Local Legends & Fat Bears
This episode, we learn a never-revealed secret about Victoria! In addition, we discuss the social network slash dating app Strava as well as encourage everyone to vote in Fat Bear Week!!
Strava Local Legends and "Strava Jockeys"
Ben: Yeah, well, hey there, listeners. It's yet another episode of Off the Rails on the Airwaves. That's right, we're back, and we're coming to you live from the past.Ben: Yeah, well, hey there, listeners. It's yet another episode of Off the Rails on the Airwaves. That's right, we're back, and we're coming to you live from the past.
Vicki and Kyle: Yes, welcome back to the Thunderdome. It's very nice in here.
Ben: We've been here for several days to bring you this broadcast, and we're excited to have you join us. Yeah, this
Vicki and Kyle: Week we have a lot to talk about. But I think first we're going to rehash some stuff we were talking about last time we were here? Question mark?
Ben: Yeah, last time.
Vicki and Kyle: Okay.
Ben: Yeah.
Vicki and Kyle: So, we were talking about Strava and how it was...
Ben: be
Vicki and Kyle: Coming a dating
Ben: App
Vicki and Kyle: And for those that don't know the biking app is Strava is an app that people use to track their exercise whether it's running or biking and then it's slowly become like a social media platform where you can comment on people's runs and be like nice pace dude
Ben: . But
Vicki and Kyle: Apparently Ben has an update for us.
Ben: Yes,
Vicki and Kyle: so
Ben: Strava originally was kind of like a Facebook poke situation where you could just like someone's activity and maybe they would like your activity and then that often led to romance and the uh you know activity. community, but since then they've implemented many community features. You have a news feed, you can post, you can comment, etc. etc. You can send messages, you can tag people, but this is all kind of old hat. One of the things we discussed last time was in Strava there are these segments that people make. Maybe it's like a road for a certain stretch, or like a pathway, or a bikeway for like one mile, you can segment those, and the idea is like, if you're doing like going for a record, it like breaks your exercise into these like segments, and what Vicky was saying I should do is find all the lesser known. segments and just sprint for that one little bit.
Vicki and Kyle: - You've been doing this?
Ben: - So I haven't been doing it, but my friend Jared, who is not an exerciser, he bikes to work sometimes and he got a message from Strava unprompted, and this was the message, just to say that like this is a valid thing, says you're the new local legend in town. You just claim the title of local legend on this segment, which happened to be West Side Highway Story, piers to tunnel, which is a point nine mile segment of the city. the Westside Bikeway in Manhattan, and they say, "Your 14 efforts mean that you've completed the most efforts on this segment over the past 90 days. Way to earn the Laurel Crown.
Vicki and Kyle: How long can you hold onto it?" Well,
Ben: so that was, um, on September 18th, and then on September 20th, another email arrived
Vicki and Kyle: .
Ben: Uh-oh, you're not the local legend anymore. You just, you, you just lost the title of local legend on West. side highway story peers to tunnel. Oreste H. Bernal's 15 efforts set the new bar for the most attempts completed on this segment in the past 90 days. Time for you to get back
Vicki and Kyle: Out there. legend for weeks, and he got just thrown and he was like, not on my back on his bike, his ankles probably broken, and he I can't let this slide and go back out there. This is crazy. Wait, no. Jared has a nemesis. Yeah. So it's gonna turn out like a couple months in the future that that person is his wife and she's just been messing with him this whole
Ben: Time yes the rival the in-house rivalry yeah it's so if we predicted this and it's it's happening out there real people are experiencing this so like I knew the speed thing cuz like you can
Vicki and Kyle: be the fastest.
Ben: But
Vicki and Kyle: I didn't realize that you can also be like a frequenter.
Ben: Which is kind of a genius idea. So I've now started recording my Strava bike commute to work every single day that I do it because I want to get this. You're
Vicki and Kyle: a local legend from L to
Ben: 14. Yeah, like, I'm already writing the route, like, I might as well hit record.
Vicki and Kyle: You get to, like, you choose, you can create, people create segments, it's not like Strava automatically.
Ben: I haven't figured out how to do this yet, but yes, there has to be a way. you to create a segment as they're community-based. They have names like horses and hot dog carts,
Vicki and Kyle: Etc. Oh, interesting. Okay, so they're definitely made by the community. This is very interesting. Wow. I didn't know that segments had names. I thought it was just like, from the corner of Maine. to
Ben: Like,
Vicki and Kyle: Some of them are like that,
Ben: But they're I think they're person made names, they can be more interesting,
Vicki and Kyle: Too. Right, right. We
Ben: Wow, wait, okay, what has to happen? Like,
Vicki and Kyle: I just like I'm imagining this and like the absolute glory is like, Jared has to reclaim legend and then rename that stretch as like Jared's block or something. Jared's jaunt, yeah. Ernesto's gonna lose his mind. Jared needs to leave signs up for Ernesto. Like put them on buildings and stuff. and be like
Ben: ,
Vicki and Kyle: "You gotta give it up,
Ben: Old man
Vicki and Kyle: ." - Yeah.
Ben: - That's so funny. I love Strava should really take this idea under advisement. The person who is the local legend for the segment gets to set the name of the segment.
Vicki and Kyle: - I mean, yeah, this is motivating. As far as I could tell, I would start by.
Ben: If
Vicki and Kyle: I
Ben: Could
Vicki and Kyle: Just name the stretch of road, done,
Ben: You know
Vicki and Kyle: ?
Ben: Wow. So that, that is Strava really taking it to the next level for competitiveness.
Vicki and Kyle: Just get really fast, start tackling a bunch of segments and rename them really like, like Dark Souls names, like the Valley of Tears, right?
Ben: Your whole
Vicki and Kyle: Neighborhood is just like blood-borne
Ben: uh-huh you
Vicki and Kyle: Know horror names yeah that
Ben: Could
Vicki and Kyle: be really fun for to have the themed names for different times of year as well oh uh-huh but then you like get a really good pr and suddenly no one can change the name and it's lane forever. I mean
Ben: ... I wouldn't run on pumpkin lane. It
Vicki and Kyle: 's not that bad.
Ben: Depending on how scary the name is, it might incentivize you to run faster. Oh, yeah. But I'm afraid to have another Strava story to bring you as well. - This one
Vicki and Kyle: is--
Ben: -
Vicki and Kyle: The
Ben: Worst.
Vicki and Kyle: - Please
Ben: ,
Vicki and Kyle: Okay,
Ben: Hit me, I'm ready. - This one is from the internet,
Vicki and Kyle: so I'm less certain as to its authenticity. - Okay.
Ben: - It is the idea of a Strava jockey. I don't know if you remember on this show when we discussed the idea of a blood boy. But, um
Vicki and Kyle: , that's
Ben: ,
Vicki and Kyle: That's like, an old man plugs into a younger man to steal rank, right? Okay, I was like, is this Mad Max Fury Road? And it is.
Ben: Yeah, it is. Yeah. So this is rich people trying to boost themselves. by paying young people for stuff. I'm
Vicki and Kyle: so scared that this is relating back to Strava. Oh yeah, so there's the idea of a Strava Jockey,
Ben: Which is a young person that you pay to log into your Strava account and record activities. No way.
Vicki and Kyle: No.
Ben: Do you
Vicki and Kyle: Think Ernesto is
Ben: Doing that? We can't trust anything anymore. Just like all the great social media platforms, eventually it's filled with bots.
Vicki and Kyle: You don't know what's real. If Jared starts falling behind, he should just like pay some high schoolers to ride back and forth for a little bit, you know?
Ben: So allegedly
Vicki and Kyle: , this is
Ben: Like rich business people doing this with teenagers because they want the clout of being someone who exercises.
Vicki and Kyle: Yeah, I love the idea that it's just like the person who's huffing and puffing to get up the stairs has like the fastest 5k
Ben: in
Vicki and Kyle: The
Ben: Neighborhood
Vicki and Kyle: Right just like sub six minute miles you know wait so you know how we talked about how like pickleball is a new golf for like business meetings like are people like whipping out their Strava like during happy hour like what is going on here
Ben: Because it's now like there's a feed where you see people's posts, people want to post, but the only way that you can post is by recording an activity, and they want their activity to be impressive. So they pay a young person to do an impressive activity,
Vicki and Kyle: and then they write about how millennials need to get their act together and pull themselves up by their bootstraps, right? Professor Gunn, I have another question about Strava.
Ben: Yeah.
Vicki and Kyle: Like, this
Ben: is
Vicki and Kyle: , this is an opinion question. I need to know your opinion. Is it like, better or worse than the gym set?
Ben: Sorry, better or worse than what?
Vicki and Kyle: Um. It's worse. At least you were. in the gym to take the photo.
Ben: Oh, yes.
Vicki and Kyle: Like, right. You had to physically go to the gym. Whether or not you worked out almost doesn't matter because you you got to the gym. Yeah, but like, OK, if if I'm an old guy paying a high schooler to run my group, you know, is that any worse than me photoshopping some money? and my gym selfie, like I just, to me, this feels like it's, it's the same person, but it's a different tax bracket, you know what I mean? For sure, for sure, and they're both awful, right? Like, not, it's not like one of them is better than the other. It's that they're both bad. But we're not sure if he is seeking... really just the gym selfie bro in
Ben: Disguise
Vicki and Kyle: . Like
Ben: ,
Vicki and Kyle: Yeah
Ben: .
Vicki and Kyle: Now what about the Strava selfie person that's on their bike in midtown Manhattan, trying to beat Ernesto and then they're also they've got the selfie hand. Do you post photos to Strava? Is that on the newsfeed? Um, can
Ben: You post photos? we're we're consulting consulting the evidence
Vicki and Kyle: . I feel like maybe maybe Strava is not
Ben: as
Vicki and Kyle: Bad
Ben: ,
Vicki and Kyle: But if you're posting your gym selfie to Strava, yeah, that is a whole other level, you know.
Ben: Yeah, I don't know if you can post a photo. I think it's just segments, which is why people are incentivize to pay other people to exercise for them because that's the only way to do things there
Vicki and Kyle: Are
Ben: Messages um the adding videos and photos to your activity Strava support it looks like you can add multimedia to your Strava posts
Vicki and Kyle: Yeah,
Ben: They
Vicki and Kyle: 're
Ben: Actually, I'm just seeing now because I haven't logged in for a couple days. They're working on updating segments for the better by verifying popular segments, removing duplicates and on impossible PRs on the leaderboards. Wait,
Vicki and Kyle: That's not fair! Like, what if you're just fast? Like, just...
Ben: Yeah,
Vicki and Kyle: and people are like, "Oh, impossible." And then all of a sudden Becky, who like, is running like a two-minute mile, is just dethroned? Like, she's worked hard for that. I don't
Ben: Know. Yeah.
Vicki and Kyle: Yeah
Ben: ,
Vicki and Kyle: Yeah,
Ben: What
Vicki and Kyle: if you are an animal? What if you're a, uh... Paid your neighbor's dog to run your segment for you, you know? And then all of a sudden they're deleted.
Ben: Like, that's awful.
Vicki and Kyle: You spent money.
Ben: I had to buy a cheetah to get that PR, and you're telling me you took the activity down? I think one of the main problems is that... you have to tell it what activity you're doing, and I have done this before and felt really bad about it. But I biked and it thought I was running, and that's just not fair.
Vicki and Kyle: Wait, so are you PR'd on that route? Oh, I it was like, congrats on an amazing 5k. Where did that come from? And I was like, wait, what? And then you're like Yeah, yeah
Ben: , that
Vicki and Kyle: 's right. I did do that.
Ben: Thank you
Vicki and Kyle: . Okay
Ben: , I guess
Vicki and Kyle: . I guess I understand that.
Ben: Yeah, so that's fair. I hopefully they don't get rid of the fun names, and, you know, the leaderboard emails because it's just it's just like how Duolingo message sends you snarky messages when you don't practice your espanol you know Strava should be able to come after you too and be like hey Ernesto det
Vicki and Kyle: hroned you what you're gonna do about it yeah I like that can you can you like you know how people will have a plane write messages in the sky that's like will you marry me me
Ben: Right yeah tons of people do this
Vicki and Kyle: on Strava
Ben: Yeah
Vicki and Kyle: oh yeah they're like running routes where it
Ben: 's like or it
Vicki and Kyle: 's like you know yeah will you marry me will you go to prom with me will you be my blood bag right like yeah
Ben: - Yeah. We'll be back.
Vicki and Kyle: Blood
Ben: Bag. Yeah, people have done all all sorts of things, arts and cartoons, especially if you're on a bike. Mm hmm. Yeah, like New York City, you're at the benefit of being able to do like
Vicki and Kyle: Any sort of pixel art since you're on a grid system, right? Yeah. Like trying to do that in or Boston or whatever is like, "Oh, but the road just curves and like,
Ben: There
Vicki and Kyle: 's a one-way and another
Ben: One-way and another one-way," so it'd be a little bit more difficult.
Vicki and Kyle: I want people to go through all this effort and write something really innocuous like, "On my way."
Ben: Or watching
Vicki and Kyle: You. Hello. Hey, just the letter K. Uh huh. Yeah, with a dot. Yeah, with a period. Uh huh.
Ben: Yeah, here's a good marry me, Emily question mark and it's surrounded by a heart. Do you think it worked or is that just like. Who knows. know. It was in
Vicki and Kyle: ... That's crazy. Oh, it's a mermaid. I thought this was someone like squatting to go
Ben: to the bathroom. I was like, what? The mermaid. That's, oh yeah, it does, the mermaid does look a little weird. My favorite one of all of these is the turkey in San Francisco. They drew it a turkey in San Francisco This
Vicki and Kyle: Like person pulling an outing alligator out of a swamp Yeah, like Strava is highly advanced Strava artwork is highly advanced
Ben: So imagine if you just paid a teenager to do that for you Your feed would look so cool. Wow
Vicki and Kyle: , this is phenomenal. Wow. There's a whole, like, you know, my worldview is always expanding. That's for sure. I didn't realize there was a whole market for paying teenagers to run for you and being a local legend for a stretch of her. Yeah
Ben: , this is it
Vicki and Kyle: 's
Ben: a whole new world out there. So if you're on Strava, let us know what your experience has been. I think we'd love to hear from you,
Vicki and Kyle: and let us know how much you're paying your teens. We want to make sure we're not overpaying ours. Yeah, and also like what breeder you got your cheetah from. That would be good information.
Ben: Yeah
Vicki and Kyle: , we're looking
Ben: to offload a cheetah also. Our cheetah's getting a little slow.
Vicki and Kyle: Yeah, it's time to go to the cheetah sanctuary.
Ben: Old cheetah sanctuary, right?
Vicki and Kyle: Yeah, that's where we go. That's definitely, yeah, upstate.
Ben: (laughing)
Vicki and Kyle: That's definitely where they go. It's
Ben: Right next to that farm upstate
Vicki and Kyle: . Anyway, we
Ben: 're going to kick it over to some tunes.
Fat Bear Week - Don't forget to Vote!
This is Off the Rails on the Airwaves right here on WUML Lowell. Welcome back. This is WUML LOL. We are, of course, joining you from another episode of "Off the Rails on the Airwaves," coming to your ears live from the past. I am joined by my co-hosts, Vicki and Kyle, to discuss the most important important thing happening in the woods right now.
Vicki and Kyle: Yes. Okay. So
Ben: , I
Vicki and Kyle: Believe
Ben: we talked about this, I feel like a couple years ago now, right?
Vicki and Kyle: But anyways, in the end of September, beginning of October, it becomes Fat Bear Week. Which, for those that are uneducated about Fat Bear Week, it is my favorite national holiday. Yes. Because basically, I think it's pronounced Katmai National Park, is where a bunch of grizzly bears live, and right before hibernation, which starts in the winter, they all gain a ton of weight. go from big to ginormous, and so there's like before and after photos, and anyways, there's like a community of like, 10s of 1000s of people that vote for their favorite fat bear every day, and so people create brackets, there's like betting this is like fantasy football for bear enthusiasts. In
Ben: Addition to
Vicki and Kyle: That if you really want to get involved there's also live stream videos of different areas of the park where the bears frequent and there's like a live chat where people can talk about how big the bears are and so you can just watch these bears eat salmon roll around in the
Ben: Grass
Vicki and Kyle: , and they're not at a zoo. They're just living life in this National Park. But I want to talk about Fat Bear Week because I recently brought it up with some people and they didn't know what it was and I forgot that some people don't know about Fat Bear Week, and I feel like it's my duty, especially during the election year
Ben: to
Vicki and Kyle: Get people practiced in v
Ben: Oting,
Vicki and Kyle: Start voting for fat bears in anticipation of November. Because there's nothing like voting
Ben: For fat bears to get you ready for voting for a president, you know?
Vicki and Kyle: Vicky's a true civil servant and is doing the the the work to help keep the population, you know, educated and well informed of Fat Bear Week. Because the thing is, you're always, you're always faced with two very fat bears, and you're like, well, which fat bear is fatter? And you know, they're both pretty fat. So it really comes down to like, vibes and And maybe like fur color, how cute your ears are is definitely like a good one, like how fluffy and round. You know, nose, it could be angle of the photo like I know like one year, the fat bear that one just because the fat bear had a really good dump truck shot, and so it was just hard to compete with that for all the other pairs when you're looking at like a perfect sphere of
Ben: a kind
Vicki and Kyle: . But yeah, so anyways, for those that are new to this, last week, when this came out, when this comes out, bear cubs were already voted for there was four cubs um and i wanted to ask you guys because i go back and forth in my voting but when you guys vote do you simply look at like okay yeah this bear is really fat or do you take into account the overall transformation of skinny to fat Yeah, it's the latter for me, for sure, and I think we'll get into it. I disagree with the
Ben: Cub
Vicki and Kyle: Results for that reason, right? It has to it's not where you end up. It's the journey, and it's the it's the bear, right? It's the character of the bear that's important. Ben, how do you make your distinction? Are you looking at and after photos or are you just simply comparing the after photos and being like this bear is fatter? Oh
Ben: Definitely before and after you have to think about the whole journey you know like these bears have a story to tell. Yeah and and like you know a photo is worth a thousand words
Vicki and Kyle: Two photos is worth two thousand words there's there's two finalists for the junior Cubs, that's 4000 words total. You have a lot of
Ben: Information to go on there. Yeah, I would be that. Can we get into it? Can we I want to I want to jump right? Let's show shall we meet the meet the competitors? Yeah, we
Vicki and Kyle: Can meet the competitors. So today Today, the final two contestants in the fat bear cub, or junior finals they call it, are 909 junior, which is this light brown colored bear, who went bear size to fat bear size,
Ben: and
Vicki and Kyle: Then contestant two, which is 128 spring cub, which went from baby bear to fat
Ben: .
Vicki and Kyle: So I feel like, um, I read about meet the bears and like the difference between these, but I think the, the spring cub, I think that bear is only like a year old, whereas the other ones are like four years.
Ben: So 909 Jr. is a large bodied nearly four year old female cub. She has evenly colored brown fur and wide set ears. Very cute. 128 Spring Cub is a large first year cub with uniform dark brown fur. But that's not all, because actually, Spring Cub has a pretty brutal story in their life. I don't know. Shall I tell you all about this?
Vicki and Kyle: Please. Early summer salmon fishing at Brooks River is best at Brooks Falls. It is an opportunity that
Ben: Many bears cannot resist. but young cubs lack the mass and experience to navigate the river as easily as larger bears. The falls are also filled with other bears, amplifying the danger to cubs who venture into the water. One afternoon in July 2024, 128's spring cub and its sibling were both swept over the falls as they attempted to follow their mother into the river. At the same time, a gauntlet of larger bears fished in the river below the falls. The water carried both siblings towards 32 Chunk, the most dominant bear on the river. Chunk attacked. Mother rushed their aid, although not before Chunk injured the cub nearest to him. 128's spring cub later died. its injuries. This fat bear junior candidate survived through mother's fearless efforts to protect her offspring and luck. The river didn't carry him directly into Chunk.
Vicki and Kyle: Chunk wins this year. Yeah, you can't have bad behavior in the offseason and expect to do well in
Ben: The finals
Vicki and Kyle: .
Ben: Oh, but that is...
Vicki and Kyle: With Fat Bear Week, that's for sure. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I don't know how you could possibly vote for 909 Jr., who was... Oh, how... You.
Ben: That's what I'm saying.
Vicki and Kyle: I'm over... 128. - We all voted 128. - We all voted
Ben: 128, there's
Vicki and Kyle: no-- - Of course. - Okay.
Ben: - Yeah. - 909 Jr. remained with the 910 family for an extra two summers compared to normal cubs. So like-- - It's a rich kid. - Yeah, talk about generational advantage here.
Vicki and Kyle: - Yeah. So, yeah, 128, one, went from a very small brown bear to a very- to a large black bear, right, like, they- they had this whole transformation, they had this harrowing experience, they're adorable, and also, you know, they- they have good character, right, they've- they've, like, gone through some stuff, they're very strong. strong as a result committed to the weight gain to right, they're not gonna have a near death experience and then waste the rest of their time. Whereas 909 jr. Right doesn't even know the value of money. Additionally, another important detail about 909 jr. She
Ben: Was the 2022 fat bear jr. the end. Get out
Vicki and Kyle: of here.
Ben: Yeah
Vicki and Kyle: , you
Ben: Can
Vicki and Kyle: 't come
Ben: Back.
Vicki and Kyle: I mean, she is fat
Ben: ,
Vicki and Kyle: But like, like, if you were to go online and look at the photos, it's like, like juvenile bear to like fat juvenile bear compared to like cub to juvenile bear
Ben: .
Vicki and Kyle: Like that transformation, I don't know how
Ben: Fast
Vicki and Kyle: Bears grow, but it's like shocking. Like one I could carry, the other one could carry me.
Ben: Yep. Yeah.
Vicki and Kyle: Yeah. So, yeah, I feel like, and this is the thing that's so frustrating with that. bear week, at least for me as a seasoned voter, is that I think a lot of people just look at the after photo and go, "Which bear is fatter?" and don't really account the overall transformation. Because if you were to account the overall transformation, it's clearly that 128 would win.
Ben: But sob story aside, you know?
Vicki and Kyle: Easy, yeah. Before, I mean... I
Ben: Voted
Vicki and Kyle: For 128 before I even heard the story.
Ben: - Yeah. - Right? - Same.
Vicki and Kyle: - Listeners, call in and agree with us. 978- (laughing) - 934- - Or 4969. - Or you can head to offtherailsradio.org.
Ben: There is definitely some way to reach us on there. - Yeah.
Vicki and Kyle: - I still don't know exactly what, but you can always sign up for the news, and don
Ben: 't forget to participate in Fat Bear Week.
Vicki and Kyle: Yeah, if you join the newsletter, we will send you the link in the newsletter. That way everyone has it
Ben: And knows how to vote. If you have a bracket, kudos! That is an extreme support
Vicki and Kyle: of Fat Bear Week. but once again, this is just like, it's truly my favorite week. It's like when the community comes together and rallies behind some fat bears, and there's really nothing you can't like about it. It's wholesome. It's cute. It's me. It's necessary for survival through the winter. Yes. Like, yeah. Yeah.
Ben: Yeah. Fat bears in Alaska. It's pretty great. You know what else is pretty great? Music. Let's hear some right now.
Vicki is a Google Guide & Yelp Elite?!
Ben: Good evening, listeners. You have been tuned in to Off the Rails on the Airwaves right here on WUML LOL. That's 91.5 FM WUML.org, where we play music sometimes and other times we ramble on about fat bears and fitness apps.
Vicki and Kyle: Yeah, honestly, this show can take you any direction you want. - Well
Ben: ,
Vicki and Kyle: Not any
Ben: Direction you want, any
Vicki and Kyle: Direction. - I was about to say, it's any direction we want.
Ben: - Yeah. - And you have to listen, you're required to.
Vicki and Kyle: - It's any direction that allows you to become a local legend, truly. - Always ride in the direction of your next PR. Always, always be competitive. "ABC, always be competing for local legend status
Ben: ." - Exactly, exactly. - That's good, and there are many ways you can do that. Strava is only one of them. Vicky's a local legend for Google reviews.
Vicki and Kyle: - This is true. - What? - So, yeah. - Are you always writing reviews on Google? - Also, I became Yelp elite recently. recently. So I'm dominating two platforms right now
Ben: ,
Vicki and Kyle: and that's wild. This is a character trade of Vicky's I did not I was not aware of. Just how long have you been doing that? Like years? What? Yeah. During this is crazy. I don't think I've really told people but before COVID happened. and invited to go
Ben: to
Vicki and Kyle: Like Google Headquarters as like a local guide.
Ben: - What?
Vicki and Kyle: What? - I remember this.
Ben: They gave you stuff, right? What happened at the meetup?
Vicki and Kyle: - Well, I didn't go to the meetup because it got canceled, but they just tell me things every once in a while to be like, thanks. anyone can do this anyone can do this i read reviews and they're really funny though and so i have a lot of followers because i think they're funny you have followers i have like hundreds of followers on google what on google maps yeah and yelp yeah and i get people like in my dms being like oh my god i love your reviews this thing I've heard all year. It's funny not just on radio. We're reviewing like, restaurants. Yeah, through the format of a MAPS review. I'm just saying, if you can describe a taco like an otherworldly, like, religious experience, people love that, okay? Yeah. So are you on there as yourself or are you on there as like, what's your profile? What's your handle on Google Maps? Oh, it's myself. It's myself. Um, I can actually remember when we went to the taco truck in New York City.
Ben: Oh yeah.
Vicki and Kyle: Yeah. Uh, my review for that was, um, You reviewed that? Of course I did. I was on that trip. When did you review it? The perfect
Ben: Taco truck
Vicki and Kyle: Does not exist dot dot dot. Yes it does. This place is bomb. After a night out we stumbled upon this jam. The tacos are so delicious and flavorful. I hope another night out on the town leads me to this beacon of hope. Here I
Ben: Was just
Vicki and Kyle: Trying to
Ben: Stumble
Vicki and Kyle: Home, Vicky's writing "Broke
Ben: " on
Vicki and Kyle: Google Maps on the train. I just, I feel like if you could explain things in an artful manner, like, you know, calling it a beacon of hope is, you know, people are going to be like, "Wow, this taco really saved her night." I'm going to start reviewing highway
Ben: Rest
Vicki and Kyle: Stops. You could, you could. Um, yeah, my bio is like mostly a food review account because I don't want to give away my hiking spots, and I don't think I've ever reviewed a place I've hiked. Which I
Ben: Probably
Vicki and Kyle: do more than eat out, so. You might- this is just the craziest thing. Yeah, and also I have these lists that are like best of and I put all my favorite places in the city and so I can just send it to people and be like these are my favorite places. You should start a Patreon. I- I'm content creating, and all Google does is send me like socks every couple of years
Ben: ,
Vicki and Kyle: You know.
Ben: Um, so cool. What Kyle did raise a good question that I would like you to answer, which is when do you do these reviews? Is it immediately after? Is it days later? Is it whenever you get to it while you're there?
Vicki and Kyle: Whenever, like sometimes I'll review it.
Ben: If I
Vicki and Kyle: Feel like it sort of like in the moment or like day of most of the time what happens is I am truly bored on a Tuesday night. I have my podcast on, and I go through my photos and I go oh yeah that was a good taco and I post something. (laughing
Ben: ) - Just,
Vicki and Kyle: Okay, let
Ben: 's
Vicki and Kyle: End it
Ben: There, I guess. Go review "School of Some Place" as listeners.
Vicki and Kyle: - Yeah, I don't know. I never used Yelp, but then my friend yelled at me about how being Yelp elite is better than being a Google local guy.
Ben: - How? (laughing)
Vicki and Kyle: - Oh, I don't know, I just became Yelp-ally like a couple of months ago. - Oh, so you had, they haven't bestowed all of the perks on you. - Yeah, well, so I guess like some restaurants will host events and like let you eat some food or like a brewery will be like, come try a drink,
Ben: and I don't know. I have no idea.
Vicki and Kyle: Except get the little like, you know, metal next to my name. - Do you only review things you like, or have you given less than five or four stars to something? - I've definitely reviewed things I haven't liked before, but I think for the most part, I'm pretty agreeable. So it takes a lot for me to- be like steer clear you know right yeah can you review this radio show for us and then
Ben: Yeah I
Vicki and Kyle: 'll give this I'll give this episode five stars I'd say that it was highly motivating And, but also confusing because now I am determining whether or not to increase my Strava or become a fat bear for the winter. So, either way, I think it's a win-win situation because whether you PR or gain a few extra pounds. you have met the goals of the episode. But yeah
Ben: , five out of five stars.
Vicki and Kyle: Ben is a great person to start every single talk segment because he's in charge of the record button. Kyle adds amazing color and stats when we need them, and Venus did a great job taking a nap and emotionally supporting us the entire way through, so yeah. Off the rails on the airwaves, if you can breathe it in...
Ben: You can breathe it out! (dog barks)