Welcome to Momentum, a motorsports podcast powered by High Gear Success. I'm your host, Heather Wilson Schiltz Here we share the stories and strategies that keep the world of motorsports moving forward. And I'm really excited because on the show today we have Drew Faulkner, organizer of Red River Scramble and host of Moto Adventurer Unscripted podcast. So thanks for being here, Drew. Absolutely. Good talking to you again, actually. Yeah, it has been a while. started thinking back to, it's always like a fun adventure to figure out when I first met people that I first engaged with on social media. And I was trying to dig back through our messages actually, and see like when we first, first became Facebook friends. But I feel like it was, um, like late 2019, maybe even earlier. sounds about, Some of those conversations have actually come up as references for me recently because people were talking about event stuff and I might actually have some backstory here. And I feel like I found you online just because I saw your enthusiasm for motorcycling and naturally I wanted to recruit you for the cause. I wanted to get you involved in some more different segments of motorcycling and sharing your knowledge and expertise. So naturally when I see somebody doing something really well, I try to recruit them to be a part of something even bigger. uh I will take that compliment and I appreciate it. you didn't start motorcycling when you were young. You kind of picked it up after being in the military. Yeah, no, that's, that's a hundred percent of the case. was, it's the long story short is I had a scooter for a hot second when gas prices were nuts. And then I turned 30 and graduated from college at the same time. And my wife essentially bought me a motorcycle. So 2013 Triumph Speedmaster was like my first bike and brand new as a matter. That's awesome. Do you still have that bike or did you sell it? Uh, I, I had that bike for 45,000 miles, which means it was worth nothing after about three years. but, I traded that for a Triumph Scrambler cause I loved the engine, but, I got adventure fever pretty hard. Um, and I, I do still have that bike, but there are other, lots of other toys have joined it in the garage as well. a person that likes to constantly buy and sell bikes or do you kind of buy something and stick with it? um I'm kind of trapped because I hate buyer's remorse. So I'm like really on like finding what I like while at the same time I tend to destroy things over time or devalue them, right? So it's kind of like once, you know, like my Tenere, for example, right? For example, right? Like I haven't paid the last payment yet, but I'm like, we've worn paint off the frame from riding it off road. Like that's just the way it works. So I'm not sure which of those, but mostly I hate buyer's remorse. And so I pick things I like. Yeah. And when I first met you online too, I think you were just starting or had just started to organize Red River Scramble. So what, where did the inspiration for hosting that event even come from? Uh, it's funny cause I always like lament about what Instagram used to be like Instagram used to be the greatest motorcycle community on the planet. And that's what it was. So 2015, 2016, like all the triumph stuff is on there. And obviously, you know, when you like a bike, follow it on the internet and I would go hang out in Red River Gorge. It's where my folks are from. So our family farm is like across the street from Red River Gorge for lack of a better term. Um, and I'm posting pictures of being down there. And so people are like, Oh man, I was just there. We just missed each other. Whatever. Like we should go meet up. And so it's like, okay, I just picked a weekend in July that I was available and said, Hey, we're going to go do this thing. And I just made up a silly flyer. We're going to, you know, red river scramble, come on this day to whatever it is. 12 people show up from six states and then the next year it's 50 and then the next year it's 75 and then a hundred and then just, yeah. And it's all word of mouth for the most part. It's just people tell their friends and it's blown up. So really like a grassroots kind of movement for your event was kind of like, Hey, just random strangers and friends, let's get together. And then it's really turned into something bigger, but you're still not charging for the event. That's that is also true. Yeah, it is. It's totally been like you said grassroots, right? I make this joke. It's like, you know, it's like a bike night or I'm just throwing a party and 300 friends show up, right? Like I do do a lot of homework and look at routes and whatnot. But in the end, it's you know, people are like, I can't believe you do this. I'm like, I was doing most of this anyway. Like the hard part usually is just getting volunteers to have people sign waivers and hand out stickers. But yeah, you're pay your own way. Just like if you went to a bike night or camping with your friends. And for many event organizers, it's something they do on a part-time basis beyond their nine to five. And that's true for you. So how do you balance having a day job and having a passion project like this where you're not even making any money? You're spending a lot of time doing it. I have a sickness. Um, most folks are sitting at the desk or going to a table on their lunch break at their nine to five. Obviously I'm a mechanical engineer and I live in the cube farm or the factory. Depending. I literally look at maps on my lunch break. Like I'm planning routes and building stuff and making a ride plan for the weekend. Cause when Saturday gets there, I'm going to go for a ride. And so it pays off because later I know where the good roads are and I've put loops together. And so to me, the The hardest logistics part is the route part. And that's the part I like the most. So it just, works. And the mapping kind of comes back to your military days, correct? Yeah, there's no doubt that that's the case, right? Like I like to be outside. But really what happened was riding the motorcycle in the beginning, I used to go to a rally called the Triumph Dragon Raid. So was kind like the unofficial Triumph rally after Triumph dropped out of doing that back in 08. And I went down there and my friends would go ride a little bit and they were kind of done for the day and I wanted to go ride and I didn't know how. So I was like, okay, I have to teach myself how to do that on a motorcycle. Cause I can do it with a map and a compass, but you know, that's not the map you get at the gas station. Right. And then, you know, not too many people do that and you can't even find those anymore anyway. Um, but yeah, no, totally. I just got into the GPS thing on the bike and I literally started out doing old school, like map quest, like, like, like you like roll charts, right? Not quite that advanced, but you know, like I wrote the streets and the mileage down and totally just ran off the, uh, the trip odometer but yeah, it's now it's, know, I've got my, my guy and rever up on one thing and my GPS on the other. And I'm a super nerd now, but yeah, I mean, they're all kind of. I feel like there are categories of people you either love the mapping aspect or you just want it done for you. I don't love the mapping aspect. I don't necessarily need it done for me. I can just go explore. But if there's somebody that's going to lay it out and I can just go follow it. I love that aspect. And perhaps maybe 2026 is the year that I learn how to use the GPS functionality. I know I've been saying this for a couple of years. I love my roll charts. I know that's kind of headed out a little bit. I feel like it's still a 50-50 split for events. There's a lot of events where, um, for event organizers that I work with in my business, we do surveys and it's like, what is your preferred method of navigation? It's about 50-50. Like GPS has not taken over yet, but I do feel like I definitely need to improve on my GPS skills. To me, what's convenient, so I mean, put routes together that are about a hundred miles. Like I think that's usually the target for most people between adventure and dual sport. But there are several that are very difficult weather changes and it's nice to just click on the GPS and go, go back to campground and it just does the work and you can go do that. And I think that's the thing is we have so many people that come out of, from out of state and shoot, I think it was like 22 States last year that they have no idea where they are. So, so trying to memorize the map and the other stuff. And like you said, if you run a roll chart and you have to divert from that, you better have something. Yeah. So it's convenient, but you pay a price in the end. Yeah, and naturally a lot of the more scenic areas too, we don't have a cell phone reception. So I mean, the GPS does come in handy because that can even go off satellite signals, right? Yeah. And I can do an entire podcast purely about navigation. I've taught some classes and stuff and I want to do some more of that stuff. But yeah, there's pros and cons. Like the software available between Gaia, onX, Rever on the phone, in my opinion, is superior to what Garmin is selling by a large margin. However, I'm not worried about my Garmin telling me, we're sorry, your charging port is wet. Like it doesn't do that stupid stuff. So that's now why I'm doing both. And now I'm actually, have a oh A car play emulator that I run on my bike now, which has solved that problem. So now my phone can stay in my jacket or whatever else it is. And I still have all of that technology and it's waterproof. Do you use your current phone like for the GPS or do have an old phone that you use? I've also done all of those things. And at the risk of, uh you know, dominating the podcast about silliness, I recently bought a new phone and as dumb as this sounds, because I didn't want to give them my old phone, it was cheaper for them to put my old phone on another line than it was. this is so weird. Right. So yeah, now I have a burn phone for my old phone. So I can, I can do that now. Like I can run my old phone on one bike if I don't feel like moving my car or my car play emulator, silly stuff. Yeah, because I've always been worried about, I know they make better mounts for this sort of stuff to reduce the vibration, but I've heard that like you'll damage your phone, especially the camera aspect by all the vibration from the bike. And I'm a big proponent of always having your phone on you physically in case something happens in an accident and you're probably going to get separated from your bike. And so if my phone's in my pocket and my jacket, at least maybe I have a better chance of reaching it than being mounted to the bike. It, and I'm, all over the place. Um, and have been through that iteration over, I don't know, seven years now, totally was on a one week vacation on my 250L like was camping off the back of the bike. Pulled over on the first day to take a picture of something. Camera was toast. Blew, blew my mind that that worked. And so it would work in two X, but not one X. was doing the crazy shake stuff. Cause there's no, there was no stabilization to X anyway. But yeah, so I spent the whole week and beautiful places and whatnot and have hardly any good pictures to show for it. Paid the hundred and thirty dollars to have the camera replaced in it and was super wigged out about it. I've tried a couple of different things since then. I've compared notes with people. Obviously, I won't out any brands for various things. Some people claim that, you know, the anti-vibration stuff works. I've still had negative experiences even after all that stuff. So I'm with you at this point. I'm like, OK, I want my phone on my person to know it's not going to mess up the camera and if something goes sideways. Yeah. And our phones are like mini computers these days. So they're a thousand dollars at least. So that's not something that I just want to like ruin. But I haven't paid a thousand dollars for a laptop. Yeah. And two decades, right? Like this is nonsense. So going back to your event, since it started, how has it evolved? mean, you talked about the number of people, but what has changed about that first event up until now? In the beginning, was mostly, you know, mostly adventure bikes. I made the joke that the second or third year was like a year of the KLR. Like everybody was showing up on KLRs. then, and it is funny because you do get to watch, you see the bike trends, right? You know what brands are doing what. But over time, I think because of the crowd that's been going has been aging combined with the way that the industry evolves, there's a, mean, there's a lot of KTM and there's a lot of plated dirt bikes, like quite a few. Um, and I'm not, you know, I don't not telling us people don't come, but it is always funny, right? Like how did an adventure rally kind of become 50 % dual sport. Right. Um, and so to me, it's been trying to find the, the mix of trails that they want, um, dealing with trail closures, which I'm sure you and I, you and I've talked about lots of other people listening. know are familiar with, so, you know, you got good dual sport trails going until something gets shut down, so on and so forth. the good news is, is I've been working with one of the charities down there that does trail organization stuff and they've done a lot of expansion. I've looked over so many routes this year. I'm just blown away by the amount of dirt. So I can't wait to put people on it, but that's to me, that's the biggest evolution is okay. Make sure what's open that we use last year. Let's go find some new stuff. I've started building trying to. build paper maps, but yeah, for the most part, it's just been getting information out there to people. you know, as you know, we can do a whole episode on that as well. What, what people will read on the website and what they want. So how do you, how do you figure out the channel people are listening on? So at this point I've got like sandwich boards out at registration with like QR codes to scan and all that stuff. Sorry. That's a lot. We could go down a whole rabbit hole of just talking about how I define adventure versus dual sport and how that was a very big battle in my previous role. And it still kind of is a battle like across the U S how people define adventure and dual sport. because to me, they mean very different things, to some, they, they use those terms interchangeably. And I think that can get people in a lot of trouble. if they have one understanding and. and somebody else is interpreting it in a different way. 100%. The easy example to me is I have a whole bunch of friends who race adventure bikes, like race them at hair scrambles and they show up to this event, they want the scariest stuff possible. And there's tons of people that show up on plated four-stroke dirt bikes and they honestly just want to take it easy and do adventure stuff. Like this is completely the world we live in now. How do you balance finding those challenging routes and also making stuff accessible for newer riders? So I have to give a shout out to Brett tax. He did a great podcast forever ago and this is stuff on his website about how to rate adventure trails. So I more or less took that and kind of broke it down to four basic skill levels for our terrain in Kentucky, because it is highly diverse and it's a very exponential curve. Like, you know, to go from something scenic and novice and easy up to an intermediate levels, like, you just adding some rocks and a little more. and stuff like that, but the next level to advance is like, those are big rocks and those are big ledges and it gets worse. And so I more or less mimic that and I have it published on the website so people can look at the different, basically it's a list of obstacles. Like I'm assuming if it's an adventure route, you're bringing an adventure bike. And if you're riding dual sport that you're bringing a dual sport, not an adventure bike. And then I've created those levels. And then I described the types of terrain and the different challenges you'll find on them. And those are basically the four general guidelines for each different terrain type. I think also it depends where people live and grow up and what type of terrain they're used to because growing up in Ohio, there's a lot of difficult stuff. I just grew up riding that. That's all I knew. And so when I would go to other States, they would be like, I don't know if you want to ride that. That's really difficult. And then I would ride it and I'd be like, that wasn't that bad. To me, it wasn't that bad, but to them, that was, that was gnarly stuff. Or if you don't come from an area that has a lot of sandy terrain. So when I go ride sand, that's not my favorite because that's not what I'm used to or go ride a lot of rocks. I'm not used to that either, but I'm used to a lot of elevation changes and big Hills in Ohio. So I think that definitely factors into what's easy to one person or not to another. it's really complex. Um, and we're frankly, we're really blessed to have the terrain options that we do here. mean, that's the thing is like a lot of the dual sport routes, especially because I get to, you know, I take the safety off, right? I get to throw all the hard stuff at these folks. You really do go ride some of these creeks and the sand is bonkers. Like there's just sandbars in the middle of this thing. And then the next thing you're going to be riding on, you know, limestone ledges that are lathered in wet clay. So yeah, we get the whole gamut. And then you throw in the factor of weather on top of that where something might be pretty simple to ride in dry conditions and completely changes the difficulty level if it's been really wet. It's I have an intermediate route right now. That's gorgeous. I can't wait for people to ride it. I'm terrified if it rains because it's got several sections that are football field long that are polished clay. they just beat it down all summer. I'm like, man, somebody sneezes on that. This is a whole other game. Throughout all these years of running Red River Scramble, what has been something that you've maybe learned the hard way or you're like, man, I will never do it that way again. I think it's the communication. I really think that's the biggest thing. I'm the kind of person that's, I'm going to read the website. Like I'm going to digest all the information up front. If you've got YouTube videos, I'm going to watch those. Like I'm going to do my own homework. I don't want to dime anybody out, that's not 51 % of the population, the best that I could tell. Like the lots of people were just, my friends went to that. They said it's great. And they just show up. Right. So they're just winging it. Right. Like they may not have registered yet. And I'm like, well, you know, I send emails out during registration and always fear that if I put more than about eight sentences in there, that's two too many. Right. so it's really been about trying to keep sharpening the knife to make the communication work. So I'm, got a bunch of sandwich boards last year, which by the way, those are really expensive to everyone listening. No. Now, if you want to go that route, I recommend you do, but you need sponsors cause they're not cheap. But then it's the message that it's right there. Right. You rolled in tonight, you know, here's all the stuff. It says scan the QR code and you can find the thing you're looking for if it's not on here. Um, and it's big and bright. So I'm, hopeful that that's at least the solution for now. Yeah, I think that's a great lesson that you've learned over the years. I think a lot of organizers sometimes, you know, they've just, they're too close to it or they've been doing it for so long. They don't realize the types of information that people need. I'm not saying they're always going to read it, like you said, but I manage an email account for one of my event organizers. And so I get all the questions coming in and I feel like each year I add a couple of questions to the FAQ section on the website or. the email blast that goes out pre-event of things that they need to know. And again, it gets a little longer each year, but I feel like at least you have something to point to to say, we told you, we told you so. So yeah, I think communication is a critical piece of any event. And sometimes the negative feedback that event organizers get on survey is about the lack of communication. ah And again, for like newer riders or even things like, um, Enduros where they might need to bring a gas can for a fuel stop. how many fuel stops are there going to be? Do you need a person on your pit crew to run it for you? Is the club going to run it for you? So I always try to help event organizers think if you were like a person who's never been to this event before, even this type of event before, like what information would you need to know? try to set it up so that people basically, first thing is the, the event takes place at Lago Linda Hideaway At least that's our current base camp this year. They may actually limit out. So people are going to stay elsewhere, but everyone's welcome to stay wherever they would. Cause you know how it is. Are you a cabin camper? Are you an RV camper? Do you want full hookups? Like we have that whole gamut as well. so that's where it's held at ultimately anyone who comes on the property needs to sign in with the campground. You are on their property and this is them. And obviously I'm not charging. we didn't rent the campground, you know, it's on you and they got to sign their waiver. Um, and then ultimately we're, you know, handing out information, but I'm sending emails up front, right? You can download the tracks, you know, and, do your own thing to your point about communication and this point. Uh, the day starts, sorry, the rally starts on Thursday to get pizza at Miguel's. Lots of people can't make that, but I do registration in the evenings. So Thursday, Friday night. So you have access to me and all the information boards plus email and all that stuff. And then I also do rider meetings in the morning. So it's Friday morning, Saturday morning. I have a rider meeting, to your point, to answer this question and to previous point. I'm a sucker for surveys, so I always send out surveys at the end of the rally to get feedback. And I got an answer about two years ago. They're like, Hey, I wish I could get more information as a new person. So I've been holding first time or meet and greets on like Thursday night or Friday night. This year, I'm actually going to start that right away on Thursday. So if I catch early people, they have instant access to me. So, I mean, any question you may have, I should have the answer to versus talking to one of the volunteers that may be new that year. So I've been trying to emphasize on all those things. There's a giant sandwich board with the schedule on it to what you're saying. And then also a sandwich board with a map. It's a choose your own adventure type of event. So to your point, I'm always worried about, okay, where do I stay and how scary is it going to be? What kind of route am I getting into? And where can I find gas? Like those are usually the top three and then maybe food after that. Right? Yeah. Some people are into that. What's cool is like, if you stay at Lago Linda, All you need to do is pack a snack for lunch or find something on the trail and that's it. You're only leaving Lago Linda to buy gas because they do make breakfast and dinner. So you can kind of get that there. But yeah, ultimately it's gas. And so I now am working on for the second generation, a very intricate map of all the riding areas to include difficulty level and nice little icons that say gas. So you can kind of know if you're going in this area. I try to publish the routes online in a place where you can put comments. That's the biggest GPX downfall, right? Most people just kind of download GPX, but if you look at the routes on Rever, it actually tells you, Hey, you know, you should run the route counterclockwise. There's gas at about 60 miles. So, you know, that stuff. So to your point about challenges, that's another one that I'm trying to figure out. Like what's the best way to communicate to people upfront when they can find gas? because Information real estate, not only is expensive, but the more you offer people, the more overwhelmed and less likely they are to read it. Yeah, yeah, I can definitely see that. Like, almost too much information can be overwhelming, but also maybe not enough information. I mean, to your point, uh, among other sandwich board is, a list of all the routes that listed in the order of easiest to most difficult. And there's like nine of them. So that way it's very simple. Like how crazy are things going to get? And then you can ask me a direct question. I want to ride this one and whatever. Yes, there's, there's gas. Right. Ever wish you had an expert in your corner to bounce podcasting ideas off of, or maybe you're dreaming of launching a show, but don't know where to begin. Pedal Stomper Productions offers a free, no allegation, no pitch podcast consultation. I've worked with the owner, Josh, on a few projects. Plus he's a fellow motorcycle rider. He's not there to sell you anything. He simply wants to share his expertise and help you create the best possible podcast. Whether it's fine tuning your audio, figuring out your video, strategizing your content, or understanding the first steps of launching, he'd love to connect. Sign up for your free consultation at pedalstomperproductions.com slash no pitch. That's one word. Again, that's pedalstomperproductions.com slash no pitch. Your resource for straightforward podcasting advice. Kind of transitioning away from event organizing and your personal riding experiences. Are you a person that likes solo adventures or do you like group riding? I think I'm probably, let's call it 60 to 75 % solo. Because of the difficulty that I like, there's no doubt that there's a certain amount of like, I definitely want a wingman and I like a duo. Like I'm really into two people, right? Cause if you've got like headsets, I'm a comms guy, right? So we can sit and shoot the breeze and it's safer. Uh, but I definitely know that I like to, like, I like to go where I like to go. I know I have a niche taste. There's not a lot of people that want to go to some of the places I want to go where they don't want to do like a day trip. I don't get a chance to camp much. So I'm putting in 500 mile a days and that typically turns down the attendance very quickly as well. Yeah, not interested personally, but have fun. Yeah, so it's not necessarily like, it's not that I don't like group rides, it's just that it turns out that I have taste that has made it so that, well, if you want to go ride, you're going to have to enjoy doing it by yourself. Are you a person, so obviously you plan the routes for the adventure rally, but are you a detailed planner when you go ride or are you more of just like, see where this goes type of person, a general area in mind. I have to admit, I love having no plan and just going. However, because time is so short, I almost always have 110 % of the route planned knowing I won't even get to all of it. Cause there's always something I want to see and I usually have a day. So it really is the sun is up. I'm on the bike and I want to be home right before dark. And that unfortunately it's forced me into that, but It is liberating when I know I'm going to go out and have a good ride and have no plan at all. It's awesome. Yeah, I can appreciate that. If I'm just going for a day ride, of course, mine aren't 500 mile day rides. I just like to head out and kind of generally know the area that I'm headed in and then just start taking back roads that lead to another back road that lead to another back road. And then when I'm feeling like, okay, I might be hitting the halfway point. Like, let me see where I am so I can kind of start making my way back home to that point. It's, mean, I'm a, like you said, a very detailed person, but a lot of times traffic construction and some other stuff makes for happy surprises. I've found one of the best gravel roads in Southern Ohio by complete accident because I was just bent with like the bridge being closed or something. I'm like, whatever. And I just started looking around like, this would be a fun way to go to get home. Boom. Found something awesome. So the blend of the two actually works pretty well. You talked about kind of having a niche interest in the difficulty that you like to ride, but where do you like to ride and what type of terrain excites you the most? The fewest amount of other humans possible is usually the g- I'm so down with that, yeah. So that's the thing, right? You know, when I switched from the cruiser to the scrambler, it's not necessarily go anywhere bike, but it started to bring on that. So it's like, if this is a barely paved road and it's full of potholes and horse poop and all kinds of other stuff, it's great. Right. So, and that's what I make the joke. It's like Amish country is my happy place, which is now basically Hillsborough, Ohio, all the way to Frenchburg, Kentucky. Right. and you know, you and I've talked about this and others like Ohio has a beautiful terrain, but between me and you is this giant stretch of two hours of corn. Like there's nothing else in it straight roads. So, you know, I have a short attention span. the, the, the more twisty and interesting and complex things are the more I like it. Um, and, I have multiple bikes in the garage for that reason. Like what, what does it take to make this, this route more interesting? And that's the weapon I choose. So sometimes it's inappropriate equipment. But it keeps it interesting. What is your most memorable motorcycle trip? Uh, there's several, um, but I actually think it's a great answer to your previous question as well. I got invited to a chopper ride one time and I took my scrambler and I'm decked out in my textile adventure gear. And I, it's one of those like, just show up here. Well, what time should I be there? Oh, I don't know. Nine. I didn't quite get the message on the front end. And it was totally all of the antithesis of the experience I'm talking about before. There is no plan except that we need to be in this part of West Virginia. Tonight. That was the end of the plan. And they just rode 50 miles to the next gas station. Lots of these guys are having a beer, smoking a J just doing, you know, what they're doing. And I'm a fish out of water. Like this is the strangest thing I've ever experienced. And then that was one of my first solo rides back home. So from, you know, a new river Gorge back. through Kentucky and back home by myself, kind of just wandering around. Not a real solid plan, but I had some tracks to make sure I didn't get lost on the GPS. And when I got home after that, I was like, this is like the greatest motorcycle ride ever. Like I had no idea what was going on. There was no plan. Everything was like ultra chill. I met a whole bunch of cool people. horrible things could have happened. I mean, obviously I watched guys, they changed a clutch in an open primary at 10 o'clock at night. completely loaded with a couple of flashlights. Like it was an amazing adventure. And so yeah, as a guy who plans every last detail, that was a great lesson. And you know what? Sometimes you just let it rip. It'll work out. And also like doing your own thing, even when the group might be doing something a little different. So that reminds me of when I went to Sturgis. I flew to Sturgis and then I was given a loaner bike from Harley Davidson, the first Harley that I ever rode, a 1200 Sportster. And I was decked out in my full gear from head to toe. And I always joke that like, I look like a space Martian, but I don't care. Cause I'm very safety minded and I love wearing all my gear. So yeah, not only was I riding a Harley like with full gear, not saying that doesn't happen because I, I'm sure there are other people like me, but I was at Sturgis and like talk about being a fish out of water. Yeah. But I just did my own thing and I had a great time. went to Mount Rushmore. I went to crazy horse. went to all these different places solo and, kind of took in the experience of Sturgis, which was pretty interesting. I didn't like. I, how do I want to say, I didn't engage. was just watching all the chaos go on. Right. That's my favorite thing is I can be just standing in the background watching the chaos happen, but I don't need to be a part of it. I'm just trying to figure out where you put your roll chart on your sports for $1200. I'm pretty sure I had to use my phone and it's been so long ago. I don't even remember if I just stuck my phone in my pocket. I don't think I had coms device then. I really don't think I did on my helmet. So who knows? Do you have a favorite piece of gear that you take on all your rides? Like accessory or gear. You know, it's funny, I've thought about that and that's one those great questions, right? Like what's the weirdest thing I would find in your pannier, right? I have a neck gaiter that I've had since I was in the army. So when I went overseas in 2003, um, it was winter actually, we, you know, we left Indiana in February and landed in desert, right? And I had a black neck gaiter and to this day. It is a cherished piece of motorcycle gear because anyone who rides under we'll call it 55, 50 degrees. You're like, screw this noise. Right. And so that neck gaiter has been through everything. Right. I mean, I've rideen in, you know, almost zero in that thing before. So obviously it doesn't come out in the summertime, but no, I've, lost it. I like left in a bag one time for three or four months and was freaking out because I was like, that thing's now irreplaceable. Right. So I think that probably fits the description the best. Yeah, I, I feel like I need to accessorize my bikes more, like not from like, uh, I need to look cool perspective, but like a functionality perspective. I feel like every time I go to ride, it's like, it would be nice if, and then I never get around to doing it. And then next time I'm riding, I'm like, it would be nice if, then. It's, I mean, to me, a good adventure jacket goes a long way. I do have some of those. Yeah. Like the new lightweight buffs. I'm getting older, so I'm enjoying comfort more combined with this summer has been absolutely miserable and you can soak that down. So yeah. And my pockets are, Extra earplugs, the buff. Now I carry a portable phone charger for the previous conversation we've had, right? That kind of stuff. Like, yeah, the extra pockets do pay off. The earplugs are something I probably 90 % of the time forget to put in. I don't know why they're literally in my jacket pocket when I go riding, but I'll put my helmet on. I'll be riding for like a minute and I'll be like, dang it. I forgot to put my earplugs in. I have the hack for everyone. Finally, most of the comms manufacturers have a 3.5 millimeter jack. I ride with plug phones. So they're the, you know, 96 DB earplugs and they're piped in so I can put my comms straight in. You're going to save battery on a lot. At least the old comms, I save battery. It would like triple the battery life because I didn't have to turn it up very much. I can hear everybody all the time. And then, yeah, they're hanging out of my helmet. So it's very obvious that I need to put those in. haven't tried that. Mine are even custom molded ones that I got made at an event that fit my ear very nicely. And they're great. It quiets things out, but you can still hear what's going on around you. I just always forget to put them in. In your case, I would tell you to tuck them underneath the goggle strap. Might be picking them out of the dirt. I don't know. So another passion project of yours is the podcast. You have Moto Adventurer Unscripted. When did that start? you've at least got, I think I saw like 118 episodes under your belt. Is that right? Yeah, five years, 118 episodes, and there's much to unpack just on the backstory of podcasting in general in the space. the question about the Genesis behind that, when it started, was that your first question? Yep. So that would have been February of 2020. I'm not sure exactly what the full Genesis was, but there were really only two major podcasts, I think, that were very adventure focused. There's lots of great podcasts out there, but anyone listening right now kind of probably recognizes that it's either racing, you know, Moto GP, motocross, or it's Harley stuff for the most part, or we'll say cruiser culture, I think, or just motorcycle culture is probably the better way to describe that. And there's nothing wrong with either of those, but when you're in this adventure dual sport space, like we're, rare birds for the most part. So I'm like, well, I mean, you know, you got to be the change you want. Right. So. I, I'm obviously a sucker for Kentucky riding and Appalachia. Um, and then I knew Jeff Stoess, who actually built the Kentucky Adventure Tour. And so he was like my first guest. I like met him while he was traveling, but for work at a hotel room and like pulled out a sound recorder and did it like completely old school. and there's some hilarious backstory. Like you can hear like somebody in the next room, like screaming on their phone to somebody and other wild things that happen. And then COVID happened. And then suddenly everybody was remote. And a lot of people had a lot of spare time. And so it kind of worked out actually, cause it was like everybody had zoom and zoom was like for free for everyone back then. And then like, yeah, if you want to start a podcast, there was never a better time. Cause now they charge for all this stuff. Right. so that was it. It's just anyone I could reach out to that I knew. Um, and I was still at a point where, you know, I had published some articles, I think at some point on RevZilla or something like that. I was connected with enough people that it was easy to get some of that stuff going. but. Is anyone listening understands or anyone who actually does a podcast summer's a tough time to a podcast because you want to ride your bike. Um, so there's been some, some dry summers on the podcast or whatnot, but yeah, a hundred and 119. We're we're nonstop since I think about October last year, every week so far. That's awesome. I love the consistency. like you were saying, summer's the time you want to ride. Like podcasting takes a lot more time than anybody could ever imagine. No, that's absolutely the case. uh where can people connect with you, follow you personally, and learn more information about Red River Scramble? So I'm moto advr on Instagram. Honestly, that's probably the best place. Obviously motoadventurer.com is the website and I have links to all the stuff there to include the podcast. Red River scramble simple because it is red riverscramble.com. There's a link to the registration. There's, you know, a Facebook group and a Facebook page event and all stuff but the website again will take you to all those things. And I will be sure to include all those links in the show notes for you to reference, but I appreciate you spending the time with me tonight, Drew, to talk about event organizing, your motorcycling journey and podcasting. So thanks to everybody for tuning into Momentum. This has been a production of High Gear Success. If you want to connect or recommend a guest, head to MomentumMotorsportsPodcast.com. Until next time, keep the momentum rolling.