Alonzo Is Back in a New Home With A New Bike!

show for any amount of time, you know that my favorite, favorite motorcycle movie is called Why We Ride, and it was released in 2013,
and I've probably seen it, you know, I've seen it at least 45 times, right? Because four years ago, I saw it at least 30 times, and I actually had Brian Carroll, Brian H. Carroll, the director,
producer, and writer of that show, of the film on my show, and it was wonderful. And Alonzo Bowden is our guest. And he says,
I like going to motorcycle nights because I don't have to tell people why I have four motorcycles. Now, for those of you who don't know, Alonzo's career has spanned decades as a stand -up comedian,
TV and film actor. He's also a regular panelist on NPR's, wait, wait, don't tell me. He's got several Amazon Prime specials, comedy specials,
and he won NBC's Last Comic Standing. and he's originally And on October 18th and 19th,
he's going to be performing in New Jersey at a club called Bananas, which is basically just over the GW Bridge in Hasbrook Heights. So a bunch of us are going to go see him.
I think we're going to have like 20, 22 people to see him. So live from Las Vegas, it's the Arrival Live podcast. Alonzo, thank you so much for spending time with us again.
And how are things in fabulous Las Vegas? things that It's a challenge with a bike.
I shouldn't even say a challenge. The weird thing, and this is after living in L .A. for 40 years and having, you know, the greatest riding weather in the world. Yeah. In the heat of summer here,
it's kind of too hot to ride in the daytime. I mean, you could do it, but it's like an endurance test. It's like, do you really want to, you know? So I did some night rides, but I'm actually looking forward to riding Red Rock and out in the desert Valley of Fire.
When a place is called Valley of Fire, you don't ride there in July. You're like, no, I'll wait. You know, Death Valley, now I'm gonna give it some time. But I look forward to those rides coming up now that it's cooling off of it.
Very nice. And you know, one of, you know, everybody, so I run the Two -Wield Tuesday motorcycle group with another fellow in New York. And we have 4 ,000 people in the, I haven't found it yet,
but I'm going to say that if it, I'm sure it's here and I'm sure it's not here in the heat of the summer. Okay. Now, I've seen a couple of things about like a Saturday morning breakfast and a,
but you know, my, my schedule, right, being a comic, yeah, I'm not here Saturday morning. So I'll find the community. I haven't, I know there's a community. I haven't found it yet.
I see some random people riding now and then I think my favorite, I saw a guy riding a mini bike in a suit and it was like 104 degrees out and he would literally it was a mini bike it was like smaller than a grom I don't even know if it was street legal and I was like man you are the most badass like if I saw him next to a hell's angel i wouldn't mess with him you understand yeah you're riding a mini bike
in los vegas at 104 degrees in a suit i don't want no trouble all right so you know you're originally you know it's been a number of years since you've been in new york area but you know when we go for a ride we'll either go out to jones beach montauk north shore of long island uh bear mountain as you probably remember in in l a like you said a ton if you wake up on a sunday morning in Vegas,
like, what's like? area in summerland red rock mountain they go all the way out to perump which you know you can make that a day ride depending on back roads and stuff like that what you want to take so that's one ride another ride and this one i actually went up there with my dog and it's kind of nice mount charleston which is about an hour away and it's 30 degrees cooler because it's at i think six,
seven thousand feet out. They get snow in the winter and everything so you can ride up there or you can go you can go south to like Hoover Dam,
Lake Mead over the bridge to Arizona or you can go northwest and I'm sorry northeast and you hit the Valley of Fire which is actually this beautiful state park kind of like arches you know fly through the canyons and have fun this is definitely more cruiser territory so i bought my first harley yeah you were telling me that earlier and we were just kind of chatting so uh until it was did you get the leathers are
you going to look like eddie murphy no no i'm not i'm not all in no i'll tell you what happened and it's actually kind of cool so that um the battle of the baggers,
the race series, the bagger race series. Sure, yeah. Which I don't know if you've seen any of those races. I haven't been to one. I want to go to one. I've seen them on YouTube. I think they're hilarious. Hilarious,
fantastic. So the bike that Harley used the base for their race bike, they've made for the street. It's a CBO road glide, and they made it a single -seater and put a better suspension and stuff on.
So my buddies at Harley, I know some of the marketing guys, we finally got a bike for you. Because, you know, I've just never been a Harley guy. Like I get it, but it hasn't been my,
they said, nope, this is the bike for you. So at Ameriade, they basically gave me keys to the store. They said, listen, after the demos, you know, in the afternoon,
come by and whatever bike you want to ride you can borrow go for a ride they said but ride this one last and i have to say they were absolutely right this thing is for a bagger it's it's just crazy fast and sporty on all the sport bike stuff on it upside down forks brembo brakes uh show a adjustable suspension it's got a 121 engine It makes like 127 horse parts fast,
you know. And it was just really fun to ride. And I was like, all right, guys, you got me. And then they said, good, because it's our top of the line bike. We're going to get you, you know. All right.
So you got that. Now you got rid of the Valkyrie. And last time you said when you're on the show, you said like when you used to go to the motorcycle nights in L .A.,
you had the cruiser guys and the sport bike guys. And then when you're on the Valkyrie, nobody knew what to do. You know, a Valkyrie, nobody knows what a Valkyrie is,
which is one of the things that makes it so cool. Sure. I've always loved the big power cruisers, the muscle bikes, like the Valkyrie, the Rocket 3, you know, and you pull up on those and they're like,
I don't know what that thing is. And they're fantastic, they're fantastic bikes. It's like, we made a naked bike. It's like a,
ah, it's like a Frankenbiker, so it's like, okay, it looks bagger, but it's got this six -cylinder 160 horsepower BMW engine. It's a rocket ship.
And it works, you know, and that engine is super smooth. And, you know, I tell everyone, listen, it's, it's basically a two -wheel five series. That's the only way.
It's BMWs, you know, it's their same car philosophy, right? We're going to make it fast. We're going to make it high -tech. state separation on your show i'm like what do you mean she's like well you know we have our performance uh uh writing school down in greer south carolina and you know if you want you can just take it for free but i don't want to offend you between your church no no i'll do it no problem
she's like you just get your ass down there and we'll take care of the rest i'm like you know okay and it's like a sixteen hundred dollar you know uh course have you ever do Is that something you ever would do,
especially now? Yeah, so I've done a number of riding courses. Years ago, it's probably back in the 90s. I did Freddie Spencer's Road Race School,
which was really good. And he's there. You get to ride with Freddie Spencer. If you ever want to be humbled, ride with a pro racer. Sure. Whatever you thought you were doing,
you know, fast. It's always fun when they pass you with the passenger on the back, looking back at you, you know, and you're like, yeah, okay, I get it. But no, that was a great class.
And then with Triumph, I did an off -road class on the adventure bike, you know. And that was cool for me because I've never been an off -road guy, you know. So riding through the mud and water and this and that.
And, you know, it was one of those things. I get it. And I see why people like it. It wasn't my thing. You know, it was like, yeah, I can see why people like this. It's not for me, but I get it.
Um, I hear you. I mean, I was born in Queens Village. We moved to Nassau County when it was about six. And even though we grew up near the beach, it was really not a lot of off -roading to do. And I regret that I was never really able to do that.
And I've heard, you know, um, that that course can you know make you a better rider both on the street and even and off road so hopefully when i have time i would i would like to take it now when you were here last time i think it was may of 21 so you were basically home during covid i think you had just were starting to get out on the road again now obviously for the last two two and a half years things
have been mostly back to normal how many nights a year out of 365 are you not sleeping in your main residence whether it's Vegas or or I've never counted really because I'm a workaholic you know so so the pandemic was a big change for me prior to the pandemic I probably worked uh I'm gonna say And 250 and 280 nights a year.
I mean, I was on the road all the time. And I loved it. I love working. And that's working. So then there's travel days too, right? So if you're in Chicago. That's what I was going to say. I've said this for years.
They pay me to travel. I tell jokes for free. You know, travel is just hell. And listen, and I'm platinum and travel is hell. So if you're in group five, I don't know what they're doing to you,
honestly. But the pandemic, so that was the first time in 25 years I was home, just home. And after the initial,
you know, I'm never going to work again. I'm going to lose everything I have, which once that passed, and we figured out how to work and Zoom and this and that. When the pandemic ended, I have turned down work.
I work less. I want to be home more. I got my dog who just, I absolutely love hanging out with my dog. He's laying here sleeping now. He has truly mastered sleeping while I do whatever I have to do.
I admire him. But no, it's, it's nice to be home. I'm not chasing it as much. So I'm in the midst of a very busy period now. I have like a six -week right where I'm out there all weekend but um December I'm home all month January I only got one weekend out I'm out for the month of February I told my agent I said look I'm gone for five weeks I ain't going nowhere in March I uh so so I guess there's more of a
balance now between work and and and staying home and you know I still love it listen I love it yes I live in Vegas I'm going to develop more and more low times.
And I was like, yeah, I can make this move. It's, it's more relaxed than L .A. Doesn't have the traffic that L .A. has. Cost of living is probably about 25,
30 percent less. Nice. And, you know, and I was in, I was in L .A. for 44 years. So I've done that, you know, I'm not, I'm not one of them people that, oh, I hate L .A. 44 years,
You're not that. You're like, whatever. I am that old. All right. All right. No, I moved to L .A. Honestly, I moved to L .A. two weeks after I graduated from high school. And I loved it.
And, you know, I had a good time. And I've had all the L .A. experiences that I could have. And this and it was like, yeah, okay, I can leave content. I can leave saying, yeah, I've done it.
And now this is something different, Different vibe, but probably the biggest difference, yeah, is that it's more relaxed. Also, if you love the desert, the landscape here is beautiful.
I mean, I'm looking out my window at the Red Rock Mountains, and you're just surrounded. Again, if you like the desert landscape, which I do, you're surrounded by it. And I'll tell you,
as another native New Yorker from Queens, tell you why I love the desert. You're in the Northeast. There's no empty space. Everything's built. Everything's crowded.
You come out here to the desert. You realize, you know, no one's lived here for a million years. Like these rock formations and this is the way it's been forever.
So it has some kind of a piece to it for me that I really love. I mean, you could be on your bike. And, you know, you get on these desert highways, on these two -lane highways.
And if you don't pay attention, you've gone 200 miles past your exit. You're like, wait a minute, where the hell am I? It really is almost a hypnotic beauty of riding through the desert.
And it's quiet. And, yeah, it's a different, completely different vibe than, you know, riding on the East Coast, which I've on the Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway and stuff like that on the East Coast.
And, you know, I've ridden all up in western New York with Ameriade and all that. And that's all beautiful and green. This isn't green. This is brown. But it has its own beauty.
Now, we took a trip out to the Salt Shack, which is on the border, just in Suffolk County, just before Robert Moses, we had about 25 people. An ocean parkway is flat as a pool table,
you could see for 35 miles, and you could really test your bikes top speed. And you do get a little lonesome around there because you have the beach, the ocean on this side, but I definitely hear you.
I grew up near the ocean. My parents are still alive and in great health. My mom, not only does she cook every night still for my dad, but she walks 12 ,000 steps a day after having spinal stenosis surgery last year.
So I'm here as long as they're here, but maybe one day, you know, he's like take it 20 minutes after i got out of the dealership it rained i needed it and half the day but then it stopped 25 minutes later then it started again you know that's how seattle is man if you're in seattle it's either raining or about to rain right those are your choices but yeah i try it you know try to west you i think you would
love it i don't know if you've been ridden in california I have. I've written LA. I did from Seattle down to L .A. on an electric slide that I rented is like,
I mean, I was 25. It's like 26 years ago. I should do it again. And yeah, but I'll definitely, I'll let you know. I want to ask you this. So when it was cold,
I rented at, not rented, but I have a friend that owns a bar, a really nice bar. And they have an upstairs. And I think it was like January. He let us use the whole upstairs. You know,
this is a great movie. Thank you for turning me on to. This is really cool. So we had like 22 people or so. And then we had burgers and wings and that type of thing. Do you still keep in touch with anybody from the movie, Brian Carroll or anybody like that?
And do people still recognize you from the movie? I used to see Brian at Laguna Seca every year. I haven't been in a few years, so I haven't seen him in a while.
So I'll tell you what was really funny about that movie as far as people recognizing me. Yeah. she said,
you're him. She said, I hear your voice every day. And they're playing the movie. That was really funny. So that movie, I don't know if there's another movie I've seen that captures riding as well.
And it was really funny because when Brian called me, you know, I get called like doing this, like doing this podcast and doing things. So it was like, sure, I'll do the interview, you know, and he comes and we set up in my garage.
lot of times people shoot stuff and you go into video it's a youtube thing and it's no disrespect to any of that i mean i do all of it it's fun i had no idea he was making the movie he was making i love how he captured the different um types of riding and types of riders but also he he managed uh he's a filmmaker he managed to catch the visual so people i think people who don't ride got a taste of what we
see. might he might it would it would be interesting you lost money on that he told me like he knew he was going to lose money but he wanted to do it anyway it's you know movie making and that that business is a tough business you you only hear about the the blockbuster successes but um yeah a lot of people lose money on movies or it takes forever to make your money back and now you know i do comedy specials
And it's really tough to make money because there's so many outlets, you know, there's YouTube and this and that the other way.
People watch stuff for free. And it's very difficult to police anything you create from going out there free. Also, you have a generation who grew up watching and listening to everything free.
Like I have musician friends, you know, this generation that's growing up, they, the idea of paying for music, like they've never had to pay for music. They don't, they would never think of paying for music.
And they, and I'm not knocking them. It's just what happened, you know. A guy told me a long time ago, he said, listen, he was talking about Sony. He said, yeah, they produce the music and the movies upstairs.
and then they sell you the computer to steal it downstairs. So, I mean, or you look at Apple, right? Apple is a whole thing now. They produce it. Yeah. They also sell you the,
the hardware to take it, you know? So, yeah, so it's unfortunate he didn't make money on the movie, but that's a common story now. That's just part of the business where stuff for promotion for your live stuff or whatever.
Remember, like when Eddie Murphy, like he was telling when he was first, you know, The only reason it worked for him is because he's such a great mimic of anybody.
He can listen to somebody for 10 minutes and then just do an impression of him. So when he does Richard Pryor, it's funny because you know it's Eddie doing a Richard Pryor impression,
but he's also funny unto himself. He's not just doing that, you know. And he's done pretty well for himself. I don't know if you're aware of it, but he's done. Oh, He went to Nassau community.
He's like, I don't know if he graduated, but he's a national community. Now, you know, you mentioned, I was watching your clip on, you know, my daughter lives in Tampa. She's a senior. She's going to be an American Sign Language translator.
And she can hear just as well as you and me, but she fell in love with deaf culture when she was, you know, in high school. So I was watching, I noticed that you were on one of the Good Morning shows, and you said, one of the reasons you love your job is that in three days,
you'll work five hours, right? where your job You know,
I've been fortunate that when my passions cross, right? So a lot of times, there are motorcycle people who know me from comedy, and they're like,
hey, if you're in town, you want to borrow a bike, I'll lend your bike, or you want to go for a ride, we'll go for a ride. And I've had that happen. I'll tell you the craziest one. I was in Sydney,
Australia. Oh, wow. And they have a show, it's called the footy show. So they call footy sports, any sport where you kick the ball, Australian rules, football, soccer, whatever. And this show was crazy.
This show was if, if Sports Center and the Tonight Show collided, that would be the footy show, right? It's sports with entertainment, this and that. So I was going to be on the show.
So I was at this motorcycle shop and the guy said, oh man, you're going to be on a footy show. He said, bench in the shop, I'll give you any bike you want. And so I go on and somehow it came up and I'm like,
yeah, man, I was, you know, lost and I went to, you know, Bert's house of bikes or whatever, you know. And the next day, he gave me a BMWGS.
And I rode. So they have a highway in Australia similar to the Pacific Coast Highway that literally like runs along the coast all around, you know,
I guess theoretically you could circle the continent. I don't know. But I got to ride that and then ride up in the mountains. Like it was fantastic. And he was like, yeah, man, have fun. You know,
you were the best commercial I've had. And so I've had things like that. I've had people from manufacturers say, hey, man, if you're so and so here the demo truck is here take a bike go for a ride so i do get to do that all right so when you're here in october we usually ride on saturdays or sundays in jersey if you have the day free you know we'll talk about that offline type thing but we we usually uh rostock
park which is 10 minutes from where you're going to uh to a little park right under the uh the gw bridge and we'll go out to like you know some place like there's that ice cream place i'm running the streets with you bike or criminal oh come on man i ain't going to jail with you guys no control.
So that was a high side, which basically meant that my rear tire was going a lot faster than my front tire. And when it got traction, it launched me off the bike. Well, now traction control,
if your rear tire is going a lot faster than your front tire, the computer bike slows your rear tire down. So, but the, the great thing about that crash was, I don't know who writes stuff on Wikipedia.
Honestly, don't know. Nobody knows. It just popped. They wrote technologically sound and advanced motorcycle safety equipment go to Scorpion USA you will see a plethora of items there to choose from and you will be happy that you did and no I'm not getting arrested that's just in the background folks and now back to the rest of the show I have breakfast with these guys out in Belmar New Jersey every once in a while
and one of the great riders one of the things I love about them is they're older than me They're old, like, Bell Labs and not, remember nine X? Yeah. They're like nine X engineers. And I bought my,
the current bike that I have now, it's an R1 ,200 R from this wonderful guy, Don, who called me up one day. And I've known him from like the BMW forums. He's like, Len, I'm getting a little shorter as I age.
So I really can't fit into the bike now. Do you want it? You know, I'll sell it to you. And I'm like, I'll be right off. And he looked in like south jersey and it was actually two weeks later i took you know the train but this guy he has an air horn okay that like from a Chevy Tahoe and he said you know one of the things I don't like about air horns is that there's a little bit of a delay so he said i
rigged it so it always has like half a juice in it so you can it's it's and it's got the heated seat he's got the modulating front lights lights, which I don't know,
you know, they were popular at Ameriade. You probably see them a lot at Ameriade, you know, headlights that and, and unfortunately, we had a gentleman go down, a friend of ours that it looks like he's going to be paralyzed from the chest down,
but it's still early. And, you know, he was on a Ducati and he was in Morristown, New Jersey, and he hit, he's wearing every single piece of safety here,
neck roll, jacket that cost more than the first car you probably ever had, right? And unfortunately, you know, it just, it was bad luck and he just hit a tree. So today,
though, we have, and he was a good rider. You know, he's been riding five years, 44 years old, but you mentioned traction control. ABS is better. Now ABS works in the corners now. And now we even have the pants.
Like we have have airbag vests and airbag pants. One of the things I, the sponsor of the show, John Heyman, the lawyer that I was telling you about, he lives in Connecticut, born and raised in Hartford,
Connecticut, and he said, politically, I don't care. You want to wear a helmet? You wear? I don't care. But for me, I have a full dress Harley. Most of the time, I don't wear a helmet. And he said,
I've seen every motorcycle injury you can. I'm not saying people don't hit their heads, they do but he says most of the injuries that he sees are from the waist down and that's why i don't know if you on instagram you see all these like the pants that now are they explode not explode but they're like making it look like the michelin man what do you think of okay let's go um do you have or do you plan to have
any type of air safety equipment whether it's a vest or pants so um that's It's great you brought this up. I have a friend named BT. He's a comic and motorcycle rider.
He lives in Indy. And earlier this year, he had a horrible accident. He was on the highway at night. The car in front of him swerved. And when the car swerved,
he saw why there was a pallet with a barrel on it sitting in the highway. And he hit it. He almost made it past but he clipped it with his foot and his leg went down and he had on his gear and they said yeah you lost your leg if you didn't so he's he's he's gonna like there was that is he going to walk again because his foot was cut open really bad he had a boot on and fortunately he's recovering from it so
yeah safety gear has come so far and the other good thing about it like living here in Vegas like when it's 100 degrees out. They have like vented stuff and cooling vests.
So you can you can wear it even when you couldn't before. It's not like you're putting on a heavy leather jacket, you know. So I'm a big believer in gear. I don't have, I have two airbag capable jackets,
but I don't have the airbag for them. Why not? Falky or? Great question. I should. And I, no, I'll tell you why not. you're labeled but anyway their stuff is great um i couldn't imagine riding without a helmet and i'm not going to get into the politics of it either and you know yeah do what you want to do but i will never forget and and i don't even know if you're old enough to know about this there was a
report done in the late 70s called the hurt report and it was like the first real study of motorcycle accidents and you know what happens and this and that. And I never forget,
I read, it said, if your head hits the ground at 19 miles an hour, it'll pop like a pumpkin. And I was always like, yeah, I'm always doing more than 19.
Now, the reality, usually you're not going to have a direct hit on your head, which is, thank God. But early on, when I was a kid, I had a crash where my head, my helmet slid and I had like the scraping on the helmet and the face shield and I was like yeah I'm good with helmets yeah no I agree and again it's it's up to the individual I don't like the disinformation when people like a helmet's going to break
your neck I'm like no don't you know I don't don't say that if you don't want to wear one don't wear one but but anyway um safety gear and the the motorcycles themselves have improved tremendously over the year.
Like I joke about having a Harley. Now the first Harley I rode, I rear -ended a pickup truck because the brakes were like wood. Like it was like that. They were ABS because they were so bad they wouldn't lock up,
right? Yeah, you couldn't lock them. This was back in the, I don't know, mid -90s or whatever, and I'm coming off of Japanese bikes. And I was like, I hit the brakes and I was like, oh,
nothing happened. I was like, oh, you know, and now all of that is done. Now, if you got on something, like, I don't know if you've ever had the experience of riding an old bike,
you know, but if you ride. Yeah. I read an old BSA, my friend, like a BSA from the 60s my friend has. And, you know, the clutch is like, you know,
you need the strength of a gargantuan to hit that clutch. You ride a bike from the 60s or the 70s, and you're like, how did you not all that? How are any of you alive after,
you know, even the bikes that were so advanced, like the Honda 750 or the Z1, like you ever look at the tires on those bikes? Like, our front tires are wider than their rear tires were.
And, you know, The disc brake was brand new. And the fork, like the fork leg is about the size of your kickstand. Right. And people race those things.
You look at those guys. You're like, wow, you know. Yeah, you, so, yeah, it's great to live in this age where, you know, a lot of people knock the technology. And it is true.
Like, you have a modern BMW. I have modern BMW. There's nothing on those bikes we're going to fix. There's nothing you do. You know, you, I say that every. man did those 25 year olds give us good organs man you know and now they're going to survive you know 25 year old pair of lungs and kidneys and eyes that they're not going to have to donate anymore yeah it's a it's a sad joke when they call those bikes organ
donors you know donor bikes but that was reality i remember when the um when the r1 first came out the yamaha r1 And my friend who is a Yamaha dealer said,
yeah, we get a lot of the back of those bikes. Yeah, we get the backup. Because, I mean, they were so quick. And nobody, you know, you weren't ready for it. And people would run into things.
It's a lot, it's a lot harder to learn to break than learn to open the throttle. That's for sure. And the funny thing is, like, you'll, I don't know if you've been to a track school.
Not yet. If you go to a track school, Then when they hit the brakes,
it's like running into a wall. I mean, they just, you know, breaks super hard. And that's the skill, right? The skill is breaking and turning. And unfortunately,
you know, opening the throttle is easy. And let's face it, bikes, there are bikes now that are just so quick and so fast. And people, unfortunately, are not expert who get one.
And I want to see how fast it goes. Like, yeah, you might want to learn how fast it stops. I hear you. it a lot in Vegas,
but again, I haven't been in the riding community, so I can't speak to it a lot. In L .A., music, a lot of people listen to music.
That's okay. If you have your phone in your jacket and earplugs, who cares? But the distractions are... Well, see, I've never been a... There's two reasons I've never been a music while riding guys. Matter of fact,
the only time I was, I had an Indian that had this amazing stereo on, so I was one of like to hear what's around me.
I want to hear when a car skids because I don't know where he's skidding from and I want to hear a siren. So, you know, I always said riding in L .A. was like playing a giant game of Frogger.
That's what it is. You're playing Frogger. You got people on their phone. You got people in SUVs who are totally insulated from the world. You got people. The biggest danger in L .A.
The new danger, Tesla. Oh, because they had no sound? No. But just the idea that you're in your car and you're not driving,
it scares me. You see, I, you know, just so when you, in, in L .A., it was my thing. If I saw a Tesla, get away from it. Get away from it. Because I'm going to,
you know how it is. When you ride, you got to, when I was young, some guy taught me, he said, listen, you got to ride like they're out to kill you. Just keep that in mind. They're out. And, you know, it raises your awareness,
not fear, but awareness. So being around Teslas and knowing that people put it in that automatic driving mode, I'm more aware. Here in Vegas,
a couple of things I noticed. The streets are very wide and open. So people go very fast. They consider a red light, you know, the staging lights for a drag.
I mean, they leave red lights in launch mode. It's insane. It's insane because so many people do it. It's one thing when you see it once in a while or like where I live,
there's some new developments and they build the roads before the houses so the fast and furious kids are That's okay. That, you know, but I'm talking about,
you know, on, you know, Jones Boulevard and Cheyenne Street. It's like, this is not a drag strip. They're like, you want to bet? You want to be the first one now. I'm going to be the first one now, but then the other thing is,
and this is where I totally spoiled, California is the only state where lane splitting is 100 % legal. You can go between cars all the time. Here, I was wondering how much people do it.
100 degrees. I'm going, you know, I'm going to take advantage of maneuverability. So, yeah, so I'm still learning if there are any LA, I mean, any Vegas cops. Yeah. Watching this, just leave me alone.
Right? Just leave me alone. I, uh, I went to, remember the movie, The Blair Witch Project? Yeah. So I went, I took my bike to, on Halloween, I took it from here to,
uh, Berkittsville, Maryland, about 240 40 miles away. And I visited Berkittsville, Maryland, and at night, and they had all these dark roads.
And now I'm forgetting why I bring this up. But it was fun. And, oh, and, but yeah, I guess the texting and we have different things. Oh, you mentioned about,
you know, during the pandemic. Now, you know, during the pandemic, or we have things like Uber Eats and all these illegal scooters, motorcycles, and these guys,
right and the cops now they confiscate these and you know mayor adams who's probably uh out of all the mayors that new york has ever had he's the best dressed and he has the least percent of body fat man you ever see that guy he is like a muscle head he is a muscle head i think he used to have a bike years ago i think he mentioned uh he's a diabetic i think he's you know he's a diabetic i think he's he
mentioned you know he doesn't eat uh I think he's a vegan now. But anyway, that's part of the issue. Like, as things get better in one sense, the bikes get better, more technological. We have all these other things that we have to worry about.
But I think the scale is tipping. And because of all the electronic stuff, I had a motorcycle safety instructor said people, they feel that they have to learn less. You know, oh,
the ABS will take care of that for me. The ASC will take care of it. We still have to be aware, right? Yeah, you're still riding it. That's something, you know, you mentioned the electrics. Something I see around here,
kind of suburban Vegas, and I think it's a matter of parents not knowing, they give their kids these electric dirt bikes. Looks like a dirt bike, but it's electric.
And these kids are zipping around on them, doing what kids do, wheelying and this and that, without helmets on. And I don't think the parents realize that thing is a motorcycle.
It's not a bicycle. That thing can do 30, 40 miles an hour. They're motorcycles. And these are young kids 14,
15, 16. Sometimes I see little kids on them. And I'm like, I don't know what your parents are thinking. But, and I bumped into a couple of the kids at a restaurant, you know,
and I was like, are those your bikes? I was like, because the bikes are really cool. They look like dirt bike. And I know they probably expected, oh, this old dude's going to give us something. And I said, listen, man, I said,
those bikes look really fun. I said, I've been riding all my life. Just be careful. And remember, cars can't see you. And they were like, oh, okay, cool. You know, and it was like, I'm not going to knock, listen, I'm not going to knock a 16 -year -old for being 16 or a 22 -year -old.
I would hate to see it. I hate to see some kid, you know, 16 years old, kill himself on a e -bike because he wasn't wearing a helmet.
She wasn't wearing a helmet. And speaking of She, I read somewhere, the fastest group of growing group of motorcyclists are women. And I love that. I love women who ride.
I love women who ride. Me too. We have a bunch of, you know, they don't come out for the coldness, but now that it's warm. and not going down.
And again, because they're not paying attention at all. And then they're so shocked, you know, like, where did you come from? Well, I was right here. You weren't looking. On the topic of women riders, I have a friend.
I know a number of women who ride, but this one in particular, her name is Moira Zinn. She's in Texas. And I'll give you her info. You should have her on the podcast. From track days,
when I met her. She was doing BMW track day. She did BMW marketing for a while, got me on a great ride on a BMW bagger. We rode from Casey to Sturgis when the bikes first came out.
Now she's teaching at a GS off -road adventure school. She just got back from Sturgis. And any guy who can't ride, I'm like,
yeah, let me throw you up against Moira. And on anything, road street racetrack or mud she will leave you behind laughing she'll be great she'll regret that any other comedians that you know like that we would know like to ride here here's a thing and this is really funny um bill burr how do he rides he said i'm the most i'm the biggest motorcycle lover that doesn't ride oh he loves bikes But I think he had a
close call once that keeps him from getting one. But he, he's a bike guy. He loves, he loves racing. He loves the whole culture. He doesn't ride. My friend BT,
like I told you about a guy, Dean Del Rey in L .A., he's a big -time rider. So there's a few I've encountered in various places and times over the years that ride.
Keanu Reeves, you ever ride with him? No, but I ride with people who ride with him. Oh, that's cool. Matter of fact, I have some buddies who are, they do their track days.
And you know, when Keanu does a track day, it's their track for the day. Right. Super nice guy. I've met him. Just the most humble,
fun, loves motorcycles. Loves I mean, watch it on YouTube. He loves them. Deep passion for bikes. But I haven't had the chance. And it's just a matter.
Sometimes it's just a matter of timing. Like they're doing a ride. Like I've been invited and it's like I'm on the road. As I say, I usually travel weekends and stuff. Sure. He's a rider.
Tom Cruise is a rider. Of course. A dealer that I used to deal with in California, they used to build bikes for him. Wow. He's not very tall,
though. I think he's only like 5 '7 maybe. Yeah. Yeah. So you need a... But, you know, that's what... That's the size of the pros. The pros are small types, you know. Of course,
Jay Leno, I've written with Jay. Of course. I've done Jay's garage with Jay. Whenever Jay would get a comical motorcycle, he'd give me a call and be like, come on,
we're doing an episode. So I, I rode, we rode Euro sidecar bikes on a motorcross track. We, he had this, they were, it was an Indian when the side car was a barbecue grill.
And we remember cooking, cooking hamburgers ride. Did you text him after his action? he's okay now from that when his face yeah he's fine yeah that was i did a flat track class with jay that was really fun uh but yeah he's he's like the real deal like it's not just for show like he he loves riding rides a lot of classic bikes he guys a lot of those old 1930s where you had to you know hit the ignition advance as
you're going down the road kind of bikes he's he's into all of that um yeah so there's definitely some celebrities who ride um and actually you know what let's do a quick word association game and i'm going to put and really appreciate i only keep you for another five minutes but you're going to be you know we'll check out we'll put your instagram your website where people around the country uh some of my friends
almost saw you in austin texas i got a you know a lot of new yorkers have moved to either florida or austin texas as you probably know yeah I was going to say triumph,
or maybe the BMW R -1250 GS, but I was going to say also triumph. He's a street guy. All right. I should know if this, I should know if this gentleman is alive or dead,
but he's in one of my, a couple of my favorite movies, Billy D. Williams. Harley, custom road glide is going to be, the bike's going to be as beautiful as he was all right i was going to say beautiful i was going to say ducati multistrata because he likes european stuff and he likes that but you know two two great people can disagree uh eddie murphy edy murphy wow um i can see edy on a ducati because of style
eddie uh like a ducati street fighter or something and be out there stunting on it like he's thing, but because he's Eddie Murphy, his bike is nicer than yours.
I said a VMAX because I picture him on Ebston Turnpike. Too small. Too small. Is he tall? No, Eddie's not big. Okay. Oh, he's too small for the bike.
Okay, got. All right. Chris Rock. Ooh, that's a tough one. Chris Rock would probably be, he's a BMW guy. I think I'd see Chris on a BMW.
See, because he always wears his leather on his shows. I just said Harley decked out in all leathers. That was, you know, my kind of thing. Chris too skinny, man. He's not a Harley guy. Sebastian Montescalco.
Ooh, you got to put him on a Harley, right? What else could Sebastian or? I was going to say a Vespa. Fair enough. Because his wife probably,
I love how he talks about his wife all the time, right? You know, with the car thing, I mean, his wife is like half a million. Yeah, he could do it. He could do it best, two more. Denzel Washington. Wow.
I don't know if they make a motorcycle classy enough for Denzel. So, well, okay, so there's two Denzel's, right? There's the equalizer. The romantic,
classy one. And now we know that it's the badass kick somebody's ass. Right. Denzel. So I'm going to put the romantic, classy Denzel. Again,
it'd be something European, like an M .V. Augusta. Ooh. Totally style driven, super cool, something like that. And then kick -ass Denzel on like a Hayabusa or a jixir or something,
you know, just, yeah, it's fast and kind of badass. I was going to say a Yamaha FJR at 1 ,300 because it's just smooth and goes very fast and performance oriented to it could be.
I put that in the same category. So boost is faster, but yeah. All right. Last one, because he's very popular in the news right now, Ben Affleck. Ben was riding.
What was Ben riding? He was riding around L .A. I think it was on a triumph. blank um well this has been great the last last question because this is also a topic in some of these groups is you know you've been riding for so long do you see five 10 15 years from now is there a point where you're going to say hey i've rolled seven enough times without any major and do you talk about this with your friends of a
certain age like do people say you know when i hit 70 i think I'll stop. Like, what do you think? No, I love, I have a friend, 76, he'll be 77 this year.
He used to be a partner in a Ducati store in L .A. called Pro Italia. And he's my hero. 76 years old rides a multistrata and a Ducati 999.
You're kidding. Nope. And, and he's ridden a cross country on a Ducati sport bike. He is, like I say, he's my hero. It's like,
yeah. So different style of riding as you get older,
but still ride. Well, I like perform. That's why I like the idea of a performance cruiser, because I still want to go fast, not as fast, but I still want the ability. And cruisers,
I've grown to love, touring bikes I've grown to love. There's a lot to be said for comfort. You know, what did my insurance agent said, oh, you're riding boomer bikes now.
I guess that's what they call us. But, you know, and I. And you're like,
wow, look at that. Like, you know, I don't know that I would drop 50 grand customizing a can am, but I'm so happy that people do. They do it here, Alonzo. We have two Will Tuesdays,
which is like the normal people, firemen, teachers, salespeople, accountants. And then there's wicked Wednesdays, which is, you know, I made a joke once,
you know, I think I said, hey, I got to get going because I got to check in with my parole officer, which I didn't, but I made a joke. and like seven of them. I guess there were a club or whatever,
but it was about 15 slingshots went by. Every one of them, just badass paint, wheels, speakers, the whole.
And I was just like, again, not my thing, but I love seeing. It was just very cool. And, and, you know, they're having fun. And I don't think, I don't know if, I don't think slingshot people are motorcycle people.
I think slingshot people. I think you're right. I think you're right. Yeah. everybody who rides.
Motorcycles are such a small community. It's always funny to me when, you know, someone on a Harley won't wave it, someone on a BMW or somebody, listen, if you got a Vespa, I'm cool with you.
That's right, Sebastian. You ride your Vespa. Don't listen to Lenn. I don't care what Lentz. You ride your Vespa, Sebastian. You make it badass. Get the matching little trunk and a helmet. Well,
what What a great show that was. I want to thank Alonzo again. And as I mentioned, if you go to the show notes page, we'll link to his site where you can find out where he's going to be. He's going to be in the New York area in October.
He's going to be in Seattle, Florida, Palm Springs. So you definitely want to see Alonzo if you are a motorcycle rider and even if you're not, right?
Hey, and before we go, please check out VOOM insurance, if you need insurance. They are a new kind of insurance company that is fair and transparent, and you can't get any better than that.
You can give them a call at 1 -888 -871 -2421, and there'll be a link on the show notes, and they don't require a social security number or any type of credit check.
You're just giving you your make and your model and your email address, and they give you a quote, and it's based on the mileage that you ride and you have nothing to lose so give it a try and we're very happy that they've supported the show this year and I also want to thank everybody that made this show possible number one you the listener thank you so much for listening thank you so much for getting the word
out and subscribing and we actually just got a few great ratings on the Apple app store so please rate review and subscribe to the show I also want to thank Mr.
Robbins We're going to have Mark the Animal Mendoza,
the bass guitarist from Twisted Sister on the show. He has four Harleys, two of them, he built by himself. And we're also hoping to have Sean from SRK cycles and bikes and beards.
Giselle Brighton is probably going to be on before Halloween. And we have another special show with the son of Gasper Trauma coming up. So that's why you want to subscribe.
Listen, my name is Len Bellello. So happy to have you here. And until next time, make it a great day.