December 23, 2024 • 32 mins
Happy Festivus!
Today is a day to air grievances, celebrate feats of strength, and declare seemingly small things to be nothing short of a miracle.
🤬 AIRING OF GRIEVANCES 🤬
We asked the All Bodies on Bikes community to send in some grievances and they did not disappoint! From bee stings on boobs, to e-bike snubbing, to equity in infrastructure, we (Marley and Ellen) got a few things off our chests in this episode.
🏋🏻♀️ FEATS OF STRENGTH 🏋🏻♀️
We celebrate two cyclists who attempted breaking the world record for around-the-world trips, Lael Wilcox (@laelwilcox) and Vedangi Kulkarni (@thisisvedangi); commend the city of Bentonville, AR, for post-tornado cleanup; send a shout-out to the 2024 Paris Olympics finally having gender parity (we also swoon over Ilona Maher, goddess of body image); and flex 💪 just a bit about All Bodies On Bikes' 2024 statistics.
✨ FESTIVUS MIRACLES ✨
We wrapped up with Festivus Miracles, like simply getting out for a ride, being excited for new bike lanes, or cheering that women's sports finally getting their due.
Share your grievances, feats, and miracles with us on Instagram! Follow @AllBodiesOnBikes and drop a comment.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ellen Schwartze (00:05):
Happy Festivus.
Happy Festivus, Ellen.
It's a holiday for the rest of us.
Marley Blonsky (00:09):
You know, I had to Google.
what Festivus was.
Really?
Because I've like heard it inpopular lexicon, whatever, and
I've heard it talked about, butI've never watched Seinfeld.
I don't know if I should admitthat to the world or not, but
I've never watched Seinfeld.
Ellen Schwartze (00:20):
Don't at us about Seinfeld.
I know the little, I mean,we've watched it, like,
Marley Blonsky (00:25):
I've watched clips, but I've never watched the show.
Same.
So I didn't really know what Festivus was.
And when you suggested we do aFestivus episode, I was like, Okay.
, what does that mean?
Um, can I read you the Wikipedia Yes.
For people, for other folks like mewho didn't know what Festivus was?
A hundred percent.
So Festivus is a secular holidaycelebrated on December 23rd as an
(00:48):
alternative to the perceived pressures andcommercialism of the Christmas season.
It was originally createdby author Daniel O'Keefe.
Festivus entered popular cultureafter it was made the focus
of a 1997 Seinfeld episode.
The Strike., the non commercialholiday celebration as depicted
on Seinfeld, includes a festivusdinner, which we're not having dinner
(01:09):
on this episode, but that's okay.
Um, an unadorned, unadorned,that's a hard word to say,
Ellen Schwartze (01:14):
unadorned,
Marley Blonsky (01:14):
unadorned aluminum festivus pole, and practices such as
the airing of grievances, feats ofstrength, and the labeling of easily
explainable events as festivus miracles.
Ellen Schwartze (01:26):
It's a miracle!
Marley Blonsky (01:26):
Cool.
Uh.
Festivus is known as aholiday for the rest of us.
Festivus
Ellen Schwartze (01:32):
for the rest of us, best of
Marley Blonsky (01:33):
us, for the rest of us , which is great because I'm Jewish.
Ellen Schwartze (01:35):
I'm just here.
Marley Blonsky (01:36):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so, and we know our audience doesall sorts of different celebrations.
Yeah.
But this is really like anon-religious, nice way to
commemorate the end of the year.
Ellen Schwartze (01:45):
It is.
Yeah.
Who doesn't like a good gripe?
Marley Blonsky (01:48):
Exactly.
So, on this episode, we are goingto air our grievances, including
some that we got from the audience.
We asked on Instagram.
If you're not following us on Instagram,you should follow us on Instagram.
Um, we got some audio messagesfrom folks, which is really cool.
We'll play those for you.,we're going to talk about some
really cool feats of strength.
I'm very excited about that part.
And then we're going to finishup with some Festivus Miracles.
And there's been some good stuff too.
(02:09):
There has been.
It's been a, it's been a weird year.
Ellen Schwartze (02:12):
It has.
Marley Blonsky (02:12):
But overall,
Ellen Schwartze (02:14):
it's been good.
It has been a good year.
It has been a weird year.
I think that's very fair to say.
Marley Blonsky (02:19):
Yeah.
Ellen Schwartze (02:20):
But, uh, there's good stuff in between.
Plenty to gripe about, plenty tocelebrate, and plenty to look forward to.
Yes.
Marley Blonsky (02:28):
Should we start with the airing of grievances?
Ellen Schwartze (02:29):
It's time.
We got enough submissions that wekind of grouped these together.
So our very first grievance iswhy can't every ride be perfect?
We're starting this off with anote in from a friend of mine,
Carolyn, when I asked her what hergrievances, this is what she sent me.
Carolyn (02:45):
This is a difficult grievance to share because I am pro bee, save the bees.
However, this summer I gotstung twice in one week's time.
The second time, right in theboob, and, it's just an unpleasant
place to get stung, let me tell ya.
Uh, the only bright side is, aftera hot, sweaty ride, an ice pack on
your boob actually kinda feels nice.
(03:07):
So, sorry bees, this yearyou're on my list, but, uh, I'll
still do what I can to save ya.
Thanks Marley and Ellen, happyholidays, and happy festivus.
Marley Blonsky (03:17):
I love that, because yeah, I'm also pro bee, but when
I get stung, I'm not pro bee.
No!
Yeah!
Ellen Schwartze (03:22):
Especially on your boob!
Carolyn, maybe I should haveasked this back in a text message.
I didn't think so.
Carolyn, let us knowhow it got to your boob.
Marley Blonsky (03:30):
Yeah, maybe you were riding and it like flew
down your top or something.
Ellen Schwartze (03:33):
That might make sense.
Marley Blonsky (03:33):
Yeah, I've had that happen.
With a bee?
No, with, with just bugs in generalthat have like flown in or like
gotten into my helmet and then Ifind the bug at the end of the ride.
It's always so weird.
That would be really strange.
It's very weird.
I wouldn't like that.
Yeah.
And it's usually like duringa race or something,, you're
not just dilly dallying.
Right.
You're not just going to pull overand like, Yeah, you kind of ignore it.
Exactly.
(03:54):
Yeah.
Oh my
Ellen Schwartze (03:55):
God.
Yeah.
So, um, so that is, that isCarolyn's grievance is there's
a bee and it stunk her boob.
Next up, we're going to hear from David.
David (04:03):
Hey, all bodies on bikes crew, this is David from Southern California.
I heard we were airing our grievances, soI thought I would throw mine into the mix.
I guess mine is technically with myself.
More specifically, me,the night before a ride.
I have this very bad habit of making allthese promises and feeling like I'm gonna
have infinite time the next day to airup tires, fill up water bottles, find
(04:26):
whatever I'm gonna wear for that ride.
Uh, yeah, and then the next day rollsaround and that early morning ride very
quickly turns into a late afternoon ride.
and yeah, I don't know what nightbefore David's problem is, but
he, he doesn't like making morningof David's life easy at all.
Um, 2025 is a new year, and whoknows, maybe that'll change.
(04:47):
Probably not, but we staypositive around here.
Alright, I love you guys.
Bye.
Marley Blonsky (04:54):
Oh, I love that.
That is so relatable, because thenight before Marley is also not
kind to the morning of Marley.
Same.
Ellen Schwartze (05:01):
It's truly like a brain thing where you think of
your future self as a completelyseparate entity from yourself.
So you're just like, well, thatperson is so different from me.
Like never in my life has MorningEllen been capable, full stop, and
ready to, be quick about anything.
Marley Blonsky (05:18):
No.
And the times when I doprepare everything, I feel
like I'm on top of the world.
Yeah.
And I, what would it be like to bea person who did that all the time?
Ellen Schwartze (05:26):
I don't know.
We feel you, David.
This is the perfect grievance.
Like, why can't the worldjust be prepared for us?
How come it can't just belike, here's our things.
Why do I have to wash them?
Marley Blonsky (05:37):
Why does it feel like I'm like fighting against myself
Ellen Schwartze (05:39):
all the time?
Um, I think it's,
Marley Blonsky (05:41):
neurodivergence is probably what it is.
The funny thing though is like, allmy friends fit into that category too.
Yeah.
So, my sister does not.
My sister is very, very good at preparingthings and having things ready to go.
But it's funny because when I spendtime with her, That annoys me.
Ellen Schwartze (05:56):
Oh, interesting.
Marley Blonsky (05:57):
I'm like, you're just too on top of things.
Right.
This is too much.
Yeah.
I think it's okay thatwe are the way we are.
Ellen Schwartze (06:02):
I agree.
I have not been diagnosed with anything,but I'm suspicious, partially because
I think I'm very swayable on instagram,but also I saw like a message or a meme
or something that's like, if you'relooking around and feeling like, so many
people around you are nerd emergent.
It's like misery lives company.
Yep.
Hmm.
Maybe do introspection.
That's just like, Oh nuts.
(06:22):
I've had to at least two,maybe three friends, like get
proper diagnosis late in life.
So it's like, Oh, yep, yep.
So, okay, well hopefully night beforeDavid can get on your game in 2025.
But for now, it's definitely a grievance.
Marley Blonsky (06:38):
Yes, and let us know how that goes.
If you figure out any tricksor For me, rewards always help.
Oh, yeah.
So it's like, if I do this A little treat?
Yeah.
Although lately, I'vebeen pre rewarding myself.
I don't,
Ellen Schwartze (06:52):
doesn't work.
That's just not the same.
No, it's not the same at all.
It's not the same at all.
I like it though.
What did we get from Instagram?
Marley Blonsky (07:00):
We got a couple from Instagram, kind of in this same theme
of not every ride has to be perfect.
And this one is one that has beenon my grievance list forever, but
group rides that are not no drop.
this came from Jenna Smith906 and she added, it's so
heartbreaking and it really is.
It's more than just annoying.
It's frustrating, it's demoralizing,it like really impacts my whole mood.
(07:25):
Yeah.
When I go on a group rideand they say it's gonna be no
drop and you get left behind.
Ellen Schwartze (07:31):
Oh, so even like
some of them will kind of go in saying, wewill drop you if you're fast enough, but
others would say we are no drop, but then,
Marley Blonsky (07:39):
or they say they're no drop.
And technically they're nodrop because when they get to
the hill, they wait for you.
But then when you get up the hill, as soonas you get there, they get going again.
Ellen Schwartze (07:50):
Yeah.
Marley Blonsky (07:51):
I call that the FU stop.
Because.
Um,
Ellen Schwartze (07:54):
a few catch up, catch your breath.
Let's go.
You're not, you're going to get faster.
If we give you no time to recover, right?
Exactly.
Oh, that is a grievance.
Marley Blonsky (08:03):
How dare you?
Yeah.
Jenna.
Thanks for sending that one in.
Next one we got is, from ample accessoutdoors, which is a really cool Instagram
account, similar to all bodies on bikes.
they work on fat people accessto outdoors, which is really
cool, but not just in cycling.
And they wrote in, my earsgetting cold on a ride.
Ellen Schwartze (08:21):
Such a grievance.
Marley Blonsky (08:22):
It really is.
Ellen Schwartze (08:22):
I'm so, Oh, I hate it.
Because right now, the weatheris like right on the line
so I'm like, it's 50 degrees.
This is wonderful.
And then I get on the ride and it'slike, my ears are so like painful.
But like earmuffs don'tfit under a helmet.
Marley Blonsky (08:37):
I saw this thing the other day, on Instagram , knitting little like,
triangle covers to go on your straps.
Um, and I just learned howto knit, so I might try and
explore this over the holidays.
Ooh.
Um, but I've also seen it done withlike fleece, where you like sew some
fleece and then you just stick them on.
So there are some fairlycheap DIY solutions out there.
Okay.
Um, and of course you could alwayslike put on a merino cap or something.
(08:58):
Yeah, yeah.
Um, sure, sure.
Ellen Schwartze (09:00):
This, uh, but that
Marley Blonsky (09:01):
also takes pre planning.
I was gonna say,
Ellen Schwartze (09:02):
this relates to the night before Ellen.
Yes.
Not being ready for morning of Ellen.
Yeah.
So, agreed.
Grievance.
Of course.
Oh, our ears are gettingcold on these stupid rides.
Yes.
Uh, if you have othergrievances, let us know.
They're better out than in.
Marley Blonsky (09:15):
Yes.
Yeah.
Get them out.
Especially these like littlethings that aren't huge.
Ellen Schwartze (09:19):
Yeah.
Just
Marley Blonsky (09:19):
get them off your chest.
It feels good to
Ellen Schwartze (09:21):
get them out there.
So, okay.
That was grievance.
Number one is not allrides are good rides.
How dare they?
Marley Blonsky (09:26):
Yeah.
Ellen Schwartze (09:26):
What's the grievance number two?
Marley Blonsky (09:27):
Grievance number two, is all about infrastructure and
equity in cycling, which we couldgo on about this for a long time.
Forever, for my whole life.
We're, we're keeping it limitedtoday so this one is going to
be from Maggie in Pittsburgh.
Let's see what Maggie has to say.
This
Maggie (09:43):
is Maggie from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
And my biggest complaint is somethingthat we can all relate to and it's
cycling next to really aggressive drivers,whether it's riding in the city or the
suburbs, I have recently encountered alot of aggressive drivers and I don't
(10:03):
think it'll ever make sense to mebecause they are literally in a tank
that could do a lot of damage to someone
on a bicycle.
Some folks are not able tohave a car, their bike is their
main mode of transportation.
So it's definitely a big irk of mine.
Bike Pittsburgh is an organizationin our city that does a lot
for bike infrastructure.
(10:24):
So they definitely have worked onmaking our streets safe for us.
There's still some education.
I feel like that is needed forpeople who drive cars, like honking
and driving close to cyclists.
Do not make them go away.
That's
all.
Ellen Schwartze (10:42):
I love what she said at the very end there.
It's like honking at us isn'tgoing to make us go away.
Right,
Marley Blonsky (10:46):
yeah.
I was on a group ride the other night.
It was just for a friend'sbirthday, so nothing like formal.
Sure.
Just a group of us riding bikes together.
And this car honked probably 20 times.
And it was hard to tell, like, I waslike, Oh, they're encouraging us.
And other people were like,no, that was really aggressive.
Um, and so it's honks don't have tone.
It's like text message.
So you don't know if you're beingnice or being mean or whatever.
Ellen Schwartze (11:09):
Yeah.
Marley Blonsky (11:09):
Don't honk at cyclists.
It's scary.
Ellen Schwartze (11:11):
Don't do it.
That's right, I very much agree.
It's just like, people will be like,zoom by you and think that that's gonna
, discourage you from riding or something.
I don't know.
It's just very much, and I'm guiltyof this too, when you're the person
behind the wheel, it's all about you.
Yeah.
And how dare someone else get in your way.
But it's like, I agreewith what Maggie said.
It's like, how is this,how is this happening?
Like, we're here to stay.
Marley Blonsky (11:30):
Yeah.
Ellen Schwartze (11:30):
I love that.
She brought up pittsburgh cyclingorganization Yeah, pittsburgh
because that's also we got onein from my hometown kansas city.
From michael kelly who's a friend ofthe show, and he specifically brought
up lack of infrastructure in EastKC, which is also an equity thing.
So like historically East KC hasnot had the same resources as
they're like the Metro as a whole.
(11:51):
But Maggie even mentioned this too,like not everybody can afford a car.
Yeah.
Like some people needto bike to get around.
And so why are we not doingmore for these people?
So absolutely a grievance that there'snot just like start building people.
Start building to wheremore people can get around.
Marley Blonsky (12:05):
Yeah.
Out, outside of cars, whether that's busesor walking or bikes, because yeah, even,
even if you choose not to have a car orbecause of a disability, you can't drive,
whatever it might be like you deserve
safe transportation, safe routes.
Yeah.
Yeah, safe ways to get around.
Ellen Schwartze (12:20):
I'm getting honked at way less in some of our protected
bike lanes around here than I wouldbe if I were on that same road
trying to just cycle myself normally.
Marley Blonsky (12:28):
I think there's a lot of progress happening in this area, which
we touched on in the election episode.
Um, and I think the more we continue tobuild out the infrastructure, the less
conflict there's going to be with cars.
So I'm hopeful that we'reheaded in the right direction.
Ellen Schwartze (12:40):
Yes.
And it's also a, if you buildit, they will come situation.
Yes.
Same as, you know, for cornfield baseballfield in Iowa and bike lanes in Midwest
cities or any city like New York isactually in London are great examples
of if you built it, they will come.
Marley Blonsky (12:54):
Yeah.
Although I, so I have a grievance.
It's kind of related to this.
So in Bentonville, they are building abunch of new bike infrastructure for the
new Walmart home office that's going in.
But it's been put in kind of piecemeal,which makes sense as construction happens.
But there's one bike lane where it passesin front of the Walmart home office.
And I have had numerous friendseither get hit or almost get hit.
(13:17):
And thankfully they've all beenvery slow speed because people
coming out of a parking lot, but theeducation hasn't been done for how
to interact with these bike lanes.
There's no signage.
They just put in like the Kermitgreen paint where the bike lane
intersects with the, um, the drivewaysor whatever, but it's not enough.
Ellen Schwartze (13:35):
Right.
Marley Blonsky (13:35):
Yeah.
Like
Ellen Schwartze (13:36):
to say out loud what is going on.
Marley Blonsky (13:38):
Exactly.
There, there needs to be signs that say,watch for cyclists, watch for pedestrians,
you know, Bikes here, cars here, um,because people in Bentonville have just
never encountered this infrastructure,
and they
have no idea how to use it.
Ellen Schwartze (13:49):
Mm hmm, that's a really good, really, really good point.
And I think even too with driver and ridereducation, towards like, I get, I will get
frustrated with other cyclists sometimeswho I see doing things that I understand
the frustration, I understand why youare jumping the light, I understand
why you're Being assertive, but it'sthe unfairness of you have to kind of
represent every cyclist when you're out onthe road, which is absolutely a grievance.
(14:10):
I'm a very different cyclist fromeverybody else, but it's just like, so
many drivers will see that one cyclist andbe like, ah, yeah, I hate people on bikes.
That's right.
I hate it.
So yeah, total grievance.
Not enough educationaround the infrastructure.
Marley Blonsky (14:24):
Yep.
Agreed.
It's happening though.
It is.
Um, this one's kind of related.
So this one's also from Ample AccessOutdoors, which we just talked about.
They talk about not knowing where tobike when the rail trails have black ice.
Oh, that's a good one.
Yeah, so folks who are using therail trails, which is separate
infrastructure, but when those areicy, where can you bike safely?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Ellen Schwartze (14:45):
Yeah, and that's like very much an access issue
and a bit of an equity issue, ifyou only have one thing to use.
And it's in poorcondition for good reason.
Like you can't, we can't make,we can't change the weather.
Right.
What a grievance.
I can't change the weather.
Um, but.
Try
Marley Blonsky (15:00):
harder Ellen.
Ellen Schwartze (15:02):
I will.
But like if you only have the onething and it's out of commission.
You're done.
Marley Blonsky (15:05):
Right.
Yeah.
And actually, that's a grievance thatI've heard from a lot of folks that I,
they didn't send in, but when the carlanes get plowed, but the bike lanes
don't get plowed or treated for winter.
And there's a lot of folkswho still cycle year round.
Um, yeah, I wish I was one of thosepeople who was a more hardcore
cyclist, but I hate being cold.
Ellen Schwartze (15:25):
You're in the Midwest now, Marvy.
And
Marley Blonsky (15:28):
it's funny.
I was thinking about moving to Minnesota.
Like, no.
No.
No.
Ellen Schwartze (15:32):
No, that would be fair.
Oh, okay.
We don't need to get into this.
Like Minnesota is one of those states.
It's like, it's so cold.
They have it figured out.
Yeah.
So it's different.
Marley Blonsky (15:39):
But that doesn't mean that I would have it figured out.
Nope.
Nope.
True.
Ellen Schwartze (15:42):
Truth.
So, um, okay.
And there's one more.
This one's in from Canada, um, relatedto, but kind of more of the equity
issue, but the need for size inclusivemountain bike apparel in Canada.
But I feel like this probably applies.
Okay.
Marley Blonsky (15:56):
Yeah, you know, obviously I work with Shreddly, um, full
disclosure and they make up to a size24, which is pretty good., obviously
there's people who are bigger thanthat, but we need more than one brand
making this stuff and, you know, kneepads and chest pads and elbow pads.
Like those all depend on your body size.
Ellen Schwartze (16:13):
Oh yeah.
Marley Blonsky (16:13):
I don't have knee pads.
Ellen Schwartze (16:15):
Oh,
Marley Blonsky (16:15):
yeah.
And it's not because I don't need them.
It's because I can't everfind a pair that fits me.
Ellen Schwartze (16:19):
Why don't you just suffer the consequences of having no circulation
in the bottom half of your legs, Marley?
Marley Blonsky (16:24):
Or suffer the consequences of riding without knee
pads, which is what I'm currently doing.
Ellen Schwartze (16:27):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Hmm.
Yeah.
Darn, darn.
Marley Blonsky (16:30):
Exactly.
Ellen Schwartze (16:32):
Oh, grievances.
All right.
We have one more.
This is from Elizabeth, andshe has something to say.
Elizabeth (16:42):
Hey Marley, so for Festivus and the airing of the grievances, the
one I'd like to bring up is how arewe almost in 2025 and people are still
shitting on folks for riding e bikes?
The amount of ableism and just negativecomments that come from all over
the cycling community about peoplethat want to ride an e bike, for
whatever reason, is absolutely absurd.
(17:05):
And honestly, it's disheartening,and I really wish it would just stop.
So here's our hope for 2025.
Marley Blonsky (17:11):
Yes, love that one.
You know, it's funny.
I wrote a column for CyclingWeekly about e bikes.
Oh yeah.
And the number of emails Igot from, it was all men.
It was, I got upwards of20 emails, which is wild.
I was talking to my editorand she was like, we never.
Get that kind of response fromfolks, but it really touched a
(17:32):
nerve with people, especially whenyou suggest that e bikes should be
allowed in races or on group rides.
Interesting.
There's just this like purist mentalitywhere it's like, if you're not suffering
as much as I'm suffering, then youdon't deserve to be on a bicycle.
And Elizabeth is so right.
Like it's ableist it's exclusionary.
Like who cares?
E bikes are awesome.
Ellen Schwartze (17:52):
Yeah.
I mean, I can see if it's likea true race race, like it has to
be a little bit apples to apples.
Yes.
A hundred percent.
It's this, but it doesn't meanno, never don't let them in.
It just means, yeah.
Acknowledge that it's an e bike andyou're not on one and that's fine for you.
But yeah.
Or
Marley Blonsky (18:07):
have separate categories, you know, like you don't need to
award podiums for people on e bikes.
Like, I think that just seems silly.
Yeah.
Um, although there's like.
e mountain bike racing happening now and
Ellen Schwartze (18:17):
It makes it more fun.
Like, if the point is to get up anddown a mountain as fast as you can,
as fast as you want to, maybe, thenwhy wouldn't you add an e bike to it?
I love this so much.
I also think it ties into the equityand infrastructure because an e
commuting bike makes it so much easierto get around town and not be a sweaty
mess when you arrive somewhere, butyou're also not in your car anymore.
If it's going to allow morepeople to use a bike, let's do it.
(18:40):
Can we please just leanin to e bikes in 2025?
We are.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
So thank you Elizabethand David and Maggie.
Yeah.
For sending in your grievances.
So everybody can keep sending them in.
Air them.
Air them out.
Yeah.
Marley Blonsky (18:57):
Air them out on your own.
Hopefully this jogs somethings in your brain.
You're like, oh yeah,that irked me this year.
Oh yeah, that too.
Just get it out.
Let it go.
Ellen Schwartze (19:05):
Let it go.
watching a lot of Frozenin my house right now.
Marley Blonsky (19:08):
We went to a light dinner.
show last night.
Oh yeah.
And they played that song and I was like,this is going to be stuck in my head
well, we have aired the grievances.
Um, the next part of Festivusis Feats of Strength.
Ellen Schwartze (19:18):
Yeah.
Marley Blonsky (19:18):
Um, which my reference point on this is kind of funny.
I used to do CrossFit.
And our gym had a Festivus Featsof Strength, like we did games
around it and it was really fun.
But again, I had no context for it.
I didn't know what it was all about.
Ellen Schwartze (19:32):
did you just think that your gym decided to do Feats of Strength?
Yeah.
They say it's Festivus Feats of Strength.
Marley Blonsky (19:38):
I think they said it was Festivus Feats of Strength, but I thought
it was just something they made up.
Ellen Schwartze (19:41):
Oh, that's
Marley Blonsky (19:42):
funny.
I really had no idea.
I wonder how many more things in mylife are like this, just like cultural
reference points that I have no,like I haven't watched a lot of TV.
I haven't watched a lot of movies.
Same.
I just.
Missed that part of life.
Somehow.
I don't know what I was doing,but I wasn't never seen Star Wars.
Never seen Lord of the Rings.
Never seen like,
Ellen Schwartze (19:59):
I know.
Okay, I'm ahead of you, which is unusual.
It's unusual that I'm ahead of anyonein this particular category what gets
me is that I know the reference, butnot what it's from a lot of times.
So I will just like say things and thensomeone's like, Oh, ha ha ha, that thing.
And then do a follow on thing.
And I was like, Oh yeah, no, I justknow that that's a funny thing to say.
(20:20):
So feats of strength.
Marley Blonsky (20:21):
There were some incredible feats of strength
this year in the cycling world.
, two that I want to highlight,are in the same Realm.
Okay., so two women did around theworld rides this year., so Lael
Wilcox got a lot of publicity forhers, she broke the world record and
she rode 18, 125 miles to be exactin 108 days, 12 hours, and 12 minutes.
Ellen Schwartze (20:44):
How many miles per day did that wind up being?
Marley Blonsky (20:46):
It ended up being like, it was over, it was like 150 to.
Easily.
Yeah.
Most days.
Ellen Schwartze (20:51):
Holy cow.
That is a feat of strength.
Yeah.
It was incredible.
Wow.
Marley Blonsky (20:55):
Yeah.
And her, her wife documented it.
So if you go back to her Instagram,which we'll link to, um, she did
like visual postcards from a lotof the places where she was riding.
And it was just absolutelystunning and beautiful.
And it was cool because Lealalso invited folks to ride along
with her in certain places.
It's like meet up with her.
. Just made it a whole community endeavor.
And Lael is just an incredibleperson., I actually got to go to her
(21:16):
and Rue's wedding a couple years ago.
that's a whole notherstory of how that happened.
But, yeah, congratulations, Lael.
Ellen Schwartze (21:22):
That's amazing.
Incredible work.
Yeah.
Marley Blonsky (21:24):
And then similarly, there was an Indian woman.
Then Dongi Kolkarni.
Um, she was already the youngestwoman to circle the globe by bike.
So she's already done this once before.
She set out to also tryand break the record.
She did not break the record andshe's actually still on her trip,
which is still incredibly cool.
Um, but what's reallyinteresting about her.
(21:46):
Race around the world is because she'sfrom India she had challenges getting the
same visas that Laila was able to get.
And so the Guinness Book of WorldRecords requires Regulations, I guess.
Yeah, there's
Ellen Schwartze (21:58):
it's like, there's apples to apples things that happen.
Yeah.
Marley Blonsky (22:01):
So it had to be, it had to either go from east to
west or west to east and she had topass through like two points that
are on opposite sides of the globe.
Okay.
So if you look at Lael's route, shewent like North America, Europe,
australia, it wasn'texactly around the world.
Ellen Schwartze (22:15):
Okay.
But, oh, but like, because NorthAmerican Australia are opposites.
Exactly.
Okay.
Yeah, yeah,
Marley Blonsky (22:19):
yeah.
But Vandangi's she, Had to createthis kind of hodgepodge route of
where she was able to get visas.
Um, and still being really, really cool.
Um, and she's currently in Oman,Jordan nearing the end of her journey.
So we will link to her instagram and herwebsite But encourage you to follow along
there because really really cool story andjust A person that you don't typically see
(22:43):
celebrated for these things, absolutely.
Yeah, congratulations, Vidangi.
So cool.
Maybe we can try and get her on the show.
. Ellen Schwartze: Yes.
I would love that.
It's going to shine a light on abig global conversation basically.
It's like Lael's an Americanwhite woman who can get more
access just by that inherent
just, her passport affords more visas than somebody from India.
Ellen Schwartze (23:03):
Yeah.
Marley Blonsky (23:03):
So I thought that was really, really interesting.
And there, there already is aconversation happening, you know, like.
Lael's attempt was like a very westernizedattempt, and Vendonghi's, is a very
different way to do it, which neitheris inherently better than the other.
No way.
It's different.
Ellen Schwartze (23:16):
Yeah, and I guess, I like that too about Vendonghi's
ride, is that she'll have inherentlyjust kind of shown lights on other
places that we don't see very often.
Like, we see the Netherlands allthe time, we see Europe all the
time, because they're so whitecentric, but it's just like, what
other places did she wind up going?
Yeah.
That's
Marley Blonsky (23:31):
awesome.
Yeah, I've never seenwhat Oman looks like.
Ellen Schwartze (23:34):
I can tell you what I think it looks like,
and I might be very wrong.
Marley Blonsky (23:36):
Same.
So we'll, we'll follow on.
a couple other reallycool feats of strength.
Um, this one is my own personal one.
Bentonville was hit by a tornado.
In, um, Late May of this year.
And it was really incredible to see thecommunity come together to, you know,
first, everybody focused on people'shouses, you know, getting trees off of
houses, uh, making sure everybody hada place to stay, all of that stuff.
(23:57):
I, you know, I personally helpedclear limbs off of friends houses
and roofs and stuff like that.
But the community really came togetherto get the trails open again, um,
because cycling is obviously such a partof the local economy and tourism, the
bike shops needed that to come back,because it is such a part of the economy.
And, just last week, This one last trailthat was a paved bridge, which is so sad.
(24:22):
They had just opened it like two weeksbefore the tornado and it got damaged
and they just opened it back up.
It
feels like we're back.
Ellen Schwartze (24:27):
Yeah, but that's a cool feat of strength too.
Like maybe a literal, like I'mpicturing you like lifting a
giant tree trunk above your head.
But like, it takes a lot of time.
There was a festivalthat weekend too, right?
Marley Blonsky (24:38):
There was.
It was Bentonville Bike Fest.
Lots of tents got destroyed.
Thankfully, nobody was injured atthat, because a tornado hit at like 3
in the morning., Like, like they do.
Exactly.
I wouldn't say I lifted anytree trunks over my head.
I was doing a lot of,like, light limb work.
Okay.
My knee was still pretty injuredat that point, so I was just
helping out where I could.
Ellen Schwartze (24:55):
It's still, it all counts, it all has to happen.
Marley Blonsky (24:57):
Exactly.
You know, some people do thechainsaws, some people do the loppers.
Ellen Schwartze (25:00):
That's right.
Yeah.
There you go.
Yeah.
Wonderful.
My favorite feat of strength fromthis year, I love the Olympics.
I love the Olympics so much.
All the time.
This year felt super excitingfor very many reasons.
It's kind of like the firstbig summer games post COVID..
Well, I have feelingsabout saying post COVID.
Because we're not post COVID.
We're not post COVID.
Yeah,
Marley Blonsky (25:17):
COVID's still killing people every day.
Ellen Schwartze (25:18):
Yeah.
Fewer.
It's still top 10, but it's like dropped.
Marley Blonsky (25:22):
Get your vaccine, people.
Ellen Schwartze (25:24):
Yes.
Pro vaccine on this show.
all of that is to say it was very excitingbut this year it was 50 50 men and women.
So that's really cool.
Exact 50 50 representation of mencompetitors, women competitors.
I checked.
True of cycling.
So I think it was 257 in each categoryand they basically like reworked the
events to make sure parody was reached.
(25:44):
That's rad.
Um, so that was super duper cool thatafter what are we at this point?.
Modern Olympics.
Actually, it started in I 100 years.
Yeah,
Marley Blonsky (25:51):
1896.
I did a Okay.
I did a project on this when I waslike, fourth grade, and I don't know
why I remember it, but I do, so.
Ellen Schwartze (25:56):
So there you go.
Yeah.
So it only took 130 years to getto gender parity, but here we are.
Yep, here we are.
Um, and the other thing that I needto shout out about the Olympics
is that it introduced the world toIlona Marr, who's the rugby woman,
like, rugby, like, woman of the hour,woman of the year easily, who is just
ridiculously overtly body positive.
(26:19):
She found rugby and it becamesomething that she is so good
at, but also because of her body.
And so she's just been like, Big isbeautiful and bodies are beautiful.
And you can do that.
Like you can wear lipstickwhile you smash someone
Marley Blonsky (26:32):
in a rugby.
And I love that she's been embracedby like the dancing with the stars
show, which I've never watchedthat show until she was on it.
Did you watch it?
I did.
Oh my God.
Can they have
Ellen Schwartze (26:40):
a podcast about that?
Cause I love it.
Okay, moving on.
But yeah,
Marley Blonsky (26:44):
but also like sports illustrated, like the
swimsuit edition, which is likeproblematic for so many ways.
But it was so cool to seea different body displayed.
And like, if you don't follow heron Instagram, she's hilarious.
And yeah, it's.
Alona Mar, you're, you'rea blessing to this world.
Ellen Schwartze (27:01):
Yep.
Yeah.
I love her so much.
Yeah.
Uh, it's one, she's one ofthose personalities who it's
like, we're best friends, right?
Like if I saw her on the street, I'dbe like, hey girl, like, do you, like,
you know, I know everything about you.
And she, I'm sure shewould just be like, yeah.
It's like, she would take this drive.
Oh, yeah.
She's gotta be.
used to it at this point.
Oh,
Marley Blonsky (27:20):
yeah.
Yeah.
But I, you know, as somebodylike, obviously, I don't have a
following nearly as big as hers.
It is a little weird to have thoseparasocial relationships, but
she seems to be taking it well.
Ellen Schwartze (27:29):
She's very authentic.
I think it's helpful.
It's like what you see is what you get.
Yeah.
So yeah.
A hundred percent.
Marley Blonsky (27:33):
And then Yeah.
One last feat of strength that Iwant to call out, which is absolutely
incredible is all the work thatall bodies on bikes did this year.
Um, specifically, so we've gotchapters all across the country.
Um, we just launched five new chapters.
Um, I'm going to shout them outhere because it's public now.
DFW, Texas, Des Moines, Iowa,Minneapolis, Minnesota, uh, Mississippi
(27:56):
nebulous as to where in Mississippiit's going to be, cause they're
going to go all over the place.
Um, yeah.
And then Portland, Oregon.
Ellen Schwartze (28:02):
Ah, nice.
Marley Blonsky (28:03):
So we launched five new chapters this year and,
um, of the existing chapters, theyhad 27 rides with 1, 150 people.
That's so many people.
So many people.
And honestly, I think it was morethan that because sometimes the
paperwork doesn't come back in.
You're kidding.
I know, right?
Volunteers, paperwork.
Who knew?
Yeah.
But we, we love our chapter leaders.
(28:23):
Is that a
Ellen Schwartze (28:23):
small grievance?
Marley Blonsky (28:24):
Small grievance.
But only because I'm anonprofit administrator.
Ellen Schwartze (28:28):
Um,
Marley Blonsky (28:30):
and then kind of related to that, we had 18 different
special events in 12 different States.
So these were like shakeoutrides or live podcast recordings,
With almost 2, 000 people.
Ellen Schwartze (28:40):
Heyo!
That is
Marley Blonsky (28:42):
incredible!
That
Ellen Schwartze (28:43):
is wild!
Marley Blonsky (28:44):
Nice work, Marlee.
Thank you.
Nice work to our team.
And thank you to everybody whocame out and joined us for a ride.
2025 is going to beeven bigger and better.
More chapters, more events., holler ifyou want us to come to an event in your
town, we're making our calendar now.
So yeah, reach out, um, eitherMarley at all bodies on the bikes.
com info at all bodies on bikes.
(29:05):
com.
We're very easy to get in.
Hold on.
So
Ellen Schwartze (29:08):
Instagram, whatevs.
Marley Blonsky (29:09):
Yeah, exactly.
So those were our feats of strength.
And then this last categorywas a little bit harder.
Yeah.
Um, because Festivus Miraclesare supposed to be like everyday
things that just happened.
Ellen Schwartze (29:23):
But that then you explain as, it's a miracle!
Marley Blonsky (29:26):
So the first one I have on here is, I went for a bike ride.
It's a miracle!
Yeah!
And so, to be fair I rode mybike a ton before my surgery.
Yeah.
And then I had my meniscus repairedin early November and I've been
back on the bike twice since then.
Ellen Schwartze (29:39):
That is exciting.
Yeah.
Marley Blonsky (29:40):
So we're going to call it a miracle.
Ellen Schwartze (29:41):
It's a miracle.
the one that I put on here, uh, becauseit's supposed to feel a bit mundane,
but still celebratory is just bike lanesgoing in across the nation building
more infrastructure in general feelssometimes like a bit of a miracle.
Yeah.
I love it.
Marley Blonsky (29:55):
Yeah.
This next one, I didn't reallyknow where to put it, but I
think it's pretty darn cool.
Um, this year there is projected 1.
3 billion in revenue for women's sports.
And that's expected to have doubledigit growth in the coming years.
Oh
Ellen Schwartze (30:09):
my gosh.
Yeah.
And so,
Marley Blonsky (30:11):
but actually like 1.
3 billion isn't that much whenyou think about like all the
money that's spent on sports.
And so I think thatmight be an undercount.
You know, you think about like the KaitlinClark effect and Olympics and Alona Maher.
But that's still a lot of money comingfrom women's sports, which is rad.
Ellen Schwartze (30:24):
That's a good point., there's a women's sports bar and boy,
I cannot remember the name of it.
Marley Blonsky (30:29):
Actually, there's, they're opening up all over the place.
Ellen Schwartze (30:30):
Basically the one.
Was like proved the point that it'slike we will only be playing women's
sports and the bar is wildly successful.
And so now they're popping up everywhere.
I think Kansas City is about to get one.
That's so cool.
Yeah.
So I'm excited.
You're right.
1.
3 billion in the green scheme of thingsis small, but that is a huge number.
Yeah.
That is so cool.
Yeah, exactly.
It
Marley Blonsky (30:48):
is a miracle.
It's a miracle that like women's sportsare finally getting the recognition
that they have long deserved.
That's
Ellen Schwartze (30:54):
actually, that's the right way to put it.
Marley Blonsky (30:56):
Yeah.
Ellen Schwartze (30:56):
Yeah.
It's just a miracle that it's happening.
Marley Blonsky (30:58):
Yeah.
Yay.
Yeah.
Long overdue, but it's happening.
Ellen Schwartze (31:01):
So
Marley Blonsky (31:02):
yeah.
And then just, you know, finishingup shout out to all of you.
You made it through the year.
You maybe set some goals, youmaybe rode your bike, maybe
you didn't and that's okay.
Ellen Schwartze (31:10):
Yeah.
Making it through 2024.
feels like an actual miracle.
Yes.
Not a festivus miracle.
We have what, I guess if it's the 23rd,we have like nine days, seven days.
What's ten?
31 minus 23.
We ride bikes, you guys.
We're not math people.
Marley Blonsky (31:27):
We have eight days left.
Ellen Schwartze (31:28):
Eight days left.
Eight days left in the year.
Of the year.
I think we're gonna make it.
Yeah.
It's been a weird one.
I think we've got a few moreweird ones on the horizon.
Unfortunately, I thinkyou're, you're correct.
But I think together in the spirit ofFestimus, Festivus, Festimus, in the
spirit of Festivus, And just all bodieson bikes that will make it through.
I think so too as a community.
(31:50):
Well, thanks Ellen.
Happy festivus Happy festivus marley.
Happy festivus to everybody and whateveryou celebrate in the next 20 days.
We hope that you are enjoying Yourlittle life your family your community
everybody who's around you and ifyou need someone You Reach out to us.
We're here for your grievances, foryour miracles, for whatever it is.
Happy Festivus.
Happy Festivus.
Happy Festivus, Ellen.
It's a holiday for the rest of us.
Marley Blonsky (00:09):
You know, I had to Google.
what Festivus was.
Really?
Because I've like heard it inpopular lexicon, whatever, and
I've heard it talked about, butI've never watched Seinfeld.
I don't know if I should admitthat to the world or not, but
I've never watched Seinfeld.
Ellen Schwartze (00:20):
Don't at us about Seinfeld.
I know the little, I mean,we've watched it, like,
Marley Blonsky (00:25):
I've watched clips, but I've never watched the show.
Same.
So I didn't really know what Festivus was.
And when you suggested we do aFestivus episode, I was like, Okay.
, what does that mean?
Um, can I read you the Wikipedia Yes.
For people, for other folks like mewho didn't know what Festivus was?
A hundred percent.
So Festivus is a secular holidaycelebrated on December 23rd as an
(00:48):
alternative to the perceived pressures andcommercialism of the Christmas season.
It was originally createdby author Daniel O'Keefe.
Festivus entered popular cultureafter it was made the focus
of a 1997 Seinfeld episode.
The Strike., the non commercialholiday celebration as depicted
on Seinfeld, includes a festivusdinner, which we're not having dinner
(01:09):
on this episode, but that's okay.
Um, an unadorned, unadorned,that's a hard word to say,
Ellen Schwartze (01:14):
unadorned,
Marley Blonsky (01:14):
unadorned aluminum festivus pole, and practices such as
the airing of grievances, feats ofstrength, and the labeling of easily
explainable events as festivus miracles.
Ellen Schwartze (01:26):
It's a miracle!
Marley Blonsky (01:26):
Cool.
Uh.
Festivus is known as aholiday for the rest of us.
Festivus
Ellen Schwartze (01:32):
for the rest of us, best of
Marley Blonsky (01:33):
us, for the rest of us , which is great because I'm Jewish.
Ellen Schwartze (01:35):
I'm just here.
Marley Blonsky (01:36):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so, and we know our audience doesall sorts of different celebrations.
Yeah.
But this is really like anon-religious, nice way to
commemorate the end of the year.
Ellen Schwartze (01:45):
It is.
Yeah.
Who doesn't like a good gripe?
Marley Blonsky (01:48):
Exactly.
So, on this episode, we are goingto air our grievances, including
some that we got from the audience.
We asked on Instagram.
If you're not following us on Instagram,you should follow us on Instagram.
Um, we got some audio messagesfrom folks, which is really cool.
We'll play those for you.,we're going to talk about some
really cool feats of strength.
I'm very excited about that part.
And then we're going to finishup with some Festivus Miracles.
And there's been some good stuff too.
(02:09):
There has been.
It's been a, it's been a weird year.
Ellen Schwartze (02:12):
It has.
Marley Blonsky (02:12):
But overall,
Ellen Schwartze (02:14):
it's been good.
It has been a good year.
It has been a weird year.
I think that's very fair to say.
Marley Blonsky (02:19):
Yeah.
Ellen Schwartze (02:20):
But, uh, there's good stuff in between.
Plenty to gripe about, plenty tocelebrate, and plenty to look forward to.
Yes.
Marley Blonsky (02:28):
Should we start with the airing of grievances?
Ellen Schwartze (02:29):
It's time.
We got enough submissions that wekind of grouped these together.
So our very first grievance iswhy can't every ride be perfect?
We're starting this off with anote in from a friend of mine,
Carolyn, when I asked her what hergrievances, this is what she sent me.
Carolyn (02:45):
This is a difficult grievance to share because I am pro bee, save the bees.
However, this summer I gotstung twice in one week's time.
The second time, right in theboob, and, it's just an unpleasant
place to get stung, let me tell ya.
Uh, the only bright side is, aftera hot, sweaty ride, an ice pack on
your boob actually kinda feels nice.
(03:07):
So, sorry bees, this yearyou're on my list, but, uh, I'll
still do what I can to save ya.
Thanks Marley and Ellen, happyholidays, and happy festivus.
Marley Blonsky (03:17):
I love that, because yeah, I'm also pro bee, but when
I get stung, I'm not pro bee.
No!
Yeah!
Ellen Schwartze (03:22):
Especially on your boob!
Carolyn, maybe I should haveasked this back in a text message.
I didn't think so.
Carolyn, let us knowhow it got to your boob.
Marley Blonsky (03:30):
Yeah, maybe you were riding and it like flew
down your top or something.
Ellen Schwartze (03:33):
That might make sense.
Marley Blonsky (03:33):
Yeah, I've had that happen.
With a bee?
No, with, with just bugs in generalthat have like flown in or like
gotten into my helmet and then Ifind the bug at the end of the ride.
It's always so weird.
That would be really strange.
It's very weird.
I wouldn't like that.
Yeah.
And it's usually like duringa race or something,, you're
not just dilly dallying.
Right.
You're not just going to pull overand like, Yeah, you kind of ignore it.
Exactly.
(03:54):
Yeah.
Oh my
Ellen Schwartze (03:55):
God.
Yeah.
So, um, so that is, that isCarolyn's grievance is there's
a bee and it stunk her boob.
Next up, we're going to hear from David.
David (04:03):
Hey, all bodies on bikes crew, this is David from Southern California.
I heard we were airing our grievances, soI thought I would throw mine into the mix.
I guess mine is technically with myself.
More specifically, me,the night before a ride.
I have this very bad habit of making allthese promises and feeling like I'm gonna
have infinite time the next day to airup tires, fill up water bottles, find
(04:26):
whatever I'm gonna wear for that ride.
Uh, yeah, and then the next day rollsaround and that early morning ride very
quickly turns into a late afternoon ride.
and yeah, I don't know what nightbefore David's problem is, but
he, he doesn't like making morningof David's life easy at all.
Um, 2025 is a new year, and whoknows, maybe that'll change.
(04:47):
Probably not, but we staypositive around here.
Alright, I love you guys.
Bye.
Marley Blonsky (04:54):
Oh, I love that.
That is so relatable, because thenight before Marley is also not
kind to the morning of Marley.
Same.
Ellen Schwartze (05:01):
It's truly like a brain thing where you think of
your future self as a completelyseparate entity from yourself.
So you're just like, well, thatperson is so different from me.
Like never in my life has MorningEllen been capable, full stop, and
ready to, be quick about anything.
Marley Blonsky (05:18):
No.
And the times when I doprepare everything, I feel
like I'm on top of the world.
Yeah.
And I, what would it be like to bea person who did that all the time?
Ellen Schwartze (05:26):
I don't know.
We feel you, David.
This is the perfect grievance.
Like, why can't the worldjust be prepared for us?
How come it can't just belike, here's our things.
Why do I have to wash them?
Marley Blonsky (05:37):
Why does it feel like I'm like fighting against myself
Ellen Schwartze (05:39):
all the time?
Um, I think it's,
Marley Blonsky (05:41):
neurodivergence is probably what it is.
The funny thing though is like, allmy friends fit into that category too.
Yeah.
So, my sister does not.
My sister is very, very good at preparingthings and having things ready to go.
But it's funny because when I spendtime with her, That annoys me.
Ellen Schwartze (05:56):
Oh, interesting.
Marley Blonsky (05:57):
I'm like, you're just too on top of things.
Right.
This is too much.
Yeah.
I think it's okay thatwe are the way we are.
Ellen Schwartze (06:02):
I agree.
I have not been diagnosed with anything,but I'm suspicious, partially because
I think I'm very swayable on instagram,but also I saw like a message or a meme
or something that's like, if you'relooking around and feeling like, so many
people around you are nerd emergent.
It's like misery lives company.
Yep.
Hmm.
Maybe do introspection.
That's just like, Oh nuts.
(06:22):
I've had to at least two,maybe three friends, like get
proper diagnosis late in life.
So it's like, Oh, yep, yep.
So, okay, well hopefully night beforeDavid can get on your game in 2025.
But for now, it's definitely a grievance.
Marley Blonsky (06:38):
Yes, and let us know how that goes.
If you figure out any tricksor For me, rewards always help.
Oh, yeah.
So it's like, if I do this A little treat?
Yeah.
Although lately, I'vebeen pre rewarding myself.
I don't,
Ellen Schwartze (06:52):
doesn't work.
That's just not the same.
No, it's not the same at all.
It's not the same at all.
I like it though.
What did we get from Instagram?
Marley Blonsky (07:00):
We got a couple from Instagram, kind of in this same theme
of not every ride has to be perfect.
And this one is one that has beenon my grievance list forever, but
group rides that are not no drop.
this came from Jenna Smith906 and she added, it's so
heartbreaking and it really is.
It's more than just annoying.
It's frustrating, it's demoralizing,it like really impacts my whole mood.
(07:25):
Yeah.
When I go on a group rideand they say it's gonna be no
drop and you get left behind.
Ellen Schwartze (07:31):
Oh, so even like
some of them will kind of go in saying, wewill drop you if you're fast enough, but
others would say we are no drop, but then,
Marley Blonsky (07:39):
or they say they're no drop.
And technically they're nodrop because when they get to
the hill, they wait for you.
But then when you get up the hill, as soonas you get there, they get going again.
Ellen Schwartze (07:50):
Yeah.
Marley Blonsky (07:51):
I call that the FU stop.
Because.
Um,
Ellen Schwartze (07:54):
a few catch up, catch your breath.
Let's go.
You're not, you're going to get faster.
If we give you no time to recover, right?
Exactly.
Oh, that is a grievance.
Marley Blonsky (08:03):
How dare you?
Yeah.
Jenna.
Thanks for sending that one in.
Next one we got is, from ample accessoutdoors, which is a really cool Instagram
account, similar to all bodies on bikes.
they work on fat people accessto outdoors, which is really
cool, but not just in cycling.
And they wrote in, my earsgetting cold on a ride.
Ellen Schwartze (08:21):
Such a grievance.
Marley Blonsky (08:22):
It really is.
Ellen Schwartze (08:22):
I'm so, Oh, I hate it.
Because right now, the weatheris like right on the line
so I'm like, it's 50 degrees.
This is wonderful.
And then I get on the ride and it'slike, my ears are so like painful.
But like earmuffs don'tfit under a helmet.
Marley Blonsky (08:37):
I saw this thing the other day, on Instagram , knitting little like,
triangle covers to go on your straps.
Um, and I just learned howto knit, so I might try and
explore this over the holidays.
Ooh.
Um, but I've also seen it done withlike fleece, where you like sew some
fleece and then you just stick them on.
So there are some fairlycheap DIY solutions out there.
Okay.
Um, and of course you could alwayslike put on a merino cap or something.
(08:58):
Yeah, yeah.
Um, sure, sure.
Ellen Schwartze (09:00):
This, uh, but that
Marley Blonsky (09:01):
also takes pre planning.
I was gonna say,
Ellen Schwartze (09:02):
this relates to the night before Ellen.
Yes.
Not being ready for morning of Ellen.
Yeah.
So, agreed.
Grievance.
Of course.
Oh, our ears are gettingcold on these stupid rides.
Yes.
Uh, if you have othergrievances, let us know.
They're better out than in.
Marley Blonsky (09:15):
Yes.
Yeah.
Get them out.
Especially these like littlethings that aren't huge.
Ellen Schwartze (09:19):
Yeah.
Just
Marley Blonsky (09:19):
get them off your chest.
It feels good to
Ellen Schwartze (09:21):
get them out there.
So, okay.
That was grievance.
Number one is not allrides are good rides.
How dare they?
Marley Blonsky (09:26):
Yeah.
Ellen Schwartze (09:26):
What's the grievance number two?
Marley Blonsky (09:27):
Grievance number two, is all about infrastructure and
equity in cycling, which we couldgo on about this for a long time.
Forever, for my whole life.
We're, we're keeping it limitedtoday so this one is going to
be from Maggie in Pittsburgh.
Let's see what Maggie has to say.
This
Maggie (09:43):
is Maggie from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
And my biggest complaint is somethingthat we can all relate to and it's
cycling next to really aggressive drivers,whether it's riding in the city or the
suburbs, I have recently encountered alot of aggressive drivers and I don't
(10:03):
think it'll ever make sense to mebecause they are literally in a tank
that could do a lot of damage to someone
on a bicycle.
Some folks are not able tohave a car, their bike is their
main mode of transportation.
So it's definitely a big irk of mine.
Bike Pittsburgh is an organizationin our city that does a lot
for bike infrastructure.
(10:24):
So they definitely have worked onmaking our streets safe for us.
There's still some education.
I feel like that is needed forpeople who drive cars, like honking
and driving close to cyclists.
Do not make them go away.
That's
all.
Ellen Schwartze (10:42):
I love what she said at the very end there.
It's like honking at us isn'tgoing to make us go away.
Right,
Marley Blonsky (10:46):
yeah.
I was on a group ride the other night.
It was just for a friend'sbirthday, so nothing like formal.
Sure.
Just a group of us riding bikes together.
And this car honked probably 20 times.
And it was hard to tell, like, I waslike, Oh, they're encouraging us.
And other people were like,no, that was really aggressive.
Um, and so it's honks don't have tone.
It's like text message.
So you don't know if you're beingnice or being mean or whatever.
Ellen Schwartze (11:09):
Yeah.
Marley Blonsky (11:09):
Don't honk at cyclists.
It's scary.
Ellen Schwartze (11:11):
Don't do it.
That's right, I very much agree.
It's just like, people will be like,zoom by you and think that that's gonna
, discourage you from riding or something.
I don't know.
It's just very much, and I'm guiltyof this too, when you're the person
behind the wheel, it's all about you.
Yeah.
And how dare someone else get in your way.
But it's like, I agreewith what Maggie said.
It's like, how is this,how is this happening?
Like, we're here to stay.
Marley Blonsky (11:30):
Yeah.
Ellen Schwartze (11:30):
I love that.
She brought up pittsburgh cyclingorganization Yeah, pittsburgh
because that's also we got onein from my hometown kansas city.
From michael kelly who's a friend ofthe show, and he specifically brought
up lack of infrastructure in EastKC, which is also an equity thing.
So like historically East KC hasnot had the same resources as
they're like the Metro as a whole.
(11:51):
But Maggie even mentioned this too,like not everybody can afford a car.
Yeah.
Like some people needto bike to get around.
And so why are we not doingmore for these people?
So absolutely a grievance that there'snot just like start building people.
Start building to wheremore people can get around.
Marley Blonsky (12:05):
Yeah.
Out, outside of cars, whether that's busesor walking or bikes, because yeah, even,
even if you choose not to have a car orbecause of a disability, you can't drive,
whatever it might be like you deserve
safe transportation, safe routes.
Yeah.
Yeah, safe ways to get around.
Ellen Schwartze (12:20):
I'm getting honked at way less in some of our protected
bike lanes around here than I wouldbe if I were on that same road
trying to just cycle myself normally.
Marley Blonsky (12:28):
I think there's a lot of progress happening in this area, which
we touched on in the election episode.
Um, and I think the more we continue tobuild out the infrastructure, the less
conflict there's going to be with cars.
So I'm hopeful that we'reheaded in the right direction.
Ellen Schwartze (12:40):
Yes.
And it's also a, if you buildit, they will come situation.
Yes.
Same as, you know, for cornfield baseballfield in Iowa and bike lanes in Midwest
cities or any city like New York isactually in London are great examples
of if you built it, they will come.
Marley Blonsky (12:54):
Yeah.
Although I, so I have a grievance.
It's kind of related to this.
So in Bentonville, they are building abunch of new bike infrastructure for the
new Walmart home office that's going in.
But it's been put in kind of piecemeal,which makes sense as construction happens.
But there's one bike lane where it passesin front of the Walmart home office.
And I have had numerous friendseither get hit or almost get hit.
(13:17):
And thankfully they've all beenvery slow speed because people
coming out of a parking lot, but theeducation hasn't been done for how
to interact with these bike lanes.
There's no signage.
They just put in like the Kermitgreen paint where the bike lane
intersects with the, um, the drivewaysor whatever, but it's not enough.
Ellen Schwartze (13:35):
Right.
Marley Blonsky (13:35):
Yeah.
Like
Ellen Schwartze (13:36):
to say out loud what is going on.
Marley Blonsky (13:38):
Exactly.
There, there needs to be signs that say,watch for cyclists, watch for pedestrians,
you know, Bikes here, cars here, um,because people in Bentonville have just
never encountered this infrastructure,
and they
have no idea how to use it.
Ellen Schwartze (13:49):
Mm hmm, that's a really good, really, really good point.
And I think even too with driver and ridereducation, towards like, I get, I will get
frustrated with other cyclists sometimeswho I see doing things that I understand
the frustration, I understand why youare jumping the light, I understand
why you're Being assertive, but it'sthe unfairness of you have to kind of
represent every cyclist when you're out onthe road, which is absolutely a grievance.
(14:10):
I'm a very different cyclist fromeverybody else, but it's just like, so
many drivers will see that one cyclist andbe like, ah, yeah, I hate people on bikes.
That's right.
I hate it.
So yeah, total grievance.
Not enough educationaround the infrastructure.
Marley Blonsky (14:24):
Yep.
Agreed.
It's happening though.
It is.
Um, this one's kind of related.
So this one's also from Ample AccessOutdoors, which we just talked about.
They talk about not knowing where tobike when the rail trails have black ice.
Oh, that's a good one.
Yeah, so folks who are using therail trails, which is separate
infrastructure, but when those areicy, where can you bike safely?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Ellen Schwartze (14:45):
Yeah, and that's like very much an access issue
and a bit of an equity issue, ifyou only have one thing to use.
And it's in poorcondition for good reason.
Like you can't, we can't make,we can't change the weather.
Right.
What a grievance.
I can't change the weather.
Um, but.
Try
Marley Blonsky (15:00):
harder Ellen.
Ellen Schwartze (15:02):
I will.
But like if you only have the onething and it's out of commission.
You're done.
Marley Blonsky (15:05):
Right.
Yeah.
And actually, that's a grievance thatI've heard from a lot of folks that I,
they didn't send in, but when the carlanes get plowed, but the bike lanes
don't get plowed or treated for winter.
And there's a lot of folkswho still cycle year round.
Um, yeah, I wish I was one of thosepeople who was a more hardcore
cyclist, but I hate being cold.
Ellen Schwartze (15:25):
You're in the Midwest now, Marvy.
And
Marley Blonsky (15:28):
it's funny.
I was thinking about moving to Minnesota.
Like, no.
No.
No.
Ellen Schwartze (15:32):
No, that would be fair.
Oh, okay.
We don't need to get into this.
Like Minnesota is one of those states.
It's like, it's so cold.
They have it figured out.
Yeah.
So it's different.
Marley Blonsky (15:39):
But that doesn't mean that I would have it figured out.
Nope.
Nope.
True.
Ellen Schwartze (15:42):
Truth.
So, um, okay.
And there's one more.
This one's in from Canada, um, relatedto, but kind of more of the equity
issue, but the need for size inclusivemountain bike apparel in Canada.
But I feel like this probably applies.
Okay.
Marley Blonsky (15:56):
Yeah, you know, obviously I work with Shreddly, um, full
disclosure and they make up to a size24, which is pretty good., obviously
there's people who are bigger thanthat, but we need more than one brand
making this stuff and, you know, kneepads and chest pads and elbow pads.
Like those all depend on your body size.
Ellen Schwartze (16:13):
Oh yeah.
Marley Blonsky (16:13):
I don't have knee pads.
Ellen Schwartze (16:15):
Oh,
Marley Blonsky (16:15):
yeah.
And it's not because I don't need them.
It's because I can't everfind a pair that fits me.
Ellen Schwartze (16:19):
Why don't you just suffer the consequences of having no circulation
in the bottom half of your legs, Marley?
Marley Blonsky (16:24):
Or suffer the consequences of riding without knee
pads, which is what I'm currently doing.
Ellen Schwartze (16:27):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Hmm.
Yeah.
Darn, darn.
Marley Blonsky (16:30):
Exactly.
Ellen Schwartze (16:32):
Oh, grievances.
All right.
We have one more.
This is from Elizabeth, andshe has something to say.
Elizabeth (16:42):
Hey Marley, so for Festivus and the airing of the grievances, the
one I'd like to bring up is how arewe almost in 2025 and people are still
shitting on folks for riding e bikes?
The amount of ableism and just negativecomments that come from all over
the cycling community about peoplethat want to ride an e bike, for
whatever reason, is absolutely absurd.
(17:05):
And honestly, it's disheartening,and I really wish it would just stop.
So here's our hope for 2025.
Marley Blonsky (17:11):
Yes, love that one.
You know, it's funny.
I wrote a column for CyclingWeekly about e bikes.
Oh yeah.
And the number of emails Igot from, it was all men.
It was, I got upwards of20 emails, which is wild.
I was talking to my editorand she was like, we never.
Get that kind of response fromfolks, but it really touched a
(17:32):
nerve with people, especially whenyou suggest that e bikes should be
allowed in races or on group rides.
Interesting.
There's just this like purist mentalitywhere it's like, if you're not suffering
as much as I'm suffering, then youdon't deserve to be on a bicycle.
And Elizabeth is so right.
Like it's ableist it's exclusionary.
Like who cares?
E bikes are awesome.
Ellen Schwartze (17:52):
Yeah.
I mean, I can see if it's likea true race race, like it has to
be a little bit apples to apples.
Yes.
A hundred percent.
It's this, but it doesn't meanno, never don't let them in.
It just means, yeah.
Acknowledge that it's an e bike andyou're not on one and that's fine for you.
But yeah.
Or
Marley Blonsky (18:07):
have separate categories, you know, like you don't need to
award podiums for people on e bikes.
Like, I think that just seems silly.
Yeah.
Um, although there's like.
e mountain bike racing happening now and
Ellen Schwartze (18:17):
It makes it more fun.
Like, if the point is to get up anddown a mountain as fast as you can,
as fast as you want to, maybe, thenwhy wouldn't you add an e bike to it?
I love this so much.
I also think it ties into the equityand infrastructure because an e
commuting bike makes it so much easierto get around town and not be a sweaty
mess when you arrive somewhere, butyou're also not in your car anymore.
If it's going to allow morepeople to use a bike, let's do it.
(18:40):
Can we please just leanin to e bikes in 2025?
We are.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
So thank you Elizabethand David and Maggie.
Yeah.
For sending in your grievances.
So everybody can keep sending them in.
Air them.
Air them out.
Yeah.
Marley Blonsky (18:57):
Air them out on your own.
Hopefully this jogs somethings in your brain.
You're like, oh yeah,that irked me this year.
Oh yeah, that too.
Just get it out.
Let it go.
Ellen Schwartze (19:05):
Let it go.
watching a lot of Frozenin my house right now.
Marley Blonsky (19:08):
We went to a light dinner.
show last night.
Oh yeah.
And they played that song and I was like,this is going to be stuck in my head
well, we have aired the grievances.
Um, the next part of Festivusis Feats of Strength.
Ellen Schwartze (19:18):
Yeah.
Marley Blonsky (19:18):
Um, which my reference point on this is kind of funny.
I used to do CrossFit.
And our gym had a Festivus Featsof Strength, like we did games
around it and it was really fun.
But again, I had no context for it.
I didn't know what it was all about.
Ellen Schwartze (19:32):
did you just think that your gym decided to do Feats of Strength?
Yeah.
They say it's Festivus Feats of Strength.
Marley Blonsky (19:38):
I think they said it was Festivus Feats of Strength, but I thought
it was just something they made up.
Ellen Schwartze (19:41):
Oh, that's
Marley Blonsky (19:42):
funny.
I really had no idea.
I wonder how many more things in mylife are like this, just like cultural
reference points that I have no,like I haven't watched a lot of TV.
I haven't watched a lot of movies.
Same.
I just.
Missed that part of life.
Somehow.
I don't know what I was doing,but I wasn't never seen Star Wars.
Never seen Lord of the Rings.
Never seen like,
Ellen Schwartze (19:59):
I know.
Okay, I'm ahead of you, which is unusual.
It's unusual that I'm ahead of anyonein this particular category what gets
me is that I know the reference, butnot what it's from a lot of times.
So I will just like say things and thensomeone's like, Oh, ha ha ha, that thing.
And then do a follow on thing.
And I was like, Oh yeah, no, I justknow that that's a funny thing to say.
(20:20):
So feats of strength.
Marley Blonsky (20:21):
There were some incredible feats of strength
this year in the cycling world.
, two that I want to highlight,are in the same Realm.
Okay., so two women did around theworld rides this year., so Lael
Wilcox got a lot of publicity forhers, she broke the world record and
she rode 18, 125 miles to be exactin 108 days, 12 hours, and 12 minutes.
Ellen Schwartze (20:44):
How many miles per day did that wind up being?
Marley Blonsky (20:46):
It ended up being like, it was over, it was like 150 to.
Easily.
Yeah.
Most days.
Ellen Schwartze (20:51):
Holy cow.
That is a feat of strength.
Yeah.
It was incredible.
Wow.
Marley Blonsky (20:55):
Yeah.
And her, her wife documented it.
So if you go back to her Instagram,which we'll link to, um, she did
like visual postcards from a lotof the places where she was riding.
And it was just absolutelystunning and beautiful.
And it was cool because Lealalso invited folks to ride along
with her in certain places.
It's like meet up with her.
. Just made it a whole community endeavor.
And Lael is just an incredibleperson., I actually got to go to her
(21:16):
and Rue's wedding a couple years ago.
that's a whole notherstory of how that happened.
But, yeah, congratulations, Lael.
Ellen Schwartze (21:22):
That's amazing.
Incredible work.
Yeah.
Marley Blonsky (21:24):
And then similarly, there was an Indian woman.
Then Dongi Kolkarni.
Um, she was already the youngestwoman to circle the globe by bike.
So she's already done this once before.
She set out to also tryand break the record.
She did not break the record andshe's actually still on her trip,
which is still incredibly cool.
Um, but what's reallyinteresting about her.
(21:46):
Race around the world is because she'sfrom India she had challenges getting the
same visas that Laila was able to get.
And so the Guinness Book of WorldRecords requires Regulations, I guess.
Yeah, there's
Ellen Schwartze (21:58):
it's like, there's apples to apples things that happen.
Yeah.
Marley Blonsky (22:01):
So it had to be, it had to either go from east to
west or west to east and she had topass through like two points that
are on opposite sides of the globe.
Okay.
So if you look at Lael's route, shewent like North America, Europe,
australia, it wasn'texactly around the world.
Ellen Schwartze (22:15):
Okay.
But, oh, but like, because NorthAmerican Australia are opposites.
Exactly.
Okay.
Yeah, yeah,
Marley Blonsky (22:19):
yeah.
But Vandangi's she, Had to createthis kind of hodgepodge route of
where she was able to get visas.
Um, and still being really, really cool.
Um, and she's currently in Oman,Jordan nearing the end of her journey.
So we will link to her instagram and herwebsite But encourage you to follow along
there because really really cool story andjust A person that you don't typically see
(22:43):
celebrated for these things, absolutely.
Yeah, congratulations, Vidangi.
So cool.
Maybe we can try and get her on the show.
. Ellen Schwartze: Yes.
I would love that.
It's going to shine a light on abig global conversation basically.
It's like Lael's an Americanwhite woman who can get more
access just by that inherent
just, her passport affords more visas than somebody from India.
Ellen Schwartze (23:03):
Yeah.
Marley Blonsky (23:03):
So I thought that was really, really interesting.
And there, there already is aconversation happening, you know, like.
Lael's attempt was like a very westernizedattempt, and Vendonghi's, is a very
different way to do it, which neitheris inherently better than the other.
No way.
It's different.
Ellen Schwartze (23:16):
Yeah, and I guess, I like that too about Vendonghi's
ride, is that she'll have inherentlyjust kind of shown lights on other
places that we don't see very often.
Like, we see the Netherlands allthe time, we see Europe all the
time, because they're so whitecentric, but it's just like, what
other places did she wind up going?
Yeah.
That's
Marley Blonsky (23:31):
awesome.
Yeah, I've never seenwhat Oman looks like.
Ellen Schwartze (23:34):
I can tell you what I think it looks like,
and I might be very wrong.
Marley Blonsky (23:36):
Same.
So we'll, we'll follow on.
a couple other reallycool feats of strength.
Um, this one is my own personal one.
Bentonville was hit by a tornado.
In, um, Late May of this year.
And it was really incredible to see thecommunity come together to, you know,
first, everybody focused on people'shouses, you know, getting trees off of
houses, uh, making sure everybody hada place to stay, all of that stuff.
(23:57):
I, you know, I personally helpedclear limbs off of friends houses
and roofs and stuff like that.
But the community really came togetherto get the trails open again, um,
because cycling is obviously such a partof the local economy and tourism, the
bike shops needed that to come back,because it is such a part of the economy.
And, just last week, This one last trailthat was a paved bridge, which is so sad.
(24:22):
They had just opened it like two weeksbefore the tornado and it got damaged
and they just opened it back up.
It
feels like we're back.
Ellen Schwartze (24:27):
Yeah, but that's a cool feat of strength too.
Like maybe a literal, like I'mpicturing you like lifting a
giant tree trunk above your head.
But like, it takes a lot of time.
There was a festivalthat weekend too, right?
Marley Blonsky (24:38):
There was.
It was Bentonville Bike Fest.
Lots of tents got destroyed.
Thankfully, nobody was injured atthat, because a tornado hit at like 3
in the morning., Like, like they do.
Exactly.
I wouldn't say I lifted anytree trunks over my head.
I was doing a lot of,like, light limb work.
Okay.
My knee was still pretty injuredat that point, so I was just
helping out where I could.
Ellen Schwartze (24:55):
It's still, it all counts, it all has to happen.
Marley Blonsky (24:57):
Exactly.
You know, some people do thechainsaws, some people do the loppers.
Ellen Schwartze (25:00):
That's right.
Yeah.
There you go.
Yeah.
Wonderful.
My favorite feat of strength fromthis year, I love the Olympics.
I love the Olympics so much.
All the time.
This year felt super excitingfor very many reasons.
It's kind of like the firstbig summer games post COVID..
Well, I have feelingsabout saying post COVID.
Because we're not post COVID.
We're not post COVID.
Yeah,
Marley Blonsky (25:17):
COVID's still killing people every day.
Ellen Schwartze (25:18):
Yeah.
Fewer.
It's still top 10, but it's like dropped.
Marley Blonsky (25:22):
Get your vaccine, people.
Ellen Schwartze (25:24):
Yes.
Pro vaccine on this show.
all of that is to say it was very excitingbut this year it was 50 50 men and women.
So that's really cool.
Exact 50 50 representation of mencompetitors, women competitors.
I checked.
True of cycling.
So I think it was 257 in each categoryand they basically like reworked the
events to make sure parody was reached.
(25:44):
That's rad.
Um, so that was super duper cool thatafter what are we at this point?.
Modern Olympics.
Actually, it started in I 100 years.
Yeah,
Marley Blonsky (25:51):
1896.
I did a Okay.
I did a project on this when I waslike, fourth grade, and I don't know
why I remember it, but I do, so.
Ellen Schwartze (25:56):
So there you go.
Yeah.
So it only took 130 years to getto gender parity, but here we are.
Yep, here we are.
Um, and the other thing that I needto shout out about the Olympics
is that it introduced the world toIlona Marr, who's the rugby woman,
like, rugby, like, woman of the hour,woman of the year easily, who is just
ridiculously overtly body positive.
(26:19):
She found rugby and it becamesomething that she is so good
at, but also because of her body.
And so she's just been like, Big isbeautiful and bodies are beautiful.
And you can do that.
Like you can wear lipstickwhile you smash someone
Marley Blonsky (26:32):
in a rugby.
And I love that she's been embracedby like the dancing with the stars
show, which I've never watchedthat show until she was on it.
Did you watch it?
I did.
Oh my God.
Can they have
Ellen Schwartze (26:40):
a podcast about that?
Cause I love it.
Okay, moving on.
But yeah,
Marley Blonsky (26:44):
but also like sports illustrated, like the
swimsuit edition, which is likeproblematic for so many ways.
But it was so cool to seea different body displayed.
And like, if you don't follow heron Instagram, she's hilarious.
And yeah, it's.
Alona Mar, you're, you'rea blessing to this world.
Ellen Schwartze (27:01):
Yep.
Yeah.
I love her so much.
Yeah.
Uh, it's one, she's one ofthose personalities who it's
like, we're best friends, right?
Like if I saw her on the street, I'dbe like, hey girl, like, do you, like,
you know, I know everything about you.
And she, I'm sure shewould just be like, yeah.
It's like, she would take this drive.
Oh, yeah.
She's gotta be.
used to it at this point.
Oh,
Marley Blonsky (27:20):
yeah.
Yeah.
But I, you know, as somebodylike, obviously, I don't have a
following nearly as big as hers.
It is a little weird to have thoseparasocial relationships, but
she seems to be taking it well.
Ellen Schwartze (27:29):
She's very authentic.
I think it's helpful.
It's like what you see is what you get.
Yeah.
So yeah.
A hundred percent.
Marley Blonsky (27:33):
And then Yeah.
One last feat of strength that Iwant to call out, which is absolutely
incredible is all the work thatall bodies on bikes did this year.
Um, specifically, so we've gotchapters all across the country.
Um, we just launched five new chapters.
Um, I'm going to shout them outhere because it's public now.
DFW, Texas, Des Moines, Iowa,Minneapolis, Minnesota, uh, Mississippi
(27:56):
nebulous as to where in Mississippiit's going to be, cause they're
going to go all over the place.
Um, yeah.
And then Portland, Oregon.
Ellen Schwartze (28:02):
Ah, nice.
Marley Blonsky (28:03):
So we launched five new chapters this year and,
um, of the existing chapters, theyhad 27 rides with 1, 150 people.
That's so many people.
So many people.
And honestly, I think it was morethan that because sometimes the
paperwork doesn't come back in.
You're kidding.
I know, right?
Volunteers, paperwork.
Who knew?
Yeah.
But we, we love our chapter leaders.
(28:23):
Is that a
Ellen Schwartze (28:23):
small grievance?
Marley Blonsky (28:24):
Small grievance.
But only because I'm anonprofit administrator.
Ellen Schwartze (28:28):
Um,
Marley Blonsky (28:30):
and then kind of related to that, we had 18 different
special events in 12 different States.
So these were like shakeoutrides or live podcast recordings,
With almost 2, 000 people.
Ellen Schwartze (28:40):
Heyo!
That is
Marley Blonsky (28:42):
incredible!
That
Ellen Schwartze (28:43):
is wild!
Marley Blonsky (28:44):
Nice work, Marlee.
Thank you.
Nice work to our team.
And thank you to everybody whocame out and joined us for a ride.
2025 is going to beeven bigger and better.
More chapters, more events., holler ifyou want us to come to an event in your
town, we're making our calendar now.
So yeah, reach out, um, eitherMarley at all bodies on the bikes.
com info at all bodies on bikes.
(29:05):
com.
We're very easy to get in.
Hold on.
So
Ellen Schwartze (29:08):
Instagram, whatevs.
Marley Blonsky (29:09):
Yeah, exactly.
So those were our feats of strength.
And then this last categorywas a little bit harder.
Yeah.
Um, because Festivus Miraclesare supposed to be like everyday
things that just happened.
Ellen Schwartze (29:23):
But that then you explain as, it's a miracle!
Marley Blonsky (29:26):
So the first one I have on here is, I went for a bike ride.
It's a miracle!
Yeah!
And so, to be fair I rode mybike a ton before my surgery.
Yeah.
And then I had my meniscus repairedin early November and I've been
back on the bike twice since then.
Ellen Schwartze (29:39):
That is exciting.
Yeah.
Marley Blonsky (29:40):
So we're going to call it a miracle.
Ellen Schwartze (29:41):
It's a miracle.
the one that I put on here, uh, becauseit's supposed to feel a bit mundane,
but still celebratory is just bike lanesgoing in across the nation building
more infrastructure in general feelssometimes like a bit of a miracle.
Yeah.
I love it.
Marley Blonsky (29:55):
Yeah.
This next one, I didn't reallyknow where to put it, but I
think it's pretty darn cool.
Um, this year there is projected 1.
3 billion in revenue for women's sports.
And that's expected to have doubledigit growth in the coming years.
Oh
Ellen Schwartze (30:09):
my gosh.
Yeah.
And so,
Marley Blonsky (30:11):
but actually like 1.
3 billion isn't that much whenyou think about like all the
money that's spent on sports.
And so I think thatmight be an undercount.
You know, you think about like the KaitlinClark effect and Olympics and Alona Maher.
But that's still a lot of money comingfrom women's sports, which is rad.
Ellen Schwartze (30:24):
That's a good point., there's a women's sports bar and boy,
I cannot remember the name of it.
Marley Blonsky (30:29):
Actually, there's, they're opening up all over the place.
Ellen Schwartze (30:30):
Basically the one.
Was like proved the point that it'slike we will only be playing women's
sports and the bar is wildly successful.
And so now they're popping up everywhere.
I think Kansas City is about to get one.
That's so cool.
Yeah.
So I'm excited.
You're right.
1.
3 billion in the green scheme of thingsis small, but that is a huge number.
Yeah.
That is so cool.
Yeah, exactly.
It
Marley Blonsky (30:48):
is a miracle.
It's a miracle that like women's sportsare finally getting the recognition
that they have long deserved.
That's
Ellen Schwartze (30:54):
actually, that's the right way to put it.
Marley Blonsky (30:56):
Yeah.
Ellen Schwartze (30:56):
Yeah.
It's just a miracle that it's happening.
Marley Blonsky (30:58):
Yeah.
Yay.
Yeah.
Long overdue, but it's happening.
Ellen Schwartze (31:01):
So
Marley Blonsky (31:02):
yeah.
And then just, you know, finishingup shout out to all of you.
You made it through the year.
You maybe set some goals, youmaybe rode your bike, maybe
you didn't and that's okay.
Ellen Schwartze (31:10):
Yeah.
Making it through 2024.
feels like an actual miracle.
Yes.
Not a festivus miracle.
We have what, I guess if it's the 23rd,we have like nine days, seven days.
What's ten?
31 minus 23.
We ride bikes, you guys.
We're not math people.
Marley Blonsky (31:27):
We have eight days left.
Ellen Schwartze (31:28):
Eight days left.
Eight days left in the year.
Of the year.
I think we're gonna make it.
Yeah.
It's been a weird one.
I think we've got a few moreweird ones on the horizon.
Unfortunately, I thinkyou're, you're correct.
But I think together in the spirit ofFestimus, Festivus, Festimus, in the
spirit of Festivus, And just all bodieson bikes that will make it through.
I think so too as a community.
(31:50):
Well, thanks Ellen.
Happy festivus Happy festivus marley.
Happy festivus to everybody and whateveryou celebrate in the next 20 days.
We hope that you are enjoying Yourlittle life your family your community
everybody who's around you and ifyou need someone You Reach out to us.
We're here for your grievances, foryour miracles, for whatever it is.
Happy Festivus.
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