Denver Woods, host of the V Twin Life podcast, shares his experience of starting the podcast during the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has grown over the years. He discusses the friendships and connections he has made through the podcast and the support he has received from sponsors. Denver also talks about his involvement in motorcycle events and rides, highlighting the importance of community and patriotism. He mentions his favorite events, such as the 9-11 ride and the Olympia Toy Run. Overall, Denver emphasizes the joy and fulfillment he gets from hosting the podcast and being part of the motorcycle community.
Let's welcome Denver Woods with the V Twin Life podcast. Yes. Hello, welcome. Thank you. Actually, thank you for having me. We're actually at your place. Yeah, we're out in the garage, the rec room, the man cave, whatever you want to call it. The motorcycle shop. Yeah, I have like a three car garage that I can't put a car in, but you know, it's all good. Fun, this is definitely the man cave. It's a fun place to hang out.
We've been out here the last few nights with my kids that are moving on, because they're adults, and so we had a couple pool parties, and basically when we built this place, this became our rec room shortly after we built it, and it's always been fun. Fun place to hang out, have friends over, and chill. And do your podcast. And do the podcast every Sunday. That's right, every Sunday? Yeah. Okay, so I actually got introduced to you through my friend Jenny, who was doing her podcast, Living Behind Her Bars, and you were one of her first guests on her podcast, and that's how we.
She was very early in mine. Yeah, I think it's. I gotta look back. Yeah, both of you were doing about 20, in 2020 is when you started. And I have watched your podcast grow, and then you brought on the YouTube channel, and you have just, well, keep going down those mileposts. I love that, by the way. That is so, so awesome. Three, well, actually three. She was the fourth one. All right. On October 21st, 2020. Now that you think back that far, what comes to mind? How far it's came, I didn't know what to expect, really.
That was during all our lovely COVID times, and it's like, I gotta find something to do. I need something just to, an outlet, an avenue, something. I figured, I talked to my wife, Amy, like, you know, what do you think about trying this? She's like, go for it. She's like, you can talk. I'm like, all right, let's give it a shot, and it blossomed way more than I thought, and the support and the feedback and everybody that follows it came together, and everything has just been amazing.
I didn't think that, I guess, now we're in 24, going on four years of doing it. It's like, it's crazy. I mean, there are times, I mean, I do mine on Sundays. Like in the summer times, I'm doing a lot of my Mile Monster stuff and other motorcycle events. Some, during the summer time, it'll all slow down. I won't do them every Sunday just because of events or. It's riding season. It's riding season. That, and you know, if you got family events, like in the holiday times, I'd, you know, you'd take breaks, because it's not my job.
It's something I do for fun, and that's, I think, one of the biggest things that has made it last and a lot of fun is, I don't treat it as a job. It's just something I enjoy doing. I don't make money at it. It's just fun, and you know, it's like I've always said in all my episodes, the biggest reward for me doing this is the friendship I've made with every person I've had on. The connections.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. And the friendships and the networking. I mean, it paid off, well, when, last week, when my son-in-law and my daughter were moving, they went to turn the U-Haul around to leave, and they actually got stuck in the driveway, and it was a 26-foot U-Haul. It's big, and they had no way of getting it out, and, you know, called my buddy Mikey, who's been on the podcast, got to know he's up in Cedar Woolly. He was leaving for a day.
I was like, dude, I'm on my way, because I can be there in a little over an hour. Sent him my number. He goes, I'll get that thing out for you, one way or another, and that friendship is partially because, you know, of doing the podcast. Mikey was on, he was Milepost 69, and I got to know him. He puts on some great rides in the Northwest, up in the Skagit County area. He's a captain with a volunteer fire department, and he does a lot of stuff for the community and the firefighters and different events, fundraising stuff to help out, you know, their communities, and he's a great guy.
He became a great friend, and, you know, that's kind of one of those moments where it came full circle. That's awesome, that's awesome. Yeah, and actually, that's how I met Jenny, was through motorcycles. We had our first Olympia, the Lead of Chapter branch meeting, and she showed up, and her and I just clicked instantly, and at the time, she worked for Harley Davidson, and they sent her there to round up some girls for some business, you know, and, yeah, I mean, I have met some amazing people through social media and motorcycles.
I mean, that's, you know, been the biggest thing, for sure. So you got started, and then how did you get into sponsorship? I mean, you've got sponsors now. I mean, you're, what am I, I'm mile post, what, 120? 126. 126, so 126 episodes you've done, and now you have sponsors and all of these things since, what, October 2020? Is really what, or, you know, mid-2020. But I think sponsors, I think, kind of came in the next year, but it was, one of the crazy deals is I wasn't looking for it.
In a way, they found me. That's awesome. I mean, it started with Crash Inc. with Brad Columbus, who, you know, one of his big t-shirts that he pushes is PMAs, that positive mental attitude, and Brad is huge about it. He's the biggest supporter, face itches, of everybody, and we became amazing, good friends, and he came on. I was like, hey, I wanna help this group. He's like, you know, let's work together and do something, and basically, the sponsorship wasn't a monetary, it wasn't money-wise.
They could, you know, trade merchandise for advertising, and I got all of his shirts, you know, he'd send me hats, new shirts come out, he'd drop them in the mail, and he'd just been a huge supporter, you know, sharing all the posts, and like I said, the friendship out of it was super cool, and, you know, then it came with Wild Ass. Craig Johnson came on, he's like, hey, how did they come apart, you know, come around to be a sponsor, and basically, you know, it was, Craig was kind of a similar deal.
He's like, I wanna do something, and he's like, but I don't want the notoriety if you don't like my product. He's like, so I'm gonna send, you know, a cushion. He goes, I followed you, I'm gonna send one for you and your dad, he goes, because I noticed, you know, by listening, your dad's one of your favorite ride partners. He goes, so you spend some time in my seat. He goes, I don't care if it's six months.
He goes, if you like it, then let's talk, and we'll do something. He goes, but if it's just not your thing, he goes, cool, he goes, that's how I work, and I thought that was awesome, and, you know, then it just grown, you know, then Custom Dynamics, they came on, wanted to help out, especially with a lot of the charity riding and the long-distance riding I do. They wanted to outfit the bike with lights for safety reasons and, you know, upgrade the lighting.
I only see better at night, but the way I see it, also to be noticed more during the daytime, because they do have some amazing lights and they are bright, and I don't think you can have enough lights on a motorcycle. I highly agree, I highly agree, yeah, exactly. And, yeah, it's been crazy how everything's come together. That's awesome, that's what I look forward to. I mean, I'm only, I'm just starting, you know, I'm still, I should hit 10 here in a couple weeks, you know, as far as episodes go, and, but, yeah, just meeting those new, you know, those people, the newer people, and speaking of wild ass, I'm sitting on a wild ass right now.
That's right. I like it. They are nice. I know, I'm all like, squeaky, squeaky, squeaky. And that could be, too, might need to have a little bit of air taken out of it. Yeah, I like it, though. Because from being in the car, I think it's overinflated. Well, I just drove, what, two and a half hours to get here, and so, yeah, and I've had two back surgeries, so this is great, my hiney's happy. They are nice, cheaper than a new seat and can put you in comfort instead of spending thousands.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. They are a good product. Yeah, well, and I have multiple bikes, so I could swap it out, so that's what's really great about that. You know, we were talking about some questions and everything, and one of the questions that came up were, was a community event, and which one in your community, or motorcycle event in your community that you really attach yourself to, you know, that really means something to you? I like to go do the 9-11 ride that the Fire and Iron Club out of Skagit puts on.
I think they're House 152, and just, I've always been a patriotic person. I wasn't, you know, I didn't serve in the military, but it's one of the highest honors that I have respect for, and, you know, with the 9-11, it's just something that I hold dear, you know, close to my heart. Spent eight years working Department of Corrections. I've, you know, walked a line that many don't, and many don't understand, and it's just, I have respect for that, and with the 9-11, it's just one ride that I always try to go make that I really enjoy being a part of.
That's awesome. For me, it's the Olympia Toy Run. You know, even before I had a bike, I would go over with my kids. You know, we'd have breakfast, and then we'd walk over, or go to the event, because, you know, it's about the kids, you know, and you see everybody, all of the clubs, the motorcycle clubs all come together. Everybody's getting along. Everybody is just pitching in, whether they, you know, it's funds or toys, and the thousands.
I think, you know, it's like 10,000 people. I think it's probably been around the most is 10,000 bikes, you know, and doing the whole parade thing down through Olympia, and all of that. You know, it just puts you in the happy mood, you know, the giving and everybody coming together. I think, you know, that's mine. The Olympia Toy Run, I haven't done it. I've seen a lot of pictures and whatnot, but it does seem to draw a very large crowd.
It does. It does. You know, even with COVID, you know, it's just now getting back into, you know, people coming back out and doing that, so yeah. And so another question I had for you is, you know, you're all the way up here in the peninsula, and I'm down in Olympia. Yeah, I'm not in Seattle, so I gotta get that out there. Yeah, I don't, no, no Seattle. No, I can't even remember how that joke started that I'm in Seattle, but it's a joke that doesn't die.
Because anytime you're traveling, you know, in different states, I usually say I'm from Seattle because they don't know where Olympia is, even though it's the capital of the state. You know, I'm like, do you know where Seattle is? Okay, yeah, I'm like an hour south of there, you know. But yeah, so rides. What is the furthest ride you've done from here? Furthest from here? I think, I think the ride from here to Irvine, California. Because I think that's farther than, I think that was farther than Sturgis.
That's a good one, that's about the same distance almost. They're pretty close. I think that's, you're right, yeah, for sure, yeah. So what was the most memorable part of that trip when you took it? Which one? Irvine, or yeah, when you went down there. Down to Irvine, the most memorable part was the whole reason behind it. It was one of our heroes when we, I do a lot of riding with Mile Monsters Inc. We, you know, we have five families we help and support, and some boys that, you know, we help them live their best lives as our model.
They're fighting a disease that has no cure, which is Duchenne's muscular dystrophy. It's a rare form of muscular dystrophy, but it only affects young males. And going down there and seeing the smile on Turbo's face when I pulled up at his birthday party. You know, he's confined to a wheelchair. He's, you know, lost the use of his legs, and the disease is taking a toll. But to see the smile on his face, I mean, I went down there, he had myself, Michael Nielsen, who lives actually right down by you.
I think he's in Tumwater. He rode down there, he had Frank Orlando out of Yakima. Andrea Tooney, she came down out of, she's down by, on the coast of Oregon. He had a couple guys out of Texas that rode up, and of course, Riot rode over from New Jersey, and you know, it's what we do to support the boys. And for that one, it was the smile on his face just made it all worth it. It always is, for sure.
I mean, that was a turn and burn run, get down there. Let's see, we got Friday night, like eight o'clock. Had a place to sleep for that night, went to the birthday party the next day, and then rode back home. I've done a couple of those. Yeah. You know? Yeah, absolutely. So, I'm gonna want to take a twist on this. So, we are both motorcyclists, we're both podcasters here in the Pacific Northwest. From a male's perspective, do you see more and more women or females getting into the sport? Yes.
Okay. You do notice more of them, and I think right now it's the largest, I looked this up a little while ago, it's the largest growing demographic in motorcycles right now is female riders coming in. It is. Which is awesome. Yeah, I mean, you know, I'm part of the Litas in Olympia. Well, that's the branch. I've been part of the Litas organization since it began. So, I think it's like 2015. And at the time, there was no branch in Olympia, and Jessica had just started the business.
It is now worldwide, and there's almost 400 branches throughout the world. That's awesome. Okay, so it started actually in Olympia? No, no, no. She is from Utah. Okay. From Salt Lake. And then when I met Jenny, gosh, it'll be five years, I think, in June is when the Olympia branch, and the Olympia branch was the second one in the state of Washington. Okay. The first one was actually originally called the Puget Sound branch, and then Seattle, brought it back to life, and they changed it to the Seattle Litas, and then we trickled after that, and now there's, I think, five or six branches in the state of Washington.
That's pretty cool. It's cool to see the growth, and I was aware, I knew they were international, you know, worldwide everywhere, but no, that is really cool. Yeah. What would you, because you've been in motorcycles for years, you know, you started out in dirt bikes, and so, what is one thing that you would, you know, tell a female rider right at the get-go? Like, what is the one tip that you would give her? That's a good one.
It's so hard being on the other side of the mic. I'm not used to this, but it's fun, but. I appreciate it. I think there's more than one. I think the biggest thing is, I would say one, is get the proper riding gear. I love that you promote that, and I know that that's from a personal experience. Yeah, I mean, having the proper gear, and even if you've ridden a little bit, you know, a lot of the Harley dealerships, you know, they put on riding classes.
Don't be afraid to sign up for one, or, you know, go take a motorcycle safety course, and just get more familiar, you know, with the machine you're riding. You know, find one ergonomically that fits, that's comfortable for you, just because, you know, Steve down the road has this. It's like, oh, I gotta be like him. Find something that fits. Make your bike a part of you, but make it so it's comfortable, and then just learn it, and then, say you ride, you know, a sportster, maybe, you know, you find a nice V-Star.
There's so many bikes to get into that you can get into them very comfortably, you know, reasonable prices and whatnot for a great used bike, and get comfortable with it. Learn it, and then, as time goes by, as you get comfortable, you've kind of figured that, you know, you've really got yourself dialed in, your skills are going great, then sure, upgrade and find, you know, something else that fits, but be comfortable and ride within your realm.
I think that is solid advice. That is absolutely perfect, because, you know, I know we have people that come up to us and say, you know, I'm looking for a bike. What do you recommend? And I go, go sit on a bunch of them. It's like Cinderella in the slipper. Just because it fits me does not mean it's gonna fit you. Exactly. You know, go try everything, and, you know, some people really push the Harleys, and some people push other things.
You need to, you know, everybody has their own style, you know, and as far as safety gear, I'm all about it, too. Yeah. You know, I'm, you know, I know that you, because, you know, we were setting up, and you got a phone call, and somebody goes, hey, show them your head, because this is why we wear a helmet. Yeah. So tell me the story, because, you know, I know the story, but I hadn't seen the scarf, but.
Well, I mean, I had a helmet on. I got in a wreck when I was a young teenager practicing for a motorcycle race, and I went head on with another bike on the track, and it actually broke the helmet in half on impact. Wow. And then, so I, in that process, I broke basically every bone in my head, and had my head reconstructed from my lips up. Oh, wow. How old were you when that happened? Because that had been.
I was 13-ish. Wow. That's a pretty big thing to happen at that age. Yeah. Especially when you're growing, you're already having, you know, like, who am I? You know, just that whole, yeah. Yeah, that was quite the moment. That's a whole other podcast, isn't it? We've, I've delved into a little bit of it, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was, like, six weeks in the hospital in Seattle. Mm-hmm, yeah. Well, for me, I had started out with a full face.
I went to a quarter, or three quarters, then I went to a half, and then I had three really good friends that I rode with get in accidents, just boom, boom, boom, within, like, two months of each other. And one was in ICU for quite a while with a head injury. The other one literally just rolled off her bike and was fine. And the other one also had a lot of injuries. And at that time, I looked at the bikes, the speed, and what they were wearing based on their injuries, and then how the family was affected.
You know, it wasn't just the rider. It was all of the love and the support from everybody else around them, how they were being affected by that person's decisions of what they were wearing at the time. And so, right there, I said, okay, I am going back to a full face helmet. I don't wear it for myself. I wear it for my loved ones. And so, and I still, I have, you know, multiple lids now. You know, but that's why it's just, it is so important, you know, your head, your brain, protect it.
Oh, for sure. You know, and so that's the one thing, yes. I will push that as well, is, you know, like, nope. You know, or I remember seeing somebody coming off, or went home from Dream Roll one year, and when she got home, she showed her arm where a rock had gone right into her skin because she was just wearing a T-shirt. And I was like, yeah, nope, I'm good. I've been guilty of that a time or two, and in the same way, I did the half shells, half helmets, I mean, I got three or four of them, and then it was two years ago that I just, I think it was about the time I really started getting into the long distance riding, riding, you know, doing saddle sores, busting out, you know, the bun burners at 1500s, and I got to the point, it's like, you know what, I want more protection, so I went to the modular, and I love having the modular, because they're like, well, when I went to California, and same with the Sturgis trip, you hit those 100 degree areas, it's like, cool, I can flip the visor up and basically wear it, it's like a three quarter, just flip the chin bar up, get some air, but it's nice to have that full face protection.
Right, yeah. And I love the modular, after I got it, I was like, I should've done this a long time ago. I've heard a lot of people that really like those. I haven't tried it yet. I'm still trying to figure out if I can get my horns to stay on if I use one of those. Yeah. You know, that's my thing. I guess I need to try it out. I need to figure it out, see if I can make that happen.
Yeah, the modular, I think it's a game changer. It's like, I should've done it a long time ago. Even just, you know, up here, in the wintertime, it's amazing how much warmer you can get when your face is warm, too. Not that wind beating on your cheeks, and yeah, it's like, man, this is nice. Yeah, exactly. Wow. What else can you, do you want to share with us? Share with the female writers, because that's really my niche, you know? I mean, all the guys hear you all the time.
No, one piece of advice that I was given that is great is, when it comes to writing, is plan your ride and ride your plan. Ride your plan? Plan your ride and ride your plan, because this bit may be time, sometimes you go on a, you know, you put together a ride, you might have, you know, some other individuals coming with you, and then two gas stops in, everybody wants to play the Monday quarterback. You know, we need to do this, we need to do that, and when everything starts changing, it can make it a pain.
And I think the biggest thing, if you want to go, you know, you're going on an adventure, plan it out right, and ride your plan. I like that. I'm gonna adopt that, for sure. Usually it's, I planned this ride, you're coming with me. You don't like it? See you later. You know how to get home? GPS it. Yeah. And, you know, since then, it's a couple years ago, it's just one of the things that I do follow.
Yeah. I'll plan what I want, and especially for me, I'll go, when I'm taking a trip somewhere, especially an area that I haven't ridden through, I'm unfamiliar with, I'll start mapping out different cities and map out gas stops. It's like, okay, I know I can get this range, like, depending how far, if I'm pulling my motorcycle trailer, it's like, okay, my gas mileage is gonna go down, you know, three, four miles a gallon. So I know where my fuel stops, you know, roughly can be, but then I also carry two one-liter fuel-reserve bottles on my saddlebag or the trailer, which those have came in handy a time or two.
Oh, I hear that. I tend to push it sometimes and run out of gas. No. Yeah. How many times have you run out of gas? Last summer? Twice. Last summer? Only twice? Okay. Do you do it twice a summer? Yeah, I did. Hey, one time, I was so close, I have a five-gallon tank, and when I was going to California the first night, we stopped in Sutherland, Oregon, and I put 4.975 gallons in. Congratulations. And then I made it to Weed, California, and the gas stop was like two blocks away when I ran out of gas uphill.
Like, well, time to dump that fuel bottle in. Yep, yep. And then the other one was coming back from Sturgis with Amy, because I enjoy riding the back roads, take the back highway. If you want to see stuff and really enjoy the ride. Get off the freeway. Get off the freeway and don't worry about going A to B as quick as you can. See America, because there's so much stuff to go see in your own backyard, the people have no idea that it's even there.
And that's part of the fun of it, but then also, small gas stations, that's another piece of advice I forgot about. Traveling somewhere, like with my bike with the cams and whatnot that's in my bike, it hates regular. Does not like it. It will run like. Poop. Yep. I wasn't sure if I could say the other words, so I stopped myself. And so I didn't care, which I never thought about. We're in the middle of Montana, so I can't remember the town.
And it's at the crossroads, and I see where I'm planning on getting fuel is like 60 miles. And I look at my odometer, I'm like, I don't know. And this gas station only has regular. I'm like, oh, it ain't gonna work. And I knew it was gonna be close to what I had in the tank. I'm like, but I know I have my fuel reserve bottle, so I know I can make it. I'm not worried about it.
Run out of gas, I'll dump one in. And we got to the gas station, and I could see it coming. And I looked down, of course, my gas light had been on for a little ways. And about that time, engine just shut off. I'm like, crap. I get in the middle lane, because there's a car behind me. So I get in the center turn lane, and car goes by, and he's like, what are you doing? Run out of gas.
It's like, oh, did the gas light come on? Oh, yeah. Long time ago. But I coasted like 200 yards down the highway, down into the parking lot, where it made this little loopy dude come uphill to gas pumps, and I coasted to within 20 feet of gas pumps. Amy took a video. I just laugh. I'm like, you just gonna dump it in your fuel bottle? I'm like, I'm just gonna push it. Yep. That's one of those, I wasn't worried of that one.
You know, I carry the fuel reserve, and it's just a little bit of cheap insurance. But, you know, like I was saying, you're going somewhere that you haven't been. Just try to map out fuel stops. Know your range of how far you can go, and just be cautious of that. Yeah, I know about, like in Oregon, there's, so I was going out to the Alvord Desert. And so, have you ever been there? No. Okay. Please put it on your to-do.
Okay, because that is where Jesse Combs passed away. Alvord Desert? Alvord Desert. It's out past Burns. So between Pendleton, or is it Pendleton? No, sorry. Prineville, Prineville and Burns. I did map out my thing, out my fuel stations. But apparently, those had all closed down. And so I literally, again, on fumes, rolled into the gas station. The only gas station that's open between those two spaces. Just, you know, I also coasted. And they told me that it's a good thing I got there before they closed.
Because they literally were the only ones before the Burns area. And I'm just like, okay. So yeah, but fuel bottles, I always carry one. Just, you know, my metal one, I carry it. And people are like, why? Just in case, you never know. And I've had to give other people, I've dumped it in other people's bid. You know, you just never know where those gas stations are. Yeah, or I had one like that. I had a planned stop, because Google says, hey, here's Chevron.
Way out in the middle of Eastern Oregon on one of my trips to Idaho. And I pull in there to get fuel, because my fuel light's on, guess what? The station is under construction. It's not built yet. See? That's what I'm like. Crap, yeah. And I made it about another hundred yards down the highway and I ran out of gas. Yeah, and that's why, like, when we're on rides with the girls, they're like, oh, well, how far is the next gas station? I said, it doesn't matter.
We're stopping every hundred miles. Fuel up when you can, because you don't know. You know, whether your tank is big or little, you don't know where we're gonna stop next. So just, if everybody's stopping, fuel. You know, because we've had people go, keep going, and I'm like, I zoom up to the front and go, I'm almost out of gas. Well, I thought you fueled up over there. No, just that one person did. You know, like, it's a big deal.
You know, you need to know what size your tank is. Again, yeah, and know where your fuel stops are. Like, where are we going? And then I think another big thing was one that my very first podcast guest ever had, Leo McElrath, he was awesome, you know. Unfortunately, he passed away a couple years ago. But he brought out a great point that I've always tried to share with other people is, especially if it's summertime or, you know, it's hot out, whether you're riding long distance or whatever you're doing, if you're stopping to fuel your bike, fuel yourself and hydrate yourself also.
Grab a bottle of water, grab a Gatorade, something. Because if your bike needs fuel, then so do you. Because dehydration or sunstroke is no fun. So keeping yourself properly hydrated is also a very important piece. I highly agree. And we definitely are always saying that with the girls. We're like, hey, everybody drink, you know, whether it's a Gatorade, water, whatever, you know, we're here, you know, hydrate. It's very, very important. And for me, it's like I've gone to running with a tank bag, especially for, I don't know, it's like when I've gone to a lot of these big, like the Hoka Hei.
I don't know if you're familiar with that one. I got to go meet a bunch of little guys in 2022 when I went on a trip to South Dakota. It's a 10-day, 10,000-mile endurance charity ride. And, you know, it's a challenge if you can hit it because you're not running interstates. You're running all back roads. There's no hotels allowed. You sleep with your bike. No GPSs. It's handwritten, turn-by-turn directions. How do I sign up? It's right up my alley.
I love this. There are some stipulations. Oh, apparently a girl? No, no, women can ride it. American-made bikes only. OK. No performance awards allowed. So, AK, if you get a speeding ticket, you're done and disqualified. You can't finish. OK. All right. And it's cool when you go. Does that mean I have to go get another bike? You never know. It does. It means I have to buy another bike. Mine are American-made. Google it. It's pretty cool.
I mean, it does. You kind of got to go through an interview process because they won't let just anybody ride it, which I think is smart. I think that's great. Because it is a severe challenge mentally and physically for that one. I love it. But when I went over to see a lot of those guys, I mean, of those guys, look at a bike setup. I mean, some of them are crazy. There are guys that have infrared FLIR cameras on the front of their bikes with tablets on the handlebars for riding at night for seeing wild animals and stuff.
I mean, these guys are next level riding. I mean, the hydration system, one gallon coolers on the saddlebags full of water with hoses to the handlebars. I mean, GPSs. Some guys are running dual cell phones with different carriers just to make sure they always have signal. You got your GPS spot wallet trackers on them. That's wild to me. Everything. But then I've seen so many guys run a tank bags. I'm like, huh, interesting. I mean, I used to do it on my sport bike.
And then when I really started getting more into it, it's like, this is smart, especially, there again, with the modular helmet. I'll keep my big hydro flask. I have a 34, 36 ounce, whatever it is. I'll fill it with water and fill it full of ice and water. And I can go down the road, flip visor up, and just drink as I'm going as I get thirsty, which is another nice thing of the modular. And then I just put my hydro flask back in my tank bag.
I have a hydro flask story. So I was coming back from Hell's Canyon rally. And I had my hydro flask tucked underneath the net on top of my saddlebag. And we're riding along down the freeway. We got up north of Portland. And I feel this thunk on my heel. And I go, what's that? And I turn and I look back. And my hydro flask is literally going down the freeway. And traffic is spreading out like it's a bowling alley.
Like, everybody's like, get out of the way of my hydro flask. It was like last year, Monsters Over Mountains is a charity ride I put on every August for mile monsters. We do 1,500 to 1,600 miles in 36 hours or less. And we were going up around Flathead Lake, somewhere in Kalispell, and stopped at a fuel stop. And I'm going to leave. And I look down. Crap, my brand new highway peg is gone. And like, wow, one of the guys walks up.
He's like, that makes perfect sense. He's like, because about 10 miles back, something really shiny went flying right by my head off the pavement. That would have been it. And I had that with my motorcycle trailer when I got that last summer from a good friend who followed the podcast and gave it to me. One of the paddle locks to hold the lid shut, it had ripped out and actually bounced off the concrete, the bottom of his boot, riding behind me.
I'm like, I'm glad that hit your boot, not like your windshield on the bike or something. That would be bad. You're the big, heavy lock. Well, wait a minute. Aren't you a truck driver? Yeah. OK, aren't you supposed to secure your load? It was. It pulled the entire locking mechanism right out of the trailer. I have to replace the whole thing. I'm just giving you shit. But yeah, you have to be like, what the hell? I'm missing one.
Mike's like, that's what hit me in the boot. That would hurt. Oh my goodness. OK, so one last thing. What would be, so we're going to wrap this up. What is one last piece of thing you want to tell my listening community? Enjoy the road. Have fun. You know, ride within your own means. You don't always have to treat it as a race to keep up with somebody else. Maybe they're running a different skill level or whatever setup or what they're riding.
Stay safe. And that way you can come home and see your family members at night and see them. I think it's a big thing. I know I'm, in a way, I myself will, you know, we all do in your ride. You push the envelope. Maybe even just being on a motorcycle, you're pushing the envelope of safetiness because you're not inside a car like a cage. But just be safe and respect for others. I love that. I love that.
Thank you. Thank you, Denver, for coming on here, having me here. No, thank you. Because honestly, the other thing I wanted to bring up is, for me, it's a lot harder, I think. I mean, I've reached out to a handful of female riders. But then some of them reply back and some of them think it's just some sexist thing. I'm like, no, it's not. I want to talk to other riders. But for me, I have somewhat kind of a generic message or whatnot to reach out to people.
So I kind of find somebody cool I can pace. And I put together a nice one that I, you know, in my notes. But for me, it's very hard to get female riders to come on. It's more difficult. OK, do you all hear that? So if you hear that and you are interested in being on his podcast, reach out to him. Let me know. Yeah, because there are a lot of cool ass riders out there. Oh, there's a tremendous loss of them.
So many, so many. The female community is huge. And we want to hear everybody's story, right? We do. And I have one big one. Hopefully, she's trying to figure out when we can link up, which would be really cool, is Stacey Will. She does Ride for Food. And I sent her a message. And so she's community. When you do that, I want to talk to her, too. I want to talk to her, too. I met her.
I think I believe I met her once at one of the dream roles. But yes. It would be cool for that one. I'm looking for hopefully I can get a time frame lined up. But yeah, it's just, you know, if you enjoy riding and you got that same old way to call, you know, the passion for life on two wheels, you want to talk about it? Share some stories. I'm always game. I love it. It's what I do.
It's just my jam. That's perfect. That's why it was a V-Twin life. Because V-Twin is made by almost every manufacturer, from Ducati to Pirelli to Yamaha to Harley Indian. I mean, almost every manufacturer has a V-Twin. It wasn't just to say, hey, I'm a Harley rider. I don't care what people ride. You ride. You enjoy it. Awesome. Let's talk and share stories. Absolutely. I love it. Well, thank you, Denver. Thank you. Thank you.
