On the eighth episode of the podcast, Nik and Stephen virtually catch up with Ashley Carelock and Dr. Seth Wood. They both recently competed in the 2020 Arkansas High Country Race and both set Fastest Known Time(s) (FKT). Your hosts dig into the experience the only way they know how, excitedly asking questions about what happened, like gear choices, or in Seth’s case a single gear!
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On the seventh episode of the podcast, Nik and Stephen dig into which Star Wars movie was best. Just kidding! Rather they regale the trials and tribulations faced when attempting the iconic Kokopelli bike packing route from Fruita, CO to Moab, UT. We cover the motivations behind the trip, gear highlights as well as some choice meals. Most of the recap revolves around how to prep or not prep for a multi day bike pack.
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On the sixth episode of the podcast, Nik and Stephen sit down with Evan Christenson. We talk about Evan’s multitude of bike touring trips, how he ended up getting his second choice pick of a custom bicycle–a Flaanimal 4.0– a bike he immediately took bike-packing in Morocco and Uganda. He seemingly hasn’t looked back, but if he isn’t out under the stars he has been at protests across the West photographing and taking part in the Black Lives Matter protests and handling customer service at Rodeo Adventure Labs.
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On the fifth episode of the podcast, Nik and Stephen sit down with Connor Ryan, a Natives Outdoors athlete. We talk about Connor riding 1,000 miles at the Break the (BI)cycle. The focus of this ride is to break the silence around mental health for black and Indigenous men. For Connor, the ride starts on September 10th, and he is up for the long haul and raising awareness!
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Rodeo Labs and friends sit down with the Rodeo Adventure Posse (Kimberly Nuffer and Kiya Kelly) and hear their origin story of how they created a space for women to empower other women regardless of what bike or kit you are wearing.
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On the third episode of the Rodeo Podcast we first gather around to talk about big mountain adventures aboard drop bar bikes. Our recent ride up Jones Pass is a perfect case study of what this sort of riding is like so we use it as the main talking point. Should drop bar adventure bikes be up on these roads and trails that are typically the domain of the traditional mountain bike? How do we kit out our bikes for rides like this? Should you even attempt this sort of route? Is any of this any fun?
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For the second episode of the Rodeo Labs Podcast we had a little huddle and talked about what’s been going on lately here at The Lab. One of our goals with this podcast is to give a bit of an unscripted peek behind the curtain and show more of the behind the scenes of what we do.
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Curtis Hall is the Co-Founder and Head Coach at BAREfit Adventure Training in Louisville, Ky. He works with adventure athletes and enthusiasts to help them not only perform higher but also more sustainably. Www.barefitlife.com @barefit.life @capt.curtis
With the roads more open and my gym closed, I’ve been riding more, lifting less and finding all the kinks in my armor. My lower back”s a little achy, my hip flexors are tight, that spot right behind my knee is wanting to lock up and some old shoulder injuries are starting to talk to me again. These kinks usually stay below the surface thanks to my normal coaching/training schedule, but thanks to activities shifting, I’ve had to get creative in my daily movements to keep these issues at bay and have worked the following exercises into my daily regime to stay strong for my outdoor cycling adventures.
It’s Friday so it’s time for a Flaanimal 5.0 update. You’re looking at the first complete customer build bike which for us is a monumental milestone. Chris was the FIRST build order on Feb 15th and we’re so happy to get him his bike in that order. Thanks for hanging in Chris, we know you’ve been excited and you’ve been absurdly patient. Chris actually moved a lot of parts from his 3.0 Flaanimal to this 5.0 platform. It’s quite a bit more capable and a lot lighter as well!
GENERAL PRODUCTION UPDATE:
Not many frames have arrived yet. We’re in FedEx and shipping broker hell. We have tracking numbers but also tracking “exceptions” which means “WTF” in Fedex speak. We’re working on it with intensity + finesse (which means you can only nag so much then you have to just wait for people to do their jobs).
Final finishing on the frames has proven to be quite labor intensive. Twice this week we’ve said “make it more perfect” and knowingly caused delays. We hate to do it but there is no option. QC is QC.
20 frames will arrive when FedEx sorts their stuff out
70 frames will ship to us around the 7th.
More frames will ship to us around the 14th.
More frames will ship on the 21st. The rhythm is basically one air shipment per week.
ANY FRAMES NOT PRE-ORDERED prior to Tuesday the 28th will be shipped via ocean which has a 4 week transit time. We expect to see those frames mid to late September. Do we love that? No! But we’d rather deliver the facts now than apologize that things are late in September.
We are very aware that we are well past our estimated dates on Flaanimal 5.0. We’re really sorry about that and we know that some people feel really let down by that. The offer always stands: If you can’t or won’t wait for your bike we get it and can refund you. Rodeo is super solid financially and we don’t spend pre-order proceeds before we deliver the order to the customer.
Our big ask is this: if you are not canceling your order please don’t call or email asking for an update on your bike. Everyone here is 100% busy working on builds and logistics and we’ve spent quite a lot of time in the last few weeks answering phone calls and emails from people who understandably want an update. But we’re to the point where we are simply a small company and have finite hours in a day and we need to spend those hours on the production / fulfillment side more than the email / phone call side. We realize that we’re making a huge ask here. We’re asking people who made that first big deposit of trust when they ordered to almost write us a more or less blank check or trust. We realize that’s a big ask, but we’re asking anyway. If you ask around about Rodeo you will find that our customer service and follow through track record is absolutely excellent. We’re committed, we care a ton, and we’re going to get these bikes out to their owners.
Thank you!
-Stephen Fitzgerald / Founder
On episode 1 of our Rodeo Labs podcast we invite our guest Natalie Starr to share the story of how she got into both cycling and photography.
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