Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. I'm Matt Miller and I'm Hannah Elliott, and this is hot pursuit.
All right, So I guess Christmas has happened?
Is that we're fainting here?
Oh yeah, I'm literally furiously googling a calendar right now to see what has happened.
You know, Christmas, it was wonderful.
It is my by far, my favorite holiday. I have to really, oh, how could it? How could it not be? It's got magic, It is magic. I mean I've loved it since I was a child.
I feel differently about it. I mean, it's just for me. The expectations are so.
High, or they have been since I was a little kid, right, And is.
This expectations you put on yourself or that other people put on you.
I think maybe both. I don't know.
For me, it's an emotionally challenging holiday and it always has been, like my whole life. I'm happy about it. Like when I was a kid, I was very happy to get presents, you know, of course, but it just seemed like maybe starting in my twenties, it was just very stressful.
I'm always happy when it's over.
There's so much to unpack there.
I mean, I know, probably too much for a car.
I mean, of course I can start asking, well, what happened in your twenties or something change.
No, I just think I became an adult and realized, wow, got to give gifts and get gifts, and it's you know, money.
It feels like too much money to me.
Around this holiday.
That's probably what it issgiving.
Yeah, yeah, I think a lot. It can be, of course it you know, the thing that I find sometimes is that it exaggerates what already exists in any dynamic. You know, if there are things that are sort of in a family or relationship that are like bubbling under the surface. Oftentimes the holidays are the time that that really comes out, whether it's whatever like money problems like
you say, or whatever that is really true. It can be really stress right relationships stuff, Oh completely like whatever sort of there, it's gonna really exaggerate. For sure. I have to say, I hope that you had a really nice Christmas. You know, in Spain, maybe that's a nice way to avoid some stress.
Yeah it is, No, it really is. Also because I do it differently in Spain, so at home, yes, we would, you know, everyone wakes up very early because the youngest kids want, you know, to get going at six or whatever.
Of course, and.
Then we all start drinking mimosas like straight away. Yeah, so that by the afternoon when you have to go to Grandma's like in a coat and tie, it's a little bit less fun.
Now, do you have a mimosa? No?
Well, I don't drink anymore, but no. And I also don't spend Christmas at home anymore. So now okay, some of them, yeah, married, we we come to Spain for Christmas and they do Christmas in Spain on the evening on Christmas Eve on the twenty fourth.
That's great, which to me always felt like not as good.
But I guess it's great because you're not hung over by the afternoon.
Really oh gosh, yeah, no headache.
What was your did you have like a did you have a thing that you stick to? Do you still do the same thing?
Growing up in my family, we would we would go to church on Christmas Eve and then you know, have some presence and then Christmas morning. Of course, I was the one getting up at like four point thirty in the morning because I was so excited about everything. And I still get up pretty early Christmas morning because I'm still excited, and you know, just kind of have a lazy day. There's of course a Christmas meal at some point and go to a movie or go out on
a family walk. It was maybe freeing growing up where I did because we didn't actually live close to any relatives, so there was really no pressure to do the rounds or to visit relatives or family. We kind of were very insular and it was just our immediate family, our core family. So maybe that's why I escaped. The addition for stress and terror.
I always had to go to at least two sets of grandparents.
Oh yeah, that's tricky.
And it was like formal meals at everyone's house.
And yeah, you know, in my adult life, I've had all kinds of Christmases. I've spent Christmas alone in New York City City, eating at a diner alone and couldn't have been happier. I've traveled, you know, I've been out of the country on Christmas. I've been with family. I've had lots of different different Christmases, and it's I think
that is really freeing too. I'm perhaps impervious to guilt, so I didn't feel guilty just telling people I'm not going to be around and that that was really freeing too. It helps me don't have kids.
And now that I have kids and they're just little and young, I guess I'm even more excited for it than I ever have been, because they're.
Still pumped, you know, of course. But it's also I don't love the winter and the weather. You know.
Oh you don't do you snowmobile at all?
Uh No, I never really got into it.
Oh interesting, huh.
But you do skies.
You like skiing ski?
I love the ski Now that's another story.
Yeah, yeah, but that's usually after Christmas. You know, the snow is not great at the end of December. All right, Well, listen, I wonder what it's like in Las Vegas, Hannah.
Yeah, Las Vegas for Christmas could be a thing. I'm sure it is for some people. But the last time I was in Las Vegas and we've we've spoken about Las Vegas is a lot of things to a lot of people. But I had a really nice time drive learning to drive and be a proper driver, and a Rolls Royce with Andy McCann, who is the official Rolls Royce driver and actually spent years driving torson Muller otvos around the top boss at Rolls Royce, and I had
so much fun with him. I suggested to you that he should I'm on the podcast and talk to us about just his life. He's a speaking of skiing, former pro skier, ski coach, trains a lot of Formula one drivers, really interesting guy, so I thought he should come on and talk to us about his life and driving and all that sort awesome.
Let's get into it. Here is Andy McCann Rolls Royce driving instructor.
You know, Andy, I think i've I've known you sort of in passing for years, but we had a really great day recently in Las Vegas where you trained me how to be a proper Rolls Royce chauffeur and it was so fascinating and we wrote this amazing piece about it. But I wanted to have you on because your life
is so interesting. You're a professional skier and coach, and I'm so excited to talk to you because I want you to share your wisdom and insight about proper driving and what it really takes to be a private driver, but also your view on it is really holistic and I think it touches on a lot of really interesting things. So Andy, it's really nice to have you with us, and I can't wait to dive in.
Well.
First of all, thank you very much for the invitation. Much appreciated, and I don't know who enjoyed the day most, whether it was you or me when we spend the day driving around the desert in outside of Las Vegas. Driving is something that is very close to everyone's heart. Everyone thinks they're a superstar, and those people that aren't superstars want to be superstars, but actually they very rarely think about the ingredients to be a superstar. You know
what is a superstar driver? And I think as long as you enjoy your driving and you have a passion for driving, it makes the whole experience far far more effective. I think when you are how to drive, probably as a child or a teenager, it's only a glimpse. You only really start learning when you're out on the open road. But unfortunately you often learn by mistakes. You're not given
the correct guidance, you're not given the correct apparatus. What I mean by that is the correct roads, and different countries around the world have different types of training structures. And you know, whether you're in parts of Asia and exposed to a thousand scooters surrounding you, and or maybe parts of Germany where you've got incredibly high speeds on the highways, no one's really coached on how to handle those.
So we've actually found that if we take away the rolls Royce says, the world's best motorcaf for one moment, let's just look at driving on a public road. You've got safety is paramount, but safety doesn't happen by yourself. You have to create safety and you have to look at the components of safety. And I think you'll agree that part of the safetyness when you're driving, the weak link is the driver and if the.
Driving repeatedly in Vegas, it's probably true.
Well it is true. But luckily you weren't a weak link. You were an improving link in a very important chain. And once you once people discover a little bit about themselves, then it's easy to change. A lot of people aren't open to discovering this, and they're very binary in their way of thinking and their way of driving. And if you look at the professional side of driving and when we're training, whether it's a sports car driver on a track,
or a chauffeur or somebody that's an enthusiast. Think of yourself like an athlete. You are performing, and certainly as a chauffeur and most definitely a rotary chauffeur. The captain, you're the pilot. You have a lot of responsibility, so you're not just driving around the streets. You're looking for every tiny little detail. You're anticipating so much. And if we all had a crystal ball, it would be easy.
The physical side of driving would actually be how you connect with the car and how you move the steering wheel, how you move the pedals. And I think you went through some discoveries when we were together.
I completely did. And I was going to say, you mentioned the building blocks of being a good driver and good driving. Can you just break it down for us from a very elemental level of the common mistakes that people make when they get into a car, and what are actually the building blocks to start being a good driver.
Well, first and foremost people come in many shapes and sizes. I don't know any car that's on the market at the moment that doesn't have an adjustable seat, So most people compromise their driving thefore moments by having I won't say the wrong driving position, but I will say an ineffective driving position. So by aligning themselves behind the steering wheel,
they're creating tension. So if you have little tension, then you will be able to rotate the steering wheel more effectively, You'll be able to have better vision looking ahead, You'll have the ability to move the pedals more effectively using different muscles. So that is that's stage one, sitting behind the steering wheel of the car.
But wait, and is there a certain way we should Like should I have a kink in my elbow? Should I have my legs extended?
I was just going to say, I know this isn't NASCAR start.
Sitting up higher?
Do I need to be sitting low?
Like?
Is there one specific position for everybody or does everybody have his or her own position that works best.
If we work on a thousand different drivers, we have a thousand different driving positions, and those different drivers could be in slightly different cars. So it's a lot to do with how your feet are in relation to the pelvis and where your shoulders are in relation to the steering wheel. So some cars economics are very different some cars, let us say many sports cars, naming none in particular.
You have a very feet forward position, so your foot height and your pelvis are very similar, so your legs are slightly in a different position. Your knee joint should be slightly more open. If you're in an suv, the seating position or people carry a family vehicle, the seating position is a little bit more chair like, and of course if you're sitting in a chair, the ability to operate the pedals more effectively is compromised because you're using
different muscle groups. So I've been fortunate enough to work with some of the world's best drivers, and some of our let's say methodology has been carried through to making sure that your body is in a ready state, so in a start position rather than a crumpled or too far extended position.
When I think of being a great driver, I think of somebody who knows how to, you know, hit the apex and get the right acceleration out of a turn, or someone who's able to be at sort of nine point nine tenths without crossing over. But that I can't imagine that applies to a chauffeur. So isn't there a massive difference between someone who's driving for spoorting pleasure and someone who's driving in order not to disturb, like the rich guy in the back.
Well, actually fat quite the opposite. It's exactly the same. Because balancing a car on a circuit is the same as balancing a car on the road. Your line could be slightly different, but the way in which you turn in and exit a turn, it's physics, and you're balancing physics, and if you get it wrong, guess what Physics will
always win. So the way in which you operate the machine as a driver, whether you're traveling at one hundred plus miles an hour or within the legal speed limits on the public roads, you're still rotating the wheel, you're still using the brakes, you're still using the accelerator. In fact, it's even more difficult on the public road because you've got a lot of more distractions. So it's quite fascinating the art of driving. It's not just stopping at red
traffic lights and looking at for pedestrians. The skill. When we're training drivers, we often find that race drivers make
incredibly good chauffeurs. We just spend a little bit more time tidying up their etiquette skills in their mannerisms and how to open a door, rather than taking a very good chauffeur that's been in the industry for a long time that knows how the tire double winds are not then wear a suit correctly and polish their shoes, but they don't have the skill in the art of car balance on an open roads is the best of both worlds if you can.
I want to talk about etiquette, but I want to first have you describe what we went through related to breaking and specifically the whiskey, gin and tonic and champagne test. Kay, I mean it sounds so fun. It's harder than said than done. Can you explain to Matt and the listeners what that is?
Absolutely well, when I was starting to train drivers, I realized that giving somebody a score from one to ten is almost irrelevant. You know, what does a number mean? You know, just because you've got a four or five, some people feel a little bit there, I say negative when you give them a score. And imagery. Through my ski coaching days and coaching instructors and races, imagery is very powerful. So we had the impression that if your passengers are sitting in the backseat of the car and
they have a wonderful classic bowl of champagne. You have the image your passengers are sipping away champagne from the back of the car. Now you're stopping and you're accelerating. Should be calm enough that they don't spill any champagne from the coop. Now if they are unsuccessful, we were looking at a glass with gin and tonic inside, So the glass has a different shape and it's a little bit more stable. The liquid in the glass is a
little bit more stable. So if they're breaking and they're accelerating, had kicked back, for instance, we were suggesting that they are quite not at a champagne level, and they're more gin and tonic. Those drivers that have compromised their driving and they've spent probably a long time driving in a city reacting to a lot of traffic, and they're hitting the brakes very hard and they have a lot of kickback from the car. This is where we introduce the
whiskey stop. So you're imagining that the whiskey in the bottom of the whiskey glass. So to add little bit of fun and imaginary, we called it whiskey Gina tonic and champagne. Of course, some countries around the world that don't think alcohol. We just had to focus on the shape of the glass rather than the content of the glass.
That's really funny.
By the way, you were teaching women to drive in Saudi Arabia. Is that because they have women who are chauffeurs or is that just because like rich Shakes finally could teach their wives how to drive.
It's a little bit of both. Really, It's not just sort of restricted to the Middle East. We have an increasing range of people and private families wanting female chauffeurs, especially, for instance, if you're a chauffeur working for an independent family and one of your duties could be doing the school run and you have teenage children, for instance, And people are starting to become a little bit more mindful of not just the classic chauffeur, but more about person
is being a concierge. And there's more and more people wanting female chauffeurs because they feel, rightly or wrongly, a little bit safer of having their children in the hands of a female, regardless of whether she's the chauffeur or not.
And I think on that regular side, a lot of people feel more comfortable with a female chauffeur in those parts of the world, and of course in Saudi Arabia women haven't had a driving license for very long, so it was interesting to spend time training a women's only chauffeur group most recently, and you know the challenges, and ninety times out of ten we find that they actually as students, they make better students because there is a working and they have less ego.
So tell us a little bit more about that for all women. What what I didn't hear you? What city are you in and give us a little more color about what that was like. I'm so fascinated by that work. And that's part of your White Drug, oh your White Glove chauffeur in company that you own and operate well.
The White Glove, the White Glove is specifically Rolls Royce and that was a that was a celebration, so some just to recap on that history. About fifteen years ago, our current chief executive wanted to celebrate the one hundred year anniversary of the chauffe Academy. We wanted to use or I was asking to use a slightly different label calling it a show for academy. Just seems a little
bit old school and not very imaginative. I looked at people wearing white gloves in the service industry, in the military, and of course it's a signal of respect touching. Whether you're piece of collecting a piece of jury from a shop or something, you're often handed that item with the person who's wearing white gloves, and I thought the white glove program was a new fresh way of describing the academy.
We're not suggesting people drive with white gloves, however, in some countries they do, where the people and the company that they work for. So coming through to this, I recently was invited by another company to train some drivers and along the way it was my suggestion that you shouldn't ignore having a high percentage of female drivers. It
was an immediate success. So they decided to train another group or another team, let's call them team, another group of women drivers, and we had an incredible I would say, fascination from the Saudi government. So they are now looking at a women's only chauffeur company, So that alone is a first and as a company they will be using women only in that particular part of the world. And I think when it comes to training. The actual driving
itself is quite difficult on a public road. It's very difficult to train people on a public road, so we often have to find a quiet airfield or a disused car park or something. So you're going through the skills of training simple things like an emergency break, a break avoid So I often travel to various locations and I take along with me twenty traffic cones in set up an apparatus where people can drive around. I don't carry
them in my luggage anymore. I used to, but we often find twenty traffic cones or even some other apparatus, and even some toys that you find in a toy shop that you would use in a playground, anything that you can drive around to enhance their skills. And it's been fascinating journey.
So tell us a little bit about the etiquette side of this. When we work together. You said really interesting things, for instance, about the positioning of the rear view mirror, the proper way to open a door, how to handle luggage. Can you sort of walk through some of those things, of.
Course, I think well, first and foremost, if you are parked at an airport and you're waiting for your guests for a right first and foremost, you need utmost information about your guests.
You obviously need their.
Name, and you need to know what contry they're hum. But also depending on who you're working for, so if it's a hotel, for instance, you might need a lot of information about the guests. That'shlight information, etc. A lot of our guests, a lot of rolls Voyce guests will have a greeta inside the airport, so the greeta isn't
the chauffeur, and this is important. So the greeter will work a guest out to the car, and of course the car will be a prepared and we have most of our chokers have a little detailing kit which consists of three different microfibers and some pure deionized water because if the paint is hot, and obviously you can use de ionized water and it's easy to use. It's very easy to use on glass painted leather without any damage.
If you're standing by the car either rear wheel, that means that you're greeting process.
You are looking forward to group a guest.
Depending on where that country sorry, depending on where the guest comes from the country.
Is it customary to bout and not to shake their hand, and not shake their hand, et cetera.
So you need a lot of information about that guest when it comes to loading the luggage.
We can't assume all countries and all.
Of our airports are safety these days. And I've been observing lots of people having the unfortunately their bag stolen or potential theft, and a lot of people and a lot of chauffeurs are very keen and very quick to open the door and get a guest inside the car first. There's a lot of problems with that. First of all, you would turn your back what is often a very expensive I don't know, a Romoa luggage or something like that,
or Louis Vitoma's on the pavement on the sidewalk. You're turning your bag just allow the guest to get inside the car. And also then you're asking the guest is there anything inside the bag that they want inside the car on their journey to the hotel or their destination. It's too late because you could turn around and the bag could be gone. In an ever increasing crime area, you don't know who's going to be working along the pavement or the sidewalk to steal the bag.
Ifs are easy to recognize these days.
They don't have black masks on or anything like that, they're not obvious.
So we generally, first of all, great.
The guests lift the bag because lots of roads around the airport's are dirty. If you lift the bag and you place the bag in the back.
Of the guitar. But there's one thing as well.
We will tell and inform the customer the guest why you're lifting the bag, and that shows specific care, that shows high luxury or high touch, if you want to call it. You will say to them, I'm just lifting your bag to avoid any oil getting on your wheels or your bag getting dirty. So you're telling them because a lot of people traveling with the Rolls Voice or Rolls Royce service, they haven't had this level of detailed care. So you inform your guests you're lifting the bag to
place it in the bag. Then you would ask the question, or is this the only bag that you have or do you have any luggage with you you would like to place them in the trunk. They often say, actually, I've got a phone cable, or I have my laptop, or i have something personal inside that bag.
That's the opportunity to take it.
Then you would close the trunk before you turn your back on their very very valuable luggage, everyone's log which is valued because it has many personal items.
Many of them can't be replaced, so you close.
The trunk because thieves are everywhere and some countries are worse than others. You would then open the door because at this stage the air conditioning. If it's a hot they would be running inside the car. You would elegantly open the door, of.
Course on a roll, so you would.
Make sure that the guest is sitting diagonally behind the driver. You would then close the door entering the back of the car.
That's really important. You never walk in front of.
The guest, and then you sit inside the driving seat, close your door. If it's a high risk area, you will immediately lock the doors. If it's not a high risk area, then it's hot, and then to the choice of the guest, you will then turn around to lightly mentioned the guests that the water is in the door pockets, not in the cup holders, because that gives a box fresh feeling, and.
You will give them an approximate arrival time on their journey. Would they like to listen to any music, and.
At that point when you turn around, you also make a point of turning the rear view mirror so you cannot see their eyes. I also mentioned this to the guests. I'm just tilting the rear view mirror so I cannot see your eyes or we cannot make eye contact, and that will give you some privacy and.
It will also increase your safety.
Most too, light drivers like to look at their passengers during conversation. There's nothing wrong with that, although you're compromising the safety of your passengers because you're not looking through the big piece of windscreen in front of you.
You're looking behind you, not in front.
So just by the nature of having this rear view mirror turned, it gives you added safety as well.
I want to know how you learned all this stuff, Like how did you go from a professional skier to someone that knows everything about driving and being a chauffeur. How did you pick all that up? What was this metamorphosis?
Well, I think, first of all, if you're coaching, if you're coaching anyone on the side of the mountain, the concern, the threats, the safety and often the panic in someone, So there's a coaching skill element is one area, but the components of chauffeuring come from many, many avenues.
I guess.
So I still have a race license, and I still have a race instructor's license to coach people on the track, and very much. I think I've been fortunate enough to be exposed to some of the world's best butlers that have worked in Buckingham Palace. And I think if you're fascinated about the industry, you open your ears, you ask questions. You see where the history comes from. Why is it that the lady or the female is normally sitting behind the driver.
That comes from many many years where you would.
Arrive at a location and the coachman, because there was no engines, there was a horse, would remove their cake and place it on the ground so madame would not get her bull gain dirty on the way to the ball. That's why they would sit behind the coach person or
the person in charge of that stagecoach. So it's been a fascination of mine and since working with Rolls Royce, because you're always striving for perfection, I think looking at these tiny details and adding all of these tiny witchard isolation a relatively insignificant, but combined, all of these details made for an effortless experience.
And that's what you're trying to do. You're trying to give the customer, give the guest, or it could be your.
Boss, the best possible experience. And of course all of these things added up made for ultimate safety. The passengers should think for nothing. And I'm sure you've been sitting in a car at some time, whether it's an Uber or a taxi or a chow but thinking I could do better than this. And you shouldn't be You shouldn't be made to feel this at all. You shouldn't be made to feel that your safety is compromised by the quality of the driving. It's currently, at the fac time in charge.
Of your safety and potentially your life.
So basically every Uber driver in Los Angeles, you've just described the feeling of terror and compromise that I experience every time I get into an Uber.
Yeah, it's a little bit of a Yeah, you do find I do find myself having to switch off from a professional side sometimes when I'm sitting in the back of.
A cab or an Uber driver.
And if you will know, some are better than others, and you generally find the better drivers and the more conscientious are the drivers that have some form of sport background and they.
Have a little bit of thought about.
The passengers rather than just getting in a car and going from A to B or a to Z. As a job, a lot of people consider it as a job. Some people call it a profession. And if you look at it as a profession and you're passionate about that profession, every tiny component that makes up that profession. And we looked at three indicators. We looked at being sharp, effortless,
and professional. Those three elements create safety. So every single person should look at those elements the sharp and it's not just dressing in a nice pre only dinner jacket, soup or turning up to work with a crisp white shirt. It's how you stand, how you present yourself, how you open the door. It's accurate, so there's no compromise as best as possible.
So you have been a professional skier, You've been an accomplished ski racer and also an accomplished track driver. And I was just wondering, are there any parallels between the skills necessary to ski you know, a downhill course well, and the skills necessary to race around the track in a car.
Absolutely, And if you look at the art of skiing, for instance, and the art of driving, there's two sides.
You've got the doing and the coaching side.
So if we look at the results, if we look at the what I would call the output focus, like going round corners, the physics of ski racing are very.
Very similar to car racing.
In fact, there's a little bit of a disadvantage on skis where it's really difficult to apply the throttle because you don't have one. So when you release the angle of a steering wheel, for instance, it's on the exit of the turn, and we often talk about taking the angle off off the wheel, and that's during what's.
Known in car racing as a transition from one corner to another is exactly the same on a pair of skis.
You're exiting one corner and there's a inducive edge angle and you have a transition from one turn to another. So you're managing the forces and it's balancing the physics between one turn and another.
So a slalom turn, a giant slalom tern, a super giant slalom turn, and then you have record downhill. The turn RADII are different and it's exactly the same in the car.
The speed, the smaller the turn, the lower the speed, so the physics are different. The longer the term, the higher speed, so you've got greater forces.
So the way in which you.
Deal with forces, the faster you've drive, the slower you move, and also the slower you think.
So it's not only just a physical game, it's a mental game as well.
Yeah, I mean I just find it fascinating and it does feel all related between managing your body in space in general, and the body can extend to the vehicle too, or the skis. It's just fascinating stuff.
That was Andy McCann talking to us about driving, about skiing, and about.
I think just basically being a good person.
Yeah, he's really a prince of a guy, kind of jack of all trades. I mean, he is the type of person who you just know. He's the same whether he is on the street or in you know, the halls with Royalty, and I think he has been in both places. And of course we love him because he's British, so he goes very well with the whole rolls Royce philosophy and mentality and just touch so great. Talking with him, I always learned something new.
It was definitely a learning experience.
And now I know different drink demand, different driving styles.
This is right, this is right, but never drinking and driving, just you know, for training purposes only.
Of course, drinking and driving is horrible.
But back in the day, I was originally watching some old videos of people from the like fifties and sixties when when these laws first came into force, and they were like, hell, no, I'm going to continue to drive after drinking beer.
Oh that was a controversial thing. They like it was the government interfering with their drinking and driving exactly. I thought, I was funny.
Both of us are a little too young to remember that time, but I saw the historical footage and then I do remember when the seatbelt laws first came into fuld No.
Way, you remember that, Yes, I do, and.
I remember because very otherwise intelligent people. I remember saying like, this is an encroachment on.
My personal.
And at the time, I was like, yeah, how can they tell us to wear our seatbelts.
We're only hurting ourselves.
Right, What were you like five?
Yeah?
I was.
I was very young, and that was for I understood insurance in this country, and I'm surprised that they those people didn't. But I think each incremental safety law has been controversial at the time, and now, you know, we look back and think, how insane would it be to say I can have a couple of Gin and Tonics and then legally like drive my kids to school.
You know, that reminds me of the helmet laws, because speaking of Colorado, Colorado doesn't have a helmet law for motorcycle riders, and the minute you cross state lines you start seeing guys just with their hair out in the wind. Oh yeah, like that seems insane to me, like absolutely, but I know they think, hey, it's my personal freedom, so.
I think, you know, I'm not sure about the statistics.
I'd have to look into it.
But with the seat belts, you know, if you're not wearing your seat belt, your chances of a more serious injury obviously are hot, and then it's going to cost more in hospital bills, and then we all have to pay more. If you're not wearing your helmet, you're probably just gonna die, right, So probably that's much cheaper.
Is this your argument in favor of not wearing a helmet?
Well, I don't ride a motorcycle without a helmet, but I grew up in Ohio, where I don't think there's helmet laws there. I'm I'm used to seeing people ride free, and I feel like if you get into a I got into a bad motorcycle accident and survived by the skin of my teeth.
If I hadn't been wearing my helmet, I.
Would be no longer with of because I put my helmet through the windshield of the truck that hit me.
So when was this, I didn't know about it.
This was maybe now twelve years ago. But yeah, the helmet definitely, and my leathers saved my life. So I'm an all the gear, all the time kind of person. But if you're I, I think it's stupid without a helmet or in a T shirt and shorts, But you, definitely, I guess, have the right to be stupid.
All I know is when I first started posting photos, you know, riding motorcycle, standing next to motorcycles whatever in New York many years ago, I would get so many comments about how I needed to be wearing gloves. And this is even if I'm just like standing on the motorcycle, not actually in motion, and I would get yes, so many you know guys, you know, really coming down hard on you, you should be wearing gloves and you should be in full armor, like like seriously, And it's so ironic,
it's so it's so unfair. But it's so funny because you know, you step outside in LA and to your point, you yes, they're wearing helmets, but they're wearing flip flops and T shirts and yeah, that's about it.
Yeah, funny it is.
And I guess I've been guilty in the past of saying, like, you need to put on some gear.
But it's none of my business.
Yeah, gloves obviously are one of the most important.
For sure, for sure, and when I'm riding, I often do wear gloves. Not all the time, I'm not gonna lie. Sometimes they get hot and annoying.
But I will.
I think I really want to ride a motorcycle with you, And I'm feeling like maybe I'm going to make this my New Year's resolution. Oh it is to come to LA and ride with you at some point in twenty twenty.
Style, way, what are you doing for New Year's Eve?
I was out with a couple of girlfriends at a members club in LA that does not allow photos, and we were talking about what to do for New Year's Eve, and the conversation was it ended around having a house party at their house with a bunch of people. That sounds what are you doing for New Year's Eve?
I'm definitely going to a party in Brooklyn and Dumbo. But uh, I mean, I'm but normally I.
Go to Fish.
So at some point I'm gonna sneak away and go to Madison Square Garden to see Fish like a devotee. No, no, I go see Fish the band, and I'm not like a total fish head, So I'm not following that like my brothers follow the band year round and see like dozens or more than dozens of shows every year. I'm I just go to one every year. I go to the New Year's Eve show. It's super fun. I love the garden.
Awesome, and uh it's a good escape.
All right, Let's let's meet back here, same time, same place, next week and kick off the year with a very special guest who has a very special jag.
Me either.
I'm Matt Miller, I'm Hanna Elliott, and this is Bloomberg