Gotcha. And I can't

tell you how many, how many charities have reached out to the podcast to try to be on in the last

eight years that have turned out to be bullshit. No kidding. Yeah. And I've just stayed away from it.

Like not that I don't, I don't believe in charity stuff, but there's been a lot of charities that's

tried and I could send you emails like, oh yeah, that one didn't hang out too well and blah, blah,

blah. And it's like, it's just easier to stay away from it. You know what I mean? And a lot of them

are military based. Like they, they're, you know, some dude that never actually served or whatever.

And it's like somehow they got PTSD. That's unfortunate. Yeah. I mean, there's,

there's a lot of good charities out there and, but there's a lot of fraud, it could be a lot of

fraud in that. I mean, where there's money to be made, someone's gonna. Well, it's like the

traditional poker run stuff would use to, use to raise money for things like that, you know?

Absolutely. So I think it's cool when, when it's like local and communal. Yes. Like you can see,

like we're going to do this run to do this for that, that organization right there or this,

this school or this, you know, things like that. It's in your backyard. Yeah. You drive by it once

a week or every day or whatever. That goes, that goes a long way for sure. Because you see the,

the orphan's home or the, you know, the old person's home or the food pantry or whatever. Yeah. That's

it. That makes the impact. You heard of the FDR Foundation thing? Yes. So that's one that I've

actually, I know him pretty well. Okay. And I, I think that I've already asked him if he wanted

to be on, because that's like giving back to a downed riders, you know, people that's, you know,

whatever. And to me, that, that one feels like more at like close to home as opposed to, you know,

here's a hundred grand and then it goes through this, this system. And then the person on the other

end, you know, got 10% of it. Yeah. It's hard to like, and I'm not, I shall name any certain, but

these large, massive charities and the CEO is clearing $3 million a year. And it's like,

that just doesn't, that is, that doesn't pass a smell test for me. Exactly.

The charity standpoint. So I don't know, that's just me.

Well, that's what I'm saying. I just feel like a lot of me growing up, I'm exposed to a lot of the

fraud in this stuff. And it kind of pushes me away from not being charitable, but like wanting

my charity to feel more handled with this. You're naturally jaded from what you've seen. That

makes sense. So influencers and, and real writers, did you, did you get out all you wanted to say

on that? I feel like you, I mean, I definitely have lots of cans of worms. I just, you know,

I don't have like statements prepared. So no, no, no, no, no, all good. I think that,

I think what sucks about like the gripe that people have for air quotes influencers is, is rightfully

there. But I think that to under, like it'd be, it'd be nice if they could understand how and

where it came from. I've been saying this on the podcast for years, what came first, the writer

or the influencer, you know? So when you're someone that loves motorcycles and you're doing stuff,

and then you pick up a camera and you want to share it with somebody versus I've watched

so many people come into this community or in this world completely here just to exploit it.

Like, sure. They were never, the day you picked up your bike is the day you picked up a camera.

Like you're, and like I said, that's a blockhead thing. And I'm not trying to talk shit about

blockhead because I feel like he's growing into being a real biker. Oh yeah. Right. But there's

a lot of people that grow into just like, you know, well, their, their goal isn't, doesn't

feel genuine, right? Yeah. Probably not. Well, and we're oversold things right now, right?

Everything's an ad. Yeah. And, and so you get annoyed because you feel like you're being sold

something, but, but to throw a little like shade back to the audience, stop consuming it. Yes.

You know, like, you do have the power is like, we're doing a podcast right now.

I have advertisements on this podcast. That's how this thing exists. Right. I hope if you find

value in these companies or products that you take a chance with it, but this conversation

isn't selling you shit. No. You know, and that's kind of the thing that

it sucks when you get like lumped into that kind of world of like, you're an influencer,

if you say you have a podcast, you automatically get dubbed an influencer.

Yeah. I think, I think there's a fine line between when people are watching more traditional TV

commercials and what you're seeing now from influencers too, because that's how people are

consuming. Instead of TV time, there, there's a lot more people watching YouTube and just

doom scrolling or whatever on social media. But the algorithms on all these platforms,

like anytime we've had a podcast where there's a brand that has something for sale,

like it's popular through the roof, speed dealer swing arms, right? Bam, through the roof.

You know, those kind of things, you know, do well. And if you watch a lot of YouTube like

content of like how to like get it to grow to be something profitable, to justify the amount of

time it goes into it, then you've got to have to do all this stuff. You kind of need to have a,

a product, a t-shirt and all this stuff. And so you got to sell something,

you know what I mean? And it's like, that's how this stuff exists. And trust me, like part of me

wants to run away and just go back to being a nobody and just painting the bikes and building

the bikes and doing that stuff. But then there's a part of me that like, you know, you meet guys

like you and, and Sheldon and all these other people I've met through listening to the podcast

that I consider friends. And I think it's cool as hell. They wouldn't exist without doing this

stuff. So, and, you know, like I said earlier, I mean, this thing has been a part of my income,

how I live for the last, you know, five years now, four years. So if it went away tomorrow,

I'd be fucked. Right. And that's kind of a scary thing. Yeah. Because I don't like giving

that much power away to something that like, like, if I have your bike here and you owe me money to

finish it, like that's, I'll finish this job, bam, I get paid. Yeah. I go make a hundred, I go record

10 podcasts. And then all the sponsors pull YouTube decides I'm demonetized. Like I don't

meet the new guidelines. Bam, no money, period. Right. You know what I mean? It's gone. It's,

and then it's like, but also you do this because you enjoy doing it. Oh yeah, I do enjoy doing it.

Yeah. Yeah. For sure. I just don't want that to be lost. I know I'm sure with your viewers, it's,

listeners, it's not, but I mean, to be clear, you enjoy doing it, but it also has become,

I enjoy riding motorcycles too. Right. You know what I'm saying? This has become, but your love

for it and passion about it has grown it to where it's at now. And because of that, you're making

money up from it as well. That's natural evolution. There's no, when I say there's no

generalization, there's probably somebody, none of these, none of these channels that exist that

people consume would exist if they weren't making money. Sure. And let's just be real. Like, it's

not the truth. Yeah. Rogan's not going to do a podcast if he's not making money. It doesn't make

sense to do anymore. Yeah. Right. Adam Sandoval is not going to make any more YouTube videos if he

can't get paid to make YouTube videos. Thrashen is not going to do any more YouTube videos if the

YouTube is not being a beneficial place for them to make YouTube videos. For sure. Right. So getting

over that part of like people doing anything for money, like that, that's just how this world works.

Right. What sucks is we're doing it on the back of what people's hobbies are.

Right. And I think that's where a lot of the disdain comes from. Is it like, why should I,

you know, I've had someone tell me that, why would I support your Patreon when you're doing what I

want to do? So it's like, I consume your content and I like it, but I'm not going to support you

financially because you're doing what I want to do. That's that. What a terrible place to be

mentally. I feel sorry for that, but also like think about like that. I've heard that on multiple

occasions in the last seven years, people come up, Hey, man, I like all this stuff. I just, you

know, like they give you a reason why they don't want to support you financially. You know what I

mean? Or they think that like, you know, you, you're, you're rich, you know, and sure. Unfortunately,

you, for me, at least I, we've all, I've been on Facebook for this entire existence. So I've seen

what it looks like when you put too much of your business out there, right? And I'm not one that

wants to put all of the ups and downs of my business out there and try to get sympathy

follows and sympathy subscribers and like, you know what I mean? Sure. But these motorcycles

and stuff like this, this is all a lot of work and a lot of time, a lot of money. And, and, you

know, it's not, you know, I don't know. I don't really know what I'm going with that. It's just

kind of like, uh, yeah, I mean, I'm not rich. Yeah. You know what I mean? At all. I'm just, I'm,

I'm so surprised you've heard that from so many people. I guess just my mentality is completely

different. Like good for you. You're getting to do what I wish I could do. Um, I'm honestly,

that should let that inspire you to go do that full time. But it's not everyone. Everyone obviously

doesn't have that same mentality. Yeah. I mean, honestly, I think a lot of this stuff has gotten

more prevalent in my mind because of the Harley partnership stuff. Sure. Is it that, that I've

never felt more imposter syndrome than now. You know what I mean? Okay. Because when I see this

opportunity to work with Harley, I also know Sandoval in Blockhead and her two wheels and

thrashing. And I don't feel like I'm anywhere on those levels to be there. Right? I know I'm in

my own unique place and I do things the way I do it. But like, I mean, it's, it's, it's impossible

not to see who your peers are in that space when you get into that space and be like, wow, how the

fuck did I get here? You know what I mean? Well, I mean, you've, I'll tell you how you got here.

You've talked about it on this episode. Like it's, you know, you've worked your ass off. Well, I mean,

that's how you got that bike. No, I'm kidding. But you've worked your ass off for a long time.

Look how many people you've helped get to where they're at now. Like you talked about

helping to lane life and all those folks like, Hey, let me show you the mistakes I've made.

So you don't make them. So, I mean, give yourself some grace. We also give yourself some credit.

Like, I mean, that's, yeah, I mean, like, so I'm not trying to make this like a

what was me situation. No, no, no, no, I mean, it's just kind of a, it's, it's really weird.

You know, like once things that you kind of wished or dreamed of happening happen,

there is like a, it is weird. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. And, and, you know, like I said, it at first it

felt natural, but then I don't know. It just, time is the only thing that's going to make it feel

more, more normal. I think and I mean, like I said, there's lots of little parts of that

of my life that's been that way. You know, when I first had any success with pain, it felt very

like, how did I, I don't deserve this. Like, you know, yeah, but I don't know. It's just kind of

weird place to be. Well, I would encourage you to enjoy it and, and accept it for what it is.

Cause I mean that what you're getting, what you're experiencing getting to do, a lot of people,

including myself, wish, wish that, that I, I could be in that spot, that, that I had that

knowledge and I had that the ability to, to not be a banking and do more of like what you do.

I'd trade your careers in a heartbeat, in a heartbeat. Dude, I, it's so, you know, like I said,

because I don't want to be out there putting, you know, it's a, I feel very blessed to have

the skills that I've acquired over the years, but man, there's the older you get, the more

health insurance and those things that let's be real. Like if I was a better, if I didn't have

these bikes, I could probably have health insurance, but I spent money last year building this bike

cause I thought I needed to do that to stay relevant in this, whether it's the, this space,

the YouTube or bike building, you know what I mean? Sure. So this is either going to be the death

of me in one way or the other. You know what I mean? There's your health insurance. Yeah. So

I don't want to sound like a, oh, I don't make enough money to do all that stuff. It's not that,

like when you get money, it's like you're always reinvesting in things. At least that's what I

feel like I need to do. Sure. You know, but I don't know. I'm also like, I'm a, I'm a, this guy,

I'm not a banker, financial planner. I'm more like, well, you know, I'm going to spend all my money

on this and then I'm just going to bust my ass to get those things done. Yeah. And hopefully some

more show up and then I can cover the cost of all this stuff. You know? Yeah. I mean, listen,

I think that our conversation just now is, for example, like it's, it's the guy with the nine

to five wishing they could be building bikes and it's the bike builder wishes they could have,

you know, a guaranteed paycheck every two weeks and health insurance or what? I say that because

you mentioned that, but whatever that looks like. Well, essentially, I think that what I've found is

that I could have all those things if I treated this like a nine to five. You know what I mean?

Like if I didn't travel, I didn't do all the extracurricular things. All the things that you

would think are the benefits of being self-employed. If I didn't have those, I feel like it could be

here or less of it. Yeah. And I mean, you guys sound like this isn't a great business plan because

everything, everything financially, uh, grow everything that I make, everything I do in the

shop to make money, I have to touch it. Like nothing, nothing comes in and out of the shop

that I didn't touch that puts money into it. Yep. It's all on you. If I had a CNC machine over

there and I made a bunch of, you know, you know, reservoir caps for road glides, you know, like

that would be, I'm still touching it, but like that's a lot of things going out. You know what

I mean? No, I get it. And this is a fucking luxury. It is. On top of a luxury. You know what I

mean? So put your damn good at what you do. Don't forget that. That's why you got a pretty road

glide too, sitting in the garage. Oh, you maybe feel so much better about having all this. Stay

tuned for our next motivational speech. Yeah. So in, in your journey getting into all this stuff,

is there parts of like, you kind of alluded to it earlier, but like, are the things that you

wanted to learn be more savvy in like, have you had a point where you wanted to maybe do a cam or

you know, like maybe not build anything, but like, you know, work on the bike in a certain degree.

Yeah, I'm going to, you know, I bought some from Tucker Speed. I bought a plus two

legends front suspension. So I'm going to take it to Chris, but he's like, I'll show you what I'm

doing. So yeah, I'm going to learn that. I mean, I've got a cam in both bikes. So, but I'll,

I'll learn that at some point for sure. And Chris has been really great about anything I want to

learn. Shout out to Chris, man. City Morg. Yeah. And I wouldn't have known he was in my backyard if

it wasn't for this podcast, right? And, and, and you know, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here

because I about choked on a steak sandwich when you're in St. Louis and he had to give me the

fucking Hanlicks. Yeah, that's crazy. That was wild. But no, he's been such in a supporter,

I know your pocket supporter of ours too, which I greatly appreciate. And yeah, he's like anytime,

whatever you want me to work on, I'll show you what I'm doing. So, so yeah, I'm definitely,

I want to learn it all. That's just, that's, that's how I've always been wired. Like,

when I was much younger and into car stereos, well, I can figure out how to wire that, right? So

there's a sub in the trunk and replace my six by nine and six and a half and blah, blah, blah,

whatever head unit, alpine, but with the dolphins. But, you know, I mean, I learned how to do that.

And I, you know, I'm not an expert on cars, but I know enough to be dangerous, you know,

because I wanted to learn and there's stuff that I just don't have the space or the tools to do it.

And nowadays, like with a kid and single dad and podcasts and work and blah, blah, blah, I mean,

I just want to have time. So, you know, like, I was essentially a single dad most of my 20s.

And my daughter lived with me until she was 13. And that was when I was 29 or 30

somewhere around there. Cause it was 20, I was 29 years old when I first drank.

And I, cause I didn't do any of that stuff whenever I had her. And literally it was,

I picked her up from school and then I would take her to a body shop and I'd be airbrushing

a hood mural for a low rider. And she'd be in there and it was no iPad. So like,

she was just hanging out. We're really close now. But when she left to go back with her mom is when

all this shit happened, like I became more heavy into motorcycling. I started traveling on bikes.

I had the, the, the, the ability to write. So my entire 30s was when all this fast life garage

shit got built. You know what I mean? And then I met my wife through it and things like that. And

we don't have kids and I don't have kids at home. My son comes over every once in a while.

But like, you know what I mean? So like that's, there's a lot of things that if, if my daughter

would have stayed with me, that we might not be sitting here for sure. You know what I mean?

No, I, I get that. I, you know, I, I mean, I, I appreciate it. I might work from home now,

but I wasn't always in working from home. I've had office jobs and there's times where I pick

Sophie up and we, she came back to the office with me for the last couple hours of the day or

she's been, I've, you know, been fortunate to be on boards of a couple charities and

trust me, she's ran board meetings with me sitting next to me on her iPad or doing homework while I,

you know, did whatever I needed to do for the board meeting. That's just what you do as a single dad.

You make it work. So, and I'm thankful for it. I got to show her, you know, this dad working,

this dad giving back and charity stuff. And, and she sees me doing the podcast stuff and she's like,

so you have social media. I was like, yeah, I got, you got TikTok. I was like, well, yeah, for,

for MotoState. She's like, you're too old for that. You know, it's been fun to show her like,

just, you know, that journey. Like it's, you're never too old to start over or start something new.

So, yeah, or start period. You know what I mean? Yeah. That's why I was telling you that. Is it like,

I understand the, the, the space of being a parent first, you know what I mean? And there's,

to be honest with you, if my, if I could have had my son, my his entire life, like

him never be a weekend kind of thing, I would, I would trade all this shit for that just to be

able to do that. Absolutely. But, you know, it is life. Yeah. That's this way it works out sometimes.

And yeah, I mean, certainly I, you know, I, I wouldn't trade anything with what I've got now.

And I'm thankful that Sophia has a, a good mom and a good co-parent. And, but if I needed to take

her full time tomorrow, for whatever reason, I'd do it in a heartbeat and I would quit whatever I

need to quit and make that work. So, yeah, 100%. Yeah. Yeah. It's a, I don't, like I said, I didn't

really know how I would go about like talking about the influencer stuff. But that, like I said,

I listened to that podcast that you guys put out, it kind of like opened a can of worms in my head.

He texted me like, I've got some input on this. Well, it's not easier to answer. It's kind of like

when you're, you know, that old meme where it's like, where it's like what it feels like to be

sitting in a podcast and it's like a, like here, but then there's a dude with some boots over there,

but no, yeah, the clothes and everything's there, but no body in there. That's what it felt like.

I was like, oh, this is what it feels like to be on this end of it, to have so much to say. And,

you know, fortunately, I have, I have at least your number to text. But, you know, and at the,

in the end of it, like, I think that whether, you know, whether making money or not or any of

this shit, like I do love this world. Yes. Like this world is, you know, given me a lot, you know,

the opportunities, you know, my wife, my, my, the ability to feed my family, the, the friends that

I've acquired over the last 20 years of my life all came from this world. And in a way,

one of the first podcasts I ever did, my buddy, zombie Mike said, you know,

horizon tide floats all ships and I don't want this shit to die while I'm in charge. Yeah.

And not that I'm in charge, but whatever influence I can be, I want it to be uplifting this culture.

Yeah. So that it, it's here and that somebody else along the way, when I'm too old to do it or

can't do it or, you know, the algorithm doesn't want my kind in here. Well, you do a good job of

doing that. That's what I, I, that's one of the best rewards out of it. Yeah. To take away any

kind of financial compensation, meeting somebody and being, and being like, I gotta do a podcast with

you because this is, I'm motivated right now. Yeah. Like when you have that platform to do that,

that's, there's been times like that that's been completely, I can appreciate that. Yeah. I think,

you know, for me, it's kind of, right now is a very cool moment for obvious reasons. I have a

lot of respect for you and I've, it's your, your podcast and Ryan's old podcast that really got

me into, like I said, deeper into the motorcycle community and into podcasts, which has been really

good for me. But, and now I'm, now Ryan, I have one together. So it's kind of, I don't know if

full circle or just kind of surreal moment. So I appreciate not only being on, on the show, but

like what you've done for that, for the community, because you've helped inspire me to, to try this

and give it a whirl. And it's been a lot of, it's been a lot of fun. I've learned, I've learned a

lot, not just the motorcycle community and motorcycle history, but just trying to take my

listener hat off and, and like podcast or hat on, we've been forward this all started for us was

like, how's Jason approaching this? And like, you know, you know, the questions you ask and

it's been a lot of fun. And then what struck me from the very first show I listened to your

episodes I listened to you was, you know, how much you build up the community and you talk to folks.

I mean, this is a great example. I mean, not that we're competitors, but it's another podcast,

but you're having me on here to talk about my podcast on your podcast and they're both in the

motorcycle world. So please keep doing what you're doing. That's what that's this community needs,

needs an advocate like you in it. Well, I appreciate it. Yeah, sometimes it's, it's a,

I don't know, it's out of sight of mind, you know, it's a

collaborations and all that kind of stuff is how like, I think communities grow. You know what I

think, danger Dan wouldn't have brought me into it, you know, so, and he's a podcast. He's kind

of like, in my opinion, kind of the OG. Yeah. He wasn't the first motorcycle podcast, but he's the

first one that stuck stuck with it, in my opinion. So yeah, it's like, he didn't do that for me,

then I wouldn't exist here. And if I wouldn't pay that forward, I would be doing it as a

service to even the opportunities that I got. Yeah. I mean, and I think something like when

you get older in all these things, like you kind of accumulate ideas, perspectives and opinions,

even skills that you kind of want to give somebody, right? Yeah. And it sometimes like,

especially nowadays, you don't, the way that there's not like a kid showing up to the shop going,

and I want to get into this, it's some fucking kid that doesn't use grammar that's like blowing up

your Instagram, like, Hey, how do you do this? Or, Hey, I want to start a podcast. How do I do it?

Like not, like I said, I talked about this on the, on the Biltwell podcast, it's like,

they're not showing you any kind of effort put into something, right? Yeah. But they want,

they want all the knowledge. And, you know, like me getting into the chopper world, I had to,

in my opinion, I had to completely go into that whole world as a student, not go in there trying

to tell them who I am and what I've done and blah, blah, blah, like, nah, I'm here so you can tell

me why the shovel heads better than this or that or that or why use this and like, I'm here to gain

knowledge, not, not project who I am. And it, it's like, it's something that like, I think that,

you know, we don't, something we don't need more podcasts or more camp outs or more this,

like we need it, we need more people doing it with purpose. It's a good way to put it. You

know, like I want to support people, but I got to support purpose. Yeah. I listened to your

podcast. I listened to the Biltwell one. I listened to these podcasts and these people that I find

value because they're giving me a perspective that is better than some like, you know, shitty one,

for lack of a better term, you know what I mean? It's not wasting my time. It's quality to you,

right? And that's, that's what's important. And I, you know, there's a, there's just a lot,

I think there's a lot to that. You know, when I first, when I first met Steve Chamberlain,

you know what I mean? Like it was somebody that like, this dude is so rad and he's fast and he's

cool. And I'm like, bro, you got to, you got to come on the party. We got to do this. We got to

do all this stuff together. And, you know, at the time, not saying that the podcast did this or

anything, but at the time, like Steve Chamberlain was the homie from Michigan, you know, he wasn't a

BRL racer yet. He hadn't done a lot of the things that he ended up doing, right? So it was just

finding somebody rad through motorcycling and having a platform to be able to showcase that

person, you know? And to me, like it's, it's great to do it, you know, like that, that, that should

never change. Whether it's having the nest family on one day and you on the next two different ends

of the spectrum, if you will, but like both important perspectives to bring to the podcast,

you know what I'm saying? Yeah. No, I mean, that's kind of pro-treat again. Our first guest was a

really good friend of mine. She had just built her first chopper. She's also a trauma therapist

that, that specializes with working with first responders and veterans. So her, her perspective

of not only just building her first shopper and been riding for a long time, a female writer's

perspective, but also let's talk about mental health, right? And man, that was so cool. And then,

you know, we've had Taylor on and we've had, you know, Alicia from peripheral apparel, who,

another female writer who's built her own brand of clothing and just, you know, different aspect,

different folks. And it's, it's been a lot of fun just getting to learn those folks, whether it's,

they're established or not. And I didn't realize, yeah, I forgot that you had Steve on so early on

before. Yeah, Steve was on like within, I think the first podcast he was on was within our first

year because I met Steve because he came to our camp out, our very first ever camp out. And then

he was just super rad the whole time. And then he flew out and stayed with me that winter,

which was like around when we did our first like anniversary parties here.

Okay. And so it just got to a point where we were, he was always around, we were doing, we've,

Steve and I, you know, in 10 more years, just being able to reminisce on the, on the experiences

we've had together, it's insane, you know, and he's a good dude. Yeah. So, and same thing with

like Kyle and all these people. And as you do podcasts longer, and you get more ingrained into

this community, like you'll be able to sit back and be like, man, you remember, remember we did

the first time we did a podcast together, it was in that small little fucking shack or whatever

the case may be. It's like, it's insane. Like reminiscing is just something that I think is,

it's good for the soul of like being, I don't know, like gracious for like the opportunities and

the shit you got to do or whatever you want to say. But like, because sometimes you can take

for granted, like wherever you're sitting, you know what I mean? A studio or this or,

you know, again, I've sat in rooms sometimes doing podcasts, people are like, how the fuck did I get

here? You know what I mean? I thought that walking in here today. So I understand. Like, what? Me?

What? Yeah. That's cool. So you're going, mama tried this weekend. What's it? What's the expectation?

A damn good time. A lot, a lot of, yes. A lot of cold snacks at Elwoods without you.

Very sad. I really want to be there. I know. I get it. No, I think it's going to be fun. I have,

usually I go up on Friday and I'm out Sunday. I'm going to come up Thursday this time. So

get to may go the whatever bike races are doing at the museum Thursday night and

well Thursday is good to get there and do like the first pre pre parties that they have. But then

Saturday or Friday, you have the whole day to maybe go to the museum and do a little more

sightseeing before going to like a, you know, flat out Friday or something like that. Yeah.

And I want to, I want to, I can't believe I'm saying this, but shoot a little content Friday

for the podcast and do that. Then obviously you're flat out Friday and then Saturday we'll go to,

obviously go to mama tried and Ryan and I are going to try, I don't, we're going to,

we're going to film a podcast, but we're going to try to film some stuff together also for the

podcast. Since for folks don't know Ryan, I'm in St. Louis, Ryan lives in North Dakota. So

we're nowhere close to one another. So we're going to try to take advantage of the time together

as well to shoot some stuff. But I think it's just going to be a good time catch up with some folks.

Yes. I know Taylor and them are going to be there looking forward to catching up with him.

And yeah, it sucks, man. I want to be there. I think just the mountain of work that I have.

And yeah, it's like, I'm really, I'm on a good path right now, like with structure, like

waking up early. I'm not going to bed in the middle of, you know, you're not seeing any posts

for me at 3am right now. You know what I mean? So I'm on a good path and I'm getting a lot of

stuff done and I have a lot of opportunity right now that I need to capitalize on. So

as much as I need to do a little road trip and get some podcasts in the can, you know, I

want to build, I got to build this FXR so that I can deliver this and in the agreed upon time.

So then I can take a two week vacation and jump on my FXR and go make content.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, and that's great.

Not my FXR, my shovel.

That's great self-awareness. I mean, it's easy to get distracted,

especially when it comes to like Mama Trot.

We have things coming up, you know, here in Texas, we have the Lone Star Swapmeat, which is,

it's a good communal thing. So you can like do the Swapmeat thing, which

I'm learning to love a lot more now that I know more what those parts are for the choppers and

stuff. I'm not looking at a pile of parts like, oh, shit, I know what that is. And that one looks

pretty good. You know what I mean? So learning that stuff has made it to where it makes sense to

be at those things. Then we have Nitty Gritty, which is kind of like what our camp out was,

but a little, what's good about it is that someone else is doing it all and there's

shit going on. And I just get to go and be a part of it. So we host like a little show,

like a performance motorcycle show within it. And then hopefully I'll be wrapping up this FXR

for Homeboy to come down and ride it back to Minneapolis, where he's outside of Minneapolis,

Wisconsin more. But when are you planning on having that done? The goal is mid-April,

which if everything in the next couple, like I'm not, I say this and then I have like a YouTube

video of me like missing deadlines and shit, but for the most part, everything is kind of here.

You know what I mean? Like there's a few things here and there buttoning up. And

like I said, I'm going to be able to spend all next week doing the fabrication that I need to do

on it before I have, yeah, I should be good. Like it should be going into paint before Nitty

Gritty, which is like towards the end of March. And then, but this, what's unique and fun about

this and maybe my excuse as to why I think I can get it done is that I'm actually getting paid to

build this. So as before, when I'm doing this, every time I'm touching this bike, I'm not getting

paid and technically I'm spending money. So I would have to paint a helmet and then jump back

on this and work till two in the morning. Right. This I can come in at eight and work till four.

And I'm not worried about financially, like because at once we get to a certain point,

I draw, you know, and okay, I just paid my bills for this week. You know what I mean? So that's,

that's the one perspective that's different. Sounds like a construction loan in my banker mind,

but yeah, draw checks. Well, I mean, it kind of is. I mean, the thing is that like, I think bike

building, I think everybody wants it to be a price like on a wall, like this costs this much,

this much, this much, but when you're doing custom things like we're doing this bike,

a lot of it is a range of where it could be. You know, and of course, I'm going to have

400 hours in this thing and I'm only going to be able to build like 80 to 100 of it. Sure.

You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, people have built a home, you know, like, hey,

you know, you want to upgrade or change something that's going to cost more money,

cost the labor or cost of materials go up. I mean, you just never know. There's things

are going to come up just like with this, like things are going to come up. So,

yeah, I got, I clocked it just for my own knowledge, just so that I'm aware because I'm

keeping details of all this. I'm not charging the customer for it, but in just part sourcing and

phone calls, I have 15 hours. I don't doubt that. You know what I mean? And so it's like, man, like

two full days. Yeah. Yeah, just trying to find parts. That's just finding parts to figure out

what I need to make. Because it's not a, if it was a bagger, you know, I have a 2016 bagger,

I have a 2023 bagger. Sure. Because this is a 92 FXR with a twin cam motor. Right. And we're putting

bagger, rear swing arm, wider wheels, 49 millimeter diner front end. Frankenstein, right?

Frankenstein. So everything's going together. So you got to do a lot of phone calls and

conversations to see what's going to work. Sure. And now once I've done it, I'll, I have,

I have 120 hours if you want to do this. Oh, you want to change from here? All right. Well,

that's probably, once I've done a couple, then I'll have a baseline. Yeah. That's a big deal.

Yeah. I'm not trying to get rich off of it either. I just want to be, make sure that I'm

compensated for all the time that goes into it. Well, it also puts out there that you're not

just a painter. Finally. Right. It helps push that narrative. Yeah. The pain on this thing is

to be pretty subtle. Yeah. Actually, the customer, like crazy enough, like this is probably my most

subtle personal pain job I've ever had. And it appeals to a lot of people. So I can do them.

It's clean. That looks good. They don't want any dragons or

pirates. Yes. Pirates of the Caribbean thing. Apparently vanilla ice. I don't know.

Yeah. I got an airbrush vanilla ice tomorrow. So that's going to be fun. I can't wait to see that.

So you planning on going to bite nights out or what? Yeah. You going? If you're going to go,

I'm not drinking right now, but I'll go. Let's go. Yeah. Let's do it. Be good. So,

Motosate podcast, you can, are y'all on most, all the platforms that you know of? Yeah. We're

on all the platforms. Obviously Spotify, YouTube, Apple podcast, our heart radio, Amazon, blah,

blah, blah. The whole thing. YouTube as well. YouTube as well. Absolutely. Yeah. And I would

love to have Ryan on the podcast, but my policy is in person. Yep. So I'll, I'll ship his ass down

here. Yeah. Y'all want to fly down one day together. Or if I get up there, I don't know when I'm

ever going to be, maybe we can meet him in Minneapolis. Yeah, that's a good. Oh, that's easy

for him. Yeah. It is. Oh, yeah. I mean, I think in theapolis is only a couple hours for him.

All right. Yeah. That's not too bad then. Yeah. I've only, I've only ridden like on the map that

much of North Dakota. He's in Grand Forks, which is right on the border of Minnesota. So I think

he's not far from Minneapolis. Uh-huh. Maybe that'll be a good long trip in the FXR. I haven't

done a real good long trip on there. Yeah. Like I said, he, he's the one that got me on

Five Dirty Bikers a long time ago. So, you know, appreciate him and, and the fact that, you know,

because that, I felt like that world was not really my world, if that makes sense. Sure.

And just being on there and being able to share it was cool and, and when I saw,

I appreciate him. Yeah. He's a good people. Back then. Yeah. It made it to where you got to know

about me and then all the. Yeah. It's funny though. Six degrees of Kevin Bacon over here. Exactly.

All right. Luke, thank you. Had a great time with you and Mama tried last year. Unfortunately,

you're going to have to carry the, the, the party. I'll carry the torch and you'll be getting a lot

of pictures of some beers. All right. Go appreciate it. All right. Thanks, sir. Definitely.

Guys, I really hope you enjoyed that. And I encourage you all, if you'd like to listen

into Luke, to go check out their podcast, the Motosate podcast. It's a great one. His buddy

and his co-host Ryan, which I think we talked about a little bit on this podcast is the other

half of that. He's from the Dirty Bikers podcast that's been around for a long time and glad they

exist, man. They, they've brought a lot of great perspectives to their podcasts that I enjoy listening

to. Whew. You guys are awesome. Thank you for listening. I really appreciate it. We got some

good stuff coming up. We have the Lone Star swap meet going down the weekend of March 7th here in

Fort Worth, Texas. It's going to be a good one. We have an after party that we're hosting at the

bearded lady, I think in a, in Fort Worth. It's going to be a great time. You're not going to want

to miss that. Also two weeks after that is the nitty gritty chopper city. Great time. I've been

talking about it for years. It is the event that I think gives you the vibe of what our fast life

camp out was with a lot more going on and everything from choppers to baggers and everything in between.

It's a good time. It's camping. It's partying. It's good riding. Don't want to miss it.

All right guys, we're going to catch you on the next one. I have a stacked, stacked group of people

coming onto this podcast this month or in the month of March. So stay tuned. And again, I appreciate

and thank you for all your support. All right. Peace.

Biker to Podcaster with Luke #455

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