HTDE: Curling Stones and Halfpipe Lines

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from through line, on the NPR app, or wherever you get podcasts. Hey, guys, it's Peter. Once again, in your weight weight feed, I am so pleased to present you another episode of How To Do Everything by Weight Weight Producers Ian and Mike. Now, remember, you can only get these episodes of How To Do Everything in our feed for a short while. So if you love the kind of mysteries that Mike and Ian are revealing,

make sure you subscribe to How To Do Everything at their own feed. Thanks. If you have obsessively been watching The Olympics in Milan, Cortina, the way we have, you've probably seen a guy named Nick Monty. He's the one who skis out and paints the blue line in the snow in the half pipe and big air competition. Nick is with us now, we have him on zoom and Nick, it looks like you just got off a mountain.

Yeah, no, no, just go down and ready to go up one more time for the big air. So how do you do it? So all the blue lines that we see on the, on the, on the slope,

“you've painted that and you're skiing while doing this. Yes, well, you must be pretty steady”

with the, uh, spray gun, then, huh? Well, it's not that difficult. It's not super easy. Need a little training. Of course, you ski. You have to go up and down the pipe with more less 20 kilos on your shoulder. So he helps when you go back horse, when you go down, those more weight more speed. Yeah. But yeah, you have to pay attention and balance a bit. Wait, so these Olympic athletes who are skiing, they trained their whole lives. But you're

also out there skiing and you're skiing at the Olympics. How much training do you do before the games? Oh, well, uh, not that not as I wanted. I wanted to train a little bit

before coming here in Corvatch, the mountain where we haven't seen more. Yeah, but it was always

snowing, uh, so the pipe was not shaped, it was not clean. So I called it just came here and remember how it did last year. So what is your title as the person who's doing this? What is your job title? Uh, here it's chief of color. Chief of, chief of dye crew, uh, chief of color. That's an awesome title. Yeah. I love it. Do people call you chief? Yeah, you can nobody does it, but yeah, okay. Okay. Okay. So this is happening, like the the lines need to be

repainted whenever someone, you know, lands funny and chips the blue. So you're going out during competition between skiers and snow borders, right? It's possible, yeah, it's possible. For example, the last days during slope style, we had to recall the lines during the training or during the competition, uh, like yesterday was the TV. So I wait on the knuckle, uh, next to the to the jump hiding from the camera. Yeah. I wait that the rider goes by the camera feels

filming and then when it's gone, I can go. I do maybe one landing or two if I'm really quick. And then I have to wait again for the next rider. Wow. And so what, when the crowd sees you come out, what is the reaction? Well, here in the video for the big girl, uh, it's big. Yeah, the crowd loves it. I just hear a little bit. I tried to be concentrated on what I do, but I hear a bit, you know, where if you use the line, wow. Wow. Was that it? Was it a surprise when you started getting a

reaction from the crowd? Were you expecting that? No, no. Yeah. No, it was a big surprise, yes. Has anything changed about the way you do what you do, knowing that the crowd is cheering for you? Yes, I know. I mean, I hate when I don't do the jobs. Perfect or super nice. That

always, he or even more. Yeah. Yeah. The whole crowd is down looking. So I see it first. I get angry

with myself and then the crowd is not happy. The people and everything. So have you noticed that Nick, if you watched a ski competition afterwards, and notice like, oh, that line was crooked. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. After I started these, you know, when I see videos on social media, whatever, I look both the riders and whatever. And then I look all let's see how they did the blue lines. Oh, they're not nice. Okay. I can do better like this. I mean,

I can learn something. Yeah. That's right. We got to keep growing, right? Yeah. Yeah. Nick,

“you must be one of the first people out on that snow before the skiers hit it, right? Yes. Have you”

ever learned anything? Do you have to tell them like, oh, you guys, it's too slow or it's too fast.

give the feedback to the or the fees guys or the chief of competition or anything. I tell them,

“look, the the landing there. It's not nice. Maybe there is a hole. I remember last week, one day,”

they didn't redo the landing really perfect. So we're after a rail, where everybody was landing

the day before. There was a little hole. And of course, like you said, I'm the first one that

goes on the landing and the first one that touches them. So I called the the shapers right away. I said, guys, look, there is a big hole. So if you can try to do something, are you ever tempted Nick to make a target for somebody so they should know where to land? Like, go here, that helps them out. No, I did the opposite. For example, on the half-five few years, a couple of years ago, there was a place where a stone was coming out. So they told me to make the wrong target.

So I'm not using an avoidance. Yeah. Oh, like a like a street with a pot hole. They just paint. Yeah. Oh, smart. Or like draw a heart for somebody. Yeah, that would be very romantic. Oh. You could send a message. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I was waiting Snoop, Dr. Come here and we wanted to write Snoopy on this note, but then he didn't call up to where we have the warehouse. He just came for the half-five, but we had the idea. Yeah. You could find him near a pipe.

Well, Nick, thank you so much for talking to us about this. Thank you, guys. Been a pleasure. This is how to do everything. I'm Mike and I mean, we're going to stay at the Olympics. We of course, are not actually at the Olympics. We're on our own with people who are. One of those people is Rich Ruinen. He is an American curling legend.

Rich is a two-time national champion, but he never made it to an Olympic team. Now this year,

he's an alternate. We have him on the phone. Rich, where are you right now? I am standing outside the curling arena in Cortina, looking at mountains and an old beautiful arena from 1956. And when do you guys, when do you hit the ice today? Well, we hit the ice in about an hour

“and a half. That's a five here. Okay. That's our first game. Yeah. I saw, I think somebody said,”

you, you have the potential to become you, Rich, have the potential to become the oldest American athlete in winter Olympics history. That's true. How does that feel? It's awesome. You know, I played my first trial to go to the Olympics within 1988 when it was a demonstration sport. I played with my dad and my brother. We missed the finals 24, whatever it was in the country by one game. And then in 22, I played and made the finals 20, some teams that we didn't win. And then I

had to take a few years off because I went to law school and, you know, I played but not super competitively,

but basically since about 2002, I've been playing to go to the Olympics and I've had some

heart breaks. You know, a few, I think three or four second places, so I jumped into the Olympics and then a couple of thirds and four. So it's been a whirlwind and it's fun playing with the young guys that keep me young again and working my butt off, you know. So Rich, you went to Law School. Are you a lawyer now? Yes, I am. I'm a personally injury lawyer at TSR injury law in Minneapolis. As a personal injury lawyer, do you work with people who slip and fall in the ice?

Yeah, we do. That's, you know, one of the jokes is the main way I can get in is if someone slips and falls on ice and hurts themselves on my team and then I can get in. So kind of weird

“that that's what I do for living, although those are very few of our cases, but you know,”

but yeah, it's kind of funny. So you help your teammate up and give him your business card and take his place? Yes. Exactly. Exactly, but no, yeah, all I got to do is notice through a one rock and I will become the oldest U.S. Winter Olympics ever. Wait, so I'm just hoping we get in there. Just so we all know, like, how old are you? I'm 54. I'll be 55 at the end of March. Okay. You know, it was, it's been a long hard road and just to make it after the heart breaks and

however we've had to work is, it's been awesome. The athlete village has been great and the people from other countries are just fantastic. Of course, we know a lot of them because we we curl against the same guys all the time around the world. Sure. So we're having a good time and hanging out and it's been great. What's the first time? Almost to their coaches. So I played against most of the coaches here. Back in the day, because they're all in their 50s

I got to go, though, guys, because I got to get into, oh, yeah, of course you do. Okay,

“can I ask you just one? All right. Guys here, one quick question before you go.”

Sure. Just when you were talking about sweeping, I just wondered, when you're at home sweeping in your kitchen, you know, just to clean up. Are you thinking about curling? Oh, yeah, I mean, time you had to sweep the garage or something, you're kind of laughing like, hey, this is, you know, this is how I do it and curling, you know, so I got, but I got to go. All right, okay, run, run. Okay, good luck, thank you. Okay, bye bye.

Well, shortly after, really right after we got off the phone with Rich, he went into the curling arena

and this happened. And here is Rich Ruud in 54 years of age, stepping in, and able to make his Olympic debut and Kevin, he was so emotional. Happy Olympic track this morning. Hey, if you have a question for us, we are still taking questions in between watching the Olympics. You can send them to us at [email protected]. Really, we're about to run out of Olympics. So we need your questions. Yeah, we need you to need us. These don't have to be

sports related or winter related. They can be about anything. So Mike, something happened earlier in the

show. The just kind of went by. Okay. And I do know what I'm thinking about. I have no idea what

you're thinking about. Okay, I really don't. Let me see if I can, I'll bring up the tape play

“for you. Remember when we talked to Nick Monty, the chief of color. Yeah, you know, I was waiting”

Snoop, though, to come here and we wanted to write Snoopy on this note, but then he didn't call up to where we have to wear a house. He just came for the hot fight, but yeah, we had the idea. Yeah, you could find him near a pipe. When you, when you heard that earlier in the show where you surprised, uh, I left it in, or did you think? What did you? I want you to know, I only did that for you. I only did that for you. I know it's the kind of thing that if we heard someone else do that,

we would both punch ourselves in the face, but I wanted to do it just for you. Yeah, you know, I was waiting Snoop, though, to come here and we wanted to write Snoopy on this note, but then he didn't call up to where we have to wear a house. He just came for the hot fight, but yeah, we had the idea. Yeah, you could find him near a pipe. Do you feel like, okay, so by including it, and then now bringing it up, because I, I didn't know where he does. Do you feel like this,

you're giving me a chance to apologize? I just, if you want a chance to apologize. You know, what, we've talked about this before when it comes to downhill skiing, right? We've talked about this in this, maybe not in this, we didn't talk about this episode in previous episodes. In order

“to get gold, you have to take risks when you're going down the road, right? And I feel like”

same thing applies here. In order for us to get gold, we have to take risks. And in that moment, I took a risk. I knew what I was doing. You know what? And let's hear it one more time. If you're, if you're like us, you probably can't get enough curling. But right now, we're going to test that. We're going to try and give you enough curling. The stones that use the curling stones they use, all come from caves of Scotland. And Rik English is the operation manager

at caves. Rik, do we have a right that every curling stone that we see at the Olympics, you all made it? Yep, so the Augusto, and you see that Olympics comes from one on an habitat island, 10 miles off the west coast. And on that island, you've got two different parts of the island. You've got the south side, and the north side, and on the south side, you've got your user Craig Coleman Green, which makes the body of the stone, on the north side. You've got that, it was a Craig Bluehorn. Then when you put

there two bits of granite together, it makes a perfect colon stone. Wow. And then so do you, you get an order like the Milan Olympics needs this many curling stones, and then you deliver them, and then they're just for that games, or how does it work? No, no, no, no, no, no, just necessarily that no sound stones, it clubs all over the world, so just now we've just done two orders for Canada, and then another order and Alabama, but there's, there's color of over, but we've sold this

Yeah, we're just going to guess. Antarctica, right? I guess they can do it outside.

They can do it outside, the person who took the stones actually phone me, tell me that the stones were working. Oh, that's great. So it's probably the most strongly game of colon those

“other things. Yeah, I think so. I'm curious about this island, so have you been”

in the island where you get there? Yeah, have you been there? I've been there, so that even that self, as I say, is that it's about 10 miles off the coast and to be honest, if you've actually got Google, it was a cake, it's kind of shaped like a colon stone, which is really strange, but it really is. Wow. The island itself, as I say, is uninhabited, it's effective, we are nature reserve. Okay. We go there, we're called, we have, one is has to be a

certified rat catcher because there used to be rats in the island many years ago, so we have to set rat traps in the land and craft before we go, rat traps around the island, so there's, there's a whole plan and there's no justice simple, he's jumping on a boat, going get some grant and doing it back. So Ricky, when you're watching the

Olympics, are you looking at those stones with a critical eye in thinking like, oh, that's

not a good rock or that's one of ours? No, it's because you know that, because you know how

“tough and durable the material is, we're watching it fully pride, that's why we're watching”

the moon that the stones have been made in a small factory in Scotland and we make it behind and there's no many places left in the world and it's 175 years old. So like, when I'm watching, I'm like, wow, that there was a incredible aim or a credible sweeping, you might be thinking, that stone looks amazing. Yeah, that's what we do, to be honest, my partner, she's going to get fed up in Washington to be honest, but is it always on the TV? It was never seen so much

in all my life and it's, can you on them try and get the kids involved and it did to serve

a look at the stones? Are they impressed when they watch it? They're like, I'd be bad. And place for two sayings and then we're back in that place, they're in some other parts. These kids, they don't get it. No, let me ask you this, you're watching the Olympics now, you're paying attention to curling. Do you think Canada was cheating when they touched extra against

“Sweden? If you want to stand the way I get involved with that, can it chat because, but I'm”

not sure, it's the same as anything, then that it's going to, if you're chucking a stone, you're throwing a stone. Yeah. I don't think it would be intentional, it's more probably more like a motion where in that should be a throwing that's being released. I don't think there's any malice or any intentional cheating behind it to be, to be brute-we honest. Good. Maybe a way to think about it is the stone is so nice. Who could blame him for wanting

to touch it? For one in touch. I think it was more than reaction, it got most of the views to be honest. Yeah, yeah. Well Rick, thank you so much for telling us about this stuff. No, no problem at all, that's absolutely fine. Well that doesn't for this week's show. What do you learn here? I learned that there is a job called Chief of Color. Yeah, right.

Which I think probably if you were, you know, if you were a kid and somebody said that's a job, you would imagine that person is in charge of filling the world with color, like choosing all the colors that we experience just going outside. Yeah. I declare the trees green. Oh, yeah. Really, it's just just the one color. It's just the what blue. He's the chief of blue. He's just drawing blue lines. It's a lot of power though. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. He could write anything. Oh, that's actually

a really good point. If you wanted all the skiers to come over to his house. Yeah, he could do that. Yep. It's the end. He's got the big air final. And he's got his lines that go perpendicular across the hill. And then he has two parallel lines at the end. They're probably like, oh, this is the way. And it just takes them right into his house. And he's prepared a meal for them. I thought, uh, maybe you guys would like to try some Italian cuisine. How to do everything is produced by

Skyler Swenson with technical direction from Lorna White. Some of our music this week came from Moby Grottis. Please send us your questions. Send them to us at [email protected]. I'm Ian. And I'm Mike. Thanks.