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#536 Championship Mindset, Strategy, and Resilience
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USA Cycling Paracycling Nationals takes center stage as Coaches Rich Soares and Lauren Brown go inside championship weekend in Bentonville, Arkansas with nationally accomplished paracyclists Mike Murphy and Justin Mathers. This episode explores what makes paracycling racing unique, how athletes prepare for national-level competition, and why success goes far beyond podium results. You’ll also hear Grit2Greatness announcements, an expert Get Gritty Tip, championship mindset insights, and practical takeaways for endurance athletes and coaches alike. Show Sponsor: Vespa Power Endurance. Ask A Coach Sponsor: Vespa Power Endurance.
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction and Episode Preview
00:00:21
Rich
Welcome to episode 536 of the Grit Great Endurance Podcast,
00:00:25
Rich
We're your hosts, coaches, Rich Soares, and Lauren Brown, and we are on a mission help endurance athletes train smarter, race stronger, and build the grit it takes to achieve greatness. In this episode, we are going to take you inside the USA Cycling Paracycling Road National Championship right here in Bentonville, Arkansas. This championship brings together the nation's top paracycling athletes to compete for national titles and on one of the most challenging and athlete friendly friendly destin destinations in the country, Bentonville. It is like, I think they keep calling it the the mountain bike capital of the world.
00:00:59
Rich
um Lauren, I'm going to kind
Feature: USA Cycling Paracycling Road National Championship
00:01:02
Rich
of walk us through the rest of the intro here.
00:01:02
Lauren Brown
Yeah, very awesome. So yes, we have two special guests with us to help break down what makes paracycling racing unique, how athletes prepare for championship level events, and why this race matters far beyond podiums.
00:01:17
Lauren Brown
We're joined by two incredible competitors racing this weekend. Mike Murphy, one of Rich's athletes who competes as a blind paracyclist and Justin Mather, who shares his mindset preparation and race weekend strategy. So whether you're an endurance athlete, a coach or fan of the sport, this episode will inspire you with stories of resilience, teamwork, and high performance execution under pressure.
00:01:47
Rich
Yeah, this is going to be awesome. i've I've really gotten to know both of these gentlemen, and I've learned a lot, actually, from both. So hopefully um our audience will learn a fair amount as well. So going hear from these guys
Upcoming Events and Community Engagement
00:01:59
Rich
just a second. But real quick, I want to just remind everybody that our 2026 summer training camp, it's three-day training camp, um June 25th through the 27th is that registration is live. We are taking deposits.
00:02:16
Rich
We have an early bird pricing through the end of April, through April 30th, May 1st. The price is going to go from $800 to $1,000. All you need is $100 to hold your space, though. And if you have a referral, we've got a 20% discount for you. Go to the website, the Grit to Greatness Endurance website, and take a look at the camp details.
00:02:39
Rich
full schedule is in there. The itinerary is in there. The special guests are in there. This is a really value packed um ah training camp and it all culminates with doing the Boulder Sunrise Triathlon sprint or Olympic distance. That is going to be on the fourth day on Sunday. So we're camping.
00:03:01
Rich
Thursday through Saturday and then racing Sunday, we are going to have a team house ah right there outside of the Boulder Reservoir as kind of our headquarters. And we've got all sorts of great evening events planned as well. So you're going to come away with some great skills, some confidence and some confidence. And we're really excited to have you join us.
00:03:24
Lauren Brown
I cannot wait. I say it every time, but I'm so excited to have the race finisher for the weekend and being like representing Grit to Greatness as a community, all of us in our kits and everything.
00:03:37
Lauren Brown
And one other quick announcement, if you are looking for community and you were looking for community specifically while you were Grinding it out a little bit on your indoor trainer, jump onto one of our Velocity rides. You have probably heard us talk about it before, but we do have three live coached rides Tuesday, Thursday morning at 6 a.m. Mountain Time and Saturday at 8 a.m. Mountain Time. So check it out. The link to activate your account is in the show notes and you'll be able to
00:04:12
Lauren Brown
Check it out. Ride for free for two weeks. See how you like it. And we we'd love seeing your faces on the rides with us. So definitely check it out.
00:04:20
Rich
And I love seeing your faces too, but i'm going to apologize this weekend. Tomorrow is going to be a replay ride because I am not going to be teaching a live velocity class.
Athlete Spotlights: Mike Murphy and Justin Mather
00:04:30
Rich
I'm going to be here with these two guys, which is a great segue because I want to get into this conversation. Let me do a quick pair of introductions here. you might recall Mike Murphy, Mike was on our podcast about eight weeks ago.
00:04:45
Rich
Mike Murphy is a nationally accomplished paracycling athlete. After sustaining a traumatic brain injury back in 2018 that resulted in his vision loss, Mike redirected his competitive drive into adaptive sport.
00:04:58
Rich
At the highest level, he is a multi-time national champion in time trial and road racing, a three-time gravel national champion. and a decorated competitor at Invictus Games and Warrior Games, earning medals across cycling, swimming, track, and rowing. And as a blind stoker, Mike brings exceptional power, discipline, and mental toughness to the bike.
00:05:21
Rich
All I have to do is say, hey, Mike, more watts. And I got them. His long-term goal is to make Team USA and compete at the 2028 Paralympic Games. And he is deeply committed to consistency recovery and high performance growth, both physically and mentally. And I've also got Justin Mathers here. Justin is a veteran paracyclist, national champion, Project Echelon athlete known for his intelligence composure and tactical excellence.
00:05:50
Rich
This is a little bit of me, you know, from what i from what i you know what I've learned about Justin so far, but I'll let you guys decide for yourself. But both time trial and road race formats and and crit, I mean, we just beat each other up on that crit race in Arizona. For sure.
00:06:07
Rich
As a military veteran, Justin brings a disciplined analytical approach to racing, often excelling through smart positioning, pacing, precision, and race day decision making rather than emotionally driven moves.
00:06:19
Rich
Justin is widely respected for his ability to read races, adapt to changing conditions, and execute under pressure, making him one of the most thoughtful competitors have. have run across, honestly, in paracycling and the paracycling field, let alone any field, and an ideal voice for athletes to be listening listening to here tonight so or what are watching live or watching on our YouTube channel.
Race Preparations and Strategy Discussions
00:06:41
Rich
So guys, we've got two races um coming up. We've got the the time trial tomorrow, 25.2K four lap format. We've been practicing the last two days. We've got the road race on Sunday, the 66K road race.
00:07:00
Rich
Real quick, maybe maybe just kind of share, like, what did we do this afternoon? Talk about the the the athlete check-in and that UCI i um bike audit.
00:07:13
Rich
Can take it first? Yeah, so to do a time trial for UCI or a USAC event, you have to First put your time trial bike into a we call it a jig and to make sure you know your aero extensors are not too high or they' your your saddle is not too far forward or too far back. There's minimum standards for ah you know how far or how low or how tall you know your bike has to be.
00:07:45
Rich
to be to Just to keep it fair within all categories of heights, category one, two, and three. I don't know how it is through the triathlon. I don't know if y'all have those standards. We do for a draft legal.
00:07:58
Rich
Okay. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So same, probably the same concept for USAC and UCI races. We just got to make sure our time trial bike is compliant. Clients.
00:08:10
Rich
Road race is little bit different. Our road bikes are just, I think it's just minimum weight. And then your handlebars have to be, they can't be too far in. Yeah. yeah um Personally, I like the candid levers all in, the aerodynamic you know kind of tucked in, but had to straighten them out for this race. So um yeah, that's that's basically kind of what we did today. Just make sure our bikes were legal across the board. And every athlete has to do this, so it's it's fair across the board with everybody.
00:08:43
Rich
And you had minor adjustments to make with yours. but Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's it's always funny because like six months ago, Bike was golden, good to go. Then I was 2 mil off on my height of my extension. So I had to lower it 2 millimeters.
00:09:00
Rich
So not too big of an impact. Now on the other, on your on your bike though, we actually had to make a pretty, we actually didn pull out a hacksaw. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of, well, one, we did we got a whole new setup. So we just purchased through, thanks to Project Echelon, we ended up being able to purchase huge discounted zip, TT bars, a whole new cockpit.
00:09:21
Rich
So super excited about it. And then we adjusted it according to coach's size. So he got comfortable. And then the rules were like, just kidding. We're gonna make it a little less comfortable. So had to, the bars wouldn't go any further. The bike obviously couldn't come back further his seat because my face is right there.
00:09:40
Rich
So they ended up chopping off the front of the handlebars, which at the end of the day, it's It kind of works out because we were swapping stems. We were trying to figure things out. So luckily, Steve's one of the main mechanics for Team USA and super quick, phenomenal, on the spot. got everything everything squared away for us. So it's just kind of cool how like how Justin said, one minute you feel like the bike's perfect, it gets checked, and then all of a sudden, dink.
00:10:04
Rich
So luckily being prepared coming in a few days early, we've already been able to run through the course two days in a row now before everybody else. So we kind of had the course figured out and then even being able to get the jig sell tonight, we have to do it again in the morning before the race. So it's not like, Hey, 10 minutes before the race, crap, we got cut our handlebars. We're going to do X, y and Z. So obviously it's it's a little hectic. You're like, dan I have to cut handlebars. What's going on? But Reality is that's how it has to be. So in order to get the bike legal, it was a cool process. And like Justin said, it keeps keeps it fair across the board. So I'm not the only tandem that has to do it. All the others as well. So it just makes sense. so
00:10:47
Rich
Yeah, again, shout out to the mechanics and just the whole USA cycling team there. you know Everything was very efficient. The idea is like you'd go make those adjustments and you'd go back and get it validated.
00:10:59
Rich
So very efficient process.
00:11:00
Lauren Brown
Very nice.
00:11:01
Rich
and you know we're just We're just stoked we've got all this great equipment, as you heard. And Justin is actually lending me his Aero helmet, one of his Aero helmets.
00:11:12
Rich
So it's a team event, or at least it is for us.
00:11:15
Lauren Brown
nice
00:11:16
Rich
um We're all kind of you know kind of root for each other. So hey, let's get into the let's get into the interview and learn a little bit here.
The Importance of Competition and Mindset
00:11:24
Rich
let's and this question is for you know let's start with you Justin how does racing a national championship change your mindset compared to like let's just say for example like what's the how is this mindset for this race different than Valley of the Sun in February I think i think just we could say like One of the biggest reasons why chose to even be here is because the field size is so big now. So, you know, previous years, uh, paracycling national championships, the fields have not been as big.
00:11:58
Rich
And so, uh, you're racing against, you know two, three, four, five other people. Well, now this year, i think there's, ten c five s ten c four s you know,
00:12:11
Rich
three or four C threes now. So now we're talking about 20, 30 athletes all racing together. So, at least in the road race, like it's, it's going to be so much fun. So, and I just got picked up by a Pinarello. So I'm sponsored by Pinarello now. So I finally get to erase my dogma against, you know, all other pair of athletes. So it's huge. It's gonna be so much fun.
00:12:33
Rich
And I know, and I mean, now we're finally actually racing other tandems. Yeah. We were the only tandem. I think that's kind of piggybacking off of what Justin said. I think the the differences, like, so for Coach and I, we knew we were, the big goal for him and I racing together was national championships.
00:12:50
Rich
We used Valley of Sun as a practice race. Let's say, Let's figure out the tandem together. Let's, let's get it out of the way. And it was amazing. We had three days of time trial road racing and then a crit, which tendons don't normally do. So that preparation, our bike fit together up in Boulder, couple days out there training together. And then now rolling in here, it's kind of like the perfect lead up. And then like Justin said, this year compared to, we both kind of been in the cycling scene about the same amount of years.
00:13:20
Rich
Like, yes, I have a bunch of national championships and it's it's amazing. I love the stars and stripes, very patriotic. This year actually carries weight. Not that the old ones didn't mean anything, but this one, one, there's, we have four tandems we're racing against. So it's actually a full podium.
00:13:36
Rich
paralympians Yeah. And they're, they're monsters. So it's like, we actually, the competition is real and extra bonus. There is a,
00:13:47
Rich
extra weight to it. If you take first in your category with a full podium, you get a slot to go and race at world championships. So it's not just, Hey, you get a Jersey. Hey, you get to call yourself a national champion, which is phenomenal. It's great for sponsors, but now it's here's, here's our big goal. We're trying to, I mean, it's a stepping stone national championship and you get to go in world championships and then Paralympics is kind of what our big picture goal is. So everything is the stars are aligning.
00:14:14
Rich
obviously now we just have to show up. So it's, It's pretty exciting.
00:14:18
Lauren Brown
I'm going to be like waiting for the updates from Coach Rich on how things went.
00:14:19
Rich
Just gonna show
00:14:25
Lauren Brown
So looking at, you know, what's going on tomorrow, and i know now it's going to be up against other athletes. Aside from looking at podium finishes, when you think about the the weekend ahead of you, what does success look like for both of you?
00:14:44
Rich
Not getting dropped in the first lap.
00:14:47
Lauren Brown
There go.
00:14:49
Rich
These guys, these guys are, yeah, right?
00:14:49
Lauren Brown
Multiple layers of success.
00:14:53
Rich
Layers for sure. Um, you know, it's, it's taken a long time to get to this point. So, you know, I would say, man that's what, what does this success look like after this race? Um, man.
00:15:11
Rich
Obviously coming out of you know with competition, coming out with Stars and Stripes is awesome. is you know You can always say that's successful. But I really was not lying. you know Not getting dropped in the first lap, that that is so huge. Because now I'm racing against you know people with lesser disabilities than I do. right And so like these guys are just hammers. And I've raced against these guys for you know the past year or two.
00:15:36
Rich
And these guys are strong. you know i I'm not going to say that i'm I'm one of the strongest athletes out there. I feel like I can hold my own, but some of these guys are just their beasts on bikes, you know? And so, to say that I hung with them at the end of the race, but it's just, that is good. That's that's great for me.
00:15:58
Rich
And I think so kind of.
00:15:58
Lauren Brown
may
00:16:01
Rich
Another piggyback. same Same concept, but I guess it's I've got two parts to it. Obviously, Stars and Stripes is is the ultimate goal. That's why we're here. want to win, get gold, crush souls.
00:16:13
Rich
But at the end of the day, the cool part about paracycling, and any sport, but I feel like in the para world, it's a lot more tight-knit community. We've all been through adversity in different ways.
00:16:26
Lauren Brown
Mm-hmm.
00:16:26
Rich
And at the end of the day, it's a family. Just like doing here at the at the bike check and the athlete meeting tonight, you run into these athletes that have either similar other blind athletes that I know or other people that you've seen at races that you become friends. Like, yes, when I'm on the race line, I'm going to crush your soul. But once we finish, ge I'm going to give you a hug. You're my brother or sister. So it's kind of that that cool dynamic of, yes, we're racing against each other.
00:16:53
Rich
But at the end of the day, the family just keeps getting larger. And the cool part about this race,
00:16:56
Lauren Brown
Thank
00:16:59
Rich
I mean, they' they made some changes. There's a lot more promotion into this event, whether it's social media, different leadership, whatever whatever the changes were, there's a bigger athlete pool. The fact that there's four tandems this year is phenomenal. And his field is ginormous. So for me, that chance that one, I'm not only coming in and racing for a a podium, one, coach and I are going to be able to show what our training has paid off. Like, like is it's only been...
00:17:26
Rich
little over three months since he's been coaching me. And I know on paper through my training rides, my numbers are way better. And even I want to see like, we have personal goals. i already know like, yes, this course is going be harder than value. The sun.
00:17:40
Rich
However, I'm pretty positive. Our numbers are going to be better speed wise, power wise, everything. Then that was two months ago. So I think our personal goals, yes, chase, chase the other teams, see if I can hold my own,
00:17:54
Rich
If we can hold our own against this other young, fast Paralympic team, which is, I mean, the ultimate goal is the competition. But I want to see our success together as as a coach and athlete combo, and then just ultimately raise awareness of the sport.
00:18:01
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:18:09
Rich
The fact that we're in the mountain bike mecca of the world, and they're hosting paracycling national championships for the road is huge. So the more we can get in on the map, like, yeah, I'd love to make the Paralympics and go down for greatness. But at the end of the day, I want to inspire future athletes, younger kids, whether you're blind, disabled in any faction, you can get out on a bike and let's as race. it's It's possible for everybody to do so.
00:18:34
Rich
Big picture, that's kind of what it's all about. So, I mean, there's there's definitely the fun podium aspect, but kind of how how you asked. That's kind of the big goal is just to spread love. Yeah. You guys will a big impact on others. You really will.
00:18:48
Rich
I want to be in that. Try to. It's awesome.
00:18:52
Lauren Brown
Yeah, I was saying thinking the same thing. I'm like, no matter what, I'm positive that people listening to this are inspired by both of your stories. And looking at you three, all three of you, Rich, I'm going to throw this in here because you're racing
Managing Pre-Race Nerves and Training Insights
00:19:04
Lauren Brown
too.
00:19:05
Lauren Brown
Look super, super calm and and collected, right?
00:19:05
Rich
Okay. I'm just the equipment.
00:19:09
Lauren Brown
So how do you manage the nerves and the excitement, like the 24, 48 hours out from race day? Right now, you guys all look super chill.
00:19:22
Rich
I think it's planned training. So and I mean, the the the the week following up to this has been everything has been planned, like every single day is like, you know, same volume, but lower intensity kind of like into a taper.
00:19:40
Rich
And to where like, we're into this, hey, our body is our our bodies recovered.
00:19:40
Lauren Brown
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:19:46
Rich
We're now you know, ah HRVs look amazing sleep scores look good if you look at garment like we we're we're in the green right and so um yeah coming into this i think you know trying to have the least amount of stresses possible you know so like completely eliminating the things that are not putting us into situations or scenarios where like we have to stress about something, you know, doing something completely early or, you know, being somewhere, if we want to do a training ride, do it early in the morning so that we can leave room for, for example, if we later it waited this afternoon, it was raining all day, you know, try doing openers, you know, in the rain on the course, you know, with,
00:20:31
Rich
with U-turns and roundabouts. So I think it's just mitigating distresses pre-race day. know we've been We've been doing this long enough to where like and we know kind of what to do what not to do.
00:20:46
Rich
you know i'm I'm still learning. People will probably think I've been doing this for a decade. I've only been doing this for two years. like i I got into this to lose weight. you know I lost the weight and I'm being fast on it. So...
00:20:58
Rich
um okay we're we're just yeah We're just trying to like yeah mitigate some of the stresses.
00:21:04
Rich
Did I hit it pretty good? Yeah, you hit it great.
00:21:05
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:21:06
Rich
I mean, Mike? um Yeah, I mean, guess pretty much the same thing. The Murphy's Law, last name is Murphy, so I've shown up to races and what can go wrong definitely goes wrong. I showed up here.
00:21:19
Rich
TSA ripped my bike out, put it back in there, and I'm missing a bolt on my seat stem. So luckily we're here two days early, went to a bike shop, got things squared away. So I think mitigating stresses is huge.
00:21:33
Rich
But also like one thing that I've learned since losing my sight is learning that it's okay to ask for help. The simple fact that as a blind athlete, I can't do anything. I can't race here without coach.
00:21:45
Rich
Like, yeah, he he calls himself support, which he is. It's huge support, but I literally would not be able to raise without him. So for me, internally, it's a pride thing. Like I can sit here and be as proud file as i want, but I wouldn't be able to do things without it. So just being able to accept it. Like, yes, you know what? I can't do everything on my own.
00:22:03
Rich
And that was one of the hardest things to overcome. So now diving into that, having the community around you, right? Like when I'm back home, I've got a routine. I'm doing school schedule. spending family time, work, a whole bunch of stuff. So life is stressful.
00:22:17
Rich
I wanted to make sure when I'm here, all I'm worried about is race. And especially being around these two guys, I mean, Justin and I are best friends. We talk constantly. He's got a lot of knowledge. I pick his brain on things. Coach is obviously a wealth of knowledge. So knowing that if I'm freaking out or I'm having a medical breakdown, if they need to either put me in check Or if it's like, hey we we can lean on each other. So truly surrounding yours yourself with the right people makes it easy. Like, yeah, people look and they're like, you guys ready to race. And it's like, yeah, it's because I'm not putting myself in a scenario where I'm going to be super stressed out about it. So making making sure you're around the right people and you have the you have the perfect support group. Because even back home, it sucks that I'm away from my fiance, but I know she's got my back 100%.
00:23:04
Rich
both Coach and Justin, their support system back home is fully supported. So our entire dynamics around us are are set and ready to go. So it's making sure that you have all your P's and Q's. And i mean, that's just kind of what keeps me going.
00:23:22
Rich
Yeah. And, you know, for me, I think what's kind of different about this race is, you know, I'm not thinking about my focus isn't on me, honestly, you know, like when you're out there for your own race, right, your focus is on yourself.
00:23:34
Rich
I think, you know, I've been really kind of focused on learning. think, you know, I've just been so like trying to soak up things from everybody and everything that, you know because this these are new experiences for me, really.
00:23:46
Rich
and and yeah and And you guys hit on two of my favorite sayings, basically. you know Luck favors the prepared, and there's no penalty for being early.
00:23:57
Rich
I mean, those are two things to live by. you know if you can get it done now, do it now. Always get ahead of... You just never know what's going happen. you know You never know what bolt's going be missing or what the weather's going to hold for you.
00:24:06
Lauren Brown
Thank
00:24:11
Rich
So, yeah. Good lessons, both of you. um Awesome. Well, let's um let's kind of dive down here. let's I'm going to get into kind of hit some of these other questions I had lined up here. about this? What training sessions give you the most confidence heading into a race like this? like What's your what's your favorite but che share your favorite workout, each of you?
00:24:37
Rich
i could tell you gelly pick one i can I can tell you the biggest impact. and they're almost They're not the same because I would love to pick two and I hate doing them, but they had the biggest impact right before a race. right and it's My coach is Zach Gregg. He's one of the performance directors for Project Echelon.
00:24:59
Rich
um Guy is a time trial genius and and and a great coach. He has me doing, and sometimes like lately, i've before like Valley of the Sun, I would do one and I know it's coming. every Before every race, I know it's coming.
00:25:16
Rich
It's always some some some type of threshold workout. and Whether it's a three by eight minute ah you know just threshold threshold.
00:25:29
Rich
five by six minute or a i've done i done a two by you know fifteen minute threshold in by the end of the 15 minutes or eight minutes or 10 minutes, I just, I am ready to like this.
00:25:43
Rich
I am done because really that's, that's, that's what I plan on holding for a race, right? That's the power. That's the position of a time trial bike or a road bike that I plan on holding for a race for that long, if not double or longer, triple it.
00:25:57
Rich
And if I can knock that out, I know I'm ready. you know, so it gives me confidence that I, um' I've knocked this workout out and I'm, I'm ready because after this, I know I have, you know, a rest day, some openers, you know, and it's race, it's time to, it's go time. Right.
00:26:17
Rich
Um, so like that's, I know when I do that, that workout and I slam dunk it or get pretty close to it, like I know I'm ready, you know, um And then to give you example before this race, I think I hit all time power of three times, eight times for three times for eight minutes, uh, like three days ago. So I am, I feel like I am primed. And so like that is going into this with confidence. It's huge, you know?
00:26:45
Rich
So, um, yeah, that's, that's the one workout that I know that I hate, but I love it because it gives me the confidence going into a race.
00:26:46
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:26:55
Rich
How about um say so Same mindset. I love anything that's going destroy me. I'll kind of look at them. I know sprinting helps. So 30-30s, 30-90s, those are great workouts and I know I'm going to blow myself up. yeah That's my second pick. Really the ones that my coach has planned for me. Normally, it's a Saturday. So Saturdays, I kind of internally, like I'm excited because I know it's going to crush me. But at the same time, I'm like, damn.
00:27:22
Rich
Because not only is it threshold and holds. So I have different variants of whether it's a three by 12, five by eight, whatever they are, they're different variants. But then it's also to three hour ride.
00:27:35
Rich
So it's like, dang, zone two, I gotta gotta stay on the bike that long after and then I gotta go to work. yeah So it's like, I have to plan ahead, i wake up super early before work. And it's like mentally preparing for it. And now, so with with I think I've explained on the last podcast with being visually impaired,
00:27:53
Rich
I can't just jump on a bike like these guys, throw on my Garmin and say, hey, I'm going to go do workout. So mine is on the trainer. I throw a trainer road and it comes in pre-programmed. So traditionally I would use ERG and that's great because it helps me hold it and you can't lie. Like you have to hold whatever your numbers are.
00:28:12
Rich
And now I've learned how to either take it out of ERG and I can blow up the numbers so to tell me where I'm at and kind of just hold. So I've been doing that or i can just up the percentage.
00:28:23
Rich
And now that I've been learning heart rate zones and where I should be, Justin always dogs on me because they show my heart rate zones after. And it's like, you weren't even trying. And I really like i felt like I was trying, but I didn't know before. hundred And now that Coach and i have been working together, I can tell, hey, here's where I need to go.
00:28:40
Rich
So actually using numbers and data and truly pushing myself. Like when I'm done with that workout, it's like, oh, I need that coaching change. I need the recovery. So it's it's it's super exciting. And then on top of it, like, yeah, I felt great. Coach messaged me, hey, good job.
00:28:57
Rich
And it's just, like, all-encompassing. So I think those workouts are my favorite. Like, yes, they they suck because you know that they're coming. It's going to beat your body up. But as, like, that mean that's the whole purpose I'm doing it is is it's getting me towards that goal.
00:29:09
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:29:10
Rich
So coming into this race after I've had those great sessions lets me, like, That's where my my confidence is. I'm ready to go. Like, yeah, I know these other guys have been training and prepared, but I don't feel like they're as prepared as I am, which hopefully they feel the same.
00:29:24
Rich
But at the end of the day, like I know who I am and I know i can I can push. So that's kind of where those workouts really help back it up. And, you know, you did just such a great job of like doing the high intensity work and then really letting it recover.
00:29:41
Rich
letting your body recover before you're ready to load again. and like you really let you really like a lot of people struggle with that, right? They just they want to go, go, go, go. go But it isn't how much this is how much this is how much training you can do. It's how much training you can absorb.
00:29:56
Rich
You know, well, that's where it's paid off having you because I was that guy. Internally, I still i want to go. I want to do bike. I want to go for a run. I want to do a CrossFit workout. I want to do all this stuff.
00:30:08
Rich
But then once I've actually learned have to do a zone two tomorrow. Okay. Get on and do it. And then you're ready for the next day. Now that I have the discipline, it makes sense because my legs are super fresh. So once you let pride and ego go away and you actually just trust the process, it makes a hell of a difference.
00:30:26
Rich
For sure.
00:30:26
Lauren Brown
You to go easy so you can go hard.
00:30:29
Rich
Yes, ma'am.
00:30:30
Lauren Brown
I'm going to shift a little bit to equipment talk.
Equipment and Personal Rituals
00:30:35
Lauren Brown
So what I would like.
00:30:37
Rich
Did you hear that? That was awesome.
00:30:40
Lauren Brown
Oh, well, this is going to be around um evaluating your helmet choice first. So we're going to go there um and then I'll have a ah follow up question.
00:30:53
Lauren Brown
So how do you evaluate helmet choice? So if you're looking at aero versus ventilation versus comfort. So that's that's number one.
00:31:02
Rich
Okay, i'll go I'll go ahead and get this because i I'm... Hang on, this is like a 30-minute answer. Yeah, this might be a 30-minute answer. So me and my coach will base on our time trial bike, our top fit, based off our base off the helmet.
00:31:19
Rich
So we will adjust how far out I'm stretched out or my reach coming in based on what helmet I have. So like um I had a Giro Arrowhead 2, the one that jumbo Visma, the long nose one that comes straight over your your shoulders, gnarly looking, right?
00:31:37
Rich
My coach completely hates it. But I have put up some of the fastest times I have ever put out on a time trial bike on this helmet. um Completely hates it. And so now I'm on a wing dream now.
00:31:49
Rich
Right. And to me, i don't feel like I look as arrow, but I am putting out faster times on the wing dream now. So like, um, I would say to answer your question, I think sometimes you have to fit your upper body, uh, or at least your arrow bars to your helmet.
00:32:11
Rich
And we kind of already know there's ah there's a list of the fastest TT helmets. Like we're not, I'm not saying we're all all rich. We can't go to, i we don't know unless we go to a wind tunnel, right?
00:32:24
Rich
But there's like the poor man's wind tunnel where like you can go. What I've done in the past is I'll take the tallest hill around me in Fort Brad, North Carolina.
00:32:37
Rich
And I'll basically take another person at the bottom of the hill and I'll basically on the phone and say, I am doing a kick go at the top of the hill and I won't pedal. I will hold a position until I get to the bottom of the hill and they will stop pocket.
00:32:55
Rich
It is like the, uh, the, the ghetto man's, you know, it's poor man's, you know, wind tunnel. Right. Cause I mean, if you hold a position on the same day,
00:33:01
Lauren Brown
Works.
00:33:04
Rich
there's going to be a difference by time you get to the bottom of the hill. right you know Same aero suit, same shoe cover, same everything. only thing you change your helmet. There's going to be a you know second or two second or three second difference between each helmet.
00:33:18
Rich
And then just multiply that by each kilo. And if it saves you a second or two seconds down a hill, imagine what it's going to say to you after 15K or 30K or if you're doing a time trial for 100 miles, you know, we're in the minutes now, right?
00:33:34
Lauren Brown
All right.
00:33:36
Rich
So a second can, in the end, I mean, I don't want to be on that time trial bike anymore than anybody else does. Right. So, um, another thing he said was about like comfort.
00:33:48
Rich
I don't care how comfortable I feel in that aero helmet. Right. I can be, there could be like literally no airflow. I don't care kt personally because my time trial is only 15 K. Like you're lucky if I even bring water in my, on my bike for a 15 K, you know, like,
00:34:06
Rich
by USAC and UCI rules, you're supposed to have water inside your water bottle, but they don't say how much you're supposed to have in there. And so I literally, I'll just go, you know, or I'll fill her up halfway, right? Just in case like I have like a dry mouth emergency on the bike, I might just, you know, you know, wet the mouth and go, right? But um yeah, i'm not I'm not worried about heat, my face sweating because as soon as that,
00:34:33
Rich
<unk> We're looking at 20 minutes on the bike. I'm taking the helmet off in 20 minutes. It's an FTP test. you know It's not quite the same factor as an aero helmet in Kona or something.
00:34:46
Rich
No way.
00:34:46
Lauren Brown
Right.
00:34:47
Rich
like i would I would want to be comfortable with all the vents there.
00:34:49
Lauren Brown
Drastically different.
00:34:51
Rich
yeah Mike, how about you? How about the... you get um sweet I guess not as as drastic as... I basically let him do all the testing and then take his word for it.
00:35:01
Rich
So... Like for this race specifically, one, I'm on tandem, so I'm in the back of the bike. okay Obviously, both of our air positions matter, but I'll go based off of what the data says, other people are in the wind tunnels, and then kind of Justin and Al-Pis to get, hey, what what helmet's going on now?
00:35:18
Rich
So even for this race, the company I work for, Fat Tire Cycles, And our Oakley sponsors, they ended up helping us get some, ah we have the new Velo mock matching Oakley helmets, which are the fastest road ones. They've got the vents, they're super light, super aero, and per testing, they're the fastest one at the market. Very comfortable too. It worked out great to especially so UCI rigs you're supposed to for blind man you have to have red helmets so not only are we gonna look good and feel good but we're gonna have the fastest helmet so for this scenario and then I grabbed Justin a white one too so road racing wise we'll be able to have that option and then when it comes to the TT it's same concept whatever the best option is
00:36:01
Rich
I've got a a laser, which is one of the fastest ones. Feels great, fits me perfectly. And then Justin's actually going to let us borrow one of his for a coach to throw on there.
00:36:11
Rich
And at the end of the day, like for me, comfort doesn't matter. i never used to care about like aero. I figured I could push, but after racing at this level, every little marginal gain matters. So whatever can get us that much quicker.
00:36:25
Rich
I'm going to suck it up and just power through with whatever works. So that's kind of how I've dove into my my helmet choices. Yeah, and I'm um thrilled to be honestly just kind of looking pretty flash with our matching helmets. And speaking, all this aero makes me want to just kind of get a little more aero here.
00:36:47
Rich
Hey, so I'm going to bring us home um with the interview here. I'm to quick little lightning round with you guys. you know I'm kind of living this with you, so this is going be kind of fun. This is just kind of a preview, I guess, of what's to come.
00:36:59
Rich
Real quick, I'm going read out a real quick question. Real quick, just give me a quick you know kind of 10-second answer. What's a pre-race superstition or ritual that people wouldn't expect that you have?
00:37:14
Rich
That's a tough one. We're supposed to be fast for this? Oh, man.
00:37:18
Lauren Brown
Lightning fast.
00:37:18
Rich
you got you gotta You must have a pre-race ritual. pre- you know I don't know. i think and mike and his old pilot used to make fun of me because I would wake up super early. lay out all my stuff and then like go do a warm up like three hours before the race. Right.
00:37:34
Rich
And so it would be obviously a warm, a three hour warm up, three hour, it's like a 20 minute warm up three hours before your race is obviously not going have dividends for your race, but like I'll do like a pre-workout, a warm up before a warm up, you know? So I'll realize, oh man,
00:37:51
Rich
That warm up was way too early. And then I'll go do another warm up because like, oh, now I feel good. You know, so yeah it doesn't surprise me. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, that's awesome.
00:37:59
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:38:00
Rich
Mike? I don't know if it's expected or not, but I definitely have to do my personal time with God. Get my get my prayer in. And then kind of go the opposite direction that throw on some gangster rap and kind of get in the zone. So that's God may not like it. God and gangster rap. Okay. All right. What's your favorite thing to eat the night before?
00:38:23
Rich
all right what's what's what's your favorite thing to eat the night before Pizza, pizza, pasta, pizza and pasta. I think I can do. and We actually had pizza earlier. So we're gonna do pasta later. We um we i'm good yeah yeah good we got it all covered. How about morning up? What are we eating for breakfast? Honey Nut Cheerios with honey, with honey, with honey on top of it.
00:38:44
Rich
Honey on extra honey on the honey. Yes. Double oatmeal for a fruit mix and Greek yogurt. Yeah, I'm kind of i'm not I haven't quite done the Honey Nut Cheerios in a while. That actually sounded pretty awesome. Especially with all that extra honey. it's That's a gangster moves and move.
00:39:04
Rich
How about, um all right, how about this? How about what are we going to be craving Sunday after our race? This is such a bad answer. and like If my coach found out, like The scrutiny.
00:39:18
Rich
So before it be post race meal, like me and my buddy Dean, it'd be the worst possible thing that you could possibly do to you. But like, we would go to Taco Bell and go get like,
00:39:31
Rich
cheesy gordita crunches or like the the the protein nuggies and just just kill them on the way home and just be and be a wreck the next day right but that was that's what we always craved right it was just the taco bell chicken nuggies and cheesy gordita crunch i don't know if we're gonna do that this time like there's there's some some pretty cool places here in bentonville like as far as like food so like um i might get a little exotic with it you know my buddy kai is turning me on to like some like bougie coffee places so like now i kind of like the little little design what do they call it the froth yeah on the foam at the fall oh yeah bougie there is it right there
00:40:12
Lauren Brown
Me too.
00:40:14
Rich
What about you, Mike? What are we craving after the race and something? Reese's and Mountain Dew. Reese's and Mountain Dew. Those peanut butter bars? Peanut butter bars. That is a good one. That is a good one.
00:40:25
Rich
Guilty pleasure. Yeah, we found those at the grocery store, the Walmart market. I think, you know for me, it's always a cheeseburger. I don't know why. i always always crave a cheeseburger and fries.
00:40:36
Rich
Like that is like my go-to after Iron Man.
00:40:36
Lauren Brown
me too
00:40:39
Rich
Lauren, how about you?
00:40:40
Lauren Brown
That's literally rich.
00:40:40
Rich
don't think.
00:40:41
Lauren Brown
I'm always like, wherever I'm at, I'm like, we have to find a burger spot. If we can find one that is like known in the area or just any burger spot. But I literally, i like to have cookies from a good cookie shop that are like in transition waiting for me and then have a burger, which I know is backwards, but that's what I do.
00:41:00
Rich
down
00:41:03
Rich
now You live in New Jersey, too. Do you ever go down to like what's so was the the famous baking show? The guy lived in there's a famous
00:41:14
Lauren Brown
Oh, wait, um he it's right down the street from um David Burke, or no?
00:41:22
Rich
the bold tv show and all that.
00:41:24
Lauren Brown
David Burke, I think, was on TV. i'm I don't know who. what Guy Fieri?
00:41:27
Rich
Oh, geez.
00:41:28
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:41:30
Rich
No, this is a fail. I can't believe when when this comes when I when it comes to me, um it's going to come to me like five, five seconds after we we close out this podcast.
00:41:40
Rich
But anyway, I do have a question, though.
00:41:40
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:41:44
Rich
Do we have we figured out why Bentonville is the Mecca of mountain bikes and there's no mountains here? That's pretty good.
00:41:54
Lauren Brown
Oh, good question.
00:41:54
Rich
Well, I think it's like trail riding. But can we take gravel bikes on a trail? Yeah. Or is that like what you frowned upon? I don't know. i guess but we have to send some more time here to find out.
00:42:09
Rich
Well, hey, Lauren, thanks for helping me chat with these guys this evening.
00:42:14
Lauren Brown
Of course.
00:42:14
Rich
This has been a blast.
00:42:16
Lauren Brown
Have a great time, you guys. Like, crush it this weekend. I can't wait to hear about it.
00:42:20
Rich
You will sure hear about it. We'll close this out with a shout out Vespa Power Endurance. this is our This is our nutrition friend, fellas and ladies. We love this stuff. it is It really does help you tap into steady, clean en energy so you can stay strong, focused, and in the zone longer longer. It's not actually a fuel. It's a metabolic catalyst. It really doesn't have carbohydrates in it or, you know, sodium or any of those things. It is a catalyst that shifts your body to use more fat and less glycogen as your fuel source. It comes in a variety of products or or you know for different athletes.
00:42:58
Rich
Check it out. There's a concentrate version too, which is great to put in your you know just your hydration bottle. Higher performance, less sugar, faster recovery. There's a discount code link here in the show notes. The code G2GVespa15 will get you 15% off of your order anytime.
Episode Close and Endurance Tips
00:43:17
Rich
Thanks for spending time to spending time with us today on the Grit to Greatness Endurance Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow us and leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts and YouTube. It helps us reach more athletes like you.
00:43:30
Rich
Guys. Justin, Mike, guys, we're going to kill it. Heck yeah. that side Stay gritty, train smart, and keep chasing greatness. We will see you all next week.