Vault Episode 7: Mi Duole - Stuart Anderson

What turns a group ride into a real community? We sit down with Stuart Anderson, the steady force behind Mi Duole, to explore how a Utah cycling club built on “suffering together” became a home for riders of every stripe. From CrossFit beginnings to triathlons and, finally, to dawn patrol climbs up Emigration and Millcreek, Stuart shares how the bike became a place to do hard things and talk about real life while doing them.

We get into the origin story of Mi Duole, a team founded by East Bench mountain goats in the ’80s, and how the baton passed to a new generation intent on culture, not clout. Leaders are honored with yellow kits for service and consistency, not just watts. Systems came next—Strava groups, GroupMe chats, and Monday open rides—so anyone could find their level, meet at 6 a.m., and avoid getting lost in the crowd. Winter didn’t slow the momentum: Zwift rides kept the tribe connected until spring’s team camp in St. George, complete with sponsor dinners, raffles, and three big days on the bike.

We also zoom out. Utah’s cycling scene exploded after 2020, and gravel surged as a safer, more flexible way to link mountains and roads. The conversation is rich with details riders will love—LoToJa strategy, Leadville stories, sunrise canyon rituals—and it’s grounded in what keeps people coming back: stopping for a teammate with a flat, delivering a new kit after a crash, and checking in when life gets heavy. Sponsors are fellow riders, not faceless brands, so support stays inside the circle and the impact multiplies.

If you’re ready to find your people on two wheels, this is your map. Tap play, then tell a friend. If it resonates, follow the show, leave a review, and share your favorite moment—what part of the ride are you craving next?

50% Off Minky Couture Blankets: softminkyblankets.com/SMALLLAKECITY

Please be sure to like, review, follow, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family! See you next time 

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome Back & Why This Guest
• 3:28 Utah Roots And Early Life
• 9:48 Mission, College, And Career Path
• 18:03 From CrossFit To Triathlon To Bikes
• 24:03 Joining Mi Duele And The Origin Story
• 30:58 Handing Off Leadership And Culture
• 38:03 Building Community Over Competition
• 44:53 Group Rides, Zwift, And Team Camp
• 51:53 Gravel’s Rise And Safer Routes
• 59:23 Pandemic Boom And Daily Riding
• 1:05:13 Growth, Mentorship, And Care
• 1:12:23 Sponsors, Support, And Next Steps

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:53

What is up, everybody, and welcome back to another episode of the Small Lake City Podcast. I'm your host, Eric Nielsen, and this week we are diving back into vaulted episodes as we prepare for season two. So for vault episode number seven, we are going back to Stuart Anderson, the fearless leader of the cycling club Mi Dwele. Now, Mi Dwele is a cycling club based on the Lower East Bench, but as members all over the state with the premise of suffering together. And that suffering typically looks like biking up canyons to the top of mountains, long distances in the desert or in the winter, virtually alongside each other. But not only physically suffering, but sharing the difficulties of life and having a community to support you and rely on. So whether you're a cycling enthusiast, someone who appreciates good community or wants to hear someone's great story, there's definitely something in this for everyone. But yeah, let's jump into it and hope you enjoy. Long story short, like I was I've been humming and hawing over doing this podcast for like two years. And so when I first started thinking about it, I was like, who do I want to have? Who would do this? And like thinking about themes that I wanted to cover. And like, I mean, obviously, and we'll get into it of like road biking culture in Utah has changed so much, proliferated so much. And like, so I talked to Janie Bowen, who obviously you know very well. And I was like, hey, who's who started like me doing? She's like, Oh, Stu Anderson, like he's the man, like you gotta like talk to him, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, like very animated about it. And for some reason, I imagine this like 63, 65-year-old guy that just still gets up every morning on his bike, and then once like things go through.

SPEAKER_00: 2:26

I'll tell that story. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01: 2:28

But no, super stoked to have you. It's been like uh it's embarrassing-ish how long I've wanted to have this specific conversation. Cool. And so I'm so stoked to have you here because uh, I mean, anyone who's anyone, I mean, especially if anybody drives up Emigration Canyon between the hours of six and eight on any given day, you'll see five to fifty me dooley jerseys going up. Like, even it's like I I think I brought this up in the text uh kind of thread that we had, but I've been training, I was training for the St. George Marathon, which has a lot of downhill. So there's one morning I was like, you know what, let's just go to the top a little mountain and I'll just run down. And so sure enough, I'm driving to the top and I see a bunch of Berlinkin red lights in the parking lot. And I'm like, I know exactly who these people are. So sure enough, get to the top, park my car, start writing down. And as I'm getting like to the top first switchback coming down, uh, I just hear a Eric and Spangler, of course. He's like leading the charge. And then like two seconds later, I hear Evan Cantor and he's like, Eric? I'm like, Yep. And then Janie, Eric, like, yes, okay. My all my friends decided to bike up the canyon this morning. But yeah, super cool, super cool the community being able to build. And like that's one thing that's been super thematic for me and my love of Salt Lake and kind of the people that I've been talking to in the podcast is these communities that get created. And a lot of the time, and I'm sure we'll get intuitive, like the how naturally these communities can form when someone takes a little bit of ownership and says, you know what, like, hey, let's, let's, let's formalize this a little bit more. Like, let's let's do this week, let's do this monthly. Oh, let's make, let's make bids, let's make shirts, let's make jackets, let's make t-shirts, let's make hats, all of these things, and all of a sudden it it becomes this thing. So I was super excited to talk to you about it, but but definitely want to kind of lay some foundation on for you and how you got there. But I know you're you're a Salt Lake City local, born and raised here. What part of the valley do you hail from?

SPEAKER_00: 4:11

Yeah, so born and raised holiday, Utah. I literally live a mile and a half, a mile and a half from the house like I was born in. So love that. I went to Olympus, moved away to like the skyline area when me and my wife were first married. Now we're back in the Olympus area, literally like a mile from my parents' house. So that's where I grew up, 45th South, 20th East, right there.

SPEAKER_01: 4:35

So just Olympus native, true and true.

SPEAKER_00: 4:37

True and that's it. And it's all these Olympus people are like back in my neighborhood. We're all just like back in the same spot.

SPEAKER_01: 4:44

So and it's it's like that boomerang effect that happens so much in Utah. People are like, oh, you know, I don't know if I want to be here, like, oh, I'm gonna go do education, school, job, whatever, and come back. But I mean, obviously, like then quote, like nicer neighborhoods growing up were so much closer to Salt Lake, and now you have people like, I can't afford to live in Harvard Yellow or Federal Heights or any avenues. Like, and it's just been kind of this like you saw this growth towards Mill Creek, you saw this growth towards I mean, holiday and like I mean Cottonwood Heights, and I mean obviously Draper Sandy, every which way neighborhood has kind of been expanding that way as the I mean the populace continues to grow. It's I always joked when you drive from like uh like LA to San Diego and it'd be consistent concrete jungle. And Salt Lake didn't used to be that way, but now it's like oh like Ogden, yeah all the way down to like Payson. Yeah, there's there's stuff. But so I mean, growing up, like were you always like on your bike? Was this an intimate relationship from the beginning, or what kind of activities were you engaged in in those kind of formative years?

SPEAKER_00: 5:39

Yeah, so my my parents were not they're not athletic. Um my dad played some sports when he was a little kid, but the most that we ever did as a family was I mean, we go hiking, we do some bike rides to like the park on Saturday. But uh growing up I played sports like normal kids, soccer, basketball, baseball, but all that kind of faded away. Um when I got in junior high. I stopped playing all sports. Um, I had a close friend pull me into football at Olympus, so I played that um ninth grade through my senior year. But endurance sports were not on my radar ever. You know, like if you dress up in that outfit, then you deserve to have something thrown at you out of your car. Like, that was how I looked as cyclists. Like, no way. I didn't mountain bike growing up. There was no biking. Like I had a trek that I just like any kid, I went to my friend's house on my bike.

SPEAKER_01: 6:38

Throw to the yard, go to the basement, play some N64.

SPEAKER_00: 6:41

That's it. No cycling. I I never did it. I didn't I didn't admire anyone that cycled. I never hung out with anyone that cycled growing up. It was just never part of my culture or my life.

SPEAKER_01: 6:50

So I mean the same way too. Like I remember, I don't remember I've remembered this so vividly. So I grew up in the avenues. Um, I mean, if you go up like uh it's on North Cliff, but like up Terrace Hill is kind of like that second right. And I remember there's always there's a couple times, maybe like three to five at most, that me and my sisters would hop on our like I mean, almost like Walmart mountain bikes, and we'd go down Terrace Hills along 11th, like to the Capitol and back and be like, that was a bike ride. And then like you know, like for me then obviously it was, but it it's so crazy now to see how I mean, even when I like drive up emigration, I mean not immigration, up uh sunny side to go, I mean, to Foothill, you'll see all of these like I mean, kids, like literally, like I've some of them can't be older than 12, I mean, some in high school, but they're like just going up emigration. I'm like, you couldn't have paid me enough to do that in those years. Yeah. And I it's changed so much. Just like and like and like to that same thing, like I mean, like my family, like we didn't really do a lot of outdoor stuff. I mean, a lot of it because I mean, just I mean, almost single mom raising kids, like she's not gonna be like, All right, well, do you want to go camping? Should we go on a like a long hike? Do you want to go do that? Like, it was so much more of keeping the peace rather than all out of this stuff. Where that's a lot of where my appreciation has come in for Utah is like obviously the outdoors and the exposure to it, and where now people take it for granted for so much less than we do. But then also you have this influx of people coming in and they're like, This is the greatest place in the world. Look at this like outdoor paradise.

SPEAKER_00: 8:18

Like, I grew up in Ohio, like we don't have any of that. That's true. I mean, as you're talking about that, I'm thinking about two weekends ago, I'm in Cedar City for the high school state mountain bike championship. And there are 2,200 kids racing over a two-day period on the Cedar City mountain bike course. The fact that that didn't exist 20 years ago when I was in high school, like there was no high school cycling league. And now to see this thing where it was like a city built in the middle of like down there in Cedar City, like the opportunity afforded to those kids to be outside recreating and loving bikes was the coolest thing I've I've I've seen. Because you'll know me, Eric. Uh, like I am passionate about the cycling community, like what it brings to people, whether it's kids or older men like us. Um, well, you're not an older man, you're like a handsome young man. It's subjective. But I am an older, I guess I'm an older man. Uh, how important this community is. Like it really is special. And I didn't know anything about it when I was a little kid.

SPEAKER_01: 9:22

Totally. Like, I have a nephew actually who does, I mean, mountain biking, he's a uh more in high school now, I believe. And I I'll talk to him, I'll be like, wait, you you mean you guys just get to go ride bikes with friends like every day? Like, oh, we're training. What? Yeah, like training, yeah. Well, it's like the same thing, like because I'm a big golfer, and so I talk to my friends that played golf in high school. I'm like, wait, wait, you guys just gotta go play golf every day with your friends? Like golf team. Unreal, unreal. Yeah, and which is like a whole crazy experience. But so yeah, so so you're in Olympus playing a ton of football, um, very typical for the area. Love that. Um, what was your family dynamic? Like, were the oldest, youngest? How many siblings were in the world?

SPEAKER_00: 10:02

Um, a middle child, I have an older sister, younger brother, and my parents were not into sports. I already said that. They uh um like when it came time to was there anything they pushed on you specifically?

SPEAKER_01: 10:12

Or just like no, the world is your oyster.

SPEAKER_00: 10:14

Do whatever you want. Yeah, uh, maybe we'll come to a game, maybe we won't come to a game. Um, your game, like it was just like you do that. Um, I I only bring that up because now, you know, like I do everything in my power to be at every child's sporting event, practice, buying them the my parents were just kind of like, listen, uh, make it work, good luck. Maybe we'll come to a game if it fits our schedule. Uh always supportive, always there, provided, you know, camps and travel and everything like that. But it certainly didn't focus, my life didn't focus around sports and well, Stuart's got football, we're going to the state champion, we're going. I mean, it was like, great. Cool, good for you. Good for you. Yeah, did you get your piano done? Did you did you mobile on? Um, so that that's kind of how I grew up. My family dynamic. My sister did a lot of ballet. Um, my brother was four years younger than me, so I didn't. I mean, I watched him play little league stuff, but um, yeah, that that was it. I mean, normal family on the east bench of Salt Lake City.

SPEAKER_01: 11:15

That's it's very accurate. Were you close with any of those siblings growing up or happened later? Kind of stayed your own lane.

SPEAKER_00: 11:22

Yeah, stayed in my own lane. We didn't become friends until we were older in our 20s. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 11:27

I feel like that's so typical. Like, so me and my sister, like my sister, Kirsten is one of my like my best friend. Like, there's probably two people who I can talk to about anything at any time, and she's the number one of those two people. And but like in high school and like early 20s, not a chance. Like, she used to write me weekly when she was in school at Utah State because she played soccer up there, and just kind of being like just trying to connect almost, but like I was like, whatever. I'm like just like a I mean a shithead high school kid. Like, I don't care about that. Like, I'm not gonna take time to write my sister. But thankfully, all of that effort that she put in, build all this, and then all of a sudden, like we found ourselves kind of like three, four, five years ago, being like, hey, like, can we have like a real relationship and like be friends? Right you, yeah, yeah. And it's been, I mean, obviously, like life-changing and game changing for for so many reasons. Like, even I mean, Halloween was on Tuesday, and I was like sitting there, I was like, I really don't want to go like be around a lot of people. I'm tired, I've worked the next day. And like text, I'm like, Are you taking the kids out trick-or-treating? She's like, Yeah, I'm like, Can I come? She's like, sure. Which is like a whole like a tangent of so weird on being that side of things, but in the same neighborhood I used to trick-or-treat in. I was like, this is this is wild. But but it was so fun. So go through high school, you're into sports, parents are supportive, but not like the they're not in the pacing the sideline, watching you, approaching things like probably Jake would be doing with his kids. Um uh so I imagine high school ends, go on a mission.

SPEAKER_00: 12:53

I served a mission, yeah, to Ireland, Northern Ireland.

SPEAKER_01: 12:56

That's was awesome. That's so stupid that you got to go there. Like, I was actually just talking to someone who's from Scotland, yeah, and they're like, Oh, I kind of want to go to Ireland. It seems like, yeah, like it's one of the places you see pictures, and there's no one looking at there and being like, that's an ugly place. I'm so sorry you had to go through that.

SPEAKER_00: 13:11

Absolutely the best. I mean, every day I think about how special it was. Not only to live there, but what I got to do. It was the coolest thing. A lot of my companions were British, Irish, Scottish. So I also got to live with that culture. Um, it was the best. I loved it.

SPEAKER_01: 13:29

Yeah, I went to I went to Washington. Okay. Uh, if you pick up a piece of fruit and it says made in Washington, those were those were my people. Nice. That's because I was Spanish speaking. So I mean it's like the whole eastern side of Washington, central Washington. Like, if you're not from Washington and I name the cities, they're like, cool, never heard of it. Moving on. You weren't in Seattle? That's all I care about. And like, and obviously, there's so many, so formative years of yeah, right, dude.

SPEAKER_00: 13:51

I put on like 20 pounds in the first four months. Just eating Irish deep fried candy bars and chip shops. Like, I didn't even know it until I looked down and I had rubbed a hole in my thighs, were touching, and I'd rubbed a hole in my pants. And I'm like, what is what is wrong with my why? And I sent a picture to my now, my she's my wife now, but she's like, Huh, you're looking like you're thin. You're she wouldn't say this, but like I put on some serious words.

SPEAKER_01: 14:21

A lot of strategic words.

SPEAKER_00: 14:23

Yes, not your fat, but like, what is going on?

SPEAKER_01: 14:26

She's like, I'm doubting everything now. Types out, dear John. No, facts, face, fax, face, fax, face.

SPEAKER_00: 14:32

It was it was incredible. Um, and that was 1999, 2000. Cool.

SPEAKER_01: 14:37

It's okay. I was on my mission and when Blockbuster went out of business. So I'd like to drive past these Blockbuster traffic. Can I go buy us like 20 DVDs really quick for 50 cents? So you come back with school in the future, or or what were the kind of those next steps after coming back from the University of Utah?

SPEAKER_00: 14:52

I uh political science degree. My father always let me know that a scholarship would be available from him if it was at the University of Utah. Goods. Absolutely no way I could go to BYU. Like that was just culture of our family. So I lived at home, I went to the U, and I loved every minute of the like I'm through and through University of Utah. It's just I still have season tickets to gymnastics, football, basketball. So I grew up doing that. That was our family culture was Utah sports. Cool. That's just that was Tuesday, Thursday night with Rick Majoris. I mean, that was what we did.

SPEAKER_01: 15:27

It's it's so funny, like how many people have because when you go through like life, you almost have this thought that I'm the only one experiencing all of these things. But then you start to realize like I was talking to someone about Utah football because like my stepdad, I mean, always had tickets with some of the people that he had, I mean, worked with, lived around kind of like that Yellcrest Yellow area, and um had had like church callings with and stuff. And so they they got married when I was 14. And so that's almost 20 years ago. And like I didn't really like think about like how much time had passed, how much experience and how like formative that was. And then I was like, wait a minute, like I go to these seats and it's like, oh, hey, how's it going? How's it going? Oh, good to see you again. How's how's things? And like same people, same experiences, but it's like we we were all there, we were all watching, and it was all such a good time. Like, same thing with gymnastics. Like, you go anywhere else, you're like, Oh, by the way, if gymnastics tickets, like, what is why like are you a gymnastics enthusiast? Like, no, no, no, we're just really good at Red Rocks, like, come on. And it's it's so it's so fun to have that that uh I mean common ground with people when you think you're the only ones going to this stuff, but then and then just continues, right? And then you you get older, like, yeah, well, I'm getting season tickets now, it's time for my time to shine. Yep, and it just keeps rolling forward. Yeah, so you go to the U in political science, graduate from the U. I know that they're the uh Crown Council, which you're not a dentist, no, which I know way too many dentists because again, Utah. Like, I know three Dr. Bowens that are all dentists, and it's anyway, I digress. Yeah, Brandon, his dad Brad, and my friend Spencer Bowen.

SPEAKER_00: 17:04

Very saturated market here in DJ. Very saturated.

SPEAKER_01: 17:06

Like I was talking to one of my friends who's a dentist somewhere else. I'm like, oh, are you coming back? He's like, I can't. There's not an there's not enough. It's true. There's not enough mouse.

SPEAKER_00: 17:12

More dentists per capita in Salt Lake City than anywhere else.

SPEAKER_01: 17:15

Yeah. So how did you get involved with Crown Council?

SPEAKER_00: 17:19

So uh my my grandfather, my dad's dad, um, Arthur Anderson, he was a marketing executive and grew up just um planning and organizing and doing marketing campaigns for gigantic corporations. Um Zions Bank was one of his huge accounts, and he made it known um that that that was something that was part of our family, the the creative nature of advertising. So my dad uh kind of followed his footsteps in marketing, uh, the love of business, the love of entrepreneurship. And my family's really tight. Like uh my my father has six other brothers and sisters, so a family of seven. And man, every first Sunday of every month, we were having dinner with 180 cousins. I mean, there's like now that group is gigantic. Um, and that kind of propelled me into this market of entrepreneurship, building my own thing, uh, being involved in some sort of creativity business building uh enterprise. And Crown Council was created in the late 90s as an opportunity for dentists to learn business skills. So in the in short, a dentist goes to dental school, comes out, runs a business, has to hire people, manage groups of people, a culture, a community. And uh Crown Council's job is to provide the tools to a dental professional to help them build their practice. Whether it's business relations or strategic uh connections that they make inside the inside of dentistry, we provide online culture training tools, anything that would build a dental practice to be a better place to go. So dentists come to us and say, How do I hire? How do I train my team's culture? How do I build my own community of of people that patients want to come and be a part of? So that's nationwide. Um 1,200 dental practices belong to like our group. It's a community, a membership, and we do humanitarian trips, uh, a charity program, live events. Um, so I'm a dentist, I'm with dental teams all day, every day, and I get to work with my father too. So he and his brother started the business. My partner, my dad's brother's down in Dallas, and then we're here in Salt Lake City. Um that's it. Is that good enough for Crown Council?

SPEAKER_02: 19:39

Oh, that's that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_00: 19:40

That's right. And the best dentists know that. And the people that want to build their business and provide an incredible experience for patients are constantly working on their practice. So they're they're doing not only work in the practice, but they're working on it. And those are our clients, the dentists that want to elevate patient care, patient experience. And I only I only tell you that because I feel it leads in, well, I don't you let me lead, you lead, but it leads into it spills into the community of cyclists. Uh, I spend my professional career uh building a community and trying to teach others how to build a culture inside their practice, and that spills over into the into the bike team and into cycling.

SPEAKER_01: 20:23

Yeah. So before we go into kind of like the biking details, let's go back to maybe mission-ish, but so so riding this woman who's now your wife never before. Yeah. So so walk us through that story.

SPEAKER_00: 20:34

Okay, so uh I I come home and my my wife Kristen, um, her mom and my mom know each other from a nail salon. Okay. Kristen is working as the uh receptionist now after high school, and my mom secretly is feeding information to Kristen about how weird I am when I got home. So I was like, you can't date him yet. Don't call him. If he calls you, don't don't talk. He's super weird. Let him warm up a little bit. It was like two and a half years until my mom was like, okay, you can you can so I I know that that is a bit of a I'm proud of that. Like I came home a weirdo. I came home a weirdo. It's fine. I was committed to the cause. I was a great missionary. That I I changed. Maybe some of that stuff had to wear off a bit when I came home, which is good. I'm pr I'm happy for listening. My wife reminds me all the time that it was uh I was a real weirdo when I came home. So we start dating. Um it's three or four years now. I've been home from a mission, and that's it. We we got married here in Salt Lake City, moved into the Skyline area. We meet I immediately bought a home up in Skyline, um, right below the high school. We remodeled, lived there for seven years, had a child, and if people want to know what life was like before CrossFit, okay when it when CrossFit became CrossFit, I was all in. I was doing a thousand body weight squat. What I don't even know what the hell, all that ridiculous CrossFit stuff. I was at ground zero. And so I entered into that world, my wife entered into that world, and we were that was like exercise for us. Like we thought this was fun, it's 2007, 2008, and that kind of consumed my fitness world for two or three years.

SPEAKER_01: 22:19

Just talking to every single person about it.

SPEAKER_00: 22:22

I was the epitome of the CrossFit like guy.

SPEAKER_01: 22:27

It was it was a bad looking back, it was we all have those phases that we look back like, all right, well, we did that. I mean, there's worse things you could have gotten.

SPEAKER_00: 22:35

Why am I power cleaning? Like, why am I military pre if people listen to this? I just um I look back at that time and I'm like, that was uh it was just kind of silly, but also a great thing to do. It was fun, it was. I mean, uh, and from there we propelled into the world of triathlon.

SPEAKER_01: 22:51

Uh-huh. Okay. So how did you get introduced? So I mean CrossFit and Triathlon, that that's pretty different worlds.

SPEAKER_00: 22:58

It was.

SPEAKER_01: 22:59

How did you transition into that? Was it someone that brought you or just exploring on your own?

SPEAKER_00: 23:03

Something about me uh personal is I really enjoy the nature of suffering on a bike. It's one of the reasons that I am drawn to the experience of cycling. Uh, I I feel like being able to suffer and experience pain and really get into what it when cycling gets weird, when it gets hard, when it pushes you. Um, my daughter describes it, her her swim coach talks about being an onion. So, like each layer that gets peeled back. The old Shrek 101. The old Shrek when it gets harder and harder. I love that about cycling. And so CrossFit transitioned us into triathlon because someone was like, Oh, they're so hard. You've got to try it. And I was like, This is so dumb. But we tried it, and I'm like, this is actually pretty fun. We did like a couple of sprint triathlons. It was fun to travel for the weekend. The equipment was kind of fun, like wetsuits and bikes, and I'm a big gear guy. I mean, that's fun. It was a new world of like I went away from medicine balls and rings into this world of like cycling shoes. And oh, I'm in a tra I'm in the transition area and I'm gonna use these stretchy laces. Now I'm going fast, you know. Um, so that was a fun, really fun transition. We did it with some friends. Uh, and as couples, we would go around and do all the Utah triathlons, and that progressed into now we're doing halves, now we're doing Olympic triathlons, and now I'm really getting into the suffering of triathlon. Um, I did a couple half ironmans, and we were we we were in our neighborhood, and there uh there's an older man that lived in our neighborhood. His wife came to my wife one one day and she's like, How's it going? And Kristen's like, Well, he's training for a half iron man. And this woman's husband had done Iron Man's for years, and she's like, Well, there's nothing more selfish than an Iron Man. And Kristen's eyes were kind of wide, like, she's right. And we had this big long talk about I'm running in the morning, I'm writing in the afternoon, I'm swimming in the morning, I'm running at lunch.

SPEAKER_01: 25:12

I'm like, we have a free time if you're doing something.

SPEAKER_00: 25:15

I'm like, I'm going to bed. I'm going to bed. I can't, uh, yeah, I gotta get up. And so we had a baby, she was two or three years old, four years old, and Kristen and I were like, This is kind of silly. But it really consumed everything about our young marriage. Um, and it was good to step back and just kind of just say, Hey, maybe not for us. Well, let's not do this.

SPEAKER_01: 25:39

Yeah, it's definitely a lot. Like, I don't think I've had a friend because I feel like it's I mean, becoming very popular in Utah specifically, because I mean everybody loves being outside. I mean, everyone loves to run, everyone loves to trail run, everyone loves to bike, so it's like cool, I can swim too. I'll go to Steiner and do some laps.

SPEAKER_02: 25:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 25:55

And it I mean, obviously it's great. And like I totally understand like the suffering of it all. And there's a quote, it's like, I don't cycle as much as I should now. Like, I this summer I had to come to Jesus moment with myself where I have to pick two hobbies. That's it. Otherwise, I'm like mountain biking, road biking, golfing, running, like pickleball. Like, I'm just like this ADHD focused, like border collie of like, oh yeah, an exercise, something to do, cool. Let's sprint off in that direction. So this year I was like, okay, we're gonna run a marathon. That's something I needed to do. Go run St. George, my mother's favorite marathon. She retired. So I was like, okay, I'll do it. And then golf, because I'm helplessly addicted to golf and all my friends are addicted to golf. But there's a quote that I love from Will Smith. I mean, it's probably like 10-ish years ago where he's like, that there's two things you need to do, I'm paraphrasing, but there's two things that I love to do. It's running and reading. Because reading, because all of our problems have been solved before, you just have to go figure it out and learn. And two, because with running, there's this voice in the back of your head that tells you to give up, to stop. It's too hard. And if you can mentally running, or I mean, same applies for cycling, swimming, anything, to learn how to just tell that voice to kind of shut up. That skill is so valuable in everything, whether it's professional, whether it's in family, I mean, whatever adverse you're going through, if it's like, okay, shut up. I know this is hard. I know it's easier to quit, but I have to keep moving forward. And and I think a lot of people don't really like because like you talk to people, like, I mean, how many conversations do you have with people? You're like, oh yeah, like one of my biggest passions is cycling. Like, oh, I hate cycling, it's hard. You're like, yeah, yeah. That's why we like it. Yeah. So so totally understand that. And then also totally understand the the time suck and being like, okay, maybe I do need to be with my family more and take away from the selfishness of it. So you start getting into the tries, you start to realize, like, okay, maybe long-term isn't that impact. So I imagine there's a thought process in all this where you're like, let's keep this bike. I kind of forgot one of these three, let's let's hold on to this one.

SPEAKER_00: 27:47

That's right. And I would ride, um, in this, like you were saying at the introduction, here I am in immigration. Here I am, I'm in Mill Creek Canyon, I'm in Big Cottonwood Canyon, and it's always the same time. I'm riding before my family's awake. So I'm out at five, I'm out at 5:30, I'm home by 7, 7:30. And I'm always seeing the same idiots, it's the same guys in the same stupid gear. And one of them is in my neighborhood. So it's a friend that I grew up in high school with, Spencer Chipping. And Chip finally says to me, Why don't why don't you come and ride? Come and try this out with us. Come and ride out. Uh, do we're riding in the same places anyway, just come ride with us. So um, I started riding with the Midwele guys. So I started riding with Midwele guys, and um, that really was it. It's like not glamorous. Uh, we were riding in the same places, we were coming from the same spot. Uh, we're all leaving from holiday at the same time, we're all dads, and I started riding with Midwele. That was it. I mean, it it transitioned that fast from trathlons into like, I'll just go all in with bikes. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 28:51

So, how many, so you and Chip, was it you and Chip to begin with, the two of you, and then kind of snowballed from there?

SPEAKER_00: 28:56

Or so there's a great question. So, his do you want the history of Midwele? Of course. So, history of Midwele was 1984. There's a we call them the OGs, so these old gangsters, East Bench guys that are now 65, 60, 55 years old, they started the team. And they created Me Dwele, they made the partnerships with Barbacoa. All the sponsors that came to the team early were started by this group of guys. So all the glory goes to them for starting Me Dwele. They were known as like the real mountain goats of cycling here in Utah. And some of the I mean, professionals came from the ranks of these early guys. Love that. So Marty Jameson that wrote for Lance, he was one of the original team members, still around here in Utah running tours over in Europe. But there are some old school Mi Dwele guys that started this team. And when me and Chip started writing together, the team had kind of gone um not it wasn't that they weren't around, it was that the passion behind building the squad had kind of fizzled out. He did a little bit of life support. Yeah. And so I started running the website, I started doing a Twitter feed, I started running an Instagram feed. And just because I was like, this is cool, I'm with these guys, I want to represent who we are. I I'm like, I'm on a team. And after two or three years, I think they saw, hey, there's some passion here for our group. And me and Chip asked, we said, can we have the team? Can we run it? And that was, man, that was eight or nine years ago. That these guys just handed over everything that was Mijuele leadership to us. And although the team had kind of uh dipped a bit, it was a real honor to take over the tradition of what Mi Dwele was. Because they had they had set the culture. These guys everyone knew these guys were the big they were just bad. Just They were gonna bury you. These old guys that could ride five canyons in a Saturday. You know, with like, oh, we're just doing 14,000 vert uh before noon. Casual. Yeah, no big deal. And that was known. It wasn't like me and Chip. So they already had this reputation.

SPEAKER_01: 31:10

They knew who these people were. Yes. And I because where did the name come from originally? Because like obviously, like it's a great question.

SPEAKER_00: 31:16

Yeah. It's a great question. So me dwele is old school Italian for you're causing me great suffering. It means like um, like when when I'm with you, you you are you're making me to suffer. So when you say, I mean, that is the name of the the team as itself is you're you're causing me great physical anguish.

SPEAKER_01: 31:38

Which is it's good to set expectations early. Because if you were to be like, hey, we are the uh we are the sunset riders. We just love to be jelly bellies. Yeah, like the people show up, they're like, Oh, we're just gonna go on a nice bike ride, like, no, we're going up big, then we're gonna go up little, then we're gonna like so to be like, hey, we're gonna suffer together and we're gonna grow together from it. Yeah. So uh so you have this passing of the guard of you guys being like, hey, listen, we want to carry this shield forward. Thank you so much for your work. All honor to you guys, but we're gonna take it from here. I mean, what what did that I mean, how intentional was that beginning of trying to grow this thing, or was it mostly just throwing it to the wall and see what stuck?

SPEAKER_00: 32:14

Yeah, it was not intentional. We when it when it first happened, we weren't like, hey, okay, we're gonna we're gonna go get a loan and we're gonna not like I take a loan out, but I mean, we weren't thinking like, what can we do to grow? That wasn't the intention at all. We were me and Chip were like, hey, we've got some nice Eastbench group, a nice community of cyclists. We've got the culture of this team. Um, let's make great gear, let's make a great website, and let's have fun on social media. Tell everybody what we're doing and show how cool it is. That was it. And uh the community, and I'll use Jake Cook as an example, started to gravitate towards the team. Like, I want to be part of whatever you guys are building. I want to race with you, I want to look like you guys. And slowly but surely that community and culture started to just grow. Were word started to spread about can I ride with you guys?

SPEAKER_01: 33:06

Which is such like a because there's been an I've had enough guests on the podcast where there's so many situations where you can find yourself in in like an entrepreneurial state of mind where you're like, I could make as much money as I want to on this, but I've learned like that doesn't really work. Like no one is gravitated towards a community or some sort of passion based on like financial return. They're based on authenticity, they're based on being present, and they're based on like I mean, intimate human relationships and like connections. It's true. And so it's so interesting that you say that words like, hey, we just wanted to be a couple like some people riding bikes, having fun and like doing something that we loved and suffering our way through it. Yes. And people did that. And like, and then and I know like Jake, I don't know if what it's it's probably a chicken and the egg situation, but I mean a lot of that neighborhood, like that neighborhood I grew up in, oh, the cycling we got into to Crate and Ryder. That's right, Saints to Sinners. And I mean, like for me, for example, like I always wanted to go do it, but I didn't want to be the person to call me like, hey, sign me up. I'm in this, and like just kind of I'm just not that person to like force my way into something like that. And it wasn't until I think Dana was posting on Instagram, like, hey, is anybody interested in doing Saints to Sinners this year? We need a couple people and like literally like DMing back as soon as possible, being like, Yes, I want in. I don't even have a bike, I've never even ridden a road bike, but I'm in. So I'd like to go. I think I borrowed someone's bike, bought a kit off Amazon. Nice. I remember I was living in like the avenues that time, so I'm going up Virginia and like literally tilt over because I don't know how to unclip perfectly. And I'm like, how is this gonna go? But like, yada yada yada, end up doing Saints and Sinners with my like some of my best friends and like slogging through it all, having so much fun and doing that for a couple of years. But that's so many of those guys got in into cycling. I mean, like Jake, Jason, I mean, like that Evan's probably a result of that, like that whole area, yeah, and and and seeing that growth. And and it's so fun to see how they kind of like, and I think this is probably overstretching, but seeing how they found this passion and like a part of it's attached to that. But then it's like, how do I keep doing this more? And who are these people I do it with? And I think you were there for, I mean, obviously it's very anecdotal, but I think there's a lot of stories similar to those where it's like, hey, I want to find these people, but it I can't just go like talk to a stranger at 545 by Ruth Diner and say, Hey, do you want to do this every morning? Or like, how do you find these people? So, like, it's so cool that you had this place that people were finding solace or trying to find something like that and being like, Yeah, meet here at this time and we'll do it.

SPEAKER_00: 35:29

That's right. And um, it's very similar to Crown Council in that um the culture of dentistry is not one where a dentist is trained to share ideas and to share business practices with the other dentist. That's just not a thing that most dentists know how to do. They're not like, hey, um, I'm doing this thing in my practice and we're crushing it. So let me share it with you. Um in Crown Council, we try to teach that where a dentist uh has this incredible idea, they're doing it, whatever, they're sharing that with with their friends, and uh they find that the law of uh that that law, that natural law where I I give more away, I actually receive more. Um there are only a certain amount of dentists that gravitate towards that idea. Some of them, when we try to explain that to them, they're like, This is I am not gonna do this. This is a and they leave our group, and that is fine. We're like, okay, you don't fit. And the reason I share that is because Midwele and the team is very similar. So a guy, Jake brings Matt Ryder, and Matt Matt joins on a ride. And for example, let's just say that uh as Matt rides up immigration on his first time, he's just like, This is the worst thing I've ever done. I can't stand being with you guys. That's okay. Like, we never intended for me dwelling to like be this thing where all people can gravitate towards and love it.

SPEAKER_01: 37:00

Quality over quantity. I mean, I'm the right people that want to be there.

SPEAKER_00: 37:04

I would welcome everyone. That's how it's built. We don't uh the group is mountain biking, gravel biking, road biking, dads, women. I mean, it doesn't matter. I'm not like you don't fit. Like, sorry. It's not like there's a tryout. No, there's no well, we joke that there is a tryout, but the same thing happens here. I think that guys will want to be part of the group and they'll come and enjoy whatever we offer on a in the community of our team. And if it's a fit, that's great. Stay with us, help us build the group. Uh Justin Spengler was that was that guy. He he came, he's like, This looks cool. You guys look, I'm gonna ride with you. And now he's like, I want to help build the team. I more people need to experience this cycling team because of what it's given to Justin. That's his words. Uh, and so he stays, he builds, but it's not for everybody's some lone wolves just don't love being part of the community, and that's okay. That's just how it works.

SPEAKER_01: 38:02

Totally. Yeah. So you start this up like eight, nine years ago. At what point did you realize, like, we got a kind of like an army of people here? Like, this is not just like a couple dudes riding up mountains on the weekend.

SPEAKER_00: 38:15

It was the first time I exported the kit list. So when we sold kits, the the company Vole that makes our kits, I'm like, hey, can I get like a like a packing list, like a an order list? And they're like, why? I'm like, well, I need to know who is buying my stuff. And when I got the list, I'm like, it was like 180 plus different individuals buying gear. And I'm like, Chip, we need to figure out how to organize all these people. Yeah, we need a database, we need like an email system, we need a Facebook group, we need a group meet chat, we need to figure out a way to like communicate with all these people. And so there was never an old list of guys, and from that moment, that was kind of when the team really took a shift, when the communication of the community took shape. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 39:05

That's awesome. See it grow that way, like almost like sneakily, where you're like, how many of you how many is this now? And you're like, oh, that's that's not a not insignificant number. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 39:15

And it was in a way where I like I import them into Google and I'm like, man, there's a lot of contacts. How should are should we have a team email? Should we have a team text thread? Like, what do we do? And that was when Chip and I started working through um team updates. Uh if you know about Strava, so Strava, we created the Strava group where we would update guys and people would join that group, a Facebook page. I mean, that was really when the team took sh took a different shape, a different move. Cool. Was that was when we could communicate with each other. And the team could communicate with each other.

SPEAKER_01: 39:54

And I'm sure like when you deal with that many people, it's not like, all right, everybody, this time this goes. I'm sure there's like a lot of asynchronous groups. That's right. I mean, almost like subgroups with on it all. I mean, there's people who are probably there every single ride, ready to rock, and there's people who kind of show up here and there. That's right. Some people are competing and doing load of job every year, and there's people who it's like, listen, this is just a way for me to get out of bed and like talk to people and not hay life.

SPEAKER_00: 40:16

Well, and and one thing we do, um, I'm a big believer in culture, and that culture has to be trained. It um you can't just hope that your culture works out. It has to be intentional. It has to be intentional. And so uh we started six or seven years ago recognizing the leaders on the team, guys that were setting the team culture in a way where new new people would come in and say, Who do I look to? What are we supposed to do on this team? Um, and so our team colors are white, black, red, and yellow. And we made specialty kits that we honor our leaders with. So they wear yellow. And so when they're they're gifted and nominated by the team as the leader, uh, they wear these yellow kits. So we have about 12 right now, usually about two a year, where we gift at team camp down in St. George two new yellow jersey wearers. That's awesome. And they set it's like we look to them, and they're not the strongest guys, some of them are, but it's not like we pick, oh, well, we pick the guy that wins. It's not a competition who can do the most miles or have the most output. That is not the yellow jersey wearers. They are the team, they're the guys that are committed, loyal, dedicated, passionate to the cause of me dwele. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 41:31

No, I love that. Because like it's, I mean, and that's the right way to do it, right? Like, nominate internally, have it based on the people who have the biggest heart on their sleeve, not like the most output. Because like that's not what you necessarily want to like roll. I mean, it's part of it, but it's not like we're not this elitist group of whoever's the best is the best and do that. Like, obviously, there's, I mean, as you said, like there's been a lot of professional cyclists that have come after out of in the past. There's been people who, I mean, are absolutely crushing it and could go compete and and win money. But at the end of the day, like it's not that elitist mentality that brings people together. It's that community of like, we're gonna suffer together, we're gonna build together, we're gonna grow together, and we're gonna show up and be here on this ride with each other.

SPEAKER_00: 42:10

Yeah. And Eric, um, I don't want to generalize, but road cyclists as a group are known to be some are known to be real jerks, like real a-holes, real alphas. And so that idea in me dwell is something that I hope my team knows that I'm passionate about is that we are at the antithesis of that person. That for years the road cyclist mentality of like, listen, I'm in it for me. Just I don't even that's it. And I know that um not I don't want to generalize, that's why I said I don't want to stereotype, but um I hope that my that me duele knows that we are I want to be beyond that, that the team is a community, it uh loyal to each other. Uh, you know, if you get a flat in Lotaja, we're we're stopping to help. Um, I joke around Charles Smart. Do you know Charles Smart? He's one of those. Okay, so uh I got a flat in Lotaja years ago, two or three years ago, and and and they left me. The squad left.

SPEAKER_01: 43:14

Like, guys, come on.

SPEAKER_00: 43:15

And now it was kind of the plan. Lotaja is like this um, you know, it's like a free for anything can happen. Totally. So I was like, just go leave. Like, I'll I'll figure it out. My life, that's fine. And I know that Charles carried this baggage for a long time where he he felt really passionate about I left you. Like that was terrible. That we let we all left you. And so last year I raced Leadville, the mountain bike race. So it's a hundred, it's a hundred-mile mountain bike race up and is it the same path as the trail running race? It's not quite the same. Okay, but it's I just finished um Born to Run, so it's very top of mind for me. So it's all over 10,000 feet, 100-mile race, um, 12,000 vertical feet of climbing in a day. And I got a flat, stupid flat, and I'm racing it with Charles. And dude, this guy gives up because the dream is you race it in sub nine. Under nine hours gets this big ass gold belt buckle. Yes, and so that's our goal. Yeah, and Charles, I'm ahead of Charles, and he sees me on the side and he stops, gives me his tube, we fix it together, and we continue on. And at the time, like it's so hectic, but looking back, it was one of the most special moments of 2023 with a teammate, with a friend, with an adult friend that like I have become friends with through this community. I didn't know Charles growing up, but like he has become a friend through cycling. And looking back, it was one of the coolest things ever that he would sacrifice his whole event for me. I mean, technically, he that could have been the end of the day for him. But he sacrificed his day as a teammate and as a friend to give me a tube. Dude, we both got sub nine. There you go. Still walk away with the hardware. So it was cool. I mean, this that's the kind of community that uh I'm part of, that I'm passionate about, that I love to talk about, that I love to be with. And if anybody listening wants to know, it's November 2nd, and it is the worst time of year because cycling is ending, and I really get emotional about not being able to be with those guys.

SPEAKER_01: 45:18

And I'm sure, and it's like it sucks to you because like cold, that's one thing. Cool, throwing some layers, long sleeves, call it cut. But then you're like, there's no light anymore. There's no light do this. It's not light till what, like 7:30. Yeah, it's miserable. I can't golf anymore. Well, because like this year, me and all my high school friends kind of had this moment like, hey, we're all like helplessly addicted to golf. And like I used to be a big weekend warrior, like Saturday, 18, Sunday 18, and that was it. But then all these friends are like, hey, like I can only I have like three kids. I can only golf like if we tee off sometime between like six and six thirty. I'm like, I can wake up for that. And and it was so fun because like I was talking to Andrew Williams, um, and we were sitting there golfing, I think it was last week, and he's like, Eric, before this year, when was the last time you called me on the phone? And I was like, you're absolutely right. And I'm like, and now you are probably the top five people I've spent the most time with this year. And so it's so fun how it's it's so hard for people, and like I'm throwing myself in here because I will shout this from the rooftop, but like to just call someone up on the phone, how are things? How's life? How's it going? But when you have any sort of shared interest or hobby or activity that brings you together for some reason, it makes everything so much easier. And even more so if it's okay, see you at this time every week, like automating it all, then all of a sudden. Matching outfits, too. I'll I'll tell Andrew need to get some matching pullos. But yeah, and I mean it's like it's it's those little things where you go from seeing, I mean, you probably didn't even know Jake cook before bikes, and now you see him all the time. It was like the same thing with with Janie Bowen. Like that we were at dinner one time, and she's like, Yeah, I spent a ton of time on the bike with Jake, and like we're really close. And I was like, This is so hilarious! Like, I would never put you two in this in this room and being friends, but you have this shared experience, especially like shared trauma. Uh, yeah, that trauma bonding of going through the pain of it all is special. Yeah, so a couple of things I want to go back to that you've talked about. So I know you guys have team rides at at every which cadence. Like, so how often are you guys riding as a team versus riding alone? Yeah, or is there any sort of expectations of if you're gonna be with us this day, this time, every so often?

SPEAKER_00: 47:27

Great question. We the that that is the most popular thing that when someone joins a team, especially this thing, they're like, Well, I want to ride. When are we riding? When are we getting together? It's not like guys are joining because they want to match my as much as we joke. They don't want to match my pants. I mean, I guess that's fun, but people want to ride together, they want to come together. Um, and so the team really tries to figure out a way uh throughout the summer, so when riding is available, that there is something happening most days, whether it's a mountain bike ride or a gravel ride or a road ride, someone is planning something somewhere for all skill levels to be part of the group. Um one thing that we do is we we always do, and this is this just started since uh 2021, every Monday, 6 a.m. It's like an open ride in immigration. Cool. So if you're new to the team, that's where we say just come see what happens, you can be with us. Uh all skill levels arise. It's kind of like the great time if someone's curious, bring your friend. That's it. People we're not gonna drop, I mean, people will get dropped, naturally, but people will stay together. Um, it's not like we're all riding up to this, like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 48:50

Because like I mean, I've seen it where like there's obviously like the front runner groups and then it'll be like the kind of leading group, then there's like the average group, like it kind of groups together, like any kind of large group on cycles.

SPEAKER_00: 49:01

That's right. And and so the team um in the summer manages multiple. We try to it's planned on group me. We have a group me app, Strava app. Uh, we try to manage different groups arriving at races together. So if a group's like, well, we're all gonna go do East Canyon Road Race, so they coordinate that a group together. We're all gonna do this group in Lotijo, we're gonna go do this group uh at Crusher and the Tusher. So there's all sorts of different groups that are constantly planning and working and being together at races and events and rides. So cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 49:33

And then I know you guys have the team. Um what's the phrase? I want to say team camp, but I think that's right down in St. George. Team camp.

SPEAKER_02: 49:41

Yeah, yeah, cool.

SPEAKER_00: 49:42

Uh yeah, so if you don't this is kind of weird. You guys people can laugh. This is a really weird part of cycling culture. Four or five years ago, there was this indoor cycling program created called Zwift. Yes. Okay. We laugh at it, we like we make fun of it, but then it organically became half of our team, half of our year. We all go inside for the winter. Yeah. And Zwift makes it possible for you to ride virtually with people who are like all over the world.

SPEAKER_01: 50:18

Yeah, you're all in your living room with your bike hooked up and ride.

SPEAKER_00: 50:23

But it has become half of our year, and the team now has like a Zwift club where we organize rides, races, events. People join us in the winter the same way they join us in the summer. And team camp comes at the end of like by the time we are just I I can't sit inside anymore to rate to ride. Team camp is this incredible breath of fresh air down in St. George, first of April, where where a hundred or so people all go down and we do Thursday, Friday, Saturday of Team Camp, raffles from the team sponsors, two sponsored dinners, uh, three different rides together. I mean, it's like we look for we've already set the date. Jake's already planning camp for next year. That is how as soon as we transition out of summer, everyone's like, okay, well, let's plan team camp. Like it's coming up enough. We need it's time to start thinking about that. Yeah, so team camp is the best. It's it's always so fun. Uh, we all stay in houses together and it's the best.

SPEAKER_01: 51:24

Sounds unreal.

SPEAKER_00: 51:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 51:25

So, I mean, so obviously you've had this growth of this community, but then like also kind of happening at the same time. I feel like there's just been this huge growth in cycling, especially like road cycling in general. It's true. I mean, how have you seen that both like I mean, personally cycling in in the club, and to like to have those come together and like be a part of all of that?

SPEAKER_00: 51:45

Yeah. We want uh Chip and I we want to take an active role in how cycling, especially in Utah, is uh interacted with, viewed, how this community like comes together. Because there's a lot more than just guys and gals getting together to ride. Like the community is special of cyclists, whether it's um providing support for each other or an opportunity to meet new people. There's a lot of group rides where like networking and businessing business is happening. And so uh, especially since the pandemic, there's been this gigantic influx of bikes. Like if you went in into a bike shop at the end of 2020, there were no bikes. There were nothing, like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 52:29

There were no bikes. I was working, I worked with someone who was the um uh manager of wow, why can't I think of Contender on ninth and ninth? And there's so back, so pandemic hits. I was working at a place, got laid off, was sad at first, but then I realized like my packet, like severance package was good enough that I could go ride my bike up city because I was living on like Forth West. I was like, I'd go ride my bike up City Creek every day, come back, sit by the pool, and like go to the gym. It was just like the best. And but then I reached out to her and her husband, like, hey, like I kind of need a new bike. She's like, he's like, Yeah, you and everybody else. And and I was like, Oh, that's funny, but really I need a bike. It's like, no, we don't have any. Everybody bought bikes.

SPEAKER_00: 53:09

Yeah. And it was that was kind of the time too where a lot of people were gravitating toward a community of cyclists, like outdoor people, where are we gathering, where are we going? Uh, and so for me, Dwelly, that was a huge, that was a huge kind of a change 20, 21, 22, 23. I mean, it's a a big change in culture, young guys, um, people just like getting into being outdoors. And so another big change that's happened is the is gravel.

SPEAKER_01: 53:38

Yeah. I mean, that is uh I mean, I saw Matt right, I mean Jay, all those guys like all of a sudden they're like, we're going on trails. They're like mountain biking. Yeah, it's like this, it's so interesting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 53:46

So it's it's been a big that's also been a huge influx in the way uh cycling has grown. A lot of new gravel events. Um, one of the the coolest things ever is this, it's called the Lifetime Grand Prix. Um, two years ago, the brand Lifetime created this six-race series throughout the United States, gravel and mountain bike. And they brought together the best uh athletes, not road cyclists, we're talking like professional mountain bikers, gravel racers, and they they move them from like it it goes all across the United States starting in April and it just ended a couple weeks ago. And the guy that wins, my idol, like if you want to see me get weird, it's Keegan Swenson. He's from he's up in Heber, he's the coolest guy. Well, I don't know if he's the coolest guy, I think he's the coolest guy. To you, he is, and that's all that matters. If it was Kobe or Keegan, dude, I'm picking, I am picking Key. I I will not he is a man. Love that. And so that he is and and guys like him are kind of moving and shifting away from because cycling was like, we gotta ride on the road.

SPEAKER_01: 54:53

Right. I mean it's you the Lance Armshot, like this like kind of I don't want to say like stoic, but it's kind of like boring for lack of a term. And then all of a sudden you bring it in. Yeah, very dangerous. Yeah, and then you bring it into Utah, and people are like, well, I kind of like I like going up the canyons, but I want to be in the mountains a little more.

SPEAKER_00: 55:10

And that's kind of what gravel's doing. It's it's providing a different view of cycling. I can ride a gravel bike up a mountain bike trail. I can ride it on a gravel road, I can connect it from Parley's, because I don't want to really ride my bike on Parley's, but I could ride this gravel bike for a bit onto a trail and then onto the road. Um, so it's it's been a really fun part of cycling in Utah is kind of this shift to gravel bikes, this all-terrain bike.

SPEAKER_01: 55:39

Yeah, and you see it all the time. Because like I've like trail riding and yeah, I mean, obviously, if you go, I mean, Bonne, like I go to Bonneville Shoreline a lot, it's my favorite spot. And I mean, obviously, you're gonna see mountain bikers, but then you'll be like, oh, the gravel guy. He's and you can he's been slogging for a while, you can see that. But like, totally, like to your point, like if you want to go do I mean the Parley's loop and come back down like big, you're like, I really don't want to go on Parley's, because that even every time I'm driving up Paris, I'm like, I would hate to bike up this right now. Like, not just from like obviously like the suffering and pain perspective, but like all it takes is one person errant swerve and rurro.

SPEAKER_02: 56:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 56:13

Because like every like my my friend's uh jokes, it's like with road biking, it's not when you have an accident. No, no, sorry, not if you have an accident, but when you have that accident. And like I had I had my so in in Seattle, so I lived in Seattle for a period, and like that's where I was uh biking a lot. It was super fun just like explore really, because I didn't I wasn't from there, so I it was it was a good way to have that. And then um, there's one time I was if for people who know the area, I was going around South Lake Union and there's this path where it's like bikers, but then like very close is pedestrians. And to be fair, I was going too fast, but all of a sudden I see this kid on like one of those typical, I mean it was just like a little bike, kid couldn't have been older than six, and I look at him like, he better not just perpendicularly cross in front of me. And sure enough, as I say it straight in front of me, I squeeze my brakes, I run into like swerve to hit this back tire instead of him square. But then I go into this fence and like my arm gets stuck in the fence and I come to like a jerking halt. And so I'm thinking to myself, I'm like, okay, arm's broken. Where's my bike? Bike looks like it's finish, might need a new tire, whatever. Where's the kid? And the kid's like kind of in shuffle. I'm like, hey, like, where's your adult? Like, I need to figure this out. And it's like 50 yards back, this guy comes running. He's like, I'm so sorry. I'm like, hey man, like maybe a little closer. Like, I realize I had some responsibility in this, but do that. And like he's like, okay, do you need a ride home? I'm like, no, no, I do not want to spend any more time with you right now. Like, you need to go. Like, I'm not happy enough, but I don't want to be dumb.

SPEAKER_02: 57:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 57:41

And so then I'm like, hey, let's, all right, status check. How are we feeling? And like look at my arm. I'm like, okay, like, not broken, thankfully, but I probably had this like bruised sleeve from like my bicep all the way down to my wrist for like three weeks, and I had to go to work with it, and everyone's like, oh my, like, what's wrong? Like, are you okay? Do you have a disease? Like, what's going on? And I can't remember where I was going with this, but like I feel like Parli's and like going up there. Like, you can ask for danger like more than you need to, but you obviously don't want to.

SPEAKER_00: 58:11

If you're me dwele, you're going up Parli's. It's happening. Love it. We have to take you on it. Deal.

SPEAKER_01: 58:17

Deal, deal, deal. Um, but yeah, I kind of like what you're talking about with kind of this correlation between everything happening with this community you're building and during the pandemic, because I mean, most people during that time felt so lonely. And again, like maybe a lot of were getting into cycling and starting to try to find this new thing, not knowing where this happens, and all of a sudden, yeah, here's this perfect community welcoming anybody who wants to be a part of this, this, this great sport, this great uh suffering together. And and I'm sure gave people a lot of um just a lot of community during a really hard time where people were looking for that. And it was really hard to be good in a mental head space.

SPEAKER_00: 59:00

Yeah, it was. It was good too. Um, I don't know if you remember, but there are all those studies that if you're riding in a bike group, that the spray of your mucus couldn't go back 60 yards, and I was like, you know, we would get in trouble for riding in groups and being together because I mean there is I granted when you're breathing heavy, it is a it is a risk, but um, we kind of looked at that risk and said, listen, we're a community, we're I'm with Jake every day. I'm going out, I'm riding with Jake, I'm riding with Andy Welch, I'm riding with Ryan Welch, I'm riding with Justin Spank. It's like we're going out, yeah. And it really was a fun part of the pandemic was was none of us are going to work. We're going on rides at six, we're getting back at 10. I mean, we're doing like Tuesday rides to Tibble Fork Reservoir and back. Yeah, it was the best part of the pandemic. I mean, it we we all rode 10,000, 12,000 miles that year. Just so much riding. Smiles on your face. It was just it's funny because 2021, 2022 were just like, oh, remember though, remember that? Remember when we could take a Tuesday and ride to American Fork Canyon and back? Like anyway, those were the days. Those are the days. No, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:15

And so obviously it's grown to the place where it is now, but I mean, what does the future look like to you in in the club?

SPEAKER_00: 1:00:22

Yeah. Um, so constant growth. Uh, since Chip and I took an active role in building, the team just continues to grow. So a lot of people gravitate towards it, and it's all types of racers, uh, all types of riders, old dads, uh, mountain bikers, people from out of state that want a community. So, all the registered teams in Salt Lake City, uh, Utah area, you pay a fee, you get put on the Utah Cycling Association webpage, and you can kind of like Like see all the different teams that are organized and uh the people that gravitate towards our culture and what we offer. Uh, we are always welcoming. Doesn't matter. Uh, we're happy to have and like I said earlier, if that's not a great fit after you ride with us a few times, that's okay. Uh, I try to make sure that they don't spend thousands of dollars on outfits before that happens.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:17

Yeah, before you go, you just buy like 10 kits really quick.

SPEAKER_00: 1:01:19

Thank you. Because that has happened a few times where I'm like, I'm sorry about that three grand you spent on jerseys. Uh, but the the community as a whole uh continues to grow, continues to change. Uh it's just uh an increase. I hope the team knows how uh special they are like to each other. Sometimes I don't think they see the perspective that I see of who is doing what to build our group. Uh the constant asking of team members what they can do to help, um, whether it's a guy who crashes, so it's that's a constant with how many people we have. There's always guys uh just eating crap. It's a numbers game. Yeah. And so it's been standard that we buy him a new kit. Like uh, we don't really like advertise that until I guess right now. I buy him a new kit, we take it over, nobody crashes on purpose just to get a new kit. So, but then there's like a guy that's like, Well, can I make a gift basket for this person? Or hey, I can donate new wheels, like his wheels got destroyed, or um, what can we do? Would send a meal over. And so uh the team itself constantly is becoming better in that way. The community is becoming stronger. Guys are uh I I always say this to my the guys I ride with, the people I'm with, I find it so special that I am growing my group of friends. I'm like an old older guy, and that just I don't feel like that is normal. That that my circle of people that are close is becoming bigger. And it's special.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02:54

Not a normal trend, right?

SPEAKER_00: 1:02:55

I mean, it's like oh, we've got these friends from high school we still hang out with, and these people from my church. Uh, but I'm like meeting new people in this group, and then I'm like, you are now really special to me, and I didn't know you two years ago, and that is the direction that I hope we are headed, that there are more and more people that feel the way that I feel when they are with the group. Um there's a guy, his name's Brad Clifford. He went to the he went to the University of Utah, played football, and he went to Olympus, and I know his family growing up. And he is like on this mar he's just a friend. He's on this marching path that more men need to be more passionate about being friends with each other. And it's like a special thing that I've tried to take on. Like I can I can be a friend that really cares and that loves other men. And that is like a really good thing. That I can be vulnerable with my cycling community and and check up on them. And if I feel like somebody's not doing well, like I can say something. Yeah. And that is the direction I feel and hope that this group is transitioning and uh is doing is like true caring, not just like go to immigration.

SPEAKER_01: 1:04:11

Yeah, don't not just going through the motions of like what someone should do, but like actually heartfelt thought about like that example, like, hey, like I saw his wheels broke, like I have these, I haven't been using them, they're like perfect condition. Can we get them into a like where it's not like, oh, hey, all right, raise of hands, here's the sign-up sheet, we're gonna pass it around again. But like that, that showing up because like I like what you're talking about, this trend of your circles growing where most people in your situation would see the opposite happening. And even more so, like it's not growing just by like acquaintances, it's not that just this like ominous number of like, oh, well, I know 500 people, like how cool am I? But it's the quality of the relationships being there too. Because I'm with you, like there's so many people who have these groups of friends, acquaintances, and everything, but there's no one that they can feel like they can go to to talk to about anything. And it's it's sad. Like, and I'm I mean, we all feel like that in some parts of life, we can't talk to someone. I mean, I don't want to say like desert like depression specifically, but like their life's hard. And if you can't actually have someone where they're like, hey, how are you doing? You're like, actually, you know, it's been a rough week. Like, right, pop a seat, let's chat.

SPEAKER_00: 1:05:21

And there's no better place than on a ride to do that.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05:24

Exactly. You're there, you're doing it together, you're not going anywhere else. There's no distractions, even more so. It's not like kids are running up or like the slack's going off or all these things. It's like, hey, we're gonna be on this bike for the next hour and a half, two hours, three hours, five hours, 17 hours. We'll stop. Let's let's chat.

SPEAKER_00: 1:05:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05:40

And that's where those that that is where the culture comes in. It who cares what color your jersey is, who cares what how nice your bike is, but showing up authentically for people and being there is is what makes it all worth it. Yeah. In my in the back of my mind, though, I will be judging your bike. Noted. You noted. Hey Siri, you remind me to buy an S Works if I ever decide to go and make sure it's tuned. Yeah, very well. Um, no, I love that. So I mean, just to kind of give credit where credit's due, I mean, who are who have been some of these sponsors that have been helping out with the club from day one or have joined on along the way?

SPEAKER_00: 1:06:15

Yeah, so the neat one of the neatest parts about Me Dwele is the sponsors are in our internal. So we're not out like sponsor us. Yeah, you're not fundraising. No, this is team members who are concerned about the growth and what what we're doing as a as a team. They want to be uh recognized and um they want to have their logos on the jersey, featured on the podcast, part of our giveaways and raffles. So barbacoa has always been a huge part of our team. Um, maybe not so much now, but they really can deserve credit for years and years of feeding the team, constantly providing discounts to the team. I mean, you feed a lot of carbs if you're riding your pipe that much. And if you know the old jerseys, like the old Midwele kits were like these big barbacoa flames. Yep. They were awful. But I mean, that was a huge part of our our team growing up. Um, so uh, but uh a new our new main sponsor, so uh cyclingupgrades.com, a team member, Corby down in uh Utah County. So his business is the the new generation of uh sponsors of the of the team. And not just that, but his his business itself takes your old nasty gear, like your bike, and he upgrades it to he helps you he'll buy it, and he'll upgrade it, and he'll do wheels or frames or uh whatever you want to anything that you want to do for the team, cycling upgrades is a huge sponsor. He's constantly running raffles on our like our Zwift and he does weekly challenges. Um yeah. But all the sponsors on our team are they're all guys that are just part of the squad.

SPEAKER_01: 1:08:02

Yeah, they're they're next to you, they're not just it's awesome.

SPEAKER_00: 1:08:05

Just giving you money because he asked for it. Yeah. I mean, we have one sponsor that he's not on the jersey, but Eric Ellis makes this new he makes this powder. It's called Formula 369. And it's like a new, I don't know, it's a drink mix. And the team is like the launching pad for this guy's product. And it's just been it's stuff like that. It's really fun to watch the community rally behind our sponsors.

SPEAKER_01: 1:08:30

Especially people like I mean, nearby local, I mean, businesses, like I mean, just like the 369 powder, like, what better way to be like, all right, product development? How would we feel about that flavor? It's like that sucked. Never give that to me again. He's like, Cool, noted. Here's this new one. Rocks, love it. Or just like to be able to have those people to help, but then also realize, like, yeah, that's not the only reason they're there.

SPEAKER_00: 1:08:51

Yeah, that's a good group. It's a it's a really fun group of uh sponsors that they're always there for us. So yeah, cool.

SPEAKER_01: 1:08:59

So Steve, you want to end with uh the two questions I always do. But the first one is if you could have somebody be on the Small Lake City podcast, who would you want to hear their story from? Uh one of my good friends, Adam Barker. Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 1:09:11

So Adam Barker is a local photographer, and his story is just awesome. Um, you know, didn't set out to be this professional action photographer, didn't set out to be this landscape, um, but he is like this self-made businessman that just hustles and he grinds and he loves Utah. He's a teammate of mine. He loves the outdoors, every everything about what he brings to our team and my friendship. His story is really it. I would love to hear what he brings. And he knows the community, knows all the extreme athletes. He's a fly fisherman, you know, he's into Moto, he's a mountain bike rider. I was like a Utah guy through and through. Yeah, I think you went to East. I mean, he's just like he's um, yeah, so he'd be awesome. Did you say two people or one? I mean, however many you want to. That's good. Cool. I'd love to hear from Jay Cook if you bring him in. We can do that. Although he ditched me today on the podcast, so maybe not. Maybe put him in put him in timeout for a bit.

SPEAKER_01: 1:10:11

He'll I'll I'll pull that IOU from him. And then last question if people are curious or want to join, uh, I mean, where the can they find you on social website or or what's the best way about going about that?

SPEAKER_00: 1:10:21

Yeah. So medwele.com. Um, that's it. That's the best place. Cool. That'll show all of our so we have 94 different podcasts.

SPEAKER_01: 1:10:30

So I try sorry, I thought like podcasts, like individual podcasting episodes, but yes, episodes.

SPEAKER_00: 1:10:35

So 94 episodes. Got it. Um, where the idea behind it was let's just interview guys on the team to make sure that we all know each other and the culture stays strong. So that is a huge part of if this is a good fit for you. That's on that's on the website. All the bios, I don't know if that's the great best word for our yellow jerseys. So you could read three or four of those and be like, uh, not for me. Or be like, yeah, this is these are kind of guys I want to hang out with.

SPEAKER_02: 1:11:04

Yep.

SPEAKER_00: 1:11:04

Um, so you can click there. Medwelly.com also has our Instagram page, which I spend a lot of time kind of crafting and building and trying to tell our story. Um, so yeah, me dwele.com. Should I spell it? I think so. I got M-I-D-U-O-L-E dot com. Me dwelly. There it is.

unknown: 1:11:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:11:26

If you want to join the Zwift group, if you want to join the Strava group, if you want to see what it's all about, or go spend five grand on kits. Yes. That's the place to start.

SPEAKER_00: 1:11:34

That's the way to start. And my my cell phone's on there, my email's on there. So if you're interested in even just joining us for rides, uh, some guys are like, I'll join on a ride, and then we don't see them for a year, and then they're like, Okay, I'm ready. I'm ready. I'll come. It's time. Yeah, and it's fine. And that that's a great way to do it too. Um, there's really no wrong or right way how to interact with the team. Some guys come on one ride a year, some are there, like you said, every single time. And that's the beauty of how the community runs. It's like, I don't prescribe to you how to belong. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:05

Um the to-do list of if you want to be here, here's what you have to do.

SPEAKER_00: 1:12:08

No. So that's it, man.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:10

So there it is. Yeah, if you want to join, go to me dwelling.com, check it out.

SPEAKER_00: 1:12:14

Um blood test, blood immigration time. Back. And if you have an S Works.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:19

Yeah, there you go. That's it. So thank you so much. It's been so fun to learn more about this cool community you've been creating and fostering. And can I watch it grow from here? So thanks for coming on and excited for the future for it.

SPEAKER_00: 1:12:30

Yeah, man, it's been fun. I uh interview a lot of people, so it's fun to be interviewed. It's cool. It's always nice to flip the script. It's nice. I hope I don't sound dumb. So I've never been like being on this side is an interesting part of uh like having done this so many times. This has been cool. So thanks, appreciate it. Absolutely. Thanks for coming.