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Godfather of Freeride MTB Wade Simmons on Red Bull Rampage, Progression of MTB & More... Ep. 124 [Podcast]
Today on the Podcast, we have the pleasure of hosting a very special guest: The Godfather of Freeride MTB, Wade Simmons. We catch up with Wade on what he’s been up to lately as well as his thoughts on the progression of MTB and Red Bull Rampage before jumping into some listener questions ranging from the weirdest MTB innovation to his favorite cheese and everything in between. Tune in!
Submit any and all questions to podcast@worldwidecyclery.com
Worldwide Cyclery YouTube Channel
If you are one strange human that would like to read a transcript of the podcast above, continue reading below!
[Music] ladies and gentlemen welcome to episode
124 of the MTB podcast presented and hosted by worldwide cycy I am Jared I'm
Jeff I'm Liam and you got way Simons here coming in live today we have the
very special guest The Godfather of Free Ride mountain biking are you self-proclaimed Godfather or
who you don't you don't when you The Godfather you don't say I'm The Godfather you're like I was just double
checking you know with nicknames you can't make your own nickname it's up right that's right I have another
nickname too the mattress you can guess where that came from the mattress Simmons's mattress the beauty
rest wait wait I get that all the time rest God long longtime mountain bike
free rider uh actually the winner of the inaugural the very first Red Bull Rampage in 2001 2001 yeah yeah so if
you've been in the mountain scene a long time you likely know Wade's name and and like me as a as a young teenage boy
watched a lot of Wade on the television uh because you had VHS is a DVD so we
actually watched t on a lot of TV back then a lot of TV back then VHS CDs DVDs
you remember those so we're going to pick Wade's brain on uh various bike topics and some of his history and we're
going to start out with our segments and instead of Zach's words of wisdom as normal we're going to go with Wade's words of wisdom so what do you got Wade
what do I got what do I got for words of wisdom what's the category justd like a
life you know anything life advice well I always joke on the mound bike when in doubt airod out oh I like that when in
trouble make it a double hesitation equals Devastation oh
I mean we we could go all day with those but are good the last one was the best I think uh you know but words of wisdom it's kind of do what you love you know
like uh uh my father-in-law used to say Dave Lang his words his words was uh
words was his words was his words were that if you find a job you love you never work a day in your life and that's
kind of where I find myself you know as a mountain Baker you know you uh you Jeff said hey what's your career I'm
like what do you mean by that I was like I'm a mountain biker it's what I do I I sell mountain biking you know I think
more specifically I was trying to understand your career path like when you worked in shops when you were an athlete when you were a self-proclaimed
greasy salesman did tell me you were that so that's what I was trying to figure out I sales now who who you who
you've worked for or how you've made any money for I did work at McDonald's actually you know you did work at
McDonald's yeah first job McDonald's of course 13 14 classic first job job it
would have been cooler if you said Timmy Horton Tim yeah because that would have been a little more Canadian yeah there was less Timmy hoes around then so it
was always McDonald there's always been McDonald's right McDonald's oh man well uh you want to
hit Daniel's fun just looking at that Daniel's fun fact San Diego California is closer to El
Paso Texas than El Paso Texas is to Houston Texas W that would mean that Texas is
Big Texas is Big that's the conclusion the conclusion is conclusion is Texas is
huge feel free to double check that fact cuz uh we did and it's correct so yeah
yeah so that be triple checking cuz we already double check you're right that would be triple checking it technically if you know they're checking it again
and check the last fact from the last podcast about pumpkins by slte Cream
consumption by females go Halloween mhm mhm yeah
apparently there's a pound of whipped cream on every uh pumpkin spice latte according to Jeff that's what the data says from the national administration of
coffee drinkers or National Association I don't know what I made I don't know what I made who drinks those though like
Jeff does je you see the size of those things they're like a meal a you just
they come in different sizes have you tried one it's nice good flavor big and really big calorie-wise they are
meal yeah they're dense the entire Autumn I will be defending the fact that I like a pumpkin spy latte every so
often big big PSL guy do you think they just take like a pumpkin pie and blend it and then give it to you I have no
idea what the ingredients are yeah pumpkin pie is good pumpkin pie pumpkin that's the thing it's kind of a pumpkin
pie flavored coffee Fork without the fork without the fork yeah pumpkin pie and coffee together not bad not bad I
can't say I've ever had one but you have me interested I almost just sold weight on trying a pumpkin spice latte
Starbucks right down the street going who the hell drinks those and now he's like I think I want to try one we got one right down the street so there you
go we'll go after this after the after the podcast yeah well Wade uh we usually talk about sort of bikes that bikes and
rides that we've been enjoying lately Andor parts or anything like that um well we're going to ask you that
question so what bike have you been riding lately what rides have you done and what's what's been fun for you lately on well uh you know I get out a
lot riding so I could I have lots of History to pull from you know recent history but uh I just built myself a new
Slayer oh nice which is awesome a 24 2024 Slayer and I did kind of weird I
went bike packing on it which is odd you would think it a Slayer as a bike packing bike but we did this Race Face
pick aart like a bike packing pick aart and uh I went with this other uh athlete Race Face athlete Celeste pomerance and
uh cuz she's a bit of a cross uh kind of a crossover athlete with skiing and and
mountain biking and she does some back country trips so like she took me out bike packing and the reason I took my
Slayer was because we were getting into a Zone and we were free riding so I was going to teach her how to free ride up
up you know up on some ridges and stuff like that in Canada so I you know it's not the ultimate bike packing bike but it worked awesome that's sick so you
know we weren't like going A to B we were like uh we set up base camp and then the next day we just kind of sessioned around you know like a ride up
on the The Ridges and drop some scree slopes and stuff that seems like a good way to bike pack yeah kind yeah you know
some I mean bike packing people are like oh bike packing like route a to Route B like with the most distance kind of you
know like in mind but why like why not just roll into a base camp set up and then kind of yeah it was kind of like
the alternate look at you know what what bike packing could be you know yeah and then you can take all your stuff off of
your bike and leave it at base camp and then go and free ride out from that's that's what it was so it it was a
hellish uh it was a hellish five miles into base camp cuz I had this like Slayer long
trip which had a coil you know like you can't you can only like compression up the coil so much you know you got like a
60 lb pack yeah so my head to bangle was probably like 55 or something like that
yeah nice little bike packing trip on the Slayer I like it this is a good idea
sounds like a good time speaking of bike packing how's your how your trips been really good been planning a ton yeah yeah planning a tongue executing n
exactly J at some point you're going have to pull the trigger I know well you know if I had some friends that would
want to go with me you know I'd make it a lazier butt I don't remember any invites any friends did you get did you get did you get an invite for a bike
packing trip from Jared I haven't I actually invited him on a credit card packing trip so true that's the first invite to go around well Liam has in the
past expressed very little to zero interest in physically like bike packing with his stuff yeah I'm too young you
have expressed the interest maybe we'll get a trip going with wa I think bike packing is an age
thing I think as you get like it's like skiing right like yeah like I'm you know grow up in Vancouver we have Whistler I
ski Whistler awesome place right never heard and I never I never thought about I never thought about cross country
skiing as cool yeah you know like I'm a downhiller like cross country ski but now that I'm 50 I'm like what is this
cross country skiing thing like you know it's kind like my knees are starting to ache you know and I want I want to stay
fit maybe I'll start pick up cross country ski It's Kind like backpack bike packing like bike packing forget that
20s 30s you're like yeah bike packing 40s early 40s you're like yeah what's this bike packing thing kind of like
lawnmowers right like dad's interest in like lawnmowers and yard care it's like small engines that switch just clicks
one day and you're like all of a sudden you're like yeah I've been eyeing up that John Deere you know and then you hit the 60s you're
like oh that riding John Deere the riding one that's what I'm talking about you mow your lawn Wade I do mow yeah I
got I got a mow a nice got a nice huskar no just a just a push just a little push
gas power you got go gas oh yeah of course got to have gas very nice those those little Motors are good no no four
stroke for Str yeah orange sensible Jared are you planning to get a mower when you eventually have a lawn I would
love I would love a ride mower ride what do you call a rideon mower or whatever that'd be the dream I can see Jared's
shirt off bourbon in hand riding around his yard just just double doing it you know just like make sure it's all good
New Balances yeah I actually saw and you got the m i saw a video of a lawn mower
simulation like a simulator like a video game of you could mow your lawn wow that sounds uh
thrilling that's really fun it's really flying off the shelves
I just looks really fun man I don't know like a forklift simulator that'd be also
really fun Jared's a dad without being a dad you could have your own podcast just
going over various random things you've seen on the internet and just talking about them you want to do it with me I
don't know and you could just comment on how ridiculous they are I'll consider that all right no but like a forklift
yeah yeah I mean I think that one's more so to like teach people how to drive a fork like you know you guys have a
forklift here we had a pallet jack that's about it we
still am Fork certified so yeah Jesus what has a
j you guys need to get this guy a for clip I know even if you don't need one I've expressed interest in the past and
like you know forklift would be great back there can't really drive one we don't have enough space but yeah anyone's welcome to buy one you know
what's cool about the forklift is that they have the suicide knob oh yeah you can just like whip them around then the wheels will turn the back so I don't
think suicide knobs are actually legal OSHA proed on Fork clifts since you guys
killed that guy right yeah that forli accident remember that was an accident was an accident I actually got on two
wheels on a forklift once and that was probably the scariest thing ever cuz our forklift had the seat belt buckled like
behind you so you didn't have to like Buckle it to drive it mhm that's a story for another day I
guess well I guess I told the story already so there not safety all right back back to back to mountain biking not
talking you s we're talking about you wait give us a rundown let's talk about you let's talk about me for a
second give us a rundown of your early days uh as as free ride mountain biking
evolved and then you know kind of came to a head with the first Red Bull Rampage and winning it whoa like
nutshell version of sh version you know like uh I like to say that uh you know
free riding was bound to happen we were just lucky that we were the people that happened to be there like the wave the
wave was coming right you know I think mountain bike was looking for you know racing like it was Pro Racing all
through the 90s cross country and then downhill got into it and some people you know they just don't want to race
anymore but they want to kind of have fun and and I came in as a bmxer and I want to kind of apply like BMX skills to
mountain bike like jumping finding lines and things like that and uh you know I think free riding has a
lot to do with a train too so in Vancouver uh you know we had a lot our mountains have a lot of trees and creeks
and rock faces to so to ride you have to kind of you got to build Bridges and things like that right you know just or
else you're chainsaw all day on your your dad's chainsaw you know but you know like so the the start of free
riding in Vancouver was Building Bridges onto trees to keep to keep the trails going yeah and which is kind of funny
because now you go to North Shore Parks like say in like Arkansas or something like that like Northshore they just build bridges for riding Bridges you
know like some random Bridge you globally iconic now putting putting Bridges around everywhere you know we build Bridges to get over things you
know but now they just build Bridges because they're kind of fun to ride cuz they're cool but that's you know I mean that's kind of more of like the shore
style but in cames kind of where I grew up in Tippi and schay we were skining down Sand Hills like these these you
know when that's kind of like you get to the top and sker style kind of do big cars and in the the uh in these Hills of
sand and then you come to Cliffs you drop Cliffs and Link it up that's kind of like this that's basically where Free
Ride started was like just you know with your buddies high five at the top dropping in yeah I dropped that Cliff
you know trucks and beers and yeah that's you know and then I again like
the mountain biking was like they're looking for this like fun mountain bikes were getting better full suspension you
know so we're doing bigger jumps bigger errors what can we do and uh and then you know the movie
started so Digger who did the the north sh dream movies kind of in the early 90s
he would go out with his like super eight camera and film us riding and then we go back to a bike shop and watch it
on on the on the TV and then someone said to him like why don't you like make a movie of all this he's like yeah that was kind of the impetus of like the
start of those of those Digger movies he's like man and you like you know like you know duplicate a bunch of VHS put a
sticker on it and give it out to the bike shops and sell it for 10 bucks uh and then from Nelson the Free
Ride guy so free ski radical the freak radical was a magazine out of Nelson it was kind of this the ski called the
freak radical called the freak radical yeah nice and uh bejor Enga he and Derek weslin were kind of like it it was this
magazine that would had like a bit of Nelson history have you guys ever been to Nelson in the cies it's like it's like a ride Hub bunch of people come out
there like uh Robbie bordon uh Kurt sori lizen Nelson you
know Alex vov like Hardcore Free Rider current you know so it's a it's a ski Town hippie ski
Town mountain biking and ski freak radical kind of documented the time like
that sort of side of the sport free skiing deep powder and then he's like hey like we should do some mountain
biking so so he came to Vancouver and he wanted to shoot the shore trails and then he he saw Bjorn saw and Derek they
saw this like start of a sport and they're like maybe we should like start filming this and put movies together
that was kind of the start of the crank Series yeah you know and then it happened quickly like I don't want to I can't go into
every detail we're going to be here for hours but you know then Rocky you know we were athletes I was racing downhill and we're like hey let's put this like
what what is this Free Ride thing so we started making movies you know what everyone wants you know Mary managers want their logo on it why we why we
spalter this movie and put our Rocky logo on it and start a team so that's what happened there and then we would
travel the world free riding cuz people didn't know what free riding was you know when the movies came out uh we came
to se otter one year when the crank movie came out and uh we're like hey had a little premere with the movie we meet
people like these are the Free Riders and every was like what the heck is Free Ride and you know what's funny is that
we actually I I raced the uh the slom at uh SE otter yeah because you know we as a free rider you you have skills to race
slom like I I I actually have a dual solom Championship Jersey from BC you know like yeah I race dual solom like
and BMX so I was like yeah we can ride solom right so I remember rubbing shoulders in there with all the all the the the you know the racers at the time
in the States you know super fast guys right vor's and uh King was there yeah
you know uh Mike King and uh Carter Eric Carter you know like they were was like
racing with these guys are like who are these weird Free Riders like yeah they actually they can ride a bike pretty good and then uh and then Rocky you know
then we had some Pro Freeride companies like marzuki Bryson Martin at the time you got BR course dvo he was a supporter
he saw it right like Bryson got it right away he's like dude you guys are on to something a lot of the industry was like
this is a fat like you know free ride like like you guys are like you know race like how do you how do you qualify it how you quantify it how do you make
money is what it comes down to right it's like well we just like we have a baggy lifestyle look you know kind of
more skate style you know t-shirts jeans and we just shuttle up and jump off stuff that's that's basically is what
the definition of free ride was and then Bryson's like yeah dude I I get it like this let's free ride so marzok got
behind us Rocky was behind us and then and then uh and then we traveled the
world movies came out and then Rampage 2001 uh Todd barber had
a company I forget his company at the time but he he's an event guy H3 event or something like that but he he kind of
got us all together and and and made the event happen the first Rampage in Virgin
Utah do you think I mean how obviously free rides evolved a lot since then and
it obviously came from these roots of you guys just going out and having fun and then going out and kind of filming
it in different places around the world and then the Rampage and now there's a bunch of contests with crank works and
Rampage and it's it's gotten it's gone from that let's just go out and have fun and film it and make cool videos to like
it's actually pretty competitive now and and almost a little bit unnerving to watch because the what these Riders are
doing in the modern day is obscene yeah um crazy yeah what do you think of that Evolution do you kind of like where it
is evolved to to modern day free ride or are you impartial or I I have a look at
life like it's it is what it is like it evolved that point because it just evolved at that point like we can't we
can't stop the evolution it's not what I like like I I'm not a trick guy I'm a lineing guy like you know I like I'm
like a if I was a skier I'd be like a big mountain skier right like I don't care about how many rotations I'm doing off a jump like I I have no desire to to
out Trick somebody but I do have a desire to like find cool lines and ride ride lines creative lines that's me
right so but you can see you know you can't you can't like argue against it
it's like companies need to make money you know we need to sell bikes and and you know and and they need to uh qualify
who's the best and that's why the ramp like we need a winner you know many times I had I had like conversation with
marketing guys like yeah but how do we monetize this like you know what do you do like are you the best I'm like like
there's no best free ride right yeah like we would have these movies and you
know like in a movie you know like the best part would be the last part you know because you want to end with a banger right so so you you would have
You' contribute your your free ride you know segment in the movie and and where you end up is like that's kind of the
exposure like oh you know that Rider is sick you know and that's how we got exposure but companies still wanted more
they wanted like they want that name at the top they're like that's the number one yeah I don't know why companies need that cuz free rides it's easy marketing
it's easy marketing it's not creative yeah we're we're where free riding is creative it's it's you know it's like
sessioning it's like hanging out it's lifestyle it's surfing you know is what it is yeah I mean that was what I enjoyed so much
about some of those early mountain bike films is they would kind of feature you know Rider by Rider and each Rider
segment you could tell it was kind of their whole idea it was like oh I want to film me in cam loops Shing these big
Sand Hills or oh I want to film me doing super techy Northshore riding on little tiny skinnies and and every Rider would
have kind of their own little different stick and whatever they're good at whatever they're find enjoy yeah yeah
love watching that you know the cool thing about that too is that it's it was fun right like sometimes racing is not
fun like you go in there people are stress out you know what I mean yeah and and at the top of Rampage they're stressed out too cuz I know I can't even
watch Rampage it stresses me out try try take in the desert before you do your REO around 300 people around you know like
fuing nervous was like go mind the thing like wiping your butt with
rocks right right before your Rampage run well I know you're go hell of a
sport I might survive no but like you know it's you have to I
get it I I get the evolution of of sport like wher the joy ride you have to do it cuz that brings the people in you know
but what the people really want to do and what we loved was actually just going to new zones and find new lines
like that's so in movies every year like a movie would come out you always want to like what up your next movie right
like new location so you know we were the first people I I mean I've never been to Morocco but Morocco was hit uh
we went to Iceland we we we were the first guys at Grand Junction Utah like you know everyone goes there now there's
there like the hills crew pretty welln now well yeah we were there mid90s filming like skiding down these slopes
just kind of like pioneering going can we go down this road oh sorry for the F bom there I mean can we can we you know
can we Sorry to our listeners for all the bleeps we're doing our best to continue the podcast at PG-13 level this
episode's gotten a little rough um I I I asked Wade prior if you could
all right it just it just happens I can't it just happens it's all right I get excited you know free ride but we
were you know we're adventurers yeah first and foremost I I love looking at
Maps like I love terrain like I I I call the line disease I have the line disease whenever I whenever I I drive I'm always
like oh like what's up there what's here like uh you know just north of here there's a uh what's it called Uh there's
a free ride Zone with some funky rocks in there and immigrant immigrant Valley or something it's on the way anyway slay
always he always like uh shot there people have hit it before it's kind of like some nice rock features nice on the
way of town like heading a bit north uh Northeast yeah yeah the Immigrant I
think it's called immigrant immigrant Gap or something like that yeah it's when you leave but dude it's like it's sick like we were the first guys there
we we would go over when Google Earth came on we would scour gole Earth for like terrain to ride that's awesome uh
you know we pioneered lines like you know you know the mushroom drop in Moab no there's there's a there's an
iconic line in the Bartlet wash there's a mushroom Rock and you can come off uh off the edge and and kind of Hit the
trany on this on this mushroom Rock like we're the first guys to hit that you know it's the only mushroom you like
it's only yeah yeah it's only musroom like I I hate cooked mushrooms I learned about an hour py hates
mushrooms and and sour cream and mayonnaise and sour cream and mayonnaise good for everything else
what what do you think was of of all free ride movies ever made um not just ones including you but just in general
what was the one that kind of impressed you the most if you were to recommend a free like the top three free ride movies
to someone who's just getting into the sport or loves watching Free Ride what would what would you say Jesus that's a question that's a heavy question right
there you know because you're you're setting me up for like failure you know like that's not it like wait that's the
wrong movies no I'm not gonna dog you well uh you know there was uh the clay
Porter movies yeah you know neural disorder uh no he theay clay Porter did
more of the racing films the racing films but they had some free riding in there yeah hypnosis between the tape and stuff like that I couldn't say you know
of course New World movies if there's one if there's a few movies that are really capture I say it's the early New
World Disorder movies yeah you know cuz after that like you know I think new world has gone to 10 you know it's kind of like it gets repetitive yep but I
think they really caught their stride at number three four mhm you know say as cranked and the soundtracks were amazing
back then too I think that was probably before you had to license any of those songs cuz they were just using like yeah
oh yeah anything uh yley Ricker who did shift and ride to the hills you know ride to the hills was an
iconic uh film that kind of uh you know it was it was uh you know yearly did a
he was kind of a smaller film guy but he had a good Style he was a snow Pro snowboarder yeah so he he he kind of
brought a new look to it it was kind of cool yeah uh ride to the hills what do you think of uh life cycles life cycles
yeah I mean of course everything downhill guys do yeah yeah more kind of
uh lifestyle travel based yeah I feel like it's almost Planet like National Geographic planet Earth meets Mountain
Vikings creative take on it dude I don't have every movie you know I can pull up on our computer but there's so many so
many good ones what about you Jared I love life cycles that's one of my favorites
um yeah that's definitely yeah one of my favorites for sure I think I had New
World Disorder and the collective Collective strengthen numbers on repeat probably yeah yeah those those are good
iconic mountain bike films for sure you know it's kind of funny how you know as technology evolves in terms like now
everyone's a a producer of their own content the big movies are gone yeah totally G the whole model has changed
yeah it's you know I I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing and we're getting better content out of it but you see so what these guys are doing
now you know on a daily basis you're like Jesus like that would have been segments for 10 years you know what I
mean like the level the level of riding is ridiculous well same thing in the Skate World is like you know we talk
about those early Baker videos back in the day and it's like they would take three four years to make you know they get a clip they'd party for two months
they get a clip they' party for two months and now it's like dude people are cranking out three four a year that are as good as what took three or four years
to make you know so it's just that progression and everyone everyone's trying to one up each other right faster
and faster I just started watching that Eric Coston where they uh he goes to the iconic zones and he does a little have
you seen those yeah does a little talk Of The History of the zone and who did it first and and the progression of
tricks on it like you know I think that that would be very cool for M biking totally you know cuz it's like you good
idea you and Tippy should do that yeah you know uh you know like the respect like you
know you got to respect I I always whenever I did a segment I always made sure that my next segment was better you
know and I came from a BMX background and I and I talked about this before is that I I would only do things in an
urban landscape if I knew that BMXers respected it you know cuz a lot of mountain biking came in they're like oh
we're mountain bikers and they were kind of goofing it up a little bit you know and not being cool like I was so concerned with keeping M bik and cool
and that's kind of when we started I actually you know I had a bit of chip on my shoulder cuz cuz you know we got we
got looked down on like the the racers would always be like your Free Riders like you guys are lazy you know you got
you don't have the skills it's like well we got the skills and that's evident now in the Rampage yeah because the Rampage
showcases basically Free Riders against Racers and the racers don't win it you
know what I mean it's kind of like it's the Collision of the perfect it actually might be the one perfect mountain bike
sport if you if you look at M what is mountain biking XC cross country downhill Free Ride it's
the one sport that or it's the one venue that kind of captures like everything that's like a little bit of speed
distance jumping danger right Racing's trying to emulate that now with uh the Hardline yeah hardine is cool like
they're trying to morph still trying to package what the ultimate yeah it's kind of where Rampage would favor Free Riders
Hardline will kind of favor Racers a little bit but the Free Riders are hitting it you know yeah absolutely yeah
some of those 100 plus fee so mhm crazy so I don't know where I was going with that with that uh train of thought but
well that's all right cuz we got to go do a drink refill and get you some mushrooms it's been half an hour already yeah half an hour mushrooms sour we got
to get some mushrooms and sour what happened there quick intermission as always okay
cheers and now a word from our sponsors sorry for the interruption just a quick note to let you know that trail one
components is having a sale for the trails all November long where $2 per
product sold will go to Trail networks and the whole catalog is discounted 20 to 30% off Trail one is a mountain bike
component brand that myself and the WC crew here co-founded it so we could make the mountain bike parts we have always
wanted while simultaneously supporting the sport we all love with a giveback model to Trail networks around the world
it would mean the world to us if you would check out the trail one website at trail one. bike thank you and seriously
thank you to anyone who has checked out Trail 1 Kettle mountain or shopped at WC
recently it means a lot to myself and our crew here and goes a long way genuinely appreciated and now back to
the show I terrible after hours MC a Lyricist my daughter like every time to
try to sing she's like Dad don't sing terrible even if you're good your daughter would still see
that I bet Jay-Z's daughter says that to him right stop rapping dad talking to Jay-Z
all right Wade before we hop into some of the listen questions that we got just for you you want to give us an update on
what you've been up to lately in this Godfather's garage Shenanigans don't you want to talk Godfather's garage yeah bro
what are you up to lately I've asked you like six times like various questions and you just kind of like Meander around them and not answer them hit me with
this one I like to keep on the gas gas keep productive uh I started doing some sales repping so you know I'm kind of
Quasi Mount biker doing a little sales stuff now uh Keith Stark my partner uh
he uh he has a business called Switchback Sports and we rep Rocky Race Face Fox marzuki Easton and ride concept
shoes you know that's that's what we have in the agency Y and uh you know for like four years five years I've been
kind of repping a little bit in BC you know it's like BC is great right like it's a mecca for Mount be so absolutely
business is always good always booming in BC right and he's an old buddy of
mine from North an you know we so we have like you know we're hanging out together lot talking you know future
plans and we kind of want we want to offer a product we're like like you know what like yeah we like repping stuff but
we want to bring we want to bring our own product to to the market you what should we do you know we're pretty tied up already with the brands we have so
our space is pretty limited what we can do you know and uh and then you know it
kind of It kind of hit me it's like what's uh what's something we use every day and and has a good mountain bike
story and bike Loop so I started doing a deep dive this is going back Godfathers
was launched like June uh 17th in 22 you know that's when we kind of like hit
Market with product but you know two years before this we were kind of like coming up with the ideas you we'd flush
it out and then it's like I think I think bike Lo might be something good to get into the market with because what do
we use now right and we thought about all the offerings and it's like no one's got a really good mountain bike story
you know like what's what has the good core you know mountain bike you know you know so you know like uh uh the history
like passionate about it so we started looking at other brands like yeah you know what like a lot of things came from
Moto uh you know and then you got like like the big dogs like industrial stuff you know I mean I'm like I think we can
like we could do this so we started vetting started vetting some oil suppliers in Canada and we're like okay
what like what do we need to get this done right like let's see where we can first get the you know like the the the bul oil right so we started you know
contacting this of course Canada you know Canada's an industrial country right so we had a lot of people come back we were doing emails and like you
we're going be small time want to do bike Loops this and that uh we had two or three that were really interested you know of course they they
knew they're mountain bikers too they who never they don't have a product in that mountain bike space they like yeah we're I mean this is exciting let's do
this you know we know who Wayne Simmons is of course right like we're Mound bikers like let's do it so we would send
them the competitors's stuff you know like they have Laboratories to to kind of do analysis of like reverse engineer
reverse engineer and they're like yeah we can do this it's like it's it's bike lubrication like we're not going to the moon or you know not we're not you're
not drilling to the center of NASA yeah we're not NASA you know like you know think about Max wattage on
bikes you know ebikes now have more torque and stuff like that right but so they're like yeah we can we can work
with you to to provide something that will can be competitive in the market right now yeah so that's you know just
to put it out there like our stuff is uh it's uh you know it's it's uh chemically
engineered it's uh you know the the the laboratory rats are working hard to produce Godfather's garage nice so when
we did come out uh in 22 we we we wanted to kind of offer uh four products so we
have three Lubes like a wet a dry and an ebike lube and a grease so that was our initial offering and just recently we
did a bike wash which is a concentrate so it's a 1 lit concentrate uh 10 to 1
so this makes 10 of these spray bottles so we have a 1 lit spray bottle and we want to go with aluminum you know just
because it's like plastic recycling reusable stuff like that pretty rad uh
we're a made in Canada product you know we want to kind of keep everything local you know when we were thinking
about Godfather's garage we're like What boxes do we need to check right like okay Wade Simmons is making a Lube like
I'm going to get held over the fire I'm going to get you know raped across the coals it's like what you think you just make some lube and like uh you know cash
out and retire it's like no like we're in the Long Haul like this is a legacy project for me you know and uh so we
started thinking okay what what are what are you know what are the bike shops what are the websites going to be asking me like where do you get this is it good
you know is it sustainable so you know we have a a sustainably sourced base oil in this non-toxic
non-corrosive uh you know as I say three weights you know so dry being the the the least viscosity and then wet is kind
of like a medium and ebike which I know you guys ride a little bit of ebike ebikes eat Lube so the ebike lube is
kind of the most tenacious you know kind of the thickest of the three sticky little sticky yeah MH and and you know
what we've been out now for a year and a half you know and uh it's it's going great cool we're exactly where we want
to be setting up a good distribution in Canada you know and uh we have a couple European Distributors we got Norway on
the go a little test project for Europe you know just to kind of get the shipping and and the the te you know the safety sheets and stuff you know cuz
when you ship uh overseas you got to got to have all your your te's crossed and your eyes do you know like well I know I
know a guy uh who is a a nerd when it comes to bike lubricants and has tested
all these different lubricants and uh changed his mind a few times here and there when new products have come out
about like how they perform how you apply them all these different things and he happens to be wearing a pink tie-dye shirt right here oh Lube expert
this guy right here so I would I would like to uh hear your you got your elevator pitch of what makes a great
chain lube and you're going to go head-to-head with Liam's take on what makes a great chain lube so go well
elevator pitch okay here we go an elevator piit or info I I was going to say that what
makes a great chain Lube uh within 30 seconds I would say uh it all depends on
your terrain you like we live in a very wet dirty environment so we need something that stays around I I've heard
from our chemists that you cannot have something that cleans and lubricates it's just that's like it doesn't work if
you I mean maybe if you ride an environment that's like dry and you don't see any water or anything like that yeah maybe maybe something that
like evaporates off and stays around is going to work but when you live in Vancouver and whistle bikee Park and
kind of like the Pacific Northwest which is like a lot of where mountain biking is going you need something that's uh
you know it's going to lubricate going through a couple Creeks grit sand you know so so our product is uh you know
we've been we've been testing this for for two years in in the Pacific Northwest and it it's work great it's
awesome yeah I was going to say our kns are probably a little different because I'm basically down here in the desert
yeah and mine most of mine is yeah what you said lubricating and and keeping rollers good
while not attracting dirt not being too gunky yeah not not attracting I you want to hear about this these are you know
different needs than if I was here let's have a little talk here shut it out am I touching you you
touching me uh dentists you why do dentists exist
well Jared's dad's a dentist so because you eat food right and what happens when you eat food you get things on your
teeth you got to clean your teeth change are like the same thing like you to have a clean chain after you ride it's it's
impossible think about chainsaws like like anything that's lubrication like a car what happens when you have an oil
leak in a car top it up no you can like you see dust on it and crap
like he's got a range R got if it doesn't leak there's nothing it's called the uh it's called the uh
the the the flow through system you know like you never have to do leaks out exactly let me let me put it like this
so you're kind of uh you're waiting the performance of lubrication and sticking
around longer and a little bit less emphasis on the being ultra clean clean
why you're riding your bike why you want to be clean yeah okay it's like think about your body or your gear like are you worried about like when you ride
you're like oh I got a little mud on me he does look at him you think this guy ever gets dirty I don't know maybe a
very clean guy very clean yeah do you do you really enjoy watching those videos where you take the little the little
pick on the pulley wheel and you backpedal and you like clean all the gunk off it's like cleaning it's like cleaning uh Jared made a video like that
remember that no so the bottom line is this is that uh you know people it's the
loop game is funny because every area like say in the states they have
different Loop options like we went down in Seattle uh we we partnered with bti bti is our is our us distributor right
now and so we did a couple drops into some shops in uh in Seattle and like
what what they use I can tell you is like much different than what a lot of people people think you know we want to
be you know we have like a 1% for the planet so we're kind of like sustainable green uh biodegradable right you know
and some some places don't give a yeah don't give uh Shi
heck but you know what I mean it's kind of like you know we wanted to be there cuz we we knew like moving forward in
the future everyone wants to be green environmental conscious things like that that's why we went for the aluminum
bottle recyclable you know made in Canada Source you know but there are
some lubricants out there you know not to name any names that are not like that and and people love them yeah and it's
like well you know I mean we thought about like we looked at looking at doing Teflon and Teflon is a forever chemical
like we're not going down that road you know yeah it's kind of like it's you can't you can't be there this day and
age yeah so so I think you know again we have these guys who who we're working
with these chemists they've been in the game like 30 plus years in heavy industry food industry in in Canada you
know so they you know they have they're kind of the Leading Edge of technology and this is and they you know we're
confident that our uh our products will stand up to anything if applied right
you know I mean like that that's the biggest thing Lube is is applying it right and keeping up with it it's like
well I put it on and now my Chain's dirty or makes noise it's like well you didn't apply anything right so when we
so you know full disclosure here uh our demo driver in in Canada for Rocky you
know visits the the dealers and does demo rides he was testing our stuff for 2 years so we had like and we have a
bike shop like I a couple buddies in North Van big bike shops like L Valley bikes you know we would give them our our our prototype our samples and say
how's this how's that and we they get back yeah this one's this little you know little light little heavy whatever
right and uh yeah so we had like lots of real world testing and uh and Pat Cox or
demo driver he's like yeah this stuff works it's the best I've used you know killer nice I like it well game on cuz Liam's going to now test it on my bike
and his bike Jar's bike might be a clean freak you know I it's like what's your
favorite Lube right now uh right now I use Squirt you're not a wax space guy are you yeah I
am I don't I I I don't know what to say about that wa wax doesn't work for us
it's it's terrain based right like you go through two well you have a dry you have a dry version right yeah so like we
can't compare a wax based lube it's not necessary for where you live you're you're you're riding in much more wet
muddy conditions so but You' got a dry one so we're going to test your dry one we ride mostly in the dust go through a couple creek crossings with wax past and
you basically don't have a wax chain anymore so it's over it's you know yeah apples to oranges do you uh squirt you
don't have to cook it on no you no just a just liquid I don't have that much time it's it's MiFi right it's like it
doesn't you have to shake it it's already it's yeah I mean you shake it up a little bit but no it's it's it's good
to go pretty much yeah I we're going to give your stuff the test report back I've done the dive on Lube you know and
like and you know there's so many options it's kind of you know people kind of it's like toothpaste they like
to they like CR they like Colgate you know what I mean it's kind of like they don't they don't you know but when you win confidence over and that's where
golf house is going to be you know we're like we're confident in what we have to offer and it's just you know it's kind of product recognition it's going to
take some time right but you know we're not going to we're not a loop company this is our Legacy like we're starting
with Lube but as you can imagine we're going to go like you know whatever's in a garage right mhm you know and then we
when we came with the name cuz I'm I'm a mechanic right I was a bike mechanic for more than a decade I build Wheels you
know I like you know like yeah it's like I can do anything I was a mechanic for schay and Tippy riding because those two
are useless there's actually a really good
question related to that so don't give us the full rundown now cuz it's going to come up but all right cool appreciate the
appreciate the take on that stuff um always good to talk Lube you know Liam loves it really gets him going bit a
word of advice you know back to the words of wisdom M you don't use dry in the bedroom oh dry Loop not good that
makes [Laughter] sense uh you know this leads perfectly
into our first listener question which Jared can read off it sure does Wade what do you think is the weirdest
mountain bike Innovation these days the weirdest Innovation like the
weirdest thing you see that's like coming on mountain bikes or coming out like offering you know like yeah I'm
trying I'm thinking about it right now I mean uh it's it's tough you know like like
that steering stabilizer that Canyon came out with or like you know you seen
that that stem that's like almost behind that straight up out I think I think the
cable routing is getting too out of control mhm like headset cable routing the headset cable rou it's not
innovating at all right it's creating more problems it's creating more problems I mean we we ride a lot and we
ride in wet dank conditions and you got to change stuff out like imagine like how much of a headache that would be to
change cables and things like that it is I used to have an old kle an old Klein bike remember the like kle pacle was my
first good bike and it had that they had that white sheath going through the frame and the cable would always it get
bunged up you know what I mean it's just dude it's it's a headache yeah agreed uh
the wireless stuff is cool yeah cuz you're getting R you know but then you know it looks ugly the big shifters like
it's yeah mount m is going through a weird time right now yeah agreed uh what is good is anything that improves the
ride like that sort of stuff doesn't improve your ride it's just like it's all aesthetic yeah it's all
aesthetic you know but I mean we were talking about Tire inserts and stuff but you know like I yeah I get it right TIR
ands are good uh angling the seats kind of rad I had that idea years ago of like the seat angle the anomally kind of
thing you know that's pretty that's pretty cool dropper post of course were like the biggest innovator game changer
uh I was I was joking imagine imagine a handlebar cuz you know you guys ever hit
trees with your pinkies yeah imag handle bar you could like slide in to miss a tree yeah
yeah we were joking about like how that hit a button whoa like I I think they
said the same about don't s that that could be you know that's good same about stem droppers you drop your stem down to
go uphill raise it up to go downhill yeah not bad yeah not bad wow like old Talis fort but they actually work I'm a
you know I'm I'm an old school Rider like I'm a I'm a set it and forget it guy you know like I don't use
compression levers or knobs like you know I learn to Pedal efficiently yeah you know MH so yeah I'm I'm a bad guy to
to ask with that sort of stuff especially with Rocky too like you know looking at my career I'm I'm a trail guy
I'm I'm a ride experienced dude I'm not I'm not a I don't care what I'm riding you know I mean like I you know we
thought about like bringing bikes offering bikes you know like with Keith going back on product we're like yeah maybe we should do like our own bike
brand it's like you know what I don't really give to who's what kind of bike ride if if it feels good and the angles
are right it's like it's good you know I'm I'm not a tester that way yeah CU I you know I like riding bald tires it's
like yeah it didn't works yeah focus on the fun Factor fun I'm a get her done
guy speaking of fun Factor should we move to the next question that's a perfect run into it awesome all right
which old school bike do you reminisce about the most and which modern bike do you enjoy the most
uh well the modern bike of course the ebike I love ebikes nice just because
they're tools you know they're simply a tool when Rocky brought over the first power play in 2017 I did a video on that
you know and and I said in the video I'm like the possibilities of these things
are amazing you know they're not I mean not going to kill the mountain bike you know as in like people still cross
country ski or ski tour right you know there's everyone thinks like mountain biking the template set you know like
Bike Park oh we had ski you know I mean it's like it's not rocket science ski touring cross country M but ebikes is
like a pocket shuttle you know yeah I'm a dad I got two kids I got a professional wife she works I have
limited time mhm and when you have an hour and a half to ride on my muscle
bike let's call him the muscle bike I I know how far I can go in that hour and a half right on a KNE bike you're like man
I can like what can I do you that's go a lot farther so so I see it I see it as a
I see it as a tool simply a tool and people complain you don't get the workout it's like well yeah I mean it's
like I ride more all I want about a workout trees going buy me like that or Trail you know what I mean it's like the
more I get that the better yeah agreed sweet okay I tell you about my one the
old one you're reminising about well I want to uh I think hard tailes have a place you know yeah you know riding like
just slowing it down yeah talking about ebikes how you're speeding it up more more and more in the winter time I like
to ride a hardil because they're they're simpler you know less moving Parts less you know not not you know like have to
worry about maintenance so much any specific one that you're thinking about what was your favorite hard tail well I
like titanium and we're trying to get Rocky to do a titanium hard tail we're we're you hear that Rocky guys you
listening bring back uh the tie bolt oh that's awesome Jared has an epic
titanium he loves and talks about all the time super good nice the one he bought for bike packing how long ago and
has yet to bike pack a year ago a year roughly a year ago about a year ago still working on those bike pecking
trips he does ride it a lot though I do i r he rides it all the time it's a bike I grab the most the hard tail yeah I
kind of want it's so fun 10 speed 11 speed 12 uh 12 speed 12 yeah 1 by 12
yeah good old classic you know even 12 spe like how many like maybe 12's too much yeah he thinks 12 too much it could
probably get by with 11 on that bike 11's fine yeah 11's fine yeah yeah I once uh you know I'm a long time Shimano
guy and I remember when Saint first came out mhm and we're talking about Saint and uh and how you know they always
people always think that going less gears is is not Evolution mhm you know but I I you know I said to the engineers
the sh guys I'm like an F1 car in a dump truck they don't they don't share the same drivetrain you know but when Saint
came out which is like the downhill groupo they were all like okay we need the narrow chain you know Max gears is
like no you guys are cuz in a bike park you shift you use four gears Thomas and I Thomas talked about it cuz Thomas is a
big shim guy too we're like how many gears do we use in a bike park we figured out you actually you probably only use two but when you have a bit of
a climb you two more like you know on in Whistler you got that little climb right you gain two two gears yeah but like
like an eight speed or like a good solid you know so I don't know it's kind of still I don't think more is better in
terms of Gears all the time yeah agreed yeah it just depends on your uh your use case right yeah you know cross country
bike definitely gets you know little little easier with more gears mhm Liam do you want to read the next question
yeah probably doesn't remember this which is great this is the best part how did Wade get Liam and Remy matalia
confused in Sedona was that you yeah oh I remember that yeah yeah you do I said you look
like Remy yeah that's awesome we're shuttling you kind of do look like Remy sunglasses on
so we're shuttling Brewer like 8: a.m. yes like you you guys were doing a quick
lap yeah we trying to get out before the Airbnb kicked us out and uh yeah jump
out of the car and Wade's like Remy and I was like I'm not French but but then immediately you
bounce to no you guys are the worldwide guys I said that yeah and I was like how'
you between the two I think I must saw a jersey that said World Wide no I'm bringing up a remed media photo here to
see how much all the guys came back to the house I didn't do that ride it it was too early in the day for me there was three of you all these guys came
back in the house like dude you wouldn't believe this wait he thought Liam was
Ralia okay got the same beard yeah I could kind of see that do a little smile
there smile I see the resemblance totally both white guys wow that's it
both skinny white guys skinny white light a little ginger look at 5:00
shadow honestly he's got a little something there the Irish version of
remalia the Irish American version you totally like look at
go get get a helmet some glass he's defending his position he's defending his position you like Remy bad one sorry
oh he's fine no I don't know I've never met him um it was
funny that's awesome you're built pretty similar that's true yeah fight stick and
defend his position so Wade STS still I don't blame you I don't think they look that
different you're right I do remember that though well awesome morning that was after the the snow Yeah snow snow
Don could you couldn't ride the whole weekend so that was the first day you could actually ride Brewer and we're like we can't go to Sedona and not
actually get riding in so we all woke up early and you know sure we got yeah we
were shuttling it so we had odd man out we had four of us three were riding I think we got three laps then or four and
yeah everybody got three laps yeah you're a bunch of Rocky guys too short oh that's such a good trail that's the
trail we rode the day before in the afternoon right the best tra Sedona the
only non Sedona like I was going say it's also the trail that's least like Sedona yeah just staying downhill and
feels more like a Colorado trailer there that one other shuttle you can do up to that uh uh what do they call those zones
the uh the Hogs Vortex oh yeah one Vortex down yeah it's kind of fun nice
it's like that about Joe fox story Vortex he loves that story oh yeah we have a friend who loves he loves to talk
about the vortex like you hear the story about the vortex he's like well they ran out of parking so they just moved it to one with a bigger parking lot
yeah he he loves that joke awes hey this this question leads into uh your your
comment earlier so read it off who is someone who uh you know who can absolutely shred on a bike but can't
wrench on one if their life depended on it I think most good Riders are you know
as you get a better Rider your skills are less as a because you get a mechanic right yeah direct correlation uh you
know I think most like I like to poke fun Richie and Tippy you know but
they're okay typically definitely not but I think schay knows his way around how to adjust a gear you know up or down
you know but there's a little nuances of bikes like bikes bikes are very technical yeah they definitely are like theiler hanger you know what I mean like
uh you know like it's uh yeah there's you know there you know there's not too much technology in there
but there they need to be everything needs needs to be really close you know yeah you need like finesse finesse yeah
you definitely need finesse I worked at a car dealership and they taught me how to like bleed brakes and do a few things I was like that's it this is super easy
comp to bikes we like what do you mean it's just a bike I'm like no no no no bikes are harder than the stuff I'm
learning scal down is lighter right where cars are like bigger and blockier for sure yeah that's true so uh yeah uh
yeah Tippy is the wor so the next time any of these listeners are at some major mountain bike event and Brett Tippy's there doing his announcing as he does um
go up to him and ask him some really technical questions if can your wheels today adjust my shifting yeah ask him if
he can TR he's he's such a nice guy he probably would try too is it uh is it is ITT three or four in Shimano breaks
yeah all right the last question did you just put this in here or is this a real question no somebody to ask this uh this
could be like related to poutine but favorite cheese what's your favorite cheese well I do a lot I used to guide
in Switzerland oh yeah you know and uh like uh like a Grier a good a good
mountain cheese up there you know nice good Swiss Mountain cheese that was the best that was way better answer than I
was expecting yeah I was not expecting I'm going to totally steal
that you know but I just like it like you know I mean you know age cheddar is good right yeah sharp cheddar sharp
cheddar I love Shar right now I'm into like pepper Havi oh you like a some
havari with the peppers in there wow it's good that sounds really good you know I'm a I love like uh I'm a keto guy
right cheeses and and like salamis yeah like e European
awesome perfect question for the guy have you guys ever been you guys ever been Europe riding oh yeah we were in
the dolomites this year actually so good so good amazing I guided in Switzerland for uh six years nice Costa Rica and
Switzerland wow was awesome that's amazing two very different places but perfect seasly my buddy uh Chris winter
runs Big Mountain adventurers and uh I guided like so we go Costa Rica in February and we do September in perfect
wow nice amazing best best memories I used to joke very cool you know because I've been a pro rer for a long time I
used to say I spend my own money to go to Switzerland when people ask me where's
the best riding I'd spend my own money to go to Switz well you live in The Other Place P you live in the other
place where people would spend their own money to go we we spent our own money to go to BC all the time it's a good thing
I live in BC yeah seriously well Wade we appreciate your on the podcast um where
can people find you where Instagram LinkedIn well kind of on Instagram uh is
LinkedIn still thing you have one you do we got you got you know if you're gonna
if you're going to talk against it you got to be Savvy you know what I mean it's kind of that's right you can't be ignorant right uh Wade V Simmons is my
Instagram I don't check very often Godfather's garage is kind of uh we're pretty active on there hit the contact
form hit the contact form uh I'm cell phone guy give me a phone call
64984 well that's your treat for the end of this podcast if you listen this far to the end you just got Wade Simmons
cell phone number feel free to give him a call ask St yourself a hole right there give me a call man I'll talk all
day awesome man oh thanks guys it was it was great yeah thanks appreciate your
time thank you everyone for listening this long I hope you enjoyed the fact that you have way Sim's cell phone number now and we will talk to you guys
in the next episode Cheerio Cheerio love
you calling
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