Femme Cyclist Podcast

A Formula For Success With 2x Gold Medalist Kristen Faulkner

• Kristen Bonkoski

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If you don't know who Kristen Faulkner is, you've probably been living under a rock. Kristen recently made headlines by clinching, not one but two, Olympic gold medals.

I'm thrilled to bring you an inspiring conversation with one of the biggest names in women's pro cycling today. In this interview, we dive deep into her story — exploring the incredible mental strength she’s developed to thrive at the highest level of her sport.

Kristen opens up about the unique struggles female cyclists encounter and shares some golden nuggets of wisdom for any girl or woman dreaming of a professional cycling career. She’s not just a champion because of her athletic prowess; she’s someone who's combined her diverse life experiences, unique skills, and sheer passion to craft a formula for success that we can all learn from. I know you're going to find her insights just as powerful and motivating as I did.

Full show notes: https://femmecyclist.com/kristen-faulkner-interview

Connect With Kristen

👉 Instagram: @kristenfaulkner
👉 Website: https://www.kristenfaulkner.com/
👉 Strava: https://www.strava.com/pros/16855613

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👉Instagram: @femme_cyclist
👉Website: https://femmecyclist.com

Kristen Bonkoski:

If you don't know who Kristen Faulkner is, you've probably been living under a rock. Kristen recently made headlines by clinching not one, but two Olympic gold medals. I'm thrilled to bring you an inspiring conversation with one of the biggest names in women's pro cycling today. In this interview, we dive deep into her story, exploring the incredible mental strength she's developed to thrive at the highest level of her sport. Kristen opens up about the unique struggles female cyclists encounter and shares some golden nuggets of wisdom for any girl or woman dreaming of a professional cycling career. She's not just a champion because of her athletic prowess. She's someone who's combined her diverse life experiences, unique skills and sheer passion to craft a formula for success that we can all learn from. I know you're going to find her insights just as powerful and motivating as I did.

Kristen Bonkoski:

Real quick, before we jump into today's episode, I want to tell you about the training plans I've created for you all. Whether you're looking to get a little fitter or faster, or you have a big event or race you need to prepare for, a structured training plan can help you achieve your goals. I have a variety of pre-made training plans you can choose from, or I can build you a custom training plan specific to your needs. Podcast listeners get 50% off with coupon code PODCAST50. Head to femcyclistcom to get started. Today, it's been about a month since you won not one, but two gold medals at the Olympics, which is so huge and congratulations. How has your life changed since then?

Kristen Faulkner:

It's changed in a lot of ways. I mean, the first was just there's a lot of media attention, you know, at the Tour de France, a lot of cameras on me and I've been doing about two hours of podcasts every single day since the tour finished, and so it's been quite busy just from a media standpoint and and keeping up with it all. And then I think you know, I'm writing a book about it. I've had some inquiries about, you know, documentary or movie, and it's just been really busy. I think people want to hear the story and they want to hear it from me, and so it's been really exciting to be able to share my story, but also really exhausting and but it's but it's good, you know. I think it's it's made me realize that, um, that I can really use my voice now to have an impact on you know, bringing more women um get, bringing more people to watch women's sports, getting more girls on bikes and um, just like really raising the profile of the sport. It's it's um a really exciting position to be in.

Kristen Bonkoski:

Why is that something that's important to you?

Kristen Faulkner:

Um, I think, for for me, you know, women's cycling it's something that's so big in Europe, you know, and and cycling in general, well, there's in. In Europe cycling is a really big sport.

Kristen Faulkner:

in America it's not, and I think, for me, the more people we can bring into cycling. I think the more um eyeballs watching women's cycling, the higher the viewership. The higher the sponsors, the higher the salaries for the sport, you know, and, and so that's really important for me, largely because right now it's a very male dominated sport. The men's salaries at the top are over 10 times the women, and I think the only way to really bring gender parity to the sport is to raise the profile and get more people viewing the sport, and so if I can get more people interested in cycling, I think we can bridge the gender gap in the sport.

Kristen Bonkoski:

I think to the public, an Olympic medal is like the biggest thing Is that to you. Has this been your biggest cycling accomplishment so far, or is it something else?

Kristen Faulkner:

It's definitely been my biggest accomplishment. I think, you know, I was eight years old watching the Olympics. I'm thinking, oh, I want to do that one day. And you know, it's a culmination of years and years of really dreaming about it and not sure if I would make it happen. And so, to have it happen, it's a bit surreal. And, um, you know, people ask me the day after the Olympics, have you processed it yet? And I was like no. And then, a week after, have you processed it yet? And I said no, and now's happened. You know, when you work for something for decades or you know years and years and then in the span of minutes or hours, it can totally change your life. I think it takes a really long time to adjust to that.

Kristen Bonkoski:

Yeah, absolutely. There's been a lot of discussion about the mental health of Olympic athletes and notably Michael Phelps did a documentary, the Weight of Gold. Has that ever been something for you? Have you ever struggled with your mental health?

Kristen Faulkner:

Yeah, definitely. In fact, I was diagnosed with depression when I was in high school and, yeah, I saw a psychologist and a psychiatrist for quite a long time through my adulthood and then in 2022, at the World Championship, I actually had to go back and see my psychologist because I was really struggling and I wasn't sure if I was going to race and I really leaned on my coach a lot, who was down there with me to kind of get me motivated out of the hotel every day and get to training and and it was a tough time because they're you know, the world championships are really big event and it was my first time doing the time trial there, which I'd worked all year to have that spot. And so when you work all year to have this opportunity and then you get there and your mental health isn't in the right place, it's a really you know it's really hard because you're you're dealing with that, but then you're also dealing with like, but I don't want to give up this opportunity, I don't want to waste this opportunity, and so you almost push yourself even harder to try and, you know, get to the race and and so I think for me having a psychologist and a mental coach throughout my career who I can, you know, maybe go to when I need them and then take some time off, and I think it's just really important to have someone on call when you need them, you know. Have someone who's always there. And then I think the, you know, equally important though is is having a circle of people who you can just pick up the phone and call any time of day, no matter what, and for me, I really built that over the course of my career.

Kristen Faulkner:

I think in school, you know, I had my friends and I had my parents, and I think, as I've gotten older, I've tried to build a circle of people who, you know, care about me just as much, but maybe also have a bit more insight into what I'm going through, who understand, you know, and so it's, I think, important to have people who've known you in your whole life, but it's also important to have people who know the industry and who know the struggles you're facing, who can really not just sympathize with you but empathize with you, yeah, and so, yeah, I've made a big effort throughout my career to really like build that circle around me, and I think it's made the biggest difference to my mental health.

Kristen Bonkoski:

Are there any women that have served for you, like as mentors, or that you have looked up to within the cycling world?

Kristen Faulkner:

Yeah, I mean in terms of mental health or just in general.

Kristen Bonkoski:

Just, in general, but it could be either, but I just imagine. I imagine it's kind of a lonely place to be. There aren't a lot of you know gold medalists out there in the world. There aren't a lot of you know gold medalists out there in the world. There aren't a lot of women performing at the level you're performing at. Have there been others ahead of you that you've been able to look to for help?

Kristen Faulkner:

Yeah, although to be honest, I don't think um like for me, I I say the person who's been most impactful was actually my coach at um. Who's my coach for five years. He was a guy actually and I felt that you know, he hadn't he hadn't won a gold medal before. He wasn't a woman who was experiencing the gender inequality, but he's someone who had raced in Europe for so long and when I first moved to Europe, he was really impactful because he was the one who was like you know, go to the dentist because you're eating sugary foods on the bike every day and make sure that you call your parents and make sure that you take three days off the bike after a big tour and just gave me a lot of advice that I think was really helpful. Um, and to be honest, I think it's um.

Kristen Faulkner:

There's definitely women I look up to in the sport and I've definitely had mentors. I mean, there's a girl, nina, who's been on my team for the five years I've been pro, like every single team I've been on. She's been on, we've been on three different teams together and she was quite experienced when I started and and so for me, you know, she's seen me progress from my earliest days and I think having someone in the Peloton who knows me super well, who can act as a mentor, has been quite helpful for me who knows me super well, who can act as a mentor, has been quite helpful for me.

Kristen Bonkoski:

Aside from like the support system you've built, is there anything specific you've done to work on, like your mental strength in terms of meditation or mantras or journaling? What does that kind of look like for you?

Kristen Faulkner:

Yeah, definitely One book that I really like. It's called the Little Book of Stoicism and it talks about just the stoic mindset, which is control what you can control and don't worry about anything else. You know, just really put all your energy into controlling what you can control. And I think when I was younger and even when I started out my career, I think there were things I couldn't control that I would get really stressed about. You know, it's like I'd get really stressed about the rain outside when I wanted to rain or when I wanted to ride, or I'd get really stressed about, you know, things on the team or just the fact that I was far away from home, and those things would stress me out. And I think learning to really just focus on what I can control and have that be the only thing that takes my mental energy really helped me a lot, because suddenly you know there's actually this, um, this diagram. I saw one time that I really like and it said you know, can you fix it or can you and can you fix the situation? And then it was a decision tree and it was like, yes, okay, then don't worry about it because you can fix it. And then it was like can you change the situation? No, change the situation, no, okay, don't worry about it. And I think it was interesting because it just, um, it really taught me that I was like stressing out too much. I needed to just really not stress about the things I couldn't control, and then when there were things I could control, just like, go fix it, go do what I needed to do. Um, so that's that's been really helpful. Um, I do write in a journal. I find that's really helpful for me to relax and I like having my memories on paper because I can go back and I think when I retire I'll want to remember some of these things, and I find that when I put my thoughts on paper I don't bottle them up so much and I kind of just it's a way to like let them out thought I was extroverted.

Kristen Faulkner:

I'm one of five children and we grew up in an incredibly chaotic household. You know it was. It was a loving household, but it, just like all of us, did sports. We were running around, there were baseballs flying through the window and basketballs and hot. You know I had three brothers and and, yeah, I had friends over, and so I was always surrounded by people. And then in college, you know, I always had roommates, and so I spent most of my life around other people and I always thought, oh, I'm extroverted, you know, I'm always around people, and it wasn't until I started cycling and actually living on my own, where I was like, wow, I really like.

Kristen Faulkner:

Having alone time Like this is really important to me, and so between races, I actually spend quite a lot of time alone and, and I'm not lonely, I just enjoy being able to decompress in that way, and I found that when I give myself alone time, my mental health is so much better because I can just decompress, I can relax and I can really just self-reflect and focus on what I need and fulfilling my needs. And then, when I go back to the team, I'm so much more fresh, and so that's been something that's really helped me is just realizing, oh, actually I'm so much more fresh, and so that's been something that's really helped me is just realizing, oh, actually, I'm not what I always thought I was. I actually I have different needs that I didn't realize before, and and and I need to cater to those needs.

Kristen Bonkoski:

What does an average day look like for you right now?

Kristen Faulkner:

Oh goodness, there is no average day, to be honest. So I'm currently at the US Olympic Training Center. So on Monday, wednesday, friday I have track training. Usually I go to the velodrome at 9am. I'm there for two to three hours doing kind of high intensity interval type work. I wake up quite early. I wake up at six. I usually do an hour of work on the computer. I'm actually writing a book right now. So I usually devote that time to kind of putting my ideas out, kind of waking up before you know breakfast, and then I go to breakfast for half an hour. I come back, I do some, maybe some stretching, some light, you know, glute activation, um and then go to training, come back, have lunch, go ride the road for two hours, afterwards, come back, see the physio or massage to do some body work and then I go to dinner and then in the evenings I'll work on my nutrition course because I'm currently getting my master's in nutrition.

Kristen Bonkoski:

Oh, wow.

Kristen Faulkner:

Yeah, it's an online course. I'm really enjoying it. It's it's just something I started this fall, but I've always had an interest in nutrition and, yeah, the opportunity came through the USOPC to do this online course and so I decided to pursue it.

Kristen Bonkoski:

I mean, you were, like so mind-blowingly impressive. You're not only this Olympic gold medalist, you went to Harvard, you had a successful career in finance. You're now a professional cyclist and working on your master's degree. What do you think it is about you that makes you so?

Kristen Faulkner:

successful. Honestly, this I don't want this to sound like a cop-out answer, um, but I really try to make sure that everything I do is something I really enjoy. So I'm not I'm not just getting a master's, I'm, and I wouldn't be getting my master's. To get a master's, I mean, it took me until I was 31 to decide this was worth it. You know, I'm doing it because I love nutrition and I love learning about nutrition, and so for me, I don't see it as like, oh, I'm getting my master's. I see it as like, oh, I get to learn about this topic I really enjoy, and in a structured environment, you know, and someone's like they're teaching me about this topic I am really curious to learn more about.

Kristen Faulkner:

And then you know, with finance, like I had lots of job offers after college, I chose venture capital because it was the it actually paid the least of all my offers, but I was the most excited about it.

Kristen Faulkner:

I was interested in working with entrepreneurs. I wanted to support more female entrepreneurs, I wanted to learn about startups, and so I think I've taken a lot of steps in my life. That might seem kind of like the wrong decision in the short term, but the right one in the long term. You know I didn't take the highest job offer after college, but I took a job I really loved and then I ended up leaving that job to go make $7,000 a year, my first year as a cyclist moving to Europe. My parents had no idea what I was doing. It was a huge risk and that seemed like a totally bad decision to most people, but for me I was just doing what made me happy and I only became an Olympian years later. You know it wasn't. I think I was. You know people talk about this quick trajectory, but I mean there were four years where I wasn't an Olympian.

Kristen Faulkner:

My parents you know, like there wasn't a lot of media around me, it was, it was four years of like very little validation of what I was doing.

Kristen Faulkner:

And so I think, for you know I don't want to sound like a cop-out, but like it in retrospect, it's like, oh, she's done all these successful things, but before I did any of them, like they weren't obvious decisions, they weren't um, decisions I made because I wanted to be successful. They're decisions I made because it made me happy. And then, once I started in that pursuit, I was like, okay, now I want to be the best I can be, um, but if I had, you know, at 26 years old, decided that being successful was more important than being happy, I never would have become a cyclist and I never would have won these gold medals. And so I think we always feel more motivated and we're always more inspired when we're doing something we really love. And I think it's important to remember that, because when we think there's no successful paths in our passion, you know we can, we can create success there. It just might take a little longer and the path might not be as clear when we start.

Kristen Bonkoski:

I love that. What's next for you? What goals do you still have that you haven't accomplished yet?

Kristen Faulkner:

Yeah, well, I have kind of a two-year plan, a five-year plan, you know, a 10-year plan I think you know I want to make. I want to stay cycling until LA. I'd like to go to the LA Olympics. That's something I'm really excited about. It's home Olympics, so that's kind of on the horizon for me. I have the world championship coming up at the end of September in Zurich, so that's also a big goal of mine and I think for the next few years, you know, maybe I want to.

Kristen Faulkner:

You know I have quite a few goals in the bike. I'd like to win a world championship at the time trial. At some point in my career. I'd like to win a big stage race. You know, as a GC rider, become a bit more of a GC rider. I'd like to finish my book and publish a book about my Olympic journey. And, yeah, maybe at some point before I'm 40, I'd like to start a family, but I don't know when I want to do that, you know. And so there's kind of these, these short-term and these long-term goals, and it's kind of taking one step at a time.

Kristen Bonkoski:

There've been a lot of changes in women's pro cycling over the last couple of years. Things have kind of like moved rapidly, it seems like um. What changes have you seen during that period of time and what changes would you still like to see take place?

Kristen Faulkner:

Yeah, the first is TV coverage. You know, when I started cycling in Europe, my parents didn't know anything about cycling and there was no TV coverage to watch me, so they really had no idea what I was doing, what my life was like, what were these races I was going to? Were there even fans at them? What did it mean to let a break go? What did it mean to be in a break? Like they had no idea. And so the media coverage for women has just really improved over the last few years and now pretty much every world tour race you can watch on TV and in some of the non-world tour races as well. And so that's been really great for, you know, bringing more, more fans to the sport, which brings more viewership and media and dollars to the sport. But it's also just been good from a personal level and for my friends and family to be able to see what I do for my, for a life and for my living. You know, yeah, um, so tv coverage is one. The second is I think there's been a lot more money going into women's cycling and we see that, um, with a lot of men's teams adding women's teams, which bring more resources. You know, they bring team buses, they bring physios, they bring doctors to every race, they bring more media, and so the resources and support that women are getting is also much higher, and that also means there's more scrutiny on the teams. And so I think you know, five or 10 years ago you may have heard some sketchy situations where maybe, like you know, there was an inappropriate you know team manager that was a man, or you know there are some sketchy things happening and now, because it's under the radars, you know, there's these bigger companies involved. I think the sport is actually a very safe place for women now, and I don't think that was always true, and I think you still maybe hear about, you know, uncomfortable situations on really small teams, but I think by and large it's way better than it was 10 years ago.

Kristen Faulkner:

And then I think women's salaries have definitely gone up. You know, when I started I was barely I mean, I wasn't making enough to live off of, you know. And now there's minimum wage for all the major teams. They have requirements that they have to give minimum wage to the writers, and then also at the top, the top writers are making way more than they used to, and so I think it's motivating for a lot of women because they see, oh, I can actually make, you know, nowhere near the men, but I can make a lot more money than I would have, you know, five years ago even, and um, so that's really exciting to see.

Kristen Faulkner:

And then just the level, you know, because women don't have to work part-time jobs on the side, they can devote more time to training and recovery, they can go on their five hour rides, they can go to the gym, they can go to the physio and can go to the physio, and so, as a result, the races are getting way harder.

Kristen Faulkner:

You know, it's like the fitness level is higher. Girls are able to take, you know, the full season, because before they maybe couldn't take time off work, and so now they're doing more races, they're getting better at racing and so and we're getting, you know, we're able to hire better directors in the races, which helps with team strategy, and then the girls pick up on that strategy. So the whole field is just way stronger. And I think, you know, if you were good five years ago and you stayed at the same level, like you would not be competitive today at all you know, and everyone, even the people who are at the top, have had to continuously improve to stay at the top, and, um, that's a really great thing for the sport.

Kristen Faulkner:

Yeah, so I think those are the main things. You know, what I would like to see get better? I think salaries still, you know, need to go higher. The discrepancy between the top men and women is over 10 times, you know, and I'd like to see women getting paid the same for men for doing the same work and working just as hard and same sacrifices. You know, yeah, that's a big one.

Kristen Faulkner:

I think more viewership for women's sports. Right now, you know, more people watch men's racing and I think that's because you hear about men's racing. It's promoted online. Um, you hear about the men's characters because for every article about a woman, there's, you know, a hundred articles about one of the top men, and I think people say like, oh, but no one watches women's racing and it's like, well, no one's going to watch something if they don't know about the players or the camaraderie.

Kristen Faulkner:

You know the rivalries Like we have to invest in it to get people excited about. You know the rivalries, the stories, the characters, you know the courses, and so I'd like to see more investment up front go into women's cycling so that we can bring the exposure that we need. Um, and then, yeah, I think, um, those are, those are the primary things. I mean, prize money from race organizers is still a huge discrepancy, you know, I think for the Tour de France and for a lot of these major races, um, you know, it's five to 10 times prize purse compared to men and women, and so we do the exact same race on the same day and, um, the the men get way more for winning and that's, you know, hurtful and disappointing, especially when the spectators are there for both races, you know, yeah.

Kristen Faulkner:

Aside from the pay disparity, is there anything like on a personal level that you feel like has been a challenge as a female cyclist, specifically as maybe, as opposed to a male cyclist- yeah, I mean I'll just give an example, like one time at a race I had a really bad saddle sore, you know, and it was low and it was located right between my legs in a really private spot, and we only had male doctors at the at the race and I really needed someone to look at it because I was worried, you know, would this get infected, will it open up? And so you know, would this get infected, will it open up? And so you know, it's just like having a male doctor look at you as a little different from having a woman, and those are just some things like there's not. We bring doctors over from the men's team, you know, and we don't have our own doctor. I mean, we, we do. Now on the team I'm in EFO, lee Cannadale does, but in prior teams we didn't.

Kristen Faulkner:

And so, um, yeah, I think just things like that, you know, or having just a female director, a female manager, I think it gives me a role model. You know how do they carry themselves in a room full of men, how do they speak, how do they dress, how do they talk? You know, how do they like, when you watch a woman, it's a little different from watching a man, and even if they're both equally good at their jobs and they can both hold their conversation in a room, I pick up on cues from the woman that I might not pick up on on the man, from the man. You know, it's like I can be like that one day. That's how I can hold myself and and I think you, um, you really need those female role models in life and as a woman's team. In the last few years, I think there's more women working in the industry, more women who are being hired in senior roles, and in the past there just weren't that many women in senior roles because the industry was dominated by men.

Kristen Bonkoski:

What advice do you have for young women or girls? Listening to this we're like I'd really like to be a professional cyclist too.

Kristen Faulkner:

I'd say get on your bike and, you know, if you want to hire a coach and start training, then you can do that. Um, the biggest thing is just spend time on your bike. You know, get and have fun on your bike. You know, um, go around some corners or race your friend, learn bike handling. I think when I started, I was so focused on my fitness I was like I want to be fit, but actually when you, when you want to race, uh, the technical aspects are way more important or equally important. You know, and, and so I think um, for young girls who want to be cyclists, like, go work on your skills too. You know um, join some group rides with the men to challenge yourselves, um, and find some really strong women to ride with. You know, because, you know, having a strong group of women who you can go ride with makes a big difference. It makes it more fun to make friends and also there's just this feminine like, there's this energy.

Kristen Faulkner:

When you're in a group of strong women, you feel this feminine energy that you just don't get when you're around men and I don't mean to make that like a you know, gendered thing too much, but like there is something about being in a strong group of people who are like you and having that group and having that community. That I think is really important for all of us.

Kristen Bonkoski:

Absolutely. You had kind of a late start to cycling. You didn't start until your 20s, although you were a competitive athlete before that. Do you think that late start has actually been an advantage for you? Or like, for instance, I know a lot of kids who are 12 years old and they're already, like, very focused on cycling and sometimes they burn out. Does that, do you think that the timeframe where you started has been helpful?

Kristen Faulkner:

Yeah, I mean. The truth is, I'll never know, right.

Kristen Bonkoski:

Like, I'll never.

Kristen Faulkner:

I'll never know what it had been, what it would have been like if I had started young, and I think the best answer I can give is I have a lot more skills in certain ways that I wouldn't have had otherwise if I'd started young. I was also lacking certain skills that I didn't have, and I think, um, for me, I I do see it as an advantage in a lot of ways. I mean, the first is I had a career before cycling, and so there's not a single part of me that's worried about my post-cycling career, like a lot of people are like oh, when I retire from cycling, what am I going to do?

Kristen Faulkner:

And it causes them anxiety. Or maybe they race longer than they want to and they start hating the sport because they feel like they have to do it.

Kristen Faulkner:

It's their only job hating the sport because they feel like it's their, they have to do it, it's their only job. You know, they're like I don't know what else I could do, and then it becomes like a job to them instead of something they really love. And I think for me, because I had a job before and I a job that I you know I'm theory could go back to, I never feel this pressure Like I have to be here. You know, cycling doesn't. I mean it does feel like my job, but it doesn't feel like a job I have to do. It feels like a job I'm choosing to do Every day. I feel like I'm choosing it, you know, and that makes a big difference. I also think I learned a lot of things in my professional career that I brought to cycling and you know the thorough diligence I did on companies. I bring that to racing.

Kristen Faulkner:

I studied the course, I studied the riders like I'm super thorough and how I assess and analyze and study for things, because I had to be so thorough and that my job and I think that really sped up my learning trajectory and I I learned on the job like what questions to ask, how to be super curious, how to ask every question you could possibly think of. You know and and when I approach a race, I do the same thing I check all my boxes and learning how to do such thorough research and thorough diligence really helped me. I think another thing that I've spoken about before is in venture capital. We invest in highly risky startups. So maybe we invest in 10 companies and only two or three are successful, half of them kind of break even, and then some of them don't work out and you end up losing money, but the ones who win you return the entire fund, and so it's this industry that's very polarizing. It's these massive wins and then a lot of losses.

Kristen Faulkner:

And so when I started cycling, like I was very okay with risk, I was very okay failing, like if the camera was on me and I attacked and I got caught, like it didn't, like I didn't think twice about it. I wasn't like, oh, I failed on TV and everyone saw me Like I was just like, okay, you know, try the next one, like it didn't phase me at all. I was just like, okay, you know, try the next one, like it didn't phase me at all. And that attitude, it just allowed me to be a very aggressive rider, like I would attack and attack and attack again, and I wasn't scared of getting cut back and ultimately that's my race style Like that's how I won at the Olympics was I just go for it?

Kristen Faulkner:

You know, I'm not, I'm not afraid, and I think that was largely informed from my job, where I knew that if I just did over and over and over again enough times and strategically, one of them would land and one of them would result in a win, you know. And so I think I thought of it as, like this portfolio of attempts, as opposed to just like you know, on any given one, if there's a 20% chance you make it, most people wouldn't do it, but for me I'm like, okay, if I do it five times, I'll make it one of them and then I'll win, you know. So I think the way that I approached it and the way I put racing and strategy was just a little bit different from other people and it allowed me to win in ways that maybe other people wouldn't have been so willing to try.

Kristen Bonkoski:

Yeah, that's super interesting. I love that, like all of your experience comes to make you who you are.

Kristen Faulkner:

Right, yeah, and I think you know, if I think it's not necessarily like I mean starting late, I knew I had a lot to catch up on, so I had this sense of urgency too, but I think you know, if I started late or started early, I think the biggest thing is just that I had a range of experiences that allowed me to learn so many different skill sets that I could then transfer over to cycling. And so when I see kids specializing really, really young, my fear is, like you know, if they specialize in triathlon, like well, they learn hand-eye coordination skills that they need, you know, later if they're on the bike doing bike handling and hand-on coordination skills to like dodge a um, like a hole in the ground, you know, and so like there's all these things and and for me, I was an endurance athlete my entire life and, yes, I'd done swimming and rowing and things, but my biggest weakness when I started cycling was my bike handling, because I didn't spend a ton of time on soccer and and ball sports.

Kristen Faulkner:

You know, I didn't spend a ton of time on soccer and and ball sports, you know, and so I think when we do different skills, we we actually learn different skills that are highly transferable, even if we don't realize they're transferable at the time.

Kristen Bonkoski:

Yes, what have I not asked you that you would like folks listening to know?

Kristen Faulkner:

Oh, that's a great question. Um, you know I've had a lot of people ask me, like, were you scared when you left your job? Were you scared about taking the jump? And my answer is, like, absolutely Like I don't. I don't want people to think that I just like left my job and won two gold medals.

Kristen Faulkner:

Like there was so much behind the scenes, like there was years of, you know, getting flat tires in the rain and having to call an Uber and being late late for my meeting. And you know like, missing holidays with my family and traveling. You know like there were so many things that made it so hard that I don't think the media talks about. And you know, I always say like 99 of it is the work and the one percent is you on stage winning a race or winning a medal. And like that's, people see the one percent but they don't see the 99% behind the scenes.

Kristen Faulkner:

And so if you're working on something and you're like I keep failing, I'm struggling, I feel like I'm falling, all that like that's normal and that's a normal part of the process. It's normal to feel like you're failing Sometimes. It's normal to feel scared, it's normal to feel a bit overwhelmed or to feel like you're in over your head. I mean you over your head. I mean you don't want to have that every day, but when, when you're pursuing something really ambitious, um, or even when you're pursuing something that's risky, like you're going to have a lot of moments of uncertainty where it doesn't seem like it's working out. And I think if you just really keep your focus on the big goal and control, you can control and just have a little patience. I think it'll all work out in the end. But just don't like, don't forget that that's all part of the process and to just be patient in the long run.

Kristen Bonkoski:

I have three final questions for you. But first, do you have any sponsors you want to give a shout out to, and where can people come follow along with you?

Kristen Faulkner:

Yeah, so the three main sponsors of our team are EF Education, oatly, which is an oatmeal company, and Cannondale, which is a bike company, and they have supported our team. Not just. You know, they've made a big effort to really have a good women's team and when you buy from those brands you're also supporting women's cycling. So I just want to give a shout out to them. And your other question oh, where?

Kristen Bonkoski:

can people come follow you?

Kristen Faulkner:

yeah, I post mostly on instagram. My handle is arctic fox a-r-c-t-i-c-f-a-u-l-k-s, and then I also have a strava account where you can follow my rides. So those are probably the two, two social media platforms that I'm I put, like the only two that I'm really active on.

Kristen Bonkoski:

Three final questions. The first one is what bike or bikes do you ride?

Kristen Faulkner:

I ride a Cannondale and it's a road bike. I also have their mountain bike and their gravel bike, so I'm all in on Cannondale.

Kristen Bonkoski:

Second, question is where is your favorite place? You've ever ridden your bike.

Kristen Faulkner:

I would say in Menlo Park. Well, in Marin, on Highway 1, it's just absolutely stunning Over distance and beach on the waterfront over there, or one of the rides near Menlo Park where I rode my bike for years while I was training and got to know those climbs really well.

Kristen Bonkoski:

Final question is what is your favorite thing about riding your bike?

Kristen Faulkner:

I love when the sun's on my face and the wind's on my face and I just feel like there's no one around me, it's just me and nature. I think it's an amazing feeling and that's when I feel so free and creative and it's just me and my bike and the open air, and that's an amazing feeling.

Kristen Bonkoski:

I'd love to ask you a favor. My bike and the open air, and that's an amazing feeling. I'd love to ask you a favor. If you enjoyed this episode, can you please go ahead and share it? You can do that by sharing it on your Instagram stories or just letting a friend know about it. The more that you help us get the word out, the more women we reach, the better quality of guests we get on the show. So it's a team effort and I really, really appreciate you. Until next time, happy writing.