Episode 34
“What is my connection here? My connection to T-Town first started it all, before I had even touched a track.”
Why is the number 2 a 2 and how do you fly with a penny-farthing? Join Joan this week as she talks with Jesse Shotland– they have a delightfully stream of consciousness conversation about track racing, Zwift racing, Strava, philosophy, and much more.
Instagram: @jesseshotland @affinitycyles
YouTube: @JesseShotland
Twitter: @JesseShotland
Thanks to B Braun Medical Inc. for sponsoring the Talk of the T-Town Podcast. BBraun is a global leader in infusion therapy and pain management, B Braun develops, manufactures and markets innovative medical products to the healthcare community. They are also strong believers in supporting the quality of life in the communities where their employees work and live.
Transcript
Joan Hanscom:
Welcome to the Talk of the T-Town podcast, where we discuss all things track cycling, broadcasting live from the Valley Preferred Cycling Center. I’m your host and executive director, Joan Hanscom. All right, welcome to the Talk of the T-Town podcast. I’m your host, Joan Hanscom, executive director here at the Valley Preferred Cycling Center. It’s an exciting week for us here, because we’re about to kick off national championships for juniors, elites, and para-athletes. It was a surprise, but we are, as a result, very lucky to have today’s guest, Jesse Shotland, who is here for nationals, and who has graciously agreed to join us on the podcast. Jesse, welcome.
Jesse Shotland:
Cool. Thanks. Thanks so much, I’m really excited to be here. Truly.
Joan Hanscom:
How you feeling, getting ready for Nat’s?
Jesse Shotland:
A little underwhelmed with my power numbers, but excited to be here, nonetheless.
Joan Hanscom:
They say, you shouldn’t worry about that.
Jesse Shotland:
Right.
Joan Hanscom:
You have to race your bike.
Jesse Shotland:
But the thing is-
Joan Hanscom:
I know, though.
Jesse Shotland:
I’m only doing the kilo.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, okay.
Jesse Shotland:
It’s really just about power.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, okay.
Jesse Shotland:
And aero, I guess. I’ll focus on the aero part.
Joan Hanscom:
How you go on the day, right?
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
You just got to bring your head to the game, that’s all.
Jesse Shotland:
Totally.
Joan Hanscom:
Your down from Massachusetts.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
You live in Western Massachusetts.
Jesse Shotland:
I do.
Joan Hanscom:
Where in Western Massachusetts?
Jesse Shotland:
It’s a little town called Northampton, it’s near UMass.
Joan Hanscom:
Little known fact, I lived in Williamstown. Or-
Jesse Shotland:
No kidding?
Joan Hanscom:
It wasn’t technically Williamstown. I’m essentially across the mountain from Jiminy Peak.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh. Oh, cool. How long were you there?
Joan Hanscom:
2008, 2009.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, cool.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, it was fun. I loved Western Massachusetts, I’d move back in a heartbeat.
Jesse Shotland:
It’s beautiful.
Joan Hanscom:
Had terrible internet, but otherwise, it was a great place to live. Most fun in the winter I’ve ever had-
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, cool.
Joan Hanscom:
… was living there.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, a little known fact.
Jesse Shotland:
Are you a skier?
Joan Hanscom:
I was when I lived there.
Jesse Shotland:
Okay, cool.
Joan Hanscom:
Yes, because I lived across the street from Jiminy Peak.
Jesse Shotland:
Right.
Joan Hanscom:
I was running Cycle Cross at the time, so I was running the US Grand Prix of cycle cross. I had a seasons pass to Jiminy. I would get up every morning, be at the lift at 8:30, or whenever they opened. I would ski five or six runs, and then go back across the street and work for the rest of the day.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, great.
Joan Hanscom:
It was super fun.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow.
Joan Hanscom:
I had a friend named Young Dan, thus named because he was very young. He was the rowing coach at Williams, or a rowing coach at Williams. Young Dan and I would cross country ski a fair bit.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, cool. That’s awesome.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, Western Mass. was quite the most fun for winter, I’ve ever had.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
How about you?
Jesse Shotland:
Cross country skiing is huge in Western Mass., I’ve come to find.
Joan Hanscom:
Do you?
Jesse Shotland:
I haven’t done it. I did it once when I was much younger, but it’s something that I’ve always been tempted by.
Joan Hanscom:
It’s super fun. I grew up in New Hampshire, and I distinctly recall gym class in the seventh grade, we had to go across the street and cross country ski in the park across the street from school.
Jesse Shotland:
For gym class?
Joan Hanscom:
For gym class.
Jesse Shotland:
Huh.
Joan Hanscom:
It was fucking horrible. I remember thinking, “This is the worst thing ever. I hate this. I don’t ever want to do this again.” It was so hard. It’s hard.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah. It’s work.
Joan Hanscom:
As a grown up I’m like, “Oh, this is awesome.” It’s funny how your perspective changes-
Jesse Shotland:
Funny.
Joan Hanscom:
… as a seventh grader I was like, “This is the most miserable thing I’ve ever done in my life.” Now I’m like, “Yeah, cross country skiing.” Now you like the hard.
Jesse Shotland:
That’s too funny. I feel like it’s like that with vegetables, too.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah.
Jesse Shotland:
Hate them as a kid, love them as an adult.
Joan Hanscom:
That’s a very good point. What vegetables do you like? Give me your vegetable of choice. These are the weird, wacky questions-
Jesse Shotland:
Vegetable of choice? Definitely broccoli.
Joan Hanscom:
Really?
Jesse Shotland:
Definitely. No question.
Joan Hanscom:
Fascinating.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Maura? Maura’s giving me the eye, but she’s not on the microphone, but I’m going to swing it over towards her face.
Maura:
All right, well it’s not a vegetable that I detested as a child, but I’m a big potato gal.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh.
Joan Hanscom:
Potatoes? Fourth of July, I was at Maura’s family’s house for Fourth of July, and we had the most-
Maura:
400 clams.
Joan Hanscom:
We had 400 clams.
Jesse Shotland:
Clams?
Joan Hanscom:
It was amazing, but there was corn on the cob, which was delicious.
Maura:
It was so good.
Joan Hanscom:
Also, little potatoes. Maura made the little potatoes, and Maura’s mom was like, “Who wants potatoes?” We were all like, “We all do.” All of us, “Yeah, we want the potatoes.” They were so good, too.
Jesse Shotland:
The little tiny ones?
Joan Hanscom:
Little tiny ones, yeah.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, those are my favorite.
Maura:
Dipped them in butter.
Joan Hanscom:
Because you have butter… with clams, you have to have the drawn butter, so we were just dipping potatoes in butter. It was so good. Yes, we’re talking about the healthy vegetables, but potatoes dipped in butter, that’s our favorite. Maura’s mom grew yellow zucchini, and I had it for dinner last night, sauteed in garlic. It was quite delicious.
Jesse Shotland:
Zucchini’s great.
Joan Hanscom:
Zucchini, very yummy. What else for vegetables? Broccoli, really?
Jesse Shotland:
Broccoli. My girlfriend is a farmer.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, okay.
Jesse Shotland:
A little shout out to my girlfriend, Hannah.
Joan Hanscom:
Right on.
Jesse Shotland:
She’s a farmer, and so she’ll come home with… it must be 10 pounds of vegetables, every day.
Joan Hanscom:
Okay.
Jesse Shotland:
She’ll come home with it, and we’ll cook it up, and it’s great. It’s so enjoyable.
Joan Hanscom:
I like beets, and I like spinach. Not a broccoli gal, though.
Jesse Shotland:
You’re not into broccoli?
Joan Hanscom:
Not into broccoli. Yeah, not into broccoli. Nope, can’t say that I… I like to tomatoes, tomatoes are good.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, don’t get me started on tomatoes.
Joan Hanscom:
Get started on tomatoes.
Jesse Shotland:
They’re my favorite.
Joan Hanscom:
Have you had… All right, here’s a question. Maura had never heard of it. Bread salad.
Jesse Shotland:
No, I don’t know about this.
Joan Hanscom:
Bread salad is amazing. You take a baguette, stale.
Jesse Shotland:
Stale baguette.
Joan Hanscom:
Chop it up into cubes. Soak it in olive oil.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh.
Joan Hanscom:
So it’s nice… and then you… it’s essentially tossed with cheese, and herbs, and tomatoes.
Jesse Shotland:
Bread salad?
Joan Hanscom:
Bread salad. Google it. It’s amazing.
Jesse Shotland:
Interesting.
Joan Hanscom:
Super good, bread salad. Yeah, because it absorbs all the juice from the olive oil and the tomatoes.
Jesse Shotland:
Fascinating.
Joan Hanscom:
Super yummy.
Jesse Shotland:
I can see that. But it has to be stale first?
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, because if it’s fresh, then it’ll get super soggy.
Jesse Shotland:
Right. Oh, interesting.
Joan Hanscom:
The staleness of it helps. Yeah.
Jesse Shotland:
Fascinating. Huh, I would try it.
Joan Hanscom:
But I don’t recommend bread salad before you race [inaudible 00:06:59].
Jesse Shotland:
Okay, yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
You’re just doing one event?
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Right on.
Jesse Shotland:
It’s a longer story, and it starts with everyone else’s story about COVID ruining their racing.
Joan Hanscom:
Okay.
Jesse Shotland:
I came out of… Let’s see. I came out of the winter, before COVID, feeling really strong. I was doing a bunch of Zwift racing, to try to bring up my FTP.
Joan Hanscom:
Does that work? Does Zwift bring your FTP up?
Jesse Shotland:
It worked for me, marginally.
Joan Hanscom:
Okay.
Jesse Shotland:
Which is enough for me to be happy. Maybe 20 watts, after the winter, which is actually not marginal, that’s pretty substantial.
Joan Hanscom:
I was going to say, I’d kill for 20 watts.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
That’s pretty major.
Jesse Shotland:
Then I was really aching to put my new FTP on the track, and it didn’t quite happen. I did what everybody else did, and I went to Strava, I went for all the segments. Then I burned out.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh.
Jesse Shotland:
Then I stopped training. I didn’t stop riding, but I stopped training for five months. FTP went way down.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, you don’t hold FTP for five months.
Jesse Shotland:
No.
Joan Hanscom:
It’s not a thing.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah. Then when T-Town was announced to do Nat’s, I decided, “Okay, I’ve never done Nat’s before, because it was always in LA and it was too expensive to go. Now’s my chance, but I’m never going to get the fitness in time, so I’ll just do the kilo.”
Joan Hanscom:
Gotcha.
Jesse Shotland:
And I’ll train for that.
Joan Hanscom:
That’s actually a smart strategy, though.
Jesse Shotland:
Thanks. Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, I appreciate that strategy.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, thanks. Thanks.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, there’s method to the madness.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah. I also have a fond love for the kilo, anyway.
Joan Hanscom:
Which makes you weird, but okay.
Jesse Shotland:
I know. Definitely.
Joan Hanscom:
Which makes you strange, but we won’t judge. That’s cool, all right. I get the method to the madness.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah. I told my coach that I wanted to just do the kilo.
Joan Hanscom:
Just do the kilo.
Jesse Shotland:
He said, “All right, we don’t have much time, but we’ll see what we can do.”
Joan Hanscom:
Right on.
Jesse Shotland:
Here we are.
Joan Hanscom:
Here we are, race week.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Race week. Well, we’re delighted to see you. I wanted to talk to you about your other cool thing that you’ve been doing, which I thought was amazing. For everybody, Jesse has been doing videos with post-event voiceovers, for his track races. I highly recommend, because they’re entertaining, but they’re also… I don’t know, delightfully stream of consciousness.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, cool. I like that, delightfully stream of consciousness.
Joan Hanscom:
Well, I did find it delightfully stream of consciousness. He’s very like James Joyce, here I am on Ed Slaughter’s wheel, like you were like a piece of paper floating down the liffey. There’s my English major reference for the day. It was awesome, because you would do this little tangent about, “Oh, I’m on Vanessa’s wheel. She’s a really good study wheel.” It was a really good stream of consciousness, but it’s so what happens in your brain when you’re racing bikes-
Jesse Shotland:
Totally.
Joan Hanscom:
… that I really appreciated it. But it was delightful.
Jesse Shotland:
Cool, thanks.
Joan Hanscom:
What was the inspiration to start doing that?
Jesse Shotland:
I found this fella on YouTube, I can’t remember what his channel was. I think it was NorCal bike or NorCal cycling, and he does, basically the same thing, but for crits. I saw one or two other people doing that, and I realized no one’s really doing this for track. It looked fun, and I have a background in photo and video.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, interesting.
Jesse Shotland:
I lived in NYC and shot professionally for four years, and so I thought, “Oh, maybe I can put that to use with my bike racing,” because everyone’s always saying… excuse me. Everyone’s always asking if I ever shoot bike races, and I say, “No, I do them.”
Joan Hanscom:
Right. I race bike races.
Jesse Shotland:
But now I have a chance to shoot them, and I also wanted to offer, like you said, my stream of consciousness to the newer riders who are coming into the sport, and maybe are overwhelmed, and don’t know what the rules are or the etiquette, or how to read a race. All the things.
Joan Hanscom:
I will admit, that the first one that I watched, you’re so nice in it. You’re nice, you’re not a jerk, but there’s a moment where you’re like, “And now Ed’s let a massive gap open up, and I have to close it,” and I was crying, because I would’ve had every other expletive in the book. Like, “And then Ed opened up…”
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
You were so nice about it, and you were like, “And that’s quite a gap that Ed’s opened up, and I’m going to have to close it.” I was crying. It was so nice and polite, but still-
Jesse Shotland:
Thanks, that’s sweet.
Joan Hanscom:
… the thought of the bike racer was there, like, “Yeah, that’s a big gap, and I’m going to have to close it.”
Jesse Shotland:
Now I have to do this. Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Then you got to the part where you’re like, “Yep, and here I am totally gassed.”
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
It’s so real, I loved it.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
I loved it. I have been finding them delightful.
Jesse Shotland:
Cool. Thanks so much.
Joan Hanscom:
Keep doing them.
Jesse Shotland:
Thanks.
Joan Hanscom:
Are you going to do one from here, when you do the Kieran when it’s just you alone on the track? Here I am dying, on lap whatever. Lap two and a half, and I am dying.
Jesse Shotland:
I’m done.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah.
Jesse Shotland:
I brought the GoPro to Nat’s.
Joan Hanscom:
Okay.
Jesse Shotland:
I mean not going to do it in the kilo, but I am going to give it to my new teammate Brad Green.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, cool.
Jesse Shotland:
He’s going to take it in the omnium, and-
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, fun.
Jesse Shotland:
I want to do a commentary with him, so both of us will be talking.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, I love that idea.
Jesse Shotland:
Maybe take a couple pauses, and get his take on this, and compare it to my take, and see why he’s right and I’m wrong, or whatever.
Joan Hanscom:
Or maybe why you’re right and-
Jesse Shotland:
Or right.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, maybe. Oh, fascinating, I love that.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, and I want to do more of that with juniors, and in the women’s field, and in masters fields.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, for sure.
Jesse Shotland:
I want to mix it up and get every perspective on the track.
Joan Hanscom:
I think that’s amazing.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, and then maybe even, I don’t know how this would work, but give the GoPro to an official and see what it’s like to officiate.
Joan Hanscom:
Give it to Sally.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, right, give it to Sally.
Joan Hanscom:
Whatever you do, don’t put it on the staff. Whatever you do, just don’t give it to the staff.
Jesse Shotland:
Okay. I’ll take note.
Joan Hanscom:
You never want to see how the sausage is made. All righty, so how’s school?
Jesse Shotland:
School is going well.
Joan Hanscom:
Tell everybody who’s listening, what your school is about.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah. Okay, so I started going to school in, I think 2000… I should know this, 2019 or 2020. I think 2020.
Joan Hanscom:
Time is a false construct now.
Jesse Shotland:
Right, yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Since the COVID times.
Jesse Shotland:
Times out the door.
Joan Hanscom:
Time is a false construct.
Jesse Shotland:
I started at a community college, and I’ve now transferred to the honors program at UMass.
Joan Hanscom:
Which is completely awesome.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, I’m really excited about it. I will say, my dream school was Amherst College, but they put me on the waiting list, and then they said they just didn’t have room. Now I’m at UMass, and I’m studying philosophy.
Joan Hanscom:
That’s pretty cool.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, I’m excited.
Joan Hanscom:
That’s awesome.
Jesse Shotland:
But I’m not excited for job hunting afterwards.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah. It’s funny, I was an English major, so also not really great career prospects when you’re an English major. I remember talking to my favorite undergrad professor at BU, about wanting to get into a graduate program. Then it didn’t… I didn’t get into the program I wanted to get into, and he was on a fellowship in DC and I was living in DC at the time, and we were having lunch together.
Joan Hanscom:
I remember him distinctly saying, “It’s probably for the best.” He’s like, “English departments are not where you want to be anymore.” I was like, “When the English professor is telling you that you probably got lucky when you didn’t get into the program…” I was like, “Oh, okay.”
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, wow.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow.
Joan Hanscom:
But on the other side of that coin, not to be discouraging for you, in your philosophy major, I have never not had a job, since graduating from college. Weirdly enough, we arts majors are vastly employable. Everybody will ask you, “Can you write?”, and you’ll say, “Yes, I’m a philosophy major. I can write all kinds of things. Not only that, but I can analyze things from every angle possible.”
Jesse Shotland:
Right, yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
And perhaps put an ethical spin on things for business, as well.
Jesse Shotland:
Totally.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah.
Jesse Shotland:
I hear that’s actually a big thing, is businesses are hiring philosophy majors, because of their ability to think, and think differently.
Joan Hanscom:
People don’t have that anymore.
Jesse Shotland:
Right.
Joan Hanscom:
I’m a big reader of the Harvard Business Review, and I feel like half the stuff that they talk about, in terms of best practices for corporations and how employees should approach work, would fall well under the study of philosophy.
Jesse Shotland:
Huh.
Joan Hanscom:
I think that there is actually more viability to a philosophy major than people with MBAs would think. Yeah, no, I think it’s cool that you’re doing it.
Jesse Shotland:
Thanks.
Joan Hanscom:
I think it’s super cool. Tell more, what philosophy are you focusing on?
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, not the most employable type. I’m still figuring it out, but the philosophy that gets my blood pumping the most is metaphysics and phenomenology, which I couldn’t even give you a great description of. But the description that I was given is, the study of… what was it? It was the study of the nature of things being things.
Joan Hanscom:
That-
Jesse Shotland:
Some classic philosophy, dense jargon.
Joan Hanscom:
That makes my head hurt. When I was a kid, and I still own this book. Out of all the books that I had since childhood, and I chucked a bunch of them, finally, when I moved to Allentown, because I didn’t have storage for them, but I kept… My father, every payday, bought me books.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, cool.
Joan Hanscom:
This was a thing, this is why I ended up an English major.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, that’s great.
Joan Hanscom:
Every two weeks, my father would bring home a stack of books, on his payday, and he would give me books.
Jesse Shotland:
I like that.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, me too. What a cool thing for a dad to do.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, totally.
Joan Hanscom:
But I had this book, and it was called Where Do Numbers Come From?
Jesse Shotland:
Huh. That sounds fascinating.
Joan Hanscom:
It fucking tormented me. Honest to God, and I still have it. The book is tattered, and cracked binding, everything. But Where Do Numbers Come From?, and when I was a little kid, which is why I hated math class, this notion of where did numbers come from, and why was a two a two-
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
… tormented me as a child.
Jesse Shotland:
I love that stuff.
Joan Hanscom:
I’m going to find this book, and I’m going to-
Jesse Shotland:
Please, yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Because this book ruined numbers for me, forever, because I was like, “Why is a two a two? I don’t understand.”
Jesse Shotland:
What was it called? Where Do Numbers Come From?
Joan Hanscom:
Where Do Numbers Come From?
Jesse Shotland:
Cool.
Joan Hanscom:
It tormented me, but it’s that sort of thing. To me, as a little kid, that was, why is a thing a thing?
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah. Totally.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah. Did it get into the number zero at all?
Joan Hanscom:
No, because it was a little kids’ book.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, okay, yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
I think that would’ve been-
Jesse Shotland:
A little too much.
Joan Hanscom:
Honest to God, I probably would’ve never left the house again if that… because it literally paralyzed me, this book.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, it was terribly-
Jesse Shotland:
Wow.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, terribly, terribly-
Jesse Shotland:
Fascinating.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah.
Jesse Shotland:
You say it was a kids book. Were there photos?
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, yeah. It was a picture book.
Jesse Shotland:
Interesting.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, picture book.
Jesse Shotland:
I’m really curious about this.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, I’ll have to find it, but it ruined me. Honest to God, math, after that, I over thought math from kindergarten onwards, because of this book.
Jesse Shotland:
Five plus five, but what is five really?
Joan Hanscom:
That was it. I was really tormented by why is five a five? Yeah, it was awful.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, I appreciate your philosophy… except you’re not frozen by it and-
Jesse Shotland:
Not yet. I’m sure it’s coming. Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
You don’t have complete brain lock over it, which I had.
Jesse Shotland:
It’s funny, I just finished this book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which is kind of about what you were just talking about. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but I’ll say that basically, the main character… My perception of it, was that the main character, at some point in his past, was so brilliant that he went crazy from his new understanding of the world. He actually went insane and had to recover, and it was a whole thing. That reminds me a lot of what you were just talking about.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, I went through my insanity as a kindergartner, apparently. Yeah, I can’t wait. Now I have to find that book, because I can see it. It’s purple, it’s cracked binding, crackly pages, because it’s so old, but yes, I have it.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow. How many pages was it, about?
Joan Hanscom:
Thin, it’s a kids’ picture book.
Jesse Shotland:
It sounds like such dense material for a kids book.
Maura:
But why that number of pages?
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, right.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, right.
Joan Hanscom:
Who knows. If I looked at it today, I think I’ve been afraid to open it. Crack it open, like it’s going to unleash all the demons of my childhood. I probably would read it today, and I’d be like, “Why did this torment you so?”
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, I wonder.
Joan Hanscom:
Like, “Why was this book the catalyst for so much horror in your life?” I don’t know, it’s funny how books are like that, though, right?
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, definitely.
Joan Hanscom:
You’re the philosopher kilo racer.
Jesse Shotland:
Philosopher kilo racer, I like that.
Joan Hanscom:
That’s very unique, I like it.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah. Actually, that reminds me a lot of… Some listeners may know this guy. Oh, I’m forgetting his last name. Michael Barkasi? Do you know that name? He used to live here, I feel bad for forgetting his last name, but he was a philosopher. He was actually a philosophy instructor, professionally, and he rode kilo.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, that’s funny. Who was the Tour de France rider who was also-
Jesse Shotland:
Is there?
Joan Hanscom:
Yes. Tour de France rider who is a philosopher.
Jesse Shotland:
I don’t know, I should know this.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, no, no, there’s a guy. All right listeners, we’re going to have to go to the Google, because it was all the rage last year.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, how did this snake by me?
Joan Hanscom:
I don’t know, you were too busy doing other things in COVID, chasing Strava segments.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Philosopher. Philosopher. He rode for AG2R. Oh, wait. Oh, yes. Guillaume Martin. Yeah, Guillaume Martin, he’s the Tour de France podium philosopher.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow. Oh, that’s so fascinating. What’s his-
Joan Hanscom:
A student of the 19th century German philosopher, Fredrick Nietzsche.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, funny.
Joan Hanscom:
He continues to reflect and write. During the Tour de France, he was an active contributor to the French daily Le Monde.
Jesse Shotland:
No kidding?
Joan Hanscom:
And has written a book of reflections of the modern day sport.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow, that’s-
Joan Hanscom:
Guillaume Martin.
Jesse Shotland:
That’s badass.
Joan Hanscom:
You got to go-
Jesse Shotland:
Well I’m definitely going to have to check that out.
Joan Hanscom:
You’re going to have to go read Guillaume Martin’s book.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow, yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Isn’t that crazy? So you’re not alone.
Jesse Shotland:
I guess not.
Joan Hanscom:
You are following in the… you’re in the footsteps of other philosopher cyclists before you.
Jesse Shotland:
I’m definitely going to check that book out.
Joan Hanscom:
Right on.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow.
Joan Hanscom:
When is your event? What day? Forgive me for not knowing the schedule, but this is-
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, no. I’m sure you’ve got your hands more than full.
Joan Hanscom:
It’s been a little crazy, I’m not going to lie.
Jesse Shotland:
The kilo is the first day, it’s the 15th.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, the 15th?
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Then you’re sticking around to record other peoples’ racing?
Jesse Shotland:
I’m actually not.
Joan Hanscom:
You’re not?
Jesse Shotland:
I’m just handing the GoPro off to [crosstalk 00:23:36].
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, okay.
Jesse Shotland:
I’m going to show him how to do it, if he doesn’t know how, and then I’m leaving the next day, the 16th.
Joan Hanscom:
To do what? Go back to school?
Jesse Shotland:
I’m probably going to do some camping, or hanging out with my girlfriend.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, nice.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Where you going to go camping?
Jesse Shotland:
I don’t know. We don’t have any set plans, but we’ll probably go up to Vermont, or something.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, nice.
Jesse Shotland:
That’s what we usually do. Then after that, we’re going to New Hampshire, where you’re from.
Joan Hanscom:
Where?
Jesse Shotland:
Where is it? Squam Lake.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, yes, very nice.
Jesse Shotland:
We’re going to Squam Lake, she has an uncle there.
Joan Hanscom:
Isn’t Squam Lake where they filmed that movie? Squam Lake?
Jesse Shotland:
I don’t know. Which movie?
Joan Hanscom:
That one On Golden Pond, or something. Am I wrong?
Jesse Shotland:
[crosstalk 00:24:11] movie.
Joan Hanscom:
I think so.
Jesse Shotland:
Is it a horror movie?
Joan Hanscom:
No, it was-
Jesse Shotland:
Okay, thank God.
Joan Hanscom:
It was one with Henry Fonda, it’s old.
Jesse Shotland:
Huh.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, I think it was Squam Lake.
Jesse Shotland:
Whoa.
Joan Hanscom:
But yeah, that’s a lovely part of the world.
Jesse Shotland:
Cool. I’ve never been, I’m really looking forward to it.
Joan Hanscom:
It’s a lovely part of the world.
Jesse Shotland:
Cool.
Joan Hanscom:
In Vermont, what will you do? You have Heady Topper and eat Creamies?
Jesse Shotland:
Well, we usually just… we don’t really do the Vermont thing. Sometimes we’ll pull over and get some maple syrup, but-
Joan Hanscom:
Nothing wrong with that.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, we usually just go camping and enjoy nature.
Joan Hanscom:
Right on. I miss Vermont.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah. It’s a beautiful state.
Joan Hanscom:
I’m doing Vermont Overland-
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, when is that?
Joan Hanscom:
On the 28th, 29th?
Jesse Shotland:
Okay.
Joan Hanscom:
We have racing here Saturday morning, it’s our last day of Saturday racing, and then I’m driving to Vermont, and the next day is Vermont Overland, that’s what I know.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, wow. Is it the Saturday after the last Friday?
Joan Hanscom:
Yes.
Jesse Shotland:
Okay. Cool. I think I’ll be here for that, by the way.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, right on.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, not going to do the Madison, but I might do the Kieran, maybe.
Joan Hanscom:
Well, yeah, one would-
Jesse Shotland:
If I still have sprint legs. We’ll see.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, you should do it. You should do it.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, it’d be fun.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, thank you, by the way, for coming down that day that I desperately needed you to come down and race.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, yeah. Totally.
Joan Hanscom:
Jesse, please come race.
Jesse Shotland:
It really warmed my heart to get that message.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, that was very much appreciated. Tell us about your T-Town time. Tell us about… this is the talk of the T-Town-
Jesse Shotland:
This is, yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
What’s your connection to T-Town, how long you been coming here?
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, what is my connection here? My connection to T-Town first started at all, before I had even touched a track, when I was living in Western Mass., which is back home, before I moved away. My mechanic told me… because I was into Fixies at the time, I was into the whole Fixie, Messenger scene. Mechanic was talking about this track that he went to a bike swap at.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh.
Jesse Shotland:
I said, “Oh, where’s that?” He said, “It’s in Pennsylvania. I can’t remember where, but it’s called T-Town.” Then ever since that day, T-Town had this lore and legend behind it for me. Then, maybe one or two years later, I moved to New York. That was when I saw my first track-
Joan Hanscom:
Kissena Velodrome.
Jesse Shotland:
Kissena Velodrome.
Joan Hanscom:
Okay.
Jesse Shotland:
I went there, and I happened to go on a Wednesday, when they had track racing going no, so I got to watch. It was love at first sight. It was truly like, “Okay, I’m supposed to do this.”
Joan Hanscom:
That’s so cool.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah. I started racing at Kissena. Got my Cat 4, and then started going to Saturday morning masters and rookies races.
Joan Hanscom:
All right, and then-
Jesse Shotland:
The first time I was here, I was blown away, especially after being at Kissena, this is a whole nother ball game.
Joan Hanscom:
That’s such a cool thing, though, that’s how it all started.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
With a flea market, essentially.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
That’s so cool, though.
Jesse Shotland:
A flea market that my mechanic went to.
Joan Hanscom:
Now you’re a Friday night racing kind of guy.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah. When I was in New York, I moved to New York to be a photographer and videographer, and then I found bike racing, and that took over, pretty rapidly. Then I quit photography and decided, I want to be a pro bike racer. I left New York, quit photography, moved here. Figured I would just live here indefinitely. I think this was before you got here.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, I didn’t know this part of the story.
Jesse Shotland:
Not long before, I think it was 2018.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, I had my first full season here, and I was living with my coaches, at the time, Colleen and Gil.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, okay.
Jesse Shotland:
I got much faster, really quick. Before I knew it, I was not getting dropped in the pro races, I was podiuming.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, competing.
Jesse Shotland:
Then I realized, “Wow, I can do this.” Then, from there, it was slowly downhill. I stopped being able to do this, but I still had fun, nonetheless, and then T-Town became my new home.
Joan Hanscom:
Which is delightful.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, I didn’t end up staying here like I thought I would. I thought I’d just move here indefinitely, but then once the season was over I thought, “I don’t know if I want to stick around.” Then I went to Detroit, and I did the Detroit thing.
Joan Hanscom:
Right.
Jesse Shotland:
For anyone who doesn’t know, they have a track that’s… I think it’s the steepest, or tied for the steepest track in the country.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, I think when South Chicago had their 166, that was steeper.
Jesse Shotland:
Right.
Joan Hanscom:
I only went to that track once, and I was like, “Oh, hell no.”
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, that’s something else.
Joan Hanscom:
That’s the dizzy drone, but people loved it. Yeah, that was short and super steep, but yes, I think Detroit is now the-
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah. It’s either Detroit or the one in… is it Ohio?
Joan Hanscom:
I was going to say Cleveland?
Jesse Shotland:
I can’t remember, but they’re the same length, I think.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah.
Jesse Shotland:
Anyway, I spent the winter in Detroit, and had a lot of fun doing that. Learned that I shouldn’t have done that, training wise, but I still had a lot of fun, made a bunch of friends. I think that’s when I learned about Zwift racing.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, okay.
Jesse Shotland:
Because Zach Cabalchek was there, and he was like, “Yeah, you got to check it out. It’s fun and it’s good training.”
Joan Hanscom:
It’s insane. I did a fair bit of it over the winter, myself.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, cool. How did you find it?
Joan Hanscom:
Insane.
Jesse Shotland:
It’s hard. It’s fucking fast.
Joan Hanscom:
It’s super hard, and it’s super short.
Jesse Shotland:
Big, big watts. Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
It’s like, “Hey, 25 minutes of,” oh, I don’t know-
Jesse Shotland:
Of sprinting the whole time.
Joan Hanscom:
… 200% of your FTP.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
I don’t know, it’s bonkers.
Jesse Shotland:
It’s brutal.
Joan Hanscom:
I think to myself… and I did fairly well in my races, but there’s not a lot of women in the races I was doing, so it wasn’t hard to do well, because I was one of two girls.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow. Was it that small?
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, the races, it seemed, to work with my schedule, it was really, truly-
Jesse Shotland:
Wow.
Joan Hanscom:
… four, five girls, at the most, in the races I was doing. I think there are, A, there are women’s races that are all women’s races, but most of the time my schedule didn’t align-
Jesse Shotland:
Line up with… yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
… so I’d just do whatever was available.
Jesse Shotland:
All right, yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Then I also realized that I deeply misunderstood how Zwift racing worked.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh.
Joan Hanscom:
I thought that when our race started, I would be with all the other Cs or whatever, and it turned out that was not always the case. Sometimes the races start and you’re just with the Cs.
Jesse Shotland:
Right. Sometimes it’s the whole As, Bs, Cs, Ds, yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Right, sometimes it’s all the As, Bs, and Cs.
Jesse Shotland:
I still haven’t figured out how to differentiate between [crosstalk 00:31:21].
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, well you have to look at the thing on the side, sometimes it tells you which group they’re in.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh.
Joan Hanscom:
But I realize that I’m racing until my eyeballs are bleeding, because I’m trying to stay up with the As.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Then I was like, “Oh, that was dumb.”
Jesse Shotland:
A, A, A, C, A, A.
Joan Hanscom:
Then I was like, “Oh, wait a second.” Yeah, once I figured that out, it got a little less horrifying, because I’m definitely not an A, and I was like, “Why are all these people so fast? Why are they only doing whatever?” And I was like, “And I’m dying,” then I was like, “Oh, wait a second, that’s-“
Jesse Shotland:
I think, yeah, As… It’s funny, there’s also the element of not being able to see everybody suffering, which they are. They’re suffering.
Joan Hanscom:
Right, nobody’s avatar is suffering, though.
Jesse Shotland:
Right, they just look steady and solid.
Joan Hanscom:
And you’re bleeding out your eyeballs-
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, totally.
Joan Hanscom:
… and you’re like, “Why is this so awful?”
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
I don’t know. One of the things that was super nice about Zwift, though, over this winter was, I got to race with my friends in Chicago.
Jesse Shotland:
Right, yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
I lived in Chicago for a long time, and so I found myself signing up for a bunch of rides with them. Then a friend of mine actually works for Zwift.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, cool.
Joan Hanscom:
She was doing this Thursday night time trial series, and another one of my friends was also doing the Thursday night time trial series, so I was riding with my friend in Colorado Springs, who works for Zwift, but then riding with my friend who lives in Seattle. It was super fun.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, that’s cool.
Joan Hanscom:
It was weirdly social. For the team time trials, we all got our headphones on, and we’re all talking to each other-
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, cool. Oh, cool. I’ve never done that.
Joan Hanscom:
… like, “Pull through.”
Jesse Shotland:
That’s cool.
Joan Hanscom:
It was really weird. I was like, “Oh, my God. We’re telling each other to pull through, and wait up, and pedal harder.” It was like… I don’t know, because I live by myself and I have a cat, so it was really nice to have other people to race bikes with during the COVID.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, right. No, that’s cool. I’ve always been curious about having the headphones and the mics. Do the noises from Zwift, or the fan, or anything get in the way?
Joan Hanscom:
Not that I noticed.
Jesse Shotland:
Okay, cool.
Joan Hanscom:
At all. I have cheap headphones. I have those Beats, whatever, headphones. I don’t think it was picking up any feedback from anybody else’s stuff.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, great. Cool.
Joan Hanscom:
You could definitely occasionally hear the (heavy breathing).
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, I’m sure.
Joan Hanscom:
That part you did get, occasionally. There was people from the team who were like, “Can you put on mute? You’re breathing a little heavy.” Yeah, but otherwise, it was good. It was really fun to do that whole ride with your friends, or old teammates, kind of thing. Or race with your old teammates.
Jesse Shotland:
No, that’s cool.
Joan Hanscom:
I did one with one of my friends from Chicago, and we coordinated what we were going to wear-
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, fun.
Joan Hanscom:
… beforehand, so we knew-
Jesse Shotland:
Look like a team.
Joan Hanscom:
No, so that I could pick out which… she made her bike outrageously ugly and yellow.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh.
Joan Hanscom:
So I was like, “Okay, you’re on the yellow bike, so I’ll make sure…”
Jesse Shotland:
I see.
Joan Hanscom:
But that made it fun.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, that’s cool.
Joan Hanscom:
We glued each other to each other’s wheels and made sure we went out of the pen together. It was fun, but I never thought I would like that stuff, and then it turned out I was actually super happy to do it in the middle of winter here, during COVID times.
Jesse Shotland:
Totally.
Joan Hanscom:
Like, “Oh, this is actually not bad.”
Jesse Shotland:
Zwift definitely saved my butt during that one winter. I was pretty worried that I would get burned out in the middle of the winter, but because it’s so video game-esque, I was able to really have fun with it, and borderline get obsessive. When I first started doing some races, I was doing mostly Bs, and I wasn’t winning, but I wasn’t getting dropped.
Jesse Shotland:
Then at some point, I started winning. I was like, “All right, I guess I’ll do the As. I don’t know.” I hopped on an A race, and I think I finished fifth or sixth.
Joan Hanscom:
Dang.
Jesse Shotland:
Before I knew it, I was winning all of my A races.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, dang.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, somewhere on my Zwift power, if you go back to-
Joan Hanscom:
Now I’m going to go look.
Jesse Shotland:
I think it was 2019. It’s Gold, Gold, Gold, Silver, Gold, Gold, Gold. Yeah, I became obsessive. Then I realized, there’s a world ranking system.
Joan Hanscom:
Yes.
Jesse Shotland:
I saw that I was in the top 100 for a little bit.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, wow.
Jesse Shotland:
Then I had one race that I didn’t even realize what the race was, or who was in it, until afterwards, but it had a bunch of people in the top 20, and some in the top 10, and I won it.
Joan Hanscom:
Dang.
Jesse Shotland:
Which was like, “What the hell?”
Joan Hanscom:
Have you beat-
Jesse Shotland:
Why can’t I do this on the track?
Joan Hanscom:
Have you beat Kevin Bouchard-Hall yet?
Jesse Shotland:
No, I don’t even know who that is.
Joan Hanscom:
Kevin Bouchard-Hall is Derek Bouchard-Hall’s brother. Derek was my boss at USA Cycling, and both Bouchard-Hall’s were professional bike racers at one point.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, cool.
Joan Hanscom:
But Kevin got real into Zwift, too.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, interesting.
Joan Hanscom:
If you followed him on Twitter, he was live streaming his Zwift races.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, he was doing that?
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, he was super into it.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, cool. Maybe I’ve gone against him, I don’t know.
Joan Hanscom:
Maybe. He’s all on that Velocio program.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
You should check out Kevin Bouchard-Hall, because-
Jesse Shotland:
I will, yeah. Oh, cool.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, he got super into the Zwift racing.
Jesse Shotland:
It’s funny how you can get super into that.
Joan Hanscom:
Dude was a legit bike racer to begin with. Yeah, interesting.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, cool.
Joan Hanscom:
Zwift racing, and then you started doing this thing that I did, chasing the Strava segments that everybody did.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, but for me, I was chasing specific segments.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, okay.
Jesse Shotland:
There was this guy who moved out of my hometown, his name is Scott, he was the manager of the bike shop.
Joan Hanscom:
So you went to take all Scott’s-
Jesse Shotland:
I went to take all of… but I only got seven or eight. I think I went after nine of them, before I burnt out, and I got seven or eight.
Joan Hanscom:
All right, nicely done.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, it felt really good. Felt really good.
Joan Hanscom:
I know Elle Smith was on the pod earlier, and she did the same thing. She got into a Strava QOM battle, a pitched QOM battle over the COVID times. I didn’t do that so much, is that I had picked out select ones that I really wanted, and then I was tied for one for the longest time. The longest time. We were tied, we were tied, we were tied, and I hadn’t even originally tried to get that QOM.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh.
Joan Hanscom:
It just happens to be the last hill on a ride I do very regularly-
Jesse Shotland:
I see.
Joan Hanscom:
… and so I always sprint that hill, just because it’s the last hill on the ride, and that’s how you finish a long endurance ride, you try to do a sprint at the end.
Jesse Shotland:
Punch it.
Joan Hanscom:
That was how I dumb luck happened onto that QOM.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, wow.
Joan Hanscom:
Then I got tied for it, and then I became obsessed with, “Well it’s stupid to be tied for it, so now I really want to get it.” It took me months, and months, and months, and months, and then one day I was like, “I’m going to Alaphilippe this thing,” because Julian Alaphilippe went over the top of, I don’t know, the Poggio in Milan-San Remo, or something, in the big ring, and it’s 53:11 going over the top of the Poggio, or the [crosstalk 00:38:44].
Jesse Shotland:
Ah, jeez.
Joan Hanscom:
One or the other. I was like, “I’m just going to Alaphilippe this thing,” and I went full big ring, and I was like, “Ah,” and I wasted myself, and I finally got it, and it was like, “Oh, okay.” Yeah, so I did that same thing.
Jesse Shotland:
There it is.
Joan Hanscom:
But it was just a dumb thing that I happened upon, doing randomly, so it was very focused QOMs for me.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, wow.
Joan Hanscom:
Like that one.
Jesse Shotland:
I’m always blown away when people accidentally get them. It’s like how do you-
Joan Hanscom:
Well I accidentally tied for it.
Jesse Shotland:
Right.
Joan Hanscom:
Then it tormented me. Like, “I don’t want to be tied.”
Jesse Shotland:
I got to just get it.
Joan Hanscom:
“That’s dumb, I just got to get it,” but then I couldn’t get it. Then I was like… Yeah, I don’t know.
Jesse Shotland:
How many seconds did you end up getting it by?
Joan Hanscom:
Five.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, that’s significant. Oh long was it?
Joan Hanscom:
We were tied at 49 seconds, so four. We were tied at 49 seconds, and I think now I have it at 45, I think.
Jesse Shotland:
That’s significant. That’s a marginal.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, but it was the difference of the big ring.
Jesse Shotland:
The big ring difference.
Joan Hanscom:
The big ring versus the small chain ring.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah. Sometimes grinding is faster than spinning.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah. Every time I did it, like, “All right, this time I’m going to do it in the saddle. This time I’m going to do it all seated. This time I’m going to stand up.” I ultimately got it seated.
Jesse Shotland:
Huh.
Joan Hanscom:
Not standing.
Jesse Shotland:
In the big ring? Seated? Whoa. Fascinating.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, which was surprising, it was sort of an accident, but yeah.
Jesse Shotland:
Cool.
Joan Hanscom:
Good Alaphilippe.
Jesse Shotland:
Nice work.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, so that was funny, but yeah, the weird things in COVID. What else was weird for you in COVID, that we are emerging from? Any weird habits that stuck?
Jesse Shotland:
One of the bigger things, obviously, for any students, you can relate, switching to Zoom for classes, but I’m not going to pretend like it was all bad. It was really nice getting to go to class in bed, in my PJs. Or just turn my camera off and go eat food for 20 minutes, and then come back during the lecture, whatever. That was nice, there was definitely a big, fat silver lining, but I did miss socializing with my classmates, and talking about whatever the topics were.
Joan Hanscom:
The exchange of ideas is not the same on Zwift.
Jesse Shotland:
It’s really-
Joan Hanscom:
Brainstorming doesn’t really work.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah. It’s really different. It just doesn’t work, and you talk over each other, and one person’s lagging.
Joan Hanscom:
Then somebody freezes.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, right.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, that’s weird. Poor Maura here, it was her first year of working here, in COVID times, so she didn’t get that first year job experience of anything. We were doing the podcast wearing our masks.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow, yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
It was definitely strange there for a while, for Maura’s first year in the office.
Jesse Shotland:
Funny times.
Joan Hanscom:
I think everybody has such a weird… I’m more productive working from home.
Jesse Shotland:
Are you?
Joan Hanscom:
I put my blinders on and I just-
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, you have tunnel-
Joan Hanscom:
Here, I’m like, “Oh, I can talk to everybody, and have snacks, and snack break,” which I don’t do at home. At home, I just…
Jesse Shotland:
Wow.
Joan Hanscom:
But here, I’m just like, “Maura, you got snacks?”
Jesse Shotland:
I feel like that’s all I do at home, is snack breaks.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, yeah. It’s different for me, and then the cat got happy that I was home. Maura’s dog hates people because he grew up in COVID. Maura’s got a dog, who’s-
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, wow.
Joan Hanscom:
… the cutest dog ever, but he doesn’t like people, because he only knows the people from COVID times.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow. Have you thought about-
Joan Hanscom:
But he’s super cute, right?
Maura:
Yeah, he’s pretty good. His name is George. He’s a Miniature Australian Shepherd. He was in the office yesterday, and he was Joan’s best friend, yesterday.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, cute. For the first time? Wow.
Maura:
Yeah, because we now have Andrew here, and Andrew is new, so Andrew was the new target, as opposed to Joan.
Joan Hanscom:
And Wendy.
Maura:
And Wendy. Wendy’s scared him. She walked up yesterday.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, so COVID was good for the pets, for sure. We need to get Maura her own microphone, because I always want Maura to join in the conversation, and then yes. Sorry, Janet. We’re apologizing right now to Janet, who is our fabulous podcast editor-
Jesse Shotland:
Ah, I was wondering.
Joan Hanscom:
… who’s going to hate the squeaking sound of the microphone arm swinging around.
Jesse Shotland:
For all the listeners, the arm is huge. It looks like a big eight-foot sweep.
Joan Hanscom:
But this is how we include Maura in the pod right now, so we’ll have to order a third microphone. Yes, Janet, if you’re listening, which you will be, because I know you’re editing this pod later-
Maura:
Sorry.
Joan Hanscom:
… we were thinking about you, and we’re sorry. But we love you. All right, what else? Where are you staying for nationals this week?
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, I’m staying at… Do you know the Carter family?
Joan Hanscom:
I do.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, Grant Carter, I’m staying with them.
Joan Hanscom:
Nice.
Jesse Shotland:
They are the most gracious, generous hosts. They hosted me for all of 2019.
Joan Hanscom:
Whoa.
Jesse Shotland:
Except for one week, or a week and a half, when they were overbooked with people that they were hosting.
Joan Hanscom:
I was going to say, you landed in a good place.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, totally. Totally. They’re the sweetest, and after that year-
Joan Hanscom:
Big week for Grant, coming up.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, seriously. He’s gotten so fast.
Joan Hanscom:
He’s very fast.
Jesse Shotland:
It’s incredible, and he’s a smart racer, and when you’re fast and smart, you’re unstoppable, and I’m excited to see what he does.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah. No, I think he’s going to have a good week.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
He’s been looking good… he hasn’t raced a huge schedule here yet this summer.
Jesse Shotland:
He’s been doing mostly road.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, he’s been doing a lot of road, but the times he’s been here, he’s looked real good. Tuesday? I can’t remember, time is a false concept.
Jesse Shotland:
He said he’s being doing mostly Tuesdays.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, he’s looked good. He should have a good outing this week.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, right on.
Jesse Shotland:
Grant. Yeah, they’ve hosted me in the past, they’re very sweet, I’m very grateful to them. They feel like family, now, at this point.
Joan Hanscom:
Will you be coming back for UCI?
Jesse Shotland:
Probably not, honestly.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, boo.
Jesse Shotland:
Mostly because of fitness.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah.
Jesse Shotland:
Now, my FTP is low, because I’ve been doing the kilo training.
Joan Hanscom:
Right.
Jesse Shotland:
Probably next year. I’ll be back once or twice, probably, this year. Definitely for the last Friday.
Joan Hanscom:
Okay, good.
Jesse Shotland:
And with my girlfriend.
Joan Hanscom:
Right on.
Jesse Shotland:
She got time off.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, I get to meet her.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, you get to meet her.
Joan Hanscom:
Okay, that’s nice.
Jesse Shotland:
I told her about the fireworks, that was the selling point.
Joan Hanscom:
It’s fireworks night, it is a good show.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Pray for nice, dry weather.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, seriously.
Joan Hanscom:
I’m looking outside right now. Looking a little grim out there. Cool, back for fireworks night, bringing the girlfriend.
Jesse Shotland:
Back for fireworks, yep.
Joan Hanscom:
Going camping in the interim.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Summer sounds nice.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, it’s been really enjoyable, this year. Last year was less enjoyable.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, less. Are you in school now, or does that start back up in September?
Jesse Shotland:
It starts September 1st, so I’ll have that Friday, and then it’s pretty much back to school.
Joan Hanscom:
Dang.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
How much longer do you have to go?
Jesse Shotland:
Great question. I’m rubbing my eyes, stressed, just thinking about it. I did two years at the community college, but not all of my credits were accepted.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, boo.
Jesse Shotland:
I’ll probably have three years at UMass., and then I’ll probably end up doing a graduate program. We’ll see.
Joan Hanscom:
As one does.
Jesse Shotland:
As one does. Originally, I was thinking about doing a PhD in philosophy, so that I could teach, but Michael, the philosopher, kilo guy, who I mentioned before, he actually reached out to me and said that the job market is really intense. He basically gave up on being a philosophy teacher, so he just offered a fair warning.
Joan Hanscom:
Interesting.
Jesse Shotland:
Now I’m not sure. I’ve always wanted to write. That was my… that’s what I really wanted to do, and then teaching would be the bill payer, but I don’t know. At this point, I don’t know.
Joan Hanscom:
Don’t write about where numbers come from. Whatever you do, don’t do that.
Jesse Shotland:
Okay.
Joan Hanscom:
Interesting, as that all progresses, are you going to keep racing bikes?
Jesse Shotland:
Definitely. Definitely, and I want to keep making the videos. I don’t know how serious my bike racing will be. It really feels like a pastime of mine, that I’m now just in it for fun, but I want to be able to be competitive in the pro field here, I do miss that.
Joan Hanscom:
Do you race on the other things? Road, mountain bike, gravel? Downhill, BMX?
Jesse Shotland:
Definitely not BMX, definitely not mountain bikes. I’m really bad at mountain bikes. I’m bad at anything where the ground is not predictable.
Joan Hanscom:
Gotcha.
Jesse Shotland:
I tried cycle cross once, like six years ago, and I got spooked and depressed.
Joan Hanscom:
Awe.
Jesse Shotland:
I guess, in retrospect, I could’ve tried harder, or given it more of an effort, but what it came down to for me, was just that I immediately enjoyed track racing, and I did not enjoy cycle cross.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah. As a person who made her livelihood in cycle cross, for many long time, I did not enjoy cycle cross either, as a bike racer, because you’re cold, and wet, and muddy all the time. That’s no fun.
Jesse Shotland:
That’s the thing is, I hear so many cycle cross racers raving about that part of it.
Joan Hanscom:
Being cold, wet, and muddy? Yeah, no.
Jesse Shotland:
They say, “I love the misery.”
Joan Hanscom:
I want to be hot, and dry. Yeah. Hot and wearing just a jersey and bibs.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
I don’t want to have to wear a lot of neoprene in order to do my thing. I want to be wearing just a jersey, no arm warmers, no leg warmers, none of that. No embro required. I want it to be 95 degrees or above.
Jesse Shotland:
I’m with you. Although, that’s hot though, wow.
Joan Hanscom:
See, I like the hot.
Jesse Shotland:
I like the heat, but that’s a little too much for me.
Joan Hanscom:
I like the heat.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow.
Joan Hanscom:
When it’s hot, and I know everybody else hates it, I’m super happy. All those people who are like, “Oh, I love racing in the rain, because I know everybody else hates it.” Yeah, I’m that person with the heat.
Jesse Shotland:
That’s you with the heat.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow.
Joan Hanscom:
That’s me. It’s like the only time I do well. I will do well in a 95 degree, plus, race. Unfortunately, we don’t have very many of those.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow. They do happen.
Joan Hanscom:
They do, but not very often, yeah.
Jesse Shotland:
I wonder if they have any races in Death Valley that you could do.
Joan Hanscom:
There’s a Death Valley Double Century.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, Double Century?
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, that’s insane, isn’t it?
Jesse Shotland:
That sounds brutal.
Joan Hanscom:
No, I used to go down to Belize, and do this race in Belize, the Belize Cross Country, which they haven’t had for the last couple of years, because of the COVID times. But that race is awesome, because it’s essentially flat, and 95 degrees, and 95% humidity, and it’s like, “Yeah.”
Jesse Shotland:
Wow, right up your alley.
Joan Hanscom:
Right up my alley.
Jesse Shotland:
Ah, cool.
Joan Hanscom:
Flat, headwind, and hot, which is all good things for me.
Jesse Shotland:
Headwind and flat? Interesting.
Joan Hanscom:
And long, like 75 miles of into a headwind.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow.
Joan Hanscom:
But hot, and nice.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, hot. That’s so funny that you like that kind of heat.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow.
Joan Hanscom:
I think that’s because I grew up in New Hampshire, where you don’t get it, and you’re cold all the time.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, interesting, so you crave it.
Joan Hanscom:
And you’re just like, “God, the cold sucks.” Yeah, that’s why.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, so how do you do in cold races?
Joan Hanscom:
Terrible.
Jesse Shotland:
Terrible?
Joan Hanscom:
Terrible, terrible, terrible.
Jesse Shotland:
I’m the same way.
Joan Hanscom:
Terrible, which is why cycle cross was not for me. I’m like, “It’s cold. Why y’all doing this?” When I lived in Chicago, when I’d race cross there, I would, “October 10th, I’m out.” Early season races, when it’s hot, perfect.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow.
Joan Hanscom:
They would laugh at me, because I’d always wear my thermal skin suit, and they’d be like, “Aren’t you hot?” I’d be like, “Dude, it’s like 50 degrees out. No, I’m not hot.”
Jesse Shotland:
I’m freezing. Funny.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, that’s funny. I’m with you on the cycle cross thing.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, anything with dirt, I always struggled with. Then, I do some road, but I just don’t enjoy it as much as I enjoy track.
Joan Hanscom:
It’s cool, you found your thing.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah. It really feels like I found my thing. It’s funny, over COVID, I spent a lot of time thinking about racing and track racing. This one night, it really dawned on me how crazy it is, track racing. Racing a bike, so close with other people that you don’t have control over, you don’t have brakes, and you’re going 30 miles an hour. Then I started doubting, “Do I really want to keep doing this? I can’t believe I was doing this.” Then when I got back into racing, I was like, “Oh yeah, I don’t know what I was talking about. This is the best.”
Joan Hanscom:
Oh yeah, what was I thinking about? Yeah. That’s funny. It is funny when you contemplate bike racing.
Jesse Shotland:
Totally.
Joan Hanscom:
Even on the road. I did my first crit, after all of this, back in March. It was a practice crit, but it was me and 80 dudes.
Jesse Shotland:
Your first crit?
Joan Hanscom:
Well, not my first, my first one back.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, I see. Okay.
Joan Hanscom:
First one since it all-
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, went down.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah. I was a nervous wreck. I was an absolute… like, “I don’t know. I haven’t done a crit since 2019,” and I had had all this surgery on my arteries, so I didn’t know if my legs were going to be good, plus I was like, “I don’t think I can keep up with 80 dudes.”
Jesse Shotland:
Was it the crit across the street?
Joan Hanscom:
No, it’s the one down in Great Valley, and I was wracked with doubt. Like, “I shouldn’t do this, it’s going to be scary, and it’s going to be dangerous.” I’m like, “It’s going to be-“
Jesse Shotland:
It’s crippling.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, and I cried on the way down, and then I was trying to text my coach, who was very patient with me, because I’m texting him, trying to get him to tell me I didn’t have to go. He was not giving me that answer that I was desperately seeking, as I texted him.
Jesse Shotland:
Sounds like a good coach.
Joan Hanscom:
He was like, “Yeah, no. You really should do it.” I was like, “Dammit!” But yeah, I had that same, “Why do we do this? It’s dangerous, and fast, and open roads, and cars.” I was in this spiral of crazy thinking. Then I did it and I was like, “Oh, that was quick and fun.” I was like, “Oh, now I remember.” Same thing, right?
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, sounds like my experience. Totally.
Joan Hanscom:
You come back and you’re like, “Oh, that was actually quite quick and fun.” We’re going to convince Maura to race bikes.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, I was talking about track racing with her earlier.
Joan Hanscom:
No, no, no. She’s going to race on the road. I’m turning her into a roadie.
Jesse Shotland:
Cool. That’ll be-
Joan Hanscom:
We need more roadies.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Maura likes brakes.
Jesse Shotland:
Brakes are nice. Brakes are nice.
Joan Hanscom:
Brakes and gears, they’re nice things, which is a blasphemy on a talking track podcast, but there is something to be said for brakes.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, brakes are nice.
Joan Hanscom:
Not on the track. I can’t imagine… can you imagine the chaos that would create? Holy hell.
Jesse Shotland:
It wouldn’t be safe.
Joan Hanscom:
Nope. No, no, no. It would be absolute mayhem.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah. Whenever I tell people about what I do and track racing, of course I have to mention the bikes don’t have brakes, and they look at me like I’m from another planet. It’s like, “What do you mean? How do you stop?”
Joan Hanscom:
With my legs.
Jesse Shotland:
I’m like, “Believe me, it’s safer without the brakes. Trust me.”
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah. Do you know Ghee Nelson?
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, we’re not super… we don’t know each other that well, but if I saw him, I’d say hey.
Joan Hanscom:
You weren’t here for the night that they did the high wheel bike race?
Jesse Shotland:
No, but I saw it on YouTube.
Joan Hanscom:
Okay, did you see our TikTok of the high wheel bike race?
Jesse Shotland:
No, I did not.
Joan Hanscom:
It’s brilliant.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, I’ll have to check it out.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, you’ll have to check it out, because talk about the ultimate fix gear.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, seriously. It is the ultimate fix gear.
Joan Hanscom:
It is the ultimate fix gear, and the pedals are attached to the wheel.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah. The wheel size is your gear, I guess.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, it’s bonkers.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
If you could see how fast their little legs are tweedling over, when they’re coming in from turn four on the final sprint-
Jesse Shotland:
It’s wild.
Joan Hanscom:
… it’s bananas.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, that’s the ultimate fix gear bike. He’s doing the hour record attempt on that bike.
Jesse Shotland:
That’s right. Oh, and I heard a rumor that you were doing the hour record, too?
Joan Hanscom:
Well-
Jesse Shotland:
Maybe?
Joan Hanscom:
There have been efforts to try to persuade me. Nobody has set the hour record for the women on the track here.
Jesse Shotland:
Right, so you were going to set it.
Joan Hanscom:
I said I would do it, just because I don’t have to beat anything.
Jesse Shotland:
Right.
Joan Hanscom:
I could go out on a tricycle and set the hour record, and just roll around on the black line for an hour. But yes, I’ve contemplated it.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah. What’s holding you back? If anything.
Joan Hanscom:
Work.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, fair enough.
Joan Hanscom:
Putting on three national championships, followed by six days of UCI racing, and then doing another national championship, just those things. Yeah, no, but I’ve thought about it, because it would be fun.
Jesse Shotland:
Totally.
Joan Hanscom:
It’d be miserable fun, but it would be fun, and then somebody could come and just smash it, who actually rides the track, and trained for an hour record, could come and do it, but I could at least-
Jesse Shotland:
I wonder if anyone would, because I feel like if they would, then they would have-
Joan Hanscom:
Would’ve done it already?
Jesse Shotland:
… already.
Joan Hanscom:
Well, sometimes I think people don’t want to do records until there’s one to break.
Jesse Shotland:
Right. I would love to set a record somewhere. I feel like all the records that I could set, have been set.
Joan Hanscom:
I think it would be fun to do it. I think it would be totally fun to do the hour record. I’m a big fan of Bradley Wiggins.
Jesse Shotland:
Sure.
Joan Hanscom:
Bradley Wiggins, he was rock and roll, and when he did the hour record, I thought it was absolutely fascinating. People have broken it since, or Victor Campenaerts has broken it since, but watching Wiggins do it… and I was there when Evelyn Stevens did it, too, and I find it to be-
Jesse Shotland:
You were there?
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, I was in the Velodrome-
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, cool.
Joan Hanscom:
… in Colorado Springs when they did it. It’s absolutely fascinating to watch. People are like, “You watched it? Wasn’t it like watching paint dry?” I thought it was actually completely hypnotic and fascinating.
Jesse Shotland:
I’m with you. I’m so into that stuff.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, good. Okay, so I’m not the only one, because-
Jesse Shotland:
And everyone thinks I’m crazy.
Joan Hanscom:
I remember watching Wiggins do it, and was glued to the TV-
Jesse Shotland:
Totally.
Joan Hanscom:
… for an absolute hour, staring at him. I think he literally did not move, a twitch, move his head, move a muscle until 54 minutes into it.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
He dropped his head to look down for a second, and you were like, “Dang, that’s the first time he’s moved in 54 minutes.”
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
It might not have been quite that long, but it was insane.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, it’s impressive.
Joan Hanscom:
To watch that is super impressive. When we watched Evelyn do it, in Colorado Springs, you could tell she was emptying every ounce of everything she had. The last few laps where she was going for it, hitting the sponges, because you just have nothing left. If I were to do it, I wouldn’t have to do that, because I would-
Jesse Shotland:
You wouldn’t. You could enjoy it.
Joan Hanscom:
I could enjoy it, because-
Jesse Shotland:
You could have fun, a dandy ole time.
Joan Hanscom:
… I wouldn’t have a marker to beat. I would have to ride the track for an hour, and then somebody else could come and have to do the super, super hard thing. Yes, I’ve contemplated it, just for fun.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
But Ghee on the high wheel bike is interesting, because it’s not a UCI record. It’s a Guinness Book of World Records type record
Jesse Shotland:
Interesting.
Joan Hanscom:
There’s a whole format that you have to do it team style.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, that’s right. That’s right.
Joan Hanscom:
I think they’re working on their strategy for how you do it team style.
Jesse Shotland:
Fascinating.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, and there’s a great documentary on GCN about the guys in the UK who went for the hour record.
Jesse Shotland:
I remember seeing that.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, super good.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Highly recommend.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, I’ll have to re-watch that.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah. Then we’ll have a finer appreciation for what Ghee and his crew are doing.
Jesse Shotland:
Do you know what the hour record is, for those bikes?
Joan Hanscom:
I don’t remember. Brian Boger from Doylestown Bike Works would have it front and center of his brain, but I do not recall.
Jesse Shotland:
I wonder.
Joan Hanscom:
What was weird was, when Brian was on the pod talking about it, they went fast back in the day.
Jesse Shotland:
Really?
Joan Hanscom:
Until this recent attempt, that record had lasted 100 years, or something.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, because the bikes back in the day, were weirdly fast. We were talking about the difference in weight. I figured, “Oh, well the bikes today must be so much lighter and faster,” and he’s like, “Yeah, actually-“
Jesse Shotland:
Aren’t they the same?
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, kind of.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow, yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
It was sort of impressive.
Jesse Shotland:
I guess they’re still made of steel. Does anyone make carbon arrow tubing-
Joan Hanscom:
Penny-farthings?
Jesse Shotland:
Penny-farthings. Not yet.
Joan Hanscom:
Just more the process, too, of what they’re going through to get the parts, is sort of nuts. One of the guys-
Jesse Shotland:
Where do you get the wheels?
Joan Hanscom:
They made them, but they had to get the spokes from a guy who spent half the year-
Maura:
[crosstalk 00:59:24].
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah.
Jesse Shotland:
No kidding?
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, and half the year, he goes above the Arctic Circle, so you can only get them when he’s in Norway, below the… and then they got-
Maura:
Rubber-
Joan Hanscom:
The rubber for the tires.
Jesse Shotland:
How does the tire work, do you know? I’ve always been curious.
Joan Hanscom:
It’s a piece of rubber stretched around the rim.
Jesse Shotland:
You don’t pump it up?
Joan Hanscom:
No.
Maura:
It’s a solid piece of rubber.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow. Do you glue it?
Joan Hanscom:
No.
Maura:
It suctions in there.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, it’s crazy.
Jesse Shotland:
That’s wild.
Joan Hanscom:
It’s super crazy.
Jesse Shotland:
For the rear, too?
Joan Hanscom:
I don’t think we talked about the rear. We only talked about the front ones.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, I love how the rear is so small.
Joan Hanscom:
Right.
Jesse Shotland:
I feel like everyone focuses on how big the front wheel is, but the rear is also as funny, because it’s so small.
Joan Hanscom:
You’ve got to look at that. Pull up the TikTok, show Jesse the TikTok, because it’s amazing.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, please.
Joan Hanscom:
It’s amazing. The rear is so small, and they go so fast. They go fast on those things.
Jesse Shotland:
I’ve always wondered if someone who is 7’5″, with really long legs, would be able to go faster, because they could fit a bigger wheel.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, but because of where the pedals are on the-
Maura:
The wheel would have to be huge.
Joan Hanscom:
The wheel would have to be crazy.
Jesse Shotland:
You’re right.
Joan Hanscom:
You got to… now take a look.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, here it is.
Joan Hanscom:
I really hope the music picks up.
Jesse Shotland:
This is great. That’s great.
Joan Hanscom:
All right everybody, we have a TikTok, go find it-
Jesse Shotland:
I love it.
Joan Hanscom:
… and you, too, can see the high wheel bike. It’s brilliant. But right when the two of them come through at the end-
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, it’s great. It’s like a cartoon.
Joan Hanscom:
Put a person that’s seven foot tall on that bike, and imagine what their long legs would look like.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, I wonder.
Joan Hanscom:
Imagine Reggie Miller, who’s such an avid cyclist-
Jesse Shotland:
That’s right.
Joan Hanscom:
… but who’s all leg. Put Reggie Miller on a high wheel bike, and imagine what that would look like.
Jesse Shotland:
We should.
Joan Hanscom:
It would have to be a super big wheel.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
I don’t think they make them that big.
Jesse Shotland:
You’ll have to hit up the Norway guy.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, right. Dear guy in Norway, can you extend the spokes?
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, we need five foot long spokes.
Joan Hanscom:
Yikes. No, they’re longer than that anyway. Those wheels are huge.
Jesse Shotland:
This wild.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah. There you go. We keep talking about penny-farthings on this podcast. It’s really ridiculous. We got an email from a woman who-
Maura:
Australia?
Joan Hanscom:
She’s from Australia, who heard the pod talking about the high wheel bike hour record-
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, cool.
Joan Hanscom:
… and she wants to come to T-Town and try to set it for the women next year.
Jesse Shotland:
Oh, cool. Does she have one?
Joan Hanscom:
Yes.
Jesse Shotland:
Sweet.
Joan Hanscom:
She was trying to figure out how to fly with her penny-farthing.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, how do you fly with that?
Joan Hanscom:
Right. We think, “Oh yeah, I got my bike bag.” How do you do that? What kind of bike bag do you put a penny-farthing in?
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, jeez.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, because flying with bikes is not easy.
Jesse Shotland:
Wow, I’ve never thought anybody that, flying with bikes.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, see, this is more for the philosophers’ brain to contemplate.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, right.
Joan Hanscom:
How does one fly with a penny-farthing?
Jesse Shotland:
Funny.
Joan Hanscom:
We’re going to leave you tormented. You’re going to think about why is the number two a number two, and how do you fly with a penny-farthing?
Jesse Shotland:
I’ll write books about those concepts.
Joan Hanscom:
There you go. Well, Jesse, we have to go back to getting ready for making national championships happen.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, that’s right.
Joan Hanscom:
You have to be ready to race national championships.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
At this point, we’ll say thank you for joining us on the podcast.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, thanks so much for having me, guys.
Joan Hanscom:
We would happily have you back anytime, because you are lovely to chat with, and we look forward to seeing more videos.
Jesse Shotland:
Yeah, thanks. I look forward to making them.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, we’re looking forward to it. This has been the Talk of the T-Town podcast, with our guest, Jesse Shotland. You can check out the show notes on our website, thevelodrome.com, and if you like what you’re hearing, please like, follow, subscribe, share with all your friends, so we can have more listeners, and do more fun pods. That’s all for now.
Joan Hanscom:
Thank you for listening, this has been the Talk of the T-Town podcast. I’m your host, Joan Hanscom. Thank you for joining us for this week’s episode. Head over to our website at thevelodrome.com where you can check out the show notes and subscribe, so you’ll never miss an episode.