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Dead Bike, Bad Mic. Roadside confessions.
20 Plays8 days ago
A motorcycle breaks down in California. One microphone barely works. Law school is still waiting. And somehow, that becomes the episode.
In this field-recorded conversation, Bobby and Steph talk through the messiness of travel, marriage, adventure, and trying to keep moving when the plan falls apart. The audio is imperfect, but the moment is real.
Broken bike. Bad mic. Good story.
Still practicing. Still learning. Still riding. Still between two teeth.
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Transcript
The Dilemma and Absurd Solution
00:00:02
Speaker
Between two teeth is back. Life, health, law school, motorcycles, marriage, and whatever we're learning the hard way. Your primary motorcycle's driveshaft snapped in half. Just completely gave out. Totally. It is completely unrideable. So now you and your travel partner have to make a choice. And the solution you land on is, I mean, it's nothing short of ridiculous. Ridiculous is putting it mildly. Right. You have to cram yourselves along with two massive 70 liter Patagonia duffel bags onto the tiny passenger seat of your one remaining much smaller bike.
00:00:37
Speaker
which is just a physics nightmare. It gets worse because just to make the weight distribution as punishing as humanly possible, you also packed a heavy hardcover law and contracts.
00:00:48
Speaker
God, are you kidding
Episode Two Introduction and Packing Challenges
00:00:51
Speaker
me? Hey there, guys. This is Bobby and Steffi Steff. This is episode number two. It happened right after episode one. We had a motorcycle breakdown. And we, have you ever gone to a circus and seen like a bear on a little bike?
00:01:05
Speaker
Well, good. It's a lot worse here. we've been broken down for about an hour now. So something on the drive shaft of Bob's bike broke. I'm starting to think you're just unlucky. It's me. So we're still in California.
00:01:18
Speaker
We had a motorcycle breakdown. It's a BMW GS. Something happened with the shaft. I have the problem with the luggage rack on this. Let's focus on the positive here.
00:01:30
Speaker
The positive is... You feel that? Yeah. i'm ah I'm working with a lot of – I have strapped our two Patagonias. For those of you who are a little familiar with motorcycles, the ones that have a tiny passenger seat, that's the one we have.
00:01:46
Speaker
That's the one that's working right now. have two – how many liters? Are they 50 liters? I don't know. Is it 50 liters? 70-liter Patagonia bags that I have particularly packed on this tiny seat, of which I'm also a part of.
Imagining the Overloaded Motorcycle
00:02:00
Speaker
And we have a – we just brought one law textbook, right? There's one contract book. Yes, we have one law textbook.
00:02:08
Speaker
So the nice thing is is that no one was hurt. The tough part is is that, you know, man, this is just – this is – us You know, we've broken down quite a few times.
00:02:20
Speaker
And one is just mechanical problems with the bikes. Actually, this is not really, I don't know if I'd call this mechanical so much as just metal. I call it mechanical. Piece of metal broken. But I would say, just use your imagination.
00:02:33
Speaker
I want you to listen. I know this is audio. Use your imagination. Think of like a small motorcycle. And then think of two people on that motorcycle. One is me. I'm not a tiny man.
00:02:45
Speaker
Is that a safety? thing to say, Steph? Hey, your words. Everything's relative. So I'm not tiny, and we've got stuff. We've got luggage. Thank gosh they are, they have they're buckle bags that have shoulder straps.
00:03:01
Speaker
Steph, the poor thing, has one of those things cinched right behind her bum. The other one is as a backpack. I
Embracing Motorcycle Breakdowns
00:03:10
Speaker
feel like a fly.
00:03:12
Speaker
i feel like a fly ah hanging on to a windshield right now. And I have all of this weight on my back. And I'm sitting on part of my Patagonia bag because I don't fit on the back of this with all of our luggage. Here's what I will say.
00:03:28
Speaker
In life, you never know what's going We just got our first looks from the county county folks. Jeez. I wish somehow we got a good picture of this because this is insane. It really should. Yeah.
00:03:40
Speaker
Anyways, what what did you learn on this... ah we had this problem in Morocco. That was, if you follow up on Instagram. That was also a nightmare. Yeah. We had a motorcycle 100 miles to the Spanish border.
00:03:53
Speaker
But you know what? One of the things I was thinking about while we were broken down, it's the same thing I thought about we were in Morocco broken down, is if you're going to go on motorcycle adventures, this is part of
Freeway Challenges and Sponsor Shout-out
00:04:05
Speaker
it. Try not to be frustrated because this is just, this is the part of it.
00:04:10
Speaker
You know, but unfortunately for these shock absorbers, two people and monkeys. This bike is bad. It's not hard. Every month, we travel way too much. I can't believe we're going to get on the freeway. What's our speed we're going to get on on the freeway? I would be good at 60 miles an hour.
00:04:32
Speaker
Yeah, so that does what it looks like. We're just, we're living in it. We look like we should in the circus. We look like we only had money for one bike, and we still wanted to go. corporate's really good. Shout-out sponsors, Climb. They are fantastic.
00:04:48
Speaker
Oh, yeah. We could only pay for the smaller bike. Like, this It is a 900, though. Stop, stop, stop. It is 900, and... it is a nine hundred though stop stop stop it is nine hundred and ah There's something to be said for a 900. Now, the lean angle on this bike's got to be short, so I want to keep this baby upright. I don't think after a certain degree, we're not coming back from it.
00:05:12
Speaker
And we're entering the highway, so I'm going to try not to fall off the back. If I lose my positioning on this bike, it's just going be me and the Patagonias going down the highway.
Motorcycle Adventures and Camaraderie
00:05:21
Speaker
Yeah, hopefully it's not like a sail.
00:05:24
Speaker
It won't be a sail, but it's more like an anchor. And then it was a tooth. See, get it between 15, 15, 15. Here's what I do know. We learned a lot when it broke down in Morocco.
00:05:36
Speaker
It was during Ramadan. ah We got a small van. The chap did not speak English. Are you trying to communicate? You're pushing on No, I'm not communicating. I'm just i'm shifting this big wave.
00:05:50
Speaker
You know, it it can always be worse. It could be raining. It's not raining. What I will say, I thought I had a tire blowout. I thought I had a tire blowout, and I'm glad it happened at a lower speed, and I was able to stop the motorcycle immediately, and we were able to communicate. You didn't run into me. I didn't can to crash the bike down.
00:06:10
Speaker
That could have been so deadly. And so, you know, in the big scheme of things, Yeah, this is in this is a major inconvenience. Yeah, and not even, because I think they're going to get us some more bikes.
00:06:22
Speaker
Yeah. You know what? This is part of the adventure. Don't sign up. Oh, look at this bridge. We're going over this beautiful river, this amazing bridge.
00:06:34
Speaker
I'm waving my brethren. They could yeah care less. Steph just waved to a Harley Davidson. Harley riders tend not to wave back. Yeah, we did ask for anything but a Harley. What's up with that? Like, start waving. Motorcyclists, that actually is the cool thing with motorcyclists, that they do wave at each other. I was waving.
00:06:52
Speaker
The first time you ever did that, you waved like Forrest Gump wave at a motorcyclist. do you remember that? i I do. It was intentional. know. It was funny. It was sarcastic. And it was so funny. There's a motorcycle wave, for those of you who don't know, it's more of a salute.
00:07:08
Speaker
And it's a lower palm or hand towards the ground. You've got to be cool. You've got to be cool. Yeah, you really you want you anyway to motorcycles. I've got to tell you, this is actually more fun having you on the back again. This is how we started. Be for yourself. This is how we started.
00:07:23
Speaker
Between two teeth, we're getting back to old school stuff. just looking at our right We're back on one motorcycle. Yeah, you're living in my shadow. You know what? I'm canceling our second motorcycle for when we do East Coast Canada in a couple weeks. We're going to go this way.
00:07:37
Speaker
We're just two people, two bags, and one bike in a dream.
Highway 101 Journey and Embracing Setbacks
00:07:41
Speaker
Save money. I hope you guys can hear us for the wind sound. um you know I am going slow on Highway 101. That's okay. We're in the slow lane.
00:07:50
Speaker
If a cop pulls us over, it's going to be because we're having too much fun. You'd be like, you idiots. I just had to pull you over and see what the heck's going on. I've never seen two people on a motorcycle with that much luggage.
00:08:03
Speaker
and sort I think whatever the bike weight limit is at, we're we're there. Although, like you know I take that back. It's still a 900. Like, 900 TV motorcycles? I mean, that's just a lot of bikes. We're good.
00:08:16
Speaker
We're good. The cool thing is, you did get on the phone. We've done all of this on an 800. That's true. We did that on the Ducati, and we've done crazy stuff. So, anyways, we're fine. That's the point of this whole thing. Anything else want to say on Episode 2? We didn't think Episode 2 would happen so quickly.
00:08:31
Speaker
Yeah, sometimes in life... We're back, baby. We're back. We're back, but what I'm trying to say is sometimes in life, the setbacks, the unexpected, don't get frustrated at it because that's part of what you were supposed to do. And it's going to work out for the better.
00:08:47
Speaker
I think we were both very frustrated. We're supposed to get a better body. Wave to this guy. Wave to this motorcyclist. Yeah. Buddy. Yeah. yeah buddy ride my own bike rolling like a big shot yeah that's what you hate it's like everyone goes you ride the motorcycle stephanie anyway stephanie rides motorcycles i ride motorcycles it's an adventure and that's part of part of why i got back on a motorcycle is because i needed to get uncomfortable frankly i was living too carefully i needed to feel need to feel a little bit of danger now
00:09:19
Speaker
We've kind of taken that to the extreme in Nepal and Morocco, riding motorcycles in sleet and snow. Well, we had a questionable chicken sandwich today. and mic yeah that's i got i think it I did get food poisoning last night, and um my stomach today was like, are you kidding me?
Humor in Unexpected Situations
00:09:38
Speaker
A chicken sandwich from a small town gas station? Are you serious right now?
00:09:43
Speaker
And I go, yes, put some mayo on that thing. We're ready to go. We didn't have the sushi, so that's a... Yeah, that's true. We didn't have that. Anyways. The wind's picking up, so... the that The wind is picking up.
00:09:55
Speaker
Just get out there and have fun. what
00:09:59
Speaker
What do you do for fun, Steph? what When you think of fun, like, this is actually kind of fun. I do like having you on the back of the bike. This is not as horrible... Like, it is a small bike. It's like a spike. My grip is actually failing me, so that's the other part of this. is i'm I'm one bump away from falling off the back here. so Wow.
00:10:21
Speaker
Well, I'm looking for another person to join me then, a pilot on Between 2D, just in case. I don't want you to fall off, Steph, but... Well, if I lived, trust me, I would also be looking for another person to join me on between two keys. Now, so you know, touche, touche. Oh, we got get gas, too, don't we? We're almost empty.
00:10:42
Speaker
Oh, my goodness. We're going to run out of gas. Now, never say... Oh, that bird just sued. Never say... that All of that almost got substantially worse. I think that's been really... No, that bird just... um Oh, we almost hit a bird? At least excrement. It almost hit us. yeah Oh, my. Okay. So what I will say, you don't know this about Stephanie, Steph. I'm going to tell something about you that they don't know. Steph has killed a bird with her neck on a motorcycle. There, I said it.
00:11:14
Speaker
I'm not going to lie. I don't lead with that, oddly enough, in social conversations, but it
Balancing Joy and Safety
00:11:18
Speaker
has happened. We actually did lead with that. We were getting in to have a dinner. We won't say what, we won't docs or whatever people. Please no strong speech. we were going into a room with people who, very serious clinicians and scientists and researchers, very serious. I'd never met them before. So I said, can I come in hot? And I thought Steph said yes, but apparently she said no.
00:11:41
Speaker
And I just walked in and said, leftive hearings what we call yeah i said, hey, ah what did say? They say, true or false, Steph killed a bird with her neck today. True. I think that's what I said.
00:11:54
Speaker
Not even, hi, my name is Bob. You just walk and you go, hey, Steph killed a bird with her neck today. And everyone looked at you like you had two heads. lot of questions right off the bat. Well, had to tell people why your neck was slightly red.
00:12:06
Speaker
It was not slightly red. and This is beautiful. We're riding through a We're on the Highway 101 north of, I don't know, somewhere.
00:12:17
Speaker
north of Sonoma. The trees are on both sides. We're near Humboldt-Hoodwood State Park. don't think we could have gotten further north from San Francisco on our pre-plant route.
00:12:28
Speaker
It was not great place break down. Our bike literally broke down at the northernmost part of our route. So, yeah you know, you can't plan that. But this is gorgeous right now. You can smell the pine trees. They're on both sides. It is absolutely beautiful.
00:12:46
Speaker
That's all I got. But anyways, what what's something you can tell people about me that I won't freak out if you say? Oh, well. a And I don't know how to delete things. Why we stopped doing podcasts is I hated editing.
00:13:00
Speaker
I don't want to edit. So be kind. okay No, I changed your story today. you're You're Mr. Early to the airport. You're always trying to, you're checking the weather on the way there. You're checking to see which TSA gates at.
00:13:13
Speaker
I just use my animalistic sense of smell and sights and sounds. Oddly enough, I find it. I find that TSA pre-check area. Listen, the only serious... Are you done? Not bad, actually. Are you done?
00:13:27
Speaker
bad that are you dumb The only serious disagreement we have is what time to get to the airport. It's a drag-out fight. We just passed a sign for San Francisco where we picked these bikes up.
00:13:39
Speaker
It says, don't worry, you're almost 234 miles.
00:13:45
Speaker
Yeah, that's not ideal. But I got to tell you, crappy as everything's been in the past two hours, this is actually a lot of fun.
00:13:57
Speaker
Well, I can't say this is a lot of fun for me, but I can't say that, yeah, I'm rid of the luggage rack right now. I'm terrified that we're one bump. i'm gonna I'm going roll off the back of this thing.
00:14:10
Speaker
I know you know this, but i think you mentioned earlier, you're a big body and it's hard to have grips. um this No, I hear you. I hear you Well, I appreciate you being back there. I appreciate our listeners following the adventure.
00:14:23
Speaker
We did not think episode two would happen so quickly, but we had a breakdown on the motorcycle. and We're like, hey, yeah, we got to talk about this. And to your point, Steph, like things are going to happen.
00:14:34
Speaker
And yeah sometimes you can't do anything about what just happened, but you can do the next thing. And sometimes you've got to maintain your cool. So for those of you that can't see, Steph is actually trying to drive the motorcycle by leaning her body to various sides. Again, for those of you that can't see, this is the most cramped position on the back of this tiny bike.
00:14:56
Speaker
I'm going to lean forward. by my knee and my legs are in a crouch position. I know Bob's having the time of his life up there, but... I am like, this is actually really tough.
00:15:09
Speaker
yeah It's Stephanie Crouching Tiger. Oh, dude, I do feel like that right now. my be All right, guys. Well, listen, any wisdom imparting, Stephanie? We are five minutes into this two and a half hour so sure.
00:15:24
Speaker
Yeah. We'll check back
Conclusion and Reflection on Adventure
00:15:25
Speaker
in later. That's what we got. All the adventure. Thanks.