The Specialized Podcast
Going behind the curtain to talk to the riders and creators working hard to make your ride better.
The Specialized Podcast
Mads Würtz Schmidt | The Comeback that Rewrote Gravel.
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
He was a junior world champion who battled injuries, stress, and a lost contract until he thought his career was over. So what pulled him back?
In this episode, host Ben Capron sits down with Mads Würtz Schmidt, the Danish former WorldTour rider who rebuilt himself in gravel and is now the sport's most dominant force.
Mads opens up about the years that nearly broke him. After one strong road season, injuries and setbacks piled up, the pressure he put on himself became too much, and stress pushed him out of the sport entirely. When his contract wasn't renewed, he was devastated.
The comeback is the heart of this conversation. Working with mindfulness coach Patrick Sweeney, supported by his fiancée, and becoming a father helped Mads let go of the past, control what he can control, and identify with the process rather than the results. He and his fiancée bet one year on gravel, went all in, and turned the gamble into a new life at the front of the sport.
That reset changed how he races and how he lives. Mads explains why he no longer chases results but the daily work behind them, how structure became his best friend, and how a nearly three-year-old daughter who doesn't care whether he won or lost keeps him grounded through every high and low.
The second big story is how Specialized Off-Road is rewriting gravel itself, turning a sport built on every-rider-for-themselves into a team game. Mads describes racing alongside Keegan Swenson and Matt Beers, and how a group of riders coming from road and mountain backgrounds is changing the way gravel is won.
He digs into the trust at the core of it. Mads brings WorldTour tactics to the team's race plans, and in the decisive moments his teammates rely on his read of the race, most memorably when he told Matt Beers it was go time and sat glued to his wheel while Beers buried the field. Becoming friends and sacrificing for each other, he says, is what makes the wins possible.
The conversation also gets into equipment and craft. Mads admits he's no gear nerd, and cheerfully owns a costly tire mistake in the mud at Santa Vall. But he's learning fast from Keegan and Matt, chasing their lines on descents, and he's clearly sold on the new Crux 5: a true high-performance race bike that, paired with Terra aero wheels, carries speed, corners with confidence, and in his words, “rides like a weapon”.
Along the way, Mads reflects on the pressure of early success as a junior world champion, watching his generation of Danish stars breakthrough while he felt left behind, and how learning to make friends with reality finally let him find the fire again.
This is the story of a rider who rebuilt himself: not by chasing results, but by rediscovering his passion, and proving that the right people,the right mindset, and a team that races as one can turn setbacks into the ride of your life.
This episode covers:
- The injuries, stress, and lost contract that nearly ended his career
- How mindfulness work with Patrick Sweeney helped him reset
- Why he identifies with the process, not the results
- How fatherhood reshaped his structure, priorities, and perspective
- The one-year bet on gravel that changed everything
- How Specialized Off-Road is turning gravel into a team sport
- Racing alongside Keegan Swenson, Matt Beers, and Sofia Gómez Villafañe
- What road racing taught him about tactics and trust
- The teamwork behind the decisive moves that win races
- Learning off-road technique and lines from Keegan and Matt
- Why the new Crux 5 and Terra Aero wheels feel like a weapon
- The pressure of early success and finally finding the fire again
Get More from Specialized
TikTok: @specializedbicycles
Instagram: @iamspecialized
Specialized MTB Instagram @iamspecialized_mtb
Specialized Factory Racing Instagram: @specialized_factoryxc
Facebook: specializedbicycles
Outride: @outride
I wanted to keep moving forward and I didn't get that chance on the road. So then gravel presented itself as an opportunity. And I was like, I'm finally back where I really want to be. I have that fire in me. I like the the the ambitions and the passion, it sounds like it came back. It came back at full force. So so me and my fiance, we said, okay, we do this for one year, we try, and it was a bet, it was a risk. So I went into it with everything I had. And luckily it it turned out as a good thing. It it was the right bet. Now I'm here, got this opportunity, and now I'm with specialized this major team in gravel, and we are kind of leading in gravel, and and all because of we took the risk of saying, okay, we give it one year and we really believe in it, but we also work really hard for it together. We pulled it off.
SPEAKER_01All right, we're here with Maz Verschmitt, and it's so great to have you on the show, man. Welcome.
SPEAKER_02Thank you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm pleased to be here. I'm pleased to have you, and we're pleased to have you on the team. I mean, fresh off your track, uh 360 win and on the brink of unbound. This'll come out after unbound, but we'll get into a lot of details. And anyone who's following Gravel knows all about you. Anyone who's followed World Tour knows about you. But for those tuning in that might not know, Maz started off on the road, time trial world champion in junior Roubaix, Perry Roubaix champion as a junior, U-23 time trial world champion, and then a lot of years on the world tour. Yeah, very promising career.
SPEAKER_02I can mention that the U-23 World Championship is one on a specialized.
SPEAKER_01Oh, there we go. Okay.
SPEAKER_02First generation of the shift.
SPEAKER_01Always sponsored correct. Yeah. Thank you for that shout out. Yeah, Dynamite. Excellent. And then in like 2022, had a bit of a shift, then later became a father and then made a big shift in your cycling career over to gravel. And then this year, first year on the specialized off-road team, together with Keegan, Swenson, and also Matt Beers and Sophia, just a really powerful team that's been lighting up the whole gravel scene. So great to have you on the on the team. Great to have you on the episode on the podcast here. Thanks. Hey, I want to dive right in and talk a little bit about Trackka. So Traka 360, you you went out, you went out early.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And we were just talking a little bit before the show. You didn't know what time splits were, so you just kept the throttle wide open. Ended up winning that by 11 minutes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Talk us through a little bit about what Tracker was like for you.
SPEAKER_02It's such a long race. It's it's um the course is super hot. Like it's up and down. Not that many altitude meters considered the length of the race, but it comes in segments. So it's really concentrated of climbs and then it's a flat part, another hard piece of climbs up and down, another flat part, and then the big climb. And from there it's more rolling up and down to the finish. So it comes in chunks, these climbs. Um, so the start is hard, long flat bit, and then we have the first feed zone. And and the idea from the beginning was to get to the first feed zone as easy as possible, saving the legs as much as possible, which is difficult because these climbs they are so steep that you have to push. But we got there, we had it all dialed in how we were gonna do the feed zone. We were super efficient, so when we got out of the feed zone, we were ready. Some of the power racing guys they attacked uh to get a head start before the climbs. But me and Matt, we were ready, we were on them. That was pretty cool. And this was actually this bit of the race was my favorite part of the race because there was a split in the feed zone, and my like main competitor was Romain Bade, and he messed it up, so he wasn't in the group. So I told Matt we need to get a chance. This is our chance, yeah. This is the time. It was actually just to make it hard for him to come back. And then Matt he hesitated a little bit, he was like, I think he's here. So then I pull to the right, and I'm like, I had to pee. So I do a I pee off the bike and I roll back through the group, and then I see he's not there, and then I go back to Matt. It's go time, and it was draggy, falls flat, two or three percent, super rough gravel road. So it was a hard, hard moment, and I just committed to sit right behind Matt. Um, I didn't take any like safety gap, I just trusted Matt to pick the right line, and then I followed his good wheel to follow. Yeah, like he's so big, and I had so much draft behind him. But the guys behind me, they couldn't sit that close to me, they had to see where they were going. So every time I look back, I could just see people they were suffering. And I was there behind Matt, and he was fully sacrificing for me, and that was just a very, very nice like team moment that we had together, and he came there to support me in this race because it's it's been my goal since the start of the year that was to track at 360, and then the race kicked off. Uh, I got away uh with uh Hugu um Dreschou, the French champion, 200k to go, and then we rode together, and I could uh drop him at 100k to go and go solo from there. But it was I it was the hardest day I ever had on a bike. It was the hardest day you've ever had on a bike. Yeah, wow. That was uh it was special. It was uh I really had to dig deep because we don't get any time gaps in this race, it's not allowed, so I didn't know if there were coming anyone. I I didn't know my gap, so I kept pushing all the way to the finish line only to finish the race and then hear that I won by that I had a gap of 11 minutes. So I could have saved myself a little bit the last hour and not dig myself into a deeper hole, but in the end, it was it was a special performance. I'm really proud of what I did. I made it under 10 hours, and uh yeah, it it was a good day.
SPEAKER_01Unbelievable performance. Congratulations. Thank you. Yeah, and cool that you and Matt worked in that way and that he was there for you. There was a lot of talk prior to the season, like the gravel super team, and but you guys are finding definitely ways to work together and and shift up the way gravel racing is actually going down, it looks like.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think we we've done some good showcasing of how we actually can work as a team and and help each other. It was the same in Santa Valle when the season started. I won the first stage, got in the lead, and then Matt he was just pulling me around the next day. I made sure nobody got away and and we could ride the the GC home. So we have successfully managed to make it a team sport for us and and uh fully committed to helping each other and win the races, that is the number one goal, and it's been going pretty well so far.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. What has been the most challenging part of shifting to more of a team strategy on gravel? Because it's largely been kind of individual races, like guys who just go out, guys and ladies who just go out and go as hard as they can. But what what have you guys been able to put together and have there been snags on being able to work together in that way?
SPEAKER_02So far, I haven't seen anything. Um I'm the only male rider in Europe though. So I've only ridden together with the boys in Santa Bay, and and Matt, he came over for Tracker fully committed to help me because he knew I was coming prepared. So yeah, I I owe Matt some some domestic work, and I'll happily repay him at a gravel burn or something like that, where he's on his home turf. Um if it's something that's really special to him. We're also getting to know each other, we are bonding, becoming friends, which is also important in a team environment that you actually like each other and that you want to sacrifice for each other. So the more time we spend together, the easier it also becomes helping each other and sacrificing your own chances because it's good guys that you're working together with. So the more we race together and the more time we spend together, then it will get easier. But but so far it's you know it's worked pretty much.
SPEAKER_01It's working pretty well. Yeah. I mean, relationships are so important and trust and like what's the chemistry? And like, like you say, Matt knew that Tracker was a goal for you and he was there for you. I'm sure it'll be the other way around. And along the way, you build relationship and you're able to be there for each other. Yeah. Do you think that your experience in World Tour, which obviously racing on the road is is kind of all about team? Do you find that having that experience is useful, bringing it to the specialized off-road program?
SPEAKER_02I think so. I can draw some parallels. Um, when we've been having meetings about how we're gonna do the race, they are really listening to my input because yeah, I have this from experience and they are more from a mountain bike background where it's all in for yourself. But we come up with a plan that we all agree on, like we all get our say, and then then we we make the plan together. But in terms of the tactical points and when we're in the race and what's happening, um I think we saw in in both in Santa Val and Tracker that Matt he relied a lot on me uh to tell him what to do. I said, I think we need to do this and this and or that, and then he was just like, okay, and then he starts to to do his his Matt thing, go to the front and just bury everybody with power, yeah. Yeah. Um so he he didn't question what I said. Uh and I see. I think um that's pretty cool to have a guy like him, and he he trusts what I asking him to do.
SPEAKER_01And that seems like a direct expression, like you know, in the moment of the race, like here's the moment that we need to go, Mac, go. Yeah, and then he went. Yeah, and you sucked his wheel and made it really painful for everyone else.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that was yeah, it's it's great. And yeah, I'm just looking forward to more racing together. That's great. It's great to be with the boys, like in in back in Europe when I'm just on my own, I have to uh to do the race on my own and and trying to find a way to win. It is a little bit more fun being with the boys, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Right. You were talking about Matt and Keegan and the off-road side and maybe some of what you're bringing from the road side. Has it gone the other way at all? Like in terms of technique riding off-road and so forth, have they been able to help you in that area?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the way I always learned the most from watching what other people do. So in our training camp before Santa Val on the downhills, I would on purpose sit behind them to try and follow their lines, see how they move their body, like weight position, just to follow them and see what they do, see if I can learn something from that. I tried to follow Keegan on a downhill, and he looked so smooth and so easy. I followed him, I got to the bottom same as him, but I felt like I was all over the bike. I I felt slightly out of control, and he looked so easy. Uh so so yeah, I I learned from them, and I it was the same with Matt uh at Treka uh in our pre-rides. I followed him seeing what he's doing. One ride I tried to drop him on a downhill, that didn't happen. I blew up the last corner and he came on the inside of me, and he just looks so easy. Um so I'm I'm a little bit behind there. Those guys are pretty elite level on that, yeah. And then they are also more they know more about the equipment, like tires, uh which tires to choose, and pressure, gearing, stuff like that, because they've been working off-road for so many years. So they just know more about that than I do. I'm no mechanic or cycling nerd. Those guys nerd out pretty hard. Yeah, they do. That's a compliment. It's a compliment, totally. Santoval, I didn't follow their instructions, and uh stage one where we had all the mud, uh you can probably find it on YouTube. I went with the wrong set of tires. So they recommended a different tire than you asked. I go for the fast room. Who is right? I go for the fast rolling tire, and the first hour I was rolling around in the dirt. We got away a select group, and then we had this stretch of 20 minutes or something where it was just mud, mud, mud, and I had no traction. Well, we we ran Pathfinder, yes, and they were on like tracers, trick tracers, yeah. And I lost a minute and a half to the front group. Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01We've all been there. We've all been there. Because on paper, it's like, oh yeah, I want the fast rolling, I know what that's like.
SPEAKER_02It's because I'm from the road, I'm I still have that brain. Like I'm I still think like a road rider, uh which is also the strength sometimes. But here I made a wrong choice. Luckily, I could come back and I ended up winning the stage.
SPEAKER_01Right. Yeah, let's let's finish with that. Let's be sure to mention that, even with tires that weren't hooking up that great. Yeah, so gravel is still cool that way because it is a mix, you know, it's road, it's mountain, it's where it's coming together. And it's also, I mean, rap pretty significant changes year by year with equipment, you know. I mean, tire width and tire pressure and wheels are changing so radically because I think it's still in the overall scheme of things, pretty new. But then you put it to the and riders like you guys represent from different angles coming together, but in the race, the race is the race. Like, so then what happens? People take note and it evolves pretty rapidly. Road is, you know, it's incremental pieces because it's been established for so long, and in a way, mountain as well.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. It's it's it's so new, and and it's becoming so professionalized now, but it's only been within the last maybe two years where it's it's starting to turn into a real professional sport. So it's interesting to see what what's happening. You see all these new bike releases, and now we have this one, and and you know, we're just gonna see more and more, and and how they're gonna integrate all of that into to gravel because you you get courses that are more mountain bike-like, or you get courses that are more road-like, and you need a bike that's versatile, that can do everything. So it's it's a it's an interesting market.
SPEAKER_01Well, you gestured to the to the new crux, and we were talking about it a little bit before, and you said that you're not a uh uh gear nerd like like Gegan or Matt, but you were also talking a little bit about it from the crux you were on to the new bike that you've been riding. What do you notice the difference as? It makes gravel easier.
SPEAKER_02The new crux. Yeah, the new Crux. The old Crux was just a good bike. There was nothing to nothing bad to say about it, it was just a good solid bike. Um, light, good handling, easy to to ride. Um, but now we have with the Crocs 5 a high performance race bike. Like it is made for racing fast, and you can definitely feel that. If I'm on the road on this bike, it feels like a road bike. The difference I feel from a road bike to the Crocs 5 is because we have bigger tires, the way it rolls, it feels like a road bike. The handling in corners, downhills, it gives me more confidence. I really believe that it's gonna get me around corners safely. You're just more at ease, you feel more calm.
SPEAKER_01Exactly.
SPEAKER_02In general, I just feel better on that bike.
SPEAKER_01Can you feel the reduced drag? I mean, there's quite a bit less drag on the bike aerodynamically. Do you feel like that's something you can feel? Like, do you feel like you're going faster? Yeah. Or is it just something that you do?
SPEAKER_02I do feel I'm going faster, and it's especially in these rolling parts where you come in with speed into just a small climb. Say it's 100 meters long. But 100 meters on gravel is enough to really slow down, but it carries the speed so nice up that hill. Like it will get you a little bit further up before you actually have to start putting power down. So you can maintain your momentum a little bit. Exactly. And then it it all the bits and bumps in the road, it just absorbs them. So it feels smoother.
SPEAKER_01It feels way smoother. Wow. Uh it's an incredible bike. And you've been on the Terra Aero wheels for a little bit now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But that combo is it gotta be pretty sweet.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's a it's a weapon like this. It's so fast.
SPEAKER_01Well, it's I like for you as a rider, like to go, oh yeah, my bike now is like this this weapon. Is it psychologically? Do you feel like you have a leg up on the other riders?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, I definitely do. It's not to sound cocky, but you know, I've been winning almost all the races I've been doing this year on the Crux 4. So going to the Crux 5, which is notably faster, better bike. It can only go one way from here, and that is to keep winning. But it it does inspire confidence and lining up at unbound with this bike. I will be feeling more confident than I would on the other bike, just because I feel so good on this bike.
SPEAKER_01And there, like the speeds are generally, like you say, if the conditions are good, yeah, speeds are high, kind of more elements like like roads. So the aerodynamics is gonna play a part, the new wheels, the new frame, all that stuff's gonna play a part. I like what you said, like you've been doing pretty pretty well on Crux 4, and you've kind of known, okay, when I can ride five, it's like having an extra gear.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we've been knowing for a while that it it's coming, and and when I tried it the first time, my first thought was, oh, I wish I had this for tracker. It would have been so much easier. Yeah, it would have been 15 minutes, maybe, who knows? Uh so no, I'm also just to feel it in the Peloton, in the group of guys, and how it responds to when you're attacking, and all those like things you can't really put into data, but just it's just feeling. And of course, to to try and attack and try to win the race and see how it feels in that situation where you push your body to the max and you really try to drop each other or you know make the separation. How is it gonna feel on this bike compared to the to the Crux 4?
SPEAKER_01How does that show up for you? Is it kind of like something you don't need to think about? Like it's just you're kind of one with the bike. Is it that the bike disappears, or that you just know, okay, now I'm gonna go and I got it? Yeah, I think it's a bit of everything.
SPEAKER_02Okay. When you attack and you can feel, okay, the other guys, they are suffering. Now I can really make my move and make a difference. That is the moment where it all comes together. It's a special moment. And to get out there and just feel that speed, but to try and do that and try and make a difference in the race, to do it on a new bike is gonna be I think will be uh be a nice experience.
SPEAKER_01Well, we can't wait to watch. I want to ask you about motivation, you know, riding with a garbage bag on, five, five heat five, six heat sessions, 26-hour, you know, training block between Traka and and Unbound. Like, it's a lot, it's a big commitment, it's a big devotion. Where do you find your motivation?
SPEAKER_02Uh you know, I actually had this question today um from Outride. Like, what am I writing for? Or I can't remember. Yeah, exactly. It took me a while before I figured out what it was. And I think the shift to gravel, the disappointment it was to not stay on the road at first, and a lot of disappointments in the my career on the road. Uh I only had one season that was really good where everything fell into place, but I've had injuries, uh mental issues, I always had setbacks, and that would lead into disappointments. So I'm just I think it would be writing to you know make up for all those disappointments. And then last year going into gravel, I've learned pretty quickly that I'm quite good at it. Yes, we've noticed. And and then I believe more in it, and I believe more in myself. Uh and I start to work harder because I can see the results. But I think on the base of it, it is to to beat those with past disappointments. Because I I was also in a bad spot at some point. Uh it was due to many things, but also I think the main thing that was leading like that I've had for many years is stress about my career, disappointment not going the way I hoped for or dreamed of, and then then stuff happened in my personal life, and then suddenly boom, I was out with stress, and I had to take some time off. And and it it was really hard for me. So so I overcame that. I got back, I got better, started riding well in the Peloton again on the road, but I kept getting these injuries and the the disappointments just came back at me. I learned to live with that, um working with with a therapist. So then when when I didn't get offered a new contract and and it seemed like my career was done, I was I was devastated because I found my joy for cycling again. That's also big motivation for it. I when you had moved through these challenges, you were starting to feel the joy again. I I love cycling, it's been my whole life. And and since I was eight years old, I've been racing. And it's it's been the whole family, everything in my life have been around cycling. So that passion and joy came back with motivation and ambition again, and I was ready to I wanted to keep moving forward, and I didn't get that chance on the road. So but then gravel presented it. As an opportunity, and I was like, I'm finally back where I really want to be. I have that fire in me, and like the the the ambitions and the passion, it sounds like it came back, it came back at full force. So so me and my fiance, we said, okay, we do this for one year, we try, and it was a bet, it was a risk. So I went into it with everything I had. And luckily it it turned out as a good thing. It it was the right bet, and and now I'm here. Like I just I was in the wind tunnel with specialized, and you know, it's we made it together as a couple, like she supports me. I do like with everything, and and and that was like that's a great story that we are super proud of. That we actually we turned things around and and made this for ourselves. We got this opportunity, and now I'm with specialized and and this major team in gravel, and we are kind of leading in gravel, and and all because of we took the risk of saying, okay, we give it one year and we really believe in it, but we also work really hard for it together, and then uh we pulled it off. So I'm really proud of what we've been doing the last year and a half that we ended up here.
SPEAKER_01You should be, man. I really want to thank you for sharing that. We all have challenges, but not everyone is willing to speak to them. Having the fortitude and the character to move through them, having the partnership you do, and then seeing this direction and pursuing it and really going all in. That's like not many people can relate to riding the way you do, but everyone knows what it is to have a challenge. Yeah, and you're an example in that. So thank you so much for sharing that. You know, we're so proud that you're on the team. It inspires all of us. And I'm happy to hear that. Yeah, thank you so much. I can only imagine that you know, having loved riding from a young age, started racing at eight, your early seasons, so much success. What was that like for you? Did that put a lot of pressure on you at an early age, like junior Perry Rebe, Junior Time Trial World Championships?
SPEAKER_02It made me put a lot of pressure on myself. I see. I'm I'm the same generation as Mads Pedderson, um, Craig Anderson, uh, Courtney Nilson, uh, these Danish riders, Michael Velgreen, uh, guys who won big, big races, and I was always on the back foot. Then I put more pressure on myself because in juniors and U-23, we we were kind of on on the same level for most part of the year. Then we had our each of our peaks and our specialities. I was good in the time trials and and and they were good at at all this stuff, but we were kind of leveled and then we turned pro and they just went boom success from the beginning. And it I was always on the back foot. I had some results here and there, and but but it I was I always felt like I was lagging behind. Um and that made me put more pressure on myself more and more and more and more for results, yeah. For because I just wanted to be as good as them. So I was most of the time trying too hard, and that ended up with injuries and then an injury disappointment, but then I put more pressure on myself to come back stronger, uh train too hard again, just the whole like the stress in in understandable in my mind, and then I just cracked in the end. Um, so I think the pressure came from myself because I wanted to be as good as my friends.
SPEAKER_01As as good as your friends with regards to the results that you were achieving. Yeah. And do you think that you had you identified with the results? Like, did you feel like you were only as good as your results?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think I did. I did. Now I'm older.
SPEAKER_01And has has that I was gonna ask, is that of course you're you're racing and you're doing really well, and that's awesome. But do you think that there's a different relationship for you between the way those results are happening? Like, are you identified with the results, or is there a different relationship?
SPEAKER_02I don't identify with the results, I identify with the process. What I'm doing every single day, how to be as good as possible every single day. Um, and the stuff we do to stay healthy and and just gener life in general, having a good life, having a good routine. Uh, we have a daughter, she's three years old. Energy bomb. Um, so it takes a lot of uh structure to handle her. Um but but the whole like the process in the training, my uh relationship with my coach and the team, and the process is what matters the most to me. And and that is what I yeah, identify with because that is what makes me proud, is is all the work that's behind the results. Um so so that is that is what matters.
SPEAKER_01And that's the part we can control too. Yeah. You know, if you're bringing your best to exactly to what you're engaged in, yeah, then on race day, if if you do your best and you did your best on the lead up, someone is faster that day, it's totally out of your control.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know? Then then I have a daughter who's almost three years old who can keep me grounded.
SPEAKER_01That'll change your priority.
SPEAKER_02She she keeps me grounded because I get home from a race that I won and she doesn't care. I get home from a race where I was uh really bad. She doesn't care, she's just happy to see dad, and she wants to play, sit on the floor, uh do crazy stupid things, and just have a laugh. That's great. Talk to me more about how your life has changed since you've become a dad. It it was hard in the beginning. Everything changes, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I remember uh back then I was so tired all the time. I a three-day block would always turn into a two-day block because when I got to day three, I was just I needed to sleep, I needed to rest. But over time you learn how to deal with it. I had to get more become more structured. Because before a kid, you you have so much time. Like you get home from you can go out for training late, you come home late, but there's nothing to do other than sit on the couch and then cook a cook cook a meal later in the day, and that's it. And now it's like structure is is your best friend. That's the most important part for me as a professional athlete, but also for our daughter, she needs the structure. She like every day is basically the same. Um, like I wake up at six to have my breakfast in peace and quiet, and then she wakes up, and then there's the whole routine with her training. I go training as early as possible because I also want my recovery time on the couch after training. And if it's a long day of training, maybe I only get half an hour and then I'm off to pick her up, and then it's full gas with her. But but the routine and the structure, um, that changed everything. And over time, it made me a better athlete as well.
SPEAKER_01So it sounds like your daughter taught you more structure. Yeah. How about priorities in your life? Did having a child change the way you see priorities in the world?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, of course. Um I'm still uh you also need to be a little bit selfish when you're an athlete and when you want to make it as one of the best. Um, but you know, there's she's she's the number one.
SPEAKER_01That's great. I want to ask you a little bit about it. Sounds like you've always been passionate about writing, except for that period where things got really challenging. How did you reconnect with your passion for writing after those challenging times?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I worked with a therapist, same one, I don't know if Blevinsey talked about him uh on the podcast. With Patrick? Yeah. Oh yeah, I know. Yeah, Patrick's a friend of mine. Yeah, yeah. He helped me. Oh, great. He got me back on my feet. Fantastic. Yeah. I worked with him for a year and a half, and and he helped me realize, discover for myself the important things in life, his methods with the meditation, and just to ground yourself and calm down, control what you can control. If it's out of your hands, let it go. Um, and this is basically what I learned from him. Yeah, that's Patrick Sweeney, yeah. Amazing, amazing man. Do everything you can to give yourself the best possible circumstances and surroundings, and what's around that, like outside of that, it is what it is. And it's so easy to say it is what it is. Everybody's saying it is what it is, but the difficulty when it's hard, yeah, and the difficulty thing is to believe it when you say it is what it is. Um, that that is what I had to learn to really believe when I say it is what it is, and then just let it go. And I was I said I was stuck in the past um with all the pressure and stress and um frustrations about not becoming the writer that I I wanted to be. So uh so he uh he helped me get back to joy, happiness, uh passion. Um so yeah, great man.
SPEAKER_01Fantastic. I'm so glad to hear that. And again, you know, it's like it's really useful in this life. Like we can all go along with things and then the world happens in the way it happens, and often it's different than the way we'd like it to be. And if we hang on to that difference, if we hang on to the way we want it to be, instead of finding a way to make friends with reality, yeah, it'll take you down and every life will see challenges. And when they come, being able to be flexible enough to be with what is instead of attached to what you wish what is, yeah, yeah, is a really important thing. Also, through practicing like mindfulness and meditation, you can come to have a different relationship with your mind and let it turn into a faithful servant instead of like a pretty tyrannical master.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, I totally get what you're saying. And then you just get back to focusing on reality. What am I doing right now? Oh, I'm playing with my daughter. I shouldn't be listening to the voice that tells me I whatever.
SPEAKER_01Or I'm training or I'm I'm racing right here, right now. Yeah, exactly. And maybe I blew that last turn, but I'm not in that last turn. Yeah, there's a corner right up in the middle. Yeah, coming back to this. Yeah. Well, it's man, thank you for sharing that. And uh again, I think that's useful for everybody in the in the audience. When you look shifting gears, when you look at the rest of 2026, like then what are your goals later in the season?
SPEAKER_02There's a gravel earth series uh close to my home. So I'm gonna go there, try and uh and win, of course, and then I think the gravel earth series is pretty much backed and and and I will win that series, but then I will have a mid-season break. I will do, I think I'll do 10 days off the bike. Completely off. Just a full reset. And then I have some races over July, but from from when I start training again, it's full focus on world championships. Um, from there I have three and a half months where I can rebuild. Um and and on the way there, I have important races. I want to defend my European championship, I have the Danish championships, and then the world championships, racing for some uh special jerseys, um which is also really exciting to me because to see those jerseys in the Peloton, that is, you know, the cycling fan in like the heart of for cycling is really pumping for that, and and go on to chase for for these special jerseys.
SPEAKER_01Is that feel a little bit like opportunity for redemption for you? Yeah, it is yeah.
SPEAKER_02I had that at world championships last year. I was like, I'm gonna show these guys that I can still ride a bike. And I had a flat and the side caught, and I couldn't even finish the race because it kept leaking and I couldn't fix it. So now there's another chance. European championships this year is in Belgium, so I know there will be a lot of guys from Belgium uh to come from the road who who will do that race. So it's gonna be exciting. Um, I hope I can uh I can be up there. Um, but yeah, everything is on like the full focus is on world championships. Um, I think it's a very good opportunity when it's in Australia. Um I hope we will see a peloton of mainly gravel riders. I hope the American guys will come over. I know it interferes with uh little sugar or big sugar, but worth it. I think it a world championships with an unbound peloton would be pretty special, I think. So I hope I hope the guys will come over and see the opportunity that it is to have a really cool actual gravel world championships.
SPEAKER_01I agree. Yeah, I share that. I share that dream of yours. Yeah, that that I think that would be super nice. That's great. Hey, anything else that you wanted to talk about in this conversation? Anything you'd like to share with the audience?
SPEAKER_02It was a good opportunity for me to tell my story. I feel I hope people uh feel like they know me a little bit better now.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I certainly do. I didn't know you before, and I I got a really good sense of you, and I really appreciate you know not only what you've achieved racing your bike, but how you're going about it. And again, you know, your ability and willingness to talk about challenges and overcoming them because again, that's what we're all doing. So it's a courageous person that says, I've been through challenges and I was able to pull through and pick up some new tools, you know, because that's gonna uplift someone's life and give someone hope. So yeah, that's what it's winning races is great, like you're gonna you know keep going and we're rooting for that. But the big infinite game is like how can we all lift each other up? Yeah. So I appreciate you in that. And appreciate the audience too. Thanks for listening. If you made it this far, thank you. Please like the show, subscribe to the show, recommend it to friends. We grow through word of mouth. And until next time, have fun, ride your bike, and keep the rubber side down.