Listener Mail: Len Answers YOUR Questions!

Hey there. I'm Leonardo Balello. You can call me Len. And this is the Arrival Live podcast episode 82. And I have missed you.
Yes, it's been about a month since our last show. But the funny thing is, is that the month of July was our second most listened to month. And we only had really one episode is the early July.
And I think the reason is that a lot of people were sharing it with their friends, and I think a lot of people were catching up on episodes that they missed. So kudos to everybody who's been listening and sharing the show so far.
And here's an interesting stat. Spotify tells us that we are in the top 20 % of all their podcasts that they track in terms of people sharing it with their friends and family on social media and texts.
That's kind of cool. And the other cool thing is Libson, which is the company that hosts our podcast. And they're one of the biggest podcast hosts in the world. big company like Lipson.
Okay, and the format for today's show is going to be me answering your emails. Now, we get, you know, anywhere from, you know, four to 20 emails a month, depending on the guest, depending on the time of year.
So I'm going to answer the most relevant, most asked questions for the last, like, three or four months. And before we do that, let's say hi to our friends at VOOM Insurance. They've been a sponsor of the show.
They're a great friend of the show and they can be your friend by helping you save on motorcycle insurance. A lot of people have bought new bikes recently, whether it's used bikes because the prices have come down or people are finally getting around to spend in their IRS checks so they're buying new bikes.
I would get a quote from boom insurance because they charge you based on the mileage that you put on the bike and most people will save anywhere from 15 % to upwards of 30 or 35 % on their motorcycle insurance.
Get to the questions now. Our first email is from Mr. Edward in Houston, Texas. Hey, dear Len, I love your show, and congratulations on having over 80 episodes.
I have been listening since episode five. I think you have a lot of great guests and information to share. What are your plans for the future of the show? Well, that's a good question.
You know, one of my favorite radio DJs is now a sports talk show host, Richard Neer. And he has a saying that goes something like, hey, do you want to make God laugh?
Then tell him what your plans are. So with that being said, here's what I'd like to be able to accomplish. Number one, get to at least 100 shows. I think that would be a great milestone.
Number two is to get, I love the guests that I have, and we're going to talk about in a second. I'm going to try to get some more high -profile guests that I'll smatter in with our normal guests that work in business and finance and nursing and school teachers and all that stuff.
But we have some plans to get some new guests and interesting guests. I mean, I would love to get Scotty Kilmer on the show. He has, I think, a Suzuki and a triumph. And if you don't know his channel,
Scotty Kilmer channel on YouTube, he's great. He's more of a car guy, but he loves motorcycles too. I also would like to get Keanu Reeves on the show. So if anybody knows Keanu Reeves, send him my way.
And I'd also love to have Dee Schneider from Twisted Sister. He's a big motorcycle guy, has ridden motorcycles for many years. If anybody knows him or Dee,
if you're listening, contact me, okay? And while those guests in the future will be great, I'm sure. One of the things I'm most thankful for, and I don't want to say surprised,
but really thankful is the guest that I've had on the show. People like Giselle Bryden, right? She's one of, she's ridden her motorcycle with her dog all over Canada and North America,
thousands and thousands and thousands of miles, and she loves it and she keeps track of it. And our birthdays are the same. We're both born May 31st, the same year. That's all I'm going to say right now.
And I've ridden with her and her partner and her friends twice. They invited me to ride with them around Williamsport, Pennsylvania, along the Susquehanna River, two years in a row.
And let me tell you something, it was great. I had a great time. I don't remember what I had for lunch today, but I remember most of that, most of those rides, you know. And that's something that I didn't expect that I would be riding with a lot or any of my guests.
like this, right? And even though I wouldn't consider myself friends with this person, I had Andrew Trebitt on episode 12. He was a motorcycle journalist. He's still alive and well,
but he was paralyzed while he was reviewing a motorcycle. He was on a bike, and he got hit by a car, the car's fault, and, you know, an inspiring and grounding story.
And I remember that episode really, really well, just the stories he told. And if you want to be inspired and just feel humble and feel thankful, go to episode 12.
It's a really, really good episode. And then there's people like Etter who was just on this year, right? And Edder lives in Fort Lee, New Jersey, and he's got a book and a movie coming out about his life.
And I'll link to his book again, because if you ever feel depressed about your life? Read his book because his childhood was really tough. I mean, I don't want to give it away, but the first two sentences of his book talk about how his mother,
the first things that he remembers his mother saying to him was that how she would have, how she hoped or how she should have got an abortion when she was pregnant with him. So if you ever think you had a bad childhood,
read Edder's book. And it's a really great book about, you know, discovery and transformation and motivation and being successful, which he is right now. And Eder is also one of the admins for the Facebook group that we run for the New York motorcyclist group,
right? And every Saturday, Eder leads about between 25 and 45 people on a new motorcycle route, usually around Jersey or New York.
This coming Saturday, weather permitting, we are going to a place called the Salt Shack in Babylon. of Queens,
New York. Now he comes to our two -wheel Tuesdays. I've gone riding with him and you will never meet somebody who loves riding BMW motorcycles more than this young gentleman number one.
Number two, I like him because he travels with a motorcycle toolkit. Every day of the week it seems, right? I had a small problem with my bike and he's like, oh,
I'll help you out. I said, oh, I think I have a toolkit. He's like, nope, no problem. I got a kit right here. And out of his Jan Sport backpack, he pulls out a nice little toolkit, fixes what I needed, and I was on my way.
And he's also one of these guys, and I'm sure you know them, or maybe you're one of them, but he can ride 700 miles, like most people ride, you know, 10 miles to the store and back. So you have to really admire somebody like that.
And then sometimes you never know where you're going to get your guests, right? So we were doing our annual Christmas tree run. This is where we see five, we ride to five Christmas trees in Manhattan.
And the first stop was at the Wall Street tree. And we had about 30 people with us. And as we're stopped, this very graceful and attractive woman comes up to us and she's very well dressed. And she said in a Russian accent,
what are you doing? What are you doing? I have a motorcycle, this and that. So we talked for a little bit, and I told her what we were doing, and it turns out not only did she ride, but she is a serious rider.
She's come, she's been in this country for over 20 years, started on a sport bike, has been riding Harleys, and she's a model and an actress and a philanthropist, and she also runs two all -women motorcycle groups here in New York and Boston,
and having her on the show was amazing and the title of the show was from Russia with love, you know, loosely based on the James Bond film, but she was a very good spirit because,
you know, sometimes I asked her if she was really a Russian spy, which she denied. But a spy would also deny that, right? Okay, let's get to question number two.
And that's from, this is from Sarah in Poughkeepsie, New York, and she says, dear Len, I enjoy your show, and I love the shows about group. And the woman that I hit actually did not go down.
Well, Sarah from Poughkeepsie, I'm so sorry that happened. And you know, like we said a little earlier, yeah, you have to ride your ride even in a group. And that can mean being at the end of the group or in the middle or in some cases at the front.
But know what your riding skills are and don't be afraid to kind of tell people what they are and ride accordingly. And, you know, I told you that we've been riding with Etter. And we've had a couple of minor people go down,
you know, well, not minors, but, you know, we have some minor accidents. Nothing serious, thank God. But before every ride, Etter who's been leading our rides, has like a little pep talk or a little instructional talk.
He says, okay, these are the people that want to ride fast. You go ahead of us. These are the normal people. We're going to ride slow. Here's where we're going to meet. So if you get lost or if you get out of the group, you know where we're stopping.
about six inches and you know what we but we have scheduled stops so during one of our scheduled stops i just said very nicely to him i said listen if you're ever coming up on me on either side either give me a horn or maybe flash your light because i didn't see you coming up and you kind of startled me a little bit and he was very kind of honest and cool he's like yeah i'm sorry i know that i did that won't
happen again and don't do that to other people like you you know kind of did so you have to be very very careful and especially in the the show.
I really enjoyed the show with the clams. Those girls look cool. I saw their Instagram and it looks like they are a lot of fun. But your podcast is about motorcycles and not mopeds. It would be great if you stuck to shows about motorcycles,
especially cruisers and larger displacement bikes. Well, Frank, I totally appreciate the email and the feedback. And here's what I will say. Number one,
I had met the clams at one of our meetups, and number two, they are the coolest, hippest women on mopeds that you will ever see, number one. And like I said in the show,
is that mopeds and smaller displacement motorcycles are often the gateway drug to bigger motorcycles, bigger displays at cruisers, sport tours, all that stuff. And I think we can learn a lot from people that are just on smaller displacement things and how they maintain them and how they really have fun with them.
And also, if you remember, we did talk about the street bikes that Brianna did ride as well. And we talked to, I did get one email saying, hey, it was kind of cool that you guys were talking about recipes and stuff.
You know, Brianna is a trained professional chef. So I like to have fun with my guests and talk to them about what their passions are, including motorcycling. And, you know, with Brianna,
we were just talking food for about 20 % of the time. And it was great, you know. Okay, let's get to the next email. This one is from Stacey. Wow, we got two women. Okay. Stacey is in Richmond,
Virginia, and she says, hey, I'm a big fan of the show. I live in Richmond, and I've been riding for two years. Now, she doesn't say how old she is. But, and it's one of the hottest summers I can remember here in Richmond.
I know you mentioned wearing safety gear all the time, even in the heat. But honestly, I think I'm safer if I am cool and not overheating. So sometimes I just wear a tank top or a t -shirt and jeans and sneakers when it's too hot.
And when it's – oh, and I really have good boots, but when it's hot, my feet are boiling when I wear them. What do you recommend? Should I be hot and uncomfortable and potentially less safe or cool and more exposed if I get in a crash.
I think I am a safer rider if I am comfortable. Well, Stacey, I'm not going to lie. I wish I could say I was all the gear all the time. I try as much as I can. But,
you know, we had John Heyman on the show, and he's a lawyer, and he deals with a lot of people that get injured. And I'm just saying this from what he told me and what you can here on the show. He sees a lot of accidents.
He sees a lot of injuries from the waist down. Here's what I will say. Try to get your gear. You know, if it's an expense thing, there's a site called Rumbullist.
R -U -M -B -L -I -T dot com. They sell used, pre -owned, I should say, motorcycle gear from people like you and me, not these schmucks on eBay that you don't know who they are.
These are passionate people that ride motorcycles. So I would try that if it's an expense thing. And if it's out.
It helps out the people that you're sharing the show with. In the 80 episodes that we've had so far, 81, I've gotten at least four emails that said that listening to the show has not only made them a better writer,
but saved them from a serious accident. And one person even said that the show probably saved their life because it got them in the right mindset and reminded them of the skills that they knew they had,
but the repetition of listening to the show made it so that they lived to see another day. That's the honest truth. Okay, let's go to the next question. This is from Evan in Miami,
Florida. And he says, Len, hey, I am from East Orange, New Jersey, but moved to Miami three years ago during COVID. My daily bike is a Kawasaki KLR 650.
But recently I bought a Royal Enfield Interceptor to ride around here in the city and for short trips. It's a little underpowered, but I do like the bike and I'm dating a very nice girl who is a native Spanish speaker.
I played her your show in Spanish using that AI tool and boy, is that stuff crazy. Then he goes on to say, I've only taken my girlfriend on one ride so far and I'm nervous about having her as a passion.
Just like any relationship, communication is so important. So before the ride, I emailed her a link, and I'll put the link on the show notes, about how to be a good passenger on a motorcycle,
number one. So that gets her in the right mind frame. Number two, I told her what to wear and what not to wear. I said, no open -toe shoes, wear something that covers your ankles, wear good jeans,
bring a jacket, gloves. In this case, I had a helmet for her. So I told her what to wear. Then I told her Our helmet's going to click sometimes.
We're either going to come to a stop or we're going to leave from a stoplight and our helmets are going to hit. That's okay because a lot of people say, oh, I'm sorry. No, that's fine, number one. Then I also said,
listen, if you have any problems, you could talk to me, but any major things, let's communicate with body touching, right? So I said, if you have to go to the bathroom, touch my shoulder,
if I'm going too fast, you know, do this, whatever, that type of thing. And I also told her where she could hold me that would not restrict my range of movement, which is usually around the waist.
If you hold somebody above, too much above the belly button, that's going to restrict their range of movement. And we had a very, very nice ride. And during one part of the ride, she was actually waving her arms like she was like an eagle soaring through the sky on the back of my motorcycle.
So it was really fun. So that's what I would say communicate. Oh, and then also let's talk about speed. Hey,
I live on Long Island and Newsday came out with an article that says that motorcycle accidents and crashes are at an all -time high. Have you seen that? And what do you think? Well, the funny thing is my parents live in Merrick and I did see that.
Now, I haven't had a chance to read the whole article, but I skimmed it. But what I will say is it's kind of not surprising and for a few different reasons. Number one, I think people are lacking and training.
Okay. Number two is that the population is getting older. And yes, most actions happen to people in their 20s, but also if you're 70, 75, 80, you may not be the writer that you used to be,
number one, number two. And then what I also think is that, you know, during COVID, people who hadn't ridden in many years got back to writing because they had nothing else to do and they had some of that money that,
you know, we got. So they had some extra money and they decided just to start riding. And these people... more bikes,
more accidents. So with all that said, you have to be alert and aware and of your surroundings, both you and what's around you. Okay, and the final question isn't really from one person.
We've actually had three emails that were all similar. They were all from the United States. One was Canada, I believe, from Montreal. And they were all asking a question about the use of artificial intelligence and motorcycle safety.
And I'm in an AI group here in New York City, led by a very famous person in the AI world, David Berkowitz. And from what I've been reading and knowing, number one, things like airbag vests and jackets,
right? Many of them are controlled by chips and AI, and they know the millisecond that you're going to go off the bike, number one. Number two, you have things like adaptive cruise control and collision warning and avoidance systems are coming to motorcycle They are stylish.
And then you also have things like stability control. You know, Honda has a big airbag, I think, for the whole motorcycle and then helmet technology, right? I think there's a lot of things you're going to be seeing with helmets,
from cameras to heads -up displays to, that will even visors that will enhance your site. If you're old enough to remember the six million dollar man,
he had one bionic guy. So there's talk about bringing enhancement to your vision through the motorcycle helmet and also the ability to control certain functions of your motorcycle with your voice and eventually even your thoughts,
right? But voice controlling of things like stability control all kind of fit into that AI category. So That's what I know about it so far.
What I'd like to do is a whole show on AI safety in the future. So maybe we'll do that around the holidays when things slow down a bit. All right,
that's episode number 82 in the books. And I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Now, please, you can always email me at Arrivealivepodcast at gmail .com.
And you'll see links in the show notes to all our sponsors. And can you do me as solid? In addition to email, you'll see... It's about a gentleman named Gasper Trauma,
and he owned and operated Trauma's Auto School in Queens, New York for many years. And he was the LeBron James, Caitlin Clark, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, and even Tony Robbins of motorcycle safety instructed.
I'm here because of my awesome parents, absolutely, and my great family, but I'm also here because of him, because he taught me beginning skills, and then later on I took three advanced.
from a motorcycle safety perspective and from a life perspective. So that's going to be a great show. Now, I also want to thank everyone who makes this show possible. You, the listener, keep on sharing, putting it on your social media.
Mr. Rob McLaughlin of the West Coast Arts, go to Google or Apple Music. You'll see some of his new music. And also Mr. Liam Murray of Queens, New York. And he writes the commercial music for the show.
My name is Leonardo Bellello. You can call me Len. And since we have a little extra time. Trying hard to look so cool Singing songs by R -A -M I bet you never heard of them I guess I'm not the man you know You cut my heart out with a spoon On a Wednesday night in June I spent the entire night Just trying to end your side I was standing at the bar be your superhero I don't let me for a perfect year I guess
I'm not your superhero You cut my heart out and he's streaking Always being in love with you So,
uh, Thank you.