 We love you too Connor. We're gonna go live really soon, can you hear me, can I see some comments back here, can you hear me, is the mic working? Can anybody say in the comments if the mic is working? Are we looking good people? Mic working? Give us a thumbs up in the comments if the mic is working. Connor's talking right now and then I will get on. So I'm gonna mostly be paying attention to the live audience here but we will be taking questions at some point and hopefully we'll have somebody here to help out with the questions. Good now. I'm so happy that you're all here. This is exciting. We're gonna be talking about adventures, the book, Rwanda, whatever you want, let's do this. The local boys from Xrecycle. Do we sound good? I'll get on stage soon, I promise. This is like a hubby from Walmart. Audio is back and no more popping, okay, alright. Here we're gonna bring the, this camera's gonna, this is live, hey say hi everybody! Okay, so this is kind of gonna be a little intrusive, it has to be. Yeah, that's true, yeah. So we are here live in Mill Valley, thank you, I'm actually talking to these people really quickly and then I'll address you live in Mill Valley with a live audience, wonderful people that came from all over the world and thank you for watching here on YouTube. Let's get started, what do you say? I'm not gonna be able to pay attention to a lot of your questions here because I'm gonna be playing to this real live audience but we'll see later if we can get some of your questions incorporated into this talk. Okay, alright, I guess I don't need the mic on, we're not using this anymore. Yo! Oh, it warms my heart, first of all, that you're all here. It really has been fun to meet a lot of you out there this afternoon and this evening. Some of you went on the trail ride today, we had a wonderful time up in the hills, the Marin Headlands. It's just such a stunning landscape, you know, I'm from Boulder, Colorado, which is a very nice place. People go there, it's so beautiful, but this, it's next level. So if you are crummy here, wow, you have a wonderful backyard, it is just absolutely stunning, yeah, absolutely. So I want tonight to be fun, I want it to be interactive. If you have questions, don't hesitate to interrupt me, you know, pretend that you're just like hanging out with your buddy, you're at the dinner table, and you just interrupt whenever you want. And it really, you know, I make these videos on YouTube and I share them with the world. And when I first started doing this, you know, nobody really watched my videos. Like my mom watched it over and over and over, so I get like seven views from video from the very beginning and some of my friends. But I never dreamed that it would get to this level where I can fill up a room and build Valley, California. This is really good. Thank you so much, thank you. I just feel a lot more real when I can see you, hug you, or handshake you. Like, wow, it's good to know that there's real people out there on the other side of the YouTube experience. Because when I make these videos, I'm making them in the middle of nowhere many times. I'm talking to myself, to a camera, I don't know who's out there. But when I come here and I see you, now I know who's out there, it's you. And all your smiles make me so happy that fills my heart. And I feel like the luckiest guy in the world to be able to do what I do. I want to give a shout out to some people who have traveled long and far to be here today. I know a lot of you are from Mill Valley, a lot of you came from Sacramento, Sacramento, but what? And Fresno and Davis, Northern California mostly, Reno. We've got some Reno people in the audience. We're going to have a woman from, came from Texas. She came all the way to Texas. She's hired a lot of people to be here to join us. So he's the one that sent her. She took this event and meet Brian. So she's here from Texas. And we're off to Portland, Oregon. Well, I know, I'm waiting for that one. And there's actually somebody here who came all the way from Guam. Wonderful smile. You flew many, many hours to be here today. We were on the ride with us today. We had a lot of fun and good support. And thank you so much. You know, it doesn't really matter if you came from long or far. It matters that you're here. And you know what sitting here means to me and looking at your faces and seeing your smiles. It makes me feel better about the world. Because sometimes when I get overwhelmed with the news and the things I hear day to day, and the division and all of these scary things that are happening in the world, it weighs on me. And then I come here and I see you and I hug you and I shake your hands. And I'm like, you know what, we're all good, right? We're going to be okay. If we have people like you on this planet, and it feels like everybody that I've met so far are just good, hard people that are out here, just to be contributors to society and to their communities. And it really means a lot. So thank you. So I want this to be fun, like I said, and don't hesitate to ask questions. I will start off by talking about some different things and different stories. And then from there, I want to open it up to the audience so you can actually interact with me and not just hear me talk, talk, talk, talk the whole time, right? Okay. So we're here to celebrate my book of love. And some of the questions I've been getting about it were like, why did it take 17 years for you to write this book? Because the adventure, wait, I know, you're 17 years old. I did the adventure back in 2005. And before I set out on this grand unknown journey, I knew that I would someday write a book about it. And I thought that I would write it pretty quickly after having done it. I got home after the three months' journey and I started writing. I took meticulous notes every single day in my journals so that I could have something to actually have content and details and all those fun moments. And I got home and I started writing. And writing is hard, by the way. And it was just, you know, painstaking almost. And I got about 60 pages in and then I was distracted by videos in the TV world and I started doing my public access TV show. And I just never went back to the book. I was completely out on the video train. I was on the TV train. I was working for a travel channel. And then the pandemic came along. And I didn't have a whole lot of new content for my channel. And I was like, what can I do this week? I need a new video for my people because I open something every week. And I know that a lot of you found my videos during the pandemic. I wanted to keep it going. And I was like, you know what? Yeah, I still have all of the tapes, DVD tapes before digital cameras from my Sony camcorder. I was like, I can digitize these tapes and make a documentary. Finally put all these tapes to use. And so I did that. And I saw things that I don't think I had ever reviewed before on video. And there's so many moments that brought back the feeling of that ride. It was emotional. It was like therapy almost to go back and look at riding 15, 16 years early. So I made that video, put it on YouTube. And then I was like, well, now that I've done this video, I might as well write the book, right? So then I pulled out my journals and I got to work. And so that is the short story of why it took so long to write this book. And I think the book is much better because I waited so long to write it. And it was a lot more wisdom. There's a lot more perspective that I wouldn't have had if I had just jumped straight into the book after I got home in 2006. And I'm really proud of how it all came together. I'm really genuinely surprised at how good the book is. And I'm not saying that like in an arrogant way, but I'm like, huh, Ryan, this is pretty good. And a lot of my friends, you know, high school friends, they bought the book and they read some of the funny comments from them. I'm like, man, I have not read a full book in 20 years until your book. Really? If those are the audience, don't out yourself. I'll be okay. And so it's been fun to share that story with people who don't typically read or people who only know me through the media, the video. Video is great. Video is interactive. That's how I know all of you. But there's something special and I think a little bit more intimate with words and English language and book and paper. And it's been really fun to see people's reactions to the story of the long way home. So that is just a quick little interlude about why I took so long to write the book. Hopefully the next one won't take that long. Otherwise, you'll be waiting a long time. I thought I would share another story about how I got into being an athlete at an early age. And some of you might know this, some of you might have seen the video I made about this, but when I was a young boy, age five, I went to my well-baby checkup with my mom. I don't really remember much of this because I was tiny and with my mom. And the nurses came in and checked my blood pressure. And I knew that they were concerned because they kept bringing in more nurses until I double checked. And they kept putting on the little blood pressure cup and they would run out and just see their faces. And I was like, something's not right here. And I was like, ah, what's going on, mom? And it turns out that they were freaking out because my blood pressure was 160 over 140, which is very, very high for a five-year-old. And they didn't believe it because it's just so unheard of. And so from that moment on, I started going to the hospital. I was, you know, getting checked and they were trying to figure out what was causing this high blood pressure. Long story, very short, just finally a doctor just looking, just really seriously. And he's like, young man, you have a problem with your heart. But the best way to live a healthy life is to be athletic and to just strengthen your heart because that's going to be the healthiest thing that you can do. And I was still pretty young. I was maybe six at this point after having gone through all these tests. And he said, yeah, you need to be, you need to run. And so that was my forced-gump moment where I was like, I will probably, from that point on, I ran all the time. I took this really seriously. And it's interesting thinking about this, you know, six-year-old Ryan, like actually, like heeding a doctor's advice, right? It's like, ah, whatever, I'm fine. I'm going to eat my candy and play at school. I'm just going to do my thing like all the other kids. But for some reason I took it really seriously. And I used to run before school, go on little three-mile runs. And that led to a life of just loving the great outdoors is when you run. It's like when you bike, it's fun. You get to be outside, you're connecting with nature. And as a young guy, I realized the importance, not only of strengthening my heart, but just being outside. And luckily I grew up in Fort Colorado, which is a beautiful place to be outside. And there's a lot of people, adults, mentors, you know, runners, elite athletes that get outside all the time. So I had some wonderful mentors in the world of running. And that's why I got into this. And that led to biking pretty early. And I'll forget when I got my first bicycle. I'm sure you can all remember. You got your first bikes and how fun it was. Does anybody remember when they got their first 600X and how exciting that was? Yeah. Yeah. And at a young age, middle school and high school, I would go on these long rides. And I would leave in the morning and tell my mom I was just going to go on a mountain bike ride. And she was always a little weary because, you know, just being out on my own all day and not biking can be dangerous. She wasn't, you know, super psyched on the idea, but she knew that it was important to me because I loved it. It was, it made me a better human. Made me feel alive. It made me more chilled in some ways. Imagine me if I didn't have an athletic outlet. I mean, it was really important. And I would just ride all day on these trails. And I was young. So I would have discovered a boulder that way and being outside and interacting with nature and catching snakes and doing all that fun stuff. I remember once catching a snake, a bull snake, and I was way into reptiles when I was a little kid. And I remember putting it in my water bottle and I poked a bunch of holes in the water bottle for air so we could like breathe. I remember taking it home on my bike and like saying, mom, I got a snake. We need to get an aquarium. And she's like, no. I'd rather not have a snake in my house, but she gave in and I had snakes and then led to this whole like young infatuation with reptiles. And it was just fun. It's how I learned about the world through my bicycle. I'm sure a lot of you in the audience are like, yeah, I get it. It doesn't matter what age you are, once you get on a bike and you're running or hiking or whatever, it's just good for your soul to be outside. And not myself, people, because I've been doing this for a long time. If you're having a bad day and you go outside just for a little bit, whether you're jogging or walking or biking, it just kind of races all the stress to a degree. Not 100% all the time, but it just makes you feel good to move your body. And so when I go on my adventures now, it's the best feeling in the world. You know, people always ask, don't you ever get bored of riding your bike? You've been doing it forever. You just sit on your seat all day, you pedal like, no, I never, ever have gotten bored on my bicycle or even on a run. Most people are like, okay, I can understand bikes because it's funny. But they're like running, and that's a different story, because running just sucks. A lot of people just don't get it, but I feel the same way about running. How y'all doing? It's so good to see, I mean, this is just like warming my heart. I wish my mom could be your witness. You know, my mom's a very, you know, important person in my life. We've been talking about her for years on my channel. She's really a hero of our family. She raised four kids on her own. And I like sharing these moments with my mom. And she's at just about everything I did. She's been through all the big life events with me. And I know maybe she's out there watching on the live stream. Mom, I love you. I love you, mama. And Amelia might be out there too. Amelia, hi. I'm sorry, Amelia's not here today. I know that you wanted to meet here. She's a lot. Dana. Dana, Zanta. Dana, maybe she's watching. Amelia, I know at least a lot of people are like, oh, is Amelia coming? So many people were asking this. I was like, do you want to see Amelia or do you want to see me? I did. She's a lot prettier than me. I was holding it. But we'll see if we can get her out on another one of these. So I don't know exactly where we want to go from here. I can keep on talking a lot or we can start asking questions. Feel free to like ask questions about anything, about the book or about my adventures, about Rwanda. If you've been here watching those videos, yeah, Rwanda was absolutely incredible. I had no idea what I was getting into when I went over there. And just like a lot of places on the planet, we learn about it through the media growing up. Like, you know, when you think about Mexico, what does the media say about Mexico? That's those full of narcos. Don't go to Mexico because you might get killed. It was the same for Rwanda. Like so many people I told that I was going to Rwanda were like, right, that sounds dangerous. Don't you know what happened there? And they don't really know what they're talking about because it was 30 years ago. And they just remember the negative connotations of what happened in Rwanda during the genocide in 1994. So I understand it to a degree. But Rwanda these days is an absolutely incredible country. And I think they were so traumatized by the genocide in 1994 to refresh some of your memories. A million people were killed in a hundred days. And not killed in life. I mean, there's no good way to die. We're talking about machetes and rocks and just like icky ways to be killed. And so I think the country was so traumatized by what happened that they came together at one time and they were like, we're never letting this happen again. And we're going to be a model society, not only for ourselves, but for the world. And so they're very environmentally minded, conservation minded with all the animals. There's like barely any crime in Rwanda. I never felt unsafe. And they're just jolly. As you've seen in the videos, I mean, kids are constantly chasing. And they're not chasing me in like a scary way. Hi, what are you doing? Can I just run with you for like a while? It was so cute to like interact with all these, not only the kids, but like the adults and everybody. So I was incredibly impressed by what they've done and how quickly they've done it. 30 years ago, the country was, you know, in turmoil. And now today they are a model civilization for a lot of Africans. And it's impressive to see what humans can do when they come together with a common goal and really work hard towards it. And that goes with, you know, I get a lot of credit to the leadership of the country. You know, like there's a day every month, one day every month where the communities come together and do their service work. You know, the whole country goes out and helps. You know, I was with my guide a lot of days and I never saw trash ever. And you'll learn about this in tomorrow's episode. I never saw trash, which is impressive. Even in the United States, we were pretty trashed. Hubs and conscious, you'll still see roadsides full of trash, right? Especially in Latin America, in Mexico, you've seen it in all of my videos. But it does not happen there. He's just like, we love our country. We're taking care of our country. And we just don't even throw trash on the ground. And even to the point where they wouldn't throw a banana peel on the ground, the lessons in an area where bananas are grown because it's not native to that area, it's not going to file a grade like it should. I mean, really impressive mindset regarding the environment. And so Rwanda was a community trip in many ways. I got to see the mountain gorillas, which was, it blew my mind. You know, a lot of new pricing gorillas in the mist or the book gorillas in the mist. I remember watching that as a kid, it was really impactful. And I got to go and see these wonderful creatures. And we're hiking through the jungles and we have a guide who's in touch with all the trackers that are tracking the family so they can tell them like where to guide us. And we're going through the jungle, it feels like just in the movie, it looks the same, the mist everywhere. And we're, you know, ducking under trees and vines. And then all of a sudden he's like, oh my god. And you look, you see some family of gorillas just chilling, eating bamboo and having the time of their lives and we roll up. And it's just like, wow, I feel like I'm looking at a very, very primitive man. When you look them in the eye, they're the same kind of eye. And you feel this connection with them that you don't feel with maybe other animals, like a snake or a lizard, you know. And the kids are the kids. The little ones are so cute. And they're just chilling, laying in the grass, just being a proud papa. And we got to spend a whole hour with them just hanging out. And they're so used to humans coming every single day that they don't really care. They don't, they don't get spooked. Like if you, a bunch of humans came up on like a herd of deer, they're going to just take off, right? But like mountain gorillas, I will never forget that moment. It was really special. Yeah. So I can't say enough. That's enough nice about Belanda. It's on my mind right now. And I want to go back. A lot of you probably been to Africa, I'm guessing at least a handful. Only a few. Okay. A couple of people. Yeah. It's just a different place. You know, I've traveled a lot in my life, but it was going to Africa was something else. It really was. Yeah. All right. Question. So the question was for the, on my audience, the guide was spectacular. How did I find him? So I was invited by the tourism board. I got an email. Actually, when I was in Oaxaca with John and Mira, I was in my tip one night, I actually had reception. And I got an email saying, Ryan, we love your YouTube channel. And we're trying to build up Belanda, the cycling destination. Would you be interested in coming out here in Mesa? Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, whoa, no way. This is like, you know, there's some time in life when you get a really exciting email. That was one of those times. No, wait, what? Free trip to Africa. And so I went over there with the tourism board. And even before I did the trip, I told them, okay, because they were like, what we're going to do is 10 day trip. There's going to be other journalists on the trip. We're going to, it's going to be cycling focus. You're going to do some riding. And then we're going to go on support. So I was like, and so I told them, I would love to do this, but I also want to stay later and do this trail that I've heard of called the Congo Nile Trail. And they're like, yeah, you can totally do that if you want to. And not only that, but we actually have a guy that works for us that developed the Congo Nile Trail. And he'll be your personal guide. And so that's how it happened. It was just, you know, like, life, you know, sometimes just works out. You know, you know, and that's how I met him. His name is Kali. His name is Kali. It's a French name. C-A-L-L-I-X-T. Really cool name. And it was a privilege to be able to not only have him as my guide, showing me the way, you know, where to go. Which isn't that hard because you've seen in the videos there's signs everywhere, but it was really amazing to have a local guide to speak the language. And I learned a lot from him. And I learned a lot from him. And I learned a lot more about Rwanda because of him. And when I was there, you know, you just talk all the time. Because when you're on a bike ride or a trip like you've seen with John and Mira, I'm just chatting with him all day long. So I learned a lot about him and his life and upbringing. And he was a young boy during the genocide. And his parents and brother were killed right in front of him. And they broke his back but luckily he survived. And so it was just one of those moments where I was like, I can't even imagine the sadness and the trauma that is connected to a moment like that. And he was such a kind-hearted, jolly guy like you've seen in the videos. And, you know, it's really exciting because I don't know how, you know, you hear me talk about mom and I can't imagine anything like that happening to my parents. It didn't only happen to him. It happened to many, many, many other young people in that country. So, that's how I met the guy. Yeah, Khaleesh. And you'll see him more in tomorrow. The next video. Yeah, Davis, right? Yeah. Are they planning to set up the Fungal now as a standard for some time? Yeah. So the question was are they planning on marketing the Congo Nile Trail as like an activity where you can have guys and stuff. And I think they are. There's a company called Rwanda Adventures and they do guided tours and they provide bikes. You can buy your bike all the way there. And if there's a home stay situation where you can stay at somebody's home and you can help put the meals with the mom of the house. And so they really wanted to be not only a bike ride, but a very intimate look in Rwanda culture. And it's beautiful as you've seen in the video stunning. I was there during the rainy season so it's a lot more green maybe than the dry season. But anyway, it's good riding. I mean there's some mountain biking and there's some routes that are like easier options and harder options. So there's something for everybody. They want families to go there. Yeah, they want to get people to Rwanda. So that trail was developed not only for us but to bring money to these tiny communities which is really cool it's a great form of eco-tourism. Here we go. So, we're watching the bar here. We're hoping that we'll be the same. Yeah. So, how do you go through the day like a different culture and you try to unplug and you try to be present? How do you do this when you're not gone? Yeah, I have a lot of emotions because they're watching the Bob-Haw series right now and there are moments where I'm just swarming through sand. It's just hard and how do I get through those moments? I've had a lot of those moments in my life. You probably remember at the time I was swarming through snow in New Mexico which was probably even worse You know, I definitely have a positive mindset towards a lot of different things in life. And I do it as, you know, I don't have the option to get cranky, you know, that's not going to help me. Like I need to like stay in the game and keep my mind focused and keep moving forward. Even if it's painful, even if it's slow, and even if it just sucks, I need to keep on moving forward. And then I take a couple steps back from that even and I'm like, Ryan, this is your life right now. You might be out in the bottom, sweating and pushing your bike through sand, but you get to do this. You chose to be here. And it's a privilege for me to even be in that moment, purting, even if it's like, I don't know how the day is even going to end up. Like in the YouTube videos you see, because it's, you know, it's a story, it's a video. But in the moment, I'm there like, I don't know how I'm going to get through this. But the mindset that I've had is just like, keep moving forward, even if it's slow, and try to look at the positives of the situation and sometimes it takes just stopping and chilling and sitting in the ground and having a little resets, you know, like, you know, you see a lot of the moments where I'm pretty positive and I'm having a good time, but there's some time where I just need to have a little tantrum. Freak out and scream out into the world. And once you get it out and then you just feel better. It's not that big of a deal. It's sand. Sand isn't that scary. It's not quick sand. I'm not going to die. And that's how I get through essentially any hard moment, whether it's an ultramarathon or snow or horrible rain and wind. It's just like, this is pretty good. Like, even if that is it is in the moment, this is still a pretty cool situation to be in. And I know it's hard for viewers sometimes to like connect with that. They're like, I would never want to do that. But once you do it, and a lot of you have, you realize the value of doing hard things because once you do more and more of these moments, get through these tough times, you gain confidence in yourself as a human. And it helps you in your day-to-day life when light throws things at you that you're not expecting. Because, you know, the bottom line shows to me that I know it's going to be hard. And it's like practice for life every day life. And there are moments in life where, you know, maybe there's relationship ends or there's disease and family or somebody dies and it's sad. And all those hard moments have helped me deal with life's hard moments. And so, you know, after many, many years of doing this, at first, yeah, I might have had a change over this stupidest cycle. I don't want to be here. But after so many times of doing this, I find the value of just about every hard moment. And it makes me a more, I've talked about this in my video, when I'm in those moments, it cracks open my heart. I'm a more loving, kind, compassionate, caring person because of those hard times. When it's hard, I think about the people that I love. I think about my mom. I think about Amelia. I think about Dana and Xanta. I think about Dana and Xanta. And I call this a gratitude march. And every step I take, I think about people I love. I'm not just people, but things I love about life. I'm killing what I get. Oh my goodness. That's batch of chocolate chip cookies ever. And it gives you something to look forward to, right? And so the gratitude march has definitely gotten me through some sticky situations. That's a long answer to your question, but yeah, there you go. Cheers. Right here. If you were to do the Colorado Trail, is there anything you would do differently? Okay. And is there anything that you would bring that you didn't bring last time? I feel like you're asking this for specific reasons. Yeah, I am. Are you doing the Colorado Trail? Yes, I am. Oh, you did? Oh, right now. Are you going to give it to me right now? Yes, I am. Oh, no way. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome. I don't expect gifts, but it's always cool. Let's see what we got here. Oh, this is cool. Look at this. It's just like a... It's through your kitchen. Oh, it's from my kitchen. Yes. Look at this. Ooh, everybody. Check it out. Ooh. Okay. All right. We have here. Ta-da. Thank you. You know I love the back feet because they're easy to deal with in the canvies. Thank you so much. Very kind of you. So, this question was for the people in Internet Land. If I did the Colorado Trail again, what would I do differently? Colorado Trail was the hardest adventure I've ever done just from start to finish. It pushed my limits all the way, almost every single day. It was just difficult. It was technical. I was in high altitude. The storms were hammering me every single day. It was cold. I was getting hailed on. There were sometimes... There were lightning storms just like boom, boom. All over the place. I'm terrified. I'm on my own. And so the Colorado Trail really was one of those moments to go back to your question. It's like, how do you get through hard times? And that was like 11 straight days of hard times. And it was almost so hard that I was constantly nervous. It was just, here we go again. This is going to hurt today. Because some bike tours are hard and you know you're going to rock your mountain. But then you know you're going to hit Kansas. And then it's going to be easy, right? And it's not happening. When we call it a Colorado Trail, there's really no easy day. What would I do differently? I would try to have a lighter bike. My bike was so heavy. It was so hard to push up and down those mountains. That I would try to have a lighter set up. So that was probably the biggest thing. But other than that, you know, that's about it. You know, I, when I finished the Colorado Trail, it looked me so hard. I was like, I am never touching this trail again. Like it was traumatizing. I want to go back to this. But now, three years later, I'm like, I want to try it again. See if I can go faster. So humans are fighting for get pain, right? You know, after we have some time to think about it. And you know, the Colorado Trail being as hard as it was, was also, on the flip side, one of the most impactful experiences of my life overall. And I think back on the lessons I learned on the Colorado Trail, and I use them in my daily life. And I'm really grateful for those hard times. And I think that's why we all choose to go on bike tours, or choose to be ultra runners, because we understand the value in doing hard things. It's not just doing it in the moment, but training. Training for these things. I always say the adventure starts, not when you're like on day one of the adventure, but when you start it and you decide you're doing an adventure, and you start training and you're just looking at maps every single night, you can all, you know, relate to these things and getting the right gear and like laying everything out. That's when the adventure starts. And so it's a long, long process. And then when you get out there, you actually get to do it. And you're like, oh, wow, kind of like relax a little bit. You're like, oh, this is so bad. You know, I get a lot of questions from people saying, I would love to do what you do. I want to do a long tour, but I'm just so intimidated because of X, Y, and Z. And I always tell them like I completely understand that it's overwhelming and think of riding the entire Colorado Trail or across the entire United States. But once you get out there and your tires hit the ground, then it makes sense. You're like, oh, this isn't so bad. All I have to do every day is wake up, get on my bike, and pedal. That's all I have to do. That's an awesome life for however long you're doing it. That's a pretty good deal. And so I talk about that a lot. Yeah. Oh, that's not a question. Your hair looks straight. Maybe you're showing us your head of hair. Good. Cheers. After all the adventures you've had, how does cycling in these various places in the desert translate to everyday cycling in Boulder? So the question was, after all my adventures, how does that translate to my everyday cycling in Boulder? Is that correct? You know, I ride my bike everywhere I go. It's how I get around. You might all know this, but I've never had a car in my life. What? Weirdo? And so my car is my vehicle. It's how I get around. It's how I go grocery shopping. It's how I visit friends, how I visit my mom. And I like it. It connects me to my community. When you're on a bike, as we all know, you can wave to your neighbors. You can stop and talk to people easily. When you're in a car, you're insulated. You're listening to a podcast or music. I'm not ripping on cars. I understand that cars are necessary. Most of you probably drove here today, right? No, you all rode your bikes? Let me go. And so for me, riding around Boulder is like the butter. It's the easy part. The adventures are hard. But riding around Boulder is just so pleasurable. It's a beautiful city. And really, ever since I was young, I remember when I was about 16, a lot of my friends were getting cars and getting their driver's license. And I knew because of our economic situation that I was not going to get the car from my mom. I was never going to happen. And I was like, I'm just going to keep on riding my bike. And I remember riding down Folsom Street in Boulder to high school. And all my friends would be driving by in their cars and waving at me. And they'd turn to me. And I was just like, it's sometimes freezing cold mornings in the winter. And I was like, you know what? You all suck. I am on a bicycle. I am having a lot more fun. I'm starting my day right after school. I feel a little bit more refreshed, right? And I've got a little bit of exercise. And it just feels good to ride your bike. And so that's kind of like my everyday biking boulders. I'm on and off my bike all the time. And then of course I go on mountain bike rides. Mountain biking is how I got on the sport cycling. I love mountain biking. Boulder has some great trails. So I have a full suspension bike that I ride for fun for like day trips and stuff. Yeah. Good question. All right. Here we go. We did Eurogeller two years ago. It seemed like you were going through sort of like, I did an identity crisis. We talked about maybe now you think it's pretty nice. We did take a push through that. And then we just talked about that. So the question was, you know, a year, year and a half ago I was going through somewhat of an identity crisis. It's been a burnout. And how did I get through that to where I am today? And it was hard. And it was scary because all my life, I wanted to essentially do what I'm doing now. I didn't know about online video back in the day, but I wanted to tell stories in some way, shape or form. And I had spent so much time editing video, shooting video, building on my YouTube channel for like six and a half years. At the beginning of 2022, I just felt toasted. You know, it's hard to go from venture to venture but for very physically passing, but also be filming them. And that is almost even more worth than the actual kettle. And then I was also feeling like, wow, I feel like I'm saying the same thing or work over and every single video and the audience must be sick of me. It's like just monotonous. And I was really like questioning my role in the world and it might want to continue doing this. And so I took a bit of a break, which was really important, you know. And I think, like I said, sometimes when I'm on the trail, go through sand and blah, I have to sit down and just chill out, take a deep breath. And so I did that in a longer form last year and it was really important just to, you know, catch my breath. And I realized that this is my dream. I've been working extremely hard for this. I finally have a channel big enough to the point where I am making a living doing this. And then the audience played a huge role. That's because I made some videos talking about it. And everybody was so positive and so nice. Ryan, we're with you. We support you. We love your videos, even if you say the same thing over and over. Oh my God, it's so beautiful. I'm so grateful, you know, to see your face. They're like, we love what you do. We love the people that you meet. We love the interviews that you do. You show us the world in a way that we don't see in mainstream media. I got a lot of messages from people around the world who sent really kind hearted messages saying, Ryan, we watch the news about your country and it bonkers and it scares us. But then we watch your videos and we see you writing in small town America. You interview these wonderful people. You're giving us a much different view about what Americans are like and what we're seeing on the news. And so keep it up. And so I was like, you know what, I feel like I'm kind of an ambassador in that sense. But I get to share stories with the world that they don't typically see. And that doesn't just go to the United States, but even Mexico. I've got a lot of comments from people saying, wow, you know, Mexico seems like a pretty safe place. People are so kind. They invite you into their homes and they feed you meals. That is amazing. Like, we don't see that on the nightly news. We just hear about the bad stuff. So I feel like it's my job as the ambassador of cycling in a way to bring these happy, positive, genuine stories to the world that you're not typically seeing in mainstream media. And so that got me all fired up to continue doing what I'm doing. And I love it. I'm in a very good place right now. And like I said, it's like to be able to see your faces right now and talk to you and take photos with you. It means some worlds, but I actually even have an audience, you know? And I'm so grateful that I get to go on bike rides and call up my job and then see you and interact with you. I get emails from people every single day asking questions about gear or saying, Ryan, I'm really overwhelmed with this idea and I see you doing it in your videos. I want to do it. Can you help coach me through this tough time? And I'm like, I will take the time to interact and respond to every single person. I probably spend 10 hours a week responding to emails and direct messages and Instagrams and whatever because it's important for me that the audience knows that I'm there for them. I'm just not just making videos because I want to make money. It's never been about money. I want great content that's bringing value to the world, but not just the content, but just also the access to be able to talk with me as just a real human. And so I love it and I think I'm through it, but I don't know if this can pop up again in another year. I think being a creator is a different type of existence. And there are times where it's very overwhelming, but I have to go back to the moments, you know, pushing through sand. Like, this is my life. It's pretty good. And I get to meet people like you. And so right now I'm feeling like incredibly inspired. You're all here. You came here from Guam. You came all the way from Guam. These are the tricks that you've used to kind of refine your storytelling. So are there any tricks or methods that I use to refine my storytelling? That's the question. You know, I'd always tell people that I've never made the perfect video and that keeps me hungry, that keeps me motivated to keep on improving. And if you look at my older videos, they're much different than today's videos. And so I do think that with every time I'm out there on an adventure, I'm looking at different ways to tell stories so it's not always the same. And, you know, with the advent of the drone, that's been really cool. That's added a lot to my video that gives us perspective to the audience. It's just beautiful. I mean, it's like these cinematic looking shops through the trees or mountains or canyons. And I, in the moment, I can see things that I'm not even seeing. Maybe I'm in the trees in Montana. I get the drone in the air and I'm like, whoa, this is really cool. And then I fight and settle. Why am I drone? That's the definition of how I do that. And I've crashed a lot of drones. But it's worth it. It's all part of the cost of being a creator. But, you know, I really value talking to people just in my life. And I want to share their stories with the world because I find it interesting. And so I figure if I find it interesting, the world probably thinks it's kind of interesting. And so I really love interviewing people so you can meet them, essentially. And now you've made friends with all of my friends, with Dana, and Amelia, and my mom, and a lot of other strangers. My guy is in Wanda. So telling other people's stories is really important. I don't want the video just to be me riding my bike and talking to all of that. I want to talk with the world because that's what interests me. I love it. That's why I travel. Before I became, you know, a bike travel guy, I was like a travel blogger. And so I travel the world. And I just, I feel energized when I have a conversation with the local. Even if I don't quite know the language and we're just kind of smiling and making hand gestures, like those moments to me are the best part of traveling. And maybe you get invited into somebody's home and you can see what life is like wherever you are. And so, yeah, I haven't made the best video yet. So keep on watching. Maybe someday I'll make it, but probably not. And, you know, I go to editing too. Editing is also an incredibly important part of telling the story, not just in the moment of setting up the tri-body. You need the drone out, the editing. You know, that's where the story comes alive. And it takes me a long time just to make one video. So it looks pretty slick. And it looks professional. That's important to me that it looks good. And so, yeah, every day I get a little bit better. Every video is a little bit better than the past. All the way to the back. How many hours do I spend editing to get one video? It depends, but I would say three to four days to really start, but pull all the footage down. So I have a GoPro, I have a Sony camera, and I have a drone. So there's a lot of footage between those three cameras. And then I pull all that down into my timeline. I go through, I pick, okay, this shot might be good. This shot might be good. And I make a long timeline of all the selects that I make. And then from there, that's where the editing starts, right? You're smooshing it together, taking out shots that I don't need, maybe adding in other shots. And it just takes a long time. And then you think about the music. I want to, like, find good music for my videos that's not overpowering, that's not heavy-handed, but that kind of just makes you feel good when you're listening to it, right? Like, music is amazing. I love it. And so, then you think about titles and a little bit of graphics. And then, you know, the interview is how you're going to intertwine the interview into this five and lead to the next segment. So I would say, yeah, three to four days to make a typical video. You know, if I'm making, like, a film, like a more produced thing, then that can take months. Yeah. Yeah. And here we go. Gary, do you need help with Honduras? How long will you ground it? This is a good question. When I got home from Honduras, how long was I grounded? My mom was not happy that I did this. You know, she was very kind, but I think I sat in the book. But the moment I got home after having ridden my life for 4,000 miles and three months, the first person I hugged was my mom, and she grabbed me tightly and we were hugging. We were both crying. It's a very powerful moment for us. She's like, don't you ever do this again? Yeah. And mom, I don't worry about my role. And in a way, I didn't, but I went through it again. This was my one big adventure. And then I'm going to go out and just get a real job or whatever, move on in the world. That adventure lit a fire in this, you know, as I talk about it in the book. I wanted to find a way to become a story seller. I wanted to find a way to pay to travel the world and share inspirational stories with the world. And I didn't know how I was going to do it. This job did not exist. There was no online video. There was no YouTube. The only way to do this at a time was to make like documentary films that you might get into a film festival that would be seen by an audience of maybe a thousand people from the theater. And so it was an overwhelming thought, but I was like, I'm motivated. I'm going to figure this out. And then along comes online video. YouTube's about 2006. And I also started at the same time doing a public access TV show in my town Boulder. We all know nobody really watches public access because it's usually pretty junkie low quality stuff. But I was like, this is, I got to start somewhere and you've all heard the term fake it till you make it, right? And so that was like, I'm just going to be a TV host. I'm going to be what I want to be and just go out and run around with my Sony handy cam and build adventures in Boulder that, you know, people might want to watch and be like, oh, how am I going to go do that fun local adventure? And the show was called Out There. Whoa. Yeah. And so that's where it all started, to be out there, you know, mission started. And I still talk about it today, just get out there. And at the end of every one of these 30 minute episodes, I would look into the camera and say, get off the couch, get out there. And that didn't mean that you had to be an elite athlete or have the nicest gear. It could just be go outside and climb a tree or whatever. Getting outside is so therapeutic. And that's what I wanted to do with the show. That was my goal, was to inspire people to challenge themselves in some way, shape, or form. And so that was an interesting answer for your question of how I got grounded but it led to something good. And I want to tell you, this is my friend Gary. Did you watch in the Oaxaca episodes where there was a sick card with, I love Mira on the stick. You know who that came from? Gary! I'm meeting him for the very first time. But he sent me this care package. And at first I was really confused because there was also a card in this package as if it was written from Mira. There was like a scratchy handwriting, like Ryan, you're my best friend. You're a sick to throw to me next time you see me, whatever, right? And who did the John do this? John got this touch. Really, he wouldn't send me a care package. And that's how it all came to be. I took the stick to Mexico and on the last night with John, I pulled it out. It was like a trophy. I'm like Mira, I am the coolest stick for you ever. And she loved it. She replayed with it and she very quickly destroyed it. I wanted to like leave it with Mira and John so they could have it on their adventure, but it seriously lasted 15 minutes. Thank you. Can't wait for the next one. Okay, one way home too. There are stars from the Fox flies. Okay, there are stars from the Fox flies. So I'm guessing a lot of you have read the book or at least know the story, but if you don't know the story, I have Fox flies in my arms. They are parasites. They are like little maggots. And I got a couple of these luckily on my ride home. I was in the jungles of the Lees and I was being eaten by mosquitoes. And I had two bites right here on my bicep that lasted much longer than the other mosquito bites. The other ones healed and these two got worse and they got bigger. And if you don't know the story, I don't need to keep telling you, but do you guys want to hear the story again? This is a crowd pleasing. So these two wounds on my arm are getting a little bit more indested. But I don't really care. I'm riding my bike home from Honduras. I have 101 other things to think about, not whatever's going on in my arm. And then one day I was sitting on a dock and see what did they home Mexico. So this was a long time after the Lees like three weeks after getting the mosquito bites. And I was enjoying the sunset. It was a beautiful peaceful moment. My feet are in the water. It just felt like this. I sit on the edge of a dock. And I looked down at my arm at these two wounds. And all of a sudden I see this little like white, wormy thing coming in and out of the hole. Do you remember the movie, Aliens? Like, yep. Sorry, just kidding. I was scared of you. And so I was like, what is that? That is weird. I didn't say it that way. I'm trying to be kid-friendly. That's weird. I ran back to the hostel where I was staying. I showed everybody their backpackers from around the world. I'm like, hey guys, I have worms in my arm. Everybody knows what this is and if this is a bad thing. And they're like, we ate a gross, you know, like, stay away from us. They didn't know if it was contagious. And they're like, well, we need to get these out. And these are all the young party animal backpackers. They're like, let's pour tequila on them. That'll get them out of your arm. So we tried pouring tequila on them. We tried getting some tweezers and like pulling them out. And we started thinking, oh no, that's not working. Let's light a match and get the tweezers really hot. And then like now like, seize them out. And I'm sitting there like a giddy thing and they're all just like poking at me. And I'm like, hi, then I'm getting a little like lightheaded. This is pretty gross. And that turned into the bot line saga. I went to a doctor the next day in Mexico with a little like just walking to the door doctor. And I was like, hey, I have worms in my arm. How do I get rid of these? The doctor was like, I've only seen this on the Discovery Channel. I can cut your arm open and get them out of you. Or you can just leave them in there from what I understand. They're not going to really hurt you. And I was like, well, I would rather you not cut my arm open. And I was like, okay, I'll just leave them there. And then before I left, he was like, what you could try doing. It's getting a piece of meat from the market. And then it's nice when you go to bed, like take the meat to your arm and that will entice the bot fly out of your arm. Of course, with the meat is juicy and yummy. So here I go, vegetarian guy, go to the market and buy some meat and Robbie. I take it on my arm that night. And then I go to bed and I'm like, this smells gross. Like I really hope this works. And I woke up the next day. I have a random piece of meat on my arm and the bot flies were like, ha, sucker. We're staying with you. So I had the bot flies in my arm all the way until they came out at different times. But the last one came out when I was crossing the border. I was in El Paso. I had just crossed the border. And I grew up with a lot of acne on my face as a kid. Hard to believe I have such a nice skin now. We all go through this. And so I was a pro at popping zips. Really good at it. Anybody else? Anybody else here? Pop them zips. Come on. Okay. Okay. All right. You know, you get into the mirror and you can see it. Little pus into the mirror. Right? Anybody else have trophies on your mirror? Come on. Squeezing things out of my head. And I was like, oh, I know how to get rid of this bot fly. And going back a little bit, it was really hard to get a grip on them. And once you've gotten near them, they're like a whack-a-mole game. You get anywhere near them. It's suckin' it all. I mean, they're animals. They don't keep them. Like, they know how to survive. They're not just gonna let you grab it and pull them out. And it's squeezy. So, man, this is getting long. You asked for it. So, I'm in El Paso. And this time, the wounds have gotten pretty big. There were like mini-volcanoes on my arm. And the worms had matured quite a bit. And they were bigger. To the point where I actually could get a little bit of a grip on them when I squeezed, just like a zip. And I was squeezing and squeezing and squeezing. And my buddy Jeff was sitting across the bed from me on the phone with like his family. And he was like, what is he doing? I don't know. And all of a sudden, boom! I shoot the zip out of the bot fly on the headboard of the hotel bed. Boom! Like, it's rocking speed. And it looks, it was like, it was pretty big. Like, go online tonight and look at bot fly. You'll see how big these things are. They're pretty big max. And I shot it under the headboard. It was so much gelatinous material. It looked like I took a strawberry and hit it with a hammer. Exactly what it looked like. And so Jeff was like, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, it's on the phone with the family. What are you, what are you doing right now? That's the story of my bot fly. Do I have any stars? I thought I was going to have stars because it was pretty crusty and bloody. But I don't. You would never know that I have bot flies. Check it out. This is just my opportunity to flex in front of you. No, no bot fly stars. Life is good. All right. Do any of the kids have questions? Ribbity kids in there? They're out playing. Yeah, they're having a great night. It's Saturday night. All right. Here we go. Really seem to enjoy it. You're having a good time. You talking about the Cabal Blanco race? Okay. So the question was the Cabal Blanco race looked like I was having a sign in my life and I talked about it more. Yes, I love that race. You know, my channel, I love Mexico in general. I love the people. I love the culture. I love the music. I love food. I love just their way of life. Like I fit well in Mexico. They're just jolly and carefree. And I kind of feel like I do too. And so when I meet Mexicans, I'm just like, you're my best friend. You're like 5 minutes of meeting somebody. And this race is called the Cabal Blanco Ultra Marathon. If you've read the book Born to Run, it's the race that's highlighted in that book. And this book was a worldwide, you know, seller. And it kind of kicked off the barefoot running craze. If you remember that about 2005-ish or something. And I read this book and I got inspired to go down there. Just like after you read my book, you're all going to ride your bikes with my nurse. Oh, right. And get bought bikes. So I read the book and I'm like, I'm going to go down there in 2015. And it's just a magical place. Like imagine the Grand Canyon, but all green. I mean, it is stunning to the eyes. It's beautiful. And unlike the Grand Canyon, there's this beautiful little idyllic town at the bottom of this canyon. It's called Beauty King. And that's where the race starts and finishes. And this town has completely embraced this race. And it's the biggest thing that happens all year. And it brings in people from all over the world. It brings in a lot of Mexican nationals from all over the country. And Caballo Blanco's dream, his name was Micah Tru, actually lived in Boulder. His dream was to bring people from around the world to this spot so that they could experience the beauty and the magic of these Audumara people who live down there and are like world famous long distance runners and run in sandals. And these sandals are made out of car tires that are like cut up the tread part. And they weave them together with leather. And that's what they run in for long, long, long times. And so I read this book and I wanted to go down there and I did. And I followed up. And so I've been down there five times now. I brought my mom down there. My brother's been down with me. And Amelia looked the most recent one to experience it. And it's just a fascinating place. Even if you don't like running, it is beautiful. And I actually want to develop some sort of bike packing route down there because it would be a great place to ride a bike. But as you've seen in the video, like I'm just running and it's beautiful and I'm having the time of my life and I'm talking to people and it's just supportive and that's the ultra community. It's just really supportive. I grew up running in races in high school and it's just kind of like, you know, it's not as friendly because everybody wants to speed you. You know, but ultra runners are like, you're a weirdo, I'm a weirdo. Why are you running 100 miles? Nobody gets it but us. It's like a secret little pulse, right? And everybody, this is really encouraging. And you can go to any ultra race in the world and it's like that. And it's especially like that down there and it's really fun to run with these people who run in the sandals. You've probably seen in the video a lot of these old ladies are running in full dress, full native dress. And it's incredible. And so there's about a thousand people who do the race now. It's gotten very big. 800 of them are the locals. The Marama Re, a lot of people. And then there's maybe 100ish gringos from around the world and then, you know, Mexican national from around Mexico. So it's just, it's really fun. Thank you for asking that question. It's fun to like relive it all just when I tell you about it. It's cool. Who wants to go next year? Excuse me? Top three favorite videos? Top three favorite videos. To feel like each one. I love my video. You know, I don't think it's my best. I love Mama Pichu. It's the story about when I went to Peru with my mom to do the Inca Trail. It's an old one from 2012. A lot of you may not have seen it, but it's called Mama Pichu, a play on words from Machu Pichu. And this was her first big adventure in life. She grew up, might grow up. She raised four kids on her own as a young woman and her life was hard, you know. Making ends meet was difficult. And so she didn't have time to do a lot of the extracurricular activities that people do in Boulder like hiking and biking. She was mom all the way. And then I started traveling when I got out of high school and I would tell her all these stories. You know, I just love sharing the world with my mom. At the time, she was like, I can never imagine doing that. I'm so busy. I don't have the money. And then finally, in 2011, she decided that she wanted to do this trail. She met some people who were leading a tour and she's like, I want to do that. I really want to train and I want to get fit. My mom had never done anything like this before. She'd never done day after day or day after day of trekking with the backpackers. We knew her. She wasn't really all that fit at all. And she committed to training and getting stronger. She went to workout classes. She'd go to Red Rocks. In Colorado, you've heard of Red Rocks where the famous concerts happen and she'd go up and down the stairs. She wasn't running. She'd go up and down the stairs. And it was really inspiring to see my mom really go after something that she had never done before. And finally, at this point in her life, the kids were gone. She finally had some money because she wasn't paying for me anymore. Living in her basement. So they moved her. The sky was still interactive. But it's a little weird that I was 30 living in her basement. So she decided she wanted to do this. And she got fit and it was great. And I documented the journey. We'd go work out together and I'd be running alongside with the camera. We'd get to Peru and she's nervous and she's scared. And another big motivating factor of her doing this was like when I was motivated as a young kid and my doctor said, you need to get healthy. Your heart's not the best. My mom was diagnosed with heart disease and her doctor told her the same thing. You need to be fit. You need to be walking. You need to be moving. And we go to Peru and we do this amazing trek and there's some hard moments and she's pushing her limits like she's never pushed before. So we went to this adventure and it was seven days and we camped at 16,000 feet one night which was a big deal for my mom. It was cold and it was snowing on us. And the day we got up and over and saw Machu Picchu and looked down through the clouds. It looked kind of like these misty clouds here. And they parted and you could see this ancient and we were so proud. We were all crying. We're big cryers. We have this emotional moment and that was the story of Machu Picchu. And from that moment on she's like, I'm going to continue doing this. She's lived a much healthier life than she did before. She's super active. She's now weighing the pickleball. She plays that pickleball at four to five times a week. And she tells you all pickleball players she plays and she's whooping butt. It's cool. I'm good to see her as motivated and focused. So that was one of them. Machu Picchu Another one of my favorite videos I would say the great Divide Long version was one of my favorite videos and that was a total experience. I had never made really long videos at that point. When YouTube first started videos were like three minutes max. The idea was that humans didn't have a tension span. They wanted to watch these short videos in between breaks at work and just watch something funny or something. And so I was conditioned to making short content. And now YouTube people watch it like they watch any TV show they watch on their smart TV and so it can be longer and more. And so my videos now are typically 20 to 30 minutes from a full episode of TV. But I had never made anything longer than that. And so I got lots of emails from people over the years saying I love watching your videos when I'm on my exercise bike and I just kind of zone out and I watch the beauty go by. And maybe I should make a really long video that people can just watch when they're on the exercise bike. And what I did was I took out most of the interviews so it was just riding shots so it's like you can put yourself on the seat of the bike in that moment. I took out all the music so it was just natural sounds. If you watch the video you're like you see the crunching and gravel and a lot of people watch the video and they don't even realize oh wow I watched the whole thing I realized there was no music. And so I made it as simple as possible. And I didn't think it was going to go viral like it did. It's a very simple video and I uploaded it and immediately it got sucked into the YouTube algorithm and the numbers were off the charts for a video of mine. My videos maybe get 30 to 50 thousand views each which is for me exciting. That's great. That's enough. But this video was like 50 thousand on the first day and 100 thousand, 100 three thousand it was just getting bigger and bigger. And it's been fun to see the reactions from people who like they're like I clicked on this video because the thumbnail was pretty and I saw that it was two hours and I was like there's no way I'm watching this whole thing and all of a sudden I watched the whole thing and I think it's just mesmerizing it puts you into that space where you're just like it's just pretty it's just like a day out in nature and so that was another one of my favorite videos and then I haven't made so many guitar to say what else is one of my favorite videos you know I've done a lot of videos to highlight local nonprofits in Boulder and even around the world I love using my audience for good raising money or just exposing them to nonprofits that are doing good things in the world and so there was a nonprofit in Boulder called Boulder Food Rescue and what they do is they go to all the grocery stores around town and throw away a lot of their food. Every grocery store in the United States does this they throw away perfectly good food just because expiration date says in a vatican and so Boulder Food Rescue works all on bicycles and they have these long trailers and they fill up the trailers full of fruits and vegetables and all sorts of goodies and they take them around town some of the lower income housing buildings and they set up what's called a no cost grocery so people can go in and walk around and pick whatever they want it doesn't cost anything, it's free and so they're using that food that would otherwise be going to a landfill and causing all sorts of methane, gases to come out and everything and they're feeding people we need food, good healthy food and so that I think is another one of my favorite videos even though it's not barely anybody really watched it it's maybe not an adventure video but I like highlighting nonprofits that are doing cool stuff yeah, yeah Have any of you seen the youtube channel? it's awesome they make incredible content I highly recommend subscribing to Planet Town right now they just did a video about this issue of food waste and expiration dates and it will open your eyes on a national level of this issue of wasting tons of food it's not just grocery stores wasting this food it's like all these farmers work so hard to break this food and then they package it and it goes to all these grocery stores across the country and the numbers the amount of food that gets wasted is astronomical at a time when we could be feeding so many people who need good healthy quality food so go subscribe Planet Town they make content that will blow your mind it's really high production Connor did you ever get your 600X from the Customs app if so the question was did I ever get my 600X out of the Customs in Rwanda I always don't want to tell the story because the video isn't out yet but since you came from Guam I'm going to tell you the story so I was talking to David prior to before I went to Rwanda and I was like hey I'd love to get a because I didn't have a 600X I just gave him my away in Oaxaca so I didn't have a bike I'm like I need a 600X but I'm also going to Rwanda can you send one out for me he's like yeah we can totally send one and I thought it would be easier to send it ahead of time than travel with a bike in an airport and he's about bike packing he's traveling through an airport with a bike and he's like no problem we'll send it with DHL it'll get to Rwanda it'll be there waiting for you we thought and then I get to Rwanda and they say it's there but it's for some reason stuck in Customs and I'm on a trip with the tourism board so I can't really deal with the issue I have to start going on this trip that they have planned for me and I'm just hoping that it's going to work out and they're going to be able to deliver it to me at some point that never happens and I keep asking the context of the tourism board we're talking to the Customs we don't really know what's going on and I can't really think much about it and put effort into it because I'm not there I'm traveling all around the country I'm not the capital city so I don't get my bike luckily the tourism board had a loader bike for me that worked just fine and finally at the very end of the trip I have a whole day in Kigali the capital and my guide Kali was like let's go to DHL and see what's going on and I didn't think there was a chance I would ever see this bike because this stuff happens and it just it usually doesn't work out so we go to DHL and we sit in line and talk to 10 different people and they're like we don't know why it's still in Customs the best way to deal with this is to just go to the airport and go to Customs and ask some questions this is how I'm spending my last day in Rwanda so we go to the airport and luckily I have Kali with me he's translating, we're talking to all the different people they're sending us from office to office and finally you'll see more of the details in the video I get let into the Customs area but it's just me trying to get it to go in with me and so I've all of a sudden lost my translator and so I am in a Customs warehouse at the airport in the capital city of Rwanda trying to navigate and get it to my wife in a language that I don't speak and their English is pretty good but not amazing some people speak good English and it was just a fascinating experience and so I'm walking through this giant warehouse of boxes from all over the world going to see the fight look to my right there's a priority box sitting there and I'm like oh my god there is and I think I can just grab it and go there's my bike, that's my bike and then they're like ok now that it's here we have to go to this room and we'll talk to them and there's like 10 other people waiting there I'm sitting and sitting and sitting out but what they're saying Kali's on the outside wondering what's going on he's waiting for me and finally I've got to talk to this guy he's like you need to pay a storage fee we've had this for 2 weeks now I'm like ok but it can only be paid through this random app that only wanted to use on their phones it's called MOBO pay and I'm like I don't have MOBO pay so I go outside and I'm like Kali and this is the situation I need to pay $70,000 for one in France and he's like ok well I will transfer some money from my bank to my MOBO pay and I can pay and you show them this receipt we do all this stuff outside I get the receipt that he has paid and I go back in I get in line again it takes forever I don't know what they're saying and I didn't expect to be really doing this on my final day in Alana we've gone on a bike ride already that morning I hadn't really eaten much I hadn't drank much and I thought I didn't have to pass out in the customs department here at the airport you need to get this on you need to go talk to this lady over here I was hitting pinball all over the place I was like in my mind I'm just going to grab my bike like I'm so rough it's going to work at that point luckily I did not have to do that many many steps later but one of the government workers at an airport they don't really care that much I finally get it all taken care of and I would walk out of that airport with the priority box in my hand with the 600X and the whole time I knew that I was going to give that bike away I was going to go to Rwanda ride this bike and then give it away to somebody who I thought would be a deserving person who would never be able to have a bike like this but I never said anything to anybody because I didn't want to get the hopes up because I didn't know if I was ever going to get this bike so I never told Cali about my grand plan but I was like I was so excited it felt like a birthday surprise I'm like I am only getting this bike so I can turn around and get it to Cali and get it on my flight home whether it's all happening in the same day so we get the box out we put it in the truck, we go to the hotel we put it together and we find you I'm going back to the airport for my flight home just a few hours so I'm kind of feeling rushed enough get the bike together and he goes and he rides it I'm like Cali you can be the first one to ride the bike I want you to experience my bike he rides it and he's like man this is so cool and I was like it's your bike and he didn't quite understand I was like Cali this is your bike he's like no I'm giving you this bike priority is giving you this bike and thanks he was done he can't imagine he didn't have like the bike that he was riding in the video was not the bike he was a loader bike so he told me many times he didn't have a mountain bike I don't make a whole lot of his you can't even fathom it most of the bikes that you see in the videos are like $80 Chinese bikes they're not mountain bikes so I knew that this bike was going to make him so happy and change his life and I gave him the bike and he was just so touched and I was like see you later I'm going home so that's essentially how the story and I want to talk about priorities involved in this before I even met priority I loved giving away bikes at the end of my adventures if I was able to it wasn't like a thing that I could do every time because obviously bikes are expensive but sometimes I gave away bikes and once I met priority they're just so giving they really care about just people getting on bikes and helping the world I can't tell you how many bikes make donated behind the scenes that you haven't even seen they just want to like hook people up you know Dana from my friend Dana from the videos she has a fun fundraiser we do every year priority donates the bikes for that we got like 10 bikes donated for the boys and girls clubs in some local towns that she works with so priority are incredibly generous so the reason why I am able to be generous because they're generous because Connor is generous of a whole team of priority it's really nice to work with people who support my dreams and vision and that's why I love being a part of the team I'm not an employee I don't work for priority but I just feel like a part of the family and it feels really good because I could never have done this with Trek I used to work with Trek for a bit and it's just a different culture I'm not saying Trek is bad but it's just like I can call up Dave or Connor and say hey I want to donate this bike sweet let's figure out a way to do it there are just solutions people we'll get a bike to Rwanda and ride it and get it away and I'm so glad that the story has a happy ending and I hope Callie has been riding it like crazy he sends me messages on whatsapp and he's like I can't believe that I have my own bike I can wake up and just ride this bike all over the place and he's like I'm trading I'm going to do a mountain bike race on this bike and it's really fun to see and so I hope to be able to do more and more of this going into the future I will oh speaking of okay here's a big moment speaking of giving away bikes you need the what get your name on here get your name on here we're going to give away a trip to Rwanda we're just going to the customs park whoa easy nice move easy are you going to help me sure alright you describe what we're doing this will be learning for the first time yeah so what we're going to do is everybody is signed up to win this bike whether you do it or not somebody is coming home you're not going to get the bike today somebody is going to win your prior to 600S so Connor how are we going to do this anybody is unhappy with the result what you're going to do is you no you can close your eyes always get in the head of everyone you can close your eyes whatever you do is you are going to put your foot down randomly on anything on here and that person is going to win a 600S bicycle whoa that's a good one spin around get dizzy go what's your question she contacted me overwhelmed and scared and I was still worried somebody at some point some magical stranger was going to come and save the day and that is what happened in her situation she crashed on her bike and here came along Barack Obama and saved the day it wasn't Barack like I've said many many times it means a lot that you're here tonight and not only here tonight but you watch my videos every week it warms my heart and I continue making these videos for you I promise how are we going to do that teacher Kennedy what was the name of my friend who I wrote home with Jeff you should raise your hand who are Jeff is alive and well in Bellingham, Washington I still see him quite a bit he's amazing human friends as you learned about in the book and I see him still he comes back forward another question this is tough not the book let's see okay the ink in my book algae who raised their head algae makes ink it's the most environmentally friendly the book can read this is really important to me it's always like a paper no treats were cut down to make me my book printed locally paid living wages to people a lot of books are printed overseas and shipped with a huge carbon footprint behind books and they're toxic and bad and I really wanted to make a book that was as friendly to the environment as possible and algae based inks was how it all came together in the end with the non-toxic non-toxic I've been talking for a while now I'm going to give you a little stuttery okay another question does anybody have so much pressure to come up with a random trivia question let's see no let's just throw them into the crowd yeah Jeff somebody just tossed them into the crowd yeah get your cannon make some cannon noises yeah people back home if you've seen the shirt that I'm wearing it says fuel by free holding but on the back it says no crashing boat no landing this shirt is also just like my book printed okay I'll get it printed in the most eco-friendly way possible the price tag is expected for $39.99 but we're supporting the team in Iowa who get young people on bikes and they have this five month program where they teach them how to ride bikes and take them on rides and the culminating event is rat ride where they take these young people very cool and ride across that road and I got to meet one of them last year who's also a rat ride okay it's such an amazing event it's really easy getting all of the money before the shirt just losing money on the field I want to thank her for all of this and so again it's important to me to make quality content that I feel like it brings value to the world but also with the merchandise that I've done I try to have a small carbon footprint it's time that we start thinking this way and it's important for me that these aren't just fast fashion if you watch climate sound you can do a whole episode about fast fashion and how bad it is for the planet so let's see let's see this is a priority in friends t-shirt and it's going that way you guys want we're going to need the orange ones let's see what's this is this like a Halloween shirt oh this is a priority adventure center t-shirt so if you live in this area now you can go check out priorities at the adventure center at the next recycle and have priorities the first time ever priorities are like in a shop they're usually only online only so it's uh it's exciting that they have a spot here in northern California we know you know the California people like to ride bikes yeah turn it all over here right to you I gave a t-shirt to my friend I love you have seen the Thursday night cruiser ride in my videos right so fun if you're ever older please come on the Thursday night cruiser ride casual fun ride we get together we honk horn we get dressed up and be goofy it's not about getting exercise it's about being part of the community and it's fun loving anyway I met Mike on my cruiser ride in 1999 a long long time ago and at the time there were no bluetooth speakers that didn't happen but Mike is an engineer and he figured out a way to have a bob trailer a big loud stereo powered like car batteries yeah some big batteries if he was the coolest guy in the world because he had a bike that carries a stereo we always have these awesome dance parties and that gave him the name music man Mike and he's here today and if that t-shirt's too big I'll get you a different size yeah I don't want to throw any more of these into the crowd I'll just give them away but let's start the signing process we're still on the road we can continue, we can hang out there's so light out and again thank you for the bottom of my heart for being here tonight it means the world to me I love you I love you guys too, you're wonderful here we go gonna hit the stop button on this