Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Breaking down all the xes it ohs. This is I
on the Ball with Steve Rovera on Box Sports fourteen fifty.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hey, welcome back to I on the Ball here on
Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Roberta, and today with
me is Dave Silver. Now on the phone, we have TJ. Juskowitz,
the executive director of ELK Tour.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Tjhi doing, Hey, doing great? Guys?
Speaker 4 (00:27):
Is it the dog days of summer for you?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Well, today doesn't feel a good dog day of summer.
It's kind of cool out, but yeah, the last couple
of weeks have.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Been pretty viertile for if you ride a bike.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah, yeah, but but it seems like things are going okay. Uh,
give this an update on the number of people who
have who have decided to join the festivities in November.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Yeah. Sure, we're I think really great. To be honest
with you, We've had the kind of record numbers of
sign ups. You know, we track that stuff pretty pretty
religiously year over year, and we're seeing numbers that were up,
you know, forty plus percent.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
A year over year.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
So you know, an extra thousand people, an extra two
thousand people would just be great for eltor to Tucson
and the Tucson economy.
Speaker 5 (01:17):
Why do you think that is? Is there a reason
why the numbers are kind of soaring already?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
You know, it's hard to pinpoint.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
We've done a lot of really good, good things promotionally wise,
having a lot of really good influencers, and sometimes these
things just take a little bit longer to get people
to say, Hey, I'm gonna make that track to Tucson.
So we're seeing people from countries I had to look
up on a map where you know, there was a
European show that went out about El Tour over a
(01:47):
year ago, and all of a sudden, we're getting people
from Slovenia and Slovakia and all these kinds of countries
that are you know, how did they hear about El Tour?
And when you talk to them, they're like, yeah, we
saw this this little status on the internet by the
GCN group and so it's like weird.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Little things like that.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
I can't pinpoint one thing exactly, but you know, it's
got a good reputation, it's fun, two song, puts on
a great show, all those things that make make an
event special.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
In fact, you know, you know, I have Blake on
here a lot eager and some of the other guys
that are on here, and it's a bunch of you
guys pulling the rope to make everybody else successful too.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
How does that help.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
With everybody You're part of a committee with the with
the things that you do with people pumping up the
pumping up your organization and you doing the same for them.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah, I think it's a great team effort. You know,
it's not just a bike ride by any means. We
want people to come in have a great experience. If
they got gouged by the hotels or restaurants, they wouldn't
have a great experience. So you know, you can't go
to a Final four Super Bowl without paying, you know,
twenty five dollars of.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Beer and overpriced for a stake.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So the nice thing about Tucson when they come in,
you know there, if they order a margarita that you know,
that post ride margarita, it's the same price that we
pay every day here in Talent and so no one's
gouging people. The prices remain relatively good. You know, hotels
are relatively inexpensive compared to you know, if you go
to California or something like that for an event, you're
(03:21):
paying two or three times the amount that they're going
to pay in Tucson. So I think, you know, the
people like visit Tucson Blank's organization, all these people are
into the same goal. It's got a lot of people
to come and enjoy our community and hopefully they'll come back.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Tell some friends and.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Come back or possibly even move.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Here after they enjoy our town.
Speaker 5 (03:42):
I remember covering that early, very early, the first few years,
and I mean it was just kind of starting from scratch,
and it's now I don't know what numbers are we
talking about eight nine thousand riders at this point.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
It's unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yeah, we're right at that ten thousand mark. And like
I said that, if we keep training the way we are,
we're probably going to be.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Eleven or twelve thousand this year.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
And so to see that many people, you know, safely
enjoying theirselves, that's that's our goal. And you know, it
started back, you know, forty two years ago with people
having that same philosophy, let's put on a good event,
let's raise some money for some charities, which we still
do today, but then you know, really put on a
(04:25):
fantastic bike ride that highlights some of the great roads
and scenery that we see in Tucson.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
One of the things that you know, being involved now
you know Richard Debenarus came up with this thing kind
of made Tucson one of the mega places to come
and ride in the winter, in the spring and to
enjoy the weather. But we had something on this on
the website not long ago. I answered a question on
the Facebook the Velodrome. I mean, I don't think the
Velodrome doesn't show up here if il tour wasn't successful,
(04:55):
maybe I'm wrong.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Yeah, I just think all these things together, I mean,
we are the cycling Meca. I don't care what anyone
says in California or Wisconsin.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Or any of these places.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
You know, when you can go have the recreational side
with the Calberry Loop, you could ride Mount Lemon, which
is a world class climb. You've got the Velodrome coming
on on board and hopefully this fall, and then you know,
you got epic events like that has the twenty four
hours in the old Playboa for mountain biking, you got
amazing mountain bike tracks, and.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Then of course you got El.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Toura, Tucson and So when you add up all those
things and the level of cycling facilities we have here,
I'll put our facilities up against anyone, and you can
enjoy them pretty much three hundred and sixty five days
a year. And you know they can they can talk
about how great the cycling is in California, were Madison, Wisconsin, But.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
They don't compare in my book.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
And I think anyone that's come here and written our
roads and events and all that stuff for the off
road stuff, it's just fantastic when you add up all
those and that'll just continue to grow. And you know,
it's great to see things like the velodrome coming online.
You know, we're we're on the cusp of the twenty
eight LA Games. Now we have a velodrome and just
(06:16):
a great place to train.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
I'd be shocked if we.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Didn't see international teams training here before the LA Games.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
What's it like?
Speaker 5 (06:25):
Just kind of coordinating with the city and I guess
the county as well. Is that is that like a
you know, three hundred and sixty five days a year
kind of thing, trying to figure out the routes and everything.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah, and then they tew you a curve ball with
a construction project or something like that. So it's multiple
cities because we're going through not only Tucson, but you
know Sovea, Rita, We're going through South Tucson, going through
the Vail area, Green Valley area, So dealing with all
those different communities. Plus there's there's state folks that are involved,
there's county folks involved in city folks involved. So making
(06:59):
sure everyone's on the same age, engineers, law enforcement, all
the permitting that needs to happen between, you know, before
the event happens. The nice thing is that everyone wants
us to be successful, and so everyone that we deal
with is on the same page as us. Let's make sure,
you know, we run a safe and successful event and
(07:20):
make sure people have a good time here.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
One of the secrets of this event, the secrets maybe
that'd be the right word, but you have a lot
of dignitaries come in the day before or two days before,
they ride with VIPs and they actually ride in the
event as a casual type of rite. You were able
to pull that off in Scottsdale with Armstrong. Lance Armstrong
kind of came in and did that and kind of
(07:44):
wrote away how cool is that?
Speaker 4 (07:46):
And who's coming.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Yeah, So we got a lot of the usual suspects
plus a few more. One of the biggest names we
have is Sir Bradley Wiggins, who won the Tour de
France back in twenty twelve. So you talk about this
is the Masters for cycling and this is this is.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
The absolute peak.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
So to have guys you know, obviously like Lance Armstrong,
who's the household name, but Bradley Wigans in the cycling world,
you know, to win the tour, it's just as big.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
As it gets. We're also seeing.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
If you know, this is the Tour de France is
going on right now.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
It's about two thirds complete.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
The broadcasting team that does the tour every day for
twenty one days with Bob Roll and Christian Vandeveldt. They're
on the NBC Peacock team that's doing broadcasts every day.
And then the post ride analysis between Sir Bradley Wigans,
Lance Armstrong and George Hincapy.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
So four out of those five guys.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Are definitely going to be here in Tucson riding with everyone.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
But there's you know, some others as well.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
We've got Christin Armstrong, the most decorated female cyclist ever Koe.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Deiger up and coming, who's going to be riding the
women's version of the Tour de France.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
So and we always see some logo pros. One of
our stars this year for the Tour de France a
kid named Quinn Simmons whose grandparents live here. Quentin comes
here quite a bit to train on Mount Lemon and
he's one of the He's probably the top American cyclists
right now. It's a tour, so you're going to see
(09:17):
lots of familiar faces. If you're at all into cycling,
you're going to see, you know, some of the biggest.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Names in cycling for sure.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
Yeah, the Stite's kids was got that future too? You
won last year?
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Yea, yep, yep, good good, up and coming. I mean
the nice thing about this Matthew Riccauteou is another one.
Well that you may not be at the Tour de
France this year. These are the future stars of the
sport for sure.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
The same kind of situation with like three miles and
sixty two or thirty two sixty two, one hundred and two,
is that still the plan for this year?
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yeah, three different distances, you know, give everyone an opportunity
to shine.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
You know, some people are not.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Up for one hundred miles or on a hundred kilometers,
so thirty two might fit them well.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
With a little bit of training. I mean, give it.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Your old cohort, Jay was able to pull off thirty.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Two miles and his uh barely so uh yeah. So
I mean if Jay can do it, gee.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
He wanted to, he did for a while, and if
he made it and you threw.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Up, well I'll give him an a for efforts.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Yeah, of course, of course, uh you know, and we
tease him about it, of course. So you have your
eye on the Tour de France now that it's nerds end.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yeah, I mean we're we're witnessing probably the greatest cyclist
of all time and dadday bagatcha. If you've not tuned
in one day, I mean this kid is he's just
just twenty six years old and it's just absolutely dominating.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
To give you a little stat.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
If he wins this year, which will be his fourth
Towar de France, he'll have tour for Tour de France
wins before Lance Armstrong went his first or with an asterisk.
I guess so you're you're witnessing just probably the greatest
cyclists of all time and this kid is just absolutely phenomenal.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
He's just better than everyone else.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
And uh, it's just a really great story and it
seems like a really great kid that just just has
its head on straight. So it's it's good news for
cycling to have such a superstar. You know, in Europe,
he's as big as it gets. You know, European sports
are a little bit different than American sports, where you know, the.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Messi's and people like that of the world are are
walk on water.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Pagatcha's like that, and in most of those European countries.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
But uh, you.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Know, little by little we're we're we're getting more and
more fans to cycling and you know, one day we
might have an American champ again that that proudly wears
the red, white and blue.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Well just no long ago. Uh tell me, he just
received the big honor.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Oh Gregman, Greg Month, so first.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
American and he just got a big good metal So
you know, he was a vacation recipient too, he was
he was here in Tucson.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yeah, he's you know, I think and Richard we're we're
good friends. And you know what Greg had done being
the first you know, to win and won several especially
you know with his story he was you know, injured
in a hunting accident.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
For him to come back and.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Reach the peak after that, it's just an amazing story.
And so, uh, he was honored by by Congress with
I think the Congressional Medal of Honor is the award
that he was he was bestowed, so you know, really
really saying something. And you know, again he's been been
the Tucson a few times over that period, and you know,
(12:46):
just I wish him well. I mean, he's had a
stellar career and continues. He's still involved in the bike
industry with a bike company of his own.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
How can people sign up for it?
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Pretty simple to EL two on dot org. You know,
we are a nonprofit. If you want to get involved
with We've got over one hundred teams that are nonprofits
as well. Uh you'll see those teams if you want
to ride for one of those teams like.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Boys and Girls Club or Big Brothers.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Big Sisters, you know, different groups charities like that. Money
have different charities to pick and choose from all kinds
of causes and great causes those are. But but if
you want to just ride for yourself. You know, this
is the time eltor to two sounds dot.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Work right, plenty of time to get this done or
the other better because it's less expensive. And if you
want to write for a charity, that's even better.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Yep, okay, yeah, yeah, don't wait too long again, like
like see you said, the price does go up after,
you know, as we inch closer to that date.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
But if you if you think you're going to be riding,
I mean, sign up.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
It's a it's a great opportunity to get out and
ride with a whole bunch.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Of folks from all over the world.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
And you can see some some big name folks, but
you know what, everyone has to pedal on their own
and get through. And you know, when you're done, we've
got a nice big celebration to celebrate your your success.
So you know, come on out and join us.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Well real quick, because because I think the world of them.
The jerseys, how cool are those?
Speaker 1 (14:23):
You know, it's it it's hard to imagine, like you
know how some of those other jerseys could could you
possibly top some of those other jerseys. But this year
Joe Paget has just pulled off a gym and it
really just depicts some some some things that are just
near gear to Tucson being the two hundred and fiftieth
anniversary of the.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Founding of Tucson.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
So things like you know, sugar skull on a bike
and Mariachi and riding through the barrios. I mean, it's
just a really cool depiction of just kind of the
just a cool scene out of you know, fantasy scene
out of what happens at Eltora, Tucson.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
So you haven't seen our jerseys. Joe Paget did an
amazing job.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
And he's been our resident artist for probably five or
six seven years, and he just he never ceases to
amaze me of some of the great art work that
he pumps out.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Cool, Okay, Dave, you're the next guy who's going to
challenge yourself to get on that mike.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
The one mile.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
One Yes, TJ, thanks a bunch.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Hey, all right, guys, take care of Did you just.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Quitch the executive Charrector?
Speaker 2 (15:36):
I could probably do thirty two three miles, three miles?
Speaker 4 (15:40):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I just did a story on a woman who did
it the one mile, the three mile, dedicating her son
to the ride, and now she's going to try the
thirty two. So she's going to attack it, which is great.
That's the type of people. All right, that's that's my goal.
You're going to November November twenty second this year. Take
your time about it, take your time think about it.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
Thanks. I will take a break here, come back and
say
Breaking down all the xes it ohs. This is I
on the Ball with Steve Rovera on Box Sports fourteen fifty.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hey, welcome back to I on the Ball here on
Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Roberta, and today with
me is Dave Silver. Now on the phone, we have TJ. Juskowitz,
the executive director of ELK Tour.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Tjhi doing, Hey, doing great? Guys?
Speaker 4 (00:27):
Is it the dog days of summer for you?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Well, today doesn't feel a good dog day of summer.
It's kind of cool out, but yeah, the last couple
of weeks have.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Been pretty viertile for if you ride a bike.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah, yeah, but but it seems like things are going okay. Uh,
give this an update on the number of people who
have who have decided to join the festivities in November.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Yeah. Sure, we're I think really great. To be honest
with you, We've had the kind of record numbers of
sign ups. You know, we track that stuff pretty pretty
religiously year over year, and we're seeing numbers that were up,
you know, forty plus percent.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
A year over year.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
So you know, an extra thousand people, an extra two
thousand people would just be great for eltor to Tucson
and the Tucson economy.
Speaker 5 (01:17):
Why do you think that is? Is there a reason
why the numbers are kind of soaring already?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
You know, it's hard to pinpoint.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
We've done a lot of really good, good things promotionally wise,
having a lot of really good influencers, and sometimes these
things just take a little bit longer to get people
to say, Hey, I'm gonna make that track to Tucson.
So we're seeing people from countries I had to look
up on a map where you know, there was a
European show that went out about El Tour over a
(01:47):
year ago, and all of a sudden, we're getting people
from Slovenia and Slovakia and all these kinds of countries
that are you know, how did they hear about El Tour?
And when you talk to them, they're like, yeah, we
saw this this little status on the internet by the
GCN group and so it's like weird.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Little things like that.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
I can't pinpoint one thing exactly, but you know, it's
got a good reputation, it's fun, two song, puts on
a great show, all those things that make make an
event special.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
In fact, you know, you know, I have Blake on
here a lot eager and some of the other guys
that are on here, and it's a bunch of you
guys pulling the rope to make everybody else successful too.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
How does that help.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
With everybody You're part of a committee with the with
the things that you do with people pumping up the
pumping up your organization and you doing the same for them.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah, I think it's a great team effort. You know,
it's not just a bike ride by any means. We
want people to come in have a great experience. If
they got gouged by the hotels or restaurants, they wouldn't
have a great experience. So you know, you can't go
to a Final four Super Bowl without paying, you know,
twenty five dollars of.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Beer and overpriced for a stake.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So the nice thing about Tucson when they come in,
you know there, if they order a margarita that you know,
that post ride margarita, it's the same price that we
pay every day here in Talent and so no one's
gouging people. The prices remain relatively good. You know, hotels
are relatively inexpensive compared to you know, if you go
to California or something like that for an event, you're
(03:21):
paying two or three times the amount that they're going
to pay in Tucson. So I think, you know, the
people like visit Tucson Blank's organization, all these people are
into the same goal. It's got a lot of people
to come and enjoy our community and hopefully they'll come back.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Tell some friends and.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Come back or possibly even move.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Here after they enjoy our town.
Speaker 5 (03:42):
I remember covering that early, very early, the first few years,
and I mean it was just kind of starting from scratch,
and it's now I don't know what numbers are we
talking about eight nine thousand riders at this point.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
It's unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yeah, we're right at that ten thousand mark. And like
I said that, if we keep training the way we are,
we're probably going to be.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Eleven or twelve thousand this year.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
And so to see that many people, you know, safely
enjoying theirselves, that's that's our goal. And you know, it
started back, you know, forty two years ago with people
having that same philosophy, let's put on a good event,
let's raise some money for some charities, which we still
do today, but then you know, really put on a
(04:25):
fantastic bike ride that highlights some of the great roads
and scenery that we see in Tucson.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
One of the things that you know, being involved now
you know Richard Debenarus came up with this thing kind
of made Tucson one of the mega places to come
and ride in the winter, in the spring and to
enjoy the weather. But we had something on this on
the website not long ago. I answered a question on
the Facebook the Velodrome. I mean, I don't think the
Velodrome doesn't show up here if il tour wasn't successful,
(04:55):
maybe I'm wrong.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Yeah, I just think all these things together, I mean,
we are the cycling Meca. I don't care what anyone
says in California or Wisconsin.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Or any of these places.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
You know, when you can go have the recreational side
with the Calberry Loop, you could ride Mount Lemon, which
is a world class climb. You've got the Velodrome coming
on on board and hopefully this fall, and then you know,
you got epic events like that has the twenty four
hours in the old Playboa for mountain biking, you got
amazing mountain bike tracks, and.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Then of course you got El.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Toura, Tucson and So when you add up all those
things and the level of cycling facilities we have here,
I'll put our facilities up against anyone, and you can
enjoy them pretty much three hundred and sixty five days
a year. And you know they can they can talk
about how great the cycling is in California, were Madison, Wisconsin, But.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
They don't compare in my book.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
And I think anyone that's come here and written our
roads and events and all that stuff for the off
road stuff, it's just fantastic when you add up all
those and that'll just continue to grow. And you know,
it's great to see things like the velodrome coming online.
You know, we're we're on the cusp of the twenty
eight LA Games. Now we have a velodrome and just
(06:16):
a great place to train.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
I'd be shocked if we.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Didn't see international teams training here before the LA Games.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
What's it like?
Speaker 5 (06:25):
Just kind of coordinating with the city and I guess
the county as well. Is that is that like a
you know, three hundred and sixty five days a year
kind of thing, trying to figure out the routes and everything.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah, and then they tew you a curve ball with
a construction project or something like that. So it's multiple
cities because we're going through not only Tucson, but you
know Sovea, Rita, We're going through South Tucson, going through
the Vail area, Green Valley area, So dealing with all
those different communities. Plus there's there's state folks that are involved,
there's county folks involved in city folks involved. So making
(06:59):
sure everyone's on the same age, engineers, law enforcement, all
the permitting that needs to happen between, you know, before
the event happens. The nice thing is that everyone wants
us to be successful, and so everyone that we deal
with is on the same page as us. Let's make sure,
you know, we run a safe and successful event and
(07:20):
make sure people have a good time here.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
One of the secrets of this event, the secrets maybe
that'd be the right word, but you have a lot
of dignitaries come in the day before or two days before,
they ride with VIPs and they actually ride in the
event as a casual type of rite. You were able
to pull that off in Scottsdale with Armstrong. Lance Armstrong
kind of came in and did that and kind of
(07:44):
wrote away how cool is that?
Speaker 4 (07:46):
And who's coming.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Yeah, So we got a lot of the usual suspects
plus a few more. One of the biggest names we
have is Sir Bradley Wiggins, who won the Tour de
France back in twenty twelve. So you talk about this
is the Masters for cycling and this is this is.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
The absolute peak.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
So to have guys you know, obviously like Lance Armstrong,
who's the household name, but Bradley Wigans in the cycling world,
you know, to win the tour, it's just as big.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
As it gets. We're also seeing.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
If you know, this is the Tour de France is
going on right now.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
It's about two thirds complete.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
The broadcasting team that does the tour every day for
twenty one days with Bob Roll and Christian Vandeveldt. They're
on the NBC Peacock team that's doing broadcasts every day.
And then the post ride analysis between Sir Bradley Wigans,
Lance Armstrong and George Hincapy.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
So four out of those five guys.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Are definitely going to be here in Tucson riding with everyone.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
But there's you know, some others as well.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
We've got Christin Armstrong, the most decorated female cyclist ever Koe.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Deiger up and coming, who's going to be riding the
women's version of the Tour de France.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
So and we always see some logo pros. One of
our stars this year for the Tour de France a
kid named Quinn Simmons whose grandparents live here. Quentin comes
here quite a bit to train on Mount Lemon and
he's one of the He's probably the top American cyclists
right now. It's a tour, so you're going to see
(09:17):
lots of familiar faces. If you're at all into cycling,
you're going to see, you know, some of the biggest.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Names in cycling for sure.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
Yeah, the Stite's kids was got that future too? You
won last year?
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Yea, yep, yep, good good, up and coming. I mean
the nice thing about this Matthew Riccauteou is another one.
Well that you may not be at the Tour de
France this year. These are the future stars of the
sport for sure.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
The same kind of situation with like three miles and
sixty two or thirty two sixty two, one hundred and two,
is that still the plan for this year?
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yeah, three different distances, you know, give everyone an opportunity
to shine.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
You know, some people are not.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Up for one hundred miles or on a hundred kilometers,
so thirty two might fit them well.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
With a little bit of training. I mean, give it.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Your old cohort, Jay was able to pull off thirty.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Two miles and his uh barely so uh yeah. So
I mean if Jay can do it, gee.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
He wanted to, he did for a while, and if
he made it and you threw.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Up, well I'll give him an a for efforts.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Yeah, of course, of course, uh you know, and we
tease him about it, of course. So you have your
eye on the Tour de France now that it's nerds end.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yeah, I mean we're we're witnessing probably the greatest cyclist
of all time and dadday bagatcha. If you've not tuned
in one day, I mean this kid is he's just
just twenty six years old and it's just absolutely dominating.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
To give you a little stat.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
If he wins this year, which will be his fourth
Towar de France, he'll have tour for Tour de France
wins before Lance Armstrong went his first or with an asterisk.
I guess so you're you're witnessing just probably the greatest
cyclists of all time and this kid is just absolutely phenomenal.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
He's just better than everyone else.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
And uh, it's just a really great story and it
seems like a really great kid that just just has
its head on straight. So it's it's good news for
cycling to have such a superstar. You know, in Europe,
he's as big as it gets. You know, European sports
are a little bit different than American sports, where you know, the.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Messi's and people like that of the world are are
walk on water.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Pagatcha's like that, and in most of those European countries.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
But uh, you.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Know, little by little we're we're we're getting more and
more fans to cycling and you know, one day we
might have an American champ again that that proudly wears
the red, white and blue.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Well just no long ago. Uh tell me, he just
received the big honor.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Oh Gregman, Greg Month, so first.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
American and he just got a big good metal So
you know, he was a vacation recipient too, he was
he was here in Tucson.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yeah, he's you know, I think and Richard we're we're
good friends. And you know what Greg had done being
the first you know, to win and won several especially
you know with his story he was you know, injured
in a hunting accident.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
For him to come back and.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Reach the peak after that, it's just an amazing story.
And so, uh, he was honored by by Congress with
I think the Congressional Medal of Honor is the award
that he was he was bestowed, so you know, really
really saying something. And you know, again he's been been
the Tucson a few times over that period, and you know,
(12:46):
just I wish him well. I mean, he's had a
stellar career and continues. He's still involved in the bike
industry with a bike company of his own.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
How can people sign up for it?
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Pretty simple to EL two on dot org. You know,
we are a nonprofit. If you want to get involved
with We've got over one hundred teams that are nonprofits
as well. Uh you'll see those teams if you want
to ride for one of those teams like.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Boys and Girls Club or Big Brothers.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Big Sisters, you know, different groups charities like that. Money
have different charities to pick and choose from all kinds
of causes and great causes those are. But but if
you want to just ride for yourself. You know, this
is the time eltor to two sounds dot.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Work right, plenty of time to get this done or
the other better because it's less expensive. And if you
want to write for a charity, that's even better.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Yep, okay, yeah, yeah, don't wait too long again, like
like see you said, the price does go up after,
you know, as we inch closer to that date.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
But if you if you think you're going to be riding,
I mean, sign up.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
It's a it's a great opportunity to get out and
ride with a whole bunch.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Of folks from all over the world.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
And you can see some some big name folks, but
you know what, everyone has to pedal on their own
and get through. And you know, when you're done, we've
got a nice big celebration to celebrate your your success.
So you know, come on out and join us.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Well real quick, because because I think the world of them.
The jerseys, how cool are those?
Speaker 1 (14:23):
You know, it's it it's hard to imagine, like you
know how some of those other jerseys could could you
possibly top some of those other jerseys. But this year
Joe Paget has just pulled off a gym and it
really just depicts some some some things that are just
near gear to Tucson being the two hundred and fiftieth
anniversary of the.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Founding of Tucson.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
So things like you know, sugar skull on a bike
and Mariachi and riding through the barrios. I mean, it's
just a really cool depiction of just kind of the
just a cool scene out of you know, fantasy scene
out of what happens at Eltora, Tucson.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
So you haven't seen our jerseys. Joe Paget did an
amazing job.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
And he's been our resident artist for probably five or
six seven years, and he just he never ceases to
amaze me of some of the great art work that
he pumps out.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Cool, Okay, Dave, you're the next guy who's going to
challenge yourself to get on that mike.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
The one mile.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
One Yes, TJ, thanks a bunch.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Hey, all right, guys, take care of Did you just.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Quitch the executive Charrector?
Speaker 2 (15:36):
I could probably do thirty two three miles, three miles?
Speaker 4 (15:40):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I just did a story on a woman who did
it the one mile, the three mile, dedicating her son
to the ride, and now she's going to try the
thirty two. So she's going to attack it, which is great.
That's the type of people. All right, that's that's my goal.
You're going to November November twenty second this year. Take
your time about it, take your time think about it.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
Thanks. I will take a break here, come back and
say
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.