Episode 45
“Well, how can you not love the place? I mean, you bring people out here and they want to come back .”
Chances are you’ve seen this week’s guest helping out at the track or sitting with friends on the deck in Turn 4. This week Joan sits down with Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Velodrome Fund and good friend Rick Beuttel. They discuss everything from why the track has a special place in Rick’s life, the relationship between the track and Air Products, and how to get more people to come out and enjoy track cycling.
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 from the Valley Preferred Cycling Center, I’m your host and executive director, Joan Hanscom.
Joan Hanscom:
Welcome to this week’s Talk of the T-Town Podcast. This week our guest is a person I have wanted to have on the show for a very long time, but he has a crazy schedule. And so it was challenging to get dates, let’s put it that way. This is a man who spends a fair bit of his time on a plane, doing deals for one of our biggest supporters here at the track. This week’s guest is Rick Beuttel, chairman of the board for the Velodrome fund and our sponsor representative from Air Products. So Rick, welcome to the show.
Rick Beuttel:
Hey Joan, it’s great to be here. I’ve really enjoyed the podcast all along, and it’s wonderful to be part of one. So thank you for asking me.
Joan Hanscom:
So the reason we wanted to have you on the pod, besides the fact that you’re funny and God knows I love a funny guest, wanted to have you on the pod because you are one of the people behind the scenes who is just so clutch in getting shit done at the track. And I think that people who’ve been around for a while may know who you are, because you are of the track, but for the younger folks, people are probably like, “Who is this guy that’s always here helping out and we don’t know much about him?” And I think it’s important that people get to know you and get to know why on earth you give so much of your free time or your very, very, very limited free time to help out at the track. And I think when people love the place the way you do, we deserve to shine a light on that. So, that’s why we wanted to have you on.
Rick Beuttel:
Well, super. So, here we go. Let’s have some fun with it and let’s see where it goes.
Joan Hanscom:
So I’ve been in many, many sponsor meetings with you, Rick. We’ve pitched a bunch. And in almost every meeting we’ve done together where we’ve pitched a sponsorship or talked to the county representatives, it’s come up in conversation over and over again, that the reason you live in the Lehigh Valley is because of the Velodrome. And it was central to bringing you here to take your job at Air Products. So, why don’t you tell people about that? Tell us when you moved here, why you moved here, what your aspirations were, and how you ended up being chairman of our board.
Rick Beuttel:
Sure. So, there’s a lot to unpack there. I was born in South Jersey, born and raised in South Jersey, actually at the beach in Ocean City. Went to engineering school, graduated in 1990. So, forever ago. When I graduated, I had a bunch of job offers to pick from, but had been coming to this area quite a bit to ride crits and to come watch races at the track on Friday night. And I said, “Well, geez, all things being equal, it’s a couple hours away from where I grew up.” So it was far away, but not too far away. And the company, by the way, seemed really interesting, and hey, I’m still here 31 years later. And of course, the track was here. And it’s a mecca, it’s a hub, if you’ll forgive the pun, for cycling. And it’s been great to live here in this valley and have it be my home base for the last 30 years and be part of the track and give back.
Rick Beuttel:
So, fast forward through the first 25 years at Air Products, 28 years at Air Products. And as you mentioned, Air Products has been a foundational sponsor of the Velodrome for a long time and a ton of our terrific athletes and a ton of people, just regular people from the community, have been part of the Air Products community programming effort. And Air Products gets a board seat, so there was a gentleman who did it forever. That gentleman was about to retired. And Corning Painter, who was running our industrial gas business at the time, called me into his office and said, “Hey, we have this board seat. I know you know and love bike racing and are passionate about the sport. Would you be interested in taking it?” That was in 2017.
Joan Hanscom:
Silly man.
Rick Beuttel:
Silly man. So, I joined the board just as a regular board member at large, as it were. And then in 2018, one thing led to another and I was asked to project manage through some speed bumps that we were going through at the time. And then I think in late 2018 or 2019, I became board chair. So, as people say, and I like to say this, honestly, it really does feel good. I’m sort of at the part of my life now where you want to give back and you want to see something that is really as fabulous an institution as this place is continue to flourish and progress. And I think in the last couple of years, we’ve really done a fabulous job establishing great direction and forward momentum that we can all be proud of. So, happy to have been a part of that.
Joan Hanscom:
What I most appreciate about working with you, besides random bouts of laughter, right? Because it can be a stressful place. Let’s not lie, but event production is always stressful. Nonprofit management is always stressful. So it can be stressful, but I think working together, we always found a way to laugh. So I always appreciated that you brought a sense of humor to the job. But the other thing that I always appreciated was that on a Friday night, if you were here, if you were available, you were at the track. And that spoke to me of a person who didn’t just want a board seat to put on their LinkedIn, that you loved the place that you wanted to be here, that you wanted to see other people be part of the fabric of the community. And that spoke volumes to me that if I’m going to have to report to a board, I want to report to a board that’s engaged. And so I always appreciated every Friday night, knowing that you were there and bringing other people to the place. So, talk a little bit more about your love for the track, for the sport, for drinking beers in turn four.
Rick Beuttel:
Well, how can you not love the place? I mean, you bring people out here and they want to come back, whether it’s some of the terrific UCI racing that we had…certainly the amazing set of UCI racing that we had in 2019 and just the rush of being trackside and watching Eddie D. break a long-standing flying 500 record and going by 45 miles an hour delivering the mail, or a normal sort of routine Friday night. I mean, there’s lots to do in the Lehigh Valley. I moved here in 1990 when there was literally nothing to do on a Friday night in the Lehigh valley. So, the community’s changed. The product that we have though, I think remains as solid as it ever was. And I think of the challenges we have and we continue to face is how do we stay relevant?
Rick Beuttel:
How do we keep doing this? And how do we attract sort of a new group of fans? So I think something you said a moment ago was really incredibly powerful, is we all have a duty, all of us that love this place, whether it’s board members, whether it’s people that have just been hanging around for a long time, people that might ride the derby, people that might ride the crit, bring people here, get them out. They will come back. We have fabulous food. We have a tremendous beer sponsor. Oh my God, I can’t say enough about Shangy’s. And we did our best job possible to pull through as much product as they could over there in turn four this year. And we’re going to keep working on that, but it’s just-
Joan Hanscom:
I think you did a great job with that.
Rick Beuttel:
It’s a phenomenal place. It is an institution. And we did go through a little bit of a speed bump, like I mentioned a few years back. And we managed our way through that. We had some sleepless nights. We certainly spent some money that we weren’t planning on spending with our brethren of the legal persuasion, but that’s behind us. We’re looking forward, tremendously. Sorry to see you go. I’ve hired a lot of people over the years at Air Products. And I still tell people to this day, you’re one of the best people I’ve ever hired. And you leave a big hole in the organization and big shoes to fill.
Maura Beuttel:
I can second that, 100%.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah. I don’t think I leave a hole in the organization. I think I leave it in a great place for the next person to come and pick it up and go further, right? We don’t want to think about leaving a hole. We want to think about leaving it in a good place and ready for the next person to step in and take it further, which I certainly think will happen. But I think you touched on something that… I’m such a bike nerd. I’m such a nerd about bike racing, in general. You touched on something about the great Friday nights and the speed of Eddie Dawkins going around and setting records. And I think that that’s something that everybody who wants to see the track succeed needs to bring one friend, right? Bring one friend.
Joan Hanscom:
And I’ve told this story a million times to people, not on this podcast I don’t think, but my very first job was in road cycling for the biggest event in the country. It was the Philly race. It was the Wachovia Cycling Series at the time. Three races,; Philly, Trenton, and Lancaster. And it was the first big bike race that I was ever hired to work on. And I remember, to this day, that my job was to staff the announcers at that bike race. And so it was back in the day, right? So the technology wasn’t the same, there wasn’t Twitter. And we all flipped a paper, right? Every sponsor announcement was on an index card. Every rider bio was on an index card. And I was wearing these giant headphones, because I was connected to the TV people who were doing the live broadcast.
Joan Hanscom:
So, I would know what was happening out on the course, like, in Manayunk when the announcers in the parkway were trying to keep the crowd entertained. So I would be feeding the announcers information all day long, handing them their sponsor announcements, handing them their bio cards, telling them, “Oh my God. So and so just attacked up the hill in Manayunk.” But I’d never done a big professional bike race before that. And I remember at the start, Michael Aisner famously always played The Final Countdown at the start when everybody was getting ready. And the Philadelphia Police were famously good at the Flying V in front of the field, right? So, they had the Philly motocops all lined out in a wedge and you could hear all of the cars in the caravan like [inaudible 00:11:28]. And the motorcycles in the front, [inaudible 00:11:31]. And Aisner’s got The Final Countdown blasting.
Joan Hanscom:
And then the gun goes off and it was the sound of 200 people clipping into their cleats. Click, click, click, click, click, click, click. And then the whoosh of the bike racers when they went by the announcer stand, I had all of this paper everywhere and the lift of the airflow from the bike racers going by the stage, all of my papers lifted up and I could feel it on my face. And I could hear all the sound. And I could see all the color. And I was like, “Holy shit. I never want to do anything but this in my whole life,” right? “This is the place. I’ve found it. This is the thing I love. And it never going to be better than this.” And I tell that huge, long story to say that the track is not different than that, right? The track is the place where if you stand in turn one, turn two, turn three, turn four, if you are up in the bleachers, you are so close to the color and the speed and the sound… sometimes too close to the sound when there’s a crash, but you are very… it’s-
Rick Beuttel:
Or people giving sort of feedback to one another out on the track, maybe?
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah. Also that. Well, redacted got relegated. Redacted got relegated.
Rick Beuttel:
Yes, she did.
Joan Hanscom:
Yes. But it’s that tangible, visceral experience at the track that I wish everybody who loves the place would remember that makes it so special as a fan, and bring one friend. And that’s what you were so great at. You brought people to have that experiential visceral thing that happens to you when they go by at 45 miles an hour and you feel it, you hear it, the sound of the wheel on the concrete, the speed, the wind. It’s a very visceral experience. And if people came out and experienced that they’d come back every Friday.
Rick Beuttel:
No-
Joan Hanscom:
So if you’re listening, bring a friend, just-
Rick Beuttel:
No, and Friday nights, right, are the pinnacle. It’s the big show and it’s what everybody in the community thinks of when they think of T-Town and they think of the track and the Velodrome. We can’t have any of that though, right? And it all starts with community programs and it’s such as solid foundation. And we always, on the pod, and as I mentioned, people think of Friday nights, but community programs are equally important. And in fact, probably more important, because that gives us our base, working their way up the age groups for people to become our Friday night athletes.
Joan Hanscom:
Well, look how fun Tuesdays were this week, right? Tuesdays this year were a blast and Tuesdays had a lot of cat four racing, and some of the most exciting cat four racing, dare I say it, were the junior girls racing in the cat fours, because you had team to team rivalry, you had excited parents in the stands. It was just as enthusiastic, it was just as much passion on Tuesday night, as it was on Friday night. And it was a good show on Tuesdays, even if it wasn’t the big UCI show. And all of those people on Tuesdays are part of the community programs, whether they’re coaching in the community programs, whether they’re a product of the community programs. Everybody on that Tuesday night race, unless they were an out of town visitor, was more or less a product of one of those community programs, whether it was a Try the Track, or an Air Products youth program, a BRL, Women’s Wednesday, all of those Air Products programs are what feed Tuesday, they’re what feeds Saturday. There would feed our coaching staff. And our coaching staff is racing on Friday, too.
Joan Hanscom:
So yeah, it cannot be understated, the importance of having that life cycle, right? You come in through the programs, you go through the different racing programs. You come to Friday night, maybe you exit on Friday nights and you come back in a different way. I think, like, Bobby Lee right now, right?
Rick Beuttel:
Great example.
Joan Hanscom:
He’s graduated from racing on Friday nights, to the Olympics, to retirement, to serving on the board. And it is such a life cycle.
Rick Beuttel:
And you look at all the things Kim Geist is doing for us now, right? And all the magic she’s creating out there. Another great example.
Joan Hanscom:
Holy hell. Her hall of fame induction speech gave me chills
Rick Beuttel:
So well done. And just indicative of just the fine human being that she is and how lucky we are to have her here and still involved in what we’re doing.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah. She’s something. And that speech where she said that don’t give up you lose more races than you win, but keep going, it’s worth it. I mean, holy hell was that inspiring. I just… yeah, what a speech she gave at that hall of fame induction. I wish we had recorded it.
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah, no, we should have.
Joan Hanscom:
Because it was so good.
Rick Beuttel:
But even back to your point though, Tuesday nights were fun this year. And I came out on some Tuesday nights and there were more people in the stands watching on Tuesday nights this year than I remember in a very long time. Now, some of that might have been, we were all pent up all of last year and nobody could go out and nobody could go anywhere. And it was an opportunity to go out and watch some racing and have a few beers. And geez, there we go again with having a few beers, and have some good Sticky Pig food.
Joan Hanscom:
Well, and we had Sticky Pig was there weeks. And we had good food. We had good beer. We had fundraising, we had community, parents were stoked to be able to be back out, watching their kids race bikes. Yeah. Tuesdays were super fun. And then you threw in the mix of Andrew and Tom Manes on the microphone, And it just got to be a really special thing Tuesday night. I don’t know, Tuesdays were a little hidden gem this past summer, I thought.
Rick Beuttel:
The really were. And we need to find a way to keep that going and keep the fun of this place going. I mean, I think, yes, I like to laugh. I think laughter is the best medicine. Yeah. I’m not sure exactly who came him up with the idea, but the whole Mike Miller and camel hats and Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike. I think Maura… it was actually Maura’s idea.
Joan Hanscom:
Maura’s like, “Hey, that’s me.”
Maura Beuttel:
Hey.
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah, “That would be me.”
Joan Hanscom:
Maura did the great artwork.
Maura Beuttel:
That was after some very long race days of just laughing in the office. “Oh hey, Mike, Mike, Mike.”
Rick Beuttel:
And then Doc Stansbury right there and then whipping his card down and getting on Amazon and we have camel hats.
Joan Hanscom:
That was amazing. I have never seen somebody pull a credit card out so fast in my entire life.
Maura Beuttel:
To buy the most-
Joan Hanscom:
“I’ll buy them.”
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah, “I’m in.” And we’re all in. And I think he was there when-
Joan Hanscom:
That was amazing.
Rick Beuttel:
… when Mike came out of his anesthesia after his collarbone surgery, right? There’s Doc Stansbury posting with the camel hat on.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, that was neat.
Rick Beuttel:
So we got to keep the place relevant, but we got to keep it fun too. I mean we’re not curing cancer here, right? We’re not trying to close a $2 billion project. It’s bike racing. We’re trying to do the best damn bike racing we can anywhere in the US. I think we give anybody a run for their money. But geez, let’s have some fun and have a good time too.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if it’s not fun, why do it? Is sort of the… And that’s sort of a theme we’ve had on all these last most recent podcasts, right? We had Clever talking about doing the thing you love. We had Lee Poby about finding joy. And I think that that’s so important for T-Town in particular to remember, is that it’s got to be fun. It can’t be serious as a heart attack all the time. And if it’s not fun, you’re not going to survive, right? The next generation isn’t going to come do it if it’s not fun. I think particularly, and this actually is a great transition to sort of some of the stuff I want to talk to you about, but the way people consume cycling now is very different. Rick, you and I are the same age. When we started racing crits, you did 28 weekends a row of crits, right? You started crits in February, you finished crits in September, and it was every weekend you did a crit and every weekend, maybe you did a crit on Saturday and a crit on Sunday.
Rick Beuttel:
By the way, I really miss that. And we can talk about that a little bit later, too. But one day I’ll get back to that life again.
Joan Hanscom:
But that life doesn’t exist anymore. There isn’t a crit every weekend to do. People are consuming bike racing very differently, right? They’re doing a crit one weekend, they’re doing a mountain bike the next race weekend-
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah, and then gravel and yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Doing a gravel race the next. And so people consume bike racing very differently now. They’ve got five different bikes for five different types of events. And we have to think about how does the track stay relevant? Because the track requires a lot of very discipline specific training, it requires very discipline specific focus. But there are athletes out there who are doing a mixed bag of stuff. We’re talking to an athlete now here who wants to run a track and a gravel program. And there couldn’t be more opposite ends of the spectrum, right? 200 mile event, four minute event.
Rick Beuttel:
Seems to work for Ashton, though.
Joan Hanscom:
Hmm?
Rick Beuttel:
Seems to work for Ashton.
Joan Hanscom:
Seems to work for Ashton, but we have to appreciate that the folks that are coming to our venue, the next generation of athletes, that’s how they operate, right? So, how do you keep the track fun and relevant when people are consuming bike racing differently than they have in the past? And I think that that’s an interesting thing to push on a little bit. I know my philosophy always was, “Welcome all the bike community to the track. Host gravel events, host Grand Fondo.” Super excited about the Hincapie Grand Fondo coming to the track next year. “Host the Lehigh Wheelman rides, bring people of all cycling disciplines to the Velodrome, because without them, your niche is going to get it tinier.”
Rick Beuttel:
Well, even some of the things you did with the outreach to the crit riders across the street on the Thursday night and opening the handlebar up afterwards. I mean, for a long time, up until 2014, when my life changed, there was sort of a Thursday night crit group and very few of those people were here on a Friday night to watch track racing. And you know what? I’ll paint myself with the same brush. I wasn’t doing it either. And I think you’ve brought more of a sense of community there. I think Fondos, gravel, I think that’s something that, in the past, people wouldn’t have wanted to do that here. Now I know there was the Bicycling Fall Classic, phenomenal event, very well run. Hopefully we can kind of fill that void with the Hincapie Organization and do that every year going forward. That would be a phenomenal thing, not just for the track, but for cycling in the Valley and for the Valley in general.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah. And I think that that’s so important and that’s tangentially a different thing, we talked about with the Rodale people the area around the Velodrome is so special. It’s riding, but look, I’m in Santa Cruz, California right now and it’s beautiful here and the riding here-
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah, don’t rub it in.
Joan Hanscom:
But still, it’s not roads like you have. And those roads are really special. And if you want to keep those very special roads and that very special access to feeling good and safe on the road, you have to keep these events coming. Because if you can show that there’s revenue attached to bicycles, if bicycle tourism can become an actual economic driver for the region, maybe you slow down some of the other stuff that’s happening, or maybe you get other organizations who are concerned about what’s happening on board with helping create a real cycling center so that it’s on front of mind that, “We maybe shouldn’t put another warehouse near the track, because there’s lots of bicycle traffic, and this is an economic driver for us.” Because I don’t think, sadly, places never do the right thing, just because it’s the right thing. They do the right thing because it actually has a benefit. And so I think we have to keep pushing that message that these events happening at the track are important. They’re important so that the Lehigh Valley can stake out a claim with partnership with Discovery Lehigh Valley that keep those roads nice for everyone, to keep the roads special.
Rick Beuttel:
And I think one thing that differentiates, and I’ll build on that a little bit, one thing that differentiates our roads and especially the area around the track from lots of other places I’ve lived and been and things like that, is the car community here is used to seeing cyclists on the road. Now, that’s not to say you don’t get the one jerk in a 100, or the 10 people out of 20 that actually aren’t looking through the windshield, they’re looking at their phone as they’re passing you, but people are used to seeing us, as opposed to lots of other places where maybe some of you who are listening live, where you feel like maybe you your life in your hands every time you go out because you don’t see any other cyclists while you’re out and we’re invisible to cars. So, I think there is a collective sense of safety that we all benefit from too, in keeping this place relevant. And as you said, a center of cycling and not just a velodrome for elite racers on Friday nights.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, and I think that that’s something important for our listeners to understand too, is that this is a board with a vision on how to keep the place relevant. And it is a board that wants to see the place succeed and continue to thrive in a way that… other velodromes are… velodromes have been closing left and right in the US for a while now. And there are a handful of really good ones, right? Jerry Baker’s great. I think the Velo Sports Center in LA, it’s obviously always going to be relevant because it’s our only indoor 250 and it’s important. But there have been a lot of velodromes that have gone out of business in the last few years and closed. And as the number of velodromes shrinks, I know there’s also a lot of interest in creating velodromes in other communities, because I would get a call a week about, “Hey, how do you keep your velodrome running all the time? What are you doing?” And so there’s interest in creating velodromes in communities, but also the reality is that they’re very expensive to keep open.
Rick Beuttel:
I mean, one thing that I was really just surprised at once you peel the onion back and not just get on the board, but become running the board, is you start to understand the economics of the place and what it takes to metaphorically keep the lights on and keep staff here and run the programs and run community programs. And this is a year where, if people are aware of this or they drive by, we’re resurfacing this year, right? And that’s a couple hundred thousand dollars out of our pocket. And what I would say is to maybe riff a little bit on a John F. Kennedy line, right? If you want to help, ask not what your velodrome can do for you, ask what you can do for your velodrome.
Joan Hanscom:
Absolutely.
Rick Beuttel:
And bring people out, as we’ve both been saying. But I challenge people on our board on this all the time. Everybody in this community, everybody that comes out here to the track knows somebody that runs a small business, might work for a company. Help us a little bit, make some introductions. You and I, I thought, were a tremendously powerful team in bringing some new sponsors in here and that helped pay for some things like, oh yes, this podcast equipment that we’re recording these things on right now. But we have some great ideas, some more programming we’d like to do, some more outreach we’d like to do. And we are a nonprofit organization and there is a limit to what you can spend given the top line that we bring in. So what I would say to the cycling community in the Valley and the challenge I would throw out to the cycling community in the Valley is we’re incredibly blessed to have this resource here.
Rick Beuttel:
You mentioned it, Joan, there’s a limited number of velodromes. A lot of them are closing. I think we have a solid foundation, but we can do more. And the reality of life is that things cost money. We’re going to do the resurfacing. We’ll be fit for purpose for the next 10, 12 years, hopefully. But if we can bring in some more sponsorship, we have some more people coming out on Friday nights, all that’s going to continue the momentum and continue the positive snowball. So, sort of help us help you, in terms of having more programming available, more racing, available, more preems available, et cetera, et cetera,
Joan Hanscom:
Right. Put your kids in the programs. If you’re a roadie or a mountain biker or a gravel racer, come do a Try the Track, just experience it, understand it, and then support it. Just come drink beer on Friday nights, right? We keep talking about that. The food is good. The vibe is good. Come out and support us by being present.
Rick Beuttel:
And we are so blessed to have some real longstanding sponsors. I mean, the relationship with Valley Preferred and Lehigh Valley Health Network, the relationship with Air Products. I mean, Air Products is reaching into their pocket above and beyond their annual give, to give us a grant to help defray a little bit of the cost with the resurfacing. That’s been tremendous. Many of our new sponsors, Doylestown Bike Work, Schearer’s Sales & Service. I mean, it’s been great having some new signs up on the bleachers. And that brings some new people into the fandom and into the stands, too.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah. And even the work we’ve done with Discover Lehigh Valley, right? Discover Lehigh Valley, I think, brought us so many new eyeballs this year. So yeah, going back to your challenge to the listeners of the podcast, how do you help us bring new eyeballs? Because the product is really good. The racing is great. The racing is fun. We just need more eyeballs on it. And that’s the problem we have to solve. And you have to solve it from all the angles. You have to solve it from the angle of more kids in the program. So they’re coming out to watch and be inspired by the faster people. It’s more people who race the crit on Thursday night who are just like, “I like to go fast on a bike.” All right. Well, come watch other people go fast on a bike. Come and appreciate going fast on a bike. All of it adds up. You like gravel racing? Cool. Come watch. Come watch somebody like an Ashton race a bike. And see if you see the translation between the gravel racing and the track. And God knows, I don’t know how he does it, but I-
Rick Beuttel:
And maybe you’ll get lucky and you’ll see Ashton. We were blessed to have Ashton here in ’18 and ’19. I think so. Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah. So you never know, but I think that that’s the thing. Yeah, help us bring eyeballs to the track is the plea of this podcast.
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah, help us help you. We really do want to do more. And I was a part of this community for a long time, at a lower level. And I know that the view of the track and the management of the track and the board of the track has been a bit of a side wave and up and down over the years. Hopefully we’re on the top part of that side wave, and hopefully we can make that a plateau or just keep it going positive. But we are trying to do a lot of new things and we are trying to behave with integrity, behave ethically, and ensure this is a place where you can bring your family. You can put your kids in a program. You can put your 16 year old daughter in a program and not worry about something bad happening. We’re not going to tolerate that.
Joan Hanscom:
Right. And I got to say, I do love… And I’ve used them as an example before, like the Holmes sisters, right? The Holmes sisters started in the programs. Now not only do they race, but they volunteer. They help on Friday nights. But they do all the cycling things, right? They’re racing cross now. They do the monkey knife fight ride, right? They’re engaged in the community. And I love that. I love that they’re a product of our program and that they’re growing with our programs. And we need more kids in the program like that, too. So, bring your kids.
Rick Beuttel:
And they and their contemporaries, right, they’re the next generation. That’s the future of our Friday night racing. And to your point, if they graduate from Friday night racing at 25 or 30, and they go on to have a successful professional career as a taxpayer and contributing adult, but can get back some, that’s fabulous. If they stay in bike racing as long as they can, that’s fabulous. Or if they just, “Okay, I get to college and I decide I’m going to take a different direction in their life,” but they’ve learned how to be a healthy human being, how to have good habits. And, you and I are terrific examples of you’re a bike rider for a while. Then you’re a bike rider forever.
Joan Hanscom:
Right. Exactly. Cyclists for life. That’s the goal.
Rick Beuttel:
100%.
Joan Hanscom:
You don’t have to race on a Friday. You can just graduate from the programs and have a great foundation for riding bikes for the rest of your life, which is pretty enriching, I must say, as a person who’s done this for too long now.
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah. So there’s a guy I used to ride with a lot when we had lunch rides at Air Products. And one of his by phrases was always, “Hey, bikes are fun.” And bikes are fun. And we always would say this when we’d go rolling out from Air Products at lunch, back in the day. And you’d roll out Spring Creek and invariably you’d pass one or two runners running towards you on the wrong side road. And they’d always look just miserable. And we’re rolling along laughing, right before the hammer goes down. And it’s like, “Why would you ever want to do that? This is so much fun.” And you can do this forever. I mean, my dad is still riding. My dad’s still got his chain gang of five or six guys. And they go out and bash miles out all through the winter and they’re in the woods. And they go to Utah and they go to all sorts of places to just go ride and have fun. And I think that’s what makes it relevant for me is once you set the hook, you’re in this forever, you bought the franchise.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, absolutely. It’s funny because since I got here, I’ve been running.
Rick Beuttel:
I’m sorry.
Joan Hanscom:
Well, it’s time efficient, right? But, B, I have fragile femurs now. So I have to run. I have to do weightbearing exercise. Fragile femurs, [crosstalk 00:34:12].
Rick Beuttel:
I’m not touching that.
Joan Hanscom:
But as I run, every time I run, and Joan running is not a pretty thing, let’s just be very honest, it is not pretty… I know, I can feel my facial expression and I can tell that my facial expression is that squinched up in pain, not happy face that you see on every runner. And I know I shamble.
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
So I know I’ve got the runner shamble going, and I know I’ve got the grimace on. And I’m like, “Why? Why do people do this? “And I’m like, I’m doing it because I have fragile femurs and I need to do weight bearing exercise. But yeah, man. It is not the same. Apologies to all the runners who are listening right now, but it is not as much fun as bikes.
Rick Beuttel:
Well, so here’s a relevant crossover, is Maura, who I’m sitting here looking, right, grew up in swimming. And I was on the board of Emmaus Aquatic Club, EMAC, when she was going through the phase of that. And she put 8, 10 years, longer-
Maura Beuttel:
16.
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah, okay.
Maura Beuttel:
Who’s counting.
Rick Beuttel:
16 years into swimming. And so, now you’ve crossed over into bike riding, right?
Maura Beuttel:
I have.
Rick Beuttel:
And so tell us a little bit about that. Let me turn the tables on you.
Maura Beuttel:
Yeah, so like my dad said, moved here for the track and that’s why I’m here. And for little me as a child, he’s like, “You’re going to go through all the programming at the Velodrome.” So I did and got to riding on the track in whatever, peewees or squirts, or whatever program I was in at the time, and was up in the top between turns one and two and kind of tumbled down the track. So, no track cycling for me anytime soon. We don’t like that. And then, in 2020 I started working at the track and Joan was like, “We’re going to get you on a bike.” And I got a bike in January and Joan took me out, showed me the ropes, along with my lovely father. And now I am a cyclist.
Rick Beuttel:
Once a cyclist, always a cyclist. But you see stuff.
Maura Beuttel:
I know.
Rick Beuttel:
And I know you’re not just looking at the line on the bottom of the pool, right?
Maura Beuttel:
It’s very nice to physically see a difference between point A and point B, and going out for rides with Joan and seeing the house of crap and all that.
Joan Hanscom:
And always going in the right direction.
Maura Beuttel:
Always, always going in the right direction.
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah. Don’t go in the wrong direction.
Maura Beuttel:
That way down the hill in the Bowers. We never go up that hill, ever.
Joan Hanscom:
Never. Always down that hill.
Maura Beuttel:
That’s the wrong way.
Joan Hanscom:
That’s so funny. But look, I mean like, look what you did this year at the Fondo.
Maura Beuttel:
I know.
Joan Hanscom:
You came out and you crushed it and it’s amazing.
Maura Beuttel:
Yeah. Got to beat all the star track boys. Can’t have them beating me.
Rick Beuttel:
There you go. That’s personal.
Joan Hanscom:
Right? This little competition nugget in there.
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah, so you’ve got some competitive juices in you. That’s good.
Maura Beuttel:
Right. But I mean, hey, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my dad and if it wasn’t for Joan, I probably would not be on a bike right now.
Joan Hanscom:
See, so we’re selling the Kool-Aid well, still, Rick.
Rick Beuttel:
Exactly.
Maura Beuttel:
Yeah.
Rick Beuttel:
No, it’s a lifetime thing. So, it’s really, really fabulous to see a third generation of Beuttels now doing this thing, which we love.
Maura Beuttel:
I know. He gets all teary-eyed. He’s all proud dad moment.
Joan Hanscom:
Well, and then you did your first crits this year. That was amazing.
Maura Beuttel:
I did. Yes, I did.
Rick Beuttel:
Yep. It didn’t kill you. It made you stronger.
Maura Beuttel:
It did not kill me.
Rick Beuttel:
Yep.
Joan Hanscom:
“How was it?” “I didn’t die.”
Maura Beuttel:
I didn’t die.
Joan Hanscom:
And next year you’ll be able to crit with Mia.
Maura Beuttel:
This is true. This is true. I saw she just got a new helmet after her crash out in Colorado.
Joan Hanscom:
Yep, got that. So.
Maura Beuttel:
So.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, so you’ll be able to crit with Mia next year. That’s good.
Maura Beuttel:
Yes.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, see, we’re serving the Kool-Aid, Rick. I’m a big believer in serving-
Rick Beuttel:
No, and it’s important. This is such a special thing here and such a jewel really that we have, that I think a lot of people in the community just, it’s like anything else. It’s the curse of familiarity. You’re around it all the time. You see it every day. It becomes part of the fabric and you don’t appreciate how special it is. And I liken that to, so I mentioned I grew up at the Jersey Shore. And I literally grew up in Ocean City, right? It’s a barrier island and people would say, “Oh, that’s fabulous. You must go to the beach all the time.” And it’s like, “Why would I go to the beach?”
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah. Yeah. No, I think that’s a very fair point. And I think that, yeah, well, I think there’s two things to extract from that. One, yeah, you do take it for granted. It’s always been there. You’ve always had the option, so you don’t go because you know, “Ah, it’s always going to be there. Eh, something better to do on a Friday night, because it’s always going to be there.” That’s something you can’t assume, right? You just can’t assume. And I think COVID taught us that. Bike racing faced some very real challenges in COVID. But I think the other thing that you said that I’ll challenge you on a little bit, that I think is interesting is that the Lehigh Valley has changed a lot since you first moved there. Like you said, when you first got there, there was not much else to do. And I think now, one of the challenges that the Velodrome faces, that there’s been this massive influx of new people into the valley and those people don’t know.
Rick Beuttel:
That’s really well said.
Joan Hanscom:
They don’t even know it’s there, let alone… They don’t know to say, “Oh yeah, that’s cool. I’m used to going every Friday, so I’m not going to go.” They don’t even know. And I think that that’s another real challenge that the place faces now, is this massive influx of people and how do you bring in new eyeballs, and how do you cross pollinate with the rest of the Valley?
Rick Beuttel:
So I think it’s a challenge, but like they say in corporate speak, right, it’s also an opportunity.
Joan Hanscom:
100%.
Rick Beuttel:
I think the equal challenge that’s actually maybe more of a real challenge that we face is there is just a lot more to do on a Friday night. We have baseball now. We have hockey now. And I know seasons don’t overlap. Everybody’s got 400 channels of television. Everybody’s got access to the whole world on their phone. And by the way, people are strung out and exhausted at the end of the week. At least I know I am.
Joan Hanscom:
Also that, yeah.
Rick Beuttel:
But also you come out, you take the edge off, have, wait, a couple of beers, and enjoy something fun. And maybe people come once or twice, we never see them again. But by and large, I’ve noticed when you get people here once or twice, it sets the hook, they want to come back. It’s fun. It’s speedy. It’s colorful. And it’s not mainstream, but it’s not mainstream in a good way.
Joan Hanscom:
And it’s also not expensive.
Rick Beuttel:
Oh yeah, well, there’s that. It’s a cheap date. It’s a great Friday night date activity.
Joan Hanscom:
Plus you get to sit outside in the sunshine most of the time in the hot weather. It’s nice.
Maura Beuttel:
You really can’t beat a sunset on a Friday night, cold beer in hand, watching some bike racing.
Joan Hanscom:
No, that’s the truth.
Rick Beuttel:
No, you really can’t. And you understand a little bit why this thing is so special in other parts of the world, right? You understand why Belgium gets thousands of people to come watch a Kermesse, and why six-day racing is so popular in the way it is.
Joan Hanscom:
Oh, sidebar, sidebar.
Rick Beuttel:
Here we go. Okay. See, yeah, I see what you did there.
Joan Hanscom:
Did you see poor Cav crashed?
Rick Beuttel:
I did, yeah. I did. I also see his trade team boss is negotiating with him in the papers, as he does. I’m getting really frustrated this contract negotiation is taking so long.
Joan Hanscom:
As he does, yes. I just hope little Cav’s okay.
Rick Beuttel:
I’m sure he’ll be fine. I’m sure he’ll… but that’s another thing we share, is the love of all forms of the sport, right? Whether it’s cross pro road, the Tour, the Classics… and yeah, the classics are the best, but-
Joan Hanscom:
Classics are the best.
Rick Beuttel:
It’s just such a special thing. And you almost wish more people appreciated it.
Joan Hanscom:
It’s funny. I was just… I woke up this morning waxing nostalgic. I don’t know why. Well, a friend of mine passed away on last Saturday. And so, I was sort of thinking back, I think, through all of those things. His memorial service was yesterday. And during COVID, that first spring in COVID, there were no bike races, right? Everything was canceled. And there was this just amazing community that sort of sprung out of the woodwork on Twitter that on the day that said Classics race was supposed to happen, somebody, I don’t know who, there was a little team of people, decided, “We are going to watch the 1996 Flanders today. Here’s the link to the YouTube video. And everybody be on Twitter at 10:00 AM Eastern time. And we will synchronize and hit play at the same time. And we will watch ’96 Flanders in live time together. And we’ll do the Twitter thing.” We did the Twitter if it was live Flanders and it was this amazing… I don’t know, thing of community, right, that sprung up during COVID.
Joan Hanscom:
And I was thinking about it today in the context, I guess, with my friend who passed away. And I think that that’s one of the things that makes the track special, too, is that community. And I think it’s one of the… and in any sport that you play, whatever community you find yourself in, right, our tribe is the bike tribe, but it is special. It is this shared passion for the thing and the place. And that community is pretty powerful. And I think we lived that sense of community during that first summer of COVID. It’s weird now that there are many summers of COVID, right, multiple.
Rick Beuttel:
It’s sad. But it is weird. You’re right.
Joan Hanscom:
It’s a weird thing, but that first summer of COVID, I think the best and most important thing we at year was having time trials, because we kept people connected to the place.
Rick Beuttel:
And it gave people something to focus on, because they didn’t have the, “Okay, there’s this crit I want to do. There’s this mountain bike race I want to do. There’s this whatever I want to do.” And it’s like, “Okay. Well, I can just sit and sharpen the blade and focus on the best ever 3k time trial time I’ll ever do on the track,” right? And we had some track records fall, and we had national records fall, which is pretty incredible, because I think people just looked at us as like, “Okay, here’s something I can do.” And we gave them an outlet.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah. And even the parents who couldn’t come inside, right? We kept the parents connected. The parents set up their little enclaves outside in the parking lot and they were able to connect. Yeah, they were wearing masks, but they were able to keep that community going. And I think that that was so important during COVID. And now it’s a question of, well, who knows. I mean, we may be going back into COVID again. It’s crazy. But it’s one of those things that, how do you keep that community thing, that connection that was so positive in 2020, how do you keep that going and how do you grow it and how do you multiply it? Because I think that’s the real thing is, you’re either going to go back into COVID and we’re going to be weird and wearing masks again and back in our bubbles, or we’re going to go back to something that’s normal life and you get blase about it again. And so I think one of the big questions we have to ask ourselves now is, “All right. We started to create this really positive sense of community. How do we grow it?”
Rick Beuttel:
Right. Right. How do we keep it snowballing in a good direction? Because I think we did. Well, we did. You did. You did it, you lead it. I mean, you led the organization in doing it. I mean, we had unbelievable lemons in 2020 and you made lemonade out of it. And I think the sense of community that came from that and just the sheer feedback and appreciation, I know you got a lot of it. I mean, you must have gotten a lot of it, because I got some of it. And normally I only hear problems. So, or let me rephrase that. Let me rephrase that, because that wasn’t fair. Normally, I only hear complaints. Complaints are different than problems. And we have a lot of one and not very many of the other, thankfully.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, yeah. No, me too, though. I think you always hear the negatives more than the positives, but there was a lot of positive feedback that came out of that.
Rick Beuttel:
And I mean, I hate to… I’ll pivot a little bit, but just going on the COVID riff, I mean, out the only good thing I could see coming out of COVID is that I didn’t have to get on God forsaken airplanes for 15 months and I could start riding my bike a little bit and I lost 15 pounds and I felt almost human for a little bit, until May of this year, when I started going to COVID Louisiana every week to get some ginormous project finished. But yeah, now that’s all done and maybe I get out once a week. And I’m not going to let the world take it from me though, right? I stopped pretty much completely in 2014. I’m going to at least do this once a week until I can do more.
Maura Beuttel:
You heard it here, folks.
Joan Hanscom:
Speaking of that, did you do that today?
Rick Beuttel:
I’m sorry?
Joan Hanscom:
Did you get out today?
Rick Beuttel:
I did get out today. So I got home from Calgary at 5:30 last night, which was dreadful. And we went to our friend Kate’s birthday party last night. So, happy day after birthday, Kate. And then we had a work meeting this morning from 9:00 until 12:30.
Joan Hanscom:
And then you went out on your bike.
Rick Beuttel:
And then I went out on my bike and it was good. I was out for maybe an hour and a half, and I came home and I watched the Eagles beat the Saints. So hopefully there’s some Eagles fans listening and not too many Saints fans listening.
Joan Hanscom:
I miss football. I can’t wait to have, I can’t wait to have internet at home again.
Rick Beuttel:
It’s coming. So when do you actually move into your, well, permanent temporary home out there, as opposed to your temporary home?
Joan Hanscom:
December 1st.
Rick Beuttel:
December. Oh, that’s coming.
Joan Hanscom:
So, soon. I’ll be able to catch the important time of football season.
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah, that’s right. That’s when it matters. So what are you doing for Thanksgiving?
Joan Hanscom:
I’m going to ride my bike.
Rick Beuttel:
Brilliant.
Joan Hanscom:
I have a… It’s going to be cold, though, but we’re going to have another nice day.
Maura Beuttel:
Cold.
Joan Hanscom:
And then, yeah.
Rick Beuttel:
I’m sorry. I’m sorry if it’s going to be mid-high 50s. That’s terrible. Hold on. Could you pass me those tissues over there? I’m tearing up.
Maura Beuttel:
Yeah. Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
I’m going to ride my bike. I have a 90 mile route planned.
Rick Beuttel:
Oh, that’s freaking awesome.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah, so.
Rick Beuttel:
That’s freaking awesome.
Joan Hanscom:
That’s my plan.
Rick Beuttel:
Do you have some new people that at least you can go break bread at the end of the day? Come on. You got to give me something like that.
Joan Hanscom:
No, actually my goal is to ride my bike and then start unpacking all of my boxes in my new apartment.
Maura Beuttel:
So, it’ll be Joan and the Fin and not the creepy ghost from your house right now.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah. No more ghosts. But yes, my goal is to start on boxing things on Black Friday. That’s my goal.
Rick Beuttel:
Okay.
Joan Hanscom:
So, big bike ride.
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah, I don’t know how much Black Friday there’s going to be this year with all this supply chain nonsense. I mean-
Joan Hanscom:
It was an interesting question, right?
Rick Beuttel:
I mean, Maura said she got her bike this year. I think she was lucky to get a bike this year.
Maura Beuttel:
I know. I mean, hey, we walked into Doylestown and they were like, “Yeah, we have one bike left in your size. And then we’re not getting anymore. Like ever.”
Rick Beuttel:
By the way, love those Doylestown guys. They are the best. They have the appropriate view of life and the balance of humor and seriousness and God gave them that. You don’t learn that. You were given it.
Joan Hanscom:
I can’t wait to see if Gee actually gets those bikes up and running so he can do his hour record attempt.
Maura Beuttel:
I sure as hell hope they do.
Rick Beuttel:
I hope so. I was thinking of throwing my hat in the ring, because I saw that there was a slowest hour record set on a track in Italy. I think it was earlier this week-
Joan Hanscom:
I saw that.
Rick Beuttel:
… and I think that’s something I could contend for.
Joan Hanscom:
There you go. It’s got to be really hard.
Rick Beuttel:
It’s got to be really hard. Yeah. I mean, I could, back in the day I was pretty good at track standing. So there you go.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah. Like, how slow were they? Because I saw it then I did read the speed?
Rick Beuttel:
Like 918 meters, something like that.
Joan Hanscom:
Wow. That’s got to be really hard.
Rick Beuttel:
So as a Porsche guy, right, if I’m going to break that I would go 911 meters.
Joan Hanscom:
There you go.
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
There you go. Yeah, I thought… I didn’t read the article, but I was like, just from the sounds of the headline, I was like, “Oh shit, that’s going to be real hard going that slow.”
Rick Beuttel:
But that’s it. You can’t take yourself too seriously, right? We can take the business really seriously. It doesn’t mean we have to take ourselves so goddamn seriously all the time.
Joan Hanscom:
So, what are y’all doing for Thanksgiving, since we’re talking about it?
Rick Beuttel:
Well, so let’s talk about it. So, there’ll be a bike ride. Assuming the weather isn’t precipitate-y.
Joan Hanscom:
Are you going to make Maura go out with you?
Rick Beuttel:
Yes, I will make her. I don’t think there’ll be that much making involved. And then actually, we go over to… Thanksgiving we go to friends’ houses, a friend’s house, actually. Kate and Joel, the Kate of she who just had the birthday. And by the way, Joel, shout out to him. He is a serious mountain bike rider and he did a great job and has done a great job bringing some of his mountain bike gang out to T-Town on Friday nights. And we see some of them coming back, because literally, as you said, they had no idea that it was here. They had no idea that this epicenter of cycling was literally five miles from where they lived.
Joan Hanscom:
And it’s fun.
Rick Beuttel:
Oh, and by the way it’s a hoot, right? And they said, “Wow, cheap, good beer. What’s not to like about that?”
Joan Hanscom:
Now I’m thirsty.
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah. Actually I am, too. I don’t know what we have in the fridge here, but I-
Joan Hanscom:
Nothing you want to touch, I’m sure.
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah. You’re probably right. You’re probably right.
Joan Hanscom:
I think it’s still Miller Lite from 2017.
Maura Beuttel:
I think so too.
Rick Beuttel:
Ew. Yeah. I wouldn’t clean the wheels of my car with that stuff.
Joan Hanscom:
No, it’s bad.
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
So, don’t do it. Don’t do it.
Rick Beuttel:
Don’t do it. No, I think I can wait until I get home. So yeah, that’ll be Thanksgiving and I’m hoping that I actually get a couple days off and don’t have to work. So, if any of my seniors at Air Products are listening to this, please, please, please.
Joan Hanscom:
Maura, what are you going to do for Thanksgiving?
Maura Beuttel:
I guess I’m going for a bike ride.
Rick Beuttel:
Touche.
Maura Beuttel:
The day before Thanksgiving I will make a beautiful apple pie and bring that to said Thanksgiving at Kate and Joel’s house. And we bring a very tasty, smoked Turkey with us, as well.
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah. Shout out for the smoked turkey by the way.
Maura Beuttel:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Nice.
Maura Beuttel:
So, yes. Bike ride-
Joan Hanscom:
Do you smoke it [inaudible 00:52:34]? Do it in the backyard, or?
Rick Beuttel:
No, I outsource that to experts, as one should do with things like that.
Joan Hanscom:
I didn’t know if you had one of those, you know, crazy backyard things tucked away somewhere.
Maura Beuttel:
Oh yeah, it’s like the at-home turkey fryer.
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah.
Rick Beuttel:
The problem with that is, as you know, time is a four letter word.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah. I also know that fire is a four letter word.
Maura Beuttel:
True.
Rick Beuttel:
Fire is a four letter word.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah. Which would be more my concern, but.
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah, 100%.
Joan Hanscom:
Yeah. Cool. Well all righty, fellas, and I guess, Maura, I count you as a fella.
Maura Beuttel:
Yes.
Joan Hanscom:
This been delightful, because I wanted people to get to know you, Rick. And I wanted people to understand that there’s a lot of passion behind the board of directors and not an anonymous bunch of people. And so, next year, when you’re at the bike race on Friday night, make sure you say hi to Rick, because he is always there.
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah. Say hi nicely, I’ll buy you a beer. Bring a potential sponsor or bring a connection, even, that we can go talk to and pitch the place, or bring some friends and maybe I’ll buy them all beers. Seriously, I mean, everybody that comes out, you what a jewel and how fabulous this place is. And I think that, Joan, you said it pretty well. The board is a lot more engaged than it ever was in the past. And we just want to see this continue to go in a positive direction. So, for all those out there that are supporting and are making a difference and are really helping, really, really appreciate that. For all of you that would like to, really would appreciate that as well. So, and for those of you that don’t wish us well, well, you know what you can do.
Joan Hanscom:
Right. Well, on that note-
Rick Beuttel:
Yeah, on that note. Let’s end on some spice.
Joan Hanscom:
On that happy note, we will say, this has been the Talk of the T-Town Podcast. I’m your host, Joan Hanscom. And this was my guest, Rick Beuttel, who is one of my favorite people, and Maura Beuttel as my sidekick in podcasting. And we hope you’ve enjoyed this show and give us a thumbs up, a like, a five stars, heart, whatever it is on your platform of choice, so that we can continue to grow this podcast. And thanks for listening.
Rick Beuttel:
Thanks, everyone.
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.