October 26, 2025 • 69 mins
Fog hangs low, headlights cut thin ribbons through the dark, and somewhere ahead a line of red taillights refuses to be caught. We lean into the season with a Halloween ride that blends ghost stories, travel mishaps, aviation quirks, and a surprising amount of laughter from two cyclists who prize the journey as much as the destination.
We kick off with Moonlight Mayhem bourbon, a yard-turned-graveyard, and a Florida trip that delivered 12-mile theme-park days and a front-row view of a Spirit Airlines plane getting impounded. From there, we talk towers, old-school air traffic tools that still run high-stakes skies, and the quiet competence that keeps travelers safe. Our Rants of Dissatisfaction pull no punches: language-targeted ads in the wrong place, a contractor who waited eleven empty days to start, and TV’s most unrealistic prop—the weightless coffee cup.
Then the hauntings roll in. Meet Larry, the red-Huffy rider of Randolph, Maine, who vanished without a trace and, some say, still cruises the old rail trail as orbs drift between the pines. A Devon mansion yields a Victorian figure watching a child cycling below, while a cliffside speakeasy’s famed Blue Lady is exposed as an engineered hoax complete with moving chandeliers. Charleston’s former bicycle shop, now a student health center, brings chills with neatly stacked books found on the floor at dawn. And the centerpiece: the WWI ghost cyclist reported by both trenches, silently crossing No Man’s Land—an image every rider understands in their bones.
We thank our VIP supporters, drop fresh listener spotlight clues, and tease the much-loved Cyclist Christmas List packed with road-tested gear, safety picks, and a few wildcards. Stick around for our original campfire tale, The Phantom Peloton, a modern myth about GPS loops, misty roads, and the whispered command every pack depends on: hold your line.
Love the ride? Tap follow, leave a quick review to boost the show, and share this Halloween special with a friend who believes the best miles happen after dark. What story gave you chills?
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Adam and Michael’s friendship has grown through years of shared miles, challenges, and laughter on the bike. Their passion for cycling has carried them through life’s twists and turns, creating a bond full of stories, jokes, and unforgettable rides. In their podcast, they bring that same spirit to the mic—sharing adventures, trading banter, and welcoming listeners into their cycling community. Whether tackling steep climbs or cruising open roads, their conversations capture the fun, friendship, and freedom that cycling brings. Tune in for stories that celebrate the ride and the camaraderie that makes it unforgettable.
and Remember,
It's a Great Day for a Bike Ride!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_03 (00:19):
Well, it's time for Road Adventures with Cycling Men
of Leisure, the podcast forcyclists who understand that
riding is not just about gettingto the destination, but the
experience along the way.
Now, here are the originalcycling men of leisure, Adam and
Michael.
SPEAKER_00 (00:33):
Welcome to Road Adventures of Cycling Men of
Leisure.
As usual.
What is that you're doing?
Oh my god.
Continue.
As usual, I am Adam, and asusual, he has opening up
something special.
My good friend, all the way fromCentral Time, Mr.
Michael Sharp.
(00:54):
Hello, Adam.
SPEAKER_02 (00:54):
How are you doing?
Good, buddy.
Good, good.
And yes, I opened up something.
I mean, you know, I am a man ofleisure, and uh in celebration
of the holiday, the Halloweenholiday, we've got a little uh
Moonlight Mayhem, the saga ofwerewolves and bourbon.
So drinking a little too what'sthat?
(01:17):
Who's that made by?
Oh, this is made by FilmlandSpirits.
It's out in Los Angeles,California, clearly.
Um, I thought it was appropriateto help set the stage because
we've got a really cool showgoing on.
SPEAKER_00 (01:30):
Ladies and gentlemen, it is our annual
Halloween show.
But first, we uh we got to talkabout uh how have you been, sir?
SPEAKER_02 (01:42):
Been good, been busy.
Um it's Halloween season, one ofmy family's favorite holidays.
So we turn our front yard into auh graveyard.
Nice.
So been working on that.
You know, we've got somegravestones and some fence, and
we even put an old like 1960Sears beach cruiser out there
and you know, put crows andravens and things on it to make
(02:03):
it spooky.
And of course, uh, we've got theuh fog machine which will roll
fog out around the uh theheadstones.
So been working on that, and uhmy wife decided it'd be a great
idea to uh to redo our uhgarage.
So um I epoxied my garage floor.
All of my stuff was settingoutside while I did it, and now
(02:28):
I'm just getting it all movedback in.
And ironically enough, myneighbor shouted over and go,
Hey, get that stuff back in yourgarage.
I'm the only one here allowed tohave all my junk in the front
yard.
I was like, sorry, Billy, nottrying to take your title.
SPEAKER_00 (02:48):
That's right.
Well, uh, how'd the epoxy turnout?
SPEAKER_02 (02:52):
Uh you know, uh it's not a professional uh
application, but I'm not aprofessional.
Uh it looks really good,considering we'd never done an
epoxy before and and all that.
Uh, very happy with it, muchbetter than just the old floor.
Okay.
Um, so yeah, and we're puttingup some more shelves and we're
downsizing a lot of stuff, so itit's uh it's good.
(03:14):
But uh it's just been busyaround here in my front yard.
It looks like a uh uh uh youknow graveyard now, so that's
that's fun.
How have you been?
I know you went uh down to youruh your uh house with mouse.
SPEAKER_00 (03:28):
I did.
I saw the mice.
Have now um got their reloads ofuh rations and provisions uh
with my credit card in tow.
So they're doing they're doinggood down there.
Uh actually we had we had a goodtime.
No, I was you know, I wasconcerned last time we recorded,
(03:48):
we talked about the governmentshutdown, and as a matter of
fact, we said by by this by thisshow it should be back.
And well, it's not, but uh umthat's it didn't affect you as
far as TSA, nope, anything likethat.
Okay, couldn't even tell.
I mean, I I I'm um so through mycompany uh we were gonna have a
(04:12):
TSA training for awareness andnot not TSA from the airport,
but you know, they uh TSA does alot of other things, and so they
were gonna come, but they didthat has been furloughed and and
not allowed right now, but asfar as safety and security and
air travel, no issues, noconcerns, um got through just
fine and and uh made it up anddown and and um the one I guess
(04:35):
the highlight of the trip andand is we did go to the new Epic
Universe.
Um my wife and I like to beactive on vacation, so we do a
lot of walking.
We probably walked about 12miles a day and music parks.
SPEAKER_02 (04:49):
That's not really active.
SPEAKER_00 (04:51):
Uh yeah, I mean you walk a lot of steps, but okay.
I saw you were walking when Iwas down there, so I was, yeah.
Yes, sir.
But uh no, good, good, good,good, crazy, you know, it's a
nice new park, and trust me,they're very proud of that uh
from the from the cost aspect.
(05:11):
So um, but uh we got to do mostof everything.
Um lot of a lot of really neatthe way that the park is set up,
so that was a lot of fun.
Um but a lot of that was great.
I call it a win.
My wife and I went down uh aboutuh 11 days, and I'm here to tell
you no fights and arguments, andthat's pretty good when you're
(05:33):
traveling and staying inmultiple hotels, and uh we were
able to do what you and Inormally do, which we stayed in
the Hyatt coming back throughthe airport.
We took a 5 a.m.
flight, and then we finished ourtrip in that hemisphere
restaurant and uh watching theplanes and the runway, and so uh
all was good, but um, you know,that this is always our our
(05:56):
October trip.
We usually go down and we had agood time, but you know, in a
weird way, I'm back.
I'm glad to be back.
We had a we had fun, don't getme wrong, but I'm glad to be
back.
This is always a fun time of theyear for work and a lot of um,
you know, like you said,Halloween.
Funny story about Halloween,since it's our Halloween show.
I used to, I mean, this justshows that weather is changing.
(06:17):
I used to blow up my sprinklerson the night of Halloween, not
to get the kids wet, but becauseit made everything so misty.
And so it was really cool someyears where I would blow the you
know, the ps, and then therewould be like just misty as the
kids walk through fortrick-or-treating.
But got it.
Yeah, it's kind of neat, sofigured it was a Halloween.
SPEAKER_02 (06:38):
But uh I'll tell you what, here's the first horror
story.
What you don't know is I knowthat none of this affected your
travel, but um uh there was onlyone person working the uh
Orlando Tower that day.
Just one.
SPEAKER_00 (06:55):
Well, lucky for me, that one person got me back and
forth.
SPEAKER_02 (06:58):
And um he's he just moves from station to station.
The one guy that showed up, thestation.
Uh flight 734, uh, please hold.
Flight 419, you are now ready toland, you know.
SPEAKER_00 (07:13):
Both of our fathers were in aviation.
I'm not sure if the leisurecommunity knows that, but I'll
never forget the first time thatI got to go up in the tower and
saw they were using littleclipboards, like little I don't
think people realize that whatthey use in in towers.
It's like um it's like playingScrabble.
I mean, it really is.
I mean, the the the flight is onthere, and you would think like
(07:36):
with computers and tablets andiPads and all that.
I don't care if you like Androidor Apple, you would think that
the technology would change.
Nope.
Uh it's like a Scrabble boardwith the plane, and they move it
over, and it's it's definitelyinteresting.
SPEAKER_02 (07:51):
So, but uh guess what they're still using in the
towers.
SPEAKER_00 (07:56):
Exactly, exactly.
Smoke signals.
SPEAKER_02 (07:59):
Uh uh job, give those guys kudos.
Not an easy job, and Iappreciate them keeping me safe.
SPEAKER_00 (08:06):
So you would appreciate this.
We did see, I feel bad becauseSpirit Airlines, you can look it
up yourself, they're goingthrough some furloughs and some
bankruptcy protection.
We saw a spirit plane, I'm notkidding you, impounded.
I mean, we were sitting in thathemisphere restaurant.
I mean, if anyone's ever beenthere, it's all glass and it
looks out over the runway onterminal B.
(08:28):
And we were sitting there, andall of a sudden I'm like, oh my
gosh, is something okay?
I mean, just all kinds of lightsand emergency personnel coming
around this plane.
We thought it was a safety issueat first.
We later learned that they wereimpounding the plane.
Turns out that a lot of thoseplanes are owned uh by a
different company, spirit, youknow, uh leases and leased.
(08:49):
Yeah, so the owners were like,You're not taking this plane
off.
So it's interesting.
SPEAKER_02 (08:53):
Let's hope they let the people off before they
impounded the plane.
SPEAKER_00 (08:56):
I hope so, because otherwise they're still stuck
right on their runway B.
So there's that one guy stillpushing the uh the assistant
light.
SPEAKER_02 (09:04):
When's that, you know?
SPEAKER_00 (09:07):
Well, it's good to be with you again.
I I I uh I always enjoy myvacation, but I I missed uh
doing the show and and uh a lotof lot of lot of things
happening behind the scenes, andum I'm excited, but uh I don't
want to miss listenerspotlights.
Um I have some bad news though.
Uh I searched all of ourcommunication, I searched our
(09:29):
emails.
You know, they can they can textus directly from any podcast
platform, the the leisurecommunity.
And I regret to tell you thatunless you can tell me now I
know you got corrected onsomething, but as far as
guesses, uh uh unless you cantell me different, I don't
believe we actually got a guestthis time.
SPEAKER_02 (09:50):
Uh probably not.
But this was this was a tougherone.
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (09:54):
I'll give them that.
Okay.
Well, I'll tell you what, intrue spirit, here we go.
Uh, ladies and gentlemen, it isnow time for listener spotlight.
SPEAKER_02 (10:09):
All right.
The clues that I gave you uh forlistener spotlight uh were as
follows.
The area was controlled byseveral countries through its
history.
Uh, the area saw many battlesbetween native tribes and the
U.S.
Uh This city was founded in thelate 1700s.
It was named after a foundingfather of the U.S.
(10:33):
Uh we can thank this city for aninvention that originated there.
Uh what we eat and how weprepare, and how it's prepared
was changed forever.
Uh, the early economy thriveddue to industry and railroad
jobs.
The city is located on the uhconfluence of three rivers,
(10:56):
which made this city a verystrategic location.
And the city helped influence aplace where everybody knows your
name.
So you have any guesses?
SPEAKER_00 (11:08):
Yeah, I do.
I mean, when you first said thiswhen we got done recording, I
said the three rivers inPittsburgh, but where everybody
knows your name brings me tocheers.
You want to go where everybodyknows your name.
So then I was thinking Boston.
So I I I I'm thinking it's oneof those two, either Pittsburgh
or Boston area.
SPEAKER_02 (11:29):
Well, Pittsburgh uh has many rivers.
Uh Boston, I do not believe itis on the confluence of three
rivers.
Okay.
Um, and uh it was not namedafter a founding father.
So um it's not Boston.
But then again, it's notPittsburgh either.
(11:50):
But thank you for playing.
SPEAKER_00 (11:52):
Well, hold on, let's be fair because I mean if we're
gonna give it to somebody else,we got to give it to me.
SPEAKER_02 (12:02):
This week's listener spotlight is Fort Wayne,
Indiana.
SPEAKER_00 (12:07):
I'm so glad you did not say St.
Louis.
SPEAKER_02 (12:12):
One of these days.
Uh, the area of Fort Wayne,Indiana was uh at times
controlled by the French, theBritish, and the United States.
It was founded in 1794.
It is named after one of ourfounding fathers, Anthony Wayne.
Um, we can all thank the cityfor this invention.
(12:34):
What we eat and how it'sprepared was changed forever
with the invention of therefrigerator.
Well, I mean Fort Wayne.
Um, three rivers.
Uh, like I said, and the the onethat you were on, the city
helped influence a place whereeverybody knows your name.
It is the birthplace of ShellyLong.
SPEAKER_00 (12:55):
Ah play Diane on the TV show.
SPEAKER_02 (13:00):
So there you go.
SPEAKER_00 (13:02):
Well, thank you, listeners of Fort Wayne,
Indiana.
Thank you, all listeners.
Uh, but especially this episode,Fort Wayne, Indiana.
You know, um, I think you knowthis about me, but I used to
live in Southern Illinois, many,many moons again, which was
Central Time.
(13:23):
And when I moved, we would go 69and go through Fort Wayne all
the time.
And there's a paper, paper millright along the freeway.
And let me tell you something.
Uh there are times that that hasto be the worst smell of the
world.
Oh, oh, awful smell.
unknown (13:44):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (13:45):
Driving on the freeway, I would be like, oh my
gosh.
So two worse smells, two worsesmelling plants, paper mills and
creosote plants.
SPEAKER_00 (13:55):
Oh, I have to believe that for sure.
SPEAKER_02 (13:56):
Remember, we rode next across uh right by one,
yeah, um, Georgia, a couple ofyears ago, and oh, it was not
good.
SPEAKER_00 (14:05):
I told the story about um, by the way, just to be
clear, this is not offensive.
This was actually a very cutething.
You and I were driving inGeorgia, I mean, riding our
bikes in Georgia.
A very curious um person wholived in the town that we went
through asked what we weredoing.
We told them we rode our ridingour bikes across the state of
Georgia.
(14:26):
This beautiful African-Americanwoman said, Oh Lord, I'm gonna
have Jesus put a fence aroundyou.
And I told the story recently onvacation.
And the question was, was thatfence a one-day fence?
Was that like a proverbial likethat it ever end?
And I'd like to think that thefence never ended, but so well,
you know, she didn't really putspeculation on it.
SPEAKER_02 (14:48):
So I'm saying I still have that fence, we still
have that fence.
Um, you know, it's it's kind oflike on the movie Oh Brother
Were Aren't Thou.
Yeah, you get thrown out of theWoolworth.
Now, is that just that Woolworthor is that all the Woolworths?
So we're gonna say that thatlady still has our Jesus fence
(15:09):
around us, as she called it.
SPEAKER_00 (15:11):
You know what?
And and we didn't have any flatsor mechanicals, uh, and we've
done pretty well since then.
So we might still have thefence.
So, but I was able to share thatstory recently, so I thought
it's a good story.
So now listen, I made a promiseto you.
What's that?
I made a promise to you.
Did you?
I did.
(15:32):
And what's that?
Two episodes ago, you were youwere chomping at the bit.
You were you were just wantingto do listen uh ransom
dissatisfaction.
And I said, No, that's not theright time.
And then you said, What aboutthe next one?
I said, I'm about to go onvacation.
So I made a promise to you, andI want to keep that promise
(15:54):
today, tonight, right now,ladies and gentlemen, I am
keeping my word.
I'm stalling while I get a a uha ransom dissatisfaction, sir.
SPEAKER_02 (16:10):
The floor thank you finally.
By the way, when you're stallingon radio or on a podcast, you
don't tell people you'restalling, you just keep going.
So we'll we'll work on thatlater.
Never mind.
Hey, we're this is a transparentshow, buddy.
Uh, we are, aren't we?
You know, I've got many rants ofdissatisfaction because they've
(16:30):
been building up for a while,but because we've got such a
cool other segment on our show,I'm gonna limit myself to two
rants of dissatisfaction uhright now.
And then we'll get back to itagain.
And I have one.
All right.
Well, let me do one and then Iwill we'll give you the floor.
Um I don't know.
(16:54):
I think I'll do this one.
SPEAKER_00 (16:57):
My first one is I'm your name still has their
Christmas lights on.
SPEAKER_02 (17:03):
Well, they're just celebration lights, is what I'm
calling them.
It makes me feel better.
SPEAKER_00 (17:10):
I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_02 (17:12):
I watch I watch TV, I watch all the the streaming
stuff.
I mean, I still have cable inthe wintertime because I like
just variety and randomness.
I can just turn it on and justplug through and something comes
up, and I was like, okay, that'scool.
What I've been finding latelythat really, really irks me is
I'll be watching a show,whatever channel you want,
(17:32):
history channel, what have you.
I'm sitting there watching it,and then all of a sudden, a
commercial comes up.
Okay, no problem.
I understand commercials, yougotta pay for it.
But the commercials are inSpanish, and this happens a lot,
and I'm like, wait a minute.
What clearly you're notmarketing to me.
(17:53):
Who exactly are you marketingto?
The whole show that I've beenwatching is in English.
Now the commercial is inSpanish.
So are the Spanish-speakingpeople just watching the English
TV and not have any idea what'sgoing on?
And then it's like, yeah, let'sgive them a commercial so
they'll understand drives menuts.
And what's funny is when I wasin Mexico a couple months ago,
(18:16):
the same thing.
I was sitting there watching alittle TV, boom, American
program, commercials were all inSpanish.
SPEAKER_00 (18:24):
I thought you were gonna say English.
SPEAKER_02 (18:27):
That would have made sense if I went to like this,
you know, the Spanish channel.
Let's mark, but no, I justdrives me crazy.
SPEAKER_00 (18:35):
I know why it happened.
SPEAKER_02 (18:36):
The program's in English, the commercials are in
Spanish.
SPEAKER_00 (18:40):
I know why.
Why?
You and I I've got to be carefulhow I say this.
You and I shared I was gonna saywe stayed in a lot of hotels,
but no.
Whoa.
You and I shared a few hotelrooms, and both of us usually
(19:00):
have to take meetings on theroad, so we hear each other
doing meetings and such,correct?
C.
You and I have shared cots orcot tenting camping areas or
charters, such as we haven'tshared cots.
SPEAKER_02 (19:14):
No, but yes, we've shared campsites.
SPEAKER_00 (19:18):
Yeah, with pod rays.
What did you do every night?
Slept.
No.
You were taking lessons everynight.
What kind of lessons were youtaking?
Oh, I was taking Spanishlessons.
Oh, well, that's why your TV istelling you commercials in
Spanish.
SPEAKER_02 (19:39):
Well, shouldn't they be giving me their shows in
Spanish?
SPEAKER_00 (19:43):
I I'm telling you every night I would hear you do
your 10 10 minutes of ofSpanish, yes.
Yes, your your phone islistening to you, brother.
It's it knows you uh no hablaingles, so it knows so anyway.
SPEAKER_02 (20:01):
It just drives me crazy.
It's like I I don't get it.
I'm sure there's some metricsout there so I don't know.
Anyway, that's my first one.
Go ahead.
SPEAKER_00 (20:11):
I'll let you go for I'm not sure if the leisure
community has picked up on it.
I know you've made a mention ofhow I've done some landscaping
in the basement, and I jokedabout getting the room done
before you came to visit me.
Well, the only thing left in allthose projects was to get the
final trim work done.
(20:32):
And then the basement, whichit's now done, but and then the
basement was going to be finallydone.
My wife, kudos to her, great,good, great countertop, yada
yada yada, a beautiful, uhmodern, very, very high class,
um all all all put togetherdesign work.
(20:53):
I give her kudos.
The tile, heated floor.
The last thing was the trim.
Finally, I'm at the point whereI can I can I can spring for the
trim.
I get a contractor lined up.
Reviews are great.
My neighbor used them.
Wonderful.
Now let me tell you something.
I have one of those locks on myhouse that I can create a
(21:15):
digital, you know, digital, likea you know, like an Airbnb lock
where you can go somewhere andthey can create a code for a
couple days.
So I told this guy that I wasleaving on this day and I would
be back on this day.
And I said, the house is wideopen for 11 days.
I said, you know, I've got greatneighbors.
If you have a problem getting ina lock, blah, blah, blah.
(21:36):
He said, Oh, I'll have it donebefore you get back.
I said, That's wonderful.
Well, come on.
It's 2025.
I have cameras on my house, andI'm waiting for this guy to show
up.
And it's Monday, and it'sTuesday, and it's Wednesday, and
it's Thursday, and finally Ican't stand it anymore.
I'm coming home on Sunday, bythe way.
And I finally text and I say, Sowhat's the plan?
(22:00):
You know, I mean, and and hegoes, Oh, I'm coming tomorrow,
and I should be able to wrapeverything up in tomorrow.
And I'm going, One day.
That's a lot of trim.
Yeah, and I'm thinking, and justto give just to give everybody
an idea, it's a bedroom and aliving room and a hallway and a
bathroom and a laundry room.
And I'm like, that's a lot.
(22:21):
Now I understand if you take one10-foot board and then you paint
it, and you maybe you can get 10foot down uh to give anyone any
contractors out there.
It was 186 linear feet.
And so I'm thinking to myself,but I also had doorways, then
and I'm thinking, man, that's alot for one day.
So on Saturday, shows up about10 a.m.
(22:43):
I get a notification from thelock, lock open, and then he
locks it at like 10 o'clock atnight.
I'm thinking, well, maybe I needto eat crow pie.
Well, I took the uh five o'clockflight out of Orlando.
I'm back in Detroit at 8:30.
Show up at my house around 10o'clock by the time I get the
(23:03):
shuttle to get my car.
We did one of those things thatyou like to do, like hotel and
park and all that.
Get my car, come home, I get atext.
Hey, I I need to finish somethings up, I'll be there around
10 o'clock.
I walk in the house and it'sonly like half done.
This is before the guy getshere.
And I'm like, oh my gosh.
Now I'm tired, I've traveled, Igot up at 2 in the morning, TSA,
(23:27):
blah, blah, blah.
And that guy stayed until 10o'clock on Sunday.
All not 10 a.m.
12 hours he was here.
Now he finished, it looks great,but then I'm thinking to myself,
this is where the rants ofdissatisfaction goes.
My house was open to himundisturbed for 11 days, and you
(23:50):
wait until I come home.
I was so mad.
SPEAKER_02 (23:54):
But maybe he had other jobs.
SPEAKER_00 (23:56):
I'm sure he did.
I mean, he was just doing him inorder.
Yeah, he probably, in hisdefense, he probably doesn't
take away the fact that it wasfrustrating, but I completely
understand that he probablysqueezed something else in, and
I didn't want to be like, Whydid you wait?
You know, and so and he did anice job.
Everything was great.
So uh, you know, it it but itwas just so frustrating because
(24:18):
it's like here we are, we justgot back.
We you know, my wife wasstarting a new job on Monday,
and so it's like, dude, really?
I mean, you're you're here allday.
I can't I kept feeling like I'mlike, hey, uh, I'm gonna go to
Costco and get my, you know,hey, I'll be back.
Hey, I'm gonna do my workout,you know.
So I just kind of was like, ohmy god.
And then I never left.
He never left.
I offered him food, I offeredhim drinks.
(24:39):
He's like, No, I'm good, I'mgood.
He worked all day, so butanyways, it looks good.
It's basement is done, myfriend.
I can't wait for you to come seeit.
SPEAKER_02 (24:48):
Cool.
Look forward to it.
All right, my my last one, andthis is a tough choice, but
we're gonna go with this one.
SPEAKER_00 (24:56):
Well, make it good.
SPEAKER_02 (24:57):
He gave me a hard time, so well, you know, back in
the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s TVshows.
SPEAKER_00 (25:06):
Oh, those are good times.
SPEAKER_02 (25:07):
Oh, they were great times.
SPEAKER_00 (25:08):
18 writer.
unknown (25:10):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (25:12):
You know, the main the main focus or the main prop
that a lot of actors used werecigarettes.
Yeah.
Everybody smoked back then, uh,especially in the 50s, 60s, and
70s.
When we got into 80s, peoplestarted going, maybe this isn't
healthy.
Exactly.
Everybody smoked.
Uh, and so so many characters onTV, um, they smoked, and they
(25:37):
use that it was, you know, aprop.
They'd you know, pull out acigarette while somebody's
talking, they'd light it up, andthen they'd use it as like a
dramatic, well, you know, andthen blow the smoke out.
And it was it was a great prop.
It worked well, it fit in uhwith the times.
No problem.
Do you know what they use as aprop nowadays?
Coffee.
(25:57):
Coffee, thank you.
They always have, what's that?
You're welcome.
They always have a coffee cup intheir hand.
Okay, that's fine.
We've replaced the the cigaretteprop with the coffee cup.
So everybody, cop shows,whatever shows you're watching,
everybody's carrying around acup of coffee.
I've got no problem with that.
(26:17):
What I have a problem with iscould you put some water in it
or something?
Because you see, next time youwatch a show and they're
carrying around coffee cups, youclearly can see that just by the
way they're carrying it, there'sno liquid in it.
So you'd think that the directorwould say, Hey, put some water,
fill that halfway up.
So, you know, because you carryuh a glass that's got something
(26:41):
in it differently than if itdoesn't.
And so they're just like sittinghere, like, well, you know,
they'll be, you know, justswinging it around or whatever.
But it doesn't have anything init.
And that's fine, you can act,but your body knows that there's
nothing in that and you carry itdifferently, and it just looks
like you're carrying around anempty cup of coffee, which you
(27:03):
are.
That just drives me crazy.
Like NCIS.
SPEAKER_00 (27:07):
NCIS does it all the time.
Gibbs had coffee all the time.
SPEAKER_02 (27:11):
Gibbs, and then the the gal that was back in the the
forensic lab, he'd always bringher like the super big big gulp
gulp.
And there was nothing in thateither.
But you can see by the way theylike tilting it, moving around,
that there's nothing in it, andit just gives us doesn't sell
me.
Doesn't sell me, and thatbothers me.
SPEAKER_00 (27:32):
So before we switch gears to the Halloween, I just
want our community to knowMichael.
What kind of coffee do you like?
Is that relevant to theconversation?
SPEAKER_02 (27:46):
I don't drink coffee, I don't have anything
against people who do.
But the point is, if you'regonna use that as a prop, which
I have no problem, it's actuallybetter than this the cigarettes,
at least make it realistic.
You know, have something in itbecause you're just carrying it
(28:06):
and jiggling it around, and youcan tell when they lift it up,
there's no weight to it, justdoesn't look real.
So just to be clear, I'm notangry that the coffee is as a
prop for most actors on TVnowadays.
I am angry by the fact that it'sjust empty and they're just
(28:26):
carrying around a piece of emptytrash.
And you can tell it.
SPEAKER_00 (28:30):
As we switch gears, I have to tell you, I've seen
these funny, funny, funny socialmedia posts about you're not
really that thirsty or need acoffee, you're bored, that's why
you go to Starbucks.
Which is not cool when you'recarrying around the glass.
That's right.
You just want to look cool.
SPEAKER_02 (28:48):
But uh but let's get to the really good stuff.
We've got some reallyinteresting things to celebrate
the holiday season.
And that is holidays.
I mean Halloween.
I know people are alreadygetting into the Christmas
thing.
Halloween.
And Halloween is my favoriteholiday, and it all I mean, this
goes back like 2,000 years.
If you go back in the history ofHalloween, it used to be called
(29:09):
uh Sowen, and it was like afestival, uh, you know, end of
the harvest, beginning ofwinter, and they had, you know,
bonfires, and it was believedthat on Halloween, that was the
time when the barrier betweenthe living and the dead was at
its narrowest.
And it was believed that perhapsuh spirits or demons or whatever
(29:34):
could somehow come into the landof the living uh for that day.
And um people would wear youknow skins and things like that
to ward off those thosecharacters, um, and then later,
who's adopted by the church, youknow, all saints day, that kind
of thing.
But it's just cool because thisgoes back thousands of years.
(29:56):
And because of the whole youknow, barrier and spirit.
It's coming into our world,that's really what's developed
into you know the associationwith witches and ghosts.
So I had the idea, and uh youjumped on board immediately.
I thought we should talk aboutsome ghost stories.
(30:18):
Okay.
Some hauntings.
You're in one.
You're in one.
So I thought it would be cool totalk about um some hauntings,
some ghost stories, some thingsthat have happened.
Maybe they're real, maybethey're not.
We're not here to to say iteither way.
(30:39):
Um, so I dug up some interestinghaunted stuff that revolve
around bicycles and leisuring.
I love it.
And then you're you're gonnapresent us with something which
is gonna be really cool.
So stay tuned.
Are you ready?
I'm ready.
Okay.
(31:03):
The first one I want to talkabout is I've titled this one
What happened to Larry.
And what this is, is this takesplace in Randolph, Maine.
And there is an old rails totrail there called the old
narrow gauge um volunteer trail.
(31:24):
And many people have been onthis trail and have seen and
heard, you know, they've heardlike a ghost uh train whistle,
um, they've seen orbs, differentstuff like that.
But the most interesting thingis people have reported seeing
(31:45):
this guy riding a bicycle onthis trail, and he's clearly not
all there, you know.
I mean, he's transparent andthat type of thing, but you can
see the outline of a cyclist.
And what everybody thinks isthat there was this gentleman by
the name of Larry Farrell orLawrence Farrell, everybody
(32:06):
called him Larry, and he wentout riding one day.
He was well known around thetown, rode, everybody knew him
as uh as bicycle Larry, rode ared Huffy around town, who was a
fine Huffy, too.
Um, so he's very well known, buthe vanished one day.
(32:27):
Um, there was never a trace ofhis body.
There was never a trace of hisbicycle.
He just vanished.
So no one ever knew really whathappened to him.
There is a belief that he waspart of a murder suicide where
this other gentleman in town hadseveral disputes with Larry, um
caught him one night outriding,killed him, buried his body back
(32:48):
in the woods somewhere, uh, andthen committed suicide of you
know, sometime later and leftleft a message that kind of led
people to believe that that hemay have done this.
But um so Larry is out there onthis on this trail.
So I thought that was kind ofinteresting.
Larry on his red Huffy bike,still riding up and down that
(33:10):
trail in Maine.
SPEAKER_00 (33:12):
It'd be kind of creepy if you like live there,
and then like you know, as thesun started to go down, you were
on the trail, you'd be likelooking around.
SPEAKER_02 (33:21):
Well, what's interesting is is um there's
like a mile and a half sectionof this trail that goes through
like the forest in the woods.
So that's immediately gonna makeit creepy.
And then you go there at night,and you know, you got the you
know different sounds and stufflike that.
Um, and then you go there andyou're like, I've heard stories
of Larry.
You know, that's gonna freak youout a little bit, but for sure.
(33:42):
There's like ghostly voices andorbs and and uh occasionally
glimpses of Larry.
So if you're ever in Maine,check it out.
Maybe you can see Larry.
All right.
SPEAKER_00 (33:53):
Do you do you believe in ghosts?
You know, I I I I don't thinkso.
I I mean I I say I've I've justnever like my wife, big
believer, um, like she alwayshas the paranormal stories on
YouTube and everything, and theyhave all these contraptions
(34:13):
like, oh, talk to us, we hearyou.
SPEAKER_02 (34:18):
Yeah, they got these little these little pod things
and all sorts of crazy stuff.
SPEAKER_00 (34:23):
And I roll my eyes all the time, and I'm like, you
don't believe that.
She's like, I find itentertaining, you know.
And I'm always like, no, it'snot real.
But you know, I mean, uh forthose haven't met Larry yet,
that's the problem.
Well, yeah, and if I did, he'dprobably outpeddle me.
But I mean um the one thing Ialways found really interesting
(34:46):
was you know, ShawshankRedemption is one of my uh
favorite movies of all times,and um the uh Mansfield Prison
had a had a had some reallyinteresting things that happened
there, and so um and that's thethat's the prison where the
movie was shot at, correct?
Yes, that's correct.
And so that was kind of in youknow, things they heard or
(35:08):
whatever, and you know, a lot ofunfortunately a lot of prisoners
passed away there, but um um sothey had like some spooky stuff.
I mean, I'm not saying that I'mso close-minded like no, never
happened.
I just never really, you know,I'm I'm a I'm a kind of see it
believe it kind of guy, and so Ijust never never had anything
really, really close.
(35:29):
I mean, I I told last year atthis time the story when I was
on my deck, there was like thistriangle light, and it was
really weird because then it wasI was just I would call it an
unidentified flying object.
I mean it it flew in the sky andthen it was like there, and then
I watched it really take offfast.
And so that's the only thing inmy my time on this earth that
(35:49):
would be unexplainable.
SPEAKER_02 (35:50):
So by the way, they're not called UFOs anymore,
they're called UAE's,unidentified aerial or UAPs,
unidentified aerial phenomena.
So just gets you up to speed.
Well, I appreciate that.
Sure.
Uh the next one comes fromEngland, and I've entitled this
one, Is There Someone Watching?
(36:12):
And this is all about a reportthat in June of 2018, a mother
is at a place called Old WayMansion in Devon, England.
And her son is riding a bicyclearound the grounds in front, and
she's filming it.
Um, you know, great day, fancy,nice house.
(36:33):
She's filming it out there.
Later in reviewing the footage,uh, she noticed this ghostly
figure dressed in this Victoriandress up in the window looking
down on her son as her son isriding, riding the bicycle.
Which is kind of spooky tothink.
Oh, there's maybe something.
But further research showed thatthere was this name, uh, this
(36:58):
lady named Isidora Duncan, andshe was a dancer, and she had an
on-again, off-again relationshipwith uh Paris Stinger, who is
who owned the mansion back inthe day.
And um they had a child, and oneday the child and their nanny
drowned.
(37:19):
And so that kind of brings thatwhole, you know, kind of death
thing to it.
And then a couple years later,she pretty much just became a
shut-in at that point in time.
You know, what else do you do?
This is very traumatic.
Uh, a couple years later, shewas in a bizarre, she died in a
bizarre auto accident.
(37:39):
So apparently she liked to wearthese long scarves, and it was
an old, you know, old back inthe day when the wheels had the
the spokes, and apparently herscarf went out and uh basically
jerked her out of the car orsomething, but caused her to
die.
So a lot of death around thisone.
(38:00):
Um, you know, could it have justbeen some lady up there looking
out the window and was dressedin a long dress?
Maybe.
But uh you can go online and seethe pictures.
Uh, you know, maybe it's aghost, maybe it's not.
SPEAKER_01 (38:17):
I don't know.
SPEAKER_02 (38:18):
Maybe it's just a worker.
Maybe it was, you know,reenactment day there.
I don't know.
But it's interesting.
Kind of creepy, you know,thinking, oh, you're a mother,
and there's like just some ladystanding in this window just
staring and watching your child.
SPEAKER_00 (38:33):
That would definitely be really, I mean,
that would scare you to death ifyou were like looked up and you
saw like a body and then, youknow, I mean like a silhouette
and then backed away, you know,or something like that.
So yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (38:47):
So don't know about that one.
Don't you know, I I, you know, Igotta see something to believe
it.
Now I've seen some weird stuff,and I think I talked about it
last year, but we won't get intoit.
But I have seen some weird stuffthat couldn't exactly explain.
My next one, some people mayhave heard about this one, and
this is Too Much Drink or Just aHoax.
(39:13):
And this all revolves around theMoss Beach Distillery in Moss
Beach, California.
So it's not cycling, but it isstill, you know, distillery.
Right up our alley.
Yes, indeed.
It's a former prohibitionspeakeasy.
It sets up on this cliffoverlooking the ocean.
(39:33):
Very, very uh cool setting.
It was established in 1927.
Um, supposedly there's a famousapparition there called the Blue
Lady.
Now, I don't know what's withthe color blue and gray.
There's always there's always ablue lady, a gray lady, and a
lady in white.
I don't know.
Maybe that's all they've got atthe apparition store is those
three colors.
(39:54):
I don't know, but that's how itworks out.
Um, she is said to haunt theproperty.
Patrons have reported cold spotsand flickering lights and
chandeliers and glassware movingand missing earrings that
reappear in odd spaces.
And this lady is supposedly uhdied there by falling to her
(40:17):
death, either pushed oraccidentally fell or jumped to
her death off of the cliff.
So when you start talking aboutthe blue lady and the gray lady
and the lady in white, that atthat point in time I just kind
of check out.
It's like, okay.
SPEAKER_00 (40:32):
I'm back.
SPEAKER_02 (40:34):
But the twist on this whole one is that in 2008,
Ghost Hunters, the TV show fromthe two plumbers up in uh Rhode
Island, they actually went on aninvestigation of this one.
And I have seen the actual show.
And what's funny is they foundmechanisms that had been placed
(40:56):
in the building to move thechandeliers and like shake like
the the shelf that the glasswarewas on.
And there was one part in thebathroom where they had like
this weird image could be shownup on there, and they also had
some speakers where they coulddo like you know, disembodied
voices, things like that.
So basically, it was all a hoax.
(41:18):
And supposedly they hired a aDisney uh, you know, one of the
Disney guys, imagineers, to comeand do this.
And of course, you know, if youcan give people the allure that
your place is haunted, that uh,you know, they want to come
maybe experience.
And a lot of people got toexperience it, but it was all
(41:39):
fake.
And, you know, those guys areclimbing around, they go up in
an attic, and it's like, oh,look at this.
Here's this thing that's doingthat, and they just like busted
them completely.
It was pretty funny.
So again, no blue lady.
SPEAKER_00 (41:52):
I'm dying to meet you.
Uh, you know, um, when whenLauren does watch some of those
things, they got those EAPs orwhatever.
I mean, I don't know, like it'sset in the middle of the room
and says, It's cold in here.
Can you feel us?
Hello?
Can you talk?
(42:12):
What did you wear?
What did you?
I'm always like, Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02 (42:16):
And the light just changes colors, it's like red
and then it goes to green, andthen it goes to red, and it's
like but she enjoys it, sowhatever.
Entertainment, entertainmentvalue only.
Um the next one is really mycough is fine.
That is my title for this nextone, and this all revolves
around not yet, all revolvesaround uh Brower's bicycle shop.
(42:42):
And this was in uh Charleston,and it was a bicycle shop there.
And basically, the College ofCharleston bought the bicycle
shop after it went out ofbusiness and was going and used
was going to use the buildingum, you know, for purposes of
higher education.
Well, the bicycle uh owner'swife was murdered in 1971.
(43:06):
We don't know how, we don't knowwhy.
Maybe Mr.
Brouwer was, you know, justgetting bored.
I don't know.
But um she was murdered in thebuilding.
Well, the college, when theytook over the building, they
originally established it aslike their bookstore.
And uh basically the semesterwas getting ready to start.
(43:29):
All the employees are in therestacking up the books, getting
them all ready to go.
They left for the day.
When they came in and unlockedthe door and came in the next
morning, all of the books thatthey had stacked up on the
tables and stuff were now all onthe ground, neatly stacked.
Some stacks were as high as fivefeet tall, and they were all on
the floor neatly stacked there.
(43:52):
A little weird.
So it's believed that it'shaunted by the ghost of Miss
Brower, who was uh, you know,murdered in there.
What's makes it kind of evencreepier for me is today it's
the student health servicesbuilding.
(44:12):
Really?
I'm fine.
Yeah, absolutely.
I'm not making that up.
It's like I'm good.
I I got malaria, but I thinkI'll skip it.
SPEAKER_00 (44:20):
Yeah.
I'm I'm gonna miss this one.
SPEAKER_02 (44:25):
Uh so I just thought that was that was funny.
That used to be an old bicycleshop, and uh now it's possibly
haunted, and it's a uh studentuh health building.
Interesting.
Right the best for last for you,though.
This is a good one.
This is my favorite one.
(44:45):
I'm calling this the trail isrough, but the challenge is
worth it.
I need you set the music, setthe set the mood for me.
Okay, imagine if you will.
It's 1915.
You're uh you're a youngsoldier, the British army,
you're in the trenches inFrance.
(45:07):
Uh, you know, 30 to 40 yardsaway is another trench with the
Germans.
They're looking at you, you'relooking at them.
In between is this area calledNo Man's Land.
It's got bob wire and destroyedbuildings and you know, bomb
explosions have gone off there,so there's craters.
Um, not a place you're gonna gohang out, because quite frankly,
(45:30):
really as soon as you pop yourhead up and start taking a
couple feet, they're gonna startshooting at you and you're not
gonna make it very far.
Um, really terrible situations.
The soldiers that that were inthose trenches, if you've never
done any just looking at it orreading about it, you should
because you start thinking aboutthese soldiers lived in these
(45:50):
trenches.
SPEAKER_00 (45:51):
Oh, come on, you yell at me about now you're
getting all kinds of stuff.
SPEAKER_02 (45:57):
They live in these trenches.
You know, they eat in thesetrenches, they sleep in these
trenches, uh, you know,everything that they do is in
these trenches, and they'rethere for weeks and months at a
time.
So it was just horrible,horrible conditions.
So you're out there, been livingin this trench for three months,
and you're on like patrol orguard duty, so to speak, and
(46:21):
that basically means you set atthis post and you have like this
little periscope thing that youput up there and you basically,
because you don't want to stickyour head up there, you just put
that up there, and so you lookaround and you just check to
make sure that the Germanshaven't decided to do a sneak
attack on you or anything.
And that's your whole job.
Gets to be two, three o'clock inthe morning.
You've been doing it for thelast six hours.
(46:41):
Um, and all of a sudden, goingright in the middle of dead man
of no man's land, is a soldieron a bicycle.
And sometimes he's carrying apiece of equipment, other times
he's got like one of thosemessenger bags, and he's just
tootling, riding right downthrough uh no man's land.
(47:04):
A little spooky.
Now, experts will all say, well,it's because that they lived in
those really bad conditions, andprobably a lot of people were
shell-shocked and traumatized,and they didn't want to be
there, and so their mindswandered, and they just some
reason, you know, got thisvision of this bicyclist, and
then one person said bicyclist,and then they were all seeing
(47:27):
bicyclist.
What I find interesting is thatsometimes he's carrying
equipment, sometimes he's justhas like a messenger satchel.
Um you can't really tell,they've never really reported
what uniform he has, but youcould tell that he had some
military-type uniform on.
What's interesting aboveeverything else is that it was
(47:51):
reported on both the British,the British and the French
reported it, as well as theGermans on the other side also
reported seeing a bicyclistgoing through no man's land.
And that's what makes it evenmore intriguing to me is that it
was it had been reported on bothsides.
If it was just one side, youknow, some British guy goes,
(48:11):
Hey, wait, some night when it'sreally late, you're really, you
know, you're gonna see thiscyclist, and then you put that
in their mind, and then they'relike, Oh, I'm looking for the
cyclist, you know, and then butthe fact that both sides saw
this throughout uh World WarOne, I think is a very
interesting story.
So um he's known as the ghostcyclist of World War One.
(48:32):
There's no, you know, traditionor legend as far as what side he
was on or what his name was oranything, but there you go.
So I found that one to beextremely uh extremely
interesting.
So I don't know, maybe there is.
SPEAKER_00 (48:52):
That would be one brave cyclist.
SPEAKER_02 (48:55):
Yeah, because you know, number one, the terrain is
not going to be real conduciveto riding a bicycle.
Number two, I mean, the otherside just waiting for somebody
to pop up and so there you go.
There's uh some of my tales ofhauntings that I'm sharing with
you for Halloween.
SPEAKER_00 (49:16):
I love it.
I love it.
Um, this is my chance to talkabout reviews real quick.
Uh we are asking for a review.
If you enjoy the show, uh pleasetake four minutes, actually 30
seconds, go to Chat GPT, ask itto give a cycling minute of
(49:39):
leisure a review, copy, cut,paste, enter.
Um, actually, if you enjoy theshow, we're just asking for some
reviews.
It helps uh helps spread theword, helps us get picked up by
the algorithms and bots.
So if you could take a coupleseconds, leave us a review if
you enjoy what we do.
On behalf of Michael and myself,we say thank you.
(50:02):
So um do you know, sir, who JoeGrammer, Emory Norris, Dennis
Keeler, Alex Bell, and ScottGarwick are?
I do.
SPEAKER_02 (50:17):
You do all yes, you don't?
Well, I do.
I just I'm glad to remember.
I I know who they are.
These are all people who claimthat they love the outdoors, but
really meant patios and drinks.
That's who they are.
(50:38):
Close, so close, just a bitoutside.
SPEAKER_00 (50:42):
These are five VIP ladies and gentlemen who, with
their wallet, support our show,and we thank them.
So thank you so very much.
Michael is toasting you rightnow.
So chairs, thank you.
We appreciate it.
If you don't have a wallet thatyou want to give Cycling Metal
(51:02):
Leisure, that's okay.
Just go back to that review.
So our review will work justfine, thank you.
That's right.
So I've got um finishing up ourHalloween episode, I've got a
really cool uh I've got a reallycool story, uh, but we do have a
listener spotlight.
(51:22):
Um, and we have a little teaserthat I'm gonna let you give the
teaser to.
So dealer's choice, listenerspotlight or the teaser.
SPEAKER_02 (51:33):
Uh let's do listener spotlight.
SPEAKER_00 (51:37):
Uh, ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to
announce it is now time for ournext listener spotlight.
SPEAKER_02 (51:50):
All right.
I got some good uh clues foryou.
This one is gonna be a littlebit easier than the last couple
have been.
Town was originally started as afort, constructed in the early
1800s with the purpose of uminterring the native population.
So, not not a great stellarstart for this town.
(52:13):
It was incorporated as a town inthe late 1800s.
The early growth was spurred bya rail line that passed through
the community.
Coal and iron were discovered inthe area in the 1880s, um, but
they fell far short of whatpeople were hoping.
Um, basically, there wasn't alot of it.
(52:34):
They found it and they werelike, woo, and they started
going crazy, and then it itimmediately kind of went
downhill.
So the uh economy suffered adecline, but then cotton
processing became a big economicboom, and cotton products uh,
the production of cottonproducts became a huge business
(52:58):
and economic driver for thiscommunity.
The town has an annual festivalthat celebrates its world
standing around hosiery, and itcould be said that this city is
truly a Dixieland delight.
(53:20):
So I just told you what part ofthe country it's in.
SPEAKER_00 (53:26):
All right, a hosiery celebration, a festival like
leader hosing.
SPEAKER_02 (53:35):
They have a world standing that involves hosiery
in some way, shape, or form.
Okay.
Don't be jealous.
SPEAKER_00 (53:45):
It's not St.
Louis.
SPEAKER_02 (53:47):
It's not St.
Louis.
And I will say, just to throw inan extra little uh clue, Adam
has never been to this town.
That helps anyone.
That'll help Adam.
Yeah, there's a lot of places.
I say that with with uh thestrongest confidence.
You have not been to this town.
(54:07):
There's a lot of places Ihaven't been.
Well, okay.
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (54:16):
All right.
I gave you dealer's choice.
You went for listener spotlight.
It is now time for the teaser,sir.
SPEAKER_02 (54:24):
The teaser.
And by teaser, do you mean likeuh what we're talking about on
the next show or what?
SPEAKER_00 (54:30):
Yeah, maybe next show or the show after.
SPEAKER_02 (54:33):
Yeah, right in there.
Okay.
Maybe not the next show, butcoming up in the very near
future, in the next couple ofmonths, prior to Christmas, uh,
around the end of November,maybe the very beginning of
December, we're going to haveour much anticipated and often
requested um cyclist Christmaslist.
(54:59):
That's right.
As a cyclist, uh what do youget?
What do you get us?
Um, Adam and I will go throughand we pick out some different
items that are new to the marketor that we've used that we
really like, and we bring themto the table.
They might be pieces ofequipment, they might be safety
(55:19):
gear.
Um, we've done all sorts ofthings.
Last year, we had some bourboninvolved and some uh home decor
stuff involved.
So we try to do a little bit ofeverything.
And um, what's really fun aboutthis is we'll throw them out
there, give you some ideas, andfor the last couple of years, I
have actually bought one or twoof those items and uh and tried
(55:42):
it out.
SPEAKER_00 (55:43):
So one of the neatest things for me is when we
are writing and we're writingnext to somebody, and they will
actually show the item that theyreceived as a gift from their
family because they put it ontheir list and say, Hey, because
of your show, I bought this.
Or the one I can I candistinctly remember very well
(56:07):
was the uh electric pump thatyou talked about, and then uh
that was uh very well uh warmreception when many people uh
listen to you, which I amsurprised.
That happens occasionally, andthen you actually got to do a
double review because yours cameout of your bike, uh the holder
(56:28):
on your bike, and it went downthe road about 30 miles an hour,
and you know what?
It worked just fine.
So you were able to give anendurance review after.
SPEAKER_02 (56:36):
So it popped out of my water bottle holder somehow,
because that's it was a thebigger round olive uh oval one,
popped out, scurried down theroad.
I thought, oh my gosh, picked itup.
I mean, there wasn't even acrack or anything in it, uh, and
still did well.
And since that time, I'veactually bought the smaller one,
um, and it works really well.
And I know, like last year, uh,I bought one of those bike locks
(57:00):
that I talked about that goes inthe handlebars of your bike.
Not used it, but it's there.
If I was really hoping this yearon one of our rides, generally
we go on a ride and people arelike, you know, maybe we go
downtown or something, andpeople are always freaking out.
It's like, well, I want to ride,but I don't have a lock.
What am I gonna do?
I was really hoping that wouldhappen because I was gonna walk
over, pop that off, and say,here you go, here's a lock,
(57:22):
here's that.
Now you can lock it up.
SPEAKER_00 (57:24):
But we didn't use that when we went to Georgia.
SPEAKER_02 (57:28):
We did not, but that's okay because we're not
big bike lock type people, but II wanted to try it out, and it's
one of those things that if youknow, like I said, we right we
have some friends who uh havesome very, very expensive
bicycles.
I get it.
Um like to have it, and I canjust you know hand it to them
(57:50):
and say, here you go.
SPEAKER_00 (57:53):
I think I I I know what happened.
We were in the hotel in Georgia.
You showed me the bike lockbecause of how you had to travel
with it, you had to put it backand screw it in, and I think
that's my memory of seeing it.
And so you're right.
Yep.
Yep, yep.
SPEAKER_02 (58:13):
Yeah, I showed you because it just you just take
the key, pop it up, it comesright out, and you can hook it
up.
It's very, very cool.
Um, not expensive.
And if you're one of thosepeople that really, you know,
are concerned about the yourbike, which I don't fault you
for that.
They are not cheap things.
That's a good idea.
So we've I've already startedlooking at some things, and uh
(58:36):
you need to start looking atsome things, and we'll put
together a really uh a good showaround different ideas to uh
perhaps buy uh the cyclist inyour life.
SPEAKER_00 (58:46):
If you have an idea for a gift, please send us a
message.
We would love to get that out.
Um you know, we usually eitherlook at from a selfish point of
view, like your folding helmet.
You you had you had uh mentionedthat before, and then now you're
a regular consumer.
But if you have something outthere for cycling that is really
one of those items, like if youwere playing Survivor and you
(59:09):
had to take one item.
What would be your cyclist uh uhgift?
Oh, look at that.
The cycling bobblehead.
SPEAKER_02 (59:16):
Two years ago, cycling bobblehead, my wife took
it, uh took the idea, and I nowhave a uh cycling bobblehead of
myself.
And that's everyone needs oneleisure.
I love that.
It says cycling men of leisure.
It does right there on hisjersey, says cycling men of
leisure, even has the recedinghairline just like me.
So well, that's all right,buddy.
SPEAKER_00 (59:38):
Well, it is what it is.
I don't judge you for your hair.
SPEAKER_02 (59:43):
Or lack of as you take your hat off and run your
fingers through Yeah, yeah,yeah.
Look at my how gray mine is,though.
Holy's mine's gray too.
But I can also stand next to amicrowave and not get sunburned,
which you cannot, so.
Yeah, I got that going for me.
SPEAKER_00 (01:00:02):
This is true.
We were talking about, you know,how they show presidents before
and after, you know, before andafter, before and after in the
hair and everything.
So it's like, I'm like, yeah,that's what that's what my job
does for me.
So funny, somebody somebodyshowed a picture, and I said,
Oh, my job's not that stressful.
But uh, all right.
(01:00:22):
Well, listen, I have something alittle special.
I'm uh I'm pretty excited aboutthis.
I've been holding on for thiswhole time.
So in the spirit of Halloween,I'm not gonna use the words I
wrote, I'm gonna say I inspireda cycling story.
(01:00:44):
Alright.
Let me I'm gonna have a littlebit of background music here.
Oh, it's a spooky Halloweenstory.
This is right.
I'm gonna make sure this uhcomes back around here.
Pot it down just a shade.
SPEAKER_02 (01:01:09):
Perfect.
Yeah, there you go.
That's that's setting the moodfor me right there.
SPEAKER_00 (01:01:13):
For those of you who don't know, pot it down.
Michael used to be in radio.
Pot it down means turn it down.
This The Cycling Men of LeisureHalloween episode, the Phantom
Peloton.
(01:01:35):
They say you never truly ridealone even when the night's
quiet.
Even when your headlight cutsthrough nothing but mist.
Sometimes just behind you,there's another wheel turning, a
rhythm you can feel but neversee.
(01:01:57):
For years, cyclists across thecountry have whispered about the
Phantom Peloton, a ghostly groupride that appears when the roads
are empty and the air hangsthick with fog.
Tail lights flicker up ahead,red, steady, perfect, but no
(01:02:19):
matter how hard you chase, youcan never catch them.
Some say they're riders lost onsentry rides that never ended.
Others say it's just fatigue,dehydration, the mind playing
tricks after too many climbs.
But every October, more storiesroll in of GPS routes looping
(01:02:44):
back on themselves, of segmentsrecorded by usernames that don't
exist, and of the one lonelyrider who swears he heard
someone whisper, hold your line.
Look, if I see a ghost on abike, I'm at least asking what
is the tire pressure he'srunning.
(01:03:05):
Cause if he's floating past meon 28, I'm reevaluating
everything.
So tonight, keep your lightscharged, and if you spot a
string of red LEDs fading intothe mist, think twice before
following.
You might be joining a groupride that never ends.
(01:03:29):
And on that note, sir.
SPEAKER_02 (01:03:32):
Wow.
The group ride that never ends,the century ride that they never
finished.
That's right.
That's awesome.
That's a great way to uh to endour holiday segment.
SPEAKER_00 (01:03:49):
And I just gotta tell you that this AI, man, it
is when it works and it worksright, it is amazing.
And so I I did ask it to writeme a cycling spooky story for a
podcast episode.
And within about threetriliseconds, it went.
(01:04:09):
And then it does say that uh inall spirit, it said that I
should have read, and then youshould have said, look, if I see
a ghost on a bike, I'm at leastasking when the fire pregnant.
Although it did call you, Mikedid call you Mike, and I
apologize.
SPEAKER_02 (01:04:23):
So I uh I didn't uh didn't get my teleprompt to say
that.
SPEAKER_00 (01:04:28):
So I know, but I will show you right there.
SPEAKER_02 (01:04:31):
It says no, there you go.
Mike, whoever that guy is.
Uh a Mike style voice.
SPEAKER_00 (01:04:41):
What well listen, buddy, once again we have uh we
have uh got to the Halloweenepisode.
Who thought we would have gotpast three episodes, let alone
another Halloween episode?
SPEAKER_02 (01:04:55):
Well, you know what?
If I remember right, I thinkwe're we're right now at three
years.
That's right.
I think it was the end of, Idon't know, is it end of October
or beginning of November?
Beginning of November was thevery first.
Okay.
So we're only a couple weeksaway from our third year
anniversary of Road Adventuresof Cycling Men of Leisure,
(01:05:19):
which, yeah, I would have givenus four, maybe five episodes.
Well, we have eighty.
Soon to be eighty-one as soon aswe get this one done, but that's
right.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah.
It's been a it's and and we'veand just to let everybody know,
we have um another couple ofideas in the works.
(01:05:42):
A couple of guests we're uhworking on bringing in, which
would be really, really cool.
Um actually, uh, we've got oneguest that we're uh looking at
trying to get back uh as areturn guest that everybody
seemed to like.
So not going to give anythingaway.
I'm just saying stay tuned.
SPEAKER_00 (01:06:01):
Well, I was gonna say today's a great day for a
bike ride, except my bike I puton the wall.
SPEAKER_02 (01:06:07):
Um it's still a great day for a bike ride, so
don't ever forget that.
SPEAKER_00 (01:06:15):
It is always a good day for a bike ride.
We've just had a lot ofunfortunate, horrible weather
here.
Right.
I mean, I went to Florida andhad 11 days of beautiful
weather, and then I came homeand it's been raining every day.
So um, but um always good to bewith you.
Uh I look forward to these thistime of the year.
I love the the gift idea uhshow.
(01:06:36):
Um it's it's one of those thingsI look forward to, and and then
give my wife a list of these arethe things that I need for my
2026 rides.
So that's right.
Once we figure out what thoseare, we'll announce that a few
of you have written us behindthe scenes and asking us what
which ones we're doing, and oncewe figure out our life and and
schedule, we'll definitely we'llstart uh advertising those.
SPEAKER_02 (01:06:58):
So I would say at this point in time we have a
short list.
Yeah.
I think we've kind of narrowedit down.
So we do have a short list, it'sjust a matter of figuring out
logistics, scheduling, thingslike that.
But we do have a short list ofrides, and um yeah, we'll uh
we'll be making that decisionhere in the next uh two months,
(01:07:20):
probably month.
Um just depends on registrationdeadlines as far as getting the
the best deals and things likethat.
Yeah, we'll certainly let youknow.
SPEAKER_00 (01:07:32):
For sure, for sure.
With that being said, my friend,always great to be with you.
And I am sure somewhere,somehow, today was a great day.
Naker by Greg.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03 (01:07:44):
Thank you for coming along with Adam and Michael on
Road Adventures with Cycling Menof Leisure.
If you have enjoyed this, pleasesubscribe to the show on the
podcast app of your choice.
Well, it's time for Road Adventures with Cycling Men
of Leisure, the podcast forcyclists who understand that
riding is not just about gettingto the destination, but the
experience along the way.
Now, here are the originalcycling men of leisure, Adam and
Michael.
SPEAKER_00 (00:33):
Welcome to Road Adventures of Cycling Men of
Leisure.
As usual.
What is that you're doing?
Oh my god.
Continue.
As usual, I am Adam, and asusual, he has opening up
something special.
My good friend, all the way fromCentral Time, Mr.
Michael Sharp.
(00:54):
Hello, Adam.
SPEAKER_02 (00:54):
How are you doing?
Good, buddy.
Good, good.
And yes, I opened up something.
I mean, you know, I am a man ofleisure, and uh in celebration
of the holiday, the Halloweenholiday, we've got a little uh
Moonlight Mayhem, the saga ofwerewolves and bourbon.
So drinking a little too what'sthat?
(01:17):
Who's that made by?
Oh, this is made by FilmlandSpirits.
It's out in Los Angeles,California, clearly.
Um, I thought it was appropriateto help set the stage because
we've got a really cool showgoing on.
SPEAKER_00 (01:30):
Ladies and gentlemen, it is our annual
Halloween show.
But first, we uh we got to talkabout uh how have you been, sir?
SPEAKER_02 (01:42):
Been good, been busy.
Um it's Halloween season, one ofmy family's favorite holidays.
So we turn our front yard into auh graveyard.
Nice.
So been working on that.
You know, we've got somegravestones and some fence, and
we even put an old like 1960Sears beach cruiser out there
and you know, put crows andravens and things on it to make
(02:03):
it spooky.
And of course, uh, we've got theuh fog machine which will roll
fog out around the uh theheadstones.
So been working on that, and uhmy wife decided it'd be a great
idea to uh to redo our uhgarage.
So um I epoxied my garage floor.
All of my stuff was settingoutside while I did it, and now
(02:28):
I'm just getting it all movedback in.
And ironically enough, myneighbor shouted over and go,
Hey, get that stuff back in yourgarage.
I'm the only one here allowed tohave all my junk in the front
yard.
I was like, sorry, Billy, nottrying to take your title.
SPEAKER_00 (02:48):
That's right.
Well, uh, how'd the epoxy turnout?
SPEAKER_02 (02:52):
Uh you know, uh it's not a professional uh
application, but I'm not aprofessional.
Uh it looks really good,considering we'd never done an
epoxy before and and all that.
Uh, very happy with it, muchbetter than just the old floor.
Okay.
Um, so yeah, and we're puttingup some more shelves and we're
downsizing a lot of stuff, so itit's uh it's good.
(03:14):
But uh it's just been busyaround here in my front yard.
It looks like a uh uh uh youknow graveyard now, so that's
that's fun.
How have you been?
I know you went uh down to youruh your uh house with mouse.
SPEAKER_00 (03:28):
I did.
I saw the mice.
Have now um got their reloads ofuh rations and provisions uh
with my credit card in tow.
So they're doing they're doinggood down there.
Uh actually we had we had a goodtime.
No, I was you know, I wasconcerned last time we recorded,
(03:48):
we talked about the governmentshutdown, and as a matter of
fact, we said by by this by thisshow it should be back.
And well, it's not, but uh umthat's it didn't affect you as
far as TSA, nope, anything likethat.
Okay, couldn't even tell.
I mean, I I I'm um so through mycompany uh we were gonna have a
(04:12):
TSA training for awareness andnot not TSA from the airport,
but you know, they uh TSA does alot of other things, and so they
were gonna come, but they didthat has been furloughed and and
not allowed right now, but asfar as safety and security and
air travel, no issues, noconcerns, um got through just
fine and and uh made it up anddown and and um the one I guess
(04:35):
the highlight of the trip andand is we did go to the new Epic
Universe.
Um my wife and I like to beactive on vacation, so we do a
lot of walking.
We probably walked about 12miles a day and music parks.
SPEAKER_02 (04:49):
That's not really active.
SPEAKER_00 (04:51):
Uh yeah, I mean you walk a lot of steps, but okay.
I saw you were walking when Iwas down there, so I was, yeah.
Yes, sir.
But uh no, good, good, good,good, crazy, you know, it's a
nice new park, and trust me,they're very proud of that uh
from the from the cost aspect.
(05:11):
So um, but uh we got to do mostof everything.
Um lot of a lot of really neatthe way that the park is set up,
so that was a lot of fun.
Um but a lot of that was great.
I call it a win.
My wife and I went down uh aboutuh 11 days, and I'm here to tell
you no fights and arguments, andthat's pretty good when you're
(05:33):
traveling and staying inmultiple hotels, and uh we were
able to do what you and Inormally do, which we stayed in
the Hyatt coming back throughthe airport.
We took a 5 a.m.
flight, and then we finished ourtrip in that hemisphere
restaurant and uh watching theplanes and the runway, and so uh
all was good, but um, you know,that this is always our our
(05:56):
October trip.
We usually go down and we had agood time, but you know, in a
weird way, I'm back.
I'm glad to be back.
We had a we had fun, don't getme wrong, but I'm glad to be
back.
This is always a fun time of theyear for work and a lot of um,
you know, like you said,Halloween.
Funny story about Halloween,since it's our Halloween show.
I used to, I mean, this justshows that weather is changing.
(06:17):
I used to blow up my sprinklerson the night of Halloween, not
to get the kids wet, but becauseit made everything so misty.
And so it was really cool someyears where I would blow the you
know, the ps, and then therewould be like just misty as the
kids walk through fortrick-or-treating.
But got it.
Yeah, it's kind of neat, sofigured it was a Halloween.
SPEAKER_02 (06:38):
But uh I'll tell you what, here's the first horror
story.
What you don't know is I knowthat none of this affected your
travel, but um uh there was onlyone person working the uh
Orlando Tower that day.
Just one.
SPEAKER_00 (06:55):
Well, lucky for me, that one person got me back and
forth.
SPEAKER_02 (06:58):
And um he's he just moves from station to station.
The one guy that showed up, thestation.
Uh flight 734, uh, please hold.
Flight 419, you are now ready toland, you know.
SPEAKER_00 (07:13):
Both of our fathers were in aviation.
I'm not sure if the leisurecommunity knows that, but I'll
never forget the first time thatI got to go up in the tower and
saw they were using littleclipboards, like little I don't
think people realize that whatthey use in in towers.
It's like um it's like playingScrabble.
I mean, it really is.
I mean, the the the flight is onthere, and you would think like
(07:36):
with computers and tablets andiPads and all that.
I don't care if you like Androidor Apple, you would think that
the technology would change.
Nope.
Uh it's like a Scrabble boardwith the plane, and they move it
over, and it's it's definitelyinteresting.
SPEAKER_02 (07:51):
So, but uh guess what they're still using in the
towers.
SPEAKER_00 (07:56):
Exactly, exactly.
Smoke signals.
SPEAKER_02 (07:59):
Uh uh job, give those guys kudos.
Not an easy job, and Iappreciate them keeping me safe.
SPEAKER_00 (08:06):
So you would appreciate this.
We did see, I feel bad becauseSpirit Airlines, you can look it
up yourself, they're goingthrough some furloughs and some
bankruptcy protection.
We saw a spirit plane, I'm notkidding you, impounded.
I mean, we were sitting in thathemisphere restaurant.
I mean, if anyone's ever beenthere, it's all glass and it
looks out over the runway onterminal B.
(08:28):
And we were sitting there, andall of a sudden I'm like, oh my
gosh, is something okay?
I mean, just all kinds of lightsand emergency personnel coming
around this plane.
We thought it was a safety issueat first.
We later learned that they wereimpounding the plane.
Turns out that a lot of thoseplanes are owned uh by a
different company, spirit, youknow, uh leases and leased.
(08:49):
Yeah, so the owners were like,You're not taking this plane
off.
So it's interesting.
SPEAKER_02 (08:53):
Let's hope they let the people off before they
impounded the plane.
SPEAKER_00 (08:56):
I hope so, because otherwise they're still stuck
right on their runway B.
So there's that one guy stillpushing the uh the assistant
light.
SPEAKER_02 (09:04):
When's that, you know?
SPEAKER_00 (09:07):
Well, it's good to be with you again.
I I I uh I always enjoy myvacation, but I I missed uh
doing the show and and uh a lotof lot of lot of things
happening behind the scenes, andum I'm excited, but uh I don't
want to miss listenerspotlights.
Um I have some bad news though.
Uh I searched all of ourcommunication, I searched our
(09:29):
emails.
You know, they can they can textus directly from any podcast
platform, the the leisurecommunity.
And I regret to tell you thatunless you can tell me now I
know you got corrected onsomething, but as far as
guesses, uh uh unless you cantell me different, I don't
believe we actually got a guestthis time.
SPEAKER_02 (09:50):
Uh probably not.
But this was this was a tougherone.
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (09:54):
I'll give them that.
Okay.
Well, I'll tell you what, intrue spirit, here we go.
Uh, ladies and gentlemen, it isnow time for listener spotlight.
SPEAKER_02 (10:09):
All right.
The clues that I gave you uh forlistener spotlight uh were as
follows.
The area was controlled byseveral countries through its
history.
Uh, the area saw many battlesbetween native tribes and the
U.S.
Uh This city was founded in thelate 1700s.
It was named after a foundingfather of the U.S.
(10:33):
Uh we can thank this city for aninvention that originated there.
Uh what we eat and how weprepare, and how it's prepared
was changed forever.
Uh, the early economy thriveddue to industry and railroad
jobs.
The city is located on the uhconfluence of three rivers,
(10:56):
which made this city a verystrategic location.
And the city helped influence aplace where everybody knows your
name.
So you have any guesses?
SPEAKER_00 (11:08):
Yeah, I do.
I mean, when you first said thiswhen we got done recording, I
said the three rivers inPittsburgh, but where everybody
knows your name brings me tocheers.
You want to go where everybodyknows your name.
So then I was thinking Boston.
So I I I I'm thinking it's oneof those two, either Pittsburgh
or Boston area.
SPEAKER_02 (11:29):
Well, Pittsburgh uh has many rivers.
Uh Boston, I do not believe itis on the confluence of three
rivers.
Okay.
Um, and uh it was not namedafter a founding father.
So um it's not Boston.
But then again, it's notPittsburgh either.
(11:50):
But thank you for playing.
SPEAKER_00 (11:52):
Well, hold on, let's be fair because I mean if we're
gonna give it to somebody else,we got to give it to me.
SPEAKER_02 (12:02):
This week's listener spotlight is Fort Wayne,
Indiana.
SPEAKER_00 (12:07):
I'm so glad you did not say St.
Louis.
SPEAKER_02 (12:12):
One of these days.
Uh, the area of Fort Wayne,Indiana was uh at times
controlled by the French, theBritish, and the United States.
It was founded in 1794.
It is named after one of ourfounding fathers, Anthony Wayne.
Um, we can all thank the cityfor this invention.
(12:34):
What we eat and how it'sprepared was changed forever
with the invention of therefrigerator.
Well, I mean Fort Wayne.
Um, three rivers.
Uh, like I said, and the the onethat you were on, the city
helped influence a place whereeverybody knows your name.
It is the birthplace of ShellyLong.
SPEAKER_00 (12:55):
Ah play Diane on the TV show.
SPEAKER_02 (13:00):
So there you go.
SPEAKER_00 (13:02):
Well, thank you, listeners of Fort Wayne,
Indiana.
Thank you, all listeners.
Uh, but especially this episode,Fort Wayne, Indiana.
You know, um, I think you knowthis about me, but I used to
live in Southern Illinois, many,many moons again, which was
Central Time.
(13:23):
And when I moved, we would go 69and go through Fort Wayne all
the time.
And there's a paper, paper millright along the freeway.
And let me tell you something.
Uh there are times that that hasto be the worst smell of the
world.
Oh, oh, awful smell.
unknown (13:44):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (13:45):
Driving on the freeway, I would be like, oh my
gosh.
So two worse smells, two worsesmelling plants, paper mills and
creosote plants.
SPEAKER_00 (13:55):
Oh, I have to believe that for sure.
SPEAKER_02 (13:56):
Remember, we rode next across uh right by one,
yeah, um, Georgia, a couple ofyears ago, and oh, it was not
good.
SPEAKER_00 (14:05):
I told the story about um, by the way, just to be
clear, this is not offensive.
This was actually a very cutething.
You and I were driving inGeorgia, I mean, riding our
bikes in Georgia.
A very curious um person wholived in the town that we went
through asked what we weredoing.
We told them we rode our ridingour bikes across the state of
Georgia.
(14:26):
This beautiful African-Americanwoman said, Oh Lord, I'm gonna
have Jesus put a fence aroundyou.
And I told the story recently onvacation.
And the question was, was thatfence a one-day fence?
Was that like a proverbial likethat it ever end?
And I'd like to think that thefence never ended, but so well,
you know, she didn't really putspeculation on it.
SPEAKER_02 (14:48):
So I'm saying I still have that fence, we still
have that fence.
Um, you know, it's it's kind oflike on the movie Oh Brother
Were Aren't Thou.
Yeah, you get thrown out of theWoolworth.
Now, is that just that Woolworthor is that all the Woolworths?
So we're gonna say that thatlady still has our Jesus fence
(15:09):
around us, as she called it.
SPEAKER_00 (15:11):
You know what?
And and we didn't have any flatsor mechanicals, uh, and we've
done pretty well since then.
So we might still have thefence.
So, but I was able to share thatstory recently, so I thought
it's a good story.
So now listen, I made a promiseto you.
What's that?
I made a promise to you.
Did you?
I did.
(15:32):
And what's that?
Two episodes ago, you were youwere chomping at the bit.
You were you were just wantingto do listen uh ransom
dissatisfaction.
And I said, No, that's not theright time.
And then you said, What aboutthe next one?
I said, I'm about to go onvacation.
So I made a promise to you, andI want to keep that promise
(15:54):
today, tonight, right now,ladies and gentlemen, I am
keeping my word.
I'm stalling while I get a a uha ransom dissatisfaction, sir.
SPEAKER_02 (16:10):
The floor thank you finally.
By the way, when you're stallingon radio or on a podcast, you
don't tell people you'restalling, you just keep going.
So we'll we'll work on thatlater.
Never mind.
Hey, we're this is a transparentshow, buddy.
Uh, we are, aren't we?
You know, I've got many rants ofdissatisfaction because they've
(16:30):
been building up for a while,but because we've got such a
cool other segment on our show,I'm gonna limit myself to two
rants of dissatisfaction uhright now.
And then we'll get back to itagain.
And I have one.
All right.
Well, let me do one and then Iwill we'll give you the floor.
Um I don't know.
(16:54):
I think I'll do this one.
SPEAKER_00 (16:57):
My first one is I'm your name still has their
Christmas lights on.
SPEAKER_02 (17:03):
Well, they're just celebration lights, is what I'm
calling them.
It makes me feel better.
SPEAKER_00 (17:10):
I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_02 (17:12):
I watch I watch TV, I watch all the the streaming
stuff.
I mean, I still have cable inthe wintertime because I like
just variety and randomness.
I can just turn it on and justplug through and something comes
up, and I was like, okay, that'scool.
What I've been finding latelythat really, really irks me is
I'll be watching a show,whatever channel you want,
(17:32):
history channel, what have you.
I'm sitting there watching it,and then all of a sudden, a
commercial comes up.
Okay, no problem.
I understand commercials, yougotta pay for it.
But the commercials are inSpanish, and this happens a lot,
and I'm like, wait a minute.
What clearly you're notmarketing to me.
(17:53):
Who exactly are you marketingto?
The whole show that I've beenwatching is in English.
Now the commercial is inSpanish.
So are the Spanish-speakingpeople just watching the English
TV and not have any idea what'sgoing on?
And then it's like, yeah, let'sgive them a commercial so
they'll understand drives menuts.
And what's funny is when I wasin Mexico a couple months ago,
(18:16):
the same thing.
I was sitting there watching alittle TV, boom, American
program, commercials were all inSpanish.
SPEAKER_00 (18:24):
I thought you were gonna say English.
SPEAKER_02 (18:27):
That would have made sense if I went to like this,
you know, the Spanish channel.
Let's mark, but no, I justdrives me crazy.
SPEAKER_00 (18:35):
I know why it happened.
SPEAKER_02 (18:36):
The program's in English, the commercials are in
Spanish.
SPEAKER_00 (18:40):
I know why.
Why?
You and I I've got to be carefulhow I say this.
You and I shared I was gonna saywe stayed in a lot of hotels,
but no.
Whoa.
You and I shared a few hotelrooms, and both of us usually
(19:00):
have to take meetings on theroad, so we hear each other
doing meetings and such,correct?
C.
You and I have shared cots orcot tenting camping areas or
charters, such as we haven'tshared cots.
SPEAKER_02 (19:14):
No, but yes, we've shared campsites.
SPEAKER_00 (19:18):
Yeah, with pod rays.
What did you do every night?
Slept.
No.
You were taking lessons everynight.
What kind of lessons were youtaking?
Oh, I was taking Spanishlessons.
Oh, well, that's why your TV istelling you commercials in
Spanish.
SPEAKER_02 (19:39):
Well, shouldn't they be giving me their shows in
Spanish?
SPEAKER_00 (19:43):
I I'm telling you every night I would hear you do
your 10 10 minutes of ofSpanish, yes.
Yes, your your phone islistening to you, brother.
It's it knows you uh no hablaingles, so it knows so anyway.
SPEAKER_02 (20:01):
It just drives me crazy.
It's like I I don't get it.
I'm sure there's some metricsout there so I don't know.
Anyway, that's my first one.
Go ahead.
SPEAKER_00 (20:11):
I'll let you go for I'm not sure if the leisure
community has picked up on it.
I know you've made a mention ofhow I've done some landscaping
in the basement, and I jokedabout getting the room done
before you came to visit me.
Well, the only thing left in allthose projects was to get the
final trim work done.
(20:32):
And then the basement, whichit's now done, but and then the
basement was going to be finallydone.
My wife, kudos to her, great,good, great countertop, yada
yada yada, a beautiful, uhmodern, very, very high class,
um all all all put togetherdesign work.
(20:53):
I give her kudos.
The tile, heated floor.
The last thing was the trim.
Finally, I'm at the point whereI can I can I can spring for the
trim.
I get a contractor lined up.
Reviews are great.
My neighbor used them.
Wonderful.
Now let me tell you something.
I have one of those locks on myhouse that I can create a
(21:15):
digital, you know, digital, likea you know, like an Airbnb lock
where you can go somewhere andthey can create a code for a
couple days.
So I told this guy that I wasleaving on this day and I would
be back on this day.
And I said, the house is wideopen for 11 days.
I said, you know, I've got greatneighbors.
If you have a problem getting ina lock, blah, blah, blah.
(21:36):
He said, Oh, I'll have it donebefore you get back.
I said, That's wonderful.
Well, come on.
It's 2025.
I have cameras on my house, andI'm waiting for this guy to show
up.
And it's Monday, and it'sTuesday, and it's Wednesday, and
it's Thursday, and finally Ican't stand it anymore.
I'm coming home on Sunday, bythe way.
And I finally text and I say, Sowhat's the plan?
(22:00):
You know, I mean, and and hegoes, Oh, I'm coming tomorrow,
and I should be able to wrapeverything up in tomorrow.
And I'm going, One day.
That's a lot of trim.
Yeah, and I'm thinking, and justto give just to give everybody
an idea, it's a bedroom and aliving room and a hallway and a
bathroom and a laundry room.
And I'm like, that's a lot.
(22:21):
Now I understand if you take one10-foot board and then you paint
it, and you maybe you can get 10foot down uh to give anyone any
contractors out there.
It was 186 linear feet.
And so I'm thinking to myself,but I also had doorways, then
and I'm thinking, man, that's alot for one day.
So on Saturday, shows up about10 a.m.
(22:43):
I get a notification from thelock, lock open, and then he
locks it at like 10 o'clock atnight.
I'm thinking, well, maybe I needto eat crow pie.
Well, I took the uh five o'clockflight out of Orlando.
I'm back in Detroit at 8:30.
Show up at my house around 10o'clock by the time I get the
(23:03):
shuttle to get my car.
We did one of those things thatyou like to do, like hotel and
park and all that.
Get my car, come home, I get atext.
Hey, I I need to finish somethings up, I'll be there around
10 o'clock.
I walk in the house and it'sonly like half done.
This is before the guy getshere.
And I'm like, oh my gosh.
Now I'm tired, I've traveled, Igot up at 2 in the morning, TSA,
(23:27):
blah, blah, blah.
And that guy stayed until 10o'clock on Sunday.
All not 10 a.m.
12 hours he was here.
Now he finished, it looks great,but then I'm thinking to myself,
this is where the rants ofdissatisfaction goes.
My house was open to himundisturbed for 11 days, and you
(23:50):
wait until I come home.
I was so mad.
SPEAKER_02 (23:54):
But maybe he had other jobs.
SPEAKER_00 (23:56):
I'm sure he did.
I mean, he was just doing him inorder.
Yeah, he probably, in hisdefense, he probably doesn't
take away the fact that it wasfrustrating, but I completely
understand that he probablysqueezed something else in, and
I didn't want to be like, Whydid you wait?
You know, and so and he did anice job.
Everything was great.
So uh, you know, it it but itwas just so frustrating because
(24:18):
it's like here we are, we justgot back.
We you know, my wife wasstarting a new job on Monday,
and so it's like, dude, really?
I mean, you're you're here allday.
I can't I kept feeling like I'mlike, hey, uh, I'm gonna go to
Costco and get my, you know,hey, I'll be back.
Hey, I'm gonna do my workout,you know.
So I just kind of was like, ohmy god.
And then I never left.
He never left.
I offered him food, I offeredhim drinks.
(24:39):
He's like, No, I'm good, I'mgood.
He worked all day, so butanyways, it looks good.
It's basement is done, myfriend.
I can't wait for you to come seeit.
SPEAKER_02 (24:48):
Cool.
Look forward to it.
All right, my my last one, andthis is a tough choice, but
we're gonna go with this one.
SPEAKER_00 (24:56):
Well, make it good.
SPEAKER_02 (24:57):
He gave me a hard time, so well, you know, back in
the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s TVshows.
SPEAKER_00 (25:06):
Oh, those are good times.
SPEAKER_02 (25:07):
Oh, they were great times.
SPEAKER_00 (25:08):
18 writer.
unknown (25:10):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (25:12):
You know, the main the main focus or the main prop
that a lot of actors used werecigarettes.
Yeah.
Everybody smoked back then, uh,especially in the 50s, 60s, and
70s.
When we got into 80s, peoplestarted going, maybe this isn't
healthy.
Exactly.
Everybody smoked.
Uh, and so so many characters onTV, um, they smoked, and they
(25:37):
use that it was, you know, aprop.
They'd you know, pull out acigarette while somebody's
talking, they'd light it up, andthen they'd use it as like a
dramatic, well, you know, andthen blow the smoke out.
And it was it was a great prop.
It worked well, it fit in uhwith the times.
No problem.
Do you know what they use as aprop nowadays?
Coffee.
(25:57):
Coffee, thank you.
They always have, what's that?
You're welcome.
They always have a coffee cup intheir hand.
Okay, that's fine.
We've replaced the the cigaretteprop with the coffee cup.
So everybody, cop shows,whatever shows you're watching,
everybody's carrying around acup of coffee.
I've got no problem with that.
(26:17):
What I have a problem with iscould you put some water in it
or something?
Because you see, next time youwatch a show and they're
carrying around coffee cups, youclearly can see that just by the
way they're carrying it, there'sno liquid in it.
So you'd think that the directorwould say, Hey, put some water,
fill that halfway up.
So, you know, because you carryuh a glass that's got something
(26:41):
in it differently than if itdoesn't.
And so they're just like sittinghere, like, well, you know,
they'll be, you know, justswinging it around or whatever.
But it doesn't have anything init.
And that's fine, you can act,but your body knows that there's
nothing in that and you carry itdifferently, and it just looks
like you're carrying around anempty cup of coffee, which you
(27:03):
are.
That just drives me crazy.
Like NCIS.
SPEAKER_00 (27:07):
NCIS does it all the time.
Gibbs had coffee all the time.
SPEAKER_02 (27:11):
Gibbs, and then the the gal that was back in the the
forensic lab, he'd always bringher like the super big big gulp
gulp.
And there was nothing in thateither.
But you can see by the way theylike tilting it, moving around,
that there's nothing in it, andit just gives us doesn't sell
me.
Doesn't sell me, and thatbothers me.
SPEAKER_00 (27:32):
So before we switch gears to the Halloween, I just
want our community to knowMichael.
What kind of coffee do you like?
Is that relevant to theconversation?
SPEAKER_02 (27:46):
I don't drink coffee, I don't have anything
against people who do.
But the point is, if you'regonna use that as a prop, which
I have no problem, it's actuallybetter than this the cigarettes,
at least make it realistic.
You know, have something in itbecause you're just carrying it
(28:06):
and jiggling it around, and youcan tell when they lift it up,
there's no weight to it, justdoesn't look real.
So just to be clear, I'm notangry that the coffee is as a
prop for most actors on TVnowadays.
I am angry by the fact that it'sjust empty and they're just
(28:26):
carrying around a piece of emptytrash.
And you can tell it.
SPEAKER_00 (28:30):
As we switch gears, I have to tell you, I've seen
these funny, funny, funny socialmedia posts about you're not
really that thirsty or need acoffee, you're bored, that's why
you go to Starbucks.
Which is not cool when you'recarrying around the glass.
That's right.
You just want to look cool.
SPEAKER_02 (28:48):
But uh but let's get to the really good stuff.
We've got some reallyinteresting things to celebrate
the holiday season.
And that is holidays.
I mean Halloween.
I know people are alreadygetting into the Christmas
thing.
Halloween.
And Halloween is my favoriteholiday, and it all I mean, this
goes back like 2,000 years.
If you go back in the history ofHalloween, it used to be called
(29:09):
uh Sowen, and it was like afestival, uh, you know, end of
the harvest, beginning ofwinter, and they had, you know,
bonfires, and it was believedthat on Halloween, that was the
time when the barrier betweenthe living and the dead was at
its narrowest.
And it was believed that perhapsuh spirits or demons or whatever
(29:34):
could somehow come into the landof the living uh for that day.
And um people would wear youknow skins and things like that
to ward off those thosecharacters, um, and then later,
who's adopted by the church, youknow, all saints day, that kind
of thing.
But it's just cool because thisgoes back thousands of years.
(29:56):
And because of the whole youknow, barrier and spirit.
It's coming into our world,that's really what's developed
into you know the associationwith witches and ghosts.
So I had the idea, and uh youjumped on board immediately.
I thought we should talk aboutsome ghost stories.
(30:18):
Okay.
Some hauntings.
You're in one.
You're in one.
So I thought it would be cool totalk about um some hauntings,
some ghost stories, some thingsthat have happened.
Maybe they're real, maybethey're not.
We're not here to to say iteither way.
(30:39):
Um, so I dug up some interestinghaunted stuff that revolve
around bicycles and leisuring.
I love it.
And then you're you're gonnapresent us with something which
is gonna be really cool.
So stay tuned.
Are you ready?
I'm ready.
Okay.
(31:03):
The first one I want to talkabout is I've titled this one
What happened to Larry.
And what this is, is this takesplace in Randolph, Maine.
And there is an old rails totrail there called the old
narrow gauge um volunteer trail.
(31:24):
And many people have been onthis trail and have seen and
heard, you know, they've heardlike a ghost uh train whistle,
um, they've seen orbs, differentstuff like that.
But the most interesting thingis people have reported seeing
(31:45):
this guy riding a bicycle onthis trail, and he's clearly not
all there, you know.
I mean, he's transparent andthat type of thing, but you can
see the outline of a cyclist.
And what everybody thinks isthat there was this gentleman by
the name of Larry Farrell orLawrence Farrell, everybody
(32:06):
called him Larry, and he wentout riding one day.
He was well known around thetown, rode, everybody knew him
as uh as bicycle Larry, rode ared Huffy around town, who was a
fine Huffy, too.
Um, so he's very well known, buthe vanished one day.
(32:27):
Um, there was never a trace ofhis body.
There was never a trace of hisbicycle.
He just vanished.
So no one ever knew really whathappened to him.
There is a belief that he waspart of a murder suicide where
this other gentleman in town hadseveral disputes with Larry, um
caught him one night outriding,killed him, buried his body back
(32:48):
in the woods somewhere, uh, andthen committed suicide of you
know, sometime later and leftleft a message that kind of led
people to believe that that hemay have done this.
But um so Larry is out there onthis on this trail.
So I thought that was kind ofinteresting.
Larry on his red Huffy bike,still riding up and down that
(33:10):
trail in Maine.
SPEAKER_00 (33:12):
It'd be kind of creepy if you like live there,
and then like you know, as thesun started to go down, you were
on the trail, you'd be likelooking around.
SPEAKER_02 (33:21):
Well, what's interesting is is um there's
like a mile and a half sectionof this trail that goes through
like the forest in the woods.
So that's immediately gonna makeit creepy.
And then you go there at night,and you know, you got the you
know different sounds and stufflike that.
Um, and then you go there andyou're like, I've heard stories
of Larry.
You know, that's gonna freak youout a little bit, but for sure.
(33:42):
There's like ghostly voices andorbs and and uh occasionally
glimpses of Larry.
So if you're ever in Maine,check it out.
Maybe you can see Larry.
All right.
SPEAKER_00 (33:53):
Do you do you believe in ghosts?
You know, I I I I don't thinkso.
I I mean I I say I've I've justnever like my wife, big
believer, um, like she alwayshas the paranormal stories on
YouTube and everything, and theyhave all these contraptions
(34:13):
like, oh, talk to us, we hearyou.
SPEAKER_02 (34:18):
Yeah, they got these little these little pod things
and all sorts of crazy stuff.
SPEAKER_00 (34:23):
And I roll my eyes all the time, and I'm like, you
don't believe that.
She's like, I find itentertaining, you know.
And I'm always like, no, it'snot real.
But you know, I mean, uh forthose haven't met Larry yet,
that's the problem.
Well, yeah, and if I did, he'dprobably outpeddle me.
But I mean um the one thing Ialways found really interesting
(34:46):
was you know, ShawshankRedemption is one of my uh
favorite movies of all times,and um the uh Mansfield Prison
had a had a had some reallyinteresting things that happened
there, and so um and that's thethat's the prison where the
movie was shot at, correct?
Yes, that's correct.
And so that was kind of in youknow, things they heard or
(35:08):
whatever, and you know, a lot ofunfortunately a lot of prisoners
passed away there, but um um sothey had like some spooky stuff.
I mean, I'm not saying that I'mso close-minded like no, never
happened.
I just never really, you know,I'm I'm a I'm a kind of see it
believe it kind of guy, and so Ijust never never had anything
really, really close.
(35:29):
I mean, I I told last year atthis time the story when I was
on my deck, there was like thistriangle light, and it was
really weird because then it wasI was just I would call it an
unidentified flying object.
I mean it it flew in the sky andthen it was like there, and then
I watched it really take offfast.
And so that's the only thing inmy my time on this earth that
(35:49):
would be unexplainable.
SPEAKER_02 (35:50):
So by the way, they're not called UFOs anymore,
they're called UAE's,unidentified aerial or UAPs,
unidentified aerial phenomena.
So just gets you up to speed.
Well, I appreciate that.
Sure.
Uh the next one comes fromEngland, and I've entitled this
one, Is There Someone Watching?
(36:12):
And this is all about a reportthat in June of 2018, a mother
is at a place called Old WayMansion in Devon, England.
And her son is riding a bicyclearound the grounds in front, and
she's filming it.
Um, you know, great day, fancy,nice house.
(36:33):
She's filming it out there.
Later in reviewing the footage,uh, she noticed this ghostly
figure dressed in this Victoriandress up in the window looking
down on her son as her son isriding, riding the bicycle.
Which is kind of spooky tothink.
Oh, there's maybe something.
But further research showed thatthere was this name, uh, this
(36:58):
lady named Isidora Duncan, andshe was a dancer, and she had an
on-again, off-again relationshipwith uh Paris Stinger, who is
who owned the mansion back inthe day.
And um they had a child, and oneday the child and their nanny
drowned.
(37:19):
And so that kind of brings thatwhole, you know, kind of death
thing to it.
And then a couple years later,she pretty much just became a
shut-in at that point in time.
You know, what else do you do?
This is very traumatic.
Uh, a couple years later, shewas in a bizarre, she died in a
bizarre auto accident.
(37:39):
So apparently she liked to wearthese long scarves, and it was
an old, you know, old back inthe day when the wheels had the
the spokes, and apparently herscarf went out and uh basically
jerked her out of the car orsomething, but caused her to
die.
So a lot of death around thisone.
(38:00):
Um, you know, could it have justbeen some lady up there looking
out the window and was dressedin a long dress?
Maybe.
But uh you can go online and seethe pictures.
Uh, you know, maybe it's aghost, maybe it's not.
SPEAKER_01 (38:17):
I don't know.
SPEAKER_02 (38:18):
Maybe it's just a worker.
Maybe it was, you know,reenactment day there.
I don't know.
But it's interesting.
Kind of creepy, you know,thinking, oh, you're a mother,
and there's like just some ladystanding in this window just
staring and watching your child.
SPEAKER_00 (38:33):
That would definitely be really, I mean,
that would scare you to death ifyou were like looked up and you
saw like a body and then, youknow, I mean like a silhouette
and then backed away, you know,or something like that.
So yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (38:47):
So don't know about that one.
Don't you know, I I, you know, Igotta see something to believe
it.
Now I've seen some weird stuff,and I think I talked about it
last year, but we won't get intoit.
But I have seen some weird stuffthat couldn't exactly explain.
My next one, some people mayhave heard about this one, and
this is Too Much Drink or Just aHoax.
(39:13):
And this all revolves around theMoss Beach Distillery in Moss
Beach, California.
So it's not cycling, but it isstill, you know, distillery.
Right up our alley.
Yes, indeed.
It's a former prohibitionspeakeasy.
It sets up on this cliffoverlooking the ocean.
(39:33):
Very, very uh cool setting.
It was established in 1927.
Um, supposedly there's a famousapparition there called the Blue
Lady.
Now, I don't know what's withthe color blue and gray.
There's always there's always ablue lady, a gray lady, and a
lady in white.
I don't know.
Maybe that's all they've got atthe apparition store is those
three colors.
(39:54):
I don't know, but that's how itworks out.
Um, she is said to haunt theproperty.
Patrons have reported cold spotsand flickering lights and
chandeliers and glassware movingand missing earrings that
reappear in odd spaces.
And this lady is supposedly uhdied there by falling to her
(40:17):
death, either pushed oraccidentally fell or jumped to
her death off of the cliff.
So when you start talking aboutthe blue lady and the gray lady
and the lady in white, that atthat point in time I just kind
of check out.
It's like, okay.
SPEAKER_00 (40:32):
I'm back.
SPEAKER_02 (40:34):
But the twist on this whole one is that in 2008,
Ghost Hunters, the TV show fromthe two plumbers up in uh Rhode
Island, they actually went on aninvestigation of this one.
And I have seen the actual show.
And what's funny is they foundmechanisms that had been placed
(40:56):
in the building to move thechandeliers and like shake like
the the shelf that the glasswarewas on.
And there was one part in thebathroom where they had like
this weird image could be shownup on there, and they also had
some speakers where they coulddo like you know, disembodied
voices, things like that.
So basically, it was all a hoax.
(41:18):
And supposedly they hired a aDisney uh, you know, one of the
Disney guys, imagineers, to comeand do this.
And of course, you know, if youcan give people the allure that
your place is haunted, that uh,you know, they want to come
maybe experience.
And a lot of people got toexperience it, but it was all
(41:39):
fake.
And, you know, those guys areclimbing around, they go up in
an attic, and it's like, oh,look at this.
Here's this thing that's doingthat, and they just like busted
them completely.
It was pretty funny.
So again, no blue lady.
SPEAKER_00 (41:52):
I'm dying to meet you.
Uh, you know, um, when whenLauren does watch some of those
things, they got those EAPs orwhatever.
I mean, I don't know, like it'sset in the middle of the room
and says, It's cold in here.
Can you feel us?
Hello?
Can you talk?
(42:12):
What did you wear?
What did you?
I'm always like, Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02 (42:16):
And the light just changes colors, it's like red
and then it goes to green, andthen it goes to red, and it's
like but she enjoys it, sowhatever.
Entertainment, entertainmentvalue only.
Um the next one is really mycough is fine.
That is my title for this nextone, and this all revolves
around not yet, all revolvesaround uh Brower's bicycle shop.
(42:42):
And this was in uh Charleston,and it was a bicycle shop there.
And basically, the College ofCharleston bought the bicycle
shop after it went out ofbusiness and was going and used
was going to use the buildingum, you know, for purposes of
higher education.
Well, the bicycle uh owner'swife was murdered in 1971.
(43:06):
We don't know how, we don't knowwhy.
Maybe Mr.
Brouwer was, you know, justgetting bored.
I don't know.
But um she was murdered in thebuilding.
Well, the college, when theytook over the building, they
originally established it aslike their bookstore.
And uh basically the semesterwas getting ready to start.
(43:29):
All the employees are in therestacking up the books, getting
them all ready to go.
They left for the day.
When they came in and unlockedthe door and came in the next
morning, all of the books thatthey had stacked up on the
tables and stuff were now all onthe ground, neatly stacked.
Some stacks were as high as fivefeet tall, and they were all on
the floor neatly stacked there.
(43:52):
A little weird.
So it's believed that it'shaunted by the ghost of Miss
Brower, who was uh, you know,murdered in there.
What's makes it kind of evencreepier for me is today it's
the student health servicesbuilding.
(44:12):
Really?
I'm fine.
Yeah, absolutely.
I'm not making that up.
It's like I'm good.
I I got malaria, but I thinkI'll skip it.
SPEAKER_00 (44:20):
Yeah.
I'm I'm gonna miss this one.
SPEAKER_02 (44:25):
Uh so I just thought that was that was funny.
That used to be an old bicycleshop, and uh now it's possibly
haunted, and it's a uh studentuh health building.
Interesting.
Right the best for last for you,though.
This is a good one.
This is my favorite one.
(44:45):
I'm calling this the trail isrough, but the challenge is
worth it.
I need you set the music, setthe set the mood for me.
Okay, imagine if you will.
It's 1915.
You're uh you're a youngsoldier, the British army,
you're in the trenches inFrance.
(45:07):
Uh, you know, 30 to 40 yardsaway is another trench with the
Germans.
They're looking at you, you'relooking at them.
In between is this area calledNo Man's Land.
It's got bob wire and destroyedbuildings and you know, bomb
explosions have gone off there,so there's craters.
Um, not a place you're gonna gohang out, because quite frankly,
(45:30):
really as soon as you pop yourhead up and start taking a
couple feet, they're gonna startshooting at you and you're not
gonna make it very far.
Um, really terrible situations.
The soldiers that that were inthose trenches, if you've never
done any just looking at it orreading about it, you should
because you start thinking aboutthese soldiers lived in these
(45:50):
trenches.
SPEAKER_00 (45:51):
Oh, come on, you yell at me about now you're
getting all kinds of stuff.
SPEAKER_02 (45:57):
They live in these trenches.
You know, they eat in thesetrenches, they sleep in these
trenches, uh, you know,everything that they do is in
these trenches, and they'rethere for weeks and months at a
time.
So it was just horrible,horrible conditions.
So you're out there, been livingin this trench for three months,
and you're on like patrol orguard duty, so to speak, and
(46:21):
that basically means you set atthis post and you have like this
little periscope thing that youput up there and you basically,
because you don't want to stickyour head up there, you just put
that up there, and so you lookaround and you just check to
make sure that the Germanshaven't decided to do a sneak
attack on you or anything.
And that's your whole job.
Gets to be two, three o'clock inthe morning.
You've been doing it for thelast six hours.
(46:41):
Um, and all of a sudden, goingright in the middle of dead man
of no man's land, is a soldieron a bicycle.
And sometimes he's carrying apiece of equipment, other times
he's got like one of thosemessenger bags, and he's just
tootling, riding right downthrough uh no man's land.
(47:04):
A little spooky.
Now, experts will all say, well,it's because that they lived in
those really bad conditions, andprobably a lot of people were
shell-shocked and traumatized,and they didn't want to be
there, and so their mindswandered, and they just some
reason, you know, got thisvision of this bicyclist, and
then one person said bicyclist,and then they were all seeing
(47:27):
bicyclist.
What I find interesting is thatsometimes he's carrying
equipment, sometimes he's justhas like a messenger satchel.
Um you can't really tell,they've never really reported
what uniform he has, but youcould tell that he had some
military-type uniform on.
What's interesting aboveeverything else is that it was
(47:51):
reported on both the British,the British and the French
reported it, as well as theGermans on the other side also
reported seeing a bicyclistgoing through no man's land.
And that's what makes it evenmore intriguing to me is that it
was it had been reported on bothsides.
If it was just one side, youknow, some British guy goes,
(48:11):
Hey, wait, some night when it'sreally late, you're really, you
know, you're gonna see thiscyclist, and then you put that
in their mind, and then they'relike, Oh, I'm looking for the
cyclist, you know, and then butthe fact that both sides saw
this throughout uh World WarOne, I think is a very
interesting story.
So um he's known as the ghostcyclist of World War One.
(48:32):
There's no, you know, traditionor legend as far as what side he
was on or what his name was oranything, but there you go.
So I found that one to beextremely uh extremely
interesting.
So I don't know, maybe there is.
SPEAKER_00 (48:52):
That would be one brave cyclist.
SPEAKER_02 (48:55):
Yeah, because you know, number one, the terrain is
not going to be real conduciveto riding a bicycle.
Number two, I mean, the otherside just waiting for somebody
to pop up and so there you go.
There's uh some of my tales ofhauntings that I'm sharing with
you for Halloween.
SPEAKER_00 (49:16):
I love it.
I love it.
Um, this is my chance to talkabout reviews real quick.
Uh we are asking for a review.
If you enjoy the show, uh pleasetake four minutes, actually 30
seconds, go to Chat GPT, ask itto give a cycling minute of
(49:39):
leisure a review, copy, cut,paste, enter.
Um, actually, if you enjoy theshow, we're just asking for some
reviews.
It helps uh helps spread theword, helps us get picked up by
the algorithms and bots.
So if you could take a coupleseconds, leave us a review if
you enjoy what we do.
On behalf of Michael and myself,we say thank you.
(50:02):
So um do you know, sir, who JoeGrammer, Emory Norris, Dennis
Keeler, Alex Bell, and ScottGarwick are?
I do.
SPEAKER_02 (50:17):
You do all yes, you don't?
Well, I do.
I just I'm glad to remember.
I I know who they are.
These are all people who claimthat they love the outdoors, but
really meant patios and drinks.
That's who they are.
(50:38):
Close, so close, just a bitoutside.
SPEAKER_00 (50:42):
These are five VIP ladies and gentlemen who, with
their wallet, support our show,and we thank them.
So thank you so very much.
Michael is toasting you rightnow.
So chairs, thank you.
We appreciate it.
If you don't have a wallet thatyou want to give Cycling Metal
(51:02):
Leisure, that's okay.
Just go back to that review.
So our review will work justfine, thank you.
That's right.
So I've got um finishing up ourHalloween episode, I've got a
really cool uh I've got a reallycool story, uh, but we do have a
listener spotlight.
(51:22):
Um, and we have a little teaserthat I'm gonna let you give the
teaser to.
So dealer's choice, listenerspotlight or the teaser.
SPEAKER_02 (51:33):
Uh let's do listener spotlight.
SPEAKER_00 (51:37):
Uh, ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to
announce it is now time for ournext listener spotlight.
SPEAKER_02 (51:50):
All right.
I got some good uh clues foryou.
This one is gonna be a littlebit easier than the last couple
have been.
Town was originally started as afort, constructed in the early
1800s with the purpose of uminterring the native population.
So, not not a great stellarstart for this town.
(52:13):
It was incorporated as a town inthe late 1800s.
The early growth was spurred bya rail line that passed through
the community.
Coal and iron were discovered inthe area in the 1880s, um, but
they fell far short of whatpeople were hoping.
Um, basically, there wasn't alot of it.
(52:34):
They found it and they werelike, woo, and they started
going crazy, and then it itimmediately kind of went
downhill.
So the uh economy suffered adecline, but then cotton
processing became a big economicboom, and cotton products uh,
the production of cottonproducts became a huge business
(52:58):
and economic driver for thiscommunity.
The town has an annual festivalthat celebrates its world
standing around hosiery, and itcould be said that this city is
truly a Dixieland delight.
(53:20):
So I just told you what part ofthe country it's in.
SPEAKER_00 (53:26):
All right, a hosiery celebration, a festival like
leader hosing.
SPEAKER_02 (53:35):
They have a world standing that involves hosiery
in some way, shape, or form.
Okay.
Don't be jealous.
SPEAKER_00 (53:45):
It's not St.
Louis.
SPEAKER_02 (53:47):
It's not St.
Louis.
And I will say, just to throw inan extra little uh clue, Adam
has never been to this town.
That helps anyone.
That'll help Adam.
Yeah, there's a lot of places.
I say that with with uh thestrongest confidence.
You have not been to this town.
(54:07):
There's a lot of places Ihaven't been.
Well, okay.
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (54:16):
All right.
I gave you dealer's choice.
You went for listener spotlight.
It is now time for the teaser,sir.
SPEAKER_02 (54:24):
The teaser.
And by teaser, do you mean likeuh what we're talking about on
the next show or what?
SPEAKER_00 (54:30):
Yeah, maybe next show or the show after.
SPEAKER_02 (54:33):
Yeah, right in there.
Okay.
Maybe not the next show, butcoming up in the very near
future, in the next couple ofmonths, prior to Christmas, uh,
around the end of November,maybe the very beginning of
December, we're going to haveour much anticipated and often
requested um cyclist Christmaslist.
(54:59):
That's right.
As a cyclist, uh what do youget?
What do you get us?
Um, Adam and I will go throughand we pick out some different
items that are new to the marketor that we've used that we
really like, and we bring themto the table.
They might be pieces ofequipment, they might be safety
(55:19):
gear.
Um, we've done all sorts ofthings.
Last year, we had some bourboninvolved and some uh home decor
stuff involved.
So we try to do a little bit ofeverything.
And um, what's really fun aboutthis is we'll throw them out
there, give you some ideas, andfor the last couple of years, I
have actually bought one or twoof those items and uh and tried
(55:42):
it out.
SPEAKER_00 (55:43):
So one of the neatest things for me is when we
are writing and we're writingnext to somebody, and they will
actually show the item that theyreceived as a gift from their
family because they put it ontheir list and say, Hey, because
of your show, I bought this.
Or the one I can I candistinctly remember very well
(56:07):
was the uh electric pump thatyou talked about, and then uh
that was uh very well uh warmreception when many people uh
listen to you, which I amsurprised.
That happens occasionally, andthen you actually got to do a
double review because yours cameout of your bike, uh the holder
(56:28):
on your bike, and it went downthe road about 30 miles an hour,
and you know what?
It worked just fine.
So you were able to give anendurance review after.
SPEAKER_02 (56:36):
So it popped out of my water bottle holder somehow,
because that's it was a thebigger round olive uh oval one,
popped out, scurried down theroad.
I thought, oh my gosh, picked itup.
I mean, there wasn't even acrack or anything in it, uh, and
still did well.
And since that time, I'veactually bought the smaller one,
um, and it works really well.
And I know, like last year, uh,I bought one of those bike locks
(57:00):
that I talked about that goes inthe handlebars of your bike.
Not used it, but it's there.
If I was really hoping this yearon one of our rides, generally
we go on a ride and people arelike, you know, maybe we go
downtown or something, andpeople are always freaking out.
It's like, well, I want to ride,but I don't have a lock.
What am I gonna do?
I was really hoping that wouldhappen because I was gonna walk
over, pop that off, and say,here you go, here's a lock,
(57:22):
here's that.
Now you can lock it up.
SPEAKER_00 (57:24):
But we didn't use that when we went to Georgia.
SPEAKER_02 (57:28):
We did not, but that's okay because we're not
big bike lock type people, but II wanted to try it out, and it's
one of those things that if youknow, like I said, we right we
have some friends who uh havesome very, very expensive
bicycles.
I get it.
Um like to have it, and I canjust you know hand it to them
(57:50):
and say, here you go.
SPEAKER_00 (57:53):
I think I I I know what happened.
We were in the hotel in Georgia.
You showed me the bike lockbecause of how you had to travel
with it, you had to put it backand screw it in, and I think
that's my memory of seeing it.
And so you're right.
Yep.
Yep, yep.
SPEAKER_02 (58:13):
Yeah, I showed you because it just you just take
the key, pop it up, it comesright out, and you can hook it
up.
It's very, very cool.
Um, not expensive.
And if you're one of thosepeople that really, you know,
are concerned about the yourbike, which I don't fault you
for that.
They are not cheap things.
That's a good idea.
So we've I've already startedlooking at some things, and uh
(58:36):
you need to start looking atsome things, and we'll put
together a really uh a good showaround different ideas to uh
perhaps buy uh the cyclist inyour life.
SPEAKER_00 (58:46):
If you have an idea for a gift, please send us a
message.
We would love to get that out.
Um you know, we usually eitherlook at from a selfish point of
view, like your folding helmet.
You you had you had uh mentionedthat before, and then now you're
a regular consumer.
But if you have something outthere for cycling that is really
one of those items, like if youwere playing Survivor and you
(59:09):
had to take one item.
What would be your cyclist uh uhgift?
Oh, look at that.
The cycling bobblehead.
SPEAKER_02 (59:16):
Two years ago, cycling bobblehead, my wife took
it, uh took the idea, and I nowhave a uh cycling bobblehead of
myself.
And that's everyone needs oneleisure.
I love that.
It says cycling men of leisure.
It does right there on hisjersey, says cycling men of
leisure, even has the recedinghairline just like me.
So well, that's all right,buddy.
SPEAKER_00 (59:38):
Well, it is what it is.
I don't judge you for your hair.
SPEAKER_02 (59:43):
Or lack of as you take your hat off and run your
fingers through Yeah, yeah,yeah.
Look at my how gray mine is,though.
Holy's mine's gray too.
But I can also stand next to amicrowave and not get sunburned,
which you cannot, so.
Yeah, I got that going for me.
SPEAKER_00 (01:00:02):
This is true.
We were talking about, you know,how they show presidents before
and after, you know, before andafter, before and after in the
hair and everything.
So it's like, I'm like, yeah,that's what that's what my job
does for me.
So funny, somebody somebodyshowed a picture, and I said,
Oh, my job's not that stressful.
But uh, all right.
(01:00:22):
Well, listen, I have something alittle special.
I'm uh I'm pretty excited aboutthis.
I've been holding on for thiswhole time.
So in the spirit of Halloween,I'm not gonna use the words I
wrote, I'm gonna say I inspireda cycling story.
(01:00:44):
Alright.
Let me I'm gonna have a littlebit of background music here.
Oh, it's a spooky Halloweenstory.
This is right.
I'm gonna make sure this uhcomes back around here.
Pot it down just a shade.
SPEAKER_02 (01:01:09):
Perfect.
Yeah, there you go.
That's that's setting the moodfor me right there.
SPEAKER_00 (01:01:13):
For those of you who don't know, pot it down.
Michael used to be in radio.
Pot it down means turn it down.
This The Cycling Men of LeisureHalloween episode, the Phantom
Peloton.
(01:01:35):
They say you never truly ridealone even when the night's
quiet.
Even when your headlight cutsthrough nothing but mist.
Sometimes just behind you,there's another wheel turning, a
rhythm you can feel but neversee.
(01:01:57):
For years, cyclists across thecountry have whispered about the
Phantom Peloton, a ghostly groupride that appears when the roads
are empty and the air hangsthick with fog.
Tail lights flicker up ahead,red, steady, perfect, but no
(01:02:19):
matter how hard you chase, youcan never catch them.
Some say they're riders lost onsentry rides that never ended.
Others say it's just fatigue,dehydration, the mind playing
tricks after too many climbs.
But every October, more storiesroll in of GPS routes looping
(01:02:44):
back on themselves, of segmentsrecorded by usernames that don't
exist, and of the one lonelyrider who swears he heard
someone whisper, hold your line.
Look, if I see a ghost on abike, I'm at least asking what
is the tire pressure he'srunning.
(01:03:05):
Cause if he's floating past meon 28, I'm reevaluating
everything.
So tonight, keep your lightscharged, and if you spot a
string of red LEDs fading intothe mist, think twice before
following.
You might be joining a groupride that never ends.
(01:03:29):
And on that note, sir.
SPEAKER_02 (01:03:32):
Wow.
The group ride that never ends,the century ride that they never
finished.
That's right.
That's awesome.
That's a great way to uh to endour holiday segment.
SPEAKER_00 (01:03:49):
And I just gotta tell you that this AI, man, it
is when it works and it worksright, it is amazing.
And so I I did ask it to writeme a cycling spooky story for a
podcast episode.
And within about threetriliseconds, it went.
(01:04:09):
And then it does say that uh inall spirit, it said that I
should have read, and then youshould have said, look, if I see
a ghost on a bike, I'm at leastasking when the fire pregnant.
Although it did call you, Mikedid call you Mike, and I
apologize.
SPEAKER_02 (01:04:23):
So I uh I didn't uh didn't get my teleprompt to say
that.
SPEAKER_00 (01:04:28):
So I know, but I will show you right there.
SPEAKER_02 (01:04:31):
It says no, there you go.
Mike, whoever that guy is.
Uh a Mike style voice.
SPEAKER_00 (01:04:41):
What well listen, buddy, once again we have uh we
have uh got to the Halloweenepisode.
Who thought we would have gotpast three episodes, let alone
another Halloween episode?
SPEAKER_02 (01:04:55):
Well, you know what?
If I remember right, I thinkwe're we're right now at three
years.
That's right.
I think it was the end of, Idon't know, is it end of October
or beginning of November?
Beginning of November was thevery first.
Okay.
So we're only a couple weeksaway from our third year
anniversary of Road Adventuresof Cycling Men of Leisure,
(01:05:19):
which, yeah, I would have givenus four, maybe five episodes.
Well, we have eighty.
Soon to be eighty-one as soon aswe get this one done, but that's
right.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah.
It's been a it's and and we'veand just to let everybody know,
we have um another couple ofideas in the works.
(01:05:42):
A couple of guests we're uhworking on bringing in, which
would be really, really cool.
Um actually, uh, we've got oneguest that we're uh looking at
trying to get back uh as areturn guest that everybody
seemed to like.
So not going to give anythingaway.
I'm just saying stay tuned.
SPEAKER_00 (01:06:01):
Well, I was gonna say today's a great day for a
bike ride, except my bike I puton the wall.
SPEAKER_02 (01:06:07):
Um it's still a great day for a bike ride, so
don't ever forget that.
SPEAKER_00 (01:06:15):
It is always a good day for a bike ride.
We've just had a lot ofunfortunate, horrible weather
here.
Right.
I mean, I went to Florida andhad 11 days of beautiful
weather, and then I came homeand it's been raining every day.
So um, but um always good to bewith you.
Uh I look forward to these thistime of the year.
I love the the gift idea uhshow.
(01:06:36):
Um it's it's one of those thingsI look forward to, and and then
give my wife a list of these arethe things that I need for my
2026 rides.
So that's right.
Once we figure out what thoseare, we'll announce that a few
of you have written us behindthe scenes and asking us what
which ones we're doing, and oncewe figure out our life and and
schedule, we'll definitely we'llstart uh advertising those.
SPEAKER_02 (01:06:58):
So I would say at this point in time we have a
short list.
Yeah.
I think we've kind of narrowedit down.
So we do have a short list, it'sjust a matter of figuring out
logistics, scheduling, thingslike that.
But we do have a short list ofrides, and um yeah, we'll uh
we'll be making that decisionhere in the next uh two months,
(01:07:20):
probably month.
Um just depends on registrationdeadlines as far as getting the
the best deals and things likethat.
Yeah, we'll certainly let youknow.
SPEAKER_00 (01:07:32):
For sure, for sure.
With that being said, my friend,always great to be with you.
And I am sure somewhere,somehow, today was a great day.
Naker by Greg.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03 (01:07:44):
Thank you for coming along with Adam and Michael on
Road Adventures with Cycling Menof Leisure.
If you have enjoyed this, pleasesubscribe to the show on the
podcast app of your choice.
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