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#526 Roll In Ready: How Wes Takes the Stress Out of Race Travel
69 Plays10 days ago
In this episode, we sit down with Wes Smith of Pro Bike Express to explore what it truly means to “travel like you train” and how his concierge-level bike transport service removes the biggest pain points of race travel for endurance athletes. We also share key announcements including TriDot Pool School, plus our Get Gritty Tip, the Workout of the Week, and a fun round of Bike Travel Bingo—because every athlete has a story. This episode is brought to you by our show sponsor Vespa Power Endurance and Velocity.
Learn more about Pro Bike Express at Pro Bike Express – Travel like you Train
#Grit2Greatness #CoachingTips #Ask A Coach #TriathlonCoach #TriathlonPodcast #303Endurance #TriDot #EnduranceAthlete #SwimBikeRun #GetGritty #TriathlonTraining #CyclingLife #RunningCommunity #TravelLikeYouTrain
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Coach Contact Info:
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Coach Lauren Brown
Lauren.brown@tridot.com
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Coach Rich Soares
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Rich Soares Coaching
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:17
Rich
Welcome to episode 526 of the Grit to Greatness Endurance Podcast. We are your hosts, coaches April, coaches Lauren, and Coach Rich, and we are so glad to have you here with us today. We have an amazing show, and listen, you know, we all know that traveling to a race is stressful. Between the flights, the hotels, race prep, the last thing that you want to worry about is whether your bike will actually show up one piece,
00:00:45
Rich
Oh, and you don't want to worry about putting it together too, right? So today we're pulling back the curtains on the world of bike transport for endurance sports with Pro Bike Express and the owner of that company, Wes Smith.
00:00:58
Rich
Wes, welcome to the podcast. We've been talking about doing this for a long time, my friend.
00:01:02
Wesley Smith
Well, I'm just thankful that actually you invited me. So it's been great. So thank you so much.
00:01:09
Rich
Well... We, you know, having dropped off my bike with Wes and picked up my bike from Wes a number of times, I know we are on on track for a a really good, fun conversation. I never leave an interaction with Wes without feeling just sort of giddy, I guess. So we're glad you're here.
00:01:33
Rich
Coach April, Coach Lauren, are you guys ready to get gritty?
00:01:36
April
was born ready rich.
00:01:36
Lauren Brown
Absolutely.
00:01:38
Rich
born
TriDot Pool School Event and Discount
00:01:39
Rich
ready. going to let you guys take it with the announcements.
00:01:39
Wesley Smith
Excellent.
00:01:42
April
Uh, Wes, great to meet you. And I'm so glad that you're going to be sticking around for the entirety of the show because we have a fun segment for you that is all about bike travel bingo.
00:01:55
April
So that's going to be a part of the show. i know you're excited for that, but first let's get into our, our announcement.
00:02:00
Wesley Smith
next time
00:02:02
April
We have tri-dot pool school coming up. on march twenty excuse me February 28th and March 1st here at the Air Force Academy. So whether you're a beginner struggling to feel comfortable in open water or an experienced athlete chasing podium spots,
00:02:22
April
Improving your swim technique can unlock some huge benefits, whether that's greater confidence, efficiency, or speed in the water.
00:02:23
Lauren Brown
Thank
00:02:31
April
So we're going to explore what good mechanics look like, why they matter, and how programs like TriDotPoolSchool can accelerate your progress. You can use the code all in one word, Rocky Mountain rate to get $125 off your registration with Pool School.
00:02:49
April
And we would love to see you there. It is beautiful outside. It's been a a great week. The pool is pristine and we want you there.
00:02:54
Wesley Smith
you
00:03:00
Rich
That's right. Awesome.
00:03:02
Lauren Brown
All right. And then well, Wes, I'm so excited for this conversation. i love the topic. So I'm really excited to get to know you a little bit more and hear your takeaways on bike travel. So
Introduction to Velocity Program
00:03:15
Lauren Brown
other announcement we have going on, really excited about this one. Velocity, you guys have been hearing us talk about it quite a bit lately. Velocity is live as of February first So you can join us for group rides every week with the grit to greatness coaches that you've learned to love.
00:03:36
Lauren Brown
So if you think we're fun on the podcast, wait until you experience the it's not easy feeling green feeling with coach rich or the get gritty mountain bike skill ride with coach April or the get after it arrow ride with myself, coach Lauren, how you can Join now. Monthly access to three live classes per week is just $79 per month.
00:04:02
Lauren Brown
And Grit to Greatness Ambassadors, talk to your coach about the discounts that you will be getting as well. You can subscribe now at the link that will be in the show notes. So definitely check it out. Join us. It is going to freaking awesome.
00:04:19
Rich
It's going to be freaking awesome this weekend, this past weekend with our ambassadors.
00:04:22
Lauren Brown
Yeah, it was.
00:04:23
April
yeah
00:04:24
Rich
That was so much fun.
00:04:26
Lauren Brown
And entertaining.
00:04:26
Rich
come
00:04:27
Lauren Brown
that' right I mean, you guys have to experience Rich's coach, all of us, but Rich led the led the ride and it was a lot of fun.
00:04:36
April
It was a riot. hu There is a story behind the feeling of green, which I love.
00:04:40
Rich
Yeah.
00:04:43
April
I, I, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna spoil anything, but you need to tack in with rich.
00:04:46
Rich
You got it?
00:04:49
Rich
You need to come to the class. So, you know, if we're going live in February, the official very first class, if you when you when you register and log in, you'll see our calendar and you will see that on Saturday, 7th.
00:05:32
Rich
And speaking of cycling, speaking of you know getting yourself race ready, how are you now going to take your bike to your next
Pro Bike Express Service Overview
00:05:43
Rich
race? So today we are joined by Wes Smith, the owner of Pro Bike Express, a Colorado-based bike transport and concierge race support service.
00:05:53
Rich
Trusted by athletes across the country, Wes has spent more than a decade helping cyclists and triathletes travel, i love this phrase, travel like they train, offering a worry-free way to get bikes and your gear and your extra wheels, right Wes, to major events without the stress of boxing it up or, you know, breaking it down or, you know, traveling with your own mechanic and,
00:06:11
Wesley Smith
That's correct.
00:06:20
Rich
you know, all the shipping and airline chaos or train chaos that can happen. His background spans athletics, the fitness industry, and years of working with brands like Schwinn, Nautilus, and Pearl Izumi experienced the ultimately ultimate, ultimate, experience that ultimately shaped the service-driven business industry that he leads today.
00:06:43
Rich
From cyclocross nationals to triathlon races around the U.S., Wes and the Pro Bike Express team have built a reputation for taking care of every athlete with professional level attention, no matter their experience. And you even like handle like ad hoc situations like absolute pro.
00:07:00
Rich
More on all of this. We're going to get right into it right now. Wes, thanks for being with us. We've got a few questions for you to unpack all of this story. So, bud, thanks for being with us.
00:07:10
Wesley Smith
Sure, willing and able when you're ready.
Wes Smith's Background and Pro Bike Express Journey
00:07:12
Wesley Smith
Shoot.
00:07:13
April
I love that you already said unpack rich. I mean, the puns are heavy tonight. Wes, my, uh, taking a look at your background, you've, you've had a very diverse, uh, gamut of experience from college athlete to working with Schwinn, Nautilus, and one of my favorite brands, Pearl Izumi.
00:07:34
April
Can you walk us through how those experiences shape the entrepreneur you are today?
00:07:35
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:07:40
Wesley Smith
I think it's always been in me. i've i mean I ran juice bar when I was in college, and I didn't really know that I was actually supposed to be an entrepreneur because when I moved out here from North Carolina, got a job with Schwinn, and then I just got sucked into the corporate world. Everything from manufacturing to inventory control to selling bicycles. And then long story short, through through knowledge and then through Pearl Izumi, the one thing that I actually ended up doing is getting laid off in 2008.
00:08:18
Wesley Smith
And during that time, I had the experience of traveling all over the country doing the for my age, somebody who actually knows what the USGP used to be. Does anybody know? It's a question. Q&A. Q&A.
00:08:34
Wesley Smith
United States Grand Prix for cyclocross.
00:08:36
April
Oh.
00:08:37
Rich
Oh, that's...
00:08:37
Wesley Smith
And that actually that actually ran through, basically started in San Francisco in Southern California. And then that would actually run through the course of basically across the United States, all the way to Holy Cross in Providence, Rhode Island.
00:08:54
Wesley Smith
And then from there, pros, some of pros would actually go to Europe and actually race in worlds or master worlds.
00:08:57
Lauren Brown
Thank
00:09:01
Wesley Smith
So I did the whole gamut of all of those races, traveled with my bike the entire time. And then through getting laid off, one thing that I realized is it's just a pain, barring somebody's trainer, riding by someone's car when it's raining or the wind's blowing 20 miles an hour. So when I got laid off, I was like, man, you know what? And not to give you all the background of everything that I've actually been involved with, but had some money.
00:09:29
Wesley Smith
I was like, I think I'm going to buy this business and start it and make it better than it actually was. And then through the layoff, I got a job and I was just actually a mechanic at Wheat Ridge Cyclery.
00:09:44
Wesley Smith
And then they said, well, Wes, you know, you seem a lot smarter than basically most of the common people here that actually work at the shop. Would you be interested in running this business? And long story short, before Wheat Ridge actually expanded their new
00:10:00
Wesley Smith
In 2006 or seven, when they expanded and made their building bigger than it was, they were invested heavily into triathlon. They had this one dude who actually sold this business to Wheat Ridge. Wheat Ridge bought it, then they put it in storage.
00:10:15
Wesley Smith
And it was in storage for two years. Now through that, all of that, basically they said, oh, Wes, why don't you run it? So I ran it for like about three months. And I went to, first race I went to is I went to Ironman CDA and figured out pretty quick on what triathlon was about because I'd never really transported triathlon prior to, and maybe not understanding triathlon.
00:10:39
Wesley Smith
I mean, I'm a cyclist by heart. So adding two more extra sports involved with it was, um, was,
00:10:44
April
Mm-hmm.
00:10:46
Wesley Smith
Intriguing. And then three months later, i bought the business and then I just made it better because they didn't really have a platform to basically do the service end of it as detailed as I would actually wanted it to be.
00:10:59
Wesley Smith
And then and bought it in three months and then paid it off in six. And they were like, how how did you pay it off? I was like, because it's mine. And I wanted to actually make it worthwhile and grow it. And I wanted to grow it more organically, because I'm kind of an old school guy. Like I'd much rather have people word of mouth talk about me versus actually social media. And that's why you don't see a lot of stuff on social media. I don't do a lot because I'd much rather actually have someone talk about me versus actually just read them and reading about me.
00:11:35
Wesley Smith
So long story short. So there you go
00:11:39
Lauren Brown
I love that. I love hearing the story of how it all just kind of comes around to you being able to provide this amazing service that takes so much stress out of the like triathlon travel experience. Because I'm sure anybody listening to this has probably had some experience where they were like,
00:11:59
Lauren Brown
man, there's got to be an easier way than what I'm doing right
Transition to Concierge Service
00:12:02
Lauren Brown
now. And so I'm just curious, and you you kind of touched upon this a little bit already, but what was the aha moment that made you decide to take over Pro Bike Express and grow it into the concierge style transport service it is now?
00:12:19
Lauren Brown
Thank
00:12:22
Wesley Smith
The second race that I did, i can't remember which one it was, is after Ironman CVA. And that's Coeur d'Alene for you people that don't know what the acronym stands for.
00:12:34
Rich
What year did you do it?
00:12:36
Wesley Smith
That would be 2009.
00:12:39
Wesley Smith
nine
00:12:41
Rich
I was volunteering that that year so I could race it in 2010.
00:12:46
Wesley Smith
And so Ironman CDA, the the race after that, it was so funny. And i've actually I actually put this in some of the notes that y'all were questioning me on this. But there's this woman I picked up in Ironman Texas. I mean, now i'm in Texas, and she wanted to go to this race.
00:13:01
Wesley Smith
And this was because I knew people within the industry, within Texas. And then they says, oh, can you come down pick up some bikes? So i did. I drive, meet She's in a boot with her foot because basically she gives me the whole story because the lot of triathletes, all I have to do is ask them one question, like, how's your training going?
00:13:15
Lauren Brown
Thank
00:13:23
Wesley Smith
And then you don't have to say anything else because they just spew it all out. on everything they've experienced.
00:13:27
Lauren Brown
you.
00:13:29
Wesley Smith
So she asked us, well, are you going to do this race? Are you sporting people? She says, no, no, no, I'm actually wearing this boot. I'm going to do this race. I had this doctor.
00:13:39
Wesley Smith
He's put a cleat inside the bottom of the boot so I can actually ride my bike with the boot on. So I remember i was like, oh, this is interesting. So anyway, so we go to CDA, and not CDA, but whatever race it was at. And then She gets there and she swims with it. She has a little baggie across her boot. Where's the boot?
00:14:02
Wesley Smith
Rides her bike, clips on her bike, rides the bike. Even though the doctor said you probably shouldn't do this because you had a small fracture in her foot. But you know, that's irrelevant because this is all about glory. So she ended up hobbling and the entire while she finished right before cut off.
00:14:22
Wesley Smith
And then, and I was like, you know what people invest so much time, money, life, I mean, family, non-family, i mean, you're alone a lot.
00:14:35
Wesley Smith
It's a lot of thinking time. And, i was like, and I've worked with pros of travel pros of transported pros before everything from USA cycling challenge. to basically nationals and cyclocross and worlds and astrocross is the funny thing is that I had just a point of haiku moment of clarity, for people that, uh, drink too much.
00:14:59
Wesley Smith
It was more about, uh, was like, look, you invest in all this time. It's like, if you're going to train like a pro, because you're basically putting in 22, 27 hours a week outside of your job, outside your family, outside of everything that you basically how already have on your plate to just to compete, do nothing more than basically finish a race.
00:15:20
Wesley Smith
And I was like, then that's where i came that's where I came up with travel like you train because I wanted to, And a lot of people ask, oh, what's travel like you train mean? was like, oh i went if you're going to invest all this time, you should be at least be treated like a pro versus actually if you're going to train like one, you might well be treated like one.
00:15:40
Wesley Smith
That's it. Mic drop. mike drop
00:15:44
Lauren Brown
that's I that though, right?
00:15:44
Rich
Shazam. shaza
00:15:46
Lauren Brown
It's like, if you think about it like You do. You spend so much time, so much energy, so much money training, and then you can let the experience be tainted by all the stress that comes with if you're traveling with your bike and like stressed out about that, where it's like, it's what it's such a worthwhile investment considering all all of the things that we spend money on in the sport.
00:16:06
Wesley Smith
Well,
00:16:10
Wesley Smith
yeah, very true. I mean, this is, I mean, I could tell you, mean, I have more stories than you can shake a stick at on regarding how many stories I could tell you, but I'll tell you one quick one on money-wise.
00:16:23
Wesley Smith
So i had two, a husband and wife, one was a lawyer, one was a that lived in Salt Lake City. They had gone with me several times before. I was going to Ironman in Florida.
00:16:34
Wesley Smith
And they had prepaid round trip was like 600 bucks for both of them. So about four weeks out from the race, they call me and says, Wes, you know, look, hey, we're not going to do the race.
00:16:47
Wesley Smith
We're going to back out. And can you refund money refund the money? And I was like, yeah, no big deal. I get it. Totally get it. No problem. So I go to Salt Lake City and I think they were in actually St. George. And then I drive down to Salt Lake and then to St. George. And then i cut across I-10.
00:17:03
Wesley Smith
And I can tell you exactly how long it takes to get anywhere in this country. Drive time, by the way. Sidebar. And so I drive to Florida. I get there. And had a couple people from St. George that I'd registered to, took their bikes. And they says, oh, did you hear about blah, blah, blah? And I'm like, i'm not going mention their names because I don't want actually.
00:17:24
Wesley Smith
ruffle any feathers, but basically it says, oh, did you hear about the couple that actually was supposed to come down here with you? He's like, nope. I was like, they wanted to drive because they'd gotten two brand
Bike Transport Mishaps and Lessons
00:17:35
Wesley Smith
new PX5s,
00:17:40
Wesley Smith
Cervalos. So they're about 12K apiece. And so they decided to drive from St. George to Florida. Florida. And going through the night, if you've ever driven through Northwest Texas, you realize that basically it's a high wind.
00:17:58
Wesley Smith
And long story short, they drive through the night because they're on a mission to get to the race. They had the bikes on a bike rack on the back of the car, which I don't understand, but that's okay.
00:18:10
Wesley Smith
And then they proceeded to lose the bikes because the but bikes blew off the car. And they didn't know it because they were driving through the night until the next morning. So they wake up and as most triathletes do, you know, they have a social media post. And so they posted a big thing on Facebook about basically their bikes.
00:18:31
Wesley Smith
Oh, we're, you know, desperate in need of bikes. Can we borrow some bikes when we get to Florida? Because we want to do this race. And most of the people that in St. George that knew this couple, they like, oh, they're just cheap because they wanted to save money.
00:18:47
Wesley Smith
because they wanted to drive. And the moral the story was is that they lost all sense of what I do and what I wanted to do.
00:18:58
Wesley Smith
I mean, sure, insurance might have covered it. Sure, they probably found some bikes that probably got lent to it, but that wasn't the experience that they wanted. And then, you triathlon's about experiences and about stories and about doing something that most people don't want to do.
00:19:15
Wesley Smith
And so most of the friends down there, they get on the floor and they say, oh, it serves them right. They should have gone with you, Wes. So anyway, and then there's another dude in Salt Lake City. He, his wife They come up.
00:19:31
Wesley Smith
I'm dropping off in Guthrie's bike shop in Salt Lake City. They end up, by she drops off her bike and her husband gets out and she he starts grabbing her bike and he goes, you want me grab your bike, honey? And she says, no, the only person that touches by my bike is me and Wesley.
00:19:47
Wesley Smith
And so he didn't ship my bike with me. He was actually going to, i forget which race it was. And he was going to work on his bike because he had to do things to it.
00:19:58
Wesley Smith
Because that's what everybody does. You know, they have to you know make sure that everything's perfect and clean and not dirty and not ridden before. And so we're never even ridden outside.
00:20:05
Rich
We're triathletes.
00:20:07
Wesley Smith
So he was working on it. They went through TSA, shipped it. gets there. TSA had actually opened up the box because that's what they do to make sure there's nothing dangerous in the box because it's a huge box and they don't know what's in it.
00:20:22
Wesley Smith
And ended up cracking the fork of the bike. And basically it gets there, figures it out. She comes, picks up her bike. And i was like, hey, where's your husband And I says, oh, he's at Home Depot right now because he was buying two metal bars and duct tape with ridging his fork together so he could actually ride the bike to do the race. Now, mind you, he did do the race, which I warned him. I was like, i don't know if I'd do that for you with a broken fork, but you go ahead.
00:20:56
Wesley Smith
So anyway, I'll stop there.
00:20:59
Rich
Well, you know, what I think your your horror stories here are are great. I think Lauren, Coach Lauren has one of her own. but yeah the the point is, yeah, traveling with your bike is like, it you know, anything can happen. Yeah.
00:21:13
Rich
You know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, this is the, we're going off script already. I wanna, the very first question I have for you here, Wes, is how long does it take to get from Boulder to Milwaukee?
00:21:18
Wesley Smith
All right, cool.
00:21:28
Rich
And what route do you take?
00:21:30
Wesley Smith
It's 14 hours and about 35 minutes. It depends on what time you drive. And then usually the best way to go if you were going drive, I would take 76 to 80, drive across, come down to Davenport,
00:21:44
Wesley Smith
probably get to Milwaukee. So if you left at four in the afternoon, you get there probably around 745 in the morning, the following morning.
00:21:54
Wesley Smith
But yeah, I-80 to to and then to, think it's
00:21:56
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:22:03
Wesley Smith
you cut across and then your reach milwaukee
00:22:08
Rich
All right. Well, so then you passed the test. You said, ask ask me ask me how long it takes to get from here to anywhere in the country and how to get there. i could tell you, test passed.
00:22:18
Rich
I want to lean into something and that, you know, you just talked about, you know you know, travel like a train, feel like a pro. You know, it is you know, and I'll just use my experience with you know Milwaukee, even though I know that we have,
00:22:28
Lauren Brown
is
00:22:35
Rich
Either you and I have done a lot of other races together or you and some of my athletes.
00:22:37
Wesley Smith
it We have history. we have history.
00:22:40
Rich
we left We've got a lot of history.
00:22:40
Wesley Smith
yes
00:22:41
Rich
We even have a Pike's Peak history, which we'll talk about that later. But, you know, there is nothing like, you know, you fly into town, you fly into Milwaukee, you...
00:22:53
Rich
You can go check into your hotel, drop off your bags, go down to the athlete village, grab your, you know, whatever. you don't even like, and then whenever you're ready, whenever you're ready to go out for your ride, like I just text you, hey coming over around 10 or whatever, you know, and bikes are already out, you know, on the like lawn where you're parked just right off the site there.
00:23:10
Wesley Smith
Thank you.
00:23:22
Rich
the you know the The bags are out in case we need them, or you know the the extra wheels or whatever, but it's like ready to go.
00:23:24
Lauren Brown
So I'm going to take look
00:23:29
Lauren Brown
at the.
00:23:29
Rich
Like I just walk up, maybe we we put some, you've got bike pumps there.
00:23:31
Lauren Brown
I'm going to take a look at the.
00:23:34
Rich
So we put a little bit of pressure there in the tires.
00:23:35
Lauren Brown
I'm going to take a look the.
00:23:36
Rich
i don't have to worry about CO2 cartridges, you know you know leaving them behind or buying new ones at the race because they just travel with my stuff.
00:23:37
Lauren Brown
I'm going to take a look at the. I'm going to take a look at the. I'm going to take a look at the.
00:23:44
Rich
and you know, go out for a shakeout ride, I come back and I just give the bike back to he just sits there like a valet until I need it again to go check it in for the race or, you know, and then after the race, when you're like tired, yeah, I'm sure you want to go walk five, six blocks of Milwaukee with your bike, you know, you know, with the prospect.
00:23:47
Lauren Brown
going to take a look at the.
00:24:02
Wesley Smith
And then spend an hour and half getting on the part, putting it in a bike box in the parking lot.
00:24:06
Rich
Yeah.
00:24:09
Wesley Smith
Yeah.
00:24:10
Rich
Remember that guy that last year, you know, I met him at the race and we were both going back. He lives right here in Highlands Ranch with me. And he's like, he goes, I'm just not looking forward to breaking down my bike. I'm like, dude, don't you just do what I'm doing?
00:24:25
Rich
Come meet Wes. And I'm like, he's like, that van right there, I'm just going to walk my bike over there. I'm going hand him my bike, and I'm done. And like, i my transition bag.
00:24:33
Wesley Smith
a Perfect stranger. Yes. Yeah.
00:24:37
Lauren Brown
That's amazing.
00:24:37
Wesley Smith
You know, it's funny.
00:24:37
Rich
and And he asked me like, how much...
00:24:40
Wesley Smith
It's, it's, it's, I would say, I don't want to wrap, but you know, it's very much to the extent on actually with travel, I train, you know, the thing about it is, is you will always have a place to hang your hat or your bicycle when you travel with us.
Proprietary Transport System and Service Philosophy
00:24:53
Wesley Smith
Like you, if you, most the time, a lot of people don't know it until they go with me. Cause there's always the 20 questions. How long you been in business? Do we have insurance? Who are you? Where did you grow up? Do you know anything about bikes? Blah, blah, blah.
00:25:06
Wesley Smith
And, but I try to explain people when they get the races, like, oh, if you want to go, you want to go tool around for 15 minutes, open up your legs a little bit.
00:25:06
Rich
yeah.
00:25:13
Lauren Brown
That's
00:25:14
Wesley Smith
If you don't want to take it back to your hotel, bring it back to me. I'll be the garage until you have to to go to bike check-in. I want to keep it simple and easy to the simplest way for the athlete doesn't have to do anything except do what they actually traveled there to do.
00:25:31
Wesley Smith
And that's the race, their best race. And that's the biggest thing that I want actually give them. So.
00:25:37
Rich
Yeah, that's awesome. I wanted to go somewhere else with this too.
00:25:41
Wesley Smith
Sorry, i just I just broke your concentration.
00:25:43
Wesley Smith
My apologies. My apologies.
00:25:46
Rich
No, brother, you are good. You know, one of the things I think is unique about your business model is, you know,
00:25:54
Rich
the way that you travel with these bikes, these bikes were like, first of all, talk about like the proprietary like system that you have built, like, because, well, talk about it.
00:25:55
Lauren Brown
you.
00:26:04
Wesley Smith
I can't, it's proprietary. I can't talk about it.
00:26:07
Rich
Talk about what, they talk about what somebody would see if they look at your van in terms of like how their bike is secure in their, in your van, as opposed to like, just, you know,
00:26:21
Wesley Smith
they're a lot There are a lot of different ways.
00:26:23
Lauren Brown
okay
00:26:24
Wesley Smith
A lot of this came through working at Prolozomi, working at Schwinn, seeing how even back in the day, back in the early 2000s, 99, 98, how people would transport bikes.
00:26:39
Wesley Smith
I mean, mind you, the world is in a different place with actually when it comes to basically the dollars that are involved with the bicycle, even though the mechanics and the engineering really hasn't changed that much, maybe just being a little lighter. But yeah, I fork mount all the bikes. I just take off front wheel.
00:26:58
Wesley Smith
And then a lot of times, just for the neuroses of basically a triathlete, I usually put their front wheel in a bike bag, keep it really simple, everything's clean, and no other bike touches the other one.
00:27:00
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:27:13
Wesley Smith
A lot of other different companies, every company that I've actually encountered, worked with, talked with, have all just shipped them fully complete and they just stack them deep and treat them cheap in a truck.
00:27:29
Wesley Smith
And that's fine. And, and most triathletes don't even know that don't even actually care to know that. They just know that basically their bikes being shipped to X, Y, Z, but I,
00:27:40
Wesley Smith
I got too much pride and too much OCD with myself taking care of someone else's bike or even mine because I always travel with mine as well.
00:27:51
Wesley Smith
And independently, just fork mounting to the wall, strap them down so nobody touches anybody else with your bag. And then basically when you come there, you pick it up.
00:28:02
Wesley Smith
ride it back to me and put it up into a bike check-in. So it keeps it really simple and i can carry, you know, I mean, I've done when the the Oot route used to be here in Colorado. Anybody remember that?
00:28:17
Rich
Oh, yeah.
00:28:18
Wesley Smith
That was only like a, that was a, for a hot second, I think they did it for two years here and it was a big Switzerland company. And I mean, I moved 750 bikes from basically color from Crested Butte to Colorado Springs in four hours.
00:28:36
Wesley Smith
So or how I move bikes independently for basically Ironman. They kind of hire me on the side and I'll move 2000 bikes in a day.
00:28:48
Wesley Smith
So up I don't know. That's all I got for you. i not. So I just take care of people's bikes like I would carry my own, very much like the golden rule.
00:28:59
Wesley Smith
So that's what I got.
00:29:02
Rich
Awesome. Thank you. I just, it's such a unique part of your business that, it's one of the things that makes me feel so confident, you know, giving you my bike. So.
00:29:10
Wesley Smith
thank you. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. That's nice.
00:29:16
Lauren Brown
I have a question that's, I guess this is kind of off script too, but it's just for anybody listening that also might not be in Colorado or near you.
Advice for Athletes on Bike Transport
00:29:25
Lauren Brown
What's What's like a common mistake that triathletes make when traveling with their bikes that they can maybe avoid?
00:29:37
Wesley Smith
If I were going to, and I have plenty of people that get kind of disheartened that I'm not going to particular race because they never do the final step of actually just going to my website and actually looking at basically, oh, he's going to go to this race or or basically, or even asking the questions it's like oh, can you put this race on the schedule?
00:29:55
Wesley Smith
And I'm like, sure, I can do that.
00:29:56
Lauren Brown
I'm in New Jersey, so I'm a little bit out of luck.
00:30:00
Wesley Smith
So know that basically like the big thing about it is that if you were going fly with your bike, there's so several different ways that I would tell you to do it. Cause I've done it every which way that anyone can think about doing it. And because I've,
00:30:11
Wesley Smith
done the cheap and dirty version versus actually going completely, uh, OCD and repacking it with more double bubble wrap and, Saran wrap and plastic and all my, all my bike clothes stacked in there.
00:30:26
Wesley Smith
So, if I were somewhere that I wasn't at or picking up a bike, I would tell you to do two things. You could rent a bike box or you can actually, if you're comfortable in actually taking apart a bike.
00:30:37
Wesley Smith
And that's one of the big things that most triathletes don't know how to do is because they all they're doing is training. And the last thing they want to know is how to do is actually take apart basically a drivetrain or basically derailleur hangers.
00:30:50
Wesley Smith
Two things I would do if you had a bike, regardless of the year, even though most manufacturers are actually more proprietary now, I would actually buy two derailleur hangers.
00:30:52
Lauren Brown
Okay.
00:31:00
Wesley Smith
and I would take them with you because that's the most common thing that usually breaks or bends. And that's one of the things that I would tell wherever you're traveling from is have two derailleur hangers with you that you carry on yourself to go wherever you're going to go. Don't put it in your bike box because someone will take it out and think it's really cool, whatever.
00:31:23
Wesley Smith
But I would actually, if you're comfortable in actually taking apart your bike, first route, I'd probably do Bike Box. But I wouldn't use an airline, my personal preference, because airlines are actually what most triathletes and most people that fly with their bikes, they only cover up to $1,500 in insurance coverage on your bicycle.
00:31:30
Lauren Brown
and ready to have some different things.
00:31:43
Wesley Smith
Make sure you fly direct if you're going to go anywhere. But if you are super concerned about flying with your bike, you can go that route and that's fine. But if you were going and if you had enough time, independent of where your race was at, I would tell you to ship it FedEx and not UPS. UPS treats your bikes like garbage.
00:32:08
Wesley Smith
FedEx takes a little bit more TLC to the idea of what's in the box, whether it's in basically cardboard or a cyan box or a cyan bag.
00:32:11
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:32:20
Wesley Smith
So one thing is that I would ship it. and mail it. You know, would probably go ground, ground anywhere in the United States. It takes from three to five days. Anything west of the Mississippi, or if you go anywhere south, it's going to take you three days, maybe four. i would ship it directly to your hotel and let them have concierge service or basically Airbnb.
00:32:41
Wesley Smith
And then that way you can actually just take out your bike, put it together, ride it around. And then before ship it out from FedEx, I would make sure that basically you get a return tag for it.
00:32:47
Lauren Brown
to say have question.
00:32:54
Wesley Smith
So after you race, you box it, you tag it, FedEx picks it up, you go home, it sees you there at your house. It's the easiest way to go if you're going to go that route.
00:33:05
Wesley Smith
So...
00:33:06
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:33:06
Wesley Smith
Now, a lot of people want to do that, but the question you need to ask yourself is like, okay, if I do that, that's basically five days on the front end, five days on the back end, two days for the race, maybe three, there's two and a half weeks right there. And then basically if you ship UPS ground, that's about probably,
00:33:23
Wesley Smith
between $250 and $300, depending on where you go, east west of the Mississippi. if you stay east of Mississippi, it's less expensive because there's more airports there.
00:33:33
Wesley Smith
But one thing that's actually really intriguing is that know that you'll probably spend probably south of Grand to do the race to get your bike there.
00:33:46
April
Mm-hmm.
00:33:46
Wesley Smith
And I mean, and that's cool. I mean, y'all got more money than you know to do with. You can check a stick at actually how much money y'all got.
00:33:52
Rich
Thank you.
00:33:53
Wesley Smith
Y'all just spend it freely. So the one thing is that... So the one thing that's really interesting is about is like, oh, this is oh, well, I don't know. It's like $4.50 to ship your bike and round trip.
00:34:04
Wesley Smith
Wes, don't know. That's kind of pricey. And I was like, you're right.
00:34:06
Lauren Brown
you.
00:34:07
Wesley Smith
It is. Because most people actually get sticker shock because they freak out. And they don't actually, they, human beings naturally are always in crisis mode about basically sticker shock. But if you can nickel and dime somebody to death, they'll never know. It's the death of a thousand stabs. They'll never know what hit them.
00:34:26
Wesley Smith
Because in the race, if you do a half triathlon, I mean, you're going to spend, you know, even if you've got a, I think I did all the math, but basically it's $8,500 if you want to do a half somewhere.
00:34:37
Wesley Smith
I mean, that's from soup to nuts. If you do a full, it's probably like probably around 11 grand. And let's say that includes training, travel, two pairs of shoes, two wetsuits, goggles, new tires.
00:34:50
Rich
Thank you.
00:34:51
Wesley Smith
You got to wear at least two kits because you want to look good for the day and a half before you actually have the race. You want to ride around in your posse and you run around like a herd of people wearing kits. don't know. I've seen it all. I've even been that guy.
00:35:05
Wesley Smith
But I would actually go FedEx. That would probably be the best way to go. But if you do go with me, the one thing I will tell you, I'm not going to mention anybody's names, but there used to be a bigger company.
00:35:14
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:35:14
Wesley Smith
They were kind of 800-pound gorilla in transport world. They had bike shops all over the country. And about three years ago, a friend of mine called me up because his bikes were actually in a hostage situation coming back from Worlds in Spain. And I So through all of that, long story short, what ended up happening was that I got all these bike shops on the East Coast and the West Coast and all over the country that I actually have that I utilize for races that or rides anywhere because like America's the most beautiful ride Lake Tahoe or
00:35:53
Wesley Smith
Collegiate National Championships, which is in Gulfport, Mississippi this year.
00:35:56
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:35:57
Wesley Smith
so I have plenty of bike shops all over the country. I have about 47. They're all over the country that work with me. It was kind of a hard deal because
00:36:06
Wesley Smith
the company that actually used to do this work were very... very lazy in the communication actually to the bike shop. Oh, you're going to have 40 bikes dropping off your bike in about for about two weeks. Can we just take up your floor space?
00:36:20
Wesley Smith
And bike shops don't like that. They hate it. so but anyway, so I've got in a bike shop. So if you're in New Jersey and if you have more, where I was going to go with all that, but if you usually have 12 or more bikes anywhere in any particular time zone, I'll come and pick you up.
00:36:36
Lauren Brown
That's enough.
00:36:38
April
Wes, that was so good.
00:36:39
Rich
Awesome.
00:36:39
Wesley Smith
Yeah.
00:36:40
April
Lauren, great question. Great question. I learned a ton from
Game and Personal Stories on Bike Travel Issues
00:36:44
April
that. And we might even pick up some more excellent tips as we head into the fun segment. Because these are like the wackiest things or the most common things, but suck, honestly, the suckiest things about traveling with your bike using airlines and such.
00:37:01
Lauren Brown
to the floor.
00:37:01
April
So I can't wait to hear about your experiences as a team here, uh, and work through this together, but we are calling this fun segment in honor of West bike travel bingo, because if you've traveled with your bike, you've probably lived this.
00:37:16
April
so the universal experiences that every triathlete has faced when moving their bike from point A to the start line. what How this works is I'm going to read a scenario.
00:37:28
April
Each one of you are going to either either their answer yes, no, or unfortunately yes. I want you to give me a one-liner story, and then there's bonus chaos points for any emotional damage.
00:37:36
Lauren Brown
Yes.
00:37:44
April
All right, here is the first statement. You have stood at baggage claim watching every bag come out except your bike.
00:37:55
Rich
Unfortunately, yes.
00:37:55
Wesley Smith
Oh, am I playing this too? Am i in this mob?
00:37:57
April
i
00:37:58
Wesley Smith
Or am I living vicariously through everybody else?
00:37:58
April
Yes, you are, Wes, you are.
00:37:59
Rich
Oh, you are.
00:38:00
Wesley Smith
Okay, okay. Okay.
00:38:01
April
no you're playing.
00:38:02
Wesley Smith
Yes. Okay. Yes.
00:38:05
April
All right, each one of you have said, unfortunately, yes.
00:38:05
Lauren Brown
Unfortunately, yes.
00:38:09
April
One-liner, what happened?
00:38:11
Rich
Mine was, i mean, like the shortest, most direct flight you can imagine from here to Arizona for Ironman Arizona. It just, for whatever reason, didn't make my flight and came in on the next flight.
00:38:24
April
Oh, good. Okay. All right. All right. Was, was it like 24 hours?
00:38:26
Rich
but but But I had to come back.
00:38:28
April
Yeah.
00:38:29
Rich
Oh, no, it was later that day. But still, you're like, Ironman over.
00:38:31
April
Okay.
00:38:32
Rich
yeah.
00:38:33
April
Where is it?
00:38:33
Rich
my iron man is over yeah yeah
00:38:38
Lauren Brown
So I'll just, I'll make it short saying it was total flight chaos, sort of missing the flight layover.
00:38:45
Lauren Brown
And I waited for 10 hours with my air tag showing that my bike was 800 feet away from me and they would not let me get my bike.
00:38:55
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:38:55
April
Booster Wes.
00:38:56
Lauren Brown
Yeah. man
00:39:01
Wesley Smith
Cyclecross National Championships 2007. seven it was in Kansas City. We drove, but we flew.
00:39:13
Wesley Smith
but i mean, we put them at UPS. That's how i learned the difference between UPS and Florida.
00:39:16
April
Oh, wow.
00:39:18
April
Yeah.
00:39:19
Wesley Smith
And UBS is a little bit cheaper, though.
00:39:21
Lauren Brown
you.
00:39:22
Wesley Smith
But you know back again, you mean, y'all got money. i mean, it's coming out years. So like I was spending money on FedEx. That's not an endorsement of FedEx, but I'm just letting you know. but
00:39:31
April
No, that's such good information.
00:39:34
Wesley Smith
And that's another reason why I brought up regarding basically shipping it to your hotel or Airbnb wherever you're going to go because they shipped it to the wrong location.
00:39:35
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:39:44
Wesley Smith
So they never, they I never got it until the following day.
00:39:44
April
Oof.
00:39:48
Wesley Smith
I got the pre-ride one hot lap before second class nationals and building it. But yeah, that's my.
00:39:55
April
Oof.
00:39:56
April
All right, next scenario, you have paid more to fly your bike than you did for your plane ticket.
00:40:02
Wesley Smith
No.
00:40:03
Lauren Brown
I didn't do the math, so it was probably close.
00:40:08
Rich
Yeah, I think I'm a no I'm but pretty sure I'm a no, but it was pretty close.
00:40:12
April
yeah yeah, yeah, it can, it can match it.
00:40:13
Rich
This is, yeah yeah yeah, I think they came down, like but but like the big carriers used to charge a lot more.
00:40:14
April
Yeah.
00:40:20
Rich
like 150 or 200 each way or two hundred each way or something like that.
00:40:25
April
All right. You arrived at a race missing one critical piece, whether it was your pedals, derailleur hanger, skewers.
00:40:34
Wesley Smith
Yes. Derrailer hangers. Yes, I'm living there living through my personal experiences on derailleur hangers. Yes. So I took apart, you know, take off the derailleur hangers so it won't bend, blah, blah, blah.
00:40:42
April
Oof.
00:40:48
Wesley Smith
Derailleurs is hanging out, blah, bla blah, blah. And end up in, when I get the box there, have none of the screws, bolts, derailleur hangers, anything to the bike. So it was awesome.
00:41:01
Wesley Smith
Highly recommend it.
00:41:02
April
Wow.
00:41:07
Lauren Brown
It's no for me.
00:41:09
April
Rich.
00:41:10
Rich
Yeah, I would say it's it is actually not happened. Knock on wood. But, you know, it is But I would say it's stressful. Right. Because like I'm like, wait, you know, because you're always like wondering, you know, where, you know, you're always wondering, like, are you going to do that to yourself?
00:41:25
April
Yeah.
00:41:27
Rich
You know, there's always that like low level anxiety. Yeah.
00:41:30
Lauren Brown
So this was
00:41:31
April
Isn't that the worst too?
00:41:33
Lauren Brown
yeah This wasn't me, but I was at a challenge, New Jersey and uh, race announcer was over the PA a asking if anyone had a spare wheel because somebody came to the race without a wheel.
00:41:47
Lauren Brown
So wasn't me, but that happened.
00:41:49
April
Oh.
00:41:50
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:41:58
April
Yeah.
00:42:01
Lauren Brown
Yes.
00:42:01
Wesley Smith
Yes.
00:42:02
Rich
Yeah. Yeah.
00:42:05
April
Yes.
00:42:09
Lauren Brown
Thousand percent.
00:42:10
April
yes
00:42:12
Wesley Smith
Yeah, and it's crazy on how much you know you how you value that and what kind of experience you want to have. Because, like, I mean, if you want to the nitty-gritty details, just think about your cortisol levels on basically how bad your sleep's going to be. Basically, just through basically the stress of actually, even if your bike's actually only only six hours away or if it's on a different flight and it's going to be in an hour, the fact that you have to drive back to the airport, spend probably another three and a half hours on the road panicking about something that basically shouldn't be,
00:42:44
Wesley Smith
and makes total sense i mean i think i approve and i think everyone should experience that so
00:42:50
April
I think that's probably what has happened to the listeners listening to this episode is you probably raised their cortisol just a little bit.
00:42:56
Lauren Brown
so
00:42:56
April
but
00:42:57
Rich
want that?
00:42:58
April
And that is exactly why athletes are rethinking bike travel altogether, because removing this stress changes everything about race week.
Conclusion and Pro Bike Express Information
00:43:07
April
And thank you so much, Wes, for playing bike travel bingo. everybody's cards have been officially stamped. And, uh, that's again, why we encourage you to check out, uh, Pro bike express, because this is one way to really alleviate the stress that is racing training and racing.
00:43:26
Rich
That's awesome. Wow, Wes, that was fun. It was so much fun adding you to the mix on this one too because of all of your experience.
00:43:33
Wesley Smith
Yeah, I really, again, I really appreciate you actually inviting me on the show. Maybe I'll be able to touch maybe one person out of the three that's actually on this call.
00:43:45
Wesley Smith
But other than that, I think it would be a great. But, you know, if anybody's curious about, like, what's going on, what's he doing, you just have to go to the website, ProPacketExpress.com.
00:43:55
Rich
Awesome, buddy. Well, we're gonna stay in touch with you. We've got a lot of folks that are going to Milwaukee from this area and we have all sorts of other plans this summer with, you know, camps and all of that.
00:44:07
Rich
So let's stay connected.
00:44:08
Wesley Smith
I'll do those too. Hmm.
00:44:10
Rich
Yeah, you know, April, the very first time i did Pike's Peak back with Bill and Kim and a bunch of other 303 folks. well What was the story? You were coming back from a race.
00:44:23
Rich
like you would like just you were You had the van, and you sagged our gear up to the top of Pikes Peak.
00:44:30
April
Wow.
00:44:30
Wesley Smith
That was actually, that was the same, that was the same day that the Ood route was actually coming back from Crested Butte to Colorado Springs because they were riding up Pikes Peak that day too.
00:44:40
Rich
Yeah, that's right.
00:44:47
Wesley Smith
So I was like, oh, I can just kill two birds with one stone and I can support this ride and they'll be on their own and I don't do anything else.
00:44:50
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:44:54
Wesley Smith
And so it was great. But yes, I do all of that. I mean, I carry the food, the water.
00:44:59
Rich
Yeah.
00:45:01
Wesley Smith
I'm back high you like you're.
00:45:02
April
Can you carry me up there too?
00:45:05
Wesley Smith
There's been many times, there have been many times where people are there think that I'm assuming, they assume that I'm some type of bike God.
00:45:05
Rich
Got a bungee cord I can hang on to?
00:45:12
Wesley Smith
There's like, oh, Wes, you want to go ride with us? I was like, yeah, I can.
00:45:16
April
no
00:45:16
Wesley Smith
I mean, sure.
00:45:18
Wesley Smith
but But anyway, so yeah, but yeah, I'll do it.
00:45:19
Rich
Awesome.
00:45:22
Wesley Smith
I mean, it costs a small fee, but yeah, sure, I can actually write for you.
00:45:27
Rich
We'll stay in touch. Don't go anywhere. Stay with us through the close here.
00:45:31
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:45:31
Rich
Here we go. Folks, thanks for checking in with us this week. Let's give a shout out to our show sponsor, Vespa Endurance. Vespa Power Endurance helps you tap into steady, clean energy so you stay strong, focused, and in the zone longer.
00:45:47
Rich
Vespa is not fuel, but a metabolic catalyst that shifts your body from using... sugar to use more fat as your fuel source. Vespa comes in a variety of products.
00:45:57
Rich
We've got a great discount for you. If this is your first purchase, you can save 20% off using the code 303ENDURANCE20. are a recurring customer,
00:46:08
Rich
You can save 15% anytime using G2G Vespa 15. Link is here in the show notes. Check them out. It really does make a world of difference. And don't forget to sign up for the TriDot Pool School in Colorado Springs and check out Pro Bike Express.
00:46:26
Rich
Thanks for spending time today on the Grit to Greatness Endurance podcast. If you've enjoyed this episode, please follow us on Instagram at g2gendurance.com. And leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. It helps us reach more athletes just like you.
00:46:43
Rich
Stay gritty, train smart, and keep chasing greatness. We will catch you next week.