S&YE177 - The Abominable Subie

[00:00:00] Hello, this is Ryan and you can find me on Instagram at The Abominable Subie and you're

[00:00:17] listening to episode 177 of the Subie & You podcast.

[00:00:23] Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of the Subie & You podcast.

[00:00:27] Thank you for joining, thank you for listening, thank you for tuning in.

[00:00:31] If this is your first time checking it out because you're here to listen to Ryan's episode,

[00:00:37] thank you for showing up and thank you for tuning in to listen to his story.

[00:00:42] And if you like this episode, go check out the other 176 episodes that we have of this

[00:00:50] great podcast.

[00:00:52] And if you are new here, I've been doing this podcast for three and a half years

[00:00:57] just about and it's brought a lot of people together in the community and I've had a lot

[00:01:04] great guests out in the community and I've had the opportunity of meeting many of them

[00:01:10] as well so that is an added bonus.

[00:01:14] But anyway, whether you have been listening to this from the very beginning or it's

[00:01:19] your first time checking it out, I thank you for being here.

[00:01:24] Here in just a little bit we will hear why this is called The Abominable Subie

[00:01:31] and where that came from.

[00:01:33] That is a pretty appropriate name when you find out where that came from and how it

[00:01:39] came about so stay tuned and we'll get to that in just a bit.

[00:01:44] The Subie & You podcast is brought to you by Eccentric Designs.

[00:01:48] For those of you who don't know, Eccentric Designs is a small community-driven business

[00:01:52] that offers custom-fit vinyl overlays for most Subaru models.

[00:01:56] This includes various designs for the rear reflectors, tail lights, and side tail

[00:02:01] I also offer fun decal designs like the popular fender stripes and stickers.

[00:02:06] To find designs for your Subie, head on over to EccentricDesigns.com.

[00:02:10] There's always more projects in the works so be sure to follow at Eccentric.Designs

[00:02:15] on Instagram.

[00:02:16] If you have not done so, go check out Eccentric Designs on Instagram and also

[00:02:20] check out her website and see what all she has to offer for your Subaru to help

[00:02:26] make it personalized and just have some fun with it.

[00:02:29] She has some really great decals so go check it out.

[00:02:32] We have another patron question of the week and this one comes from my buddy Anthony

[00:02:37] who goes by JudyTheSubie.

[00:02:39] He asks, what is your favorite ice cream?

[00:02:44] And that is a good question because it's kind of a tie for me between the Ben & Jerry's

[00:02:51] Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and So Delicious Makes a Cashew Based Salted

[00:03:01] Caramel Ice Cream.

[00:03:03] And they are both really, really good.

[00:03:07] The Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.

[00:03:10] I like the cookie dough, the bites of cookie dough in that.

[00:03:14] And that's kind of what makes it for me.

[00:03:17] But then the Salted Caramel by So Delicious.

[00:03:21] The overall flavor combination of that one is just, it is so, so good.

[00:03:28] I really, really love it.

[00:03:32] So if you can find the So Delicious Salted Caramel that's cashew based.

[00:03:37] I don't think they make another salted caramel.

[00:03:40] But if you can find that, yeah, it's a non-dairy ice cream.

[00:03:44] It's a vegan ice cream.

[00:03:46] I highly recommend it.

[00:03:48] You're not going to take a bite and go, oh, this tastes like a vegan ice cream.

[00:03:52] Just its flavor.

[00:03:54] It's good.

[00:03:55] Just think about it as something that tastes good.

[00:03:59] That's what eating food is all about, right?

[00:04:02] If it tastes good.

[00:04:03] If it tastes good, so what?

[00:04:05] Anyway, it's really good.

[00:04:06] I highly recommend it.

[00:04:08] The Ben & Jerry's Non-Dairy Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough is also very, very good.

[00:04:14] Thank you so much, Anthony, for your question.

[00:04:17] Now you have to go try both of those ice creams and report back to me.

[00:04:22] Or I'll never talk to you again.

[00:04:24] Just kidding.

[00:04:26] Or am I?

[00:04:28] This episode is brought to you by SubaruGear.com.

[00:04:31] If you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you know that it is sponsored

[00:04:36] by Subaru Gear.

[00:04:39] That's where you can go and find all sorts of Subaru branded merchandise, as well as

[00:04:45] Subaru Motorsports USA.

[00:04:47] They have a Bucky Lasset collection, as well as many other collections.

[00:04:52] There's just a really great selection of all sorts of different things.

[00:04:57] And if you haven't checked it out yet, what are you doing with your life?

[00:05:01] Are you a true Subaru enthusiast?

[00:05:03] Come on.

[00:05:04] Get on over to SubaruGear.com.

[00:05:06] Fill up your shopping cart and save 20% off your order by using the code SUBINU24.

[00:05:14] Also, if your total purchase is over $50 after the 20% discount, you get free shipping.

[00:05:23] And that is a really good deal because shipping can be a little costly sometimes.

[00:05:29] So to get free shipping, that's a really good benefit there.

[00:05:33] Thank you so much, SubaruGear.com for sponsoring the SUBINU podcast and for offering this

[00:05:40] great discount to the SUBINU podcast listeners.

[00:05:44] At the time that this episode is being released, I am in the Dallas area with

[00:05:50] my girlfriend for two weeks.

[00:05:54] My son was on a two week summer camp and I decided to take the opportunity to come

[00:06:01] up to Dallas and visit Kelly for the time that he is gone.

[00:06:06] We've never been able to spend that much time together.

[00:06:09] Thankfully, work was cool with me working remotely.

[00:06:13] I mean, we mostly work remote anyway, but we usually have to go into the office

[00:06:17] two days a week.

[00:06:19] But being up here, I can't do that.

[00:06:21] But they were cool with that.

[00:06:22] So, yeah, I am actually recording this episode way early and I'm recording some

[00:06:29] other ones way early so that when I'm there with her right now, as you're

[00:06:33] listening to this, then I can just be chill and not have to really do any

[00:06:38] work. So I've been working really hard to get these episodes, these next few

[00:06:43] episodes out and done so that I can just relax for the two weeks that I'm

[00:06:49] up there and not have to do much.

[00:06:51] So I appreciate everybody listening still and checking out the podcast and

[00:06:58] sharing. It really means a lot to me because I do put in quite a bit of work

[00:07:02] at times for getting these episodes out.

[00:07:05] So thank you all so much for listening, for sharing and for all of your support.

[00:07:10] It really means a lot. Thank you.

[00:07:11] Thank you. Thank you.

[00:07:13] Speaking of support, if you want to go support another great brand, go

[00:07:18] check out Ryko Wheels and support their business by purchasing a set of

[00:07:24] wheels or a lift kit for your Subaru.

[00:07:28] They are a really great company.

[00:07:30] They are really great people and I am very glad and very honored to be a

[00:07:37] part of their family, their Ryko family, and also to have them be a

[00:07:42] part of the podcast.

[00:07:44] And if you don't know, they were on the podcast as a guest, episode 48.

[00:07:50] Ryko Wheels is committed to providing you with the highest quality specialized

[00:07:54] wheels and those lift kits that will allow you to travel further,

[00:07:58] experience new adventures and discover all of those extraordinary destinations.

[00:08:04] The quest for adventure begins with you and Ryko is what gets you there.

[00:08:08] Be sure to use the code SUBYU10 at checkout to get 10% off a set of

[00:08:13] wheels or a lift kit.

[00:08:15] Thank you so much, Ryko, for sponsoring this SUBYU Podcast.

[00:08:20] This episode is also brought to you by Melee Design Firm.

[00:08:24] They were also a guest on the podcast.

[00:08:26] I had Mitch, the owner of Melee Design Firm, on the podcast, episode 40.

[00:08:31] And he has a pretty incredible story of where he was and where he is now

[00:08:39] or at the time that we were recording.

[00:08:41] But yeah, he has a lot of really great products.

[00:08:44] He also has partnered with several other brands, several other great

[00:08:48] brands that are available on MeleeDesignFirm.com on the website.

[00:08:54] So go check out the website, check out what they have to offer.

[00:08:58] If you go and explore the Subaru and Rally Spec sections of the website,

[00:09:04] you can use a code SUBYU to get 5% off your purchase.

[00:09:11] So go check them out, MeleeDesignFirm.com.

[00:09:14] Thank you so much for sponsoring this SUBYU Podcast.

[00:09:18] And now that I have rambled on long enough with all these other things

[00:09:22] that I need to take care of, it's time to get into this episode with Ryan

[00:09:26] and hear all about the abominable SUBYU.

[00:09:29] Sounds kind of scary almost, but it's not.

[00:09:34] He's not a scary guy. His car is not a scary car.

[00:09:37] It's pretty nice.

[00:09:39] It is an Impreza RS.

[00:09:43] So let's check it out.

[00:09:44] Let's hear Ryan's story and his Subaru journey.

[00:09:48] So let's get into that right now.

[00:09:51] Here we go.

[00:10:08] Hello, Ryan.

[00:10:09] Welcome to the podcast.

[00:10:11] Thank you for having me.

[00:10:12] You're welcome.

[00:10:13] Yeah, it's nice to finally kind of see you in person

[00:10:18] and talk about your build.

[00:10:20] And I mentioned before we started recording,

[00:10:22] you sent me a letter, which was really nice.

[00:10:25] And you put all the mods that you have done to your Impreza on the list

[00:10:31] or with a letter.

[00:10:33] And I was pretty impressed how many mods you have for something that's a 24.

[00:10:38] I think you've done more to your RS than I've done to my Crosstrek

[00:10:41] in the past three and a half years.

[00:10:43] Yeah, it's been quite an adventure.

[00:10:47] And since it's such a new model year and all,

[00:10:53] the aftermarket really doesn't quite exist.

[00:10:56] And I'll probably talk more about it later.

[00:10:58] But I've pulled a lot from WRX models and Crosstrek models

[00:11:04] because with Subaru, I'm sure you know they share a lot of parts

[00:11:08] across the platform.

[00:11:10] So it's been able to get things sourced from other places too.

[00:11:15] That's good.

[00:11:16] Well, before we get into all that, of course, I have to ask you

[00:11:19] the most important question in which you prefer waffles or pancakes.

[00:11:25] Yeah, that's a simple no-brainer for me.

[00:11:29] I know your answer, of course.

[00:11:30] But all I got to say is chicken and waffles.

[00:11:35] Yeah.

[00:11:36] That's where it's at.

[00:11:37] Yeah, waffles are good.

[00:11:39] Waffles are good.

[00:11:39] But that's OK.

[00:11:41] It's OK.

[00:11:42] I won't hold that against you.

[00:11:44] Yeah.

[00:11:46] Well, they're so versatile.

[00:11:47] You can do everything sweet or savory.

[00:11:50] That's true.

[00:11:51] Yeah, they are.

[00:11:51] I mean, I know you can't do a lot.

[00:11:53] You can do more with waffles than you can with pancakes.

[00:11:55] I will agree with that.

[00:11:57] So I know that this is not your first Subaru.

[00:12:00] So can you talk a little bit about the Subaru

[00:12:03] that you had before the RS?

[00:12:05] And then was that your first Subaru?

[00:12:08] Or have you been in Subarus for a while?

[00:12:11] Yeah, so my Impreza RS, that's my second Subaru.

[00:12:17] My first one was a 2015 XV Crosstrek Hybrid.

[00:12:23] I got that new back in 2015 right after getting out

[00:12:28] of school.

[00:12:30] And I had been building that up for a long time.

[00:12:37] And that became the dad wagon.

[00:12:41] There's a lot to do.

[00:12:43] And I drove that for eight plus years.

[00:12:48] And then it was just this past year.

[00:12:51] I was ready to make a little bit of a change

[00:12:53] and get away from the hybrid side of it.

[00:12:58] And I got really interested with the new Impreza.

[00:13:03] So were you taking your Crosstrek off road?

[00:13:06] Is that why you ended it?

[00:13:08] And then also, I guess, go back when you

[00:13:10] bought it in the first place.

[00:13:12] Were you planning to do any mods with it?

[00:13:15] Or did you just buy it as your next car?

[00:13:19] Yeah, so I had owned two trucks previously.

[00:13:22] And so I was originally thinking,

[00:13:25] oh, I'll just get another truck.

[00:13:27] But my wife and I, we were starting

[00:13:30] to talk about having kids and family and things like that.

[00:13:33] I was like, all right, well, getting a car seat

[00:13:35] in and out of the backseat of a truck

[00:13:37] would be a little difficult.

[00:13:39] So I started looking for cars with high safety ratings

[00:13:44] and things like that.

[00:13:45] And Subaru was pretty much always

[00:13:48] at the top of all the different lists.

[00:13:50] So I started drilling in on that.

[00:13:52] And really, at the end of the day,

[00:13:56] the only reason why I went with that particular model

[00:14:00] Crosstrek was because at the time,

[00:14:03] the dealership that I got it from,

[00:14:04] they were offering a 0% financing

[00:14:08] for the life of the loan.

[00:14:09] So I was like, all right, cool.

[00:14:11] And is that because it was a hybrid?

[00:14:14] Yeah, they were trying to leverage the hybrids.

[00:14:17] And it worked for me.

[00:14:20] Yeah, that's pretty much a no-brainer.

[00:14:22] I mean, 0% interest, OK, let's do it.

[00:14:25] Yeah, yeah, definitely.

[00:14:28] And to your other question, no, I

[00:14:31] didn't really get it with the intent to do any off-roading.

[00:14:35] And it had some mods to it that

[00:14:40] made it off-road capable, for sure,

[00:14:43] and more so than just the stock Crosstrek itself.

[00:14:47] But they really designed it to be

[00:14:52] able to handle the winters here in upstate New York.

[00:14:56] And I think a lot of that same theme

[00:14:59] filtered over to my new vehicle.

[00:15:03] Yeah, I mean, they're definitely good in the snow.

[00:15:06] And then if you can do some modifications

[00:15:08] to make them even better, then of course that helps.

[00:15:12] But yeah, so were you doing a lot

[00:15:15] of off-roading in your Crosstrek

[00:15:16] once you kind of got to that point?

[00:15:19] Or was it, like you said, just more designed

[00:15:22] for the weather up there?

[00:15:25] Yeah, I would try and seek out gravel roads

[00:15:28] where I could.

[00:15:30] But I found out more or less that I wasn't really

[00:15:33] using it off-road nearly as much

[00:15:36] as some of the other guests that have been interviewed

[00:15:38] on the podcast have.

[00:15:41] So yeah, I honed it in to handle the winters

[00:15:45] and just be a force to be reckoned with in the snow.

[00:15:50] And because the all-wheel drive system is amazing.

[00:15:56] And then you add a new set of wheels

[00:16:00] and some extra good tires to it.

[00:16:03] And it's already got a little bit of lift on it.

[00:16:07] So it was and, too, with the hybrid.

[00:16:11] Because of where they put the, for that model year,

[00:16:15] they put the battery for the hybrid motor.

[00:16:19] They put it where the spare tire would go in the trunk.

[00:16:23] So it just added a little bit of extra weight in the back.

[00:16:26] So the whole car sat perfectly balanced.

[00:16:32] And I never got it stuck.

[00:16:34] And I tried really, really, really hard.

[00:16:37] Yeah, that's good.

[00:16:39] And the reason I was asking that is because

[00:16:41] if you take somebody that has a Crosstrek

[00:16:45] which is higher up than the Impreza

[00:16:48] is going from the Crosstrek to the Impreza

[00:16:52] and having it more just built for the winters up there,

[00:16:56] you're not really losing anything performance-wise.

[00:16:59] Just losing a little bit of clearance.

[00:17:02] So it probably wasn't.

[00:17:04] If you weren't doing any crazy off-roading,

[00:17:07] then it's not as big of a transition

[00:17:11] or drastic change to go down to something lower.

[00:17:15] Definitely.

[00:17:16] And a lot of the times up here,

[00:17:20] a lot of the off-roading is the potholes in the springtime.

[00:17:24] So just being able to navigate over those.

[00:17:29] So what made you decide to go...

[00:17:32] So like, well, I guess let me go back a little bit more

[00:17:35] to the Crosstrek.

[00:17:36] So you said you were looking at it for safety rating.

[00:17:38] You wanted something because you're gonna have kids

[00:17:41] and it's easier to get kids in and out with a car seat.

[00:17:43] But what did you know or did you know much about Subaru

[00:17:46] before you bought your Crosstrek?

[00:17:49] No, not really.

[00:17:50] I knew they existed.

[00:17:52] There's a ton of Subaru dealers around me

[00:17:55] and you can't turn around in one direction or another

[00:18:00] and not see a Subaru up here.

[00:18:02] So I knew they exist, but it never really crossed

[00:18:04] my mind.

[00:18:05] So I just kind of decided to try to do something

[00:18:10] a little different and go with that car.

[00:18:12] And I was extremely happy that I made that decision

[00:18:16] because I never looked back and never would change.

[00:18:20] Yeah, so when you say never would change,

[00:18:22] does that mean that after owning the Crosstrek

[00:18:25] that whatever your next car was gonna be

[00:18:28] would be another Subaru?

[00:18:31] Absolutely.

[00:18:32] Okay. Yeah.

[00:18:33] Good.

[00:18:34] So why the decision to go with the RS

[00:18:38] as opposed to maybe going with another Crosstrek

[00:18:41] or an Outback or something else, Subaru?

[00:18:46] Yeah, I still wanted the hatch.

[00:18:52] That was super high on the list, needed to happen.

[00:18:58] The Crosstrek was starting to get up in mileage

[00:19:00] a little bit and I was doing some long car rides

[00:19:03] and there was nothing wrong with it,

[00:19:05] but it's like, all right,

[00:19:07] I could use something a little newer

[00:19:09] and I did want to get rid of the hybrid.

[00:19:13] So I just, I happened to see that for the 24 model year,

[00:19:18] all the new models coming out

[00:19:20] and the RS kind of caught my eye

[00:19:23] because of the 2.5 liter motor under the hood.

[00:19:30] I was like, oh, that's a little bit more power,

[00:19:33] more power than I had in the Crosstrek.

[00:19:35] So that'd be a bonus.

[00:19:37] And it just, it was kind of the right price point

[00:19:41] and it just, it looked really cool

[00:19:44] and can't argue with the white.

[00:19:46] Yeah, so what color was your Crosstrek?

[00:19:49] Was it a white one also?

[00:19:52] No, it was black.

[00:19:53] Okay, that's yeah, that's the complete 180 on the color.

[00:19:57] Oh yeah, oh yeah, definitely.

[00:20:00] Now, was it, were you looking at any other colors

[00:20:02] for the RS or was it like you saw the white

[00:20:04] and it's like, that's it?

[00:20:06] Yeah, I looked at a couple of the others,

[00:20:10] but just none of them really stood out quite as much.

[00:20:14] Like the contrast with the RS

[00:20:16] because on the inside of the vehicle,

[00:20:20] like the RS badging that's red

[00:20:22] and the seats have the red trim on them.

[00:20:26] So like just in my opinion with the white,

[00:20:30] there's the red kind of popped a little bit more

[00:20:33] and it just, it was a no brainer for me.

[00:20:39] Yeah, and I'm guessing that when you,

[00:20:41] with your Crosstrek having modded it,

[00:20:43] you were already thinking like,

[00:20:45] I'm definitely gonna mod the RS.

[00:20:47] Is that a fair statement?

[00:20:48] Oh yeah, oh yeah.

[00:20:50] Yeah, like as I was,

[00:20:52] I had, I was making phone calls

[00:20:55] to order the vehicle with the dealer

[00:20:58] and I wasn't even in New York at the time.

[00:21:02] So I was doing everything,

[00:21:03] buying the car over the phone

[00:21:04] and I was on the other hand

[00:21:07] looking for things to do to it at the exact same time.

[00:21:10] Yeah.

[00:21:11] So what were the first things that you decided

[00:21:13] that you were gonna do to it?

[00:21:15] I had wanted to do in the Crosstrek,

[00:21:19] I wanted to do just get like a different shift or knob

[00:21:24] because in the Crosstrek for the hybrid,

[00:21:27] they only offered the CBT in that

[00:21:30] and the shift knob that it came with,

[00:21:34] it worked, nothing wrong with it,

[00:21:36] I was like, I want something that's a little unique.

[00:21:39] So I started looking there and I knew tires,

[00:21:43] I'd go with somewhat the same setup

[00:21:47] that I had on the Crosstrek,

[00:21:48] I'd carry that over,

[00:21:50] it went with a different tire

[00:21:51] but pretty much a bulletproof wheel

[00:21:56] I knew I needed to put on there.

[00:21:58] Yeah.

[00:21:59] And then even the little things,

[00:22:02] just those small accessories like mud flaps

[00:22:05] and the little window deflectors on the side

[00:22:08] so you can crack the window and not get the water in.

[00:22:11] So it was little things like that

[00:22:12] that I knew right off the rip I was gonna add on.

[00:22:16] Yeah.

[00:22:17] Yeah, and it's funny that you're looking at stuff

[00:22:19] while you're ordering the car.

[00:22:20] And how quickly did you,

[00:22:23] I mean, did you already have stuff to put on it

[00:22:26] once you got the car or did that like,

[00:22:29] you were just placing orders

[00:22:31] as you were also ordering the car?

[00:22:33] I didn't order anything until I knew for a fact

[00:22:37] that I had confirmed the order for the car.

[00:22:40] So I was just,

[00:22:42] I had a whole bunch of web pages open

[00:22:45] and I was saving the website links

[00:22:48] and I had them pretty much all queued up ready to go

[00:22:52] and I was just waiting to know

[00:22:55] that I would get delivery on the vehicle first.

[00:22:58] So when did you get to take delivery of it?

[00:23:01] Yeah, so I started talking with the dealership

[00:23:07] over the phone while I was out of state.

[00:23:10] That was in, I think it was right around this time

[00:23:15] last year, so early May, late April, early May.

[00:23:20] Okay.

[00:23:21] And they said, all right, well,

[00:23:23] we have to order it and it gets built

[00:23:26] and shipped from Japan.

[00:23:28] So that whole ordering process takes about 12 weeks

[00:23:31] and we can do that when you can come in

[00:23:34] and sign the paper.

[00:23:35] Wow.

[00:23:36] And I was like, hmm, that's gonna be kind of troublesome

[00:23:37] because I won't be home until about eight weeks or so.

[00:23:44] So I was like, can we do any of this process

[00:23:47] over the phone now and make these eight weeks fruitful

[00:23:52] so that hopefully when I do get home,

[00:23:54] I don't have, it's just waiting another four.

[00:23:57] Yeah.

[00:23:58] And after some conversation back and forth

[00:24:02] with the dealership, they were agreeable to work on that

[00:24:06] and super grateful to Capital Land Subaru on that.

[00:24:10] That's good.

[00:24:11] And once it was pretty much the day after I got home,

[00:24:17] they took delivery on it

[00:24:19] so I could pick it up the day after.

[00:24:21] So it was like perfect.

[00:24:22] Nice.

[00:24:23] Yeah, you get home to a brand new car.

[00:24:26] Oh yeah.

[00:24:27] That's really cool.

[00:24:28] So I was looking in your profile

[00:24:30] and it states that your Impreza is daily driven

[00:24:34] but you also state that it's rally inspired.

[00:24:37] So is your intent to have your Impreza

[00:24:41] appear to be a rally car

[00:24:43] or do you intend to actually rally it

[00:24:46] and in addition to having it as a daily driver?

[00:24:51] A little bit of both, I guess.

[00:24:53] So when I was traveling away

[00:24:57] and working on ordering the vehicle,

[00:25:01] I happened to be in Ohio at the time

[00:25:03] and perfect timing of the year

[00:25:05] because the Southern Ohio forest rally came by

[00:25:10] and my buddy and I, we had a weekend free

[00:25:13] so we were able to travel out to Southern Ohio

[00:25:18] and we got to see one of the stages there

[00:25:22] as like the first car that went down was Brandon Semnuk

[00:25:28] and he was just ripping through the forest there

[00:25:32] and it was amazing and I was hooked.

[00:25:36] I'd never been to a rally before.

[00:25:38] Yeah.

[00:25:39] I've tried to, I've watched like WRC things online

[00:25:45] but you're just watching it on a screen

[00:25:48] but here you're in it.

[00:25:50] It was live, it was loud, it was dirty.

[00:25:53] It was amazing, I was hooked.

[00:25:54] Yeah, as I was looking at things to do with the vehicle

[00:25:58] I was like, I wanna be like those guys.

[00:26:00] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:26:02] I don't have quite the deep pockets

[00:26:04] and the budgets that they do

[00:26:06] but if I can get something like a set of wheels

[00:26:12] that would be like that and throw the mud flaps on,

[00:26:15] have a great sounding exhaust

[00:26:17] and maybe a skid plate or two.

[00:26:22] Lights.

[00:26:24] It would be built for the winter

[00:26:29] and it'd be just fun to drive.

[00:26:32] Yeah, so are there any,

[00:26:34] cause you said you were hunting for gravel roads

[00:26:37] with your Crosstrek.

[00:26:38] Are there any gravel roads up there

[00:26:40] that you can take your Impreza down

[00:26:42] and give it like a kind of a rally spin?

[00:26:48] Yeah, there's one that's a couple miles

[00:26:51] just north of me here, just like right in town

[00:26:55] that you can get the wheels spinning pretty good

[00:26:59] and it's a little over a mile long

[00:27:01] and it kind of switchbacks through the woods

[00:27:05] and that's pretty fun.

[00:27:08] But what I'm looking to do is

[00:27:11] I've got some friends up in Vermont

[00:27:13] and I wanna go up and visit them

[00:27:15] and kind of travel through a lot

[00:27:19] of the gravel roads in Vermont.

[00:27:21] Oh, nice.

[00:27:22] I've even been thinking of,

[00:27:24] they do this bike race up here called the,

[00:27:27] like bicycle race called the Tour of the Battenkill

[00:27:30] and it's like a 60 mile bike race

[00:27:33] and at least a third of it is all on gravel roads

[00:27:37] and I was thinking about driving that course

[00:27:40] and hitting all the gravel sections there.

[00:27:44] That would be, sounds like that'd be a lot of fun.

[00:27:47] I wish like here, we have gravel roads too

[00:27:51] but the gravel is kind of, I don't know,

[00:27:54] it's kind of rough because it's like bigger gravel

[00:27:57] and like I would really love to find a gravel road

[00:28:01] where the gravel, like the rocks aren't so big

[00:28:04] to where it'd be a little bit smoother

[00:28:07] but haven't done, haven't really looked for anything

[00:28:09] but that would be a lot of fun

[00:28:11] because everything here has got kind of bumpy

[00:28:14] like when I go off-roading for,

[00:28:17] and I can find some mud, it's not like just,

[00:28:19] a patch of field that's kind of flat-ish.

[00:28:22] It's like all rutted and bumpy

[00:28:24] so it's hard to do drifting too much

[00:28:26] but it'd be nice to find like a big gravel lot

[00:28:30] or something to go do some donuts.

[00:28:33] Oh definitely, that'd be a ton of fun.

[00:28:36] Yeah, yeah.

[00:28:38] So how, so what was that whole experience like?

[00:28:41] Did you just spend one day there at the rally

[00:28:44] or a couple of days?

[00:28:45] Was what like from Friday to Sunday usually?

[00:28:48] Yeah, we were only able to make it there.

[00:28:51] I believe it was just on Saturday

[00:28:55] and we were able to just see the power stage

[00:28:59] and you know, because we had to travel

[00:29:03] almost three hours to get out there

[00:29:05] and there was nowhere to stay and then the drive back

[00:29:08] so we were able to stay long enough

[00:29:10] to watch all the competitors go through that one stage

[00:29:16] and it was pretty awesome

[00:29:18] and it was definitely well worth it

[00:29:21] because just the adventure out there,

[00:29:23] driving through the back roads,

[00:29:25] there was tons of gravel out there.

[00:29:27] So, and I had my Crosstrek at the time,

[00:29:31] took that out and so I was able to have fun with that

[00:29:34] and kind of spin that around a little bit

[00:29:37] and just meeting up with all the other spectators out there

[00:29:41] and they've got their own Subaru's and things like that

[00:29:44] and you're just each giving each other

[00:29:47] all the head nods and things like that

[00:29:49] and it's a great environment to be around.

[00:29:52] Everyone was super friendly

[00:29:54] and it was a great time of year and super fun to see.

[00:29:58] Do you foresee any other opportunities

[00:30:00] to go to any other rallies?

[00:30:03] Oh, I hope so.

[00:30:07] Feel like I'm missing out,

[00:30:09] not being able to see the same rally this year.

[00:30:11] I know it's coming up real soon but.

[00:30:14] Yeah, I imagine that's one of those things too

[00:30:16] where it's like when you experience it,

[00:30:18] it's like I want more of this

[00:30:20] and it's not easy to get to it.

[00:30:23] Yeah, yeah, especially here.

[00:30:25] I'd have to travel a pretty significant distance

[00:30:28] in any direction to get to one.

[00:30:31] Yeah, I mean- At least for the ARA levels.

[00:30:35] Yeah, I mean like whenever my first off-roading experience

[00:30:38] was in Colorado and I was just ruined after that.

[00:30:42] I'm like I'm not gonna find anything like this

[00:30:44] when I go back home and so yeah.

[00:30:47] But thankfully we did find,

[00:30:48] I've talked about it on the podcast,

[00:30:50] we did find Bastrop and Bastrop,

[00:30:52] I was just out there just recently with my daughter

[00:30:56] and Bastrop's actually a lot of fun

[00:30:58] because it has some pretty technical spots

[00:31:01] and nothing too crazy because she has,

[00:31:05] hers is 100% stock, she doesn't have any skid plates,

[00:31:08] she still has all season tires,

[00:31:10] she got stuck in the mud but she has X mode,

[00:31:13] she was able to get out.

[00:31:15] But yeah, I mean but as far as like the trails themselves,

[00:31:19] it's a lot of fun and just thankful to have that so.

[00:31:23] But other than that, yeah,

[00:31:24] going to Colorado for the first time just ruined me.

[00:31:27] Like there's nothing like that

[00:31:28] because it's in the mountains

[00:31:29] and we don't have mountains here.

[00:31:31] Yeah, definitely.

[00:31:33] Those are different mountains too.

[00:31:34] Oh yeah.

[00:31:35] You know, being in New York here,

[00:31:37] like we have the Adirondack Mountains up north

[00:31:41] and they're big, it's a huge park

[00:31:45] and there's trails up there too.

[00:31:47] I haven't really explored that with my car yet

[00:31:50] but you know, there's definitely trails up there

[00:31:54] but not mountains like out west.

[00:31:58] Yeah, yeah.

[00:31:59] There's a going to Colorado for the first time,

[00:32:01] not off-roading, it was years ago,

[00:32:03] I was like this is nice,

[00:32:06] I definitely could come back here

[00:32:07] and I've been back a few times so it's fun.

[00:32:10] Yeah, nice.

[00:32:11] Yeah.

[00:32:11] Mountains are pretty awesome.

[00:32:14] So you have your, you've got your wheels and tires,

[00:32:18] I know you've got some lights on there,

[00:32:19] you talked about your shift knob

[00:32:21] and do you also have skid plates on it as well?

[00:32:25] You talked about skid plates.

[00:32:27] Yeah, I do.

[00:32:28] I have it, I actually have it quad armored.

[00:32:32] So I have it, I have the primitive triple,

[00:32:38] the front, the mid and the rear diff

[00:32:41] but like I mentioned earlier,

[00:32:42] I've kind of sourced some parts from other variant,

[00:32:47] other cars so RallyTech makes, I think ADF as well

[00:32:52] but I went with RallyTech.

[00:32:54] They have the gas tank skid plates for the 24 Crosstrek

[00:32:59] and it's exactly the same fitment

[00:33:02] and so I kind of took a leap with that bottom

[00:33:06] and got them mounted up and they fit like a charm.

[00:33:09] Nice, nice.

[00:33:10] So what other mods have you done to it?

[00:33:13] Oh geez, so kind of like just starting from the front,

[00:33:18] we have the SSD light bar

[00:33:21] that has the four Hella Blackmagic 500 lights in front

[00:33:27] and I got that wired up with just my own switch

[00:33:32] and then moving back into the car,

[00:33:37] have the Hella Supertone horns

[00:33:41] with I even got these separate covers

[00:33:46] for the horns that come from a company

[00:33:51] called Hella Fresh and they're like 3D printed things.

[00:33:55] They're super cool and they're white.

[00:33:58] They just, they look different.

[00:33:59] So is that, that's just an aesthetic thing?

[00:34:02] It's just an aesthetic thing.

[00:34:04] Okay, gotcha. Definitely.

[00:34:05] Gotcha.

[00:34:06] And then under the hood, I've got,

[00:34:11] I have the nameless performance intake.

[00:34:16] I have the Paran performance of strut tower bar

[00:34:22] and pulley cover.

[00:34:24] I have the Billetworks caps for like the oil

[00:34:32] and the coolant and things like that.

[00:34:34] I have a battery hold down from Melee.

[00:34:41] Oh yeah.

[00:34:42] And I wanted to get like the battery box.

[00:34:48] I know you have one, right?

[00:34:50] Yeah.

[00:34:51] For your cross track.

[00:34:51] I do.

[00:34:52] The full on battery box.

[00:34:54] What battery do you have in your cross track

[00:34:56] for that though?

[00:34:57] I have the, what is it?

[00:34:59] I always forget what it's called.

[00:35:00] It's the-

[00:35:02] Is it like the full throttle one

[00:35:03] or something like that?

[00:35:05] Yeah, I have the full throttle battery.

[00:35:07] Oh, okay.

[00:35:09] Yeah, cause when I was talking with a guy at Melee,

[00:35:11] I was like, I wanna kind of keep the same battery

[00:35:14] and have the box around.

[00:35:15] And he's like, well, we can do that,

[00:35:18] but you need to cut some of the frame somewhere or another

[00:35:24] and we don't have one specifically

[00:35:26] for the 24 Impreza.

[00:35:28] So you'd be venturing into no man's land,

[00:35:30] basically doing RNT for us.

[00:35:34] I didn't have the gusto to be cutting up

[00:35:37] a brand new frame to try and make that fit.

[00:35:40] So I just, they make just a big flat tie down cover

[00:35:43] for that.

[00:35:44] Yeah, and that's pretty nice actually, the tie down.

[00:35:47] I mean, it's better than,

[00:35:49] at least it looks better aesthetically

[00:35:51] than the little bar that you get across it.

[00:35:55] Oh yeah, sure.

[00:35:58] And then I have on the outside,

[00:36:01] I've got the STI front lip

[00:36:05] and the rear STI spats in the back.

[00:36:10] I have the rally armor mud flaps.

[00:36:15] I have the Method 502 wheels

[00:36:20] wrapped in Michelin Cross Climate 2 tires.

[00:36:26] And those are awesome.

[00:36:28] I love them, they grip super well.

[00:36:31] And then even, oh, also under the hood,

[00:36:35] I got rid of the hood strut bar.

[00:36:42] Oh yeah.

[00:36:42] And took that out and I put in like,

[00:36:48] what do you call them?

[00:36:49] Like hood, I don't know,

[00:36:51] they're like the NUMATIC hood struts.

[00:36:53] Yeah, from Redline Performance.

[00:36:56] I put those on and they get riveted in.

[00:37:00] And that was a fun project to do.

[00:37:02] It turned out really well.

[00:37:03] Yeah, I bought some,

[00:37:04] somebody had posted on Instagram

[00:37:07] that they got some of those hood shocks from,

[00:37:10] I think it was, or either that

[00:37:11] or I did a search online

[00:37:13] and I found some on Amazon that I bought.

[00:37:17] And that's like one of my favorite mods

[00:37:20] because anytime I have to do anything

[00:37:21] in the engine compartment,

[00:37:23] I just, you know, I pop it on the inside,

[00:37:26] then I go unlatch it

[00:37:27] and I just like put my hands up

[00:37:29] and like every single time,

[00:37:31] even though it's like,

[00:37:33] especially like if somebody's around me,

[00:37:35] I'm like, oh, watch this, watch this.

[00:37:37] And I just like unlatch it

[00:37:38] and just let it raise up on its own.

[00:37:40] I mean, it's a very simple mod

[00:37:44] but it makes such a big difference.

[00:37:46] I love it.

[00:37:47] Yeah.

[00:37:48] It's just having the room

[00:37:49] to move your hands around the engine bay

[00:37:52] and not having a big bar right in front of you.

[00:37:54] It makes a heck of a difference.

[00:37:56] Yeah. Yeah, it's definitely nice.

[00:37:58] I love it.

[00:37:58] Yeah. And then just other little mods I have is

[00:38:03] I have the side window covers.

[00:38:07] I put on the Thule wing edge bars

[00:38:14] and I have on the inside,

[00:38:17] I have from Billetworks,

[00:38:22] they make the custom shift knobs.

[00:38:27] So I have a custom engraved shift knob

[00:38:30] and CVT adapter from them.

[00:38:34] What's the CVT adapter?

[00:38:37] It's just the little collar

[00:38:39] that attaches the shift knob onto the shifting stick,

[00:38:45] I guess it were.

[00:38:46] Oh, okay.

[00:38:46] And it has the push down lock piece to it.

[00:38:50] Gotcha.

[00:38:52] So that's all Billet pieces and it's really nice.

[00:38:56] And then I also have Diode Dynamics,

[00:39:03] fog lights in the front, just installed those.

[00:39:06] That was my last mod.

[00:39:07] It makes a heck of a difference.

[00:39:09] Oh yeah, I bet.

[00:39:10] And then I just have the overlays on the back,

[00:39:16] a little pin striping

[00:39:18] and the emblems and things like that.

[00:39:22] Nice, yeah.

[00:39:23] You've got it.

[00:39:23] Yeah, I told you before we started recording,

[00:39:26] it looks really good.

[00:39:27] You did a good job.

[00:39:28] Yeah, thank you.

[00:39:29] There is more,

[00:39:31] but I won't take up all the time talking about that.

[00:39:36] Anyone wants to really see it,

[00:39:37] on the Impreza 6 forum,

[00:39:39] I have everything listed out there.

[00:39:42] Oh nice.

[00:39:43] They can always shoot me a message

[00:39:44] and I'll be happy to talk about them.

[00:39:46] Yeah.

[00:39:47] So you've had it for-

[00:39:48] Oh, and I almost forgot.

[00:39:49] Oh my gosh, I'm sorry.

[00:39:50] No, no, no.

[00:39:51] I almost forgot the loudest most important thing

[00:39:55] from Nameless,

[00:39:55] I have the quad tip dual chamber axle-back exhaust.

[00:40:00] Nice.

[00:40:02] Sounds good, huh?

[00:40:04] Oh gosh, that rumbles.

[00:40:09] What would you say that you like most

[00:40:11] about your Impreza?

[00:40:13] What I like most is that it's one of a kind

[00:40:20] and that it is dependable.

[00:40:25] No matter what, at the end of the day,

[00:40:27] despite all the things changed here and there,

[00:40:31] it still gets me from point A to point B.

[00:40:34] I can still go and make sure

[00:40:37] I can pick up my kid from school.

[00:40:40] And it is a dad wagon at the end of the day.

[00:40:45] And just that it's always reliable.

[00:40:48] How many miles do you have on it so far?

[00:40:52] I think I just passed 10,500.

[00:40:56] Like just a little bit over.

[00:40:57] Yeah, that's pretty, yeah.

[00:40:59] It's a decent amount for a year.

[00:41:01] How many do you have on Pearl now?

[00:41:03] I'm at 105.

[00:41:08] Oh nice.

[00:41:09] Yeah, a lot.

[00:41:12] And it hasn't even been four years yet, I don't think.

[00:41:16] So yeah, yeah, a lot.

[00:41:20] But I do drive that thing a lot.

[00:41:21] Oh yeah.

[00:41:22] Yeah.

[00:41:23] That's great though.

[00:41:24] Yeah, I mean, I use it, you know?

[00:41:26] And I mean, she's still been doing fine.

[00:41:28] So I'm impressed.

[00:41:30] Still have the same brakes,

[00:41:31] still have the same clutch.

[00:41:35] So that's good.

[00:41:37] I'll have to get the clutch.

[00:41:39] I'll have to get them both replaced at some point

[00:41:41] because I know the clutch will give out

[00:41:42] and I don't wanna,

[00:41:43] I don't even know.

[00:41:45] I've owned manuals before

[00:41:47] but I've never owned one long enough

[00:41:49] for the clutch to go out for me to know

[00:41:51] what happens when the clutch goes out

[00:41:53] or how it performs or doesn't perform or what it does.

[00:41:57] So I don't really want to find out.

[00:42:00] But yeah, and then I'll need to get my brakes

[00:42:02] replaced at some point too.

[00:42:05] Yeah, that's fair.

[00:42:06] Yeah, those like it's a part that's gonna wear down

[00:42:11] over time no matter what you do or how much you drive it.

[00:42:14] Yeah, so the good thing is

[00:42:16] it's not like it's a mechanical failure.

[00:42:18] It's a consumable part.

[00:42:21] Yeah, exactly.

[00:42:23] But we'll get there, we'll get there.

[00:42:26] So with your Impreza,

[00:42:28] is there anything that you're like not so happy with?

[00:42:31] Like if there was anything that you could change on it?

[00:42:35] Yeah, I wish and I think everyone who has the RS,

[00:42:40] we're kind of all in tune.

[00:42:41] We wish that there was a manual option for it.

[00:42:44] Yeah, definitely.

[00:42:45] That yeah, I mean, I don't know why they wouldn't make

[00:42:51] a manual for that.

[00:42:52] It just kind of doesn't make sense

[00:42:55] but it would be so much.

[00:42:59] Same with the like with the Crosstrek Sport

[00:43:02] not giving it a manual option for that.

[00:43:06] It'd be so fun.

[00:43:08] Oh, 100%, yeah.

[00:43:12] Everyone definitely wants a turbo hatch to come back

[00:43:17] and so that could have been the one.

[00:43:21] Yeah.

[00:43:22] Maybe in the future.

[00:43:24] Speaking of hatch and you mentioned it earlier,

[00:43:26] like I love having a hatchback.

[00:43:28] Like I could not go back to a regular car

[00:43:31] unless I had a second car and still had the hatchback.

[00:43:35] But there's just, it's not just the functionality of it

[00:43:38] because you get more space with it

[00:43:41] but I just love the look of a hatchback.

[00:43:43] It just, it looks so good.

[00:43:46] I couldn't agree with you more.

[00:43:48] I had a trunk for a while and I'm just like,

[00:43:50] I just, I can't do a trunk anymore.

[00:43:53] Yeah, having a family, putting bicycles in the car

[00:43:57] and things like that, you know,

[00:43:59] talking about camping in the car,

[00:44:01] you just, you have to have that space.

[00:44:04] So do y'all go camping in your car?

[00:44:08] No, I've tried it once a long time ago

[00:44:13] and made a few mistakes

[00:44:15] like not having the window cracked a little bit

[00:44:17] and wolf up is all condensation.

[00:44:20] I learned quick and yeah,

[00:44:23] I'm waiting for my son to get a little bit older

[00:44:25] and I think that'll be something

[00:44:27] we're gonna do together.

[00:44:28] Yeah, that'd be fun.

[00:44:30] How would you say that your Impreza

[00:44:31] best matches your personality?

[00:44:34] Yeah, it's fun.

[00:44:37] It's adventurous.

[00:44:39] It's always willing to take on something new

[00:44:45] and it's just always going.

[00:44:49] It's always ready to go.

[00:44:50] Yeah, and I guess that's kind of

[00:44:52] where you are as a person.

[00:44:54] Yeah, yeah, I have a, I guess,

[00:44:58] like once I get started with something,

[00:45:00] it's until I completely run out of gas,

[00:45:03] no pun intended, but yeah,

[00:45:05] until I run out of gas,

[00:45:07] it's just, it's full steam ahead

[00:45:08] and you know, get the job done.

[00:45:11] Yeah.

[00:45:12] How would you say,

[00:45:13] or if you could describe your Impreza

[00:45:15] in one word, what would it be?

[00:45:18] Oh boy, one word.

[00:45:20] That's a tough one sometimes.

[00:45:22] Yeah, like how do you distill it down to one word?

[00:45:28] I already said reliable and that's,

[00:45:30] you know, can't use that one.

[00:45:33] But yeah, opportunity, I think.

[00:45:38] That's a good one.

[00:45:39] Never heard that.

[00:45:40] Perfect for potential.

[00:45:42] Like it's still such a new car

[00:45:46] that its story hasn't been written yet.

[00:45:50] Yeah.

[00:45:52] Ready to see where the adventure takes me.

[00:45:54] Yeah, definitely.

[00:45:55] So I kind of went over this one,

[00:45:58] or skipped over it, but so the Abominable Subi,

[00:46:02] that's the name of your Instagram account,

[00:46:04] but is that also the name of your car?

[00:46:07] Yeah, loosely.

[00:46:09] I am not very creative with the names

[00:46:11] and I don't accept the credit

[00:46:14] for taking the win for that name.

[00:46:18] So I had originally named the car Winter

[00:46:21] because it was white

[00:46:23] and I wanted to name it something winter related.

[00:46:30] I just, I couldn't think of anything fancy

[00:46:32] so I just called it Winter.

[00:46:34] And it was that way for a couple of weeks

[00:46:37] and I had reached out to my sister

[00:46:39] because she's much more creative

[00:46:42] and I said, hey, I need your help, like Subaru

[00:46:47] and it's designed and built for the winter

[00:46:53] and it will go through anything

[00:46:55] and everything I throw at it.

[00:46:58] What do you got?

[00:46:59] And like, I wanted to maybe even name it

[00:47:02] something like a Nor'easter,

[00:47:05] like a storm or something like that.

[00:47:07] And so we were kind of throwing back names

[00:47:10] for a few days and she was like,

[00:47:14] what about the Abominable Snowman,

[00:47:17] like the Abominable Subi?

[00:47:19] And I was like, oh my gosh, there it is.

[00:47:20] That's it.

[00:47:22] Yeah.

[00:47:23] That is it.

[00:47:24] Shout out to your sister, that's awesome.

[00:47:26] Oh yeah, definitely.

[00:47:27] Yeah, that's a good name.

[00:47:28] I liked it.

[00:47:30] So now that you've owned,

[00:47:33] you owned your Crosstrek for eight years,

[00:47:35] like you said, you've had this one for about a year.

[00:47:37] You've had some experience with Rally

[00:47:40] and no doubt have connected with people

[00:47:43] in the community through Instagram.

[00:47:44] Have you also met up with people in person

[00:47:48] that you've connected with

[00:47:49] or are there people around there

[00:47:51] that have Subarus that you go out with

[00:47:53] or do you do any meetups or anything?

[00:47:56] Yeah, I'm trying to work on getting that done more.

[00:48:02] I just like recently kind of got caught up

[00:48:05] with the Adventure One group.

[00:48:07] Yeah, I saw that.

[00:48:08] And so I'm getting connected there.

[00:48:10] Haven't been able to physically meet anybody,

[00:48:13] but sharing mail, swapping stickers,

[00:48:16] things like that through the mail

[00:48:18] and tons of conversations on Instagrams

[00:48:22] and things like that.

[00:48:24] I've talked with a lot of the folks

[00:48:27] kind of in that community a little bit.

[00:48:31] But no, I haven't really had the opportunity yet

[00:48:34] to get to really meet up with anyone specifically.

[00:48:40] So I'm definitely open to the opportunity

[00:48:43] and just gotta be able to get the time to do it.

[00:48:46] Yeah, I understand that.

[00:48:48] Well, hopefully you'll get a chance to do that

[00:48:49] because it's a lot of fun when you get a chance

[00:48:51] to meet up with people and just talk about your cars

[00:48:55] and look at each other's cars.

[00:48:56] And it's so different

[00:48:58] when you see somebody's car in person too

[00:49:01] because I've met quite a few people

[00:49:04] where I've been following them on Instagram

[00:49:05] and I see their car and I'm like,

[00:49:07] oh man, it looks so nice.

[00:49:09] I love the way that they've built it up.

[00:49:11] And then you see it in person and it's like,

[00:49:13] whoa, that looks way cooler in person.

[00:49:15] And so yeah, I hope you get that opportunity soon.

[00:49:19] Oh, definitely, definitely.

[00:49:21] If you could drive, I mean, well,

[00:49:24] so let me start that over.

[00:49:25] So obviously you've seen other people's builds

[00:49:28] and stuff on Instagram or even going to the rallies,

[00:49:32] but if you could drive anybody else's Subaru for a day,

[00:49:36] whose would it be?

[00:49:38] Can I give you two answers?

[00:49:39] Because I really have two answers.

[00:49:41] Yeah, definitely.

[00:49:42] The first one was a previous guest of yours,

[00:49:46] Samasaurus WRX.

[00:49:47] Yes.

[00:49:49] If I were to be driving a WRX,

[00:49:51] I'd wanna kind of build it like she did.

[00:49:54] I definitely would wanna drive that one.

[00:49:57] And then there's another guy on Instagram,

[00:49:59] I think he goes by moshpitmad.

[00:50:02] He's got an older STI hatch that's white as well.

[00:50:08] And it just, it looks super sick.

[00:50:11] I've been following him for a long time.

[00:50:15] His pictures are really, really nice.

[00:50:18] And I think he has that car built up with body pieces

[00:50:22] from Vermont Sports Car and things like that.

[00:50:25] Oh, nice.

[00:50:26] It's really sick looking.

[00:50:29] Yeah, sounds like it would be fun too.

[00:50:31] Oh my gosh, I can't even imagine

[00:50:33] how much fun that would be to drive.

[00:50:35] Yeah.

[00:50:36] So do you have a,

[00:50:38] and again, being more in the Subaru world now

[00:50:41] for a while, do you have a,

[00:50:44] is there one that you've seen that you're like,

[00:50:46] oh, that would be my dream Subaru right there?

[00:50:49] Yeah, I'd probably wanna kick it back a little bit

[00:50:53] and just go to and be able to drive the original 2.5 RS.

[00:51:02] The name tag for the Impreza RS comes directly from that.

[00:51:07] So there's a huge throwback

[00:51:10] and that would be like a dream legacy car for me to drive.

[00:51:16] Yeah, those would be nice.

[00:51:17] I haven't seen them too much.

[00:51:19] I mean, I just, I don't know a whole lot

[00:51:21] about the original RS.

[00:51:23] So I'd have to look into it a little bit more,

[00:51:25] but yeah, I know that they were pretty,

[00:51:28] like a pretty nice car to have.

[00:51:31] Yeah, definitely.

[00:51:32] And I knew, I've never seen one in person,

[00:51:35] but I know enough about it

[00:51:37] that it was kind of like groundbreaking

[00:51:40] and it was different just like every other Subaru

[00:51:43] out there, every model.

[00:51:45] It's quirky, it's weird, it's different.

[00:51:47] That one was no different.

[00:51:49] Yeah, I mean, I think that's one of the things

[00:51:51] that draws people into Subarus

[00:51:54] because they are different and kind of quirky looking.

[00:51:56] Cause I mean, the first time I saw them,

[00:51:58] I went with a friend who was looking for a car

[00:52:00] and he was like, oh, I really like,

[00:52:02] I think it was the Outback or something.

[00:52:04] And the Outback at the time,

[00:52:05] I was like, why?

[00:52:10] But I just, I didn't really know much

[00:52:11] about Subaru back then.

[00:52:13] I just knew that they looked funky

[00:52:15] and like I didn't really have any interest

[00:52:17] in Subaru at the time.

[00:52:19] And but now here we are years later

[00:52:23] and I've got my own

[00:52:24] and I'm doing a podcast about Subaru.

[00:52:26] So I've come a long ways since those days,

[00:52:29] but yeah, it was funny.

[00:52:32] But also saw on your personal account,

[00:52:35] you that you're a member of the Max Trax micro crew

[00:52:40] member number 396.

[00:52:41] How'd you find out about them?

[00:52:43] Yeah, number 396.

[00:52:45] Found out about them through just listening

[00:52:48] to your podcast and you had them

[00:52:51] on a bunch of episodes ago.

[00:52:53] And I remember I was doing something

[00:52:56] and I just had my earbud in just listening to that.

[00:52:59] And I was laughing the entire time

[00:53:03] listening to that episode.

[00:53:05] Like it was so funny.

[00:53:07] And so I looked into it and I said,

[00:53:11] hey, what the heck?

[00:53:12] Why the heck not like there should be

[00:53:15] never a reason that I would need

[00:53:17] to use Max Trax for my Impreza.

[00:53:21] But many ones now we can have fun with that.

[00:53:25] So it just kind of went down that rabbit hole

[00:53:29] and never looked back.

[00:53:30] And you've got those mounted

[00:53:31] to your rear windshield wiper, right?

[00:53:35] Yeah, I do.

[00:53:36] Yeah, I saw that looking through the photos.

[00:53:38] I thought that was pretty funny.

[00:53:39] But yeah, that was definitely a fun episode.

[00:53:42] Phil's a, he's a funny guy.

[00:53:44] And he just, the way that he talks about how,

[00:53:48] yeah, I just took something that was totally stupid

[00:53:50] and then here we are almost 400 members later.

[00:53:54] So I have to go back and listen to it

[00:53:56] because I pretty much don't ever listen to episodes again

[00:54:00] except for when I'm editing them and then that's it.

[00:54:02] Then I'll listen again,

[00:54:03] but I may have to go back and listen to that one.

[00:54:07] Yeah, it's a good one for sure.

[00:54:10] Yeah, well thank you.

[00:54:12] So yeah, so when you like,

[00:54:14] you talked about Adventure One earlier,

[00:54:16] did you just kind of come across them on Instagram?

[00:54:19] And are there any of the actual members

[00:54:22] that are close to you that you could meet up with?

[00:54:24] Or is it, you know, that they're far away

[00:54:27] and that's one of the reasons why you haven't yet?

[00:54:32] Most of them are further away.

[00:54:36] Some, can't remember all of them,

[00:54:40] but I've talked mostly with,

[00:54:43] I think his Instagram is that whitewagon2018.

[00:54:47] Oh yeah, yeah, Angelo.

[00:54:50] Angelo, that's right.

[00:54:51] Yeah, he was the one helping me out the most

[00:54:55] and giving me most of the information

[00:54:56] and you know, shout out to him

[00:54:57] and thank you very much for his support.

[00:55:00] And I've been trying to kind of work through him

[00:55:04] to meet the other people

[00:55:07] and like just kind of in texting

[00:55:12] and back and forth that way.

[00:55:14] I've been able to meet a bunch of the other folks

[00:55:17] and it's super nice in that like

[00:55:22] through that little micro community,

[00:55:25] you know, it's super supportive

[00:55:28] and they're always putting together a group things

[00:55:35] for like trail cleanups and other events.

[00:55:39] And I even think they're putting on a booth

[00:55:41] or something for what could be me.

[00:55:44] Oh nice, yeah, that sounds familiar,

[00:55:47] but yeah, that'd be cool.

[00:55:50] So too bad I can't go to that this weekend, but.

[00:55:53] Yeah, I was gonna ask if you were able to make it.

[00:55:57] Unfortunately, I have to work

[00:55:58] so I'm gonna end up missing that, but.

[00:56:01] Yeah, well maybe next year.

[00:56:04] Yeah, hopefully,

[00:56:05] because that would probably be one of the closer

[00:56:08] big meetups that,

[00:56:11] because I think that'd be only about three hours away

[00:56:14] from me down in Connecticut.

[00:56:15] Yeah, that's not bad.

[00:56:16] So I guess you haven't been to any of them then, right?

[00:56:19] No, I haven't.

[00:56:21] I really didn't even know until listening

[00:56:24] to the podcast here and just like over this past year,

[00:56:28] I didn't even really know that most of them even existed.

[00:56:31] Yeah, yeah, I mean it took me a while

[00:56:33] to find out about them too.

[00:56:35] Like after, even after I started the podcast,

[00:56:37] I didn't even, I didn't know about the SubiFest events.

[00:56:40] But yeah, I'm thankful to have one here in Texas now

[00:56:43] because that one, it's about four hours for me

[00:56:47] and I went last year and of course I'll go this year too.

[00:56:49] But it's, so I've been to Boxer Fest,

[00:56:52] I've been to SubiFest California

[00:56:53] and then SubiFest Texas

[00:56:55] and I wanna make it up to Wicked Big Meet one

[00:56:57] these days, it's just, it's so hard with

[00:57:00] you know, having to travel

[00:57:02] because you have to, I have to fly.

[00:57:04] There's no way I can drive.

[00:57:06] And then I have to take time off work

[00:57:08] and so, you know, that's not that I can't take time

[00:57:10] off work but I try to save my PTO

[00:57:13] for spending time with my family, you know.

[00:57:17] Yeah, of course, I fully understand.

[00:57:20] Yeah. It's the same here, you know.

[00:57:22] Yeah, yeah, I just, I don't wanna like do any,

[00:57:27] I mean, unless I have like a bunch of PTO,

[00:57:30] I don't really wanna do any selfish travel

[00:57:32] unless I could take my son with me

[00:57:34] but then that just becomes more expensive.

[00:57:36] So it's not easy. Oh yeah, oh yeah.

[00:57:40] So when you went out to the rally last year

[00:57:44] and you were there, did you start following

[00:57:47] rally a little bit more?

[00:57:48] And have you watched any of

[00:57:51] the Subaru launch control episodes?

[00:57:55] Yeah.

[00:57:57] I had started to, once I,

[00:58:01] my buddy and I, we went to the rally

[00:58:05] and we saw some of like the event posters

[00:58:07] and things like that.

[00:58:09] That kind of allowed me to connect into,

[00:58:12] more into ARA and just some of the larger rally events

[00:58:21] and things like that.

[00:58:22] And yeah, so in, with launch control,

[00:58:29] I had seen it once or twice on YouTube

[00:58:31] but it like, it never really clicked

[00:58:34] until I was like, oh my gosh,

[00:58:37] it all makes sense now.

[00:58:38] Like the light bulb goes off and you're like,

[00:58:40] now I need to watch every single episode

[00:58:42] from the beginning.

[00:58:43] And so I did.

[00:58:46] And yeah, it kind of just made it go full circle

[00:58:50] and it just, it dug in that interest

[00:58:57] so much deeper and just connected remotely

[00:59:03] just by owning a Subaru.

[00:59:05] Like yeah, I'm part of that in a way.

[00:59:08] And yeah, oh yeah.

[00:59:10] Yeah, it's a really good show

[00:59:12] and I'm thankful that I was able

[00:59:13] to have them on the podcast.

[00:59:15] That was really cool.

[00:59:16] So it was nice to talk to those guys.

[00:59:20] So, I mean, that was kind of like,

[00:59:21] and it's funny because whenever I had,

[00:59:24] cause I had Warwick Patterson on first

[00:59:26] and I think at that point,

[00:59:28] I had only watched like six episodes.

[00:59:31] So I didn't really know a whole lot

[00:59:32] about launch control.

[00:59:33] I didn't know much about rally.

[00:59:35] And so I was just kind of doing the best

[00:59:38] that I could with coming up

[00:59:39] with questions and communication.

[00:59:42] And then like after it came out,

[00:59:44] Christopher Bose is the other co-creator.

[00:59:47] He messaged me and he was like,

[00:59:48] hey, are you gonna get me on too?

[00:59:50] It's like, yeah, absolutely.

[00:59:51] Let's do it.

[00:59:53] That's a good problem to have.

[00:59:55] Oh yeah, yeah.

[00:59:56] So that was a lot of fun.

[00:59:57] But it'd be nice to maybe get them on again sometime.

[01:00:01] But they're, yeah, it's,

[01:00:04] I haven't been watching any of them lately.

[01:00:06] I just, I just haven't really taken the time to do it

[01:00:10] and just busy doing other things.

[01:00:13] Yeah, I had watched one of the episodes

[01:00:16] that I think they had just released

[01:00:18] and it was what they were covering

[01:00:20] for the Oregon Trail Rally.

[01:00:23] And they were showing how both of the Subaru cars,

[01:00:29] both like they both got flats in the exact same spot

[01:00:32] on the first stage.

[01:00:33] And that basically ended the rally for them.

[01:00:35] So they finished it as an exhibition.

[01:00:39] It was cool to see how,

[01:00:42] like what they did in the moment there

[01:00:45] and how they kind of,

[01:00:47] averted the crisis and carried on.

[01:00:49] And then just, as a big team like that,

[01:00:53] they still participated and they were still present.

[01:00:56] And the sportsmanship there is just awesome.

[01:01:01] Yeah, and I like how this show captures

[01:01:03] the specific moments of the rallies.

[01:01:07] And it's great that they're even doing a show.

[01:01:10] It's nice to have something

[01:01:11] that's following these events for Subaru especially.

[01:01:15] And it's, because it got me more interested in it.

[01:01:19] But again, like I said,

[01:01:20] I haven't watched any lately.

[01:01:21] So I need to just take some time

[01:01:23] to go watch some of them and get back into doing that.

[01:01:27] But yeah, it's a lot of fun.

[01:01:28] So being that you've watched rally more,

[01:01:31] you've been to an event is if you could ride along

[01:01:35] with any of the drivers, who would it be and why?

[01:01:38] Oh man, I would definitely want to sit in

[01:01:42] with Brandon Semnuk and Keaton Williams.

[01:01:47] And just, I mean, even Travis Pastrana

[01:01:50] and Rihanna, Gelsomino, like just either one.

[01:01:54] I'd be happy to be in any rally car honestly,

[01:01:57] but with either one of those cars specifically,

[01:02:00] that would be awesome.

[01:02:02] But I think what would actually be kind of cooler

[01:02:04] would be to like just sit down at a table

[01:02:08] with all of them.

[01:02:10] Yeah.

[01:02:11] Just talk and just be like,

[01:02:13] just kind of see what their inspirations were

[01:02:18] for getting started and how they got to where they are now

[01:02:22] and how they kind of operate

[01:02:26] and like how they get into their game day mode

[01:02:31] and how they stay so focused

[01:02:32] and how they've gotten to be the pinnacle of the sport.

[01:02:38] Yeah, because they're really, really good.

[01:02:41] And both as drivers and co-drivers.

[01:02:44] And I mean, you think about like what it is

[01:02:47] that they do for a living.

[01:02:48] I mean, it's pretty incredible.

[01:02:50] And it's like, what an amazing motor sport to be in

[01:02:57] and a great company and brand to represent as well.

[01:03:01] But I mean, yeah, just the speeds that they're going

[01:03:04] and the precision that they have to have

[01:03:06] for as a team to make all the turns and everything.

[01:03:11] I mean, it's just when they show

[01:03:13] like the cameras inside the car

[01:03:15] and they're just going extremely fast

[01:03:18] and they've got all these turns.

[01:03:19] It's very impressive how well they navigate those courses.

[01:03:23] Absolutely, yeah, it blew my mind

[01:03:26] when I got to be on that one stage

[01:03:30] in just the visitor, the spectator section.

[01:03:33] And we were in this,

[01:03:36] it was a right hand bend about just about 90 degrees

[01:03:40] but it was like a large sweeping 90 degree turn.

[01:03:44] So the cars, they could drift around the turn at speed.

[01:03:49] Oh man.

[01:03:50] And when you, and they came from like off to my right

[01:03:57] and there was another bend there.

[01:04:00] So you couldn't see them

[01:04:02] until they were almost right up onto you

[01:04:04] but you could hear them miles away.

[01:04:07] Yeah, I've seen the videos.

[01:04:10] The thunderous roar that comes through the forest there

[01:04:14] was just amazing.

[01:04:15] And then they pop out, they made turn drift

[01:04:21] and they're spraying grab at you

[01:04:23] and the dust cloud that comes up.

[01:04:29] That was super motivational.

[01:04:30] Yeah.

[01:04:31] And at the speed that they did it,

[01:04:33] like my jaw was on the ground.

[01:04:36] Yeah, it's, I still want to go at some point

[01:04:38] when I get a chance.

[01:04:40] That'd be a lot of fun to do that.

[01:04:42] So how would you say that owning your Subaru

[01:04:45] and now being part of the community

[01:04:48] has changed your life?

[01:04:50] Well, it's gotten me here.

[01:04:51] That's good.

[01:04:53] You know, I feel like an absolute,

[01:04:55] like I'm absolutely humbled, tell you the truth.

[01:04:58] Like I'm just an average guy and I drive a Subaru.

[01:05:02] Like nothing fancy.

[01:05:04] And I feel like, you know, just being on this podcast

[01:05:08] I'm amongst like a league of legends.

[01:05:11] So, you know, thank you for that.

[01:05:12] But like-

[01:05:13] Yeah, you're welcome.

[01:05:14] You know, just owning the Subaru,

[01:05:16] you know, just having a reliable, dependable vehicle

[01:05:21] to at the end of the day be there for my family

[01:05:26] and get me from point A to point B

[01:05:29] when I need to be there.

[01:05:31] You know, it's a great feeling to have.

[01:05:35] Like I have this tool that allows me

[01:05:38] to be where I need to be when I need to be there.

[01:05:42] And have a little bit of fun along the way.

[01:05:45] And have lots of fun along the way.

[01:05:47] Yeah, absolutely.

[01:05:48] Yeah, yeah.

[01:05:49] It's, yeah, I mean, my car being at 105,000 miles,

[01:05:55] I drive back and forth to Dallas quite a bit

[01:05:58] to go visit my girlfriend.

[01:06:00] And that's like a four and a half hour drive.

[01:06:03] And it's over 500 miles round trip.

[01:06:06] And I just think like, you know,

[01:06:10] I'm so glad I have a Subaru

[01:06:12] because even at the mileage I'm at now,

[01:06:15] I feel so confident

[01:06:17] that I'm gonna make it up there with no problem.

[01:06:20] And, you know, so it feels good to own a Subaru

[01:06:24] in something that's, you know, so dependable.

[01:06:28] Yeah, I completely agree with you there.

[01:06:32] Like earlier in January,

[01:06:33] I was coming home from work late at night

[01:06:36] and it had snowed a few days beforehand.

[01:06:40] So like everything had like hardened up

[01:06:42] and there were just ice chunks everywhere.

[01:06:45] And I smashed into this chunk of ice

[01:06:49] that was about the size of a loaf of bread.

[01:06:52] And I hit it with my passenger rear tire.

[01:06:57] And I hit it hard enough that I was like on two wheels

[01:07:01] for a second and then I came crashing down.

[01:07:05] And I was able to drive like a little bit further.

[01:07:08] And I was like, oh boy,

[01:07:09] I either just put my strut through the frame

[01:07:12] and broke that or I just blew the tire out

[01:07:19] something like that.

[01:07:20] And a little bit down the road,

[01:07:22] like the car was kind of like fish tailing a little bit.

[01:07:27] So like I screwed something up big time

[01:07:30] but I was able to keep going until I knew for a fact

[01:07:33] that the tire was blown out.

[01:07:35] So I was able to get that squared away and limp home.

[01:07:39] And at the end of the day,

[01:07:41] yeah, blew the sidewall out of the tire

[01:07:44] but the wheel I had on there was untouched

[01:07:47] and the car around it was untouched.

[01:07:50] And I knew that like, yeah,

[01:07:52] if things were gonna go bad, I'd have been all right.

[01:07:55] Yeah, yeah, and it's good.

[01:07:56] It's nice to have that confidence in your car.

[01:08:01] All right, so here's the segment we get to

[01:08:04] to get to know the person behind the account

[01:08:07] a little bit more but who is Ryan?

[01:08:10] Yeah, so I'm Ryan.

[01:08:12] I'm a 33 year old guy from upstate New York.

[01:08:16] Got a beautiful wife and a six year old son.

[01:08:20] I'm a registered nurse by trade

[01:08:23] and I work in an emergency room in downtown Albany.

[01:08:26] And yeah, I drive a really fun Subaru.

[01:08:32] Do you let your wife drive it though?

[01:08:35] Yeah, she prefers to drive her car instead.

[01:08:39] She's got a RAV4.

[01:08:41] I almost got her to get a Forester.

[01:08:46] Maybe someday.

[01:08:47] Maybe someday.

[01:08:49] So I guess you were born there?

[01:08:52] Yeah, yeah, I was born and raised

[01:08:55] in a small town, small city called Schenectady.

[01:09:01] And so I live not too far from there.

[01:09:05] Any plans to live anywhere else

[01:09:07] or you see yourself staying there long term?

[01:09:10] Yeah, I think my wife and I,

[01:09:12] we're gonna end up staying here for a long time.

[01:09:16] If anything, if we do move again,

[01:09:20] we'll probably move anywhere up like Northeast of here.

[01:09:24] But with my work, I've had the ability

[01:09:27] to travel the world.

[01:09:29] I've been to all over the US.

[01:09:31] I've been to six of the seven continents of the world.

[01:09:34] Wow, nice.

[01:09:37] So I've been able to explore a whole bunch.

[01:09:42] There's no place like home as they say

[01:09:44] and home is here.

[01:09:46] Yeah, so you're also, are you still in the military?

[01:09:52] I am, yeah.

[01:09:53] I'm a traditional guardsman with the Air Force.

[01:09:59] That's been my ticket to travel most of the time.

[01:10:01] Yeah, how often do you travel

[01:10:04] and what's your balance between that

[01:10:07] and being an ER nurse?

[01:10:10] Yeah, so my civilian job,

[01:10:14] normal daily schedule is I'm an ER nurse.

[01:10:18] But then as a guardsman,

[01:10:21] I'm a flight nurse with the military

[01:10:24] and there is definitely a balance between the two

[01:10:29] and that we have to drill monthly

[01:10:34] and then if New York State gets activated

[01:10:38] for any homeland response

[01:10:41] or any federal deployments come up,

[01:10:45] we get called in and activated to those.

[01:10:47] So those are kind of irregular

[01:10:53] as far as scheduling goes, but yeah.

[01:10:57] Yeah, that's nice that you've had the opportunity

[01:10:59] to travel and see a lot of places.

[01:11:02] Yeah, absolutely.

[01:11:04] I say six of the seven continents,

[01:11:07] you still need to get to South America.

[01:11:09] So if you have any recommendations

[01:11:12] on where to go in South America,

[01:11:14] I'd be glad to hear yours.

[01:11:16] Yeah, not me personally,

[01:11:17] because I've never been out of the US, unfortunately,

[01:11:20] but I'd like to at some point,

[01:11:22] just haven't really had the opportunity

[01:11:24] to do some, to go travel anywhere else,

[01:11:27] but I'd like to at some point,

[01:11:29] but yeah, people listening,

[01:11:31] if you have any recommendations for South America,

[01:11:33] let Ryan know.

[01:11:35] Yes, please.

[01:11:37] Or what is a favorite memory from your childhood?

[01:11:42] Yeah, I've got a whole ton.

[01:11:44] I had a great childhood.

[01:11:46] One of which I guess I'll keep it car related was

[01:11:50] my father, we grew up and we had this old

[01:11:57] Oldsmobile station wagon.

[01:11:59] It was the family car.

[01:12:01] And my dad was always in the springtime

[01:12:06] and the fall time.

[01:12:08] He would always change the oil,

[01:12:10] change the air filter, rotate the tires.

[01:12:12] Like it was the scheduled maintenance.

[01:12:15] And he taught me when I was really young,

[01:12:18] he's like, you're gonna learn how to do this

[01:12:20] because eventually you're gonna need to do it.

[01:12:23] And I just, I remember working on the car with him

[01:12:27] and that was always a lot of fun

[01:12:30] because it was good bonding time.

[01:12:34] Yeah.

[01:12:35] And we would talk about whatever we wanted to

[01:12:37] and little did I know,

[01:12:41] those are all usable skills come the future.

[01:12:44] And yeah, definitely.

[01:12:47] In great memories at the end of the day.

[01:12:50] Yeah, I've gotten my son to help me with stuff.

[01:12:52] He's helped me with oil changes.

[01:12:53] He put on the differential skid plate on my car.

[01:12:57] He helped me with the pitch stop that I changed out.

[01:13:01] I got a melee pitch stop.

[01:13:03] He helped me change that out.

[01:13:05] Just a few other things here and there.

[01:13:07] So he's learning some stuff.

[01:13:10] Oh, he also helped me put on the roof rack.

[01:13:12] That was a lot of work.

[01:13:14] And so we did that together.

[01:13:16] That was a lot of fun.

[01:13:18] Taking the car apart and putting the roof rack on

[01:13:22] and putting it together and everything.

[01:13:23] So that was a pretty fun project to do.

[01:13:28] Yeah, did that come in like all separate pieces

[01:13:31] and you had to kind of Ikea it together?

[01:13:35] Yeah, all the rails were separate pieces.

[01:13:37] Like the crossbars and then the side rails.

[01:13:40] And then it had all separate screws

[01:13:43] and washers and everything.

[01:13:44] And so we had to put the rack together on the ground.

[01:13:48] And then it was me, my son and my cousin.

[01:13:51] And we all lifted it up as one piece

[01:13:53] and set it down on the roof.

[01:13:54] And then just went from there,

[01:13:57] putting it together or sealing it not well enough

[01:14:00] because it leaked, but putting it all together

[01:14:03] inside the car back together.

[01:14:04] So that was fun.

[01:14:06] Neat.

[01:14:07] Yeah, it was a good project.

[01:14:10] So we've already answered what you do for a living

[01:14:13] question, but do you have a dream job

[01:14:16] or is what you're doing a dream job?

[01:14:20] I think if I were to have a dream job,

[01:14:25] I'd probably wanna do something like being a park ranger.

[01:14:28] Just to be able to be outside in the mountains.

[01:14:34] Like I do a lot of hiking, things like that.

[01:14:37] And so just being able to be out there

[01:14:40] and help those who need to be helped

[01:14:43] and keep in the wilderness pristine

[01:14:48] and in its condition, I think that would be pretty fun.

[01:14:52] So besides getting out and driving your Impreza

[01:14:57] and just kinda having fun with that,

[01:14:59] what other hobbies do you have?

[01:15:01] So I mentioned like I like hiking quite a bit.

[01:15:05] So I'm often hiking up in the Adirondack high peaks.

[01:15:09] And then also cycling is a big hobby of mine.

[01:15:16] I used to, a couple of years ago,

[01:15:17] I raced bicycles long enough to realize

[01:15:23] that I was no good at bike racing.

[01:15:26] But still just being in the environment

[01:15:30] and actually being in the races, it was so much fun.

[01:15:34] And just being around the sport,

[01:15:37] not only is it a great workout

[01:15:39] and super healthy for you, but it was just a lot of fun.

[01:15:44] And then yeah, just kind of exploring out in the woods

[01:15:49] and just being a dad.

[01:15:53] Yeah, and do you have like hobbies as a family

[01:15:59] or do y'all all go hiking together?

[01:16:02] My wife went hiking with me once.

[01:16:04] And like up on a high peak,

[01:16:08] she's not a big fan of heights.

[01:16:10] She's like, I'll go with you once.

[01:16:12] So God bless her.

[01:16:16] She made it all the way up and all the way down.

[01:16:18] She's like, that is the first

[01:16:19] and the last time I'm gonna do that.

[01:16:21] Okay, well thank you for coming though.

[01:16:23] I really, really appreciate that.

[01:16:25] But there's tons of hikes all around

[01:16:29] just through the woods and they're scattered everywhere.

[01:16:34] So we do those often.

[01:16:36] And then we enjoy spending time together as a family

[01:16:42] and growing together.

[01:16:44] We're trying right now to plan a trip

[01:16:46] down to New York City as a little surprise for my son.

[01:16:51] Oh, nice.

[01:16:52] That'd be fun.

[01:16:53] So what is something that makes you want

[01:16:56] to get out of bed every day?

[01:16:59] Coffee.

[01:17:02] That's a good answer.

[01:17:04] Yeah.

[01:17:05] Life doesn't start till there's a cup of coffee in hand.

[01:17:08] Well, there you go.

[01:17:09] All right, well what's something

[01:17:10] that makes you want to stay in bed?

[01:17:13] No coffee available?

[01:17:15] Well, yeah, sure.

[01:17:18] Just waking up, I'm not a morning person at all.

[01:17:23] My wife and kid are.

[01:17:25] And it's funny because I often have to set

[01:17:29] three or four alarms to make sure that I'm up and going.

[01:17:33] Yeah, that's fun.

[01:17:35] So I could sleep.

[01:17:37] Yeah, my girlfriend is the same way.

[01:17:39] I'm a morning person.

[01:17:41] There's times when I don't wanna get up

[01:17:43] and it's usually I don't wanna get up

[01:17:44] because I don't wanna have to work.

[01:17:46] It's not that I just don't wanna get up.

[01:17:48] It's like, I just don't wanna get up and work right now.

[01:17:51] Can I just sleep for another couple of hours

[01:17:53] and then work?

[01:17:55] And my girlfriend is the same way.

[01:17:57] She could just sleep and sleep and sleep.

[01:18:00] And so, but I mean, I'm also a night owl too.

[01:18:06] I'm a night owl and I'm a morning person.

[01:18:10] I like being up and I like doing stuff.

[01:18:14] While sleep is important

[01:18:16] and I don't ever get enough sleep, I probably could.

[01:18:19] I just like being awake.

[01:18:20] I like doing stuff.

[01:18:22] I don't wanna sleep.

[01:18:23] Yeah, that's fair.

[01:18:25] Once I'm up, I'm up and I'm going.

[01:18:28] But yeah, just getting it started.

[01:18:32] That's always a tough thing.

[01:18:34] Yeah, so how is it being a dad?

[01:18:38] Oh, it's the best thing ever.

[01:18:40] Like, life has come full circle.

[01:18:45] I mean, my son is six now, so it's not like

[01:18:46] I'm a new dad, but yeah, it's so much fun.

[01:18:50] I get to be a kid again.

[01:18:51] Oh yeah, definitely.

[01:18:57] He's getting into things like hockey and stuff like that.

[01:19:00] And that was things that I was interested in

[01:19:03] when I was younger.

[01:19:04] So we play hockey together

[01:19:07] and we ride bikes together.

[01:19:10] And everything is a family together.

[01:19:16] It's just, it's so much fun.

[01:19:18] Yeah, what does he think of the car?

[01:19:21] He loves it.

[01:19:22] He especially loves S mode.

[01:19:27] Like we could be driving like full steam down the highway.

[01:19:31] He's like, dad, can you put on S mode?

[01:19:33] I'm like, sure.

[01:19:35] Right now, it's not gonna do a whole heck of a lot.

[01:19:38] But I'll do it for you anyway, sure.

[01:19:40] But yeah, of course, here we go.

[01:19:42] And there's a lot of the roads around me.

[01:19:47] They're always like really windy

[01:19:49] and up and down and stuff like that.

[01:19:51] So I'll put it into S mode

[01:19:53] and let it rev a little higher

[01:19:55] and turn the car a little harder.

[01:19:57] And he loves to hear the engine rev up.

[01:20:01] Yeah.

[01:20:03] Especially with that nameless exhaust on there,

[01:20:07] it resonates a little bit louder

[01:20:10] and he loves to hear that.

[01:20:12] That's something that I've had people ask me like,

[01:20:16] hey, what would your next mod be?

[01:20:18] And I think I'd like to get an exhaust.

[01:20:21] That would be fun.

[01:20:22] Nameless I would say is the way to go.

[01:20:24] Yeah, it's what I hear.

[01:20:27] So what would be your best bit of advice

[01:20:29] to give to someone about anything?

[01:20:34] Yeah, I think it's kind of threefold.

[01:20:37] First would be to do the right thing.

[01:20:40] Then the next part is good effort equals good results.

[01:20:45] And then last is stay positive,

[01:20:48] stay motivated and keep faith.

[01:20:52] There you go.

[01:20:53] That's good.

[01:20:54] Thank you for that.

[01:20:55] Yeah.

[01:20:57] All those things were kind of passed down

[01:20:59] from my grandfather to my father, my father to me.

[01:21:03] Oh nice.

[01:21:03] We had all our own sayings as it were.

[01:21:08] Yeah, that's good.

[01:21:09] That's nice when you can do things like that

[01:21:11] and have family traditions and patriarchal things

[01:21:15] kind of get passed down.

[01:21:18] Yeah.

[01:21:19] Yep.

[01:21:20] Was there anything else that you wanted to talk about

[01:21:22] or that we didn't talk about?

[01:21:24] Anything more about you or about your Impreza?

[01:21:28] Well, no, not really.

[01:21:29] I just want to thank you again for your time

[01:21:32] and just having me on the podcast here.

[01:21:35] Like I said, I feel like just an average guy.

[01:21:38] And I've only been driving a Subaru for a while

[01:21:44] but I've only really gotten more

[01:21:49] into the Instagram side of it all.

[01:21:51] And just recently I feel like,

[01:21:54] and the community is super supportive

[01:21:58] and I thank everyone across the community

[01:22:01] for all of their support.

[01:22:04] Just thank you.

[01:22:05] You're welcome.

[01:22:06] Yeah, thank you for taking the time too.

[01:22:07] Yeah, I know you're an hour later than me

[01:22:09] so it's a little bit later there

[01:22:10] but it was great to have you on and talk to you

[01:22:14] and hear about your build

[01:22:16] and kind of what you've built it up for

[01:22:19] and where you want to go with it.

[01:22:21] And being your second Subaru, that's cool.

[01:22:25] And you're definitely, even though you haven't been

[01:22:29] in like the Instagram part of the community as much

[01:22:31] you're still part of the community.

[01:22:33] You're doing stuff with your Subaru and that's,

[01:22:35] you enjoy it.

[01:22:36] I mean, that's what counts and that's what matters.

[01:22:38] So, but again, thank you.

[01:22:42] All right.

[01:22:43] But yeah, thanks again

[01:22:44] and I hope you have a good night

[01:22:46] and we'll keep in touch and see where it goes next.

[01:22:51] Yeah, same here.

[01:22:53] All right, we have a good night.

[01:22:55] You too.

[01:22:56] All right, bye. Bye.

[01:22:58] Hello again and thank you for tuning in

[01:23:00] to another episode of the Subi and You podcast.

[01:23:03] Again, if you are not doing so, go give Ryan a follow.

[01:23:06] It is the Abominable Subi on Instagram

[01:23:10] and message him,

[01:23:12] let him know what you thought of the episode

[01:23:14] and if you have any recommendations for South America

[01:23:18] as he mentioned in the episode,

[01:23:22] give him a message or send him a message

[01:23:23] and let him know, give him some spots to go explore

[01:23:28] and help him along his journey

[01:23:32] to get to the last continent in his exploration.

[01:23:36] So thank you again, Ryan,

[01:23:38] for taking the time to record with me

[01:23:40] and to be a guest on the podcast.

[01:23:42] I really enjoyed having you on.

[01:23:44] It was great talking to you,

[01:23:45] getting to know you a little bit more

[01:23:47] and also to hear about your build.

[01:23:49] So thanks again, everybody.

[01:23:51] Hope you all have a great week.

[01:23:53] Hope your summer is going well so far

[01:23:56] and hope you all have some great plans for the summer.

[01:24:00] Whether you're going somewhere or just chilling at home,

[01:24:02] it doesn't matter.

[01:24:04] Take some time to relax and soak in the sun

[01:24:07] and the kids being out of school, take advantage of that.

[01:24:11] Spend some good family time together.

[01:24:13] So thanks again.

[01:24:15] Talk to you later.

[01:24:16] We'll see you on the next episode next Monday.

[01:24:20] Much Subi love, RAF.

[01:24:22] The Subi and You podcast is hosted by Raphael

[01:24:25] in a closet in Houston,

[01:24:26] produced by Raphael in a room next to the closet

[01:24:29] in Houston and edited by Raphael on a computer

[01:24:32] in the room next to the closet in Houston

[01:24:34] with music by Luke Ruiz in another room in Houston.

[01:24:38] You can find the Subi and You podcast

[01:24:40] wherever you listen to podcasts,

[01:24:41] including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and many more.

[01:24:45] To support the podcast,

[01:24:46] please head over to patreon.com slash Subi and You podcast.

[01:24:50] Once you join, you will have access to the Discord channel

[01:24:53] and Discord chats with other patrons.

[01:24:56] If you'd like to get in contact with the show,

[01:24:57] you can find them on Instagram at Subi and You podcast,

[01:25:01] online at subiandyoupodcast.com

[01:25:03] or by email subiandyoupodcastatgmail.com.

[01:25:07] That's all for this week.

[01:25:08] Tune in Mondays for new episodes.