 It's hard to entertain like 13-year-olds, so yeah, but yeah, this is an easy audience, I assume. You're not going to be hard on me, right? Yeah, I will stand up. That's Dave, by the way. This is Connor. These are the founders of Priority Bicycles. It's an honor to have you all here. It's an honor to have Ryan here always, and Dana, especially good day with Dana. Thank you all for being here to be part of this. We're so happy that everyone's here and that we're talking about riding bikes. We're talking about riding bikes. Actually, we probably won't talk much about bikes. We're going to talk about connection in the world and humans and nature and all the stuff that bikes transport you to, right? Remember the Lance book? It's not about the bike. That's the only thing good ever from Lance. I mean, the title of that book is awesome. It's not about the bike, and I believe that it's not really about the bike. Are we going to try to do this? We're live. Are we live? People in YouTube Land are watching this right now? They are. Okay. People of YouTube Land. Welcome to New York City. I'm glad that you are all here in Internet Land. We have about 2,000 people here in the Priority Bicycles headquarters. It's quite an honor, but we will be taking questions toward the end. You're Internet people, so ask some questions and we'll have somebody get them to me. Thank you for being here. I love you YouTube people, but for the most part, I'm going to be addressing the people in the room tonight and all of your beautiful faces and smiles. This is a dream come true, and I've said this many times, to be able to stand in front of you and to see your faces, to see the people who watch my videos on Sunday mornings or maybe Sunday afternoons if you live in Europe. It means the world to me that you're here. It's a time in the world where I think it's really important that we do see one another and we connect with one another. There's some scary things happening. There's some heartbreaking things happening. It's been heavy on my heart, and I'm sure it's the same for a lot of you. To be able to see you and connect with you and high-five you and hug you makes me feel safer. It makes me feel the love, because I think that's a large part of what's happening in the world. There's places in the world where there's not a lot of love and there's hate, and it's scary. For me personally, I sit at home in Boulder and I read what's going on and it just tugs at my heart and it hurts. I know as humans we can be better, we can do better. As you all know through watching my videos, the main point of my travels is to connect with humans. That's my favorite thing. I love pushing my body. I love going up steep hills and seeing what my body can do. I love nature. I love sunrises and sunsets and rainbows and all those beautiful things in life. But it's connecting with you people that really stays with me the longest. This is trail magic right here. You've heard me talk about trail magic. Those moments where somebody comes out of nowhere to save the day essentially, to give you a little bit of food when you're tired and dehydrated or let you sleep on their couch or their porch or their backyard. That's trail magic, but this is also trail magic because a lot of you traveled from a long ways away to be here to meet me and I never thought that this would happen. I started making these YouTube videos many, many years ago. I started making videos in general many, many years ago with a tiny audience, mostly just my mom, my number one fan and Dana and a few other friends. And I never thought that it would grow to be this large. And it's not like in the grand scheme of big YouTube channels. My channel isn't that big, but I have a very loyal, loving, following team dozer. I love you. It makes me so happy that you're here. So I want tonight to be fun and interactive. I don't want to stand up here and talk at you all day like I'm some sort of professor because I'm definitely not eloquent enough to do that. But I want you to ask questions and I want you to say, Hey, I remember that one video. Tell me about this and what was happening behind the scenes. And were you are you really always that positive and happy? And the answer is yes, I'm always positive and happy. Always. Nothing gets me down. Nothing phases me. As we all know, it's not true. How many times have I cried on my YouTube channel? A lot. Yeah, a lot. So much so that maybe some of you are like, Okay, here we go again. Yeah. But I would like to call out a few people. Dana has come all the way from Boulder stand up Dana to be with us. Hi, guys. Ryan got me back out. Yes, I did. Dana, as you know, is one of my favorite humans on planet Earth. You know, it's interesting. I never thought that I would have a 62 year old lesbian best friend, but I do. That's right. I'm her. Yeah, and she's not just a best friend. She's a mentor. You know, a lot of what you see me talk about in my videos are our lessons I've learned from Dana. Dana is one of the most kind and loving and understandable and non judgmental people I've ever met. And I'm a better person for having known you. Thank you for being here. You know, it was a few weeks ago, we were, you know, organizing this event and the adventure ride for tomorrow. And I was asking Connor how many people had signed up and he's like, We have a couple spots open. And I was like, Well, I'm going to see if Dana can come. And I didn't think she'd really be able to come because flying to New York is kind of a big deal. And I texted her and within seconds, she's like, I'm in. I'm in. And so she's here today for the first time to go on an adventure with us tomorrow. So it's going to be very exciting. Yes. Thank you, Dana. I also want to thank, I said it earlier a little bit, Dave and Connor from Priority Bicycles. You've changed my life. You truly have. I met them in 2016, right? Yeah. And so a lot of you may not know this origin story. I'll make it quick. But I went, I was invited on a press trip and a press trip is where a PR company will invite journalists to come cover maybe a hotel or some attractions or whatever it is. And at this time in my career, I had done enough pet press trips and I didn't really want to do anymore. But, you know, they're free and you have to stay in nice hotels. Of course, you know, that's why people do these press trips. And they said, We would love to invite you to the wonderful city of Minneapolis in February. And I was like, I don't know. I already live in Colorado. It's cold enough. I don't need to go to a colder place. And I finally decided to say yes, because they're like, we're working with a new bike brand that's releasing a new bicycle. It looks pretty interesting. And we know you love bikes. So I decided to go on this press trip to Minneapolis in February. And it was as cold as it could be. I was like, you know, negative sub zero temperatures. And that's why I met Dave and Connor. They were releasing a bike called the continuum. At the time, some of you might have the continuum. Nobody does. Gosh. And we just connected right away, not as like business partners by any means, but as friends. And I could just see right away that these guys were my homies. These guys were my friends. And they were doing something cool with the world. I love anybody who creates bicycles and puts bikes into the world. And Dave, at the very beginning was like, I just want to see more people on bikes. I think the world would be a better place if more people are riding bicycles. And the whole, you know, idea, mission of priority is low maintenance bicycles so people can stay on those bikes and ride them for longer because, you know, a lot of times we'll get a flat tire on our bike and it'll sit in the garage for like six months. Right. You're like, oh, my bike is broken. It's like, no, it's not really broken. Just have a flat tire. But priority bikes never, ever break, which is amazing. I don't know why you're laughing. And so that's their goal. And I was like, these are my people. And slowly we built up a relationship. And here we are now. And I'm incredibly grateful to you both and your entire team. They have a wonderful team of people here and in Pennsylvania at the warehouse and just really good quality people. You know, and so they paid for these burritos. So say thank you. Up from you. So we appreciate you being part of the priority family. And we learn from you every episode. We love being part of a sliver of your journeys. Yeah. Well, thank you. It really means so much. It really does. Like, this is a dream. I'm going to keep on saying it all night, but this is a really special moment. Another thing about priority is when they first came out with their bicycles, they were pretty much just city bikes, commuter bikes, which are great. I'm a commuter. I've never had a car in my life. I need a good solid city bike. And I rode the 600 for a long time. And it was during the pandemic where things really changed. Dave called me and he's like, hey, you know, we have this idea of creating like an adventure bike. And will you help us design this adventure bike and then go ride 2500 miles on the great divide mountain bike route? And I was like, that sounds like the best idea ever. And so that's how my bike, the 600X was born in conjunction with some of the designers here, Eddie, to make an amazing bomb proof adventure bike, which you are all in the running to win tonight. One lucky person's going to win it. And it's a $3,500 bike. You can walk out this door and sell it for $4,000. So that's the story with priority. How are we doing on YouTube? YouTube people, hi, how are you doing? Are we losing people? Is this too boring? Are we good? Nobody knows. You can't talk to me. So I recently had a pretty big summer. A lot of you watched my most recent series in Sweden, I hope, right? Thank you so much for watching that series. That adventure wasn't just about going on a tough adventure. It was about reconnecting with the place that means a lot to me. Sweden was the first place I really ever traveled outside of the Boulder bubble. I grew up single mom, four kids. We didn't have a ton of money. We didn't go on family vacations. If we did, it was like to like a local fun park in Denver, which is great. I'm not complaining about it, but we didn't have the money to go far away. But I got, fast forward, I go to high school, I apply for a scholarship with Rotary International, and they send me to Sweden. And I was like, okay, I'll go anywhere, whatever, anything outside of Boulder. I'm excited about this. So I went to Sweden, fell in love with the country and the culture. My host family, who you all met in the final episode, such kind, wonderful, beautiful people. And Sweden is what opened my eyes to the world. I had never really traveled. But at that point in my life, the furthest I'd ever traveled was to Cheyenne, Wyoming for a soccer game. And that's not really that far from Boulder. Boulder is like two and a half hours away. But to me, it was really exciting to cross the state line and be in a whole new state. You know, Wyoming, who's been to Wyoming? It's pretty cool. It's windy. It's great. Good spot. So Sweden is all new to me. New language, new culture, new time zone. And when I was an exchange student there, I always wanted to travel to the very tippy top of Sweden and experience the midnight sun. That's something we don't really have in the United States. They're not at all. And I wanted to go up there. But when I was an exchange student, I just couldn't make it happen. So I had this dream in my back pocket for many years that someday I would go there and experience the midnight sun, go to the very top of Sweden, above the Arctic Circle. And last summer, some of you might remember this, I had it all planned. I had my bike packed up in a box. Everything was ready to go. Plane tickets were bought. And 24 hours before I was going to get on the plane, Scandinavian Airlines went on strike. And all of the itineraries were canceled. And this was 24 hours before I was supposed to get on the flight. I was like, whoa, can you do this? Is this legal? What? Has this ever happened to anybody? Nobody? Only me? Gosh, I'm lucky. So that happened. And it was a bummer, of course, but I made new plans and had a great 2022. But I always said, I was going to make it happen this summer. So this summer, I'm ready to go and everything worked out. I flew to the top of Sweden and got demolished by mosquitoes, wishing that I had never gone to northern Sweden to see the midnight sun. It was interesting up there. It was fascinating. I mean, it's just woods up there, far as the eye can see. I flew up to a town called Kivudena, which is the northernmost city in Sweden. I put my bike together in a hotel. And at the beginning of adventures, you're always a little jet lagged. And you're like, what am I getting myself into? You're a little spooked. For me, I'm not a good planner. So I'm in the moment trying to figure out how to use my brand new Garmin computer. And it's like, you should have done this a long time ago, Ryan. But of course you didn't. So I'm sitting in the hotel trying to figure out all these technical intricacies. And it's just one of those moments where you're like, OK, here we go. I'm just going to see what happens. And that's what my adventures are. I set out every day, and I don't know who I'm going to meet or what I'm going to eat, where I'm going to sleep on the side of the road. I just get on my bike and I go. And I've done this enough times to the point now where I'm pretty used to it. But that doesn't take away from a little bit of the fear. A lot of people ask me all the time, like, do you ever get scared out there on your own? How do you get over fear? Because that's something all of us humans can relate to, whether or not you're riding thousands of miles or going into a job interview or asking somebody out on a date. These are all things we can relate to, fear, right? And I do get scared. There's no doubt that these moments are scary. And there's times in adventures where I don't know how it's all going to end. You know, the weather is horrible or the bike is acting up. Not the priority bike, of course. I didn't mean to say that. I mean, cut that out. My leg hurts, I meant. My leg hurts. And it is spooky. But I always just come back to, like, taking a deep breath and I just take a step back from wherever I'm at. And I'm like, it's going to be okay. Like, I'm out here in the world. There are humans out here that will help me if things go south. They always do, as you've seen with Trail Magic. There are spooky moments. But my motto is really just to keep moving forward. One step, keep taking one step or one pedal stroke. And as long as you're moving forward, something good will eventually happen. And that's how I get through tough times in life. Whether I'm on a bike or I'm putting together a video that's hard to edit and I don't quite know how I want to finish it or tell this story, I take a step back sometimes and just take a deep breath. And I realize that it's important. You know, it's my livelihood, but it's also not that important. It's like, you know what's important are family and friends and the things that we all know to be really valuable. Just love, right? I don't know where I'm going with all this. I'm just trying to explain a little bit about love right now. Yeah, I mean, life is scary. And there are moments throughout life that, you know, you don't get through without the help of others. And as you've seen in my videos, I almost always am helped by random people who bring me into their homes and feed me and let me camp in their backyards. And then we have these connections and these moments. And now I have friends all over the world who I've met and I'm still in touch with people. If you remember in the Swedish videos, I stayed at a house in the state of Dalana and they were the first couple I stayed with. And she still writes me all the time. She's like, I love watching your videos. It's so fun. And today she sent me some photos from that part of Sweden. They got their first snow today. Can you believe that? It's already snowing in northern Sweden, which is crazy. And I told you about the story with Danny in my necklace, right? Everybody knows this story. I met Danny in West Virginia. I was riding a cruiser bike across the country in 2009. Long story short, because I think a lot of you know it. He picked me up off the side of the road. He brought me into his home. Very simple man. He had been a coal miner since he was 18 years old. At this point I met him. He was about 55. Just a kind soul that wanted to help me. And he fed me macaroni and cheese. I'll never forget. He's like, man, I got macaroni and cheese and some crystal light for you. And I was like, sweet. My mom never let me have crystal light. And he brought me to his house and it was just so wonderful, just so sweet. That was really one of the first times in my life experiencing trail magic on a bike ride. That was kind of the beginning of my bike touring career. And the next morning when I was leaving, I spent the night on his couch. He knew that I was about to head up some very steep mountains for the rest of the day. And he goes, man, I don't envy you. You're going to go up some pretty steep hills here today. And he took this necklace off of his head and he put it onto mine. And he said, keep this necklace with you always. It stands for courage, wisdom, and strength. And one of those three things, it will get you through just about anything in life. And that's my man, Danny. And I'm still in touch with Danny. I call him on his birthday and on holidays and he's doing great in his house over there in West Virginia. And the world seems smaller and the world seems safer after having biked to all these places and met these wonderful humans. You know, you've seen my stories in Mexico where people in Mexico bring me into their homes. Cuba and wherever else I've been. I mean, it's never not happened. And if you want to hear a funny story, Swedes are amazing people. I love Swedish people, but they're kind of reserved. And it takes a while to break that barrier and become pretty friendly with them. They're not like Mexicans or Americans like, oh my God, welcome, come to my house. We can make you whatever you want. We're just kind of more outward with our love and with our generosity. Swedes are not like that at all. And I knew this going into it. I was like, I wonder how this trail magic thing is going to work in Sweden because it's just not similar to other places where I've been. I wonder if I'm going to meet anybody who's going to help me out or if I'm going to even need help. And of course there were. You met them all in my videos. But I got an email the other day from a swede saying, I do not know the country that you're traveling in. I live in this country. He's like, the people you are meeting, the experiences you are having, I have never had this happen to me. It was funny. In a way, it was kind of a compliment, I guess. He's like, I'm 11th generation swede. We don't even invite our neighbors over. He's like, it was really skeptical about it. He's like, did you pre-plan this? Are you telling the whole story? What are you leaving out? And I was like, what you see is what you get in my videos. I just randomly met these people and I wouldn't ever be bold enough to walk up to somebody and say, hey man, I need some dinner. But I'll go up to some people towards the end of the day, maybe I'm working through something, maybe I'm tired and I just need some shelter. But I would walk up to these people and be like, hey, my name is Ryan and I'm speaking Swedish, so that kind of helps with the barrier there. And I've been riding in the rain all day and I'm just looking for a barn and I'm not gonna have to sleep under a rainstorm tonight. And then the Swedes would hymn and hawn like, I don't know, there's anything. They're like, wait a second, I have room in my house, why don't you just stay with me? And that's how they happened. That's how every single one of them happened. One guy was out in his backyard watering his flowers, one guy was going to get his mail and I got him, I knew it. I was like, oh, that guy looks like a nice guy. And it doesn't always work. That's safe here. No idea, see ya. Which is fine, it's fine to say that to somebody. But I kind of addressed this in one of the videos where trail magic does happen. And there are moments in life where somebody just comes to the rescue and you don't call for it. They're just there and it's magic, right? I'm sure some of you have experienced some of this. And there are times in life where you do need to ask for help. And those were moments in Sweden where I did need to just do something a little awkward and walk up to somebody and say, hey, so here's the situation, I'm super tired and I need a safe place to put my tent for the night. Can you help me out here? And I truly believe this from traveling all over the world and some of you have also traveled the world. Humans love to help other humans. Humans love that feeling of connection and being able to be useful to somebody. And so I think there are times in life where you have to ask for that trail magic to happen. And nine times out of ten, it will happen. And then it leads to something even better than just getting a roof over your head. You're invited into their homes and they feed you a meal and you get to know them. And then soon enough, you're like invited to their daughter's wedding or wherever it is. There was one time in Baja, Mexico the first time I did the Baja divide, which was my first true bikepacking experience. Bikepacking, I kind of defined it as more of like off-road. Of course I had been bike touring before that, which is like pavement and road. But bikepacking is a little harder because you're on back roads or you're mountain biking and it's really bumpy and it's rocky and dirt and you're a lot more remote. And so it was the first time I did the Baja divide in 2017 and that ride just beat the crap out of me. I'm sure some of you remember those videos and I was just at the end of my rope. And I didn't quite know what to do and it was the first time I ever considered quitting a ride. Usually when I start something, I finish it. I'm very stubborn and I make sure I get from A to B but this was the first time in my life where I'm like, I don't know if I can do this anymore. Physically I was destroyed, I had horrible saddle sores and it just, the fun wasn't there for me anymore. And there are times in life where it's okay to say, you know what? I did enough. And it took me a long time to come to terms with that and to say, I am not going to finish this ride. I'm not going to get to the end. The story is going somewhere, I promise. I roll up to a rancho in Baja in the middle of nowhere off a dirt road. We're not near any cities or anything and I ask these people if they have a place where I can just set up my tent. Because I usually like to set up my tent in places where there's other humans nearby just to have somebody looking after you. Of course I have stealth camped many times where you're like in a city park or hiding and it's just I don't sleep as well when I'm stealth camping because I always wonder if somebody is going to come up to me. But I like to just essentially get permission to be where I'm at. And I asked them if there was a place where I could camp and they said, yeah of course, look how much land we have. This is a rancho, like camp wherever you want. The Mexicans are so cool. And so they invite me to camp and they have a shower actually that I can use and I'm so happy because I just had my life on my bicycle and I felt so defeated and I had just quit to myself. I was like, I'm done. I'm going to camp here and then hitchhike to a town and get out of here. And they're like, it just so happens that it's our son's 18th birthday and we're having a giant rodeo party tonight. And you're now all of a sudden the guest of honor Gringo. And they're bringing me plate after plate of food and I'm eating things that I need and I'm drinking Coca-Cola which I don't usually touch because it has caffeine and I don't need caffeine. And it was amazing. I was like part of this family's gigantic birthday party. The members had traveled from all over Mexico to be here for this son's 18th birthday. It was a big deal. And sure enough they had a full on rodeo and they were out roping the cows and it was really exciting. It was fun to be part of that. And so if I hadn't asked them for the help I would never have had this amazing cultural experience that I never would have had. I would have just ridden by and maybe hidden behind some cactus somewhere. But now those people I'm still in touch with them. They live about halfway down the Baja Peninsula and I think about them all the time and if I go back there they would be like, oh yeah there you are. I forgot about you crazy white boy. Welcome back. And I mean there's so many instances of people coming out of the woodwork like that that just totally hooked me up and it just makes me happy. I feel like I've kind of talked enough of my my spiel here and I know a lot of you have questions that I want this to be interactive so we're not just sitting here. So if anybody has any questions about the Sweden ride or about Raghbri this summer, did Raghbri? My more recent adventure is the Oaxaca adventure from January with Mirra. Everybody always has questions about Mirra. If you don't know Mirra, Michaela probably doesn't. Mirra is this wonderful wonder dog that travels with us on these bike adventures and she is the coolest dog in the world. Yep, yep. Any questions so far? Here we go. I got a mic for you. This is so that YouTube people can hear you. We're going to do some questions now, YouTube people. So the question I have are you going to be doing something in 2024 with Jon and Mirra? Don't you love me enough? You love me a lot. Just kidding. Yes, I will definitely track them down somewhere. Jon and Mirra are currently on a worldwide tour riding their bikes all over the bike. Mirra doesn't have a bike. She's a cool dog but she's not that talented. They're riding around the world and I will definitely meet them from time to time which is great. For the next five years they're going to be doing this so I will try to pop in and meet them whenever I can because they are such it's always funny, I don't know what to say. They're wonderful people. No, Jon is a wonderful human and Mirra is a wonderful dog. They're wonderful creatures and I love them. And riding with them just it makes me feel safe one because a lot of my adventures are alone and Jon's a very capable outdoorsman. He's Canadian and he canucks here. Right on. And Mirra is just so fun. After a really hard day on a bike which happens if your bike tour you know you're just so tired and you're whooped and you don't even want to put up your tent but then Mirra comes out and says hey do you want to throw me a stick? Let's have some fun. So it's really just exciting to have a dog with you at all times who is just always in a good mood. So I absolutely adore riding with them and I'm grateful that I met them in 2020. I met them right before the pandemic in Baja. So this is kind of cool. I quit the Baja in 2017 halfway through and I went back to finish Baja in 2020. And that's right when I met Jon and Mirra and one of my YouTube people out there commented saying if you had finished Baja like you had originally planned you probably never would have met Jon and Mirra. You know the world works in mysterious ways and I truly believe it and now Jon's one of my dear, dear friends and you know Mirra really we grew up with a family dog and the dog was pretty annoying and I didn't really like it all that much and you know people always ask oh do you ever want to get a dog and I'm like no I don't really want a dog because they're annoying and they bark all the time and then I met Mirra and so Mirra is really who I attribute helping me to fall in love with dogs again because Mirra is just so special and you know you all know this right Mirra is just so wonderful yeah so I will find Jon and Mirra and the adventures will continue yep yep any other questions here we go so you did the Swedish Dubai tour when are we going to see you doing the rest through Europe and where do you stop then where are you from from Boston oh wow okay right on okay I was going to say that is not a Boston accent I know people in Boston have heavy accents but I haven't heard that one that must be from like a north side so when I went to Sweden my goal was to ride what's called the European Divide which is modeled after the Great Divide which follows the Rockies from Canada all the way down to the border of New Mexico and Europe wanted to have one too you know so they're like we're going to just create a divide and that's essentially what they did and so the divide goes from the top of Norway through Sweden all the way through Denmark it goes all the way down to Spain is where it starts and I would love to ride the entire divide and I think a lot of you know the reason why I got off the divide this summer in Sweden was because I had to do with mosquitoes that's where they all were they were in the deep woods in the middle of nowhere and I had never in my life experienced anything like this and all the Swedes had warned me before I went on the trip like just so you know there's a lot of mosquitoes up there I'm like I don't care it's just a mosquito it was horrible it was one of the most uncomfortable things I've ever dealt with in my life you know when I ride my bike on tours I like to stop every now and then I'm gonna go film some pretty flowers or the things you see me do or my drone I could never stop anywhere without mosquitoes just getting all over me and it was so annoying and of course it hurts a little bit just talking about it gives me the willies and so I got off the great the European divide because of that reason and once I got onto more civilized roads there were way less mosquitoes so if you were watching out there or if you can hear never go to northern Sweden in the middle of summer unless you want to deal with mosquitoes it's cool that it never gets dark I never saw darkness ever in Sweden when I was there isn't that wild? I would get out of my tent at 3 in the morning to pee or whatever and it would look like daylight it's trippy, it's crazy yeah so I will be back and I will do the full thing one of these days yeah, here we go Chase is going to give you a microphone so people at home can hear you do you have advice for getting my non-biking, non-camping family to sign up for RAKRA? oh, yes does your family like pie? and good food and partying in good times and 20,000 sweaty, stinky people that's what RAKRA is all about you know it yeah, RAKRA I always tell people even if you don't ride a bike that often of course you need to know how to ride a bike and be prepared to ride some fairly big miles but I think it shows off the best of America it shows off the best of small town America it's charming it's fun, I tell people it's like a rolling county fair there'll be these sweet kids on the side of the road having a bake sale, raising money to buy a PlayStation game and then over here we'll have some pretty ladies having a spaghetti dinner at the community church to raise money for whatever it is and it's just it just makes me happy every time I go there so I know that it's the last week of July which can be very hot and uncomfortable you do have to ride about 450 miles which is a lot of miles to do in one week but it is it's good for your heart and your soul so that's what I would tell your family like it's just, I guarantee you they will enjoy it so they might not be enjoying it in the moment but at the very end of it maybe two weeks after it they will be very happy that they did maybe two years after it they'll be very happy that they did Conner, do you want to speak to this so Conner had never done Rag Bride been bugging him for years to come do Rag Bride and experience the magic so Conner came out this year do you want to get in front of the camera here so the internet people can see you I can verify that it takes a couple weeks to enjoy no, it was great Ryan for years had been saying come out and do it has anyone done Rag Bride have you ever been alongside Ryan there you might not finish but no, it's great it was not easy and this year was hot and long but as far as community goes and people, it's tremendous to stop all the pressures off and what's great is that what I've learned from you is that when you do hard things it's very rewarding and when you do hard things as a group then you all get to amplify that feeling so at the end of the day we're setting up camp and there's something different about setting up camp after you've ridden 50, 80, 100 miles so it was great and hopefully next year we'll actually be able to assemble a full team and bring other people out to do it so it's a long week but it is absolutely a tremendous week tell them about all the slip and slides and the pools okay, let's talk about this the way that Ryan pitched it was that there was a slip and slide like every mile there wasn't and I love slip and slides, it was so fun and when you're 40 miles in degrees you really like them and when they're not there it breaks your heart but there are a lot of them and you just go past and somebody in their front yard has set up a slip and slide and they have a cooler of beers and drinks and food and they're just like hey grab whatever you need, hang out for a bit and absolutely it just recharges your batteries and your back out there and all of a sudden you look down and you're like dude I just did 65 miles what happened and then you cruise in and there's a band playing and you're all hanging out and it's just a tremendous experience so I mean it only took five years or whatever but we did it and I'll definitely do it again yes, right on and I promise that I'm going to work on the videos at some point everybody keeps bugging me about the rag bride videos and they will come out I was busy with the Sweden stuff you'll see lots of Connor tell them about the ear infections okay this is just for you all to be prepped there are showers but they take a little bit of work and at the end of the day it is easier to just find like a local pool or standing water and so at one point we found a little mini lake and some of us ended up with a double ear infection some of them is me and Chase but there might have been some preexisting conditions there but the good thing about Ryan as well when you ride with him, Ryan is a tremendous pool hunter and pools in the Midwest are massive like slides and everything so if you can get into town Ryan will find the pool set up camp and then you're in chlorinated water does not have the same effect but the pool situation in Iowa is amazing and it was so fun to be with Connor and the priority team Chase and have the team dozer out there we sold like 200 shirts hot pink shirts they were everywhere we took Iowa by storm and we're going to do it next year too another thing I always say about Raghbri, and this is something you can tell your family is that it's for everybody you don't have to be a Lycra wearing $10,000 bike riding elite rider to do Raghbri in fact, you shouldn't be Raghbri is for everybody in all bodies and all ages you will see people at this event that you might not typically see on your morning road ride in Boulder, Colorado or other places it's really a welcoming place for everybody of all abilities and that's why I love it you know I love riding my bike but I'm not like gung ho have the most expensive stuff and the right things like I want people to feel welcome and Raghbri is one of those events where everybody does feel pretty darn welcome at the end of the day you're just going to go to sleep smiling and how cool is that you know you've had a really good day if you go to bed with a smile on your face and that happens every single day at Raghbri and then afterwards you have all these memories to think back on I'll text Connor randomly we're at this random party and there was like 50 people packed in the pool and they were throwing beers at us it was like a frat party in the middle of nowhere I'll never forget and and they all they're like they want you to come it's not exclusive like some things they will stand on the road they come to our party come to our party you know so I'm not employed by Raghbri but I think it's amazing and you all should do it definitely yeah here we go can we get the mic up here yeah sorry do do do do oh yeah you might as well yeah maybe I should do it so you mentioned like being to kind of break in and ask people for help when you need some trail magic at what point do you mention that do you have a YouTube channel and ask them if it's okay to film that good question so I don't know if everybody heard that but he said there were some times where you go up to people and ask them for help the question was at what point do you tell them that you're a massive YouTube star at what point do you tell them that you have a YouTube channel and are they comfortable with being filmed that's a great question you know I don't lead with that ever I don't roll up to people with the cameras blazing sometimes it would be nice because you get these spontaneous moments but I just don't want to do that to people so I'll go up to them and chat with them and you know work out like that I can stay with them or however it's gonna work and then I will say so by the way I have this you know I make small travel documentaries on my YouTube channel and my audience loves meeting the people that I meet and I think this really love meeting you would you be willing for me to film our interactions or can I ask you a few questions on camera and nobody's ever said no which is really cool because sometimes cameras are spooky not everybody wants a camera in their face and they don't want to talk they don't want to like show where they live or whatever it is but it's always worked out and I think for me like I said this is how I started this whole thing connection in humans are my favorite part of traveling and a lot of the comments I get from you and you around the world are we love watching your videos because they make us feel good and they make us feel better about humanity you know I get countless messages and emails from people outside of the United States who say hey you know I watch the news and your country is off the wall and it's scaring me or whatever whatever's going on in the United States at the time and they're like but then I watch your videos and you show me a completely different side of this country that I don't see in the news so thank you for showing me a piece of America that we don't see on the mass media and I love getting those messages because it just makes me want to do it more and more and show people how kind hearted 99.9% of humans are on this planet and I think the more we do that the more people feel safe going out into the world and risking things you know it can be scary to travel it can be scary to leave your community it can be scary to travel as a solo woman you know there's lots of reasons for all these things and so I like to show people that sometimes you know there's more good in the world than bad and so that's how I broach the topic and they're usually pretty cool but in Sweden I don't know if you remember this moment but it was I left it in the video because it was kind of funny it was the second family I stayed with and I put my camera on a tripod over on a counter over here and I went back and sat down and they're sitting at breakfast and she looks at me she's like what are you doing but she'd already seen me filming the whole night before she's like what are you doing right now and I'm like oh I'm just filming us eating and she's like that's weird okay but I was like it'll make sense in the video because I have to have this moment where we're all sitting together and it's like you know so there are times where they don't really understand it but then they watch the videos like oh now I understand why you need all these different angles because if you only have one angle to tell a story it's just not as dynamic those are the moments where you maybe want a camera crew you're like a reality show type situation like Mikaela's situation she's the best camera woman in the world Lina yeah definitely so yeah questions here we go blue shirt here we go thanks for being here I love your bike content and as a runner I also love your running content so I kind of wanted to ask what some of your favorite runs are and if you have any goals for running that is coming here so running is my first love and a lot of people don't realize that because most of my channel now is bikepacking it used to be pretty 50-50 and then the pandemic hit and I just wasn't running races and I wasn't doing the running with Ryan series anymore because you know couldn't interact with humans essentially and so now it's heavily bikepacking and but running is my first love that's the sport that got me into moving my body at a very early age when I was 6 years old and I did the bolder bolder 10k race was one of the biggest 10k's in the nation and I loved it from an early age and I still love running and I run probably more than I bike actually I run every day I don't go on like athletic bike rides every day I use my bike to get around but you know what I mean so some of my favorite runs I have really gotten into the ultra scene I think it's a fascinating journey to put your body and mind through to go run for 100 miles you know and when I was younger I would run like 10k's that was as far as I would go that's 6 miles right and that was really far when I was 6, 7, 8 years old I would never have imagined someday running you know 100 miles but for me running those races it's a journey from start to finish where you get to see all the different phases of the day the sunrise and the sunset and the heat of the day and the stars at night and yes it's hard absolutely way harder than biking physically to get through some of those low moments and everything aches you know on a bike when times get tough you can kind of just coast or just chill right but on a run you're moving your own body and you got to keep going and I love the feeling of it and getting through those tough times on a run it just feels like a great accomplishment and during a 100 mile race it's not like you just have one of those down times you have a lot of those down times you're like what am I doing why did I choose to do this why am I on top of a mountain that's 3 in the morning you know and I love it it makes me happy at the end of the day to get to that finish line I love finish lines not just for me personally to like having got to the finish line finally but the energy I say finish lines of races is some of the best most loving support of energy I've ever experienced as a human you have the families that are there waiting for you and cheering you on you have people who have dedicated maybe months or even years to getting to that point in the finish line and the battles they have gone through to get there and it's just an inspirational place to be those finish lines of races if you ever get the chance to be at the end of a 100 mile race you're going to see some beautiful human behavior for sure so my favorite runs I love Leadville Leadville 100 is iconic for sure I would also say I love the Burning Man Ultra Marathon that is one of the wackiest races I've ever done in my life people are dressed up in costumes but the spirit is the same even at the Burning Man Ultra it's uh the first Ultra I actually ever did was the Burning Man Ultra in 2013 and I remember thinking wow everybody here is so cool because when I was running and I was competitive in high school it was just like the stress of running and going to races and getting to that start line not everybody is cool they're sizing you up they don't want to talk to you you're the number one competition I have a different feeling but at Ultra's they're like you are stupid and I'm stupid we're all here being stupid but you know let's support one another it's a really supportive environment and Ultra's I would say most of the runners you see at an Ultra race are not fast at all they're just doing it for an experience and to get to that finish line however long it takes them and uh it allows for more everyday and it's funny enough to say this I would say more everyday runners do Ultra's than some of the faster 10K's and other distances for sure are you looking at doing some races down the line? I've got the New York marathon in 18 days oh no way! but I've yet to work up the courage to try an Ultra well they're just a little bit farther just keep going you know and I was in your chair seat you know earlier today yeah it seems like a lot because 26 miles is a lot but the human body can do amazing things and I have learned that throughout my life is like if you just if you keep like a mindset where you're just like I'm just going to keep going if things get tough I'm just going to keep moving forward I'm going to get through those scary points I'm going to get through that fear of wondering if I can actually do this because I guarantee you can you might have to go slow sometimes but you just keep moving forward and once you get through those moments and maybe you eat a little bit of food do you energize your body there's some great people that are cheering you on you start feeling good and that's just kind of like the race of life like right now I feel like this is a giant aid station and I feel like I could run out the door and do the New York City Marathon right now like this energy is incredible and the energy at races is very similar and the New York City Marathon is the largest spectator event in the world and of course cheering you on making sure you get to that finish line which is a pretty unique thing and have you done a marathon before? yeah I did a couple before okay so you know what's going on you're ready for this right on I'm happy for you it's so cool my second marathon ever was the New York City Marathon and I loved it it was really cool yep yep I love running questions because I don't get them very often yep Abigail wants to know if you love to go to New Hampshire okay second I guess a writer's scope would be you having a larger East Coast plans in the future I know you're doing New York right now any long East Coast trips Abigail how big is your backyard can I camp in your backyard? do your parents know how to make burritos? yeah okay well then maybe I'll have to come say hi where do you live in New Hampshire? what was that called? okay Northern alright sweet well my grandparents lived in New Hampshire and they lived in Keen, New Hampshire so I know a little bit about New Hampshire and I love it those mountains are beautiful and so I would love to someday come to New Hampshire and ride a bike with you and so I will try my best to make that happen and do some sort of an East Coast adventure but if you ever want to come to Boulder, Colorado you can do that too and you don't have to camp outside you can stay in my house and I just want to say I really appreciate you being here I don't have many young viewers and it just makes me happy to see your smile and so thank you very much yeah thank you it takes a lot of guts for a young person to ask a question in front of a bunch of adults so you're awesome you are awesome how do you be competitive with yourself but also have fun during these races sometimes I feel like I'm just very competitive and I just want to do better than I did last year I'm sad if I don't but then if I push myself to a ride on fun so I guess what's your strategy going to these races that's a great question and I struggle with that even on my bike adventures where it's like I want to push myself and see how hard I can do but I also know when I do that it hurts more and when you're in pain a lot it's not nearly as fun and then you take yourself maybe to a dark place and you're just going to bummed out and it's like I did all that training and I didn't accomplish what I wanted to train and I'm just not good enough I've had plenty of those moments in life so now pretty much with running I always try to have fun that's the number one goal with biking too with life really and when I was younger I was super competitive or if I didn't win a race I would essentially throw a tantrum and I was hyper focused that was the number one goal the best the best the best win every single race go to the Olympics, all that stuff that didn't happen not even close but I realized towards the end of high school I was very good as a young runner and then I got to high school and everybody else kind of caught up to me at that point and I had to decide like do I want to keep running or do I want to be hyper competitive because I just I couldn't do it and enjoy it at the same time and so now I love to run and I love to push my body and try to get a personal best and train and do better but it's not the main goal and I realize that sometimes when I'm out there having more fun and I'm more relaxed that I actually do better I don't know if you guys saw the video race pretty much last minute I really hadn't trained much and I was just like oh whatever I'm just going to do this for fun and around Boulder it'll be a good experience and I ended up actually doing pretty well and I think I attributed it to the fact that I was just out there having fun and high-fiving people and stopping and petting dogs and doing all the things I normally would never do if I was hyper focused on being really fast and I got to the finish line much quicker than I thought I would so it's a tricky balance I mean if you're an elite runner or biker or anything you're getting paid to do it sometimes with sponsors like you have to do good and I just took myself out of that world early on in my life and I'm glad that I did because I like the way that I do things now a lot better and it's just more fun yeah can you pass back the mic personal strategies for dealing with aggressive dogs well you know me I just kick them that's me no I never never never so when I lived in Honduras for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer there's tons of street dogs all over the place and these dogs unfortunately are used to rocks at them because the dogs are aggressive and so people will just throw rocks at them and tell them to shoot off or whatever and so I learned that the dogs do this motion so if you just do that you can do that and you're not actually throwing a rock at them and they will run think you're throwing a rock at them or actually not and so that was my way through all of Central America and Mexico to get like dogs to get away from me I was just pretending that I was throwing a rock at them that was the nonviolent way to deal with the dogs but there are times on bike trips sorry this was really carbonated woo on bike trips where dogs come at you and they just love barking at heels and when you're pedaling a bike and it's spooky and it's pretty scary because sometimes they're really big but I've learned that most times if you just keep moving get away from me they don't really attack you at least I've been lucky they have not attacked me I know some bike riders have sticks on their bikes and they have a style and on their ways I think to deal with aggressive dogs and if you're big and loud I think they also kind of stand back when I did the SoCal Ramble last year I don't know if you remember the first video I had a bunch of dogs chasing me and they were big healthy dogs not like little Honduran street dogs and it was spooky and they were just going after me and going after me and the worst part is you never want to be going up a hill when dogs are chasing you and I was going downhill and at that time I was going downhill so I got away from them so try the rock maneuver the fake rock maneuver that doesn't work good luck yep any other questions about Sweden or Oaxaca or John and Mira or Dana since she's here any questions for Dana? I bet you could have oh here we go we'll grab that teamwork way to go you have a remarkable sense of presence and gratitude in your videos just for your daily life and everything and I'm wondering if that's something that just comes natural to you or if you have any kind of meditation or other spiritual practice that you partake in that's a great question it's one of those things in life where I think about a lot gratitude has really changed my life in profound ways and I've learned a lot of this through Dana really she is the master of gratitude and I've always had this demeanor essentially and that's why we're attracted to one another we have similar spirits but it's a practice it's an everyday practice to be grateful for just everyday life and the mundane and for me when I'm on a bike trip and it's hard or the weather is bad or there's tons of mosquitoes whatever it is I have to realize I chose to be here like nobody is forcing me to be here and that's pretty cool that I'm on this bike riding my bike filming myself on a bike and this is my job and I get to share these stories with you and I have to keep on reminding myself that when times are tough this is really special and really unique and incredibly thankful and grateful and you'll see me thank the most mundane things you know every morning when I wake up and I leave what do I say thank you ground, thank you flat ground truly like when you find a flat piece of ground for your tent it might seem so simple but sometimes it's hard to find flat ground and when I leave in the morning and I see the grass push down or whatever I just have to take a moment and thank the earth and thank the ground as hippy as this sounds like thank you I got to sleep there and rest and rejuvenate and I feel better and it's like I'll never sleep there again in my life I might not ever even come back to this little camp spot that I've found off the side of the road and it's important for me to do the gratitude practice every single day for all the little things like right now I'm really grateful that I'm here with you you know I'm getting to meet you in real life this is really special and I'm grateful that I get to wake up every day in Boulder, Colorado and hear the birds chirping out of my window and I'm grateful I live in a country where I'm pretty safe and I don't have to worry about bombs or people coming after me especially these are things that I'm thinking about right now that's going on in the world and I'm grateful that I got to grow up in a community that inspired me to do things outside of the box and to have a family who supported me and my crazy ideas and teachers and mentors and so all throughout my life and I don't know if I always appreciated this in the moment as a young person I think gratitude's harder when you're young because you just expect things to happen when you're young you know you don't realize the beauty in a weird looking cloud it's really not until somewhat recently where it's like look at that cloud wow that is so special and then the sun goes down now the cloud's pink that's pretty cool because not everybody has that not everybody has the comfort to appreciate the little things in life and the beautiful moments in life and friends and family so it's definitely a daily practice because there are sometimes I am not always happy I am not always jolly there are times when life is tough and hard and dark and scary the next step or what I'm going to do or I'm moving through heartbreak or my career has been very tricky from the very beginning McKaylee can relate to this it's hard to create your dream job from scratch when you don't know the roadmap to get there am I ever going to make money am I always going to live in my mom's basement at age 37 am I ever going to have enough money to pay for health insurance all these things that are really scary it's like can I really be a YouTuber can I really film my bike adventures and share them with the world and like make money doing that that's what I want to do that's my passion because I want to bring value to the world and hopefully inspire all of you to get up off your couches and challenge yourselves in different ways but is that really possible can I do that and make money and so these are like this is like the trials and tribulations that I've dealt with throughout my entire life and it's a tricky path that I chose for sure but I am so incredibly grateful for it because all of those experiences and all the hard times has got me to where I am today and today is really awesome standing in front of you at Priority Bicycles eating burritos and talking about bikes and I don't know if it's going to last forever for the next five years I have no idea but right now is good and I think it's really important when you're thinking about gratitude to think about the present moment right now it's easy for our human brains to start freaking out about the future or the past or whatever else but if you think right now is really good perfect temperature perfect sunset my friends are here I'm at dinner with my family those are the simple things in life that mean the most to me yeah thank you for that question I appreciate it oh yeah yeah how much what are we looking at on time here as far as when we want to we can keep going I think we have a couple questions I want to ask you how are you feeling about having maybe your first group ride oh yes but yeah tomorrow first group ride leave now how are you feeling about having a crew and a over night yeah so a lot of you people have been bugging me for years to lead some bike tours and bike adventures and I just haven't done it because it's a lot of logistics and work and you know I called up Conner and I brought up this idea a few months ago and he was like let's make it happen let's do a group ride and so tomorrow we are setting off at 8 in the morning who's all coming all right a lot of you are yeah what's up and we're going to go ride 175 miles one way just kidding we're going to go ride up the Hudson River Valley in the rain whoop whoop mosquitoes I'm excited for it I think it's going to be exciting because again this moment connecting with you is amazing and I think it's going to be fun to have a fairly intimate small group this weekend and go for a bike ride and hang out and have fun and sleep under the stars and thank the ground when we wake up in the morning when it's all muddy it won't rain everyone I promise no more rain it's funny this summer I have like rain has been chasing me everywhere it's like the rainiest spring ever in Boulder then I go to Sweden and it's like super-duper raining the entire time and then I go all the way out to the Nevada desert where it never rains to an event called Burning Man and it dumps on us for three days so rain has been my teacher and I spoke about this in the videos like hard times teach you a lot about life and how to get through them and how to move through them with grace don't move through them with grace and that's okay because that helps you learn for the next time life is just a constant barrage of things that don't always go your way and that's okay because when they do go your way you're going to really feel gratitude for the good times right and you feel like you build character every time you go through these tough uncomfortable situations and it's not going to be that bad tomorrow I promise it's going to be a little bit of rain but I'm excited about it and thank you for making it all happen absolutely Connor is the best and you did all the work he pre-wrote the route even to make sure it was like viable for everybody and a lot of work and love has gone into this adventure and I'm going to film it if you're okay with me filming it and it'll be on my channel and so hopefully down the line can we get the mic to you I know it's weird holding a mic and your voice is not amplified but it just goes to the internet okay so Ryan, all of us here appreciate your videos we see the end result but we all know and I know personally it takes a lot to put a video together and to get it up on YouTube and edit it and all that could you talk a little bit about your process and how long it takes you so we really have an appreciation of this wonderful masterpiece that comes out this video what's it all about, how does it happen for you it's hard, it's a lot of work really it is it's a ton of work to create these videos and there are sometimes audience members don't realize how much work it is they're like make more videos we want more we don't have a long time to put together a short documentary is essentially what each one of these videos are so when I'm out there on my bike ride I'm riding, I have all my camping gear all my food, all my water I'm thinking about navigation I'm thinking about where I can filter clean water so I have a ton of things on my mind just to do the adventure to get from point A to point B but then I'm also like I also have to document this adventure to the point where it makes sense for the audience where I'm like I do not want to get my cameras out right now, I am so tired I've gone 80 miles and it's raining on me but in those moments I'm like if you don't get these shots it's going to be very hard to tell the story or at least the story is not going to be nearly as impactful if you don't stop and take the time to set up the camera on the tripod and run back with your bicycle and then ride your bike in front of the tripod and then pick up the camera in the tripod and pack it and do that over and over throughout the day and then get the drone out and then interview people I love meeting people there are times where it's like so much energy to get out the cameras and be like hey, give them the whole schmiel I have this YouTube channel and it's tough but I also know that it's my job it's how I make a living it's also fun it's fun to be creative it's fun to get the cameras out even when you're tired it's fun to get shots of pretty flowers behind my camera with my helmet on and I'm like oh my god it's going to be so cool and it's just like a dandelion but I've got some great focus on it or something and so yeah it's a lot of work just to get the moments and then you're talking about making sure the cameras are all charged every night and my tent looks like this mobile production studio and there's cables and wires everywhere and it's raining everything working and microphones working and so it's like a ton to keep your mind on when you're out there and then when you come home and you're like okay now the real meat starts editing takes forever so when I'm home that's like when I work like my 9-5 job I wake up go to the computer start looking at all the footage and building the stories for each one of these adventures and it takes time and I'll edit edit edit and then I'll go for a run to clear my mind and when I'm on these runs I think about oh I'm going to do things this way I'm going to move this pot over here I'm going to do this here and so I'm constantly thinking about how I'm going to put it all together because I want you to enjoy it the goal of my videos is to make them entertaining but also educational inspirational and so all these three things are always on my mind and all the different elements and there are sometimes when I get home and I start editing and I realize that in the moment I thought the audio was working but it's not and so sometimes I have footage that just sucks and I'm like oh crap how am I going to tell a story now knowing that this audio with this person or whatever it is isn't even there so maybe I think about oh I got to do some voice over here and that's like the creative process and it's fun it's not always fun in the moment but at the end of the day when you're tightening it up and you're like building it and you're like yes it's so good I can't wait to hit the publish button and put it on YouTube you know that's that's exciting and there are sometimes I put so much work into a video and I think it's going to just go viral I'm like this is the one finally man I'm going to like go viral and it doesn't do anything and there are sometimes I make very simple videos that go bonkers and so I don't have control over how YouTube works and the algorithm and it has to do with making titles and sexy thumbnails and all that stuff and so there's a lot that happens in YouTube and you know at the end of the day like I don't really I don't really care if a video is viral or not it even gets a lot of views like if I feel proud of the content that I'm putting out there on YouTube that's good enough for me you know and I know that my core viewers like all of you will probably enjoy it and comment on it and it means the world to me when you do comment and you say nice things it's like yes alright I'm touching people because that's the goal I want to touch you in some way I want to inspire you I want you to feel something I want you to feel the excitement that I feel when I meet somebody amazing or see a sunset and so that's a long answer to your question sorry but it's a long process yeah definitely all the way back here I'll run this to you thanks Ryan I appreciate you coming out just a quick thought and then a comment first of all you are the king of B-roll nobody can shoot B-roll as good as you thank you wow I'm really proud of that I always wanted to be the king of B-roll but my question is I noticed in your early days riding a priority bike you ran a dynamo hub on there oh yeah now you're not any you know reason why no long answer is curious yeah so a dynamo hub for people who aren't bike nerds are hubs that's why I'm not calling you a nerd dynamo hubs are the types of hubs that generate power as your wheel moves and there's electricity involved and you can run a wire up to your handlebars and have a light dynamo hubs can charge devices and so our first prototype model of the 600X had a dynamo on it and I just realized that it didn't do enough and now with these battery banks that you can buy like I mean you can charge your phone like nine times and so it was easier I thought to just carry a battery bank than do the dynamo thing I love dynamos I have one on my 600 always power is the front and rear light so wherever I go at all times there is power the dynamo we did have on that priority wasn't the best one so maybe if I had a better one I'd be more into it but the one that we were trying out just didn't do enough so that's the answer maybe in the future we'll get one back on there but the technology with battery banks now and solar is just incredible yep from like really deep gratitude questions to dynamo hubs do you have a question or are you just tired I saw your hand now you have to ask a question I saw it I saw it that's good buddy high five didn't mean to call you out do we have any more questions I do have some things to hand out to you guys do we have a question before we get to that no we want stuff internet questions do we have any internet questions we do some stuff ok ok sounds good oh DeeDee what's up Ryan why don't you write a book and what's it about oh ok thank you DeeDee this is my book that I'm incredibly proud of a lot of you were here last year a lot of you have this book a lot of you are going to buy this book for $24.99 right now at dooserbook.com I put a lot of heart and soul into this book it is the story of my very first bike adventure and how it led to a non-traditional life and following your crazy dreams essentially so it chronicles my journey from Honduras to Boulder and how I was a 25 year old kid didn't know much about traveling by bike or the world or I didn't know about trail magic at this point in my life I just knew that I wanted to do something big and adventurous and this adventure is what started it all from Honduras to Boulder and I look back on this story these moments with so many fond memories and to be able to share it with you in like graphic detail when I have parasites like exploding out of my arm has anybody got to that chapter yet no so it's based on all my journals that I took I took extensive notes when I was riding home so that I could someday write a book and I thought the book would come out much sooner because this is 17 years ago now but finally during the pandemic a lot of us had some free time and I got the journals out and made this happen and I'm really proud of it it's also printed the most eco way possible a book can be printed printed in Boulder, Colorado with 100% recycled paper and algae based inks did you ever think that could happen yeah so that's that's the book and that's why I wrote it and I know a lot of you have it if you want me to sign yours today I have markers and stuff yeah alright so we should we do some giveaways yeah okay you know how much I love Pee Wee Herman I've talked about it on my channel many many times I loved Pee Wee Herman and so that's why you'll hear me a lot going just like out of nowhere is Pee Wee Herman the source of your love of bicycles yes well I mean as we know Pee Wee's big adventure was all about his beloved bicycle and I led a Pee Wee memorial ride in Boulder, Colorado this summer after after Paul Rubens died because he truly I mean I can laugh about it but he really meant a lot to me I mean Pee Wee was one of those characters that allowed us to be silly and embrace our silliness right because he was one of the silliest ones out there and always just adored him I almost wore my Pee Wee shirt tonight but the armpits were stained and Dana was like don't wear that one Dana and I are sharing a hotel room by the way we're that close we're cool so I have these awesome socks these Olay socks lots of them that I made alright I don't make any money for these socks 100% of the profits are going to an organization called Bikepacking Roots who advocate for more bikepacking routes around the nation and advocating for our public lands I made it with a company in Boulder again made in the USA and I'm really proud of it and they say Olay Olay Olay and they say get out there and I have quite a few pairs to give out to you but I'm not just going to give them to you we're going to earn this stuff okay this is an easy one I've said it already tonight many times what was the name of the town where I started my Swedish journey what was the name of the town um yeah you win you got it I'm going to give you a medium I'm going to give them a medium the town was called the town where I started my adventure Kiruna Dana was like nobody's going to get these answers well they have to be hard these are $22 socks okay here's another one that's probably pretty hard Dana's like no nobody's going to get these I think you will how do you say hello everybody in Swedish I said that at the beginning of every single video hey Alipa does anybody remember any other Swedish words that I taught you over this video series any other good ones what chocolate ball that's not how you say it in Swedish jubladboll that's how you say it what is the name of the dance that I did with Mike when I was dancing around the mid-summer poll something about a frog something about a frog you win that's good enough yay my friend Michaela here who has a show on PBS highlighting dance around the world is going to lead us later tonight on this small frog song right right yeah you guys are like no we fast forwarded to that part I'm looking for a medium for you I will find it can I get a sock helper here Dana thank you what would you rather have let's see a bluetooth speaker medium for your bike where do you want there's a medium right on okay here's another hard one but I think you can get it what is the first word on page 76 of my book just kidding I just you win that means you have the book there you go nice and I just gave you this answer what is the ink made out of in my book algae that's too big hang on okay here's another hard one you got to leave give me a hug what was the name of my guide in Rwanda do you remember I know somebody's going to get it does anybody in internet land know somebody's going to get this what is it and it's also abbreviation for a state in the United States Cali here we go Cali was his name he was such a wonderful guy everybody loves Cali okay this is another hard one but again you're getting made in America marina wool socks how do you say are you in Rwandan does anybody remember this the kids said it to me constantly in every single video amakuro remember that we'll just throw a pair out okay how many times have I run the burning man ultra wait what not seven eight you're just one you're too good at this game you were close so we'll give you a pair seven I've run that race eight times now okay good here you go bam bam bam what was my first 100 mile run oh you just run okay well now you really earned them because the first answer was wrong what is when I'm out there on an adventure what is my kryptonite what do I dislike the most what we're gonna give it I don't mention over here just like I would say cold being cold I whine more than ever about being cold and a lot of people it was funny after the first couple Swedish videos came out this summer most people were like man I just can't believe that you get through these hard times it's so inspirational some people were like you whine so much I'm not watching your videos anymore seriously I had some of these comments people talking about how I just can't deal with cold weather and maybe there's some truth to that there's always some truth in the comments even when they're mean we still have more prizes but I'm out of questions so who wants speaker here you go you guys can share that one you got socks right man I don't want to start a war in the family okay cool what okay here's one what was this year the anniversary of how many times this event has happened rag bite how many times 50 nice one Danny can you think of any more I'm out of questions what was the first bicycle that priority ever released continue no before they continue they did a kickstarter for this bike actually the priority good guess should we give them to them okay was it called the priority it was called the priority bicycle we were all going to have one model who answered that was it you since you're sitting behind him you get it you need a pair of socks that's the last large they're pretty much one size fit all ish who traveled here from the furthest we have Seattle right Toronto really you came from Toronto just for this what that's amazing you're all you get a pair of socks too we all have to be wearing these socks but we also do have like a Seattle right here we go Seattle and we have Indiana from Indiana thank you PBS TV stars need socks too trying to think of more fun stuff to ask you we'll get back to it maybe we should do the bike should we do the bike yeah okay where's the box of la la la stuck to the table okay so whoever's name I pull out of here is going to win a priority 600 X it's the bike that I designed with my good friends here at Priority I ride everywhere all over the world it's the bike that helped me put a down payment on my house this year let's see if I pull it so I'm going to have somebody else pull it maybe McKayla will you pull the card out so I don't want to feel like I'm favoring anybody here but you read it yeah I'll read it child sizes of the 600 X yet but we will make sure you get whatever bike you want how's that sound are you excited about that yeah trail magic that's it you put the energy out there you're the youngest person I think who's ever been to one of my talks who's not like the child of one of these employees and it really it's cool so thank you for being here I want to have some time afterwards to hang out with some of you and talk one on one so I'm going to finish here pretty soon but I just want to say thank you for being here again tonight it really truly I want to see your faces and connect with you audience it means more than I can say in words my heart is happy you know the end of when the Grinch stole Christmas and his heart grows outside pop pop pop and it pops open because it's so big that's how I feel because this truly is a wonderful moment to be able to see you yeah Griggs thank you yeah you're good at fair socks definitely I would also like to point out that he's wearing a mirror shirt we have any more Ryan Merch in the audience here we've got the L.A. shirt right here I love it I don't make any money we always donate the proceeds from whatever we're making to some sort of nonprofit that's doing good stuff for the world these shirts here we gave all the money to the dream team in Iowa who get young kids on bikes who would never be able to afford a bike they train them and they get them ready to ride across Iowa with us at Rag Bride so you've given them 5,000 so far of quite a bit of money from the sales of all these shirts and I didn't start this career or what I'm doing ever with the idea of money it was always because I wanted to be of service to the world and bring something of value to all of you and for a long time I didn't make much money that's why I joke about living in my mom's basement but I truly did live in my mom's basement for a long time now I am making more money it's great and I love being able to share the wealth with people and organizations who can benefit from it and so you're all part of that every time you support my channel if you're patrons how many patrons do we have in the audience you're awesome thank you and really truly is a pleasure to be able to create these videos every week for you although this Sunday I'm not going to have a video sorry if I'm in New York it's wonderful and I hope to see you all again another day here in New York or somewhere else and I wish you all the best and to get home safely tonight and whoever's coming with us on the adventure tomorrow we're going to have some fun it's going to be great but from the bottom of my heart and from the bottom of all of our hearts here at Priority we love you we seriously do and you know I don't throw that word around lightly I love you and I'm so grateful so thank you cheers