S&YE162 - BPM XTrek

[00:00:00] Hello, this is Brendan and you can find me on Instagram at BPM XTrek. You are listening to episode 162 of the Subie & You podcast. Hello and welcome to this episode of the Subie & You podcast with Brendan, aka BPM XTrek.

[00:00:28] I thank him for joining me on this episode and sharing his Subaru journey and also telling us about his awesome XTrek because I think it looks really, really great.

[00:00:40] And it was great to have him on and have him share a little bit about his car and his journey and also himself. However, I have to say that the part where I got into asking him questions more about

[00:00:57] him, somehow GarageBand stopped recording right when I was asking him about... Right before I asked the questions about what makes him want to get up out of bed every day and stay in bed every day. So I don't know what happened.

[00:01:13] This is only the second time that has ever happened. The first time it happened, I noticed, I saw that GarageBand was not recording anymore and I was able to stop it, go back and record. But unfortunately this time it wasn't until after we got done recording.

[00:01:32] I was editing earlier this weekend and I got to the end and I was like, this doesn't seem right. Like as I was getting closer to the end and I realized that it got cut off right as he was talking about what he does for a living.

[00:01:48] So my apologies to everybody, especially to Brendan, but we did get all of the Subaru content in and I just, I have three windows up. I have my Zoom window up when I'm recording.

[00:02:02] I have the window with all my notes app with the questions and in the background I have GarageBand where I can see the elapsed time. And if it's recording, the time is going.

[00:02:14] And I don't know if I just didn't notice that it stopped or maybe the elapsed time was still going and it just stopped recording somehow. I'm not sure what happened, but I got most of the episode in, got all of the really important parts.

[00:02:29] Again, I apologize for this little technical glitch and you know, I definitely have to keep an eye on that because I don't like that that happened. And it, you know, I don't like that because I don't like mistakes.

[00:02:45] And so again, I apologize and try not to let that happen again. The Subian U podcast is brought to you by Eccentric Designs. For those of you who don't know, Eccentric Designs is a small community driven business that offers custom fit vinyl overlays for most Subaru models.

[00:03:04] This includes various designs for the rear reflectors, taillights and side taillights. I also offer fun decal designs like the popular fender stripes and stickers. To find designs for your Subie, head on over to eccentricdesigns.com.

[00:03:17] There's always more projects in the works, so be sure to follow at eccentric.designs on Instagram. Thank you eccentric designs for sponsoring the Subie and U podcast. It's very much appreciated.

[00:03:29] Go give her a follow if you're not doing so and check out her website and see what all she has to offer for your Subaru. So getting back to this episode with Brendan, I noticed that I've had a lot of people on

[00:03:44] the last, I don't know, like the last maybe six episodes or so. They've all been on the East Coast. So I didn't do that on purpose. I'm just kind of going through my list of people that I've had on there for a while

[00:04:01] and just noticed as I was recording, I'm like, all these people are on the East Coast. So East Coast represent on the Subie and U podcast. This episode is brought to you by SubaruGear.com and we're going with another Subaru gear collection you can find on the website.

[00:04:20] This week, we're talking about the babies and kids collection. I know many of you out there are parents. So this collection is for you. However, if you are an aunt or an uncle or know some friends with kids, of course, this

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[00:05:12] It's got some really cute stuff. Be sure to use the code SUBI and U24 for 20% off your purchase of any items from the babies and kids collection or any other items on the site. Remember that if your total purchase is over $50 after the discount, you automatically get

[00:05:31] free shipping. Thank you so much SubaruGear.com for sponsoring the Subie and U podcast and bringing this great discount to the Subie and U podcast listeners. I don't know how things are going in other parts of the country, but it's kind of unusually

[00:05:46] warm here in Houston in February. It's I mean, it's been like in the high 60s maybe to low 60s and so it's usually colder right now, but it's weird because like last week it got pretty cold.

[00:06:01] So it'll go down to like 30 something and then two days later it's like 75 degrees. So what are you experiencing out there? Are you experiencing some warmer than usual temperatures right now? Because it's not, thankfully it's not hot, but it's just unusual and I don't know.

[00:06:22] It doesn't feel like winter here, but it is nice that it's warmer weather and we get to be outside a lot. So I am thankful for that. This episode is brought to you by Mele Design Firm and they are offering 5% off select RallySpec

[00:06:36] products such as a Group 35 RallySpec battery mount for the Crosstrek and other Subaru products such as the Front Strut Tower Brace and Engine Bay Caps. The Engine Bay Caps come in nine different colors.

[00:06:49] So when you head over to Meledesignfirm.com, you can check out and see what all colors they offer. To get the 5% off that Mele is offering, use the code SUBI plus U at checkout. So the little plus symbol is what you'll use.

[00:07:03] Head on over to Meledesignfirm.com and check out the RallySpec and Subaru sections of the website. And thank you so much, Mele Design Firm for sponsoring the SUBI and you podcast. This episode is also brought to you by Ryko Wheels where they are committed to providing

[00:07:19] you with the highest quality specialized wheels such as the Drifter, Detour, Teton, and the Seeker. In addition to their wheels, they also offer lift kits. All of this will allow you to travel further, experience new adventures, and discover all of those extraordinary destinations.

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[00:07:51] Be sure to use the code SUBIU10 at checkout to get 10% off a set of wheels or a lift kit. Thank you so much Ryko Wheels for sponsoring the SUBI and you podcast. And now it's time to get into this conversation with Brendan and hear all about his Crosstrek

[00:08:07] and his Subaru journey and a little bit about him. And again, my apologies for having it gotten cut off. Again, I don't know what happened, but we got most of the episode in, so that's important.

[00:08:21] And we were able to hear about his Crosstrek and the people that he likes to get out with. That was really cool to hear all the people that he has up there to hang out with and hit the trails with. So here we go.

[00:08:35] Hey, welcome to the podcast, Brendan. How's it going? Yo, yo, yo. It's going good. How about yourself? Doing well. Doing well. It's nice to have the weekend. It was supposed to rain today like all day, but it hasn't been raining outside, which is nice.

[00:09:04] So that makes for a better weekend. No rain makes a great day. It's 62 up here right now in the middle of February, and it's awesome. I know. It's either, I don't know what the temperature is, but it's warmish outside. It's probably like 70, low 70s or something.

[00:09:21] Which I was just thinking about that before we got on the call, like that two years ago when we had the big winter storm here, it was either two, no, I think it was three years ago. Yeah, three years ago.

[00:09:32] This time in February, we were getting close to below freezing temperatures for like three days in a row. Really? Yeah, three years later it's 70 degrees. Wow. Yeah. Houston weather for you. Absolutely. So I was looking at your Instagram page and you said, yeah, it's close enough or something,

[00:09:54] but does your Crosstrek drive anything like a Lamborghini? You know, when I was making that reel, I thought it was funny that I posted it and it didn't really do too good.

[00:10:06] So I debated on taking it down, but I'm like, no, people are going to find it funny later down the line. But no, it does not feel like a Lamborghini. But the driving experience holding that SnowWorks carbon fiber steering wheel with the Alcantara, shout out SnowWorks.

[00:10:20] That's the only sense of a Lamborghini I get. Yeah. No speed. I mean, I bet it handles bumps better than a Lamborghini. Probably so. Yeah. You go through snow better. Absolutely. No, I just thought that was funny.

[00:10:36] And but the other question I have to ask also is, as we're getting this started, is do you prefer pancakes or waffles? So I don't have like a set answer on this. Listening to previous podcasts, everybody had a great point on waffles and pancakes.

[00:10:51] So I'm kind of caught in the middle, but I'm more leaning towards pancakes. Yes, because you can you can have a nice fluffy pancake. You can't really have a nice fluffy waffle. But yes, you can. But a nice fluffy pancake does it for me. Yeah. Same here. Yeah.

[00:11:09] A fluffy waffle would be seems like it would be soggy and that would just defeat the purpose of a waffle. Yeah. Yes. Another pancake guy. Thank you. That's awesome. You're welcome. Yeah. So I was also looking because you've got some funny stuff going on.

[00:11:26] I just wanted to know if like if that was you or another person that was being used as a human traction board. I am the traction board. OK, so I was off roading down to Connecticut with my one of my coworkers and we hit this

[00:11:41] little trail after a day of fishing. You could see my kayak on my roof in that picture as well. Yeah. He's like, dude, I know this little trail right behind my house. It's made for dirt bikes, but it can fit a car maybe.

[00:11:51] So yeah, I got the three wheeling pretty big and he didn't believe me. So I laid underneath my tire and he took a picture. There you go. Yeah. That's a funny picture, too. And yeah.

[00:12:04] And then now, you know, you've got a human traction board and then you're also part of the Max Traction Micro crew. So how did you find out about them? I don't know who exactly I saw on Instagram with them, but once I saw them, I knew I had

[00:12:20] to get them. So I messaged a message, Phil, right away. I'm like, where do I get these? Do you sell these all this stuff? No. I was like, I'm going to go buy a drink for Amazon.

[00:12:27] And I bought the first set that I saw and I just had fun with them. Yeah. It was it was fun having him on, too, and having him talk about like going from just a stupid idea to now he's got over 400 members. And yeah, that's crazy. Yeah.

[00:12:44] I mean, and it's just a fun little thing that people from all different builds can participate in and just have fun with, you know, and I mean, that's what it's all about. I mean, these these builds are meant for fun and so are Max Trax Micro Crew. Exactly.

[00:13:00] I was looking like at the very like front of your or like very beginning or early post. You owned a lowered Hyundai before? I did. So it was a 2012 Hyundai Sonata. Yes, the basic grandmother car. I mean, I drive a Crosstrek. We all drive Crosstreks.

[00:13:17] It's another grandmother car. I wanted to be a little bit different at the time, so I bought the cheapest coil overs I did or I saw and threw them on there and I was scraping everywhere. How long did you have that car?

[00:13:33] It was a hand-me-down from my older sister. She had it for about three years and then she moved off to college and then I took quote unquote ownership. And then that's when I kind of destroyed it.

[00:13:47] And then I gave that back to my parents and then I went out and bought a 2014 Jetta for my Crosstrek. But yeah, no, I lowered that thing within a week of owning it. Did you lower the Jetta also? No, I wanted to keep that stock.

[00:14:06] It was crazy good on gas. My first car that I purchased, like I wanted to keep it a little bit OEM, I guess. My daughter has a Jetta and she gets really good gas mileage.

[00:14:19] It's a five-speed manual, but it was a two liter, so it was very slow. It was base model. I drove it home from the dealership and I got like 35, 40 miles per gallon. I forgot what the exact number was, but it was crazy high.

[00:14:36] I've never seen that number again since that day. How long did you have that one? I'd say about a year and a half. So what made you decide to get into a Crosstrek and then why a Subaru?

[00:14:50] So my cousin had a Subaru WX before and I've always loved just seeing it parked in his driveway as I'm going to work in the morning. So I've kind of followed Subarus like ever since that.

[00:15:04] And then I do a lot of ice fishing and camping and stuff like that. I needed a car with the space and just like the cargo area was huge compared to my Jetta. And also really good on gas. Stock, I should say.

[00:15:18] Yeah, and I mean, because I love having a hatchback because I had a trunk before this. No, no, I had a hatchback before this one. So two cars ago, I had a trunk and like the trunk volume is nice, but you just can't get anything in there.

[00:15:33] If you've got a big box or something, it's just like the opening is too small to get big stuff in there. And having a hatch is so nice because you could just got all this open space that you can utilize and make use of.

[00:15:47] So I totally get that. So when you bought your Crosstrek, were you just thinking like, oh, I want to use it to go camping and ice fishing and get me to some places that like, you know, obviously a Jetta couldn't get to.

[00:15:58] And I saw another one where you said you were planning to keep it stock. So how long did that last? So I got the car May of 22, I believe, or April, something like that.

[00:16:13] That same day I brought it home, parked in the driveway, went on Instagram and I just searched up hashtag Crosstrek. I did not realize you can do anything to these cars. Like within a week, I bought the LP Adventure wheels. I showed up the following week.

[00:16:30] So I had to buy tires and all this fancy stuff. It stayed stock for maybe a week, two weeks. Yeah. Now when you did looked up the hashtag Crosstrek, were you just trying to see, were you looking for what people could do with it?

[00:16:46] Or were you just looking to connect with other Crosstreks? No, I was just trying to see what people did to their Crosstreks, like customizations and modifications, like just really anything to like catch my eye, I guess. Yeah. And to catch other people's eyes as you're driving by.

[00:17:03] Yes, exactly. So did you start like kind of, you know, as you were looking at other Crosstreks, did you start, I mean, obviously you started with the wheels and you had to get tires, but then

[00:17:13] like, did you start kind of building a mental list or did you like write down a list of mods that you wanted to get? How did that, like, how did you get from there to where you are now? Oh boy.

[00:17:24] I think somewhere deep in my notes app, I still have my original list that I still use today, but I don't open it too often. I don't remember like going on Instagram and like looking at other people's cars. Like I need that. I want that.

[00:17:38] It's just whatever came to my mind. Like I do a lot of camping, so like I need an awning. Why not get an awning? If I bring my kayak somewhere, like I need a kayak rack. Got to get that. Put that on there.

[00:17:47] I do a lot of fishing, so I need fishing rod holders or in this case a ski rack, which holds fishing rods perfectly. Oh nice. Yeah. So yeah, so I guess as you were thinking about things that you want to do, that is kind of

[00:18:00] what prompted what mods you were getting then? Exactly. Gotcha. That's nice. Everything on my car basically serves a purpose. What would you say has been your favorite mod? What would you say has been your favorite mod? See, this was a tough question.

[00:18:16] I don't know and I still don't know. So I'm gonna go with my lift kit because it just changes the whole entire look of the car. Yeah. Yeah. A lifted Crosstrek just looks amazing. Even on stock wheels, it's crazy.

[00:18:30] So where'd you come up with the name BPM Xtrek? So my Instagram before was BPM Media. BPM is my first letter of my first name. P's my middle name. M is my last name. So I kind of just wanted to keep that, but I put on my story.

[00:18:47] Like what should my potential Instagram new name be? And everybody chose BPM Xtrek, so I had to go with that. Yeah, that's good. And so do you do media stuff also?

[00:18:59] No, I just take photos of like big group rides and stuff like that and send them to everybody. Okay, that's cool. I used to just like go to like car meets, like local car shows and just take pictures and post them on that account.

[00:19:10] But I since deleted that since I got my car and kind of my car took over my account. Yeah. And then so like you didn't really know, you said that you could do all these things to a Crosstrek, you know, until you looked up the hashtag Crosstrek.

[00:19:26] But did you know about the Subaru community? I mean, you said your cousin had WRX, but did you know that there's this like great big community out there of people that are enthusiasts? I didn't know about like the overlanding community, the off-roading community at all.

[00:19:39] I knew about like the stance community and just like the general like WRX community. I didn't know anything behind like the Crosstreks, the Foresters, anything like that. So did you just like start seeing that whenever you started searching on Instagram?

[00:19:55] And then I guess, did you start connecting with people and thinking like, hey, I need to or I want to meet up with people and get out and do some exploring with other people? Yeah.

[00:20:05] So like right when I started building my Crosstrek, I put wheels on it and then I believe I put the Rough Country two-inch puck lift on it. That's when I connected with JoeXVAdventurer on Instagram. That was right when he started Hops and Cars.

[00:20:22] And I believe I was like one of the first like five posts he reposted me. So I'm like, all right, this guy's kind of cool. Oh, look, he's from Mass. I've zoomed in on his license plate. Nice.

[00:20:30] So I started getting in touch with him and then shortly after we hit some trails together. Yeah. And it looks like you've got quite a decent amount of people up there that you can get

[00:20:40] out and hit the trails with, which is really cool because I mean here like in Houston, there's plenty of people out here that have Subarus. Like we have a little kind of group that we get together, but

[00:20:51] unfortunately we don't have anything too close by to go hit some trails. So that's really cool that you've got a group that you can get out with and explore like that. Yeah. So how many like, so when did that start picking up meeting up with other people?

[00:21:06] Like, did you connect with him and then that kind of connected you with other people and then it just kind of started going from there? And then was it like also at Hops and Cars that you started meeting other people? Yeah.

[00:21:16] So I met up with Joe and then the other Joe, Epic Moose was there and then kind of just branched out from there. Like just meeting everybody on different trail rides and just like even at Wicked Big Meat, I met a bunch of new people.

[00:21:28] Boxer Fest met a bunch of new people and they're from my local area-ish. So I kind of just meet up with them every once in a while, take photos and hit some trails. How many times have you been to Boxer Fest and Wicked Big Meat?

[00:21:42] This past year, first time at Boxer Fest. Definitely not my last. I will be going again this upcoming year. Yeah. It's a good one. I went to my first Wicked Big Meat in 2018 or 2019 and I met Travis Pastrana there. No, no, no, it wasn't Travis Pastrana.

[00:22:00] It was Chris Atkinson. I met him there. Nice. And then last year, right when I only had wheels and tires and that's it, I met Travis Pastrana and then yeah, this year. Okay. Met Bucky. Yeah. Yeah, Bucky's cool.

[00:22:19] Do you plan on putting your car in the show at some point? So I was in the show for both Boxer Fest and Wicked Big Meat last year. Nice. Okay. It was just brutally hot both days. That's what I heard.

[00:22:35] Once you're in the show, you're locked in, you can't start your car, you can't move your car. So it's just kind of suffering but in a good way, in a good way because you're just playing

[00:22:43] your car, you're meeting new people but sometimes you just want to leave a little bit early and beat the rush out of there. Yeah. But if you're a spectator, you can do that.

[00:22:52] Do you think you'll continue to put your car in there or not based on your experience? Yeah, definitely. It was a good experience. Yeah. That's good. Did you like stay around your car?

[00:23:04] Because I know like some people hang out at their car for most of the show but were you able to like get out and walk around and see some other stuff or did you stay at your car most of the time?

[00:23:13] I kind of stayed at my car most of the time. At Wicked Big Meet, I set up my hammock in between two trees right next to my car which was amazing, right in the shade. Oh, that's awesome.

[00:23:24] But every once in a while, I got up, walked around, checked out some other cars and some other companies at their booths but Boxer Fest, I didn't really walk around too much.

[00:23:33] We had a tent set up right behind the cars like right in between the two rows and yeah, we're just kind of hanging out there. That's good. Get you out of the sun because I remember when I was at Boxer Fest, I didn't bring any

[00:23:46] sunscreen with me and I was thinking like, oh, I think I'll ask somebody for sunscreen and then I was like, you know what? I think I'm just going to hang out under tents most of the day and I got under tents as much

[00:23:57] as I could but I never ended up putting sunscreen on and later, I regretted it. I was like, this sucks because when I went to another event and I did put sunscreen on and I was like out for most of the time and it worked out well.

[00:24:13] So that helped. Yeah, going into Boxer Fest, we were so pale but leaving, we looked like we were the lobster walking out of there. It was crazy. Yeah, I heard that like some of them are pretty brutal and with the heat and they didn't have

[00:24:30] it organized too well at some of them but... Yeah, I don't want to throw any shade but I've heard like mixed opinions and stuff like that about both events or just like all events but... Yeah, it's still a good event.

[00:24:44] Absolutely, I'll keep attending them as long as I can. Yeah, I mean, it's great because you get a chance to see people that you've probably connected with on Instagram for the first time and then just meet new people and like

[00:24:55] when you have your car in the show, it's nice because you can have people come by and check it out and compliment it, you know, hopefully and show off what you've done. Absolutely. So you said that like you, everything is purpose-built but were there any builds out there

[00:25:15] that helped to like influence your build at all? Yeah, there was a few. Shane, PYP Dadwagon, he was a huge influence. Nice. Just every time I open up Instagram, he's always the top post. He's posting so much. Yeah.

[00:25:31] Seeing his car, I'm like, oh, I gotta be at that level one day. I gotta look that cool. Like he was a huge inspiration for my build. And then so like, who did your hood wrap? Because your hood wrap is really nice.

[00:25:45] So it's from a company called SCS Wraps out in Minnesota or Montana, I believe. They do a bunch of like vinyl work for like coolers and doors and stuff like that.

[00:25:54] Not specifically like for cars, but they happen to have a 60 inch by 60 inch sheet of a topo wrap, which is topography. And I bought it, slapped it on with Scott Trekachusetts right in my driveway.

[00:26:12] Both of us had no idea what we were doing, but it came out amazing. Yeah, no, it looks really good. So how did you end up trimming it? Did you like put it on and then trim it after you got it on or did you trim it beforehand?

[00:26:24] How did that work out? So yeah, that was my biggest concern. I didn't want to like cut with like a razor blade onto my paint, onto my hood. Yeah. And I was recommended by Shane.

[00:26:37] Yeah, he did his a couple weeks before me and he used knifeless 3M tape. You lay that down, you put the vinyl over it and you pull the little tape comes out or the string comes out of the tape and it cuts it. Oh man, that's sweet.

[00:26:52] I didn't know that. Super easy. That's really cool. Yeah, that's definitely the way to go because I was thinking that too. I'm like, how would you end up cutting it? And especially if you get it on first, like there's no way somebody would

[00:27:03] use a blade or something to trim around it. That would be, that would not be good. Yeah. So where did your fascination with driving through the mud come from? I think ever since the first time I got stuck, I just realized how like messy it could be.

[00:27:22] All right, spoiler, spoiler. Yeah. So like we were at the last like five, 10 feet of the trail and there's this little tiny puddle on the side of the side of the trail, like tiny, like maybe five feet by five feet.

[00:27:35] My buddy in the passenger seat is like, you won't go through that and just get extra muddy. I'm like, sure. Well, why not? So I go through there and my front tires sink in and I just come to a stop. It was bad.

[00:27:47] Oh, so it was like really, really mucky, huh? It was so deep and it just like, it was like cement. Oh, that sucks. Like quicksand basically. Yeah. Yeah. So what does it do to you? I mean, is it just like fun for you?

[00:28:00] Do you like feeling, do you like getting your car muddy? Do you like the feel of it when you're driving through the mud? Like what is it that you like about it so much? I like how it gets my car dirty. Seeing the mud on the white paint.

[00:28:11] Just, yeah, I love it. I get that. But also just like, also just like having no traction or like minimal traction. But still like somewhat in control of your car. It's just so fun.

[00:28:22] Yeah, no, I totally get that because I like, there's this one spot that we hit out here. It's under an overpass and when it gets, when it rains, it gets real muddy. And we were just driving through this one part kind of back and forth.

[00:28:36] And then the last, I went out there and met them again one time. And this guy, Jonathan, his girlfriend, she has a Crosstrek and she was going through the grass, which we had never done before.

[00:28:46] I guess just to like go around to come back through the spot that we were typically driving through. And she started drifting through the grass because it was real muddy over there.

[00:28:56] So when I met up with him, he was like, dude, you got to go through the grass. It's fun. And I was like, all right. So now that's like our fun little spot because you just, and we go slow, you know, we're not

[00:29:06] going that fast and you just like drift around through the corner. And it's just, it's so fun. It's fun feeling the wheel spinning and the car moving around. And yeah, I totally get that. It's so much fun.

[00:29:17] I just wish we had more spots, but I'm very, I'm thankful for that spot. And I really like getting my car muddy too. Oh, absolutely. It's just not fun cleaning it off. No, I hate it so much. Yeah.

[00:29:30] The worst part is like getting it out of the wheel wells. So you gotta like, and now every once in a while there's this church down the road from us and part of the parking lot floods when it rains.

[00:29:44] So what I've done is if I go hit some mud and it's been raining, like I'll go and drive through that several times just to clean out the bottom and the wheel wells.

[00:29:55] But then, you know, it leaves most of the rest of the mud on the, on the exterior. Yeah. A free wash, it's a free wash. Yeah. So that's always nice. So you've also driven through snow too, but which do you like best? The mud or the snow?

[00:30:11] And have you ever gotten stuck in the snow? So I have never gotten stuck in the snow yet. I say I like driving in the snow a little bit more because you have a lot less traction and I just like the feeling of going sideways.

[00:30:25] Can't really do that in mud up here because it's too many rocks. Oh. You're gonna puncture a tire. Yeah. Yeah. I've driven through snow when I went out to Moon Rocks and I drove Miley, who goes by

[00:30:40] Marvin the Outback, I drove her Outback and we were like, the spot that we were at, it was, I was trying to drift in the snow, but it was too bumpy. So it was just like, just bouncing around a lot.

[00:30:50] And then Anthony, Judy the Subi, his Outback was in the shop. So he rented a Tacoma. And so we drove that through the snow and that was really fun. And he let me drive it for a little bit.

[00:31:04] Then we went, we met up with this guy at Sierra at Tahoe and Colby, who goes by Subi Runner, he was driving by in his Crosstrek in this big parking lot. And he goes like way up because it's kind of slanted up away from us.

[00:31:21] Goes way up to the end, turns around, comes driving towards us. And I'm like, is he going to stop? And then he just drifts right in front of us and then does it several times. And so he let me do it too.

[00:31:34] So that was, that was a lot of fun. Yeah. That's awesome. I also like snow cause like there's no, there's no mess to clean up. Yeah. It'll just melt off. Exactly. But up here you gotta worry about the salt and stuff like that.

[00:31:46] Just like, it's so bad up here. Yeah. I know. And I, I mean, there's, I would have to drive a pretty good distance for, to find snow for me to drive Pearl in, but someday I'd like to drive Pearl in some snow.

[00:31:59] Cause I've driven other cars, but I want to drive mine, you know? Well, if you were told, I guess, I guess your answer might be snow. If you were told you could only drive through mud or snow ever again. Yeah. Definitely, definitely gonna stick to snow. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:32:16] Again, I would really like to do that. So, so you said that like, you have some trails that are pretty close by, like how long does it take you to get to the nearest trail from where you are?

[00:32:27] So my office is in Southern Massachusetts, which is 15 minutes away from the Thompson trails that everybody from the East coast has been talking about. Love those trails. Yeah. But from my house, it's about, it's about a 35 minute ride. That's not too bad. No.

[00:32:45] And how often do you get out to the trails? Recently, I've been going a lot, like twice a week. If I'm feeling like extra bougie, I'll go out another time and stuff like that.

[00:32:56] So maybe three times a week, but I typically kind of want to take it slow and not beat on my car too much and break too much. Try to stick it around like one or two times a month. Yeah, that's good.

[00:33:07] So have you broken anything or broken anything badly? Knock on wood, I have not. Oh, that's good. That's good. I don't plan on it, but if it happens, it happens. Yeah. Yeah, I know.

[00:33:22] That's kind of one of the things that worries me when there's a place called Bastrop. It's a little town on the way to Austin from where we are and they have some pretty decent trails.

[00:33:32] So I try to take it easy there because it's like an hour and a half away and I'm getting up there in mileage. So I'm sure things underneath aren't doing the best anymore. I should probably get them checked out, but I mean, I'm almost at 100,000 miles.

[00:33:47] So I'm always trying to be careful and it's my only car. So got to take care of it. Yeah, when I'm out on the trails, like my mindset is I got to drive home. I have to drive this home. So I'm going to take it easy. Yeah.

[00:34:02] My only car as well. So yeah, that was kind of what scared me about driving out to Colorado and then driving up to Flatfest up in Madison, Wisconsin. Because that was a really, really long trip. That was 1,100 miles one way. Oh my gosh. Yeah, but it was fun.

[00:34:19] I mean, it was all totally worth it. And I'll totally do it again if I'm able to. But so is that the Thompson Trail? Is that like one of the trails that you hit the most? And are there other trails that you also get out to and explore?

[00:34:34] Yeah, so I mainly hit the Thompson Trail in Connecticut, which goes into Rhode Island. I've only really hit two trails ever. Okay. Thompson Trail and then the Freetown State Forest. But I'm guessing it's like so much fun that you can just get out there all the time and

[00:34:51] it's just like, you know, just go, go, go. Yeah, there's miles and miles and miles of trails out there. Like, I've only explored, I tracked my last time when I was out there. I did 12.57 miles out there from the start to the beginning, like taking a little couple

[00:35:08] side trails here and there, but 12.57 miles just basically in a straight line. And then how many more miles of trails are there still? According to Google Maps, a whole lot more. Oh my gosh.

[00:35:22] That's awesome though, because then like, even if you go through the same spot a lot of times, it's, you know, depending on if it's rained or snow or whatever, it can make for a different experience each time.

[00:35:34] And that's kind of how it is when we go out to Bastrop because sometimes Bastrop's really muddy, sometimes it's not so muddy. And it's, yeah, I mean, it also too depends on who you're with and, you know, if you're

[00:35:48] going a different direction, then you can change it up and make it fun. So do you have like a bucket list place that you would like to get out to and explore? Yeah, so I was out in Arizona over the summer.

[00:36:01] I'd love to take my car out there and just explore Arizona, like Colorado, Utah, that whole area. Just all the national parks out there just look amazing. Yeah, I've been to Colorado, drove out there, like I was mentioned earlier.

[00:36:14] I've been to Arizona and my buddy, when we went out there, he had a Toyota Land Cruiser and he took us out to some nice spots. So Arizona is definitely a spot that I would like to get out to.

[00:36:26] I've been to Utah for work, but never for fun. And it'd be nice to take a little tour of those states and just go explore and meet up with a bunch of people because that's what's so cool about this community too and connecting

[00:36:38] with people all over the place is you can just, you can go just about anywhere and meet up with somebody and have somebody, you know, take you to their trails and show you like all the good stuff so that you don't have to do any guesswork. Absolutely.

[00:36:50] Wherever you go, there's somebody there. So what is the furthest you've driven so far? York, Pennsylvania for Boxer Fest. Okay. I don't remember how far of a drive, but time-wise it was about seven hours. Okay. Yeah, that's pretty decent. So probably like maybe 500 miles or so.

[00:37:11] I'm trying to think of like, because it takes me about four and a half hours to get up to my girlfriend's house and that's like 280 miles. So you're probably like somewhere around 400 there, something like that. It is 375 miles. Okay. Yeah. Not bad. Not too bad. No.

[00:37:30] So I know you mentioned like the Joes before and PYP Dad Wagon, but who are some of the other people that you get out with to go hitting the trails? Oh, here comes a big list. All right, let's get it. We got Scott, Trek-Cachusetts.

[00:37:46] We got the local Joes, which is Xtrek Moose and XV Adventurer. Alex, who goes by Ascargo on Instagram. We've got Matt, Goontrek, Adam, Transformer Trek, Jonathan, Sage the Cross Trek, Sean, Jamie the Subi.

[00:38:01] And then there's a couple of guys from Babson College, which is a really good college out here. So they come out every once in a while and rip around the trails with us and they're Chevy Silverado and this really cool 4Runner that you've probably seen on high profile.

[00:38:15] Yeah, nice. That's really cool. Do you ever go out and go solo? Never. I'm too scared. Oh, okay. Yeah. I mean, it's probably smart too. Yeah. I went out to Bastrop once by myself and like I've been out there with my son before in

[00:38:32] the car with me, but I went out there once just totally by myself and I got into a situation where I was like, oh, I'm going to have to go solo. And I got into a situation that I was like, oh crap, what do I do?

[00:38:43] But I made it through. There's one spot I just kind of had to send it. And you know, like you get out, like if you see a trail and you're looking at it from

[00:38:54] in your car and it looks pretty bad and then you get out and kind of get down and look at it and you're like, that's not bad at all. That's the way this was.

[00:39:02] But when I went down, I was going down the trail, I ended up getting on two wheels and finally, you know, made it through and I was like, okay, this is a little bit better.

[00:39:12] And then I got to a spot that I definitely cannot go through because it was really deep. So I turned around and while I was coming back to that spot that I was worried about

[00:39:20] going down, you know, looking at it from my car to drive back up, it looked bad. So I get out and I look and I'm like, it's not that bad. And so I start driving up, but then like, I can't see the line that I saw from outside

[00:39:34] of my car. And I started feeling like I wasn't going to be able to make it up or I was going to like tip a little too much. And I just like sent it and made it up through.

[00:39:42] It was a little scary, but I'm like, okay, I'm never coming out here again by myself. Yeah, that's definitely one of my biggest fears, going out alone and getting stuck in the middle of the woods with zero service. Yeah.

[00:39:53] And like for me, I'm not worried about getting like stuck out there, like in mud or anything. I'm just worried about like getting into a situation like that where maybe I probably shouldn't be driving on this by myself and I need somebody to spot me. So, but yeah.

[00:40:08] So we've been out there the other times I've been out there, been out with other people. Yeah. So it's been fun. So you mentioned car camping or camping earlier, and I know that you have a, a hay trip mattress.

[00:40:19] So do you go do a lot of car camping? I need to start doing it. I have not done it yet. Yeah, I know. I've got, I got a Luno mattress and I've only used it once.

[00:40:30] I used it when we went up to Madison, Wisconsin for Subaru flat fest. And other than that, it's been sitting in my closet because I just don't get out and go camping.

[00:40:40] I don't even go tent camping and I have a, a, a nice gazelle tent, but I need to do that more too. Just don't do it. See, I love camping, but I don't get out too often. Yeah.

[00:40:53] I mean, so my son was in Cub Scouts and we used to do a lot of camping when he was in Cub Scouts. And I wish I would have had the gazelle tent then, because that would have been really nice.

[00:41:03] I had some old crappy tent that my stepdad gave me that was like kind of small and the tent poles weren't working well. And, but you know, it was something. And then now I've got this nice tent and I don't ever use it.

[00:41:16] So at least you have it though. Yeah, I know we'll get out at some point. So I saw that you also posted about the New England Overland Rally. So what is that? And like, what was your experience like there?

[00:41:31] So the New England Overland Rally is held at Thompson Speedway in Connecticut. And it's just a bunch of local overlanders that come out and show off their builds. And they have this little overland off-road track right in the middle of one of the racetracks. Nice.

[00:41:46] And they got a bunch of telephone poles, like sand dunes you'd crawl up over and you could blast through them and throw sand everywhere. And they got this one extremely deep mud hole that I was, I was going to do it, but everybody kept egging me on.

[00:42:01] But I had that same mindset. Like I got to drive this home. Like I don't want to break down in front of everybody. Like I don't want to do that. Yeah. How far away is it from you? It's about 35, 40 minutes. Okay.

[00:42:16] Not too bad, but still far enough that you don't want to drive home or get a broken car and not be able to drive home. Yeah. So you mentioned telephone poles.

[00:42:25] I think that's why I have a rattle under my car because when I was at Madison or at Subaru Flatfest, they built an off-road course and they had telephone poles out there. And most of the cars out there have a lift and mine doesn't.

[00:42:38] And so I was like going over the telephone pole really slow. And I like hit, you know, the bottom of my car and then driving home, I had a rattle. So I'm pretty sure it was from the telephone poles. Yeah. John Sage, the cross track did that.

[00:42:51] He went up over a telephone pole and front wheels dropped over the other side. And you could hear the smack from the other side of the track. It was so loud. Wow. Didn't end up breaking anything though. Oh, that's good. That's good. Yeah. That would be scary though.

[00:43:06] Yeah. Come down and hit like that. So how do they do this New England Overland Rally? Just is it like an annual event? Well, this past time I went was the first time I heard about it, but I think it's an annual thing. Okay.

[00:43:19] You think it was something you'll go out to again? Oh, hands down. Absolutely. Yeah. Especially only being like 35 minutes away. That's that's easy. There's no excuses. Yeah. So I also saw your profile says barbecue restaurant. So what's the story with that? So it's just pure randomness.

[00:43:40] I don't really have a story behind it. I was just on Instagram one day and made my account a business account. And then you have the eligibility to make your account say whatever, I guess. You just made that up and just picked that right?

[00:43:55] I just changed it to a barbecue restaurant recently. I had it as a grocery store before. Oh, that's funny. I like whenever somebody clicks on your profile and it's like barbecue restaurant. What? This is a cross track.

[00:44:08] I was like, I didn't know if like maybe your family owned a barbecue restaurant or something, but that's pretty. That would be nice, but no. Yeah. What would you say about your cross track best matches your personality? It's adventurous.

[00:44:23] I'm willing to go out and just go wherever and just see what's right in front of me and just tackle it. Yeah. Yeah. Because, I mean, you talked about doing ice fishing and other things outdoors and

[00:44:35] the cross track is definitely built for that, especially the way you've built it. Absolutely. When did you put your fender stripes on? Because it took me over a year to decide to do those and I could never not have them on now.

[00:44:49] I think I did them in the middle of last winter. One of the coldest days out of the year. I had a heat gun, just blasting heat on them, just trying to make them stick. So were you just like determined to get them on?

[00:45:00] You're like, I'm not going to wait for it to be warmer. I want to get these on now. Yeah. So that's the type of person I am. So once I order something and it gets to my house, I need to put it on right away.

[00:45:09] I can't have it sitting around just like I need to put it on. That's the way I am too. I mean, there's like, yeah, I mean, sometimes I can't get to things right away, but

[00:45:20] if there's something that I can do right away, I don't like, I mean, I remember this was a long, long time ago, but I remember I moved into an apartment with one of my best friends.

[00:45:30] We became roommates and I remember we moved in all of our stuff and then we had to go to work. And then I got to my room and I'm looking and like, there's just stuff everywhere. There's boxes everywhere.

[00:45:43] I was thinking like, okay, I'm just going to put like a mattress on the floor and I'll go to sleep. And I ended up staying up till like 5am setting up my whole room in this new apartment.

[00:45:54] And I think I had to be at work at like 830 the next day. And so like, I felt horrible because I didn't get much sleep, but I felt great because my room was clean.

[00:46:04] And so like the job that I was working at the time, it was at CompUSA, which is an old computer store. So some of the older people there might be listening, probably know what it is. But so I was like doing pricing and availability.

[00:46:16] And so I was just sitting at this desk answering phone calls. People would call and ask if we had something in stock or ask for the price. And there was twice that I fell asleep while I was on the phone because I was so tired.

[00:46:30] And I remember like, I remember just waking up and holding the receiver in my hand and just slowly hanging it up because I'm like, I'm just imagining like somebody on the other line going, hello, sir, sir. Hello. And I was just passed out. Yeah.

[00:46:48] That was, that was funny. But yeah, so that was like, that was one of those times where I'm like, I'm so determined to like, just get this done now. But that's the way I am with a lot of things too. Yeah.

[00:46:59] If you could describe your cross track in one word, what would it be? Yeah, I'm going to stick with the word adventurous. Yeah. So if there's anything like, if you could change anything about your cross track, what would it be?

[00:47:13] I wouldn't change a thing about my cross track. I built it for myself and I love how the way it turned out. So I'm just happy with it. It's good that you're happy with it.

[00:47:21] Because I know like sometimes, I mean, I know a lot of times the answer is the speed, but you know, but it's still, I mean, there's still great cars. Yeah, definitely. How has owning your cross track and being part of the community changed your life?

[00:47:37] Before owning my cross track, I was like, I was kind of a, kind of a loser. I didn't really have that much friends and I was just sitting inside every day, just kind of just wasting my life.

[00:47:49] And once I got this car, I started connecting with people that brought me more friends, more opportunities, and just a better environment overall. Yeah. I mean, like owning these cars and getting into this community, it's like, I know it's

[00:48:03] helped a lot of people just to, like, if you're like introverted and you're kind of shy and stuff, it helps you find a place where you feel welcomed and you can like kind of feel

[00:48:16] comfortable and feel yourself and not judged and just like really open up and, you know, have that feeling of acceptance from other people and feel the Subaru love and just get out and do things you probably thought you would never be doing before. Exactly.

[00:48:33] Is there anything that you see yourself doing in the future with your cross track? Like any more mods or other places to go besides, you know, the Colorado, Utah, Arizona? I have a new mod sitting in my, right in my living room, right under my coffee table that

[00:48:53] barely fits under there. I haven't really mentioned it on my Instagram, but I guess I'll mention it right here. I got the body armor, four by four bumper with the one of the winches from Harbor Freight. Very nice.

[00:49:05] And that's one of the mods that I can't just, I can't slap on right now because it's been cold. It's really cold. I haven't had like the time to go out there and stuff like that, but another day like this and I'm slapping that on.

[00:49:18] Yeah, I was going to say, why isn't it on there yet, man? Why didn't you just throw it on right away? Too cold. Yeah, no, that's definitely one of the mods that you can't just like easily get on.

[00:49:28] You gotta have decent weather and maybe some help or something. Yeah, definitely. So when did you get it? I ordered it, I think the day before Christmas or on Christmas day. Okay. Yeah, so I guess it's been pretty cold there, huh? Yeah, it's been decently cold. Yeah.

[00:49:48] Yeah, hopefully the weather will stick around for a little bit like this and you can get it on soon. Absolutely. That'll definitely look good. I hate going to watch TV and just, it's staring at me. It's just like, put me on, put me on, put me on.

[00:50:01] Yeah, get me out of here. Yeah. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, so you have to like cut part of your bumper to get it on, right? Yeah, so with my bumper, so yeah, I just have to cut out the lower part of my

[00:50:12] bumper, just that lower grill and it just slides right onto the frame. Have you done any other cutting on your car or is it just all, it's still intact? So Christmas day, I walked outside in my garage, grabbed my Dremel and I cut my rear bumper in half.

[00:50:31] Really? Yep. Was that scary? Oh my God, I was shaking so bad. Did you have another rear bumper on there now or did you just decide to cut it off for ground clearance? I don't have another bumper yet, but I don't know if it will pass mass inspection.

[00:50:51] So I got to start looking for another bumper to slap on there for the time being. But yeah, no, I love how it looks now and I'm rocking it still for mainly for looks,

[00:51:02] but I haven't used it too much to like see if the ground clearance helps and stuff like that. But from the looks of it, it definitely helps. Okay. Yeah. So now I'm on your account because I didn't notice it before the...

[00:51:15] Oh, okay. Yeah, I see it. I see a picture now with it cut off. Yeah. You can see my whole exhaust. Yeah. That looks good. So like with all your mods that you did, obviously your, the mods that you have are

[00:51:30] for a certain purpose. And like we mentioned earlier, you know, you got them based on things that you want to do or things that you need, but like, how did you go about selecting the different brands that you chose to go with?

[00:51:43] Based on reviews and just seeing other people run them on Instagram. Like if I see a lot of people run one type of brand, I'll kind of lean towards that brand because they have a good base behind them and stuff like that. But mainly just on reviews.

[00:51:57] Yeah. And did you reach out to other people that, like you said, you see a lot of people using it? Did you reach out to any people and say, Hey, what do you think about it?

[00:52:05] Yeah. I asked them for their opinions and ease of install, I guess as well. Yeah. So do you think that you'll always own a Subaru? I hate to be that guy, but I don't think I will always own a Subaru. Yeah.

[00:52:19] My next vehicle is probably going to be a truck, but that's in the future. I'm only focused on the present right now. So... Yeah. You're having fun with your Subaru right now. Definitely. Too much fun. All right. Bye. No, I'm just kidding. Well, here's a little... Canceled.

[00:52:37] All right. We're not putting this episode out. Here's a little segment to get to know the person behind the account. But who is Brendan? I am a 23 year old from central Massachusetts that just likes being outdoors, working with his hands and getting dirty.

[00:52:57] That's good. Yeah. Being outdoors is nice. Do you have... I guess you'll have a lot of wooded areas up there, don't you? Yes. Yeah. That's nice. It's nice to be out in the woods, whether you're going for a hike or just

[00:53:08] driving or whatever, just being out in nature is always good for the soul. So were you born up there? I was. Yes. Okay. What is a favorite memory from your childhood? Right whenever I moved into this house, like 19 years ago, we were big into dirt bikes and

[00:53:25] four wheelers and this house has a good chunk of land like all around it. So we took advantage of that and ripped up the whole entire front yard and just made it mud. I guess that's where my fascination came with mud. Yeah.

[00:53:40] Ever since a young age, I was just riding dirt bikes and four wheelers through the mud and just destroying our property. But... Did you get in trouble for that? No, my dad was in it too. Oh.

[00:53:50] He had his own dirt bike and four wheeler he was ripping up too. There you go. That's the best part. Yeah, that's awesome. Absolutely. Yeah. Well then doing it with your dad too, I'm sure that was a lot of fun.

[00:53:59] Yeah. We were just talking about it earlier today actually. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. Yeah. I've mentioned it before, but I think my fascination with going off road is driving the lawnmower at my grandparents' house. They had this very

[00:54:13] just slight ditch. It wasn't even deep, but just driving the lawnmower down through the ditch and just being able to drive something that wasn't on the road. It was just like,

[00:54:25] this is so cool. I'm not on the ground. And I remember even when I had a car, I remember driving my old car and whenever I would go work on it, sometimes I would drive around

[00:54:38] and I would drive through the grass and drive through this little ditch. And just being off the road was so cool to me. I was like, oh my gosh, I'm not on the road. I'm driving through the grass. It's like, you know, it was very easy.

[00:54:51] There's something about taking a car off the road and just like, typically not seeing a car somewhere is just so cool. Like just, I don't know how to describe it. Just taking a car where it's not meant to be.

[00:55:04] Yeah. And I mean, this was definitely, this was like, I had a 1969 Ford Fairlane. It was a two-door car, definitely not meant for going off road and driving through the grass. It's

[00:55:14] not like it's going to be any kind of a challenge, but it was just fun. Just driving through the grass, not being on the road. So I totally get that. It is kind of hard to explain it, but it's just like a feeling I guess that you have.

[00:55:26] Yeah. So what is it that you do for a living? I am a full-time land surveyor, which is also very hard to describe to people that don't know what it is. But I basically go out to houses and just do topography on their yards

[00:55:43] like a new septic tank and stuff like that, and find their property corners and highway bounds and all stuff like that. My hood is actually a representation of my job. I did that for my

[00:55:54] job as a joke, but it turned out a lot better than I thought. So I kept it on there. That's cool. Yeah. We work with surveyors for the job because I work for a small architectural

[00:56:04] engineering firm. So all the sites that we do, we have a surveyor that goes out there and we have to get that so our civil team can start doing all their design work and everything for the site. So I've never done surveying, but I know what it is.

[00:56:20] It's confusing at the beginning, but once you get the hang of it, it's super easy. How long have you been doing that? For the past three years now. Yeah. And you enjoy it?

[00:56:30] I enjoy it for the most part. It's all outside work. I'm never in the office besides in the morning to get a new job and stuff like that. But a lot of driving. Yeah. Do you drive your own car or do you have a company car? No.

[00:56:44] Yeah. And there it is. I don't know what happened. It got cut off, right, as he was talking. He was saying that he has a work truck that he uses so he doesn't have to drive his own car, which is

[00:56:54] really good. And I just, I don't recall what he had as answers for the rest of the questions. But again, my apologies for this getting cut off. I just, I don't know. I just didn't notice that

[00:57:07] it wasn't recording anymore. And my apologies mostly to you, Brendan, that part of your episode got cut off. But we again, we did get in all the Subaru parts of it. So thank you again for being

[00:57:20] on the podcast. And if you're not doing so, go give Brendan a follow at BPM.XTRACK and check out his awesome Crosstrek. He's got a really nice build. And again, it's all purpose built. So

[00:57:35] everything that he's got on it serves a purpose. And I think that's a really great approach to take with modifications. I hope you all have a great week. I hope you are staying warm if it's cold.

[00:57:47] Hope you're enjoying it outside if it's warm. It's yeah, I don't know what's going on with this weather, but it's a little bit different this year. And hopefully, I don't know, the world

[00:58:00] is just it's getting it's getting a little weird. And so is the weather. But you know, there have been years when it's been off, but seems like it's a little more off lately. But enjoy the weather,

[00:58:13] whatever it is that you have out there. And I hope you all have a great week. And we'll see you next Monday for another episode. Much Subie love, Raph. Transcribed by https://otter.ai