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#529 Colorado’s Ride with Bill Plock — Behind the Scenes of a Colorado Classic
90 Plays9 days ago
Colorado’s Ride takes center stage this week as Bill Plock joins the show to dive deep into the stories, climbs, logistics, and community that make this multi‑day adventure one of Colorado’s most memorable cycling experiences. We also share key announcements, including TriDot Pool School and the launch of Velocity group rides, plus a fun segment exploring Rich & Bill’s “Excellent Adventures.” Show Sponsor: Vespa Power Endurance. Ask a Coach Sponsor: TriDot Pool School.
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Transcript
Introduction of Episode 529
00:00:19
Rich
welcome to episode 529 of the Grit to Greatness Endurance Podcast. We're your hosts, coaches, Rich Soares, April Spilde, and Lauren Brown. And we are on a mission to help endurance athletes train smarter, race stronger, and build the grit it takes to achieve
Welcoming Bill Plok
00:00:36
Rich
greatness. And guys, we have an awesome guest here.
00:00:44
bill
Yeah,
00:00:49
Rich
Bill Plok is with us. Welcome, Bill. We've got a lot of stuff going on, but just welcome back, my friend. Thank
00:00:55
bill
it's great to see you guys and I'm excited to be on and it's fun to see how you're progressing this platform in two different ways and just your coaching is really blown up and I love to when we were talking a couple weeks ago about your velocity by cycling, that's pretty cool and it's really fun to Think back to where we were when we started this podcast and how you've, you know, how it's grown and what your own coaching platforms have grown. And it's been a pretty amazing journey to watch and be part of.
00:01:23
Rich
Well, yeah, we, yeah, I mean, what a history we've had and it has, it's, it's gone through
Reflections on Podcast's History
00:01:30
Rich
a lot of seasons. We had, we had a lot of changes, even when you and I were co-hosting, right? We had a lot of evolution of the podcast, but it just feels like, you know, we're all in the you know living room together, having a big old family reunion and we're meeting some new family members here. Coach April, Coach Lauren, you guys ready to get gritty and have some fun here?
00:01:51
Lauren Brown
and percent
00:01:51
April
Oh, yeah.
00:01:52
Rich
Let's do this. Well,
Exploring Colorado's Ride
00:01:53
Rich
listen, hey, we're going to be talking about a really fun topic today, Colorado's ride. This is one of the best rides in the country, bar none. it Five days of awesome riding, big climbs, Colorado colorado mountain town towns, really, honestly, some of the best scenery and riding that you will ever find. We're also going to rewind the clock to some of the best moments from the podcast over the years.
00:02:21
Rich
and And I tell you what, there is going to be a few things that are going to probably make you want to do this ride this year. It's an amazing experience and lots to go lots to go into here. So let's get
Upcoming Swim Workshop Announcement
00:02:37
Rich
into it.
00:02:38
Rich
I'm going to hand it over to lauren i'm sorry Coach April to talk about our first announcement. And there we go.
00:02:47
April
All right. Uh, it is of course, try it out pool school coming up here in Colorado Springs. We will be hosting a weekend workshop next weekend, February 28th, uh, through March 1st.
00:03:03
Lauren Brown
No.
00:03:04
April
Showing us all things fast. So whether you are a beginner struggling to feel comfortable in open water or an experienced athlete chasing podium spots, improving your swim technique can unlock some truly massive benefits such as greater confidence, efficiency, and speed. We're going to explore what good mechanics look like, why they matter and how programs like try dot pool school can accelerate your progress. We have an awesome code here as well for you to sign up.
00:03:33
April
Definitely want you to do that fast because of close the close of the registration is going to close here, but Rocky mountain rate, all one word will get you $125 off on your registration. And we would love to see you on deck.
00:03:46
Lauren Brown
And I would love to see video of Coach Rich doing all the drills and demoing at pool school. So please make sure you get that, no pressure.
00:03:57
Lauren Brown
but yeah
00:03:58
April
Got it.
00:03:58
Rich
I just got hot. I'm starting to sweat.
00:04:02
Lauren Brown
Putting that out there.
00:04:03
bill
You wear Speedo, Rich?
00:04:05
Rich
I do not wear a speedo. You will never find me in a speedo ever. I'm pretty sure.
00:04:11
Lauren Brown
love it.
Launching Velocity Cycling Program
00:04:12
Lauren Brown
So next announcement, Velocity is live. We've been live since February 7th. So if you have not yet grabbed your trial link, that will be in the show notes where you can subscribe and again, get a trial so you can experience Velocity.
00:04:30
Lauren Brown
You will get to ride with the Grit to Greatness coaches that you have learned to love. And we have been having a blast getting our reps in each week.
00:04:41
Lauren Brown
So make sure, share with a friend, come join us. Again, it's you can get a free two-week trial. It's $79 per month. Grit to greatness, premium athletes and ambassadors. You do get a 25% discount. So totally take advantage of that. When you join Velocity Rides, you are going to have an opportunity to Develop shifting, at cadence, smoother pedal strokes, and power control. It is a community environment where you're going really be able to dial in on those skills.
00:05:15
Lauren Brown
Right now we have three live classes per week. Themes change slightly. We have some fun names to go along with them. So Saturday, this Saturday, 8 Mountain Time, you can join Coach Rich for a 90-minute ride, PaceLine Power-Ups, Tuesday,
00:05:36
Lauren Brown
We've got 6 a.m. Mountain Time, 60-Minute Ride with Coach April, mountain bike focused. Stay tuned. Follow us on G2G Endurance on Instagram because then you'll get to see the fun name coming out to this upcoming week.
00:05:51
Lauren Brown
And then Thursdays, sorry, Wednesdays at 6 a.m.
00:05:53
Rich
Mm-hmm.
00:05:55
Lauren Brown
Mountain Time. I will be doing a 60-minute more triathlon aero-based ride. This past week was Goldilocks Gears to be determined this coming week's theme. So again, join us.
00:06:09
Lauren Brown
Monthly all-access, three live classes, and you'll also be able to catch some replays and check the link in the show notes where you can subscribe and grab your trial.
00:06:17
Rich
Guys, I love the names. We are like in a competition for the best marketing hook.
00:06:22
April
but
00:06:23
Rich
And power the PaceLine Power-Ups is definitely inspired by last weekend's racing because, man, did we ever pull some PaceLines. And I'm actually going to be using, like the ride tomorrow is going to be all in the context of imagine that we are racing.
00:06:41
Rich
Imagine that we are live racing and it's just going to be an absolute... hoot. All right. So hope.
00:06:50
April
That might be the name of my next, uh, workout there, Rich. Absolute hoot.
00:06:54
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:06:54
Rich
Absolute.
00:06:55
April
You just gave it to me. Thank you So our next ride is going to be absolute hoot mountain bike focused.
00:06:57
bill
That's good.
00:07:03
bill
That's good.
00:07:27
Rich
you know yeah You're working with a group. It makes a big difference. so And speaking of, if you've ever wondered what it takes to turn Colorado's iconic roads and mountain passes into a bucket list ride, today's episode is
Bill Plok's Role in Colorado's Ride
00:07:40
Rich
for you.
00:07:48
bill
Thank you.
00:07:50
Rich
Bill Block is now the ride director for Colorado's Ride. and You know, we are going to be, you know Speaking of a great ride, we are going to get on a nice little ride here because we're going to be going through some of the memorable moments of the 303 Endurance Podcast. And then, then we will go behind the scenes on how Bill and his team designed the course, dialed in the safety and logistics, and created a community vibe that keeps riders smiling. And coming back, we're going to be sharing some practical tips also on how to prepare for this five-day adventure. There's a link here in the show notes to go out to the ride. Check it out for yourself.
00:08:27
Rich
And let's roll into it. Coach April, I'm going to turn it over to you. where We are we are in your hands
00:08:37
April
gentlemen, it's amazing that you had to have been riding this ride, if you will, since 2016. So I'm sure there are folks that are newer to your relationship.
00:08:48
April
So I would love to know the backstory. How did the three Oh three endurance podcast and your partnership get started and what role did three Oh three triathlon and endurance play in that origin story?
Origin of 303 Endurance Podcast
00:09:03
bill
Well, hopefully we have the same story, first of all. Rich and I met hu at a Ironman in Cozumel, actually. And I think I told this story last time we spoke, but I'll tell it again.
00:09:15
bill
I remember seeing Rich at the airport and I kind of thought he was close to my age and he looked just way more svelte than I felt myself. And I thought, man, this guy, I think he might be good. And I was kind of just eyeballing him and I'm like, I got to beat him. i just got to do this and didn't even know him. And then we saw each other a little bit, I guess, during the week. And then we raced and as at the airport on the way home where we started talking and got to know each other and exchange phone numbers and became friends and Richard,
00:09:48
bill
At that time, I had this idea of doing a podcast. We went riding up Waterton Canyon Deer Creek Canyon, as a matter of fact, and we're discussing the idea of putting together a podcast. and And then he he did it. He put together a platform. And back then we we yeah we actually use Skype.
00:10:07
bill
and we got up at six in the morning and we used Skype. We had another host and it was really pretty glitchy. Like there was always something wrong with the internet or the Skype connection was this or that. And it was it was a bit challenging. and we And we were, you know, early in the morning and and it was, it was, it was a rough, not a rough start, but it was a different start for sure.
00:10:31
Rich
Yeah, man, it was rough. yeah We had some and we had some like major like screw-ups. like I had some major screw-ups. like I remember at the one time we were interviewing the, oh man, the it was an in-person interview with the CEO of
00:10:55
bill
Strava.
00:10:56
Rich
Strava. Yeah. It was downtown and we got like 30 30 minutes into the interview and we realized we weren't even recording.
00:10:57
bill
Yeah. Yep.
00:11:04
bill
Right. Because we had a manual recorder. We have we had a regular, it was a regular recorder that we just didn't push the button.
00:11:07
Rich
was terrible.
00:11:11
Lauren Brown
Oh, that stinks.
00:11:12
bill
Yeah. He was very nice about it.
00:11:14
Rich
But yeah, he was very nice about it, but, uh, yeah, you know, we we made it work.
00:11:17
April
Oh, good.
00:11:20
Rich
We, uh, we kept, uh, tweaking and we would you know change technology as, uh, you know, new things became available and. But yeah, that was really the origin, just, you know, this friendship and this idea that you know, Bill was working for three or three triathlon at the time through three endurance, uh, or maybe it was called three or three cycling at the time.
00:11:42
Rich
and
00:11:43
bill
Thank you.
00:11:44
Rich
I got invited into the 303 team because of the podcast. And that became another addition to all of the other content that you and then staff of 303 were putting together.
00:11:55
Rich
all of the other content that you and the and the then staff of three three were putting together
00:12:02
bill
Yeah, I bought the company, i can't remember what year it 2017, I think. And we had two websites at the time, 303cycling.com and 303triathlon.com. And 303cycling.com had been around for quite a while, actually, probably around 2008 2008 or so, maybe it was started by a guy named Chris Thompson. i have a story about that later. And then they they were just for cycling focused and then they crossed paths with a woman named Dana Willett, who they started 303triathlon.com. And then I, through another connection with Katie Maccarelli, I got started writing articles for them just for fun, for free.
00:12:42
bill
I was, nobody got paid anything. And we had a little bit of advertising and then we had an offer to be bought by what later we became outside.
00:12:54
bill
And I did not want to go work for outside, just not because of anything with outside, I just didn't want to do what they wanted me to do. so i that But then that killed the deal because they wanted me to come on as a sales manager type thing. And so then I said, well, I'll buy it.
00:13:11
bill
So then I did. and then i my vision was to put the two websites together because it was a little confusing for advertising and things like that to have two different websites. so we merged and renamed ourselves 303 endurance. And then Rich had, we had the podcast, which is a different name once upon a time as well.
00:13:32
bill
And then we agreed to just call it 303 endurance podcast. And we merged that platform with his other platform. And then we, we started to roll, but to your point question, April is the 303 303 website was really the nucleus of, of a lot of this because it,
00:13:50
bill
Most memorably was when we went to Kona several times to cover the Ironman World Championships as a media organization.
Diverse Guest Features
00:13:57
bill
And we had good group credentialing. We got all the back behind the scenes stuff. We interviewed several different people in fishing lines. Rich, you have a great shot with what's his name? o who The world champion.
00:14:11
Rich
Yeah. Well, we we had Jan Frodeno, Tio.
00:14:13
bill
Yeah, I'm for Dino. have
00:14:15
Rich
i mean, we did some incredibly high profile interviews.
00:14:20
bill
Rob Babbitt, Mike Riley. So we had a lot going on in Kona. It was great. We had a good five year run or so. And then COVID just kind of wiped everything out and it just fizzled from there. And then 303, the website actually That's another story, but it's not active right now because of some technical problems that just, that's another story.
00:14:42
bill
But, and then I backed away from that and started Colorado's ride because ultimately I wanted to have, do something different and make some money doing it. So, yeah.
00:14:51
April
Mm-hmm.
00:14:53
Lauren Brown
So when we're looking at kind of the the history of the podcast and you guys covered everything from local sprint races to Ironman coverage, how did you really decide what kinds of stories you wanted to tell about the Colorado endurance community?
00:15:12
bill
You know, it really morphed all over the place, to be honest. We weren't hyper-focused on Colorado necessarily. we there were We had a streak of, i don't know, where it's what, three or four years where we had a guest every Friday.
00:15:25
bill
And we need we sometimes were just working hard on Wednesday to find somebody to record with us on Friday.
00:15:26
Rich
Every Friday.
00:15:33
bill
So we we had a pretty wide spectrum of guests. We had a guy that you know did seven marathons and seven continents in seven days. We had a guy that rode boat from California to Hawaii all by himself.
00:15:45
bill
We had... We had a really fun, we had a couple of times where we had live podcasts and we did them in a coffee shop in Golden and we had what's, I'm spacing her name, but Sarah Thomas and she swam the English Channel four times and we got her on the podcast not long after that.
00:15:56
Rich
Sarah Thomas.
00:16:01
Lauren Brown
out
00:16:03
bill
And we were probably the only local media that she even came down to talk to because she was pretty wiped out from all the press coverage on NBC and CBS and all the big national players about that story.
00:16:16
bill
So we we did that. We had, I mean, we definitely participated in a lot of Colorado based races and we, we covered a lot of, the ironmans and we Lake to Lake and, other triathlons. We did a lot with the para people as well. So we had several interviews with the para team. We went down to Colorado Springs for the Olympic watch party. were with Andy Potts, who was guiding one of the athletes. We rode bikes with him on Pikes peak.
00:16:47
bill
so we definitely had a lot of interaction with Colorado athletes.
00:16:51
Lauren Brown
Awesome.
00:16:52
bill
Oh, and training, and rate and you mentioned T.O.
00:16:53
Rich
Yeah.
00:16:56
bill
and Rennie. We did a contest with Audi Boulder one year, and the winner of the contest got a free training session with Rennie, and we rode along and we filmed it. And those videos are still on the 303 YouTube, and they got tens of thousands of views.
00:17:16
bill
So lot of interesting things.
00:17:19
Rich
before Sam long was even a name, like nobody even knew Sam long, but remember we, we, we saw that he had won that marathon in, and he'd already like won his age group at iron man, Boulder, the full at like the age of 18.
00:17:22
bill
Yeah.
00:17:35
Rich
But then we saw that he had won a marathon flat out and we got him on the podcast before he would, before he turned pro, nobody even knew him yet.
00:17:44
bill
yeah
00:17:44
Rich
And, and And we were actually the one ones introducing him to our sponsor, I-Corps in Kona.
00:17:54
bill
Oh yeah.
00:17:55
Rich
Remember that?
00:17:56
bill
Yeah.
00:17:56
Rich
Like, we like cake you know come meet the guys at I-Corps.
00:17:56
bill
Yep.
00:18:00
Rich
It was just an amazing ride.
00:18:00
bill
Yeah.
Interviewing Bob Babbitt
00:18:03
Rich
amazing ride
00:18:04
April
Guys, wow. I feel like there should be a book and a movie just based off of everything you shared. That was incredible. Speaking of kind of where all this lives, the 303 Endurance page, it does show the behind the scenes from races, travel, and interviews.
00:18:22
April
Is there a moment from those trips, maybe a light night? show prep, a race day broadcast or a funny mishap that really captures what it's been like building this podcast.
00:18:37
bill
I mean, honestly, there's been so many. It's really hard to pick one out. I mean, I think.
00:18:42
bill
Probably some I really did enjoy when we were live, like when we sat on the beach with Bob Babbitt and Mike Riley and they came to the as a matter of fact, Bob had just finished his own breakfast with Bob show and he walked over to our table where we had him sit down and talk to us for 45 minutes and talk about the history of triathlon and his stories about His first time in, well, wasn't Kona. It was in Maui at the time. And the first first trial an Ironman. And he didn't even know. it
00:19:14
bill
he thought they spent the night. He didn't know it was a one-day thing. He thought it was just He had no idea what he was, he brought a loaf of Hawaiian bread in his shirt. And I mean, there was like no real protocols to it. It was like, he, he just did it. And so we, it was fun to hear those stories and kind of put perspective on where we grew as a sport. And and then as we got involved, so that, those are probably the the ones that really stand out. And I can remember, i mean, we've recorded.
00:19:42
bill
For me and and Rich too, I mean, we've recorded all over the world. i was in Bangkok one time. I was in my trailer on top of a mountain. i was out in the Eastern Plains. I was in Iowa. I was in California, you know, and Rich was in in Japan one time, I think, weren't you?
00:19:56
Rich
And Hawaii, and I mean, all over the place.
00:19:57
bill
Yeah. Yeah.
00:20:01
Rich
Yeah, I still remember us the night before the... night before the Ironman World Championship in Kona, tipping beers with Dave Christian, you know one of the Ironman race directors, the at the time, the Ironman Boulder race director.
00:20:20
bill
ye
00:20:20
Rich
And we know we're sitting there tipping beers you know the night before the you know the big race and going the Thank God I'm Not Racing Party, Bob Babbitt's think Thank God I'm Not Racing Party.
00:20:29
bill
<unk>
00:20:31
Rich
And i mean, and everybody who is not racing, like literally all the coaches, all the... masseuses and, you know, physical therapists and media people and former, former champions and, you know, pros were, I mean, it's just, and it's wall to wall.
00:20:41
April
Hmm. Hmm.
00:20:49
Rich
I mean, it's like, you can't get around. It's that, it's that packed.
00:20:54
bill
Were you in, would you go the were you with me when we we did the Rudy project party?
00:20:54
Rich
That was fun.
00:20:59
Rich
I don't know that I was, that might've been the year before. Cause was Kim with you?
00:21:01
bill
Okay. I don't think so, but we, we, we hung out with Rudy project.
00:21:05
Rich
don't know.
00:21:08
bill
They had a party.
00:21:09
Rich
Oh, yes. i know what you're talking about.
00:21:10
bill
Yeah.
00:21:11
Rich
Yeah, 100%. It was that big house, that massive house. Yeah, yeah.
00:21:14
bill
Well, for me, it was really fun because I love the movie Rudy.
00:21:16
Rich
That's
00:21:18
bill
And the reason they were having this party was because what's his name? The actor, t Sean Austin, who played Rudy, was doing the Iron Man that year.
00:21:28
bill
So Rudy Project had a big media event so that you could meet
00:21:28
April
Oh,
00:21:28
Rich
great.
00:21:33
bill
Sean Austin I'm, I had my daughter with me in Kona. She was, uh, 12 at the time, 11. Anyway, she, we have, I have a picture with me and her and, and Sean Austin.
00:21:47
bill
And I was telling him how much I enjoy his movie, Rudy. And then he was asking me, he's like, do you have any advice for the Iron Man? Cause he'd never done one. He'd never done a full. He was just celebrity guest. And he finished. and And the crowd at the finish line was like, Rudy, Rudy. It was pretty cool.
00:22:04
Rich
There is nothing like that finish line in Kona. Honestly, the energy at that finish line at close to midnight.
00:22:07
April
Hmm. Hmm.
00:22:10
Rich
I remember remember Jamie Tweet was out there She was like, you know we were like, we could see her tracker and she was like way out by, at the end of the course, you just come out of the energy lab and
00:22:14
bill
Oh, yeah.
00:22:21
Rich
And i went out there at like 10 o'clock at night on a mountain bike with a headlamp on, and it's just pitch black out there.
00:22:27
bill
Yeah.
00:22:29
Rich
And you can't like shine the light up because it's going to be in an athlete's face. You can't see anybody. They can't, you know, you don't, you can, might be able to tell it's a female versus a male, but other than that, and I would just be like, Jamie, is that you?
00:22:42
bill
you
00:22:43
Rich
Jamie, is that you? yeah know And then i would like, i remember like riding back with her and trying to keep her motivated, just run, run to that next light post, you know, just make it there.
00:22:46
bill
yeah
00:22:57
Rich
And then just teasing her to get like one, you know, one light post at a time. And then you could start to hear Mike Riley. And he was saying, you know, I know you can hear me up there, you know, because you can, like, you you can be three miles away from the finish line and you can hear the finish.
00:23:14
Rich
And he's like, you know, looking at the time and calling out, you know, you got this much time left and people are just panicking out there.
00:23:21
bill
Mm-hmm.
00:23:22
Rich
Yeah.
00:23:23
Lauren Brown
That's so cool. I love hearing stories from all of the events. Like I think I could just sit and listen all night to to stories. One more question maybe before we pivot to the to Colorado's ride. And this, again, it's going to be tough. I'm sure to pinpoint one answer, but out of the hundreds of interviews that you've done since 2016, is there one person or one conversation that really stands out?
00:23:50
bill
I think for me, probably Tez Steinberg, the guy that rode from California to Hawaii. It was actually, he lives in, at the time, he lives in, uh, uh, Netherlands, I think.
00:24:03
Rich
Mm-hmm.
00:24:04
bill
but I think that story, i don't know, just resonated. Cause I, I just can't imagine doing what he did and, and just some of the things he talked about,
00:24:13
bill
the The beautiful things like the wildlife and the serenity and the, but then the tough things, like he said, the first 200 miles were just absolutely horrible trying to get basically off the continental shelf and the huge waves going out of San Francisco towards the West. And And then, that you know, hes his one of his goals, well, his big goal is to raise money for scholarships for climate change education, essentially. And he was whole but he's kind of hoping to see the plastic island that's out there.
00:24:46
bill
But he but this currents kept him from getting to that area. But what he did say was kind of sad was he never, he could always look in the water and find something floating, like some kind of plastic or trash. There was never a moment when it was just, but but then the opposite always was cool where the wildlife and the birds and the, you know, just, and once you got past the really hard water, it was really serene. It sounded like, so his descriptions really stuck out to me.
00:25:14
Rich
I mean, he was out there for like, it was more than 90 days.
00:25:18
bill
Yeah, it was a long time.
00:25:19
Rich
Can you imagine being by yourself? Nobody else. And you're rowing rowboat. There's no motor to it. You're just rowing by yourself.
00:25:28
bill
Yeah.
00:25:28
April
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:25:30
Rich
He said he to train for it, he actually would like spend like a whole week just by himself, completely alone. i Actually, i think he said he he did like a whole month to get ready for it just because of the loneliness factor that he was getting ready to experience yeah that was that was incredible i you know i i still pinch myself like did these people like really respond to us and like join us on the show like taylor nib and christian blumenfeld mean we had both taylor nib and christian blumenfeld on the podcast number of times it wasn't just like a one-time
00:26:05
bill
Well, Christian was fascinating because he wasn't a thing. And we had him on the podcast. He jumped on the podcast, like in France or somewhere in Europe.
00:26:13
Rich
That's right.
00:26:17
bill
And some so only knows God only knows what hour it was for him. And he didn't know us from Adam. And he just responded. He just wants something. And and and these were in the days where sometimes we were a little desperate for guests. And I think Rich threw him a DM on Instagram or something to invite him.
00:26:31
bill
And it was night 2019. Yeah. because he made a bold prediction. He said, I'm going to win the gold medal in the Olympics in 2020. and And nobody even heard of this guy.
00:26:40
Rich
he did
00:26:42
bill
That was pretty.
00:26:42
Rich
yeah.
00:26:42
bill
I'm I'm like, this guy is pretty, pretty, pretty confident guy. i was like, and then next thing you know, he blew up the triathlon world for the next five years.
00:26:52
Rich
Yeah. But I would say as much of as much of that you know still amazes me, one of the interviews that really so has always stuck with me was Jillian Bearden.
00:27:04
bill
Mm-hmm.
00:27:05
Rich
Jillian was a a transitioned athlete, male to female. She was the first, she was the pioneer for the testing standards for where your hormones need to be to be eligible to race female.
00:27:26
Rich
And she talked about the very painful and and and very painful emotionally painful process and being lost in that process and feeling alone in that process.
00:27:30
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:27:41
Rich
And in the interview, i still get I'm getting a chill right now as I think about this. She actually confessed to us about this moment she was driving down the highway.
00:27:51
Rich
And she had both hands on one side of the steering wheel going like 70 miles an hour. And she was ready to roll her car.
00:27:59
Rich
Just, you know, being that emotionally vulnerable with us, like she didn't know us either. Right. And she's sharing this story with the world and to have a front row seat to that and be a part of her telling that story is just like, wow, we, you know, we're reaching people, you know, and that, that was powerful for me.
00:28:04
bill
Yeah. Yeah.
00:28:20
April
Ooh, it's going hard to shift over into this next conversation, but I am, i am excited to talk about, yeah.
00:28:25
Rich
Yeah, we got it we need one more question to bring us back up but
00:28:28
April
Well, honestly, we've talked a lot about community storytelling, all the awesome adventures that you all have had, the people you've met, the inspiration, right?
00:28:38
April
I'm sure that shows up in Colorado's ride too. So how did your experience with 303 triathlon, 303 endurance and the podcast lead you to becoming the ride director for Colorado's ride bill?
Bill Plok's Journey to Ride Director
00:28:50
bill
Uh, probably because, just all of these relationships, you know,
00:28:57
bill
yeah it's crazy. I, I mean, I, I, these relationships are, uh, treasure chest. I mean, truly like, and since I moved to winter park, I, like I got a text today from Brian.
00:29:03
April
Mm-hmm.
00:29:09
bill
I can never pronounce his last name, Andrew or something like that. He was, uh, he's a every man Jack. it No, I'm sorry. He was, boulder racing And he's like a nine hour Ironman guy, but he texted, yeah, I'm going to come in a park tomorrow. Let's have a beer. You know, I mean, I get those kinds of things all the time. But at the end of the day, those relationships paved a path where when Ride the Rockies was sold 2021,
00:29:35
bill
in twenty twenty one the route The ride director that was going to take care of it in 2022 left the organization. So they they were bought by Gannett, who also owns Ragbri.
00:29:47
bill
And so in April, keep in mind the ride's in June, so two months before the ride, the people at Primal and then my partner, Zach, they lobbied for me to take that role as ride director for Ride the Rockies.
00:30:02
bill
Now keep in mind, I'd never... directed a 5K school race at my daughter's elementary school. I mean, I had zero experience doing anything like that, but I had a lot of relationships and people trusted my judgment for whatever reason. and I'm sure the podcast and just knowing me over the years publicly gave that impression.
00:30:22
bill
And so they hired me to take on Ride the Rockies. We had not one permit in place. We had nothing established. We had a route. We had contracts with the towns that we were going to.
00:30:33
bill
And it was an absolute blessing under a lot of stress because I learned so much. The ride worked worked out pretty good. We we did okay. but I'm leading to why Colorado's ride. So o the the model of Ride the Rockies was not going to be sustainable.
00:30:53
bill
And we we lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. They lost hundreds of thousands of of dollars the next year, and then they canceled it. It's out of business. And my partner, Zach, has had a company called Summit Cycle Solutions that has supported...
00:31:08
bill
among other rides, Ride the Rockies, and they do like camping services and some logistical support. And they do that with other organizations as well. And he and I just had this idea that let's start our own ride and let's let's not make the mistakes Ride the Rockies made. let's one thing that we always felt is important was trying to have a ride that didn't make you move every day because that's pretty stressful on those multi-day rides you're getting up at five you're packing up you're trying to get food you start lines at seven and so we designed a route that we had for the first three years which was three nights in durango and two nights in pagosa springs just to make it so you could you know have some time in the community relax a little bit You know, the second day is always short so you can take advantage of the local attractions or or just hang out or whatever.
00:31:35
April
Mm-hmm.
00:31:58
bill
And so that that's kind of how it all was born. And yeah, and it it's it was not the it wasn't something I've been doing trying to do for all my life, but it was an opportunity I felt was there. And so it took a chance.
00:32:13
Lauren Brown
So for somebody who's never heard of Colorado's ride, can you give like a 60 second overview of what it is? you kind of touched upon this a little bit, but like what makes it different from other multi-sport events?
Overview of Colorado's Ride
00:32:25
bill
Sure. it's It's a five-day road ride, about 300 to 350 miles total. We'll have about 20,000 feet of climbing. and And I'll tell you the new route in a second. But it's just a supported road ride. We have ambulance services. We have medical services. We have really good aid stations. We have Colorado State Police that escorts us on the roads.
00:32:48
bill
So we try to keep it very, very safe. And that's our main goal. And road riding is, you know, it's struggling a little bit because people are a little bit nervous to be on the road. So we try to have an event that people can do road riding and feel safe in.
00:33:02
Rich
Yeah, I'll tell you what, I've never been in a ride where I felt so supported and so safe, even though, you know, there are periods where obviously where, you know, you're just out there on the highway, but that, I mean, to have, was it one was it one ambulance or two ambulances?
00:33:08
April
Mm-hmm.
00:33:19
bill
Uh, one, and one ambulance.
00:33:21
Rich
Oh, it was, multiple I know what it was. It was multiple, there there were motorcycle, there was a state patrol motorcycles or like, right?
00:33:31
bill
They've got private company motorcycles that they do medical support, but they, they are very visible.
00:33:35
Rich
Gotcha.
00:33:36
bill
they have lights on and it just gives a sense of a lot of people looking after you, which they are.
00:33:37
Rich
Yeah.
00:33:41
Lauren Brown
And it's capped a certain amount of
00:33:42
April
Wow.
00:33:43
Rich
But rolling out of town, rolling out of town, we had, we had, patrol supports. I remember each day, right?
00:33:48
bill
Yep.
00:33:48
Rich
Yeah.
00:33:50
April
Bill, who is Colorado's ride really designed for? Is this more of a bucket list ride for experienced cyclists or can a strong triathlete like myself, I don't know if I would say strong, but, or a newer rider grow into this as a big season goal.
00:34:05
bill
I think so. I mean, we've, I mean, we had a guy last year that he was funny. He, he, he wore all the wrong clothes. He never didn't even have bike shorts on.
00:34:16
bill
i think he finally did. He was like, no, not jeans, but he was brand new to riding.
00:34:18
April
Did he wear jeans? Tell me wore jeans.
00:34:23
bill
And he just, he was trying to change his health.
00:34:23
April
Yeah.
00:34:25
bill
He quit smoking. He dropped a bunch of weight and, I, he didn't wear a helmet and it was driving me crazy. And so I, I looked up the rules of the the law and I was like, I, I actually can't make him wear a helmet.
00:34:33
April
Oh.
00:34:39
bill
Like I, but I finally was like, it was kind of driving me crazy. So I finally went up to him like, what's your name? and tell me about this helmet thing. And then he, he started to wear it going downhill. I said, can he at least wear it when we're going downhill and going fast?
00:34:50
bill
and goes Okay. But then he, and I got to know him. He's a really a neat, a nice guy. And so he was a total newbie. His backpack, he carried a backpack for some reason. he He let me hold It it weighed like 20 pounds.
00:35:03
bill
Like, why do you have? And he had all these extra tools and food. I'm like, you know, we have all of this for you. i just want to carry myself. I'm like, okay. But if we have a lot of variety, so we've had...
00:35:17
bill
You know, older, i had a woman that was probably in her mid seventies and she rode an e-bike and it had a flat handlebar and she wore tennis shoes. I mean, those are obviously extreme. Most people are pretty experienced and most people have probably done a multi-day ride. I'd say our average age is, you know, it's that kind of the typical road rider these days, you know, 45 to 75 and of our stay in hotels and we do have camping. So we do have a kid a good camping spot each night.
00:35:49
bill
And that's probably our typical, probably 65% men and 35% women, which would be what you would expect on a road tour like that.
00:35:58
April
Very cool.
00:36:00
Rich
I got to add something to this, you know, like one of the things that I felt like when I did it two years ago, and it was the the relationships that you made while you were out there.
00:36:11
Rich
And one of the touches, one of the really cool, like you very unique personal touches is that everybody who registers gets a nameplate.
00:36:20
bill
Yeah.
00:36:22
Rich
and it hangs on the saddle, on the back of your saddle. So when you're riding up behind somebody, you know who you're riding up to.
00:36:30
April
Oh. Tom.
00:36:31
Rich
And you can just say, hey, Sally, how you doing? You're doing great. you know And it just... And now all of a sudden, like, you know, this person's name and you and you put that name with that kit.
00:36:44
Rich
And, you know, and and after a while, you like get these friends and like Zed, right? Zed and I became fast friends on the very first day. and then we ended up like recruiting other friends and it turned into a pace line. And, you know, not everybody knew how to do a pace line. So we had to do a little bit of, you know, like coaching, you know, with each other. But.
00:37:08
Rich
And, you know, and to your point that like the, the, the, uh, the aid stations, I mean, golly, there's so much great food. There was so much great food. Those pickles. Oh my God, the pickles.
00:37:16
bill
you Yeah, pickle juice, not good.
00:37:18
Rich
anyway.
00:37:18
bill
what would have thought. I want to change those ice and plate this year and and see if we can add their hometown.
00:37:24
Rich
Oh, that's a great idea.
00:37:25
Lauren Brown
Oh, that'd be cool. Yeah.
00:37:26
Rich
Yeah. Yeah.
00:37:27
bill
Because you know how much that would be. Oh, you're from New Jersey too. Cool. You know, right? I mean, that just really breaks the ice.
00:37:33
Lauren Brown
Yeah. I didn't realize you meant that that's where you met Zed.
00:37:37
Rich
where I met Zed. That's where dad Zed. And in fact, actually, Bill, you should talk about this, like the the adaptive sports element.
00:37:46
bill
Yeah. So I think the year was Mike Murphy, who you are coaching with.
00:37:53
Rich
Yeah.
00:37:53
bill
He, but he did it the year before you did it, I think.
00:37:56
Rich
He did. Yeah.
00:37:56
bill
Yeah. So the first year we had it, we had a pretty big group of, adaptive athletes,
00:37:57
Rich
With Zed. He was with Zed.
00:38:03
bill
all kinds of different things, either a VI in the case of Mike or amputation or PTSD or so was local group of vets. So we, we definitely try to work with those kinds of folks. There's an adaptive sports program in Crested Butte, which may be part of us this year because that's where that's where we ride starts and stops and crest the beat this year. So i' have to tell you about the new route.
00:38:31
bill
But yeah, but we love to work with teams. We've had several teams that come and and ride that are trying to raise money for their own you know causes, whether it's We Ride 4, Davis Finney, the Samaritan House.
00:38:45
bill
And we we also try to work with local high school teams or other nonprofits in the area. So we definitely have an element of trying to give back. I mean, honestly, our goal as an organization at some point would be if everything goes well, we'd probably like to turn it into a nonprofit.
00:39:04
bill
and just weren't run it that way. Doesn't make sense right now, but that's probably my one of my personal favorite things is the two big charities we worked with down in the Durango area. One was an incubator program at a school for really small nonprofits that can't afford to do their own offices and things like that. And they they brought out food for us for lunch on two different days on the way there, the way between Durango and Pagosa Springs and on the way back to Durango. And and we raised like $4,000 for these guys, which is huge.
00:39:34
bill
And they're so grateful and and just really neat. And then the high school mountain bike team in Pagosa Springs. brought fresh peaches to the top of wolf creek pass and greeted all the writers as they got to the top of the pass and one of the unintended consequences of that which was so amazing was that the kids they would cheer our writers on and then they'd grab their bike and set it in the rack for them and they had fresh peaches and of course we donated, the writers would donate some money they brought with them. And they'd raise like a thousand dollars, which for the high school team is huge. They buy, you know, help some mechanics, things like that. But what it was really neat is the coach Janine was telling me later that from her side of it with the kids, that they really enjoyed helping us old people to the top by cheering them on. And it really enforced that this is a lifetime sport.
00:40:27
bill
This isn't just for kids. Like it really inspired these kids to think, oh wow, I guess I can be doing this well into my whatever. and And then on the other side where our where our riders are like, they just love the camaraderie and the cheering and the they they just climbed 4,000 feet, they were tired and these kids were really energetic. It was really neat thing. We'll have figure out how to do that this year.
00:40:53
Lauren Brown
That's an awesome impact that you're able to make through this.
00:40:56
bill
Yeah.
00:40:57
Lauren Brown
From an athlete's perspective, what would you say are the biggest demands of the course? So from altitude, climbing, descents, and how should riders go about thinking about preparing for that?
00:41:12
bill
I would say it's kind of a mixed bag because you have people that do come from other areas that are no elevation, right? So they, they can, we've had riders that have had trouble with altitude.
00:41:25
bill
So, you know, there's ways that you can try to mini minimize that with, you know, either getting there early or obviously a lot of hydration. if you're having a tough day, take a sag, right? I mean, you can get back, but don't push it out of limit.
00:41:41
bill
So I just say, be aware of altitude, especially if you're coming from another state. As far as training and the ride itself, I think the bigger, I mean, everybody's going to have a different volume that they they're going to come to the ride with. And what that volume recommendation would be, I think it's just no way to know because everybody's different scale, different athletic ability, different levels.
00:42:03
bill
But I would say it's really important to just get some miles on your butt. Like, you know, really get some long days before the ride. Get some 50-mile to 80-mile days just to get used to that type of time on the saddle.
00:42:19
Lauren Brown
Mm-hmm.
00:42:19
bill
And then also if you can, if you're, you know, if have mountains, get get some climbing in just to get used to the climbing and the, and the pressure points and the way it affects your body differently.
00:42:33
bill
The again, time in the saddle. And, and clearly if you're brand new to cycling, I think the descending can be a challenge too, because you're not used to that kind of bike handling and that kind of speed can be a little scary if you're not used to it. And,
00:42:47
bill
Things like that. i don't you know if Anything you can mimic is certainly, i think, good. But I think the biggest thing is just volume. At least get some decent volume. You guys are coaches. You would probably have a better aspect than I would, but that's my own armchair coaching.
00:43:04
April
All right.
00:43:05
Rich
i'll
00:43:05
April
Yeah, go ahead, Rich.
00:43:05
Rich
I'm going to add to that real quick. that Honestly, you know the first couple of days, you feel a little bit of fatigue setting in after the first couple of days, but it's a little bit like the the work that you did on day one starts to come back and help you day three.
00:43:22
Rich
And you know the the work that you did day two starts to help you day four. right you know It's like, you had to get fitter and stronger as the week goes on. It was kind of my experience.
00:43:31
bill
And I will add that I do, when we put these courses together, we do think about that in terms of like, don't overload somebody, you know, give them an opportunity to like, so the course this year will, maybe it's a good way to segue this a little bit is we'll start from Crested Butte.
00:43:45
Rich
Mm-hmm.
00:43:48
bill
go up over cottonwood pass, which is a pretty big climb and, uh, we'll drop into Buena Vista. And so that's, I think it's about six, 70 miles at something like that, but I should pull up the map, but anyway, it's a good long climb. But then the next day we ride from Buena Vista to Salida and we kind of go the long way, which then makes it a 30 some mile day. So it's a really short day and you can totally recover from the hard climb from the day before.
00:44:14
bill
you want to add miles to on your own in Salida, go for it. If you want to just go fishing or hang at the hot springs, you can do that as well. And then the day three is our biggest day, which is Salida to Gunnison. So going over Monarch Pass.
00:44:29
bill
And that's about a 78-mile day. So pretty long descent out off of Monarch into Gunnison. And there's a chance for some headwinds. So that can be a pretty demanding day. And there's no option.
00:44:42
bill
other than if you need to get a ride, we can give you a ride. But The day four is an out and back to a really gorgeous overlook of the Kirikanti recreation area of Needles Rock in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.
00:44:56
bill
It's about a 2,000 foot drop in this unbelievable canyon, the view, not the ride. And it's a big, nice climb up to the view. we have a raid station and you go back to Gunnison and that's like 60 miles. But if you're feeling fatigued, just go part way, turn around halfway. You don't have to go all the way to the...
00:45:14
bill
the turnaround at the at the viewpoint so and then the day i guess day five which our last day is gonna send to crested butte which if you go straight to crested butte that's a pretty short ride But we're at we have an optional loop up Ohio Pass, or up towards Ohio Pass, which is an absolutely gorgeous road. Nobody's on it. The mountains are incredibly beautiful.
00:45:40
bill
But again, if you're not feeling it, just draw her ride straight to Crested Butte. You don't have to do the optional extra 20 miles. So I try to build in things that will appeal to folks that maybe didn't count on the fatigue.
00:45:52
bill
So there's some outs, if you will. And yeah.
00:45:55
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:45:57
April
It just sounds like truly premier ride through Colorado. Like Salida is one of my favorite places. I'm going to Crested Butte for my 40th birthday this year. I can't wait.
00:46:07
April
So just hearing all these places and sites and experiences, I mean, Wow.
00:46:08
bill
Mm-hmm.
00:46:13
April
wow it's like a golden ticket. so thinking about that, what does a typical day on Colorado's ride feel like, and I want to know also how supported is this? Like if you are one of the athletes and you're concerned about nutrition and hydration and all that, and, when, when to stop and, and how supported is this?
00:46:36
bill
So I'll let Rich talk about the experience, but because I haven't ridden my own ride, I've just designed it and been part of it. But we have we have aid stations pretty well, you know, every 15 to 18 miles typically.
00:46:48
bill
And we have plenty of hydration, of course. Last year we used Tailwind and then we had a huge variety of different bars and different fresh fruits and all the different typical things you would have on an aid station. We don't have hot food. You don't have like a food truck or we don't have like, you know, a griddle or anything like that. And, but we have really good support on the nutrition side. And then we do have SAG vehicles. So folks are having a rough day or cramping mechanical issues.
00:47:20
bill
we We can pick you up and take you to the next spot, whatever that is that makes sense. And then we do, again, have the Common Spirit as our title sponsor, and they provide the medical care. They do they provide an ambulance. They provide at least, well, probably have four to so four to five paramedics. that they pay for all of that.
00:47:43
bill
They pay for their hotels, they pay for their food, they pay for the ambulance and the gas. And that's that's why they're our title sponsor. We couldn't do without them to be honest, because that would cost a fortune for us to actually pay for all
00:47:51
April
Hmm.
00:47:55
bill
So the support is good. The Colorado State Patrol, like we talked about, We will probably have some riding medics that will be on bikes so that you can assist somebody immediately if they need help. but And of course, we all have radios and we're all roving around on the course with our SAG vehicles and with mechanical support, extra tires and tubes and you know making sure people are safe.
00:48:20
Rich
Yeah, just, you know, i add from the the writer's perspective, you know, we all start together in the morning and we all roll out together. And was really cool when we roll out of the town.
00:48:33
Rich
We've got, you know, Bill would be in his Audi at the time, you know, sponsored Audi and be leading out.
00:48:37
bill
Mm-hmm.
00:48:41
Rich
But there would also be state patrol. making sure that intersections are closed as we're going through them. You know, they would have motorcycles stopping traffic or like just kind of blocking just to make sure that we're safe.
00:48:54
Rich
And then once we're kind of out of town, you know, it is, you know, just riding aid station to aid station. And I thought one of the like really thoughtful things that went into the planning from my perspective was you could kind of, whether you were going uphill or you were going downhill or a combination of it,
00:49:12
Rich
You could almost anticipate getting to the aid station about every 45 minutes, right? If it was going uphill, it might only be eight miles down the road.
00:49:18
April
Wow.
00:49:23
Rich
But if they took into account, Bill took into account that you were going uphill, so you're going to be going a little bit slower. But if it was more of a downhill stretch, that next aid station might be 15, 20 miles down the road.
00:49:35
Rich
But it still turned out to be around the same amount of effort that it took and time and effort that it took to get to each aid station.
00:49:39
Lauren Brown
Right.
00:49:42
Rich
It's just very, very smart touch. And then the logistics. You know, you know in the ride two years ago, you know when you go when you go to pick up your your packet at race pickup or race packet sorry ride packet pickup on Sunday night, you have this, of course, in there.
00:50:02
Rich
But you also have luggage tags that they already know what hotels you're what hotel you're staying in. So when you are checking out of the hotel to go to the next location, all you do is put your luggage out with your your luggage tag out by the lobby or out the front of the hotel.
00:50:21
Rich
And Summit Cycle Solutions would come by and it would have like all the hotels for each place. So your luggage was waiting for you in the lobby of the hotel in the town that you were riding into. was just right there waiting for you.
00:50:38
Rich
which is like really, really convenient and really cool.
00:50:39
April
Wow.
00:50:40
Rich
So
00:50:41
bill
We've expanded that service this year. We're going to let people book their own Airbnbs and VRBOs, and we'll include those stops as well for luggage.
00:50:52
Rich
that's awesome.
00:50:53
April
Oh my gosh.
00:50:55
bill
And camping, we've got probably 25% 30% of our will camp. So that's a little bit new this year, just Durango outlawed outdoor camping last year.
00:51:10
bill
And so we had to make an arrangement with a commercial camping spot that wasn't ideal. We only had like seven people that took us up on it. And that really hurt our ride from an attendance standpoint.
00:51:22
bill
And so that was another motivation for moving,
00:51:22
April
Mm-hmm.
00:51:27
bill
people are just getting tired of the route. So we wanted a new experience. That was what our surveys were telling us that people wanted something different. And the fact that we couldn't have camping in Durango is really a big problem.
00:51:32
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:51:35
bill
So we now have great camping spots. We have showers near each camping spot. So it's, and one thing I'll add is we are moving a little more this year, but the Mount Princeton Hot Springs, which is kind of in between Buena Vista and Salida, has really nice facility. They got cabins and hotel you know, regular rooms, but they've agreed to, for anybody staying there, if you want to stay two nights there, they'll shuttle you from Buena Vista to their hotel for the Monday night.
00:52:07
bill
They'll bring you back to Buena Vista Tuesday morning so you can ride to Salida. They'll pick you up in Salida and you bring you back to their hotel and then they'll drive you even back on Wednesday morning to start that ride. So you can still have that same experience of two nights here and then two nights in Gunnison and you're less moving.
00:52:23
bill
So there was something else I was going to add when Rich was talking about the aid station.
00:52:23
Lauren Brown
Mm-hmm.
00:52:28
bill
You gave me too much credit. I never really calculated the actual time between aid stations. That was more of a gut feel thing, I guess, but you are pretty right.
00:52:36
April
Trust that gut. but
00:52:47
Rich
I'll tell you the other thing that was really good, the the the marking of the course. You guys marked the heck out of that course. I mean, like every, it seemed like every, every mile, like you could like count on another sign saying, you know, it's this way, my friends, you know, and it's, it was really cool.
00:53:01
bill
Yeah.
00:53:05
bill
They're experienced, they've got, they've done route marking for years, like with MS rise and things like that. This team is super experienced. I actually did it one day with them. It was, it's pretty interesting. So there's, there's like a team of four that go out a day or two before, and there's two trucks and they hopscotch each other and they put a mark, like every half mile, we try to put an arrow.
00:53:27
bill
And it becomes a game, like who can hopscotch and then like do it fast enough to not get hopscotch. And then they kind of have a fun time out there. It's a lot of work though. I mean, they're there and we'd have to, we take the signs down really fast, like the next day or that night even, because the towns and the counties get kind of bent out of shape if you leave a sign up and then people vandalize them too.
00:53:42
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:53:49
bill
And that's cost us a couple of times where people who don't love cyclists, they they take down our signs and critical turns. So I try to drive ahead of the route each morning just to make sure and I carry signs with me just in case.
00:54:02
bill
And it has happened. Yeah. just the And it's funny with all the Ride With GPS stuff, you know, people are – – I try to encourage people not to use their Ride With GPS so much.
00:54:17
bill
Like just enjoy the scenery.
00:54:18
Lauren Brown
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:54:20
bill
We got signs.
00:54:20
April
Yeah.
00:54:21
bill
There's only one road, you know, but everybody's so – you want to download all this. And they' I'm like, you just drive on this highway, go about 50 miles and you'll be done. It's not like there's any reason to look at your computer, but we know how the world works with technology.
00:54:36
Rich
Like people loading their ride on a crit. Come on.
00:54:39
April
Yeah.
00:54:39
Rich
It's a one mile course.
00:54:39
April
yeah
00:54:40
Rich
God.
00:54:41
April
but
00:54:41
bill
Right? Yeah. i I just think it's funny, but i I still put value in road markers because i do want I'd really rather have people ride with their head up than their head down.
00:54:51
Lauren Brown
Thank
00:54:52
April
Great point. Well, I think we're ready to roll into our fun segment for tonight, Bill. And I've been looking forward to this. Lauren and I are going to ask you and Rich some, uh,
00:55:03
April
Excellent adventure questions kind of inspired by Bill and ted we've We've talked a lot about logistics, safety, altitude, but now it's time for something far more important.
00:55:08
bill
Okay. Yep.
00:55:18
April
We are calling this segment, Bill and Rich's Excellent Adventures. Coach Lauren and I are going to ask you both questions about your adventures together. No overthinking first instinct answers only. Are you both ready?
00:55:31
bill
yep
00:55:32
Rich
Ready.
00:55:32
April
Okay. So of all the rides, races, or podcasts, road trips, you two have done together. What was the biggest, what were we thinking moment?
00:55:44
bill
Gosh.
00:55:48
bill
I don't have, don't have a good one, but I think that, I think maybe when we did the interview with sister, what's her, yeah.
00:56:00
April
Donna Buter.
00:56:00
Rich
Sister Madonna Booter.
00:56:02
bill
And Boyd Lake and, i brought the three or three trailer up to boyd lake And, you know, she's like, it was 2020 and that was one of the only triathlons in the whole country even happening. And she came to Berthoud, to, or to, yeah, Berthoud, Colorado for Loveland, I'm sorry, Loveland, Boyd Lake.
00:56:20
bill
And she came down to race that ride or race that race. And we got an interview with her exclusively and we forgot a mic. So I did the whole interview with my phone.
00:56:32
bill
and
00:56:32
April
Oh.
00:56:33
bill
And the phone was like sitting and I'm like, oh my God, we've got, and that, and it turned out fine.
00:56:39
April
The Iron Nun. Yeah.
00:56:40
bill
the iron, no but that thing went really viral. cause USA triathlon picked it up and they took a lot of quotes out of that. And so luckily, luckily that microphone worked.
00:56:52
Rich
I thought you were going to say because it was COVID, we didn't have our masks on during the interview. And I was thinking, what if we kill Sister Madonna Booter?
00:57:00
bill
Oh,
00:57:03
bill
Well, we were outside.
00:57:03
Rich
What if we are the ones...
00:57:04
bill
We were six feet away. we were all the things that we thought we were doing right. Yeah.
00:57:09
April
Oh my gosh.
00:57:10
Rich
That's what I was thinking.
00:57:12
bill
Yeah. I forgot about that.
00:57:13
April
oh
00:57:13
Rich
I'll leave that be my answer too
00:57:16
April
That's great.
00:57:19
Lauren Brown
all right question number two when things go sideways weather shifts tech fails schedule falls apart who handles it better and who low-key spirals
00:57:35
bill
Uh, well, I think I handle it better because Rich is the one that always had to fix everything. He was the man that had to get through the technology, get into the files.
00:57:44
April
The fixer.
00:57:47
bill
And I always felt bad that I could just walk away and not to worry about it because I had no idea how to fix it.
00:57:55
Rich
So it's totally true. i would totally be the one who would spiral. We did an interview. this is This is like really early on. Carol Sharpless.
00:58:05
Rich
Do you remember Carol Sharpless?
00:58:06
bill
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:58:08
Rich
So we did an interview with Carol Sharpless and I am listening. Like we did the we did the recording earlier in the week and I'm editing the interview like the night before we want to publish it.
00:58:19
Rich
And my side never recorded. So I've got one side of the interview happening with Carol and my you can't hear me.
00:58:29
Rich
So I literally spent,
00:58:32
Rich
I don't know how many hours, four or five hours, pretending like I was talking to Carol Sharpless and I'm recording one side of a conversation Like listen, like I'd play her and then I would, I would, I would like ask the question or or respond or whatever to try to make it sound like it was in context. If you go back and you find that in, like I challenge you to, to, to, to see if you could tell.
00:59:00
April
All
00:59:00
bill
I never knew that story, Rich.
00:59:02
Rich
oh yeah.
00:59:02
bill
don't think I didn't know that story. Wow.
00:59:04
Rich
That was a good one.
00:59:05
bill
We put a hell a lot of time into this thing without making any money on it.
00:59:09
Rich
It took us a while to get a sponsor and when we did.
00:59:11
bill
I mean, we made a little money, but I mean, i mean like real, like, yeah.
00:59:13
Rich
yeah yeah oh yeah yeah totally totally
00:59:17
April
right. You both have spent a lot of time at altitude. Who is more likely to say I'm fine. I'm fine. While very clearly not fine.
00:59:27
bill
I bet that would be rich.
00:59:29
Rich
that i'm not fine that i'm saying i'm fine and i'm not fine
00:59:30
April
Rich, Bill is destroying you out of the bus.
00:59:32
bill
Yeah.
00:59:34
bill
No, I just think, I think Rich, i don't know.
00:59:34
Rich
No, no, no.
00:59:34
April
but but
00:59:35
Rich
It's probably.
00:59:39
Rich
You'll share your pain. You'll tell, you'll say it out loud. I won't.
00:59:42
bill
Yeah.
00:59:43
Rich
I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll keep it a secret, but you would like, I remember when we did the, uh, the, was it the triple or yeah, it was the triple that one time. Like we were kind of like, you know, or Pike's peak.
00:59:53
bill
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
00:59:55
April
I can verify and validate this.
00:59:55
Rich
We did. We've done it.
00:59:57
April
Pike's peak. Rich was completely just amazing. No, no physical signs of exertion while I was literally leaning over my handlebars, trying to keep them, keep it all together.
01:00:12
bill
please yeah
01:00:14
Lauren Brown
All right, question four. if the two of you have to survive a surprise snowstorm mid-stage on Colorado's ride and you could each choose one thing to bring, what are you picking?
01:00:28
Lauren Brown
Extra layers, food, a mechanic, a playlist, a coffee, a PR team, and who are you not trusting with navigation?
01:00:45
bill
I would bring... the i would This is actually something that somebody actually did that thought was really brilliant. They brought a trash bag.
01:00:56
bill
And like a like you know like a really thick trash bag. It was Sasha. It was on that same triple bypass.
01:01:04
Rich
Yep.
01:01:04
bill
And she had cut out little arms and she used it on the descent down squat pass, whatever it's called now. And I think a really heavy trash bag could be a lifesaver in a snowstorm.
01:01:17
April
Oh, wow.
01:01:18
Lauren Brown
Good tip. good to
01:01:20
bill
And easy to pack.
01:01:20
Rich
Yeah, that was brilliant. I don't know why, and and I'm not really sure like this even answers the question at all.
01:01:22
April
Dang.
01:01:28
Rich
i just went to fucking rental car
01:01:32
Lauren Brown
and
01:01:32
bill
Oh, fucking van.
01:01:35
Rich
we just dad We just had this. Oh, yeah, the vi the minivan in Kona. I don't know. We just had so many problems with that stupid minivan.
01:01:42
bill
Yeah.
01:01:42
Rich
I'm not even sure like what we would have brought to fix it, except for, I think...
01:01:47
Rich
think like did we like bump into another car or like no it was like a it was like a city vehicle or something and we're like rubbing we're like so rubbing the scuffs out you know before we returned it like we were like for sure we like for sure for sure we're gonna up having to pay for this rental car oh god and then there was oh the last year in Kona 2019
01:01:55
bill
I don't know. I don't
01:02:04
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
01:02:10
Rich
We were waiting for our flight. It's 10 o'clock at night. We're supposed to do an an overnight or back, a red eye back to the States. plane's not there or it's not, it was broken or wasn't there.
01:02:21
Rich
We, the airport, like we stayed until midnight. They turned off the lights. They had the music. Like I still have a hard time listening to Hawaiian music at this point because they had this Hawaiian music playing in the airport all night long.
01:02:32
bill
Yeah.
01:02:36
Rich
We slept on benches in the open air at the Kona airport all all night long only to get a rental car at 5 a.m. to go drive to because we got vouchers finally to go stay at a hotel for a day and then we went back that night and flew out
01:02:55
bill
Not me, I got an extra night because I didn't have to get home. So I got a free night and it was at the Four Seasons.
01:02:58
Rich
oh oh that's right that's true we were doing pretty good yeah we were doing pretty good
01:03:00
bill
It wasn't like it was it was a really nice. Yeah, and I got an extra night so I just got to hang out for an extra free night.
01:03:06
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
01:03:07
bill
That was awesome.
01:03:09
April
Guys. Awesome. I got one last question for you. Complete this sentence. The real reason Colorado's ride is unforgettable is.
01:03:19
bill
Friends.
01:03:21
Rich
Bill Plok.
01:03:23
April
Love it.
01:03:24
Rich
Yeah, seriously.
01:03:24
April
Yeah.
01:03:24
Rich
Nobody else can pull it off like you do, I don't think. So hats off, my friend. Nice job. I love that ride. I can't wait to do it again. We'd love to do it with Mike Murphy this year if I can. I'd do it with you two ladies too.
01:03:35
Rich
We should, honestly, you guys, yeah, it'd be awesome.
01:03:35
April
Oh, that'd be great.
01:03:39
bill
When does this podcast come out?
01:03:39
April
Gentlemen.
01:03:41
Rich
Tomorrow. Well, tonight, I'll actually probably push it out tonight.
01:03:44
bill
Okay.
01:03:45
April
Yeah, I'm excited for this.
01:03:45
bill
reason
01:03:47
bill
I'm just going to take a gamble here. We have been nominated by somebody as one of the top 10 tours in the United States for USA Today, and that comes out next week.
01:04:00
bill
I'm not supposed to tell anybody, but maybe this will slide through.
01:04:06
April
I love it.
01:04:06
bill
If anybody's listened for the last hour and a half, they're now they hear this, I don't think it's gonna be, no no offense, I don't think our audience will probably get me in trouble, but I was pretty excited about that.
01:04:06
April
We get the sneak peek.
01:04:06
Rich
We won't say.
01:04:18
Rich
Congratulations. That's awesome.
01:04:18
Lauren Brown
I thought.
01:04:19
Rich
Well-deserved.
01:04:20
bill
Yeah.
01:04:21
Rich
Well-deserved. Wow. That's a great way to end.
01:04:23
Rich
Guys, that was great. thanks for the Thanks for the great questions. You guys like really rocked it. That was a lot of fun. and Bill, it was just awesome spending some time with you here again. Folks, you know, we're really glad that you were here with us. And listen, we really want to make sure that you are taken care of when you are out there doing these long rides. You have got to try Vespa. Vespa Power Endurance helps you tap into steady, clean energy so that you can stay strong, focused, and in the zone longer.
01:04:52
Rich
Vespa is not fuel, but a metabolic catalyst that shifts your body to use more fat and less sugar for your fuel source. Vespa comes in a number of products, but man, the key point here is less sugar, higher performance, faster recovery.
01:05:06
Rich
It is awesome. And all of our, up in fact, The athletes that used it at last week's Valley of the Sun, you saw the pictures of Greg and Mike. I mean, they swear by it now. So listen, guys, use the code 303ENDURANCE20 to get 20% off of your first order.
01:05:26
Rich
After that, you can get 15% off of every every order after that using the code G2GVESPA15. The link is here in the show notes. Check it out. It's awesome.
01:05:37
Rich
Thanks for spending time with us today on the Grit to Greatness Endurance Podcast. If you've enjoyed this episode, please follow us and leave a rating and a review on Apple apple Podcasts and YouTube. It helps us reach more athletes like you.
01:05:48
Rich
Stay gritty, train smart, and keep chasing greatness. We will see you next week.