The Tinstreamer Podcast

Mad Duck Cyclery - The Best Little Bike Shop in Texas and the Universe

EP: 6 - “What are we passionate about?” They were on a sailboat in the Virgin Islands, and that is the question three friends pondered. Dogs, bikes and sailboats was the answer. Two were in Telecommunications and one was a heavy equipment (bull dozers and excavators) mechanic. In 2001, they opened Mad Duck Cyclery in Grapevine, Texas (just north of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex). Located in a former Wienerschnitzel building, the funking little bike boutique is one of the pre-eminent bike shops in the country. It’s the kind of place where – “everybody knows your name,” and the kind of bike you ride. Dogs are welcome and all levels of cyclist – from beginner to Cat 1 – are treated with same respect.
 
I sit down with one of the owners, Clarence Muller at Mad Duck Manor on the shores of Lake Grapevine. Listen to the birds chirp as we take a deep dive into running a bike shop, and the simple joys of pedaling your bike. Mad Duck is a fierce advocate for bike and pedestrian safety in their community. They are regulars at the Grapevine city council meetings, fighting for lower speed limits and pushing to build more bike paths. They care about their community and their customers safety. Mad Duck Cyclery is so much more than a bike shop. They know that bikes build community and get folks outside. You meet the nicest people on a pedal machine.
 
Clarence is a committed listener to The Tinstreamer Podcast.  We talk about the Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association and the amazing trail system they've created in North Texas. We briefly chat about Airwolf and Jonny Quest, which leads me to ask Clarence which cycling movie he prefers: Breaking Away or American Flyers? We talk a lot about bikes, technology, and our hair turning gray. This is a long one folks, but Clarence and Mad Duck really embody the Tinstreamer ethos, and the conversation flowed like a brand-new XTR drivetrain. Terry, Gary and Clarence started Mad Duck with no market research or social media.  They simply wanted to follow their passion, build a community and hang with their dogs. They just happen to sell bikes too.
 
 

EP: 5 - Jerod Foster and Producer Madi - Fresh off the trail, we recap the 2024 Texas Tech Adventure Media Bikepacking class while driving through the Chihuahuan Desert

Episode 5 finds us in far West Texas, driving into the late night/early morning - under the star filled sky of the expansive Chihuahuan Desert. My part time cohost Jerod Foster joins me along with producer Madison Walker Martin for this moving (literally) truck cast as the three of us ride in Madi’s Ford Ranger to pick up a re-supply vehicle we left in the desert.
 
The podcast opens with the hum of asphalt as we careen down the River Road (FM 170), between Lajitas and Presidio, Texas. Don’t get too comfortable with the siren song of asphalt. We turn down a gravel road en route to Big Bend Ranch State Park’s Sauceda Ranger Station, located near the center of the massive 311,000 acre state property. The washboard laden road undulates and serpentines through a spectacular desert scape. It’s 11:00 pm and all we see are what Madi’s headlights illuminate, but our senses are heightened and the conversation flows.
 
You can hear the stutter-bumps in the road (it shakes our voices) and the gravel crunch under the Ford Ranger’s tires as we recap the 2024 Texas Tech University Adventure Media Class taught by Jerod Foster and episode four’s Lindsay Kennedy. It is a bikepacking class that sees 16 students traversing – by mountain bike - the rugged interior of Big Bend Ranch State Park. We rode six days, 100 miles and camped five nights. The students record the trip through digital media and produce several short documentaries for their final class project. They live by bike and work by bike. The pedal powered machines are their home and production vehicles.
 
This is my fourth year covering the class and each time I walk away inspired, sun baked, and filled with an immense amount of joy and promise that this next generation is awesome-er than mine. They are ambitious, hard-working, smart, and fearless…   Well -  that’s not entirely true. There is fear and uncertainty, on this trip and in life. These intrepid students know that, but they face those fears head on and tackle all obstacles ahead. If Adventure Media had been around when I was in college during the 90s, I would have never had the guts to take it. These Red Raiders rock! It was an honor to ride, camp, and break bread with each and every one of them.
 
Movies referenced in this podcast are Tin Cup and Fandango, both starring Kevin Costner. Airwolf, the helicopter action show from my youth did not get a mention.
 
 
 

EP: 4 - A special tailgate session in the Chihuahuan Desert

In episode 4, we are live to tape (SD Card) in the Chihuahuan Desert at Rio Bravo Ranch just outside of Presidio, Texas. This is a Tinstreamer DesertCast – tailgate session. I sit down with Lindsay Kennedy a professor of practice at Texas Tech University in the school of Agriculture Education and Communications. Former guests Jerod Foster and Justin Rex are on the scene too. We spent the previous day scouting (by bike) our water sources for Texas Tech’s Adventure Media bikepacking class that will be held over spring break. We rose with the sun, had coffee, and the wind was dead still. My morning voice was deeper than normal with hints of gravel, so it seemed like the opportune time for a DesertCast.
 
This is a short episode and just an introduction to Dr. Lindsay Kennedy. She is a seasoned, intrepid adventurer and an expert on sorghum. Lindsay needs a full hour-long episode dedicated to her. Stay tuned for that at later date. In this show, we catch up with Justin Rex and the mistakes I made in my monologue to his podcast, and we uncover a celebrity friend that Justin failed to mention on the show. The ever-popular Jerod Foster narrates our desert surroundings and gives his thoughts on the upcoming 2024 Adventure Media class.
 
TV and movie references in this podcast are as follows: Urban Cowboy, Northern Exposure, Dazed and Confused, Three Amigos, and Trading Spaces. I get choked up pontificating about the movie Hope Floats and feel inclined to bring up the TV show Air Wolf. This episode has it all. You can expect more tailgate sessions like this in the future. And as always, I appreciate you listening.
 
Full Zen Ahead!

EP: 3 Chris Hughes from Broken Arrow Ranch - The purveyors of exotic wild game for restaurants.

Episode 3 of The Tinstreamer Podcast is a companion piece to a Texas Monthy story I wrote that hits their website on Monday 2-26-24. (This podcast is not affiliated with Texas Monthly.) It’s about Broken Arrow Ranch, the Texas based company that pioneered the selling of exotic wild game (venison) to restaurants across the country. In the early 80s, Broken Arrow Ranch founder, Mike Hughes was instrumental in establishing the laws that made it possible to classify and inspect non-native, exotic game for restaurant kitchens.
 
In this episode, I sit down at the Broken Arrow Ranch headquarters, in Ingram, Texas with current owner Chris Hughes and we chat about, harvesting versus hunting, the definition of venison, chef culture, and Napa Valley. And just like in episode 2, the 1980s TV action drama Airwolf enters the conversation. (This episode is helicopter heavy.)  It’s a not a Tinstreamer Podcast unless the great Jan Michael Vincent comes up.
 
The first time I had a Broken Arrow Ranch product was 20 years ago at Abacus, a fantastic fine dining establishment in Dallas. (The restaurant closed in 2019.) Tre Wilcox (he competed in season three of Top Chef) was the executive chef at the time, and he had orchestrated  a culinary masterpiece from one of Broken Arrow Ranch’s flagship products – axis venison. That entrée from 20 years ago was the catalyst that inspired me to pursue this story, and - up until now - I counted it as the best meal I’ve ever had. 
 
Chris had invited me to one of their nilgai (antelope) harvests in South Texas and we talk about that process (this is where the helicopter comes in) and my thoughts on the experience. We close out the show with my current best meal of all time. As a part of the Texas Monthly story, I’d arranged to have nilgai (South Texas Antelope) at Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine in Fort Worth, the following Saturday night. It wouldn’t be an animal from the harvest I observed, (Broken Arrow ages those for 21 days back at their facility) but it would be nilgai from Broken Arrow. The dinner was the most amazing experience of my dining career.
 
Here's a description of that entrée for you foodies out there. It was nilgai tenderloin, sous vide to 127-degrees then rubbed with Dijon mustard, fresh tarragon leaves, thyme white pepper and wrapped in smoked bacon. The meat is then reverse seared to perfection. It was accompanied by a sauce Robert, a white wine and Dijon mustard demi-glace with bacon lardon and more fresh tarragon from the restaurant’s garden. The accoutrements to the entrée complimented the dish perfectly, a parsnip puree, roasted Brussels sprouts and apples that were glazed with a touch of sherry vinegar, honey and caramelized onions.

EP: 2 Photojournalist Justin Rex on assignment in Kingsville, TX

This episode finds me in South Texas on assignment for a Texas Monthly web story. Photographer and friend Justin Rex joins me, and we sit down in Kingsville, Texas at the Holliday Inn Express and chat about Broken Arrow Ranch (the story we're working on), the 80s hit TV show Airwolf, Justin's extensive career as a photojournalist, photographing Tom Brady, and doing things that scare you. 
There's not much that scares Justin Rex. He and Ashley Rodgers are the official photographers of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, promoting the college through various marketing campaigns and media outlets. Justin is also a freelance photojournalist for the Associated Press and his photos have appeared in Texas Highways, Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine, the Houston Chronicle, the Texas Tribune and many more publications. 
I've spent gobs of time with Justin on the bike, in the water, easting processed food behind gas stations, and standing at the intersections of remote gravel crossroads in the Texas Panhandle and parts unknown in New Mexico. He is a colleague, a close friend, and one of the most resourceful human's on the planet. Everybody should have a friend like Justin Rex. 
Adventure Media 2019 - This is where I first met Justin Rex
Rex and I collaborated for a kiteboard feature in Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine.
Jerod Foster, Justin Rex, and me rambling around the Texas Panhandle for a BIKEPACKING.COM feature and supporting  documentaries. 
 
 

EP: 1 - Jerod Foster - Photographer, Texas Tech Professor, and co-owner of Happy Hiker

Outdoor adventure writer Brandon Weaver interviews his good friend and collaborator Jerod Foster. In this first episode of The Tinstreamer podcast, they chat about Taylor and Kelce, Wyman Meinzer (the state photographer of Texas), frozen orange juice concentrate, and the adventures they've worked on as a writer/photographer team. 
Jerod Foster is a photographer, musician, and professor of practice at Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. He splits his time between Lubbock and Ruidoso, New Mexico where he owns The Happy Hiker, an outdoor store, with his wife Amanda and their three daughters - Eva, Lola, Emmy and their dog Max. Jerod is a good friend and one of the most genuine humans on the planet. Jerod and I have traveled many miles across, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado on magazine and web assignments adventuring on stand up paddle boards, bicycles, motorcycles and pickup trucks. I feel blessed I get to work with such an exceptional photographer and inspirational storyteller. Jerod embodies the spirit of what a Tinstreamer is. He works hard, takes time for others, drives lots of miles, and wakes up early. Everybody wants to be Jerod's friend, and I count myself incredibly fortunate that he is one of mine.