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#33 - A Quick Rip in Burke VT
35 Plays2 months ago
In this episode, I take you with me on a ride down Black Bear in Northeast Kingdom VT—where the air is clean, the climbs are tough, and the scenery hits like a deep breath for the soul. From winding forest trails to wide-open views, it’s a reminder of why we move our bodies and get out into the wild. And to top it all off? I found the best gluten-free pizza in the entire Northeast—no exaggeration. Tune in for the ride, the views, and the slice.
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Transcript
Introduction and Adrenaline Recovery
00:00:21
Mike Ivanov
What's up everybody? Welcome back. This is Mindset Mutiny and I am your host, Mike Ivanov. Kind of cool place we are today. I'm in Burke, Vermont, riding my bike, trying to collect my mind and get my energy back after that speech. And we will be doing a podcast on the rise to that speech and then the fall back down from it, which is interesting to discuss because there was quite adrenaline dump there, quite a dopamine overload that I have been unpacking for quite some time.
00:01:01
Mike Ivanov
And it's been challenging for me to try to understand. I'm going to do a whole podcast on that because I think it'd be really helpful for you guys to help you understand kind of what that rise and fall looks like and then kind of how to seek that baseline once that dopamine withdrawal kind of takes
Northeast Kingdom Biking Adventure
00:01:18
Mike Ivanov
place. But not to delay too long here, like I said, we're in be Vermont, it's about six o'clock p.m.
00:01:28
Mike Ivanov
and I just wanted to rip a quick podcast to kind of talk about my ride today, kind of talk about some of the other things I did after my ride. For those of you that are interested.
00:01:40
Mike Ivanov
So, like I said, Burke Vermont woke up this morning pretty early, got out on the bike before anybody was out, and I was going to ride Black Bear.
00:01:53
Mike Ivanov
We are in Northeast Kingdom, which is some of the best mountain bike trails, I would say, in the Northeast, maybe in the northern part of the entire country.
00:02:07
Mike Ivanov
But yeah, so some epic rides, lot of flowy groomed trails.
00:02:17
Mike Ivanov
Anyway, so today I got up super early, had my electrolytes, headed out of the Airbnb. So we got a nice Airbnb up here. Same place we stay kind of often when we come up this way. a Beautiful spot, middle of nowhere.
00:02:35
Mike Ivanov
Super kind of modern design on the on the house. um It's got kind of a lofted bedroom, which is kind of cool. And anyway, we spent Thanksgiving here.
00:02:47
Mike Ivanov
in 24, which was kind of neat, and the the turkey filled the entire oven.
00:02:55
Mike Ivanov
But we had snow that day. i went out and caught a quick half marathon in a winter storm morning. So anyway, rode out this morning. ah was little rainy, little overcast, but a lot, a lot of fog, a lot of clouds kind of caught in the mountain area.
Challenges and Personal Reflection
00:03:12
Mike Ivanov
So went out by myself and right off the trailhead is is's straight up, right? So pedaled about, well, let me check. I'll give you the exact time. I've got the lap times here. 37 minutes up right off the trailhead to the top of Black Bear.
00:03:30
Mike Ivanov
And you can kind of do laps here at this place, right? So there's like ah an access trail that you can kind of pedal up and kind of rip down and then pedal up again, right? So the pedal up...
00:03:41
Mike Ivanov
is about two miles. So it's about two miles straight up to the top of Black Bear. You come up to the top, It's like an access road, and then it kind of goes down to some single track for you know maybe about a half-mile single track.
00:03:57
Mike Ivanov
Comes out to an opening. Big kind of gazebo, kind of where everybody kind of hangs out um before they kind of hit Black Bear. Because Black Bear is a good solid – let's see. Let me look here. It is about 2.5 miles down
00:04:16
Mike Ivanov
nonstop. And there's, it's like a jump trail. It's got a lot of flowy, like bank corners, like real, real bank corners. I mean, there are some corners that were banked, got to be, I don't know, nine feet, 10 feet tall bank corners.
00:04:31
Mike Ivanov
So when you're at, you know, you're exiting that corner, you want to be kind of looking towards the exit. But anyway, so I pedal up to the top of Black Bear. I'm up there before anybody else. So I kind of get the I'm up there alone, right?
00:04:44
Mike Ivanov
Which is super awesome. But on the way up, I don't want to say I was kind of bitching out, but I hate climbing. um Just something, you know, i know it's like you ride mountain bikes and hate climbing. It's kind of interesting, but i don't like climbing, man. And the whole way up, you know, every like couple minutes I'd look up and I'd be like, oh my God, like, look at how far up that is. Look at the steep grade. Like, what the fuck am I doing?
00:05:11
Mike Ivanov
So for, I'd say for the first 37 minutes on the way up, I was questioning everything, wondering why I picked this route. Cause there's a lot of nice trails out here. you could, you know, you could do all sorts of riding out here and some reason than others.
00:05:23
Mike Ivanov
But so Black Bear is probably one of the best trails. So of course that's where I headed out to. So on the way up, I just find that I'm kind of psyching myself out. I'm like, man, today is going to be a long day. Huh?
00:05:36
Mike Ivanov
because I want to do a couple of laps and already like literally a couple minutes in, I'm like, man, I don't want to be here. But just kept pedaling, took a couple of breaks on the way up, had some ah had some energy jelly beans on the way up. And that kind of gave me a little bit of carbs, gave me a little boost. But so I get up to the top, beautiful, beautiful view, kind of opens up and all the fog's kind of sucked into the the mountain area there.
00:06:02
Mike Ivanov
And it was it was so beautiful. so I took some so some time to myself, kind of sit there, enjoy the view. And again, you know this is kind of my therapy. Like I've talked about, riding bikes saved my life. And it always gives me that clarity that I'm looking for.
Downhill Techniques and Life Parallels
00:06:14
Mike Ivanov
So made sure to kind of you know be present for that. So sat down, took my helmet off, kind of sat in the gazebo, just kind of chilled out before my descend down. And um you know so I'm riding an evil reckoning. It's like a Joker build. I built Um, pretty cool bike. It's a 29er.
00:06:33
Mike Ivanov
I got brown walls on it. Uh, got 220 millimeter rotors in the front. So that's a huge, huge rotor. Um, formula brakes. Uh, I got a push rear shock at 190 millimeter front rock shock.
00:06:48
Mike Ivanov
Bike is sick. Um, It's not a great climber. So the seat angle is pretty steep. It's great for descending, but not super great for for climbing. So, you know, you got to put a lot of effort into the climb, but you're going to be passing people on the downhill. So anyway, so I climbed that beast to the top.
00:07:06
Mike Ivanov
um You know, she looked really pretty doing on the job. I think that's all that matters. So took a couple of pictures, kind of took a video or two at the top and then kind of headed down. So started my descent down. And again, like, I mean, super flowy and I was, you know, was kind of locked in. I was riding really well, but I had to stop a couple of times on the way down. So my first climb up was 37 minutes.
00:07:34
Mike Ivanov
And my second lap up was 35. So I got faster climbing the second time. And my total descent down was 17 minutes and 20 seconds.
00:07:46
Mike Ivanov
The first descent and the second descent was 10 minutes and 57 seconds. So I covered 2.4 miles in 10 minutes and 57 seconds on the second run down.
00:07:58
Mike Ivanov
And again, the first time down, I had stop a couple of times. My legs were burning. My heart rate was pretty high. You know, had a pretty high max heart rate throughout this whole thing. So, you know, my total ride was was about an hour and 53 minutes.
00:08:10
Mike Ivanov
Total climbing was 1,500 total vertical feet. and But I had an average heart rate of about 140 Um, but on the way down maximum speed of 18 and a half miles an hour, which is kind of cranking with a maximum heart rate of 177. So on the first rip down, you know, i was just kind of getting to know the trail a bit. You know, I wrote it last year, but you don't really remember any of it. And, uh, you know, I only know one guy that kind of rips things blind.
00:08:40
Mike Ivanov
And, um you know, that's not me. So it's kind of taking my time coming down. ah But, you know, it's pushing it a little bit and I was just feeling good. You know, sometimes, you know, riding a bike is you feel like you're forcing it. Other times you just feel like, you know, you're right in the right place, like you're actually riding it, you know. So for me on the way down,
00:09:02
Mike Ivanov
I could tell I was locked in. So was super excited, just kind of hitting it hard, getting some air, you know, uh, just, just really dialed in. So letting the bike kind of do the work and again, me riding it, you know, some days you're kind of forcing the bike to do things.
00:09:17
Mike Ivanov
Um, which, you know, in my experience never ends well. Um, but you know, the, today, the day that I had definitely, things were going right for me.
00:09:28
Mike Ivanov
So I wanted to take advantage of that. So everything just felt good. I felt like part of the bike. So, you know, ripped my way down and then headed up for another lap. And the second time headed up, you know, kind of decided I was going to kind of flip the visor down, right? So just to give you an idea,
00:09:49
Mike Ivanov
My helmet has a visor on it, obviously, and it's adjustable. Like you can raise it and kind of lower it. and And I like to kind of ride with it kind of halfway up, you know, because I like kind of the peripheral visibility.
00:10:01
Mike Ivanov
Like if I can have my head down, can kind of still see in front of me.
00:10:05
Mike Ivanov
But there's always an issue with that, right? so when you're climbing, you see where you have to go and your mind just starts kind of fucking you, right? So I decided this time on the way up, I was going to just flip that visor down.
00:10:19
Mike Ivanov
And I was just going to keep pedaling. So I was going to be in kind of like a, what I like to call a two foot world. And I used to kind of use that term back in the day when I was playing hockey, like, you know, the two feet in front of you is really what mattered.
00:10:33
Mike Ivanov
And anything outside of that was a distraction, right? So whatever, I don't want to get into too much hockey discussion because we haven't really talked about that here. Let's focus on riding bikes. So two foot world, right?
00:10:45
Mike Ivanov
Instead of looking way up the trail at where I needed to go, obviously the climb sucked and I've already mentioned I didn't like that. And by looking further ahead and seeing how far you have to go, it can really kind of fuck with your head.
00:10:59
Mike Ivanov
So I flipped that visor down so I couldn't see all the way up ahead of the trail. I could only see... you know, whatever, four or five feet, right? I call it two foot world, but it was like four or five feet in front of me.
00:11:12
Mike Ivanov
And I just locked in and I just said, all right, I'm just going to pedal and pedal and pedal. And I'm going just going to, You know, if I get an opportunity kind of click up a gear or two, that's good, but I'm in my lowest climbing ring, right? So, and and I'm not, and i'm and I'm having a hard time keeping the bike upright, right? right So what that means is that this hill is really fucking steep. I'm in my lowest gear and my legs are smoked.
00:11:36
Mike Ivanov
So I'm just pedaling rotation after rotation, just trying to keep my head down. and just kind of be trying to stay out of my head, right? So I keep climbing, keep pushing it, but I just stay in that two foot world. And you know, it's important as I'm riding, I'm thinking like, hey, you know, i gotta I gotta talk about this on a podcast because in life, right, when you have a huge goal that you're kind of coming up on or that yeah you're trying to accomplish, and and I kind of relate it to where I'm at now, right? Coming out of the tail end of the speech,
00:12:08
Mike Ivanov
you know It's kind of changed things for me. like I have a path that I now need to pursue and it's long and it's scary um and it feels like this giant uphill that I was pedaling on today. So I was kind of drawing the correlation between the two.
00:12:24
Mike Ivanov
and that's why a bike is like so um you know kind of therapeutic for me because I'm just sitting there thinking about it. I'm like, wow, okay, this riding this bike up this hill. you know And when I say hill, like most of you fucking people would say, fuck this. There's no way anybody's riding up this shit.
00:12:40
Mike Ivanov
um
00:12:42
Mike Ivanov
Maybe just Ben Kelly. i always talk about Ben when it comes to bikes, but shit, man, that guy says a standard. So anyway, i just want to be very clear that when you're in the shit and you're climbing for a goal, right?
00:12:57
Mike Ivanov
Look right in front of you. Two foot world. Don't look too far ahead. You know, I was talking to my wife about it earlier today because I was kind of like telling her about this concept that I think will really help me because, you know, I'm, listen, I'm a little scared about what's coming my way soon, right? Like, i mean, I had coming off this big thing, like building the mindset mutiny has been scary, but now we're at a whole new
Overcoming Obstacles and Mental Clarity
00:13:19
Mike Ivanov
level, right? We just spoke in front of 6,000 people.
00:13:21
Mike Ivanov
um It was 6,000, not 8,000, by the way. You know, just have to make sure to, you know, you know and be accurate with the record, but Things are changing coming out of that and I'm scared. um And, you know, it's taking me a lot of time to kind of understand what that is. So I'm looking at that as a two foot world. So I'm going to look at the goals that are right in front of me and I'm just going to keep hitting them, right? I'm going to keep pedaling forward no matter how scary it is. Because if I look too far ahead, um my chances ofc quitting are very high.
00:13:51
Mike Ivanov
So you just need to make sure you don't look too far ahead. You have to kind of you kind of have to mediate that a little bit. Just enough to scare you, but not enough you know to force that like kind of that overwhelming feeling.
00:14:06
Mike Ivanov
So anyway, pedal up for my second time, you know thinking about this thing the whole way. you know My sweat is dripping down off my visor, getting my glasses. um it's It's a little muggy, a little bit of bugs out.
00:14:19
Mike Ivanov
But, you know, had a little bug spray that sprayed before we took off. But, you know, that not really sure about that bug spray because I started my neck started burning soon as I started sweating. And then I find I ended up getting a rash from that bug spray. So we're going have to talk to whoever bought that for me to make sure that we're on the same page. But anyway.
00:14:44
Mike Ivanov
So get to the top. There's a few people now because you know this is the second lap. Now people are starting to get out there. And by the way, we're in the middle of fucking nowhere. okay The only way you're getting to where I am is if you got some sort of set of lungs and a pair of legs.
00:14:59
Mike Ivanov
So kind of park my bike, get off my bike. right So I've been climbing nonstop on my bike for about 35 minutes. um So I'm pretty tired. So Just kind of pull up pull up to the gazebo. There's like a little bike rack kind of like that somebody made. Super cool.
00:15:16
Mike Ivanov
um And just kind of get off my bike and head into the gazebo, kind of chat it up with a few people. And I have a Stinger oat bar, which is well, tasted fucking amazing.
00:15:29
Mike Ivanov
So kind of chilled out, collected myself, caught my wind, and then decided I was going to head down. And my goal for heading down was to make sure that I went top to bottom without stopping.
00:15:41
Mike Ivanov
And let me tell you, by the time I got to the bottom, my legs were burning. But I did that in, let's see, looks like, geez, almost six minutes faster than my first rundown.
00:15:56
Mike Ivanov
um And my average speed on my first rundown was 10.1 miles an hour. And then on my second rundown 13.5. So, dude, let me tell you, so let me tell you I fucking crushed it on the way down.
00:16:09
Mike Ivanov
Wish I had a video of the whole thing. i was just in the zone. The bike was flowing. you know I was just like part of it. Epic ride down. Probably one of my best rides of my lifetime. I was just feeling good.
00:16:22
Mike Ivanov
um Don't know why, but everything was just kind of working one with the bike. So pretty sick. I had one close call. Kind of came off of this big bank corner to like a transition, like a tabletop transition.
00:16:37
Mike Ivanov
which kind of like popped off, got a little air. And then there was a steep corner, but it was wet out today and there was some roots. So there was a couple of roots stacked up. And if you take on a mountain bike or any bike, really, if you take roots at any angle where you're like kind of, where you're not completely upright and going straight over it, if you're if you're going to roots at an angle that are wet, you're going to have some issues.
00:16:59
Mike Ivanov
So I did. And, you know, the bike kind of slid out a little bit. And the right side of the handlebar, you know, kind of came way in. So, right. So I'm leaning, I'm leaning going, you know, probably, i don't know, 12, 13 miles an hour.
00:17:15
Mike Ivanov
and i can and And I can just feel the bike kind of turn and the front tires kind of turn and I can feel myself starting to get kind of pushed over the front of the handlebars. But I kind of stayed strong on the bars and was able to correct the tire and be able to ride out of it. But it was one of those moments where your asshole kind of puckers up because you know what's next. um You're going to be in the fucking woods, you know, rolling down the trail, probably getting up with some damage.
00:17:42
Mike Ivanov
Um, but I was able to save it, able to ride
Post-Ride Routine and Local Culture
00:17:45
Mike Ivanov
out of it. Uh, and you know, uh, just kind of kept ripping, you know, it's one of those things where you have like a quick, almost spill. You kind of yell out a little bit, um, with some celebration after you save it and then, ah and then kind of continue on down. So, you know, finished my rip all the way down to the bottom. Uh, I was super stoked, uh, headed out to the car, packed up the bike and, uh, and headed it back to the Airbnb and,
00:18:07
Mike Ivanov
ah to pick up Devin because she had a nice day planned for us. So got a nice ride this morning, feeling real good, super fucking stoked. But more importantly, this is where I collect myself. This is where i go to heal.
00:18:21
Mike Ivanov
um And that's what I'm doing here. So figured it'd be good to kind of rip a podcast, you know, when I'm in the right mood. um Yeah. So I'm sitting here in Burke now. And what we did as soon as I got home, i you know, obviously i rinsed the bike off.
00:18:37
Mike Ivanov
Super important to make sure that bike is nice and shiny, clean, get all the mud off. ah You'd be surprised what gets caked on there um after kind of a little bit of a wet, you know, wet time. So, cleaned the bike off, brought it inside, and, you know, picked Devin up because we had some plans for the day. So, you know, got a coffee, kind of sat and hung out at the the local coffee shop.
00:19:00
Mike Ivanov
It was good. Talked to the locals a little bit when I went over the gas station. Apparently, you know, things aren't as busy up here as they used to be. you there's a big Canadian influence up here, and a lot of people from Canada aren't traveling down here right now, currently. So, hey, listen, I hope everything goes well in Burke, because it's a special place for me.
00:19:18
Mike Ivanov
And the economy here really relies on mountain biking. So, Hopefully things turn around. um So anyway, had a nice coffee. And then we kind of headed out, went stop to pick up what we're going to for dinner at Libby's Meat Market. So it's a really cool place. It's like, um geez, couple minutes outside of Burke.
00:19:39
Mike Ivanov
And it's like a hole in the wall. Like it looks like an old, old, old building. It says Libby's Market on it. off to the right-hand side, there's like these smokers that just going all the time.
00:19:52
Mike Ivanov
So I go there because they have the best brisket I've probably ever had. So i go in, I get a couple pounds of brisket. I got some pickled onions, got some cheese dip, and let's see what else. I got some broccoli and then some smoked sausage, which is going to be absolutely fucking amazing.
Evening Reflections and Life Insights
00:20:11
Mike Ivanov
So Every time I come up here, I make sure to hit Libby's for at least a meal. So tonight, that's what we're going to have for dinner.
00:20:18
Mike Ivanov
ah But what was the best part, obviously, of coming up here is I head over to Glover, right? So I'm gluten-free. So pizza tends to be a pretty big challenge for me. It's, ah I don't know if you're gluten-free, you know, most gluten-free pizza sucks to be honest with you.
00:20:34
Mike Ivanov
But there is a place up here called Parker Pie Company in Glover, Vermont, which I don't know the population in Glover, but they have one ambulance. I don't even think they have a police car.
00:20:46
Mike Ivanov
um And it's in this old like gas station and they make amazing pizza. So I get a pizza there, which I'm going to eat the whole thing because I burned about 1,200 calories riding my bike.
00:20:58
Mike Ivanov
So I can eat this whole pizza guilt free. And then we head to Hill Farmstead, which is a super cool brewery. If you haven't been, i recommend you try it. But one of the only challenges for me is, again, these people don't make any gluten-free beer.
00:21:14
Mike Ivanov
um They do make some cider, but that's not something I'm super excited about. and one thing I will do is treat myself to a few drinks when I come up here. Not saying that, you know, you need to be drinking all the time, but after a big bike ride, I think it's customary to just, you know, have a couple beers, kind of relax, um you know, just enjoy the area. So anyway, I happen to stop at the gas station and get some Heady Topper. I get a four-pack Heady Topper.
00:21:41
Mike Ivanov
And then I had Devin sneak the Heady Topper into Hill Farmstead. so So I was pouring out some Heady Topper at Hill Farmstead today.
00:21:55
Mike Ivanov
And I crushed a whole pizza. We had a great time. It was good to hang out with Dev. um But, you know, that's a special place for us. and And we kind of do this whenever we come up here. It's kind of the same routine.
00:22:06
Mike Ivanov
um so yeah, we left Hill Farmstead and I have a great fire going here right now at the Airbnb. And I am going to head out there and enjoy it. But I just wanted to share with you kind of my process and what is so special me about Vermont. And I will tell you, this is where I will disappear to.
00:22:24
Mike Ivanov
um This is a special place. I feel at peace and I'm the happiest I ever am is when I'm up here.
00:22:35
Mike Ivanov
um But again, I really want to make sure that I am very clear about the two foot world that I was talking about. So,
00:22:46
Mike Ivanov
We all get very, very distracted about our goals. And we look way, way, way out. And by looking way out in my mind, it scares the shit out of you. you know It's much easier to break it down into small bites.
00:23:05
Mike Ivanov
you know And that's why I call it that two-foot world. So you know when I'm struggling like I am, you know like I have been for the last 17 days,
00:23:16
Mike Ivanov
And we will discuss that. I have to figure out how to tell that entire story, that climb to the speech, and then kind of the down the downer from it. I need to tell that to everybody because it was an experience that I've never felt before.
00:23:33
Mike Ivanov
And I think that people need to understand you know after the accomplishment you know how difficult it can be coming out of it. So that's why I'm here in Vermont. um I need to get my energy back.
00:23:45
Mike Ivanov
I need to get my mind cleared so that I can continue to push forward and I continue to do all the things that I'm, you know, that I'm currently doing right with the podcast, the coaching, the public speaking, you know, and, uh, lifting, running, jujitsu, ride my bike.
00:24:01
Mike Ivanov
And then let's not forget the, uh, you know, my full-time career, which is what I always mentioned last. Cause I just don't think that that's who I am. And I want to make sure to let you all know too, what you do as a job is not your identity.
00:24:15
Mike Ivanov
You need to have an identity outside of what your career is. So, you know, when you introduce yourself to people, it should be nothing about what you do for a living. There should be so many other things to talk about before you even get to that.
00:24:27
Mike Ivanov
I will really never talk about my career. I would much rather talk about podcasting, coaching, getting better, development, reading, all those types of things. But again,
00:24:38
Mike Ivanov
Make sure when you're pursuing a goal, you chop it up into small pieces. Stuff that is easily digestible. And today, I'm telling you, for some reason, this whole pedaling up this hill, really it really it really did something for me.
00:24:54
Mike Ivanov
And it might not do anything for you when I talk about it, but
00:25:00
Mike Ivanov
it's easy to get psyched out when you're looking at a giant, giant, giant climb.
Conclusion and Future Promises
00:25:06
Mike Ivanov
So, two-foot world. small pieces, step-by-step, stack those bricks.
00:25:12
Mike Ivanov
You know what I'm talking about. And yeah. So listen, I'm going to come back and and let's see if I can lay out a good podcast next week about kind of the climb.
00:25:25
Mike Ivanov
But in the meantime, I am going to go enjoy the rest of my night with the one person that I love that doesn't get a ton of my attention.
00:25:35
Mike Ivanov
And we're going to have a great night. So I hope that all of you enjoyed the podcast today. Just wanted to touch on a few things that I do to make me happy. And let me tell you, I've been riding bikes since I was a little kid.
00:25:48
Mike Ivanov
And you heard me on the last podcast saying that you have to do what you did as a kid to continue to pursue that happiness. So on top of chopping up your big goals into small bite-sized pieces, two-foot world, I want you to remember, two-foot world, I want you to think about it all the time.
00:26:05
Mike Ivanov
Anytime you're struggling, anytime you want to quit, zoom in a little bit, right? So you're looking at that two foot world. Don't look too far out because you can psych yourself out. And then on top of that, ah want you to get some rest.
00:26:22
Mike Ivanov
We'll catch you later.