Have you ever wondered about the origins of a local legend? Join us as we sit with Rob Bell, whose winding path from inline skating to the pinnacle of cycling captures the essence of versatility and endurance. From the early days of gliding on skates, to mountain biking through Oklahoma's rugged landscapes, Rob's story is one of passion, dedication, and humility. His race calendar is packed with challenges, including the BWR in Arizona, where he'll measure his mettle against the top adventure and gravel cyclists.
As we weave through Rob's athletic evolution, we uncover the symbiotic relationship between veganism and high-performance sports through his eyes. An unassuming powerhouse, he shares how a plant-based diet fuels his grueling training and competitive endeavors. He also brings us into the heart of the cycling community's camaraderie and rivalry, from crit racing ascents to the gritty spirit of gravel racing. Discover how Rob finds personal growth in embracing new terrains, whether they're coated in mud or sprinkled with sand.
Every turn of the pedal has a story, and Rob's is no exception. From tactical skate racing to custom gear innovations by Simmons Racing, and the shared trials of Ironman training, our conversation digs into the rich tapestry of Rob's experiences. Hear firsthand how overcoming the gritty challenges of races like the Midsouth cultivates resilience and triumph. It's more than just a tale of athletic prowess; it's a narrative of a relentless pursuit to push limits that resonates with anyone who dares to dream big.
Instagram @robbelllife
Have you ever wondered about the origins of a local legend? Join us as we sit with Rob Bell, whose winding path from inline skating to the pinnacle of cycling captures the essence of versatility and endurance. From the early days of gliding on skates, to mountain biking through Oklahoma's rugged landscapes, Rob's story is one of passion, dedication, and humility. His race calendar is packed with challenges, including the BWR in Arizona, where he'll measure his mettle against the top adventure and gravel cyclists.
As we weave through Rob's athletic evolution, we uncover the symbiotic relationship between veganism and high-performance sports through his eyes. An unassuming powerhouse, he shares how a plant-based diet fuels his grueling training and competitive endeavors. He also brings us into the heart of the cycling community's camaraderie and rivalry, from crit racing ascents to the gritty spirit of gravel racing. Discover how Rob finds personal growth in embracing new terrains, whether they're coated in mud or sprinkled with sand.
Every turn of the pedal has a story, and Rob's is no exception. From tactical skate racing to custom gear innovations by Simmons Racing, and the shared trials of Ironman training, our conversation digs into the rich tapestry of Rob's experiences. Hear firsthand how overcoming the gritty challenges of races like the Midsouth cultivates resilience and triumph. It's more than just a tale of athletic prowess; it's a narrative of a relentless pursuit to push limits that resonates with anyone who dares to dream big.
Instagram @robbelllife
What is up? All of you beautiful people in cycling, oklahoma nation, world I guess world, since we have people that listen in other countries, which is still ridiculously wild to me, and I greatly appreciate every listener we have. So thank you guys so much for tuning in for this one, this one I know I say it all the time, this is gonna be so great, like I get it. But and you probably get tired hearing that but this dude is a legit local legend and you are going to be so happy to listen to this episode and I was so happy to sit down and record it. I'm talking about none other than the most humble, bad dude there is racing bikes in this part, in my opinion, in this part, definitely in Oklahoma, and he is the most humble, amazing human that you're ever gonna come across and his name is Mr Rob Bell.
Speaker 1:Many of you probably know of his name or have seen him on results or things like that, maybe have not talked to him one-on-one. He is definitely not gonna brag to you about how amazing and ridiculous he is in endurance sports. I'm not talking just cycling, we're talking anything that requires going fast and giant lungs or sometimes not giant lungs, just going fast. This dude can do it. We we're probably gonna have to have a round two with Rob, because we didn't even get into several things that I wanted to get into. But Rob does not like to brag on himself and is really hard to get him to say how awesome he is. But just Google him and look at results. He's an amazing inline skater. He is amazing mountain biker, crit racer, road racer, like you name it. The dude can do it. Anything that has to do with a bike he just crushes. So Rob has an amazing calendar lined up this spring. So we are going to see Rob face off with some of the absolute top of legends in cycling in the United States over the next couple of weeks, and so it's gonna be really exciting to follow along. So I don't know if he will post any of his results because, again, he doesn't like to brag, but I can post those or whatever. We'll find a way to get you those results. But he is doing the BWR in Arizona this weekend and this weekend is the first of March. So check out those results and the biggest hitters in this new adventure cycling are gonna be there and gravel racing are gonna be there. So we'll see, see our local legend going up against the best in the United States and actually some of the best in the world this weekend, which is really exciting.
Speaker 1:So Rob is an amazing dude, his wife is an absolute amazing woman and I really want to have Sarah on here. So, sarah, I know you're listening to this episode, you're on my radar and we got to get you on here, so I don't want to keep you too long from from listening to this episode and I will say that we have some really cool thing. I know I keep saying that we're gonna have some cool things coming. My goal is to get this project launched by the middle of March, so I will hopefully be able to put that into the intro for the next episode that will be coming out in the middle of March. We are packing up and getting ready to head to Cape Town, south Africa me and Saxby to do Cape Epic, which we're super excited about. So we are gonna be doing some episode recording there and have a recap episode when we get back. So hopefully that will be at the first of April. So stay tuned to that, but hopefully I'll be able to announce a really cool project that I've been working on for a few months the middle of this month that hopefully everybody will get to enjoy the resources of and all of those things.
Speaker 1:I say that because all of these things are made possible by our sponsor, more overhead door. They have stepped up and sponsored this project several times and I would try to give that money back to the community. We did it with some preems at the Wheeler Crits which start at the end of March FYI here in Oklahoma City, and so we were able to do stuff like that. It's also helping fund this new project because it's costing me money to do it. So I can't think more overhead and doors enough for their support of the local cycling community in Oklahoma. Their money is getting put to good use and if you would like to sponsor this podcast, please reach out. Let me know any. We can talk any details you would like, but more overhead door has stepped up, stepped up to the plate, so let's support them.
Speaker 1:If you have any garage door needs, if you're building a new house, something breaks spring cleaning time and you need to get some maintenance done around the house and you can get the garage door checked out because it's making all kinds of weird, crazy noises and not working properly. Call them. They are located in more, oklahoma. Their phone number is 405-799-9214. Reach out to them. Just Google search more overhead door. These guys have been amazing. They've supported us, which is supporting our community, and their dollars are getting put to good use. So please reach out to them if you need anything.
Speaker 1:But again, go play bikes, go have fun, enjoy the amazing race calendar that's coming up in March. Here in Oklahoma we have races all over the state. Hope you can get out and enjoy those. If you can't make it out, please go support them in any way possible volunteer, check out the results, support their sponsors, all those kinds of things. Reach out to your local bike shops, because I know they need your your support more than ever right now. So thank you guys, so much for tuning in. If you have ideas for guests or you want to hear yourself talk and and on the internet and the interwebs and people's phones, then reach out.
Speaker 1:Let's do an episode. So thank you, guys, so much for listening. Go play bikes, enjoy this. I know I sure did. All right, rob, you ready to roll? Yep, all right, this one. I have been trying to track you down, for I mean I. It's been like I say this a lot, but it for you. It's been like at least a year I've been asking you do this it has been a little while and you keep telling me oh, after this race.
Speaker 1:But we're not. We're gonna talk about the races we just did. No, we probably won't have much more topics. I mean, we can talk about the beat down you put on everybody at the six hour this weekend because that was a really fun race, like that course was so well-designed, so flowy, and I'm so thankful that they changed it to Saturday like no kid.
Speaker 2:Sunday would have been brutal, like the cold rain. I don't know that I would have done it no like. I'm still having some like PTSD from the week before the grower.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was that sucked. Yeah, yeah, no, yeah it was. They could not have made a better day. Better weather, better course, and then the rain and all the junk that we had made the dirt perfect, so perfect, so good. Yeah, how much did you end up winning by?
Speaker 2:I think it was 15 to 20 minutes or so. Dude, yeah, I started. I started my 10th lap not really knowing if drum in or cook would would start their 10th or not. I knew it was gonna be close. And then, as soon as I heard that they didn't, you know did you finish it?
Speaker 1:I did finish it, but I slowed down quite a bit because I was.
Speaker 2:I was pretty smoked by that point. I would hope so it's like six hours on a mountain bike is a long time it's different like my wrists were shot. Yeah, like on my other bike, I have those air gun grips and that's what drumming had to and he said they really help for his wrists. But on this bike I just had some foam grips and yeah, I was. I was done at the end.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I have the air gun grips and I've done the phone grips before. I've tried them. Yeah, like an hour and it's miserable. Yeah, like but that and I get the biggest grips that they have the ugly yeah, and they weigh like four pounds, that's okay they work, it's so. It takes all the pressure off your hand yeah, for sure highly recommend.
Speaker 1:But yes, beatdown was put on, so okay, we'll get back to the mountain bike. We have a thousand things in a thousand directions that we could get into with with you. For anyone doesn't know, we're talking to Rob Bell, and you kind of have done most things in endurance sports.
Speaker 2:I've tried. I've tried to find like what I'm good at. I think you found it. I hope so yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm still looking, though, okay. Well, I don't know what next would be, but we're gonna get into a handful of the adventures you've been on. I think a good place to start is maybe your military background, because there may be quite a few people that know you at this point that don't know you from your previous life. Yeah, so let's just start with your military background and kind of where you came from, because you're not originally from Oklahoma no, I'm not.
Speaker 2:And and actually we talked a little bit before we can start with skating because that kind of leads into the military thing. So when I was 10 I got my first pair of skates for my grandmother for Christmas and like fell in love with it instantly. Like started going to the skating rink with my dad and sister like multiple days a week could you start with rollerblades?
Speaker 2:I did yeah, and was just like a rink rat like hanging out there all the time, and they had this beginner speed club. That was kind of a feeder for a team at a different rink in my town.
Speaker 1:This is where. Where did you grow up?
Speaker 2:at Connecticut, yeah, yeah so the rink was in Waterbury, connecticut, okay, so fell in love with skating, started doing like this beginner speed thing, was recruited on to like the actual team and it was like the first thing in my life that I was actually good at and I think I was like 12 or 13 years old. But the the team that I was on like they had just won the senior four man relay, set a national record, so they were like a really good good team of guys, yeah, so I started skating with them indoors and this is like short track around.
Speaker 2:You're not just like a hundred meter wood floor, okay, and it was like awesome that's gonna be.
Speaker 1:So you got a like wreck a lot at that, you do your wheels slip off from underneath.
Speaker 2:You like, yeah, so they like they put this stuff called roll on, which is like a coating on the floor that's really sticky, so when you fall it just rips the skin off your legs. So I actually started shaving my legs when I was like 12 or 13 years old, even though I'd barely even had any hair back then and just kept on doing it through cycling and everything too. But yeah, it was cool because, like I was this little kid who didn't really know how to skate that well and like during relays, you're getting pushed by like a fully grown man, you know, and you're go from, like you know, 20 miles an hour being the fastest you've ever gone, to like 30 miles an hour on a relay tag into, you know, 180 degree turn.
Speaker 2:You know, 80 foot wide, 180 degree turn and it was just like so thrilling yeah, Um yeah, just so much fun.
Speaker 1:I love watching the short track in the Olympics. Yeah, that's my favorite. I would say top two or three favorite things to watch in the winter Olympics.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and this is so similar and it's so dynamic, like people are throwing passes inside and outside and like you make one mistake and you can go from first place to last place so easily. Trashes everywhere.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, it was just naturally gifted at it, Like you naturally had like the power and speed, or you naturally had the lung capacity, Like what was it? You felt like that was like man. This is kind of my thing.
Speaker 2:I don't know. I mean like I was playing baseball before that and was terrible.
Speaker 1:Like I was.
Speaker 2:I was. I was okay at, like, getting on base because I'd get walked all the time, because I was afraid to swing the bat and then I could steal bases.
Speaker 1:So it's like I was, I was fast. Okay.
Speaker 2:Um, but I had, you know, no skill. Um, but with skating, I just enjoyed it so much. I wanted to do it every day, I wanted to train hard. Um, and it was yeah just so much fun.
Speaker 1:Just obsessed with it, yeah.
Speaker 2:But then, um, people started moving away. Like our team uh went from you know like highly competitive down to, uh, one season. There were just three of us. It was me, a guy named Eddie Wilcox, who was really, really good, Um, and he still skates. And then, like a six year old kid, Chris, Um. So it was like how do you train, you know, with three people with completely different skill sets? Um, so the team kind of folded essentially and, um, like I didn't have any plans after high school, Like my parents never talked about college, Like there was no future.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm Was skating big in that part of the country, or just like it wasn't Okay. No, because here there's zero.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's pretty much zero here. Yeah, um no, it wasn't big, it just happened to be in your community.
Speaker 1:Yes, okay.
Speaker 2:Um, so, like as I'm processing, like what I'm going to do, um after high school, but like I really don't have any options because I don't have money saved up for college or anything. Um, I'm realizing that, like at the skating rink, you know, it was cool when I was 15 years old and all the girls were 15 years old, and now I'm like 18 years old and all the girls are 15 years old and you're like this is not like if days to confused all over.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is like not a place that I want to spend, you know, the next few years. Um. So for me, the military was the best option. Um, like I knew that they would pay for college. If I wanted to do that, um, I'd get to move out of Connecticut and I figured that skating was bigger somewhere else, mm-hmm. Um. So I did my basic training in Texas, which you don't really get to go off base at all, and then I was in Mississippi for Air Force, air Force.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, as a software engineer, okay, um. So yeah, I was in Mississippi to learn my job for like I think 10 weeks and there was a rink there that had like two people that were really fast. So I like yeah, I was like really excited to skate with them.
Speaker 1:Mississippi would have skaters?
Speaker 2:No, yeah, I wouldn't think so either, but but they they did at the small rink, um. And then I was like you know, no matter where I go, there's going to be skating. And then I moved to Oklahoma and there was nothing.
Speaker 1:I mean pretty much zero.
Speaker 2:So, uh, one time I was skating at Lake Hefner I think it was my first time ever skating there Uh, and I ran into Mike Pickle, um, and he's like, are you doing the race tomorrow? And I was like I have no idea what you're talking about. Uh-huh and uh, he told me about Redbud. So they had like a skating event at Redbud for a few years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, interesting, I've never heard that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it wasn't on the bike course, it was more like the run course. I think it was a 10K, okay, um, so I showed up there and just got my butt handed to me how many people were there. Um probably 40, I would say Wow.
Speaker 1:I've never heard of this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Ryan Chrysler from Wichita won, okay, um, he ended up being my teammate for skating and cycling for years. Uh, heather Lougher was second, so she's you know, big star in our community. Um, and then I think maybe I was third. Um, that was the first time I ever skated with Alex.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, it was cool to like get to know everybody.
Speaker 1:So at this point you were already skating outdoors Um. Were you doing outdoor races or was this like the first thing you could have jumped into?
Speaker 2:Not much Like I had done like the Chris Thader race in New York that also had like a cycling component to it. Um, there's a race called the New York 100K in Prospect Park. Um, that I had done. Um, I just did the 50K, I think at that point. Um, so yeah, outdoor skating was something a little bit newer to me. Um, but yeah, it was cool to kind of jump into it in Oklahoma.
Speaker 1:Interesting man. That is the only, because I've heard the stories of Mike doing it back in the day and the only people I've ever seen is you and Alex. Yep, um and my. This is before I knew you guys and I had just got. I don't know if I've ever told you this story. Maybe I have, but I very first bike I bought was a used felt road bike from Al's on Expressway. I lived out on Hefner and like Council, and so the first day I ever rode, I rode from the house up to like Hefner, did a lap and rode back and I got home and, um, I was asked like uh, so how was it? I was like this is the greatest thing ever, like I had so much fun.
Speaker 1:Like how fast should you go? Like what was the average? Like 15?. Like I'm ready for the tour.
Speaker 1:Like I crushed it out there. I was like but one thing happened to me when I was on the dam. I was riding along and I got passed by two rollerbladers and that was the response that I got. Yeah, and I was like but you guys passed me and I was just like what, the like? What is going on here? And I rode as hard as I could and you guys, like every single stride you rode away from or went away from you and I was like huh, ok, well, I'm not going as fast as I thought.
Speaker 1:I just got passed by two rollerbladers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, that's you guys. That's always the goal, like we, we try not to get passed by cyclists.
Speaker 1:If we do get passed, we go back by.
Speaker 2:No clue how fast you could go on rollerblades, yeah, so I think you know Alex and I have done, you know, like 25 minute laps around Lake.
Speaker 1:Heffner, I think.
Speaker 2:I forget what mile per hour average is that's cooking, it's it's scooting, yeah. He's a fun guy to skate with.
Speaker 1:And so you guys, when did you get hooked up with Alex?
Speaker 2:That must have been 2003, 2004. So I moved here in 2003.
Speaker 1:Ok, and it wasn't too much longer after I moved here, so after the Redbud race. Where did you end up going with skating from there? So at this point, were you riding a bike at all? I was not riding a bike, Really. It all so skating.
Speaker 2:So in in like early high school days I was mountain biking in Connecticut and mostly it was like a way to get around town. Like the little town I lived in had mountain bike trails that connected everything. So I bought like a $500 barracuda which was made in like the Yeti factory, like on the like early Internet days, like year 2000,. Mtbrcom bought it used from like some guy out in Oregon. So that was like my first real mountain bike.
Speaker 2:And that was fun too, because, like I would ride with friends and I was skating, so I was in decent shape. But it was like every little climb that we did, I would like get to the top first and like wait on them and be like why aren't they riding faster?
Speaker 2:But yeah, I feel like I was maybe just gifted for that type of riding, At least like the climbing aspect. But when it came to like jumping off of things or you know, like riding across two by four, like trials style riding, like that's not my gift at all, so they would absolutely destroy me.
Speaker 1:But it's the motor. Be like hey, let's climb that hill. Now we're good, we'll sit down here and play on the toys. Yeah, so you were skating. It was 0304. But you were like hardcore into it there for a while.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we would skate at Lake Hefner, you know, probably four nights a week, you know, plus on the weekends we would. We would skate also and there was this like really fun crew that used to hang out there all the time. This guy, Roger Meadows, kind of would like put all of that together, but Alex and I would skate. We had a guy named Andrew who I actually just reconnected with after like a decade, Three weeks ago which is cool to see him.
Speaker 2:We had a lady, christie, and a bunch of cyclists and we would just, you know, hang out at the lake every evening. You know, skate a lap, hang out for 45 minutes and kind of be us together, and you know, go skate another lap, and that was like you know, a normal night for us, so was skating much bigger back then.
Speaker 1:It was slightly bigger back then.
Speaker 2:I mean we would have groups of maybe 10 maximum that would show up and go around.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and what happened to this? People just kind of, just kind of went away.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, slight changes.
Speaker 1:Yep, yeah, interesting. So then, after the Redbud did you get into the doing more of the long course racing kind of thing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you know, Alex and I would go to Duluth every year. Yeah, that's the one.
Speaker 1:We'll do the big marathon up there Because that's like the big one of the bigger races. Right, it is yeah.
Speaker 2:It's one of the bigger races in the world. There were, you know, 4,000 people that would show up, I think at its biggest. Now it's a little bit smaller, I think it's about a thousand people still show up, though, okay. And then there was a series kind of similar to like a USA Crits, but for skating, that they had for one year, so Alex and I were traveling like all around the country to try to get points for this thing, and our teammate Adam ended up winning and the prize was like a framed picture of somebody else.
Speaker 2:Gosh, yeah, yeah, it was actually pretty funny, even with the prize and there was a little cash prize too, but it paid for us to go to like one race and I think that year we did like 10. Oh, thank God.
Speaker 1:But they were fun, yeah, yeah, and the distances that you guys raced, for what?
Speaker 2:Half marathon through marathon. Typically there's a few longer races, like that 100k in New York City, but we really like that marathon distance, so about an hour.
Speaker 1:How long did it take you to do a?
Speaker 2:marathon About an hour.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's wild, and is it because I've seen like pictures and stuff? Is it kind of like a race, like a bike race, tactics, totally yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, same tactics, except like the draft is stronger in skating, because you're like right on top of each other. On a bike you have that, their rear wheel and your front wheel, kind of like blocking your bodies from each other, but in skating, I mean, you're like hovering over the back of the person in front of you.
Speaker 1:That's sketchy.
Speaker 2:At times you know like if one goes down, everyone goes down. How often do wrecks happen? Not that often. You know a lot of the races we do, the packets whittle down pretty fast.
Speaker 1:It's the same as, like you just ride them off your wheel. I mean essentially the same. Pretty much, let's just start hot and whoever's left is racing with Yep Interesting. And is there tactics like I mean, are the courses climbing at all? Some?
Speaker 2:of them are the one in Duluth is almost pancake flat.
Speaker 1:It's like right along Lake Superior. I don't think climbing would be hard.
Speaker 2:It is because you don't have gears on skates Like that New York 100K race. I think it's something like 19 laps and there's a significant climb each time. You know, probably like a 15% steep climb.
Speaker 1:Like, like, like crawling up, yeah, yeah it's, it's brutal, Interesting, yeah. And then how did you do at that Duluth race?
Speaker 2:I think my best finish there ever was fifth maybe something like that Like really good, I mean OK, but it's a smaller sport 4,000 people showed up at one time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so still don't be so humble, rob. I will brag for you, thanks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, it's one of those races where I would. I would love to win.
Speaker 1:I just haven't ever had like the and at this time where you want to race team, were you with Simmons? I was OK, yeah.
Speaker 2:Simmons Racing who actually? Dave, just repaired my 3T frame that I broke at a roller.
Speaker 1:He was able to fix that. Yeah, he was. Yeah, it's in the mail on its way home to me today. Yeah, and so, simmons Racing, how did you get hooked up with them and what are they for people that don't know?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Simmons Racing is Dave and Jennifer Simmons. They were originally from Kansas City. Jennifer was like a great skater back in the day. She met David who was building hot rods and at that point there was like nobody making good in line speed skates. Bont was doing some stuff in Australia that was decent and he was like I bet I can build a pair of shoes better than theirs. So he started working with fiberglass and made some shoes for Jennifer and really got them dialed in and started with carbon fiber and basically just started like a skating empire himself, just making, I mean, the best boots in the world for years and years and years. And he does full custom or stock and it's just him and his wife. He had trained a few people but then, like they would just take you know all the knowledge they learned from him and you leave and try to spin up their own company and compete against him, and I think he kind of got tired of doing that.
Speaker 1:He just makes the boot piece of it and then everything else is just like an aftermarket bolt on, essentially Pretty much, yeah, yeah. So like a frame builder, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:Yep, yeah, exactly like that. But he's also now worked with, like Team GB for the Olympics. He's been doing cycling shoes for them. I think he did cycling shoes for the Australian Olympic team. Wow, the shoes that Bradley Wiggins wore when he got the R record were made by Dave. Really, he's doing saddles. He partnered with a guy named Nick from Colorado to do WoV. I don't know if you've seen those triathlon saddles. They're super sweet, interesting. It's what I've been riding for a little while. Okay, he just sent back one of his other saddles with my frame, so I'm excited to try that. It's a little bit different.
Speaker 1:And he's built an empire.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and, like I said, it's just him and his wife.
Speaker 1:So what makes his boots and or cycling shoes better than others?
Speaker 2:So a lot of his work is custom and they're the lightest, they're stiffest. He knows exactly where to sand the casts to make it like a perfect fit so that when your soft tissue compresses when you put weight on it, you know it's still a comfortable fit.
Speaker 1:and all of that Interesting.
Speaker 2:But he's just amazing with his hands Just a great problem solver yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So if you were going to custom pair of cycling shoes, how much which I have If someone was paying full retail like reached out to him.
Speaker 2:I think they're about $2,000.
Speaker 1:Okay, but I mean, they got a last for error. They're just pure carbon.
Speaker 2:They do. I've had mine, goodness, probably 12 years now, oh my gosh. And he's rebuilt them a couple times. For me, you know, from like crashes or whatever Gotcha. That's a nice thing with carbon fiber it's easy to repair.
Speaker 1:How much are like skates, like how expensive are skates? About the same About $2,000 for a good boot. Interesting Is that, counting the wheels and everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so wheels are $150 a set. They don't last super long.
Speaker 1:That's what I was going to ask. How long would they last on like a long race? I would chew them up, I would think.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for, like, I'll put a new set on every A race and then, oh my gosh, you know, train on, train on the others. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, gotcha. And then the other race that I want to talk about before we get off the skating thing is there was a big race in New York Was it Worlds that you did at one time or you were, it was whatever the biggest race was up there and you finished. You were like the top American. This would have been way back in the day. This is like right when I started hearing about you, and maybe it was the New York race. I don't remember. I just remember there was a big race in the Northeast that you went to and you were one of the only Americans in, like the top 10. Does this ring a bell to you?
Speaker 2:No, you just wash it down. It may have been. It actually probably was in New York, 100K.
Speaker 1:New York race. Yeah, I remember it being a really long race, yeah.
Speaker 2:And there usually are quite a few people that come from France and Italy to do that, so I bet that was it?
Speaker 1:Is it bigger in Europe than it is here, or is it just kind of a niche group everywhere, so like?
Speaker 2:it's a big sport in Columbia.
Speaker 1:Columbia yeah.
Speaker 2:So in Columbia, soccer is their number one sport, cycling is number two and skating is number three. Interesting yeah, so there are bank tracks everywhere in Columbia, like it's what kids do in their neighborhood, but yeah, not so much here. So are you still? Do you still skate at all? I'm still planning to race this year. Really, it's been a while since I've had skates on my feet. A few months at least. But yeah, I'm planning to skate this year, so I turn 40 next month, so I'm eligible for Masters Worlds.
Speaker 2:So, I need to decide if I want to do that this year.
Speaker 1:Have you ever done Worlds?
Speaker 2:No, I haven't. Okay, gotcha, yeah, for regular, like senior worlds, you have to qualify. I only, like so many people from each country can go and I've never been good enough to qualify for that Gotcha. But Masters Worlds, I can just show up and this year I'll be the youngest guy there. Perfect, where's it? At Italy?
Speaker 1:Ah, that's nice, Not bad. When is?
Speaker 2:it September, awesome, yeah, good time of year to be in Italy. No kidding, you're been to Italy.
Speaker 1:Nope, huh, cool. I can't wait to hear about that. I guess round two will be in the fall. Yep, so we can talk about your skate. So, and then your military, did you? How long were you in the military? I did six years, okay, yep. And you were on the software side of things, yep, okay. So you were got moved to Tinker.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I did all six years at Tinker, essentially, and did software for the AWACS.
Speaker 1:Gotcha. And then, at what point in this adventure between skating and the military and all stuff, did you pick up riding more often?
Speaker 2:So in 2000, late 2005, early 2006, alex and I were skating and saw a pretty girl that was riding a bike. May have been your old bike, I don't know, it was a felt. Now she actually got it from Alice Bicycles too.
Speaker 2:Oh nice, and that was Sarah she was she was riding her bike and she kind of became part of our group that would hang out at the lake each night and we became friends really quickly. And then, you know, things got a little bit more serious. And then she was like, well, I'm probably not gonna see you very much anymore because I'm training for an Ironman race. She was training for the full at Redman, so she's like I'm gonna be swimming more and running more, so we won't be seeing each other much. And I was like, yeah, that race actually sounds pretty cool to me, like I can, I can probably do an Ironman. So she taught me how to swim. And then we started swimming, riding and running together and both did the Redman in 2006.
Speaker 1:And then yeah, that's kind of how you got a bike, pretty much chasing a lady. Yep, yep. It's amazing what you'll get into when you got a lady.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I bought a cheap used bicycle and yeah got her first Ironman go. Oh, it was terrible, Like when I when I hear other guests on your podcast talk about doing like a 12 hour Ironman for their first race. I'm so, so envious, because I think mine was like 14 and a half hours.
Speaker 1:Oh, Rob is human.
Speaker 2:Oh, I was, I was terrible and. I'm still a terrible runner. But like the swimming I mean, was just survival the bike I mean how long did you train for it?
Speaker 1:So uh did you put in like a full chunk of training or was it like a month before?
Speaker 2:So in in June I think we decided I was going to do it. So I did the super sprint triathlon. Nearly died in the 500 meter swim, Like I would swim from one side of the pool to the other and have to take like a long break before I could, you know, be brave enough to journey the other side of the pool. July I did an Olympic distance down at Joe Pool Lake in Dallas. Okay, and that was, I mean, a terrible decision for a non-swimmer to be in an open water swim Terrible idea.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I was just floating on my back for most of the swim to not die, like I'm sure there were kayaks surrounding me like what the heck is this guy doing? He's one of those Like oh, and then the month after that I did the half at Arcadelpia, and then Red man was the month after that he just jumped right in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm just not surprised, but so did therapy you at the first one.
Speaker 2:Um. She did not. It was close.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, nice, has she ever beat you?
Speaker 2:I'm sure she has.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:Her fastest time is definitely faster than my fastest, is it?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, Well, Sarah doesn't know it, but she's in my sights, for I want her on here.
Speaker 2:You need to get her on here In the worst way?
Speaker 1:Yeah for sure. So your first Iron man experience? Did that like wound you have? Like this multi sport is not my thing. Or like were you intrigued to? Like I think I want to get wound to endurance.
Speaker 2:I was definitely intrigued, so the next year we did Silver man which was supposed to be like the hardest Iron man in the world, because I didn't have any desire to go like fast, I just wanted to challenge myself and see what I was actually capable of. And man, that was such a beautiful race, I mean, one of the best bike courses I've ever done Because that's just outside of Vegas.
Speaker 1:Just outside of Vegas, yeah, and for people that don't know, I don't even know if they still have that race anymore they don't. Okay, it was like a normal Iron man swim and the distance were all the same, but the bike was lots of climbing.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And there was one section that was really brutal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was like 10,000 feet of climbing on a tri bike, which is ridiculous yeah. Yeah, one of the sections had like 18% grade climbs. I mean they were short but they were really, really steep. Yeah yeah, it was like coined as the hardest Iron man in the world. They put together some relay team and it had some like Olympic level swimmer, then Tyler Hamilton on the bike, who is just, I mean, an animal, and then I forget what the PR marathon was for their marathoner, but he was like world class to see if they can go under eight, and they didn't which is crazy, that like three people that are, you know, the top level of their sport, couldn't go under eight.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because now the world championships and the men's race, they go like 10 of them go under eight hours. The world championships, like every single year, is not a big deal. I think the women are even getting close to eight hours now. So that just tells you how brutal that course was, because she did it a couple of times, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think she did it twice and I think Schlagel went out once, twice, once or twice, I think. He finished it once and went twice, yeah, yeah. And so you guys, you went out and did that, I did yeah.
Speaker 2:And then I did Ironman Kentucky to see if I can get a slot for Kona had a decent swim for me.
Speaker 1:It was like hour five, I think that's fast.
Speaker 2:And then the bike was, I think, like a 440. And I was like right on my target wattage. And then I really screwed up the run. Like one of the pro women came out of transition with me and I was like I'll just run with her Like she knows, she looks like she knows what she's doing, and she like blew right by the first aid station. I was like I don't need to stop, I'll just try to like pace off of her. And then I looked down and we were doing like a 640 mile and I was like no, it's not going to work and just completely blew myself up and had to walk. You know, second half of the marathon or so how many Ironman have you done? So just those three.
Speaker 1:Just those three, okay. And then you've done a couple of halves, couple of halves, yeah yeah, because I remember there'd be random time. I would see you when I worked at Schlagel's and shortly after I would see you and you're like I think I'm going to do Redman next month and I'm like you, think you're going to do it next month and you would just show up.
Speaker 1:I think you would do a half. I think you would show up and like, crush it. Half was a fun distance, I think. So I think that's the best distance. Yeah, for one, when you train for it, you can still have a life. Yeah, and when you go out and do it you're not wrecked. Yeah, yeah, but you, it's long enough that you have to pay attention to pace and hydration nutrition Totally, but it's short enough you can like push the pace.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you can kind of fake your way through the swim and the bike but, I, just never figured out how to fake my way through the run.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I kind of can't fake that one. Yeah, have you ever run a marathon, stand-alone marathon?
Speaker 2:I haven't no, no desire.
Speaker 1:No, I agree, I've done one. That was the very first thing I did. I don't want to do another one.
Speaker 2:No, no thanks.
Speaker 1:I don't like it. So through that process, were you just doing the multi-sport stuff? Or at this point, have you kind of gotten bit by the the racing bug and the road racing 2007,.
Speaker 2:I started racing crits with team undiscovered and then there was a guy, Brad, that joined our team.
Speaker 1:That's about when undiscovered started right in that area.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 06, I think, was their first year. 07 was their second year. And I man, I just love racing with those guys so much.
Speaker 2:And like it it honestly, like completely changed the trajectory of my life. Like one like meeting Sarah, you know, obviously changed everything. But like Judson Copeland, still one of my best friends we go over his house every Sunday night and just like, like Terry Storch, road for Undiscovered he, you know, and Brian Russell, who also Road for Undiscovered, were both working with Life Church, which is like how I got plugged in there. Andy Chastine, who I met through one of his ex-wife, shannon, like they invited me to Life Church for the first time. Like that completely changed my life. Like cycling has just done so many positive things for my life, just through the people that I've met For sure. And like Team Undiscovered was such a big, that was a that group of people Because that was.
Speaker 1:I mean, I wasn't really part of the team, but I wore their kits and went to some of their stuff because they were the only cycling team at the time that would even acknowledge that triathletes existed in life much less allowed them to ride with them, and it was, you know, sarah and Martha, and I feel like somebody else was on the team that was a triathlete or had done triathlons and I was like this is awesome, they like will allow you to come hang out and learn. And I went to a camp that we did down in what was the name of that?
Speaker 2:It's like a church camp. Goodard, goodard, goddard, goddard, yeah, goddard yeah.
Speaker 1:Goddard yeah, I went down into that and everybody was that group of people was so just incredibly kind, nice people. Yeah, and I met Dylan because he was starting out in racing. We were like the same effort and then like two weeks later he was like a pro cross racer.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, that escalated quickly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, talking about somebody who just had so much raw talent.
Speaker 1:Raw talent yeah, that dude was so fast. But yeah, that undiscovered group was awesome and it stuck around for quite a while. Yeah, we were together for quite a long time, until Parks decided to jump ship and go chase a woman, and then it all kind of went its own way and everybody went their own way. But really I don't think there's a whole lot of those guys that are still racing anymore Women that are racing anymore.
Speaker 1:No, no, not too many of them unfortunately, you think you might be the only one. That's still like race racing. There's something Judson on his bike, yeah.
Speaker 2:Judson still rides all the time, but yeah, not too many of the other ones are racing anymore.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so you got into crit racing then, yep, ok, did you fall in love with the crits because it reminded you of the skating, totally yeah.
Speaker 2:And like that hour effort really matched up well with the marathon efforts I was doing on skates and crit racing is just so fun and I mean back then you can race crits every weekend within like a six hour drive. Like the schedule was just jam packed, like you were having to pick which races you wanted to do because there were just too many to do them all.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, yeah Well, and we used to have a really good little race series in the summer here because we had the time trials that Velo put on. And then we had I don't even know who was in charge of them, but we had like a crit. And then we have a road race that would alternate like weeks out of Draper and Firehill, firehill, crits and stuff. It was such a fun racing. I would love to see some sort of thing like that come back.
Speaker 2:I mean, I'm so thankful now that we have Wheeler going on for every week. Without that, I mean it would be.
Speaker 1:I think cycling in Oklahoma City would be on lifeline. I think, yeah, that's awesome. So did you find that whenever you got into the crit racing, that you moved up the ranks quickly, or was it kind of a grind in a learning process?
Speaker 2:So I think I went from a five to a three the first year, which was fun, and then I spent a year as a three and upgraded to a two at the end of that second season and then I was a two for quite a long time before I kind of put things together to figure out how to upgrade to a one. Like it's a really hard jump because as a cat too, you're pretty much racing cat ones all the time, but kind of lucked into some good results. My favorite one ever was Cedar Hill, which is like an early season race down in Dallas at Joe Pool Lake where that triathlon was, and like my whole team was there undiscovered, we didn't really expect anything. We didn't know what to expect and like throughout the race there was a guy racing with Elevate one of like the you know pro teams out of Dallas and he was just being a jerk to me, like he was making fun of my wheels, like I was on zip 404.
Speaker 1:What you were racing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like you know, making fun of me for using race wheels, it's like man, it's a race Like. Of course I'm going to have race wheels on. So I got like so fed up with him running his mouth that I like bridged across to the breakaway. I was like all right, so yeah, now I'm in the break and eventually it ended up being just Matt Stevens and I and I didn't know Matt really at the time and I was like dude, I'll take second.
Speaker 2:I don't care and he's like we still have over two hours of racing left. Like you can't make a deal now. I'm like I'm making a deal now. Like I'm taking second place. I don't care, let's just, you know, make this work, we just got to get away from Mr Elevate back there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and Matt was on Elevate too. They were their teammates.
Speaker 2:So then, like you know, we start lapping like a lot of people. So like I lap one of my teammates and like they're taking a double take, like not understanding what's going on.
Speaker 1:And I don't know either. I know.
Speaker 2:So I pass. You know my teammate Bob, and he's like hooting and hollering and yelling, screaming, and I'm like we might actually make the stick. So then you know, matt was so cool with one lap to go. He's like we've been taking equal pulls, like you're riding too good, you shouldn't have made a deal Like let's actually sprint this out, and I'm like I don't.
Speaker 2:I don't want to Like, I'll take second he's like no, we'll just sprint it out, and he was probably like 99% sure that he was going to completely wax me in the sprint, but somehow it was a photo finish and I beat him by like a millimeter. And that was like my biggest you know road race win ever so the podium was like me, him and Brett Crosby. Oh, man In the picture like they both look confused because they're like who the heck?
Speaker 1:is this guy? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:But it was like just putting together, like the right race strategy and good early season fitness.
Speaker 1:He was probably regretting his decision of not letting you sit in yeah. And then you guys have raced for people that don't know, matt Stevens, just look him up. The dude is, I mean especially on the gravel scene and the bike packing scene. He is as good as it gets in this part of the country and has been before like the lifetime and all that stuff came about. He was the top dude around.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So he was a national champion on the track, raced on a bunch of different pro road teams. He won Unbound, he won Land Run.
Speaker 1:Everything. Yeah, pretty much, pretty much everything. He was kind of the beginning and he was like one of those first superstars when gravel really took off. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then his wife.
Speaker 2:You know, races pro she was on the.
Speaker 1:EF Education First.
Speaker 2:And Tipco.
Speaker 1:I forget what team she's on this year, but yeah, I don't remember either, and I think she went to. I think she's on Lifetime this year.
Speaker 2:She is in Lifetime series this year. I don't know how much she'll get to race it, because she's also racing in Europe.
Speaker 1:Oh, ok. Well, I didn't know who she was. And I went and did Palladero in November, yeah, and I was like there's a woman here in an EF kit. I'm like, is it for real EF kit, or is it just somebody? Yeah, and she rolls up and she I saw her Canada and I was like, well then she's got to be legit. Yeah, and then then she almost slapped me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, she's legit, she's legit.
Speaker 1:Well, it was funny because we finished and my brother was like I was talking to him because he just went out and watched the race and where he stood to watch people come through was probably I don't know maybe 30 minutes because it was a three lap thing. So it was probably 30, 45 minutes in and he's like that EF girl was first.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Like everybody he's like she crossed the road and went back into the trail Like, and I couldn't even see the guys behind her, yeah, and then I think she finished. My goal was to not get lapped and I finished my second lap and they were like 10 minutes behind me.
Speaker 2:I was like, thank goodness I didn't get lapped, so that would have been awful, but yeah, she's the real deal too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they do crazy bike packing adventures together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so much. I mean it's just so cool to watch them because they're both so laid back and just cool, approachable people.
Speaker 1:But then Is he still racing a lot? Yeah, he's still racing.
Speaker 2:He's actually racing with Waddellstein this year, oh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, dang. Okay yeah, because there's some cool bike packing races and gravel races that I see down in Texas and he always crushes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's one of the race across Texas.
Speaker 1:Anything. Bike packing that dude is extreme when it comes to those.
Speaker 2:I don't remember what race it was, but Lauren, matt and I were there and Matt's strategy was to put Lauren on the front and the crosswind and just see, like what will happen if she puts it in the gutter. And she dropped everybody except Matt and I Like I look back and everybody was gone Like she's really good.
Speaker 1:They're brutal. And well, there was a I think it was last year, the year before they did the spinistry, which is a North Texas group does a bike packing? It can be bike, I think it's a bike packing point to point race from Dallas to Austin. Yeah, and he won it and then turned around and wrote his bike back to Dallas Like this guy is a different breed, yeah, crazy. So, yeah, having a podium over him, that's a good one to keep in there yeah.
Speaker 1:In the trophy case and did you just continue? Did you just? Is that what you think is like your favorite, like the, the crit racing kind of thing is? Or do you like the long distance stuff, Cause you, I want to get into your long distance stuff, yeah, I mean now.
Speaker 2:I definitely prefer the long distance stuff.
Speaker 1:When did you make that switch?
Speaker 2:So Bob Cummings was on team undiscovered with us and, excuse me, he lives up in Wichita, kansas. Kansas was, like you know, the the central point for gravel, so you know he had heard about dirty Kanza, which is now unbound, and was like we need to go win this thing. I was like Bob, nobody cares about gravel racing, like this is never going to be a thing. Um, uh, dan Hughes, I think had won like three years in a row and Bob's like whoever takes down Dan Hughes is just going to be a legend forever. I'm like I just don't think people are going to care and Bob was totally right. Um, and he went out and did uh.
Speaker 1:At this point had he had made a gravel team yet so he was just racing it in a team undiscovered kit.
Speaker 2:Um. So I think he ended up third one of the years, um. And then um thought that he had potential the next year to win it and maybe ended up like fourth or fifth Um. But you know he was, he was in it early, like he was, he was totally right, um. So he talked me into doing land run the second year that they had ever done that, um and him and I finished first and second that year, um, and it was really fun, like I had never done gravel racing before. He let me borrow a bike because like I had a cycle cross bike but it didn't really have like all the right stuff. Actually he just let me borrow wheels that year. But you know we were good at it and there are more and more races starting. So we actually put together a team to try to win Unbound and he was recruiting, you know, people from the region and then the team kept growing and growing. And what was the name of that team? So it started off as now I'm trying to remember what it was before.
Speaker 2:It was Pan Eraser, pan Eraser, that's what I was thinking, but yeah for the majority of the time I was on Pan Eraser with the title sponsors. American Classic was his title sponsor before that. So yeah, we had like a great tire sponsor, which was amazing to have. Everything, yeah, like every single race having new tires and being like the right size and all of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because that's before anybody really knew what equipment to run at. Grapple Totally.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there was no such thing as a gravel bike back then. You just raced on a cyclocross bike and we were experimenting with different touring tires and cyclocross tires and you know, trying all of these different things. And then he tried the Pan Eraser tire and it was like I mean, just so far ahead of anything else that was out at that time. Yeah, it was just a really fun time because, like the sport was growing so quick, it was like starting to get national attention. Our team was doing really well. We had Matt Stevens on the team. He was literally winning everything, like every race that he went to. Like the only way he was losing is if he gave me the win, you know, which was awesome for me, because I got a couple that way.
Speaker 1:But yeah, you two would just solo off the front. We would ride together Whenever you guys would make a break off the front at that point. Are you like just crushing each other? Try to get the gap where at some point you said to me like dude, let's just roll like we always roll and aren't talking and hanging out.
Speaker 2:We would never hang out. He was always crushing it, yeah.
Speaker 1:Was it everything you could do to just hang onto his tire?
Speaker 2:Most of the time yes, yeah especially second half of the race. Yeah, man.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you won Land Run that first year, the first year that they had it no.
Speaker 2:So Austin Morris won the first year, bob won the second year, I was second.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And then I think our team had won it a few other times. I'm just not me. I won it in 2017.
Speaker 1:Okay, is that like your biggest race title that you've won?
Speaker 2:Probably. Yeah, I mean it's one that I'm really proud of.
Speaker 1:Did you go to Unbound?
Speaker 2:I have been to Unbound twice.
Speaker 1:Okay, not the XL, just the regular.
Speaker 2:I did the regular one twice.
Speaker 1:Okay, how'd you do there? Not very good, just not there.
Speaker 2:No, I overheated both times.
Speaker 2:So the first time I was in the lead pack about 100 miles in and then Matt flatted, and Matt was the returning champion so I gave him my back wheel so that he could ride back up to the group. So like right when he flatted, ted King and I can't remember the other guy's name, but they like hit it hard and it was on like one of the major climbs. I mean, they were going to hit it hard no matter what. So Matt had to chase solo all by himself, caught those guys but they ended up beating him still. So I think he finished fourth or something like that. And then I kind of limped to the next eight station on his tire, put a tube in, flatted the tube, patched the tube, like put about it, it was, it was miserable that race is.
Speaker 1:Puts you through some misery, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then when I got to the eight station, so Bob, it passed me when I was like fixing my flat and I'm like tell them to get a wheel ready for me, like I'm coming, I want to have a fast wheel change. So I get there, he had forgotten to tell them. And then, you know, I grab a wheel and I didn't realize that it was Matt's wheel. I'm like he was running Shimano, we were running SRAM, which wouldn't be a problem, but the SRAM battery like limited our mud clearance so we had to dish our wheels over, but his wheel wasn't dished so I had to take my battery off. So then I was, you know, just rolling like a 53 tooth chain ring the whole time, you know, for the the rest of the 200 mile race miserable it was miserable.
Speaker 1:You're for DNF'd. And now that I can remember man, you put up with some really bad stuff.
Speaker 2:I've put up with too much bad stuff. Yeah, I don't. I don't know what that says about me, but I think I'm just really stubborn, but it sounds like it, the.
Speaker 1:So that kind of started your gravel career and you've kind of transitioned to more like kind of that's your thing. When did you kind of make that full time of like I mean, I'm going to do the crits and stuff for fun and they're here and there, I'll go race them, but like gravel's my thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, is that about 17, 18? Probably around 17, 18. So, like I said, bob's team just kept getting bigger. It was before the Lifetime series, but we were basically doing a lot of those same types of races, and then the travel was just too much for me to keep up with.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Is that team is not. Is that around anymore?
Speaker 2:It's not around anymore, but like they were, you know, and like I have high expectations for myself. So a lot of those people were full time cyclists, like they weren't working.
Speaker 1:They weren't married Like they would just show up crazy back then because there wasn't any money in it.
Speaker 2:No, they're yeah, so how?
Speaker 1:those people were making it work is crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, you know, I would want to be just as strong as them, or at least like be able to put in efforts to help them. You know, get a result, and then I'd be really hard on myself when I'd have a bad race. So between all the travel and just being hard on myself, I got pretty burnt out in 2019. So told Bob like I was going to have to step back and take some time off from cycling to.
Speaker 1:You know refocus on some other things. Do you feel like you were training more than than you are now, or was it always kind of been pretty much consistently?
Speaker 2:the same I was. I was training pretty hard back then, meaning like I would come up with a training plan for myself and be pretty strict on like interval. Yeah, exactly, I was structured where, right now, I'm really not structured at all.
Speaker 1:Gotcha, how many hours back then were you putting in?
Speaker 2:I mean it just depends on the time of year, but you know average week's probably 14.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, and that's kind of always been kind of where you ride. Yeah yeah, the um, the well. One of the things that I want to talk about is because, before we get into your some of the really crazy long stuff that you've done, because I know we've talked with you and Chad when you did the XL this summer, so I want to kind of cover that just a tiny bit. But, like most people probably that they know you or Sarah know that you guys are vegans and I mean you didn't say it soon as you introduced yourself.
Speaker 2:So you're already, so am I really then?
Speaker 1:you're already down in the vegan category where they've already kicked you out of the club, but when? And that cause? I want to talk to you guys about that because I find it super intriguing to see how people fuel and to get let people know that there are alternatives. And it's not just like you have to like salad every day. Like and elite endurance athletes can do it, especially long course athletes. Um, because I'm vegetarian. In the first piece of question, everybody asks where you get protein. You're like oh, I mean, that's a whole not the conversation. But and people like well, how do you recover from your workouts and stuff, not having a steak or chicken or whatever? Yeah, I'm like well, I don't know. I don't look like I need more protein.
Speaker 1:Like I feel like I'm okay, right. Um, when did you guys make that switch and what kind of led to that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I made the switch in 2002. So it's been 20 something years now. Um I. I was a big fan of the band Goldfinger.
Speaker 2:Um, it's like a Southern or Southern California punk rock band, uh, and their front man, john Feldman, was a vegan. Okay, um, so I was at actually a different concert but saw like this video called meet your meat. That was like playing at one of the merge tables for one of the other bands and told one of my friends, kind of as a joke, that for three weeks I was going to go vegan because I had read this thing around like breaking any habit, um, that if you could do something for three days, you're a third of the way there. Three weeks, you're two thirds of the way. And if you can make, uh, if you can cut something cold turkey for three months, then like you'll never have to do it again in your life. So it's like if I could do this for three weeks, that's impressive, because like I was eating tons of meat back then I worked at a hotel like I would get leftover you know, filet and stuff all the time.
Speaker 2:Um, so you know, within that three weeks you know I don't, I don't even have. Google was out in 2002, but like I'd get on the internet and search for things and see that you know like a vegetarian or vegan diet actually could be healthy, um, and saw some alternatives.
Speaker 1:Well, especially back then, it would be significantly harder.
Speaker 2:Yeah For sure, like you'd actually have to go to a health food store to get like any sort of you know, fake meat products, um, back then. So, anyway, I tried it for three weeks and, um, my plan was to go to the Krispy Kreme that just opened uh in Connecticut Like the first one was going to be like the first non-vegan thing I ate, but I actually never got to go to Krispy Kreme because I was like I'm just going to keep keep doing this, yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, so I mean it was, it was kind of I don't know, since I did it so early. How's 18 years old? Um, I can't really say like oh, like my performance got better.
Speaker 2:My performance got worse. I mean, I was young at that point and could probably eat whatever the heck I wanted to and it was going to work fine. Um, but I have been more intentional, like I don't. I don't track like macronutrients or anything like that anymore, but I pretty much eat the same stuff you know every day, right? Um, so I kind of know what what I'm eating and how.
Speaker 2:I'm fueling myself Um. I still eat unhealthy. Like Sarah made us chocolate chip cookies, like vegan chocolate chip cookies last night. I got some of those this morning um so it's not like I eat like the perfect healthy diet. But you know, I decided back then, um, that I love animals and I didn't want to eat them, and that's just kind of been my thing ever, ever since.
Speaker 1:So was Sarah a vegan? When you met her, she wasn't Okay.
Speaker 2:Um, so she went vegetarian when, when we met like I didn't force her to or anything but it was something she was already thinking about, and then, a few years into it, she realized like the only non-vegan stuff she was eating were like mixes from Brahms and three musketeer bars and was like I'd be so much more healthy if I just cut these things out. So she's busy Cutouts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, man, so have you had issues? I mean cause that? What came up to me whenever you did the XL was like cause I've done I just vegetarian, which is a million times easier than vegan, because you can pretty much find it something without meat in it. Um, even has dairy, it's so much easier. Um, but like going to a convenience store, like anytime I've gone bike packing and done those trips, that's always my cause. You go to these tiny towns. They're not going to have a restaurant you can eat that, so you got to live out of either bring it or have a convenience store and then that's limited. So do you, with your bike packing and or really long rides and adventures that you've done over the years, how do you manage that?
Speaker 2:Yes, so I did a little bit of reconnaissance at a local Casey's here in Oklahoma city before unbound just to see, like the Casey's branded stuff, what um, what was vegan there and what wasn't um, and had a decent fueling strategy going into it. Um, I packed a lot of calories that I could drink um in little baggies and stuff um to refill throughout the race. Um, so I had a decent strategy going in where I didn't have to rely too much on the store. Um, you know, and there's like plenty of unhealthy vegan foods that you can get at a convenience store, like plain lays potato chips are are vegan, so I got some of those. When, like, I started craving salt Um, I honestly don't even really remember the other things I bought, Um, I just remember like I took in so much sugar that day.
Speaker 2:I mean just like such an unhealthy amount of sugar to survive.
Speaker 1:And if anybody doesn't know exactly what we're talking about, go back and listen to the episode with you and Chad about the XL, because it's 350 miles. Yeah, um, straight. I mean I guess you could stop if you want to, but you have a time cut off. Yep, um, and you survived the whole thing. Yeah, barely barely I remember parts of it which is wild, which is a wild story, so I highly recommend people going to listen to that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it does like. Like, bike packing sounds really fun to me. Um, and like, when I hear Troy's stories about the divide, I'm like man, that sounds so cool. Um, but it is a little scary knowing that, like you know, a lot of these people are fueled off of McDonald's because, you go to these small towns and that's really your only option and there's nothing I could eat from McDonald's I mean technically they're.
Speaker 1:Apple pies, but you know yeah, not enough. Um yeah, that's, that would make a brutal challenge to something that's already incredibly challenging.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and, like Aaron Elliott and I, had looked at doing the highest road in the world um, over in Nepal. Um, there's like a really cool YouTube video about it. Um, but it's same thing, like you're in the middle of nowhere in a country where you don't speak the language, um, you know, and like, the people up there are not connected to the internet. Like there's no, google translate.
Speaker 2:Like you know none of that to figure out, you know what what you can eat and what you can't Um, so that that was going to be a challenge to me, heavy yeah.
Speaker 1:So it could go either way out in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like a lot of the people out there, um, like, with their religion, they're, they're vegetarian, um, so there's a possibility that I could get by, but like it's a gamble.
Speaker 1:But if you, get over there and you can't, then you're like really stuck.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Interesting, do you? Uh, well, and Sarah's full vegan, and she's been full vegan for, I mean, I think, since I've known her for the most part, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I forget what year she went, but it must have been around 2010.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, I mean for anybody that thinks that you can't cut meat and be a top end athlete. I think you two are perfect examples of that.
Speaker 2:So, um, yeah and yeah she's. She needs to come out here to talk about her success also, but I mean she won, like the long course, world championships when it was here in Oklahoma city. Like, like she's, she's a beast.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I had the I would say pleasure of riding with her, but it wasn't a pleasure because she's so freaking positive when it's so miserable, and so at the growler last week.
Speaker 1:Um, and that's funny cause I was just telling uh, I went and picked up my bike, uh, before we came here and uh had Marty check it out for uh, my mountain bike for Cape, and so I was talking to him about it.
Speaker 1:We were just talking about the growler and all that stuff and I was like, yeah, I rode with Sarah first. I remember riding with her I was like she's so freaking positive, she's so happy, it was so miserable. And me it was me and Sean and Sarah and me and Sean kind of put it on Sarah, we're like it's up to you If we, we will stop, but it's up to you. But we knew what her answer was going to be. And then Sean's like man, like your kind of cup is kind of half empty right now and her cup's like pretty much half full and I was like no, I think she cut the top of her cup off and it's like overflowing cause she's just like guys, if we can just make it to here, then we can make it to there, and if we get to there, then we can do this.
Speaker 1:And I'm like Sarah, why are you so happy and positive? And she was the one having all the problems.
Speaker 2:But you know, when it comes to these long course or like ultramarathon events, like you have to be, for sure, because there are the darkest moments that you'll ever experience in life you know when you're out there and if you can't just like turn things around in your brain and like focus on the positives and you just can't Because it was so funny because she was the one that would have all the problems.
Speaker 1:She was she's the one she dropped her chain out on how many times and she was wearing road shoes and it was like a muddy disaster. She didn't get clipped in for miles of hills, just trucking along doing her thing. The time that she wrecked, we laughed so hard because she was riding by herself and we could hear her squealing and then all of a sudden we didn't hear her squealing but we couldn't stop and look because it was less to the nasty road.
Speaker 1:And finally we did. She's like back in the fetal position and she just comes up giggling and laughing and I'm like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's awesome. That was the first mud race she's ever done, so she had no idea what to expect and she was talking afterwards about like how, how scared she was when she hit the first mud section. And then by the end of the race, you just get used to it and then it's not a big deal.
Speaker 1:Especially if you're not a mountain biker and do something like that. Yeah, you just got to let it rip.
Speaker 2:And it was the same way in Hinton for the G3. Out there there's so much sand and like she really hasn't ridden much in sand, but then by the end of that you're like you're a sand expert.
Speaker 1:Everybody is yeah, yeah, the other one of the well, I'll save that for yard sale. What are some of like your biggest results? So you had the land run win was a big one You've won. Have you won some of the G3s?
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:Uh huh, I mean skating. We've kind of talked about what you've won there. What are some of the other cycling accomplishments that you've had?