FIVE THINGS WITH CYCLIST TREVOR LETTMAN OF THE BAND DRAG STATE
FIVE THINGS is a feature on the Banjo Brothers Blog. It’s a short interview about life and bicycles with a notable person. This week's notable person is cyclist Trevor Lettman.
Lettman and the Banjo Brothers' relationship spans at least fourteen years, first meeting when Trevor's web development company Space2Burn was located across the street from the legendary CRC Cykel Garage.
Lettman, who grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, is a renaissance man of sorts. Entrepreneuring, writing code, playing music or taking on epic home improvement products, life is never dull around the energetic father of three.
Lettman and his wife Andrea are in the midst of an epic adventure-- a radical lifestyle change-- which has re-planted them and the family in Minnesota's north woods. While Trevor's locale has changed his passion for bikes (or music) has not. We took a few moments this week to get caught up with Trevor.
We hope you enjoy this week's Five Things.
BANJO BROS: WHAT ARE YOU RIDING?
TL: Our family moved from the Longfellow neighborhood in Minneapolis up to Crosslake - about 2.5 hours north - and we live deep in the woods, so it’s been all about the fatbike these days. I've got a Salsa Mukluk that is my only geared bike other than the Xtracycle. There’s not a lot of bike paths up here, but I’ll be breaking out the cargo bike soon… which really makes me miss the city. I'm doing the Almanzo100 in May on a single speed, which I have to do now because I put it out there, so should probably put this beer down and start training.
BANJO BROS: WHERE ARE YOU RIDING?
TL: The new homestead is about 25 minutes from one of the mountain bike trailheads in Cuyuna, just outside of Crosby, so that is my home base. But during the long, cold winter I was fortunate to spend five weeks in Australia and got out on the trails about three times a week. It was summer! I had to dodge wallabies! Everyone on social media hated me for that period of time, but thanks to Minnesota Seasonal Amnesia we are all good now. The oddest thing that happened on the trip was a guy in a wee bike shop outside of Melbourne commented on my Cars-R-Coffins t-shirt... turns out we have mutual friends. That's what I adore about bike subcultures.
Also: my 8-year-old son, Elijah, had his first major endo riding in the new MTB park there and it was SPECTACULAR. He really wants you to know about it.
So hug your people. Slow down. Pay attention. Then put the rubber side down and seize the day.
BANJO BROS: WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO, READING OR WATCHING?
TL: I’m a big fan of documentaries, and just finished watching Leaving Neverland. There are not enough showers in the world to get that filth off of you. Books… My late night Twitter addiction hasn’t help me get through the stack which includes:
How To Change Your Mind ~ Michael Pollan
Savage Continent ~ Keith Lowe
I Can't Believe It's Not Buddha! ~ Bodhipaksa
One Dumb Guy by Paul Myers is fantastic if you're a Kids In The Hall fan. If you're not, we will never really know each other. I’m currently devouring this amazing glossy mag about The Cure that details their entire career, and finally, understand where the heck "Let's Go To Bed" and "Love Cats" came from after all that early dark stuff. My buddy Rob Wales and I are writing new music, and I'm really mining material from the early 80s, so I'm kind of on a journey of sorts. Lol Tolhurst – if you’re reading this – please produce the new Drag State album.
BANJO BROS: WHAT ARE YOU COOKING, EATING/DRINKING?
TL: I stopped eating things with faces 30 years ago after listening to "Meat Is Murder" by The Smiths too many times in my parent's basement, but haven’t kicked eggs and cheese yet. Because CHEEEEEEESE, man! How many cheeses are there to try? Probably thousands. Living in the Northwoods has its challenges for vegetarians, so my lifeline has been shipments from Herbivorous Butcher. For two weeks I’ll eat like a king chowing down on veggie Italian sausage, maple bacon (amazingly realistic!) and soy cheese. My wife and I picked up some great hot sauces from Char Man at the farmers market in Ojai, CA, and I’ve been putting it on everything. Do we have room to ramble on about beer and coffee?? No? Ok.
BANJO BROS: WHAT'S STUCK IN YOUR CRAW?
TL: In the past week or so I’ve had two acquaintances pass away. One was a really good guy from DC I knew from Twitter who was a fierce cycling advocate – hit by a car. Less than 24 hours earlier we had been joking about the Strib headline "...Grant Hart of the Replacements" (do not let them live this down!) and then he’s gone. Just last night we found out that Jeremy Werst, founder of MPLS Bike Love, had died suddenly. I didn’t know him well, but he was kind of a fixture in the Minneapolis biking and developer communities. Being someone who is insanely in love with the humble bicycle + spends too many waking hours writing code… well, we had a lot in common. I tell people that I write bikes and ride code. He did, too. I turned 52 in March and I’m wondering "is this the stage of my life where everyone starts dying?" Cue sad trombone.
So hug your people. Slow down. Pay attention. Then put the rubber side down and seize the day.
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MORE ABOUT THE FIVE THINGS INTERVIEWS FROM BANJO BROTHERS
A big Banjo Brothers thank you to Trevor Lettman for participating in this week's edition of Five Things. These short interviews about life and bicycles will appear every Friday on the Banjo Brothers Blog. If you liked this FIVE THINGS from Banjo Brothers you should check our full series of past five things interviews.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE INTERVIEWED FOR FIVE THINGS?
Use the contact form on our website to send us a note. See you next Friday. Also, since you're here, we do need to mention, Banjo Brothers make a whole line of tough, practical and affordable gear for cyclists. Thanks for reading.