[00:00:00] Hello, friends. Welcome to the Champions Moto podcast. And I can't wait to welcome my co-host, Maria Parker. Hey, Maria. Hi, Kelly. How are you today? [00:00:10][10.3]

[00:00:11] Just doing great. And Maria, as you know, we are in for a real treat today as our guest is a world record holding endurance cyclist. He was never a competitive swimmer, though. Recently he has added swimming to his workouts. I can't wait for our listeners to hear his amazing story about a full recovery from a broken neck. He has also got quite a resumé, which includes having been a visiting lecturer at Oxford. He's an author of multiple books, including two books of poetry and a renowned expert on doing business in the digital age. Our guest, Geoffrey Rehder, has worked at the U.N. and has testified before Congress. But Maria, before we bring in your fellow endurance cycling champion, can you tell us a little bit more about chess? [00:01:02][50.9]

[00:01:03] Sure. Kelly, I'm so delighted that my friend Jeffrey Ritter is coming on the show today. He's the current overall world endurance recumbent cycling champion at the twenty nineteen Borrego Springs, twelve hour world time trial cycling championships. Jeffrey completed one hundred and eighty one miles and twelve hours. Jefferys overcome enormous odds to live out his dream of becoming a champion cyclist. His currently living what he calls Life 2.0. But we'll let him tell us more about that. Jeffrey, so glad to have you on Champions much. Welcome. [00:01:36][32.9]

[00:01:37] Well, thank you very much. I'm looking forward to spending some time with both of you. [00:01:39][2.7]

[00:01:40] Yes. Welcome, Jeffrey. So, Jeffrey. Yeah. Tell us about what is life to point out mean? What's the story behind that? [00:01:48][8.4]

[00:01:50] Well, back in the early part of this decade, 2011, 2013, I made two trips to the French Alps to fulfill lifetime dreams, you know, to ride in the French Alps, to put your wheels on the same roads for those names of legends have been painted and to conquer the mountains there. And coming back home after the second trip where I had actually written the full stage of the tour solo that, well, what's left was winning podiums in state and regional time trial champions for my age group. Well, what can we do to really up my game? I decided, inspired by those people that have raced the race across America, that I would try to qualify. After all, I was now 60 years old. And so we focused on a race qualifier that was out in Ohio where I grew up. And it was really cool to contemplate racing on the same roads that I had learned how to love cycling. [00:02:46][56.7]

[00:02:48] We got out there to do a training run, get familiar with the road and 18 miles out. Well, LifePoint 1.0 came to an end. We don't really know what happened, but I was riding solo. My wife and so experienced sag supporting me behind me in a car that she'd stopped to get the day's waters. And when I came to, I had somehow fallen off a bridge nearly twenty three feet. We think that probably I just hit a gap between the tarmac and the concrete of the bridge was out in the country. So there was a low guardrail and somehow I must have lost control and gone over the guardrail looking up. It was like, what is this rusty underside of a bridge? I was riding my bicycle was it turned out that was the beginning of Life 2.0. I survived, but my sternum had been broken in half on the boulder. A couple of ribs were broken. But the real injury was that my head had whiplashed and broken over half the length of my neck. C five. C six, seven, two one. T to all of them required attention over the ensuing days of surgery. Well, as I sat there on the gurney the next morning, having not almost made it through the night, the doctor asked before the first surgery, Do I have any questions? I looked up at him and I said, Yeah. Will I be able to fly to the University of Oxford to teach for the first time? And he had that kind of a look that we would use an acronym of W.T.. It looked at my wife and her eyebrows go up and he said, when would you be going? Because he hadn't even done the surgery yet. I said, well, eight weeks from today, squeeze my hands at let's make that your your goal. And indeed, eight weeks later, neck brace still on suitcase and one arm laps top in the other. I insisted that I could get on the airplane, fly to London and teach. [00:04:55][127.1]

[00:04:56] Wow. Wow. [00:04:57][0.9]

[00:04:57] Can you give us the. A little tighter timeline. What year was this? What month was it? And what like when you actually saw the underside of the Rusty Bridge? [00:05:09][11.4]

[00:05:09] Did you have feeling in your limbs? Were you in pain? Can you guess? [00:05:15][5.6] [00:05:16] Yeah, I yeah. I'd like to hear that, too. How did you get help? Because you were invisible. [00:05:20][3.6]

[00:05:21] I'll try to to that. August one, 2014, approximately nine 16 a.m., according to my Garmin, which actually recorded both my elevation over the guardrail and the descent after birth to be graphic, I we calculated that I hit the boulder with my Sterman is at a physical speed of 26 miles per hour. And when I came to, I heard vehicles on the bridge and realized they couldn't see me. [00:05:51][30.2]

[00:05:52] How would I get help before I die? Guy could tell I was broken. So the pain was intense, particularly on the left side. And I felt my cell phone in my back pocket. It was on my exposed right hip. And I said, well, OK, clearly something's broken. I could puncture a lung, I could sever an artery, but I have to get my hand down my side, pull the cell phone out and try to call my wife. Otherwise, she won't find me. She could drive right past me. She may have already done so. And very slowly, I pulled the cell phone back up, look at it, and realized I'd lost my glasses. [00:06:28][36.1]

[00:06:31] So I squinted, extended and eventually found the way to redial. [00:06:35][4.3]

[00:06:36] And that was one of the things that was so fascinating was here's this phone, 20 feet under a bridge in Ohio, connecting to a network that connected back to our home in Virginia and then reconnected back to my wife, who was, in fact, just four miles away in the car. [00:06:49][13.3]

[00:06:51] And I said, I'm down. It's bad. I'm under a bridge. She had to find the bridge. [00:06:57][6.0]

[00:06:59] So as it turned out, they put me on a gurney, put me on a backboard, put me in a neck brace and took me up to the road. [00:07:11][11.4]

[00:07:11] The helicopter came in, took me to the hospital. And, you know, of course, the first thing they do is they in trauma, they cut all your clothes off. So here I am, an agile 60 year old with a neck brace on in front of twenty five doctors and nurses running around my body. [00:07:25][13.6] [00:07:25] And the doc next to me has the helmet that I had. And he says to the recording, he says, helmet inspection has occurred. There is no evidence of visible impact on the helmet. But wow, this is a nice helmet. It's the same one I have got. [00:07:42][16.4]

[00:07:44] So you're you're pretty with it because you remember these details. Oh, yeah. And I said, oh, do you ride, you know, just for fun or do you race like I do. And I said, oh, I just ride for fun. What about you? And I said, well, I was training to race across America. And at that point, there was this wash in the room and they realized they didn't have a weekend cyclist. They had a hard ass athlete. [00:08:06][22.0]

[00:08:07] And I think it changed the quality of the care that I received from that moment on. [00:08:10][3.6]

[00:08:13] Tell us about that. What do you think being a hard ass athlete did for you in the circumstances? [00:08:18][5.1]

[00:08:21] It perhaps made me realize that I was a hard ass athlete. [00:08:25][3.8]

[00:08:29] Two days after the surgery, the PTA came in to see if I could take a couple steps up and down in their exercise room. I did. The nurse said it was okay if I wanted to get out of bed. Use the toilet. Sit down in the chair. And I said, okay. I got up the steps and then now I'm back in the room and I get out of bed on my own and come back and go and sit in the chair for the first time. And I sat down. I said, hey, that's just like a squat. [00:08:57][28.7]

[00:08:59] You know, I don't have to just sit here and I'm standing up and down doing squats into the chair. And the nurse walks by and says, what the heck are you doing? I'm doing squats. I'm in recovery. And at that moment, the nurse who had also held my hand through the night the first night said, either you get back into bed or I'm taking your or your gown off because you're not going to do this. [00:09:24][25.0]

[00:09:26] Oh, my. So we end. [00:09:27][1.1]

[00:09:27] I mean, I just I've seen Jeffrey's x ray or part of it anyway. And, you know, now at this point after the surgery, you have a bunch of metal in your neck, but it was titanium and carbon fiber. [00:09:39][12.2] [00:09:40] So I was lighter. It's so important to recycle. [00:09:44][4.1]

[00:09:45] You know, I'm mesmerized by this. How do you how do you break your neck in all those places and still have mobility? I just want people to have that info. [00:09:54][8.5]

[00:09:56] The there were two surgeries, one from the front where A, you bolt was attached to the vertebrae known as T1 and T2 in the front, essentially providing a platform for the rest of the work. That was then done the next day by going in through the back to titanium rods are screwed into C5, C, six and seven. The disc between C five and C six was packed with cadaver bone. So that would all Fuze and C six and seven disc was pulled and replaced with cadaver bone to Fuze. So C, five, six and seven are essentially one vertebrae held together with titanium. [00:10:36][40.4]

[00:10:37] And the second answer is a lot of hard work. I mean, it's a miracle that I had mobility at all. The doctor said another eighth of an inch. And I would have been in terms of the disc, you know what a severed the spinal cord enough that I would have been a quadriplegic. Had it gone to a quarter inch, I just simply would have been dead. And so by those measures but my left side was extremely weak and extremely uncomfortable. And all I can say is it just took nearly a year of physical therapy, weekly visits to my PTT chiropractor to build and regain the space around the nerves that allowed my scapula and my left arm to regain most of their functionality. [00:11:26][49.4]

[00:11:28] Now, Jeffrey, I know that you had all and tensions to get back on a traditional bike to continue your training. [00:11:36][8.6]

[00:11:37] Sure. Well, you know, I never I never questioned that I was going to be right back. [00:11:42][4.6]

[00:11:42] Right. So. So tell me what what happened with that? [00:11:45][3.0]

[00:11:46] Well, the doctor had a great metaphor for it, said that after the surgeries that look, dude, Peyton Manning was told it's his next surgery. He couldn't play for a year. So you stay off a bicycle for a full year as it. Yes. And a week later, I wrote. You mean on the road? Correct. [00:12:03][16.6] [00:12:05] OK. And this is when with the cycling application called Swift had just come out. [00:12:10][5.3]

[00:12:11] And so I was one of the early users because I could set the computer screen on the floor because I can look up the my range of motion is still prescribed by the titanium rods. But I could look down and I spent that year training on the bike, on the trainer indoors, looking at the computer screen, waiting for the first anniversary and good friends join me. Big day celebration. And within two miles, I realized I could never write a regular bike because I can't look up, which is also a good way of making sure I don't flirt with anyone that's taller than I. [00:12:48][37.0]

[00:12:50] Now, you told a story once that I have just stuck in my mind about and about realizing I think you were eating ice cream and with your wife and Durham and yours. It was a beautiful day. And you were and I don't know when this falls in the timeline, but you were watching cyclists go by. Can you tell that story? [00:13:09][19.7]

[00:13:11] Well, to go back to your very first question, so weeks after all of this, I'd come back from Oxford and my wife had just retired from her federal career. And so we were just talking. Now what? She has no job. I have a broken neck. And she just looked at me and said, well, we're starting Life 2.0. Nice. And that's where it came from. And as Maria knows, that's tattooed on my arm, on my forearm where I see it every moment, my waking days. So the answer, your question. We then moved down here to where we now live in Durham, North Carolina, and unable to ride a bike. [00:13:48][37.3]

[00:13:52] She was trying to I mean, by now I'm really depressed. And let's, you know, we've moved to a new home. I can't ride a bike. She took me to an ice cream store. We're looking out. Moreover, the landscape. And there's this. Ribbon of road in front of us. And two cyclists are going to. And you could tell it's very emotional. One year later, having discovered recumbent bikes. I rode that same truck. Shouting, cheering, screaming with joy. He's right. [00:14:32][40.1]

[00:14:32] Yeah, yeah, so beautiful. [00:14:34][2.1]

[00:14:36] Yeah, I mean, so for those listening, like, you know, a traditional bike, you know, was formerly called a diamond frame and even that and it can hurt your neck. I, I get a sore neck on a diamond frame. So the the transfer to a recumbent for you was just. The joy and the glory of having this, can you describe your positioning and what it felt like and how it's kind of put the fun, fun back into biking for you? [00:15:07][30.7]

[00:15:08] Well, you know, I saw this video of somebody on YouTube going up the same mountain I had written in France, the tallest one called the Liberté, which anyone knows from Twitter for us. And he was on a recumbent. [00:15:24][16.0]

[00:15:26] Wo. [00:15:26][0.0]

[00:15:27] So recombines aren't just for old people. These may actually be serious bikes. And then I read about these people that raced on recumbent. And they raced long. And as we know, Maria Parker had ridden the race across America and won on a recumbent. Holy cow. And she's just two hours away from me. So I reached out to the Parkers and they were gracious enough. Based on the story, to lend me one of their bike frames, not the racing one. So I'm more upright style. It was known as the songwriter and said, see if you can write this. I brought it home and took me four weeks to have the courage and find the balance to ride down my driveway. [00:16:16][48.2]

[00:16:19] But once I cross under the street, I found my balance. I said, we're going to do this. [00:16:26][7.0]

[00:16:28] And so the this the bike that I now race on has a 30 degree seat, meaning that from the ground moving up, it's at a 30 degree angle. Not the most aggressive flat, almost flat, but because I can't have the range of motion in my neck to say, touch my chin to my chest. I have to have a higher seat angle, which means I just have to figure out how to make myself faster, even though I have more aerodynamic resistance than, say, someone riding the fully speedy recumbent. But once you find your balance, it's very easy to go and then learn how to go fast. [00:17:05][37.5]

[00:17:07] What model? What model are you writing? [00:17:09][1.6]

[00:17:09] Jeffrey, it's now the Silvio 3.0, which is the 30 degree seat. [00:17:14][5.1]

[00:17:16] So so, again, I want to back up a little bit. In case I mean, it doesn't understand a recumbent bike is where you pedal out in front of you and you sit rather than sitting on a saddle. You sit more like a chair. And they've been around for a long time since the since the early part of the 20th century. [00:17:33][17.3]

[00:17:34] But they're gaining in popularity now. [00:17:36][2.1]

[00:17:36] And and people know that I actually own and run a company that sells this this product called Cruise Bike. And when Jeffrey came to our to our house in North Carolina and told us his story, we were, of course, very moved and hoped that we could help him, you know, with our bike. And so we just said, hey, take this. Take it for as long as you need it. Take your time. You know, we didn't want him to fall off Hembree, Ray, break his neck. [00:18:00][23.9]

[00:18:01] So but then Jeffrey sent me a little video, kind of giving me him me more of his background. And of course, then I was really delighted when he got got back to us and said, yeah, I like this bike. This is going to work for me. But then since then, Jeffrey's been doing some amazing things on his cruise bike. Silvio. Tell us about that. [00:18:21][19.9]

[00:18:21] Well, I figured if I fell off the bike training for growing long hours and distances, I should figure out how to do that on on the recumbent. And about 18 months after I got the bike, I ended my first twelve hour race and it was about 104 degrees. [00:18:40][18.7]

[00:18:41] I remember that I was racing to it was hot. [00:18:43][2.1]

[00:18:44] It was very hot. But I got to the point toward the end of the day that I said, OK, that's that's enough. And I sat in the pits and thought of. All the people that I knew could be injured or could not. [00:19:00][16.1]

[00:19:00] Right. I can't sit here. You have to get back on the bike. And so I got back and did another. [00:19:10][9.3]

[00:19:10] Twenty seven miles before the end of the 12 hour period. That was my first race and I was completely hooked. Endurance racing is a team sport. It may seem like there's only one person on the bicycle. But behind that person is a coach and usually a crew of one or more people that are responsible for taking care of everything except pedaling the pedals. And that's true regardless of what kind of bicycle you're on. In my case, it was my wife who went from just driving a car behind me to make sure I had my water bottles to learning how to be an entire crew for an endurance cyclist. As though she's been a big part of that. And that was in 2017. And at that point, we continued to endure these twelve hour races. I engaged a coach, got stronger. Lost weight, and have continued to now be competitive. So that last year not only losing winning the world championship, but I also won the twelve hour U.S. National Championship on the recumbent. So that was really nice touch. [00:20:15][64.6]

[00:20:15] What a great comeback story. It's just so, so inspiring. What advice would you give to someone who might feel discouraged or even depressed when they have an enormous setback like your accident? [00:20:29][13.7]

[00:20:30] Since my own recovery, I've reached out to. Other cyclists who have suffered neck injuries and I've said to them, everybody can talk to you about what it takes to come back, but only someone who truly has been there. Deserves to be listened to. Because zero. So you can do this and it's the new normal and it'll take time to recover, but you need someone to say, dude, you only have one fracture to see one. I have five, six seventy one, two. And I came back to winning championships. Get your butt going. And so I think that that trick after a serious injury is two full. No one else can find the will to fight except the person that's been injured. You can be showered with love, cradled with affection, carried through the highest quality physical therapy that someone can imagine. But unless you want it, unless you intend to defeat the injury, you'll never get to where you want to be. The tattoo that I mentioned that's on my arm of Life 2.0 shows called the Good Liberté, which, as I mentioned, is one that I've crossed on my own bicycle. And. What I do it I show that tattoo to folks, I say, look, this represents the mountains of life I have conquered. [00:22:03][92.7]

[00:22:04] But it also represents the mountains. I will conquer. And you need to see them and decide that you will beat those mountains. Whether it's learning how to ride a bike on your back, whether it's finding out how to go in the water when you can't turn your neck, whatever it is, learning that you're going to race on a recumbent rather than a regular bike, because that's the only thing you can do. You have to find that will to fight and to to just simply say, no matter what the discomfort or the pain, whatever, or what the obstacles other people see. You don't see them. You just are going to work through them and be on and get to the top of those mountains. [00:22:50][46.0]

[00:22:52] It sounds like that that will to fight is really natural for you and I. One of the things that we'd love to do for our champions is see things that they may just do naturally and they don't even realize it. I feel like one of the things that you used here that you're not specifically drilling down on is goal setting and visualizing and having that 2.0 in the mountains. And the goal of getting back on the bike, the goal of going to lecture at Oxford. Can you talk a little bit about that, about what you were thinking about? [00:23:29][37.5]

[00:23:30] Good question. During the last year, which we're all going through the pandemic, a lot of athletes, including myself, had huge setbacks because our goals had been wiped away. Whether it was this race or qualifying for the Olympics or racing for this championship, suddenly they're empty. [00:23:48][17.2]

[00:23:48] There's just no void there. And what you have to do is recalibrate what that goal is going to be. It has to be a shorter term goal. But you still then have to pursue the process. So, for example, I come back from the other end of North Carolina with his bicycle on the back of my car that I'd never seen. And. Oh, yeah. You know, write this down the driveway. It took me four weeks to figure out how to drive. Right. That bicycle. Two hundred feet. And yet that became the goal then it was the goal of going down to the cul de sac on our street and back 200 yards. I remember posting on Facebook. Weeks after the accident and before I went to Oxford. To my friends that I just walked to the end of the corner of where our house was. And it was five hundred meters and back. It was a full kilometer. And so the small steps become the goals. And in this time of uncertainty about other races, what's so critical is to reset those goals. To those that you can reasonably achieve at or era eyes isn't really achieve, but that there and so forth, that the injured athlete who's coming back. You have to think in those terms and that it told you about the peaty having to walk a couple of steps the next day, she came in and said, you want to try some some real steps. And I said, of course. And she took me to the end of the hall. My wife was with us and they want to make sure that I could actually I wouldn't fall. Right. And so they're very carefully around me. And I now can't. I then did three steps on the first day, and the next day I went up three flights of steps and I said, Do you want me to keep going? [00:25:53][124.8]

[00:25:56] No, she left. And I think you're done now. [00:25:59][2.8]

[00:26:01] You're discharged from Peaty. So I think you have to reshape those goals. And even if it's gaining five seconds or two seconds in the pool or 10, what's on the bicycle or reducing your your your weight or whatever your objective is thinking to be in and reachable goals rather than just being overwhelmed by the void that's out there in the big picture. [00:26:26][25.3]

[00:26:27] That's that's terrific advice. Jeffrey, I know, as we said in the introduction, you've been incredibly successful in your professional life as well. How do you think the characteristics that allowed you to come through this really tough injury and then go on to become a champion again? [00:26:47][19.9]

[00:26:49] How do you think those overflow to your professional life or vice versa? Was this just who you are? Are these goals setting and process oriented mindset, or is that just something that you've developed over time, or is it something that's just, you know, part of Jeffrey Rehder? [00:27:05][15.9]

[00:27:08] Despite what the record of things I've done suggests, it was not an easy journey professionally. In fact, there were more than a few times when I had the professional equivalent of being knocked off the bicycle. I joke with people. I got fired a lot because I kept pushing the envelope on how to change things and ultimately had the chance to do that at the United Nations. And the one thing that I think the injury and the recovery in the cycling over the last 10 years has helped me focus on is that what I didn't know I had and till this all occurred was really indomitable commitment to not defeat myself. Don't let your despair. Don't let your depression. Don't let your injuries. The fact that you just got fired. Get in the way of your own confidence that you will. Be the very best that you can be for me. I found usually, except on the bike that was in service of others. But the bicycle gave me this one place where I could indulge in a little self focus to be the very best that I could. And as you've already said, and that's it's one of more gratifying aspects of this whole journey, is that it's, in fact been serving others because the story and the the journey that I've had has inspired other people. That's why I've reach out to other crash victims on Bicycle's, because they want to know they can survive. They want to know that they can once again be strong. And so my. You know, when I get back on that bike and in a racing, I'm thinking and making sure that the story is stays good and strong, that I don't defeat myself because they need to hear that story, too. [00:29:06][118.0]

[00:29:06] Mm hmm. That's great. That's a risk. That's really beautiful. Jeffrey, I so appreciate that kind of intention. And, you know, I as an endurance cyclist as well, again, and there's different things that you think about as you're going through. And if you're thinking of others, it's so much easier to keep on going. And I appreciate that you use that technique as well. But I think it's interesting to me that one thing that has to happen when you have a setback, when you get fired, when you have an injury is sometimes your dream has to change. Great. And so. Yeah. Tell me about how that is borne out in your life. [00:29:43][36.9]

[00:29:44] Well, cycling is a great example. I mean, the unexpected. Take a step back. When I first went to the French Alps, I wrote a blog about a lifetime dream coming true. I started focusing on cycling as a high school kid and looking at the small print at the bottom of the sports section on the Sunday page that had these French names in French towns. I thought, wow, that's really cool stuff. And then you could actually see same day coverage on a wide world of sports and then see the live coverage as the new century began. And it was always calling me to to go there. And that dream did ultimately come true in 2011 when I got to take my bike to France and race in those hills and those mountains conquer those dreams. Yesterday, a friend of mine posted on Facebook, a young fellow, very wise in his age, not an athlete, but a great inspiration about remaining to stay focused on the dreams that you have. And I wrote back to him. But don't miss. Those treasures of your life that are the dreams you never had, but are the riches that make your life worthwhile. And. You know, in my case, you know, I got back on the bike, I found out I could still be an athlete. I mean, from the day I got back on the bike when I was 50 to today, and I'm nearly 60 pounds lighter than when I was a middle aged. Wow. You're in a major law firm in Washington, D.C.. It wasn't healthy. But today, the thing that all these experiences have added up to is. Maybe it's that my cucumbers are really doing well out in the garden. No, we don't have any races that we can compete in this year because of the pandemic. But there are other challenges that you can embrace in your sport that give you that drive at 6:00 in the morning when you kiss your significant other on the cheek. Well, still stills, they stay asleep and you go to the pool or you get on the bike and it's finding those other drives, but never forgetting that each day is so rich with things that that. [00:32:06][141.9]

[00:32:08] We sometimes overlook and keeping that perspective in mind, you may lose some athletic dreams, but, my gosh, you're strong, you're fit, you're you're athletic, you're capable. Those are things you never really prioritized as your dreams. But you're so rare to be able to have those those attributes of your life. I think it's one of the things that's helping a lot of us get through this is realizing what we do have, not necessarily what that particular long term dream is that got shattered by the illness. [00:32:39][31.0]

[00:32:40] Yes, Maria. I just had a conversation about this theme yesterday. Right now, we're all we all want to get out of this moment. We're not in the present moment. We want the races to come back. We missed this one meets. We miss the road races. We miss socializing with our friends. So, like, it's going to pass. You know, we're going to have whenever this pandemic goes away and everything is back to normal and it will go back to normal. [00:33:07][27.2]

[00:33:08] We're going to look back and I realize that we we promise there are going to be times that we're gonna look back in the future and say, you know, I miss that pandemic when I used to grow cucumbers, when I had the time to learn to knit. And Maria said when she ate, she learned to bake sour dough, bread or you get more time with your family. [00:33:31][23.0]

[00:33:31] So I think, you know, that's a that's a great sentiment, Jeffrey. And it kind of just encompasses exactly what Marie and I said. Maybe we need to do an entire show on that topic because everybody wants out of now. They want to go, go, get back. [00:33:46][15.1]

[00:33:47] But there are many riches right now and we don't know how our lives these this little turning point in our lives via the pandemic or anything else that happens is going to open up new. This is as you know, my sister got breast cancer and died. And that's what that's what made me an endurance cyclist. I mean, you know, I never dreamed of riding my bike twelve or twenty four hours, but something happened and I had to do something different. And so and I'm you know, that's part of who I am now. So it's. Yeah. But I think we will look back on this time and and we'll long for our beautiful cucumbers. [00:34:23][35.5]

[00:34:25] Well, and it doesn't mean that I've given up cycling. I mean, the good thing for me was to actually reengage with my coach in March. And I thought, well, you know, everything shattering, but I can do this by myself. But what I missed was the process. I missed the discipline of having someone to I was accountable by posting my rides every day. And fortunate enough that I could that he was available and I was able to fit into his portfolio again. [00:34:54][29.0]

[00:34:55] And I have to say that that that structure and accountability has really helped me get through this middle, because for the highly skilled athletes that you had on this podcast that I found inspiring. One of the things that keeps coming back is just get in the pool and do it. Just get out on the bike and do it. I don't think. Just do. And that that. That's how we find happiness. That's how we find joy. That's how we find the energy to confront the other challenges of life. [00:35:30][35.2]

[00:35:32] Well, Jeffrey, you've been so successful in your profession in cycling and recovering. You've obviously touched on several characteristics that have major successful from, you know, your your goal setting in your massive drive and your persistence. What other characteristics do you either have that we haven't talked about or ones that you think champions generally share? [00:35:57][25.1]

[00:36:00] I think the thing that we haven't talked about that is important is your willingness to expose yourself to suffering. You know, there are exercises that and routines and interval sets that any endurance athlete gets that there's no way to describe it. They just suck. You see them on your calendar and you think, oh, God, Thursday is going to be a nightmare. [00:36:26][26.6]

[00:36:27] Your coach says, I want you to do a five hour workout and I want you to hold a certain speed or certain power for five hours. And you think this is going to be awful. [00:36:37][9.5]

[00:36:38] Last year, before we started racing for Nationals, I was out in Louisville and had the good fortune to visit the Muhammad Ali Center. I'd always admired Ali, but there was a quote of his on the wall that just just seared itself onto my brain and in my heart. And what he said was, I hated every minute of training. But I said, don't quit, suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion. All right. My knees almost buckle. And as we left the the center, I noticed on the counter they were selling necklaces. And on the necklace is a red bicycle. This is a gay emblem of Ali, because when he was 12 years old, someone stole his bicycle. And he told the officer about it and said, I'm going to go with that guy's butt. And the officer said, you know, do you know how to fight? And he said, no. Come to the gym tomorrow. You're going to whip us, but you might well do it the right way. And so that red bike that he lost at age 12 was the one thing that drove him to become a world champion. [00:37:52][74.3]

[00:37:53] And so at the national championships and also at the world tucked beneath my jersey was that necklace. And it was my reminder that no matter what I was feeling at that moment in the race, eight hours, nine hours, 10 hours in the desert heat. If I kept suffering and worked through it and ignored it and found more strength in my heart to just keep going, then whether ever they said on the podium, I knew it for myself. [00:38:26][32.3]

[00:38:29] Cash. I love that. I had never heard the Ali story and the willingness to expose yourself to suffering. I love that. And Maria, this is conversations with Champion and champions. And you, too, Maria. I think I think you endurance cyclist. You guys are just in a different league. You know, I've suffered on endurance, but not to the level of six hours, 12 hours, 24 hours. Maria, could you just, you know, melds her voice with Jaffrey's and tell us how you suffer? Because you you're that's that's you say that's your superpower, right? [00:39:10][40.8]

[00:39:10] Yeah. Yeah. Yes. And I think Jeffrey touched on it and I sort of emphasized it earlier. [00:39:15][5.0]

[00:39:16] It's hard to do this for. For me, it was hard to do this for personal glory. I mean, I love personal glory. Don't get me wrong. But but in the worst of it, you know, it's just for your just for a title or a you know, a place on the podium, you would just wouldn't do it. It just hurts too much. But for others, you know, it's it's helpful, you know, to whenever I am really, really uncomfortable, I my suffering is always offered. This is a very Catholic expression, but it's offered for those who are suffering and don't have anybody to stand beside them. So. So when I'm so when I'm out there and it hurts like anything and all I can think of is I want to quit. I think you no, I'm not gonna quit because I'm doing this for someone else. So that's one section for me. And the other part is this is sort of a little known thing about me. [00:40:08][52.5]

[00:40:09] I use rage and I I am so angry that people are dying from brain cancer or other cancers. I am so angry that the rage, I channel that rage. [00:40:25][16.3]

[00:40:26] And so when I'm when I'm out there and something hurts and I'm like, Jeffrey, I'm doing some really tough workout, I remind myself that every pedal stroke, every pain that I experience in my legs, my lungs and my head, wherever it is, is going out there to grind up to cure brain cancer, to grind up cancer cells to. You know, I literally use that, you know, and I think that you can channel rage, right? I would call it righteous rage, but I've used unrighteous rage before. In fact, some of my best rides are when I met Jim. [00:40:59][32.4]

[00:41:04] Those are there's one hour rides it really. Huh. [00:41:07][2.3]

[00:41:10] So, you know, anyway. Geoffrey, would you would you agree with that or add to that? [00:41:13][3.1]

[00:41:14] Well, I was going to say you've seen me. I somehow along this process, actually, my wife got a tattoo with a friend of hers, and I said, hey, she was like fifty five. [00:41:23][9.5]

[00:41:24] And I said, she can't be the only one in this family with a tattoo. I mean, I needed to get some. And one of the ones that I have is all around my left bicep. And it's a bicycle chain link, you know, links of chain. Normally you'll see the manufacturer's name on those links, but on mine, on each link is the name of one person who has been. Behind me in my cycling journey, my mother, my wife, my children, my coach and I just saw him at lunch and I said, Ben, don't ever forget that your name is here, right in my armpit. [00:41:59][35.3]

[00:42:00] And every time I think maybe you need a link for cruise bike on there. [00:42:10][9.9]

[00:42:10] Yeah, logo definitely is going to get on that. Right. Right. Calf. All right. I love it. I love it. [00:42:17][7.0] [00:42:17] That's one of the people whose name there was a fellow that had inspired me to start back when I was 50. And his name's Greg Clark. And Craig was an amazing cyclist. He was also a doctor of some renowned. And he was racing for the mid-Atlantic championship. Road race came around the final turn. Something observers saw was wrong with his front wheel. He missed the turn head first at full speed into light post and suffered traumatic brain injury. [00:42:50][32.6]

[00:42:51] And while he lived on. He was never able to do to ride a bike again. And, you know, I see Craig, you know, and talk to him on a regular basis. But, yeah, his name is tomorrow. For the first time, I'll be seeing him and showing him my world jersey that he inspired. And so those those people, as you can tell, you know, they mean a lot. And you have to think about them. [00:43:22][30.8]

[00:43:23] But the other part of it is some words that were shared with me in the pit about 11 hours into a race where we were talking about, you know, whether we stop again or something. And it happened to be Jim Parker who's looked at me and said, You're a 12 hour racer, right? I said, yeah, so got it out. [00:43:41][18.0]

[00:43:43] Of course, he was sitting in the pits. [00:43:44][1.0]

[00:43:48] But, you know, it comes back to just having that. You can have all the sources of inspiration that you can cite site. [00:43:53][5.9]

[00:43:54] But ultimately, you have to reach in your your heart and into your spirit and say, I am going to conquer this moment. And I think that's the thing I take back from cycling is there's nothing in my life now that ever really seems insurmountable. It's most it's just another mountain. And if I show that tenacity and the will, I'm going to I'm going to get to the top of there and stand there, just as I did at the top of cultic Olivier and so many other mountains and say, I beat you. And I am the champion today. [00:44:31][37.0]

[00:44:32] Well, Jeffrey, I. I think we would be remiss in you know, safety is one of my top values in life. It's just something that drives me. I love safety. And, you know, I've done tons of diamond frame riding and certainly being a Parker and I've written cruise bikes. I just I think we need to touch on one of the most dangerous things that we do as humans is get on a diamond frame bike because we go over the handlebars. And generally it's a terrible injury when that happens. And there is the option of riding safely on a recumbent that when you go down on a recumbent, it's it's it's nothing. I mean, you just put your feet down. So could you touch on the comparison and safety and better feeling for everything from your peroneal. Glad to hear. You know, I just just all I really want people to hear that there is an option to the diamond frame, the injuries that happens with diamond frames and how rewarding it is to ride a recumbent and that this may be one of the joys of life people are missing out on. [00:45:44][71.6]

[00:45:45] Sure. I will say to you that, you know, having been in cycling competitively now for nearly 16 years, because that's when I just took it up when I was 50 years old and I said, I won't be full in this life if I don't get back on the bike. You know, cycling is not a safe sport when it's been ridden of on roads where twenty five hundred pound vehicles are coming by you. It's not a safe sport in a group of people where someone is less experienced than they think they can stop pedaling and suddenly you're riding into their into their wheel. Life is filled with all sorts of safety issues. And the injuries that we can get on a bike can't be more serious. What's nice about recumbent is in most instances, you're simply lower to the ground. And that difference. So where your shoulders are compared to regular diamond framed bike can make a big difference in the lack of. You may get a bruise or you may get some scrape, but you don't have too many broken collarbones from people that go down off of recumbent the bicycle structure. And there's there's a range of models out there is incredibly comfortable. I mean, I didn't write it because I had any problems or because I had feet problems or my hands hurt, which are, you know, some things people talk about. I wrote it cause it's the only way I could ride a bike safely. I could not literally look up to see the road on a regular diamond for a bike. [00:47:17][92.0]

[00:47:18] When people stare at me and see what kind of a bike is that, I say, think of it as a reclining chair watching an NFL football game on a Sunday without the TV. And by the way, your feet are moving all the time. [00:47:29][11.8]

[00:47:31] And it really makes a lot of sense. Whatever the brand requirements are incredibly comfortable. And the last two points of stress that we experience on diamond frame banks are are are less, but they do have their safety issues. And, you know, in my case, my bicycle because of the neck situation. I also has a limited range of motion left to right. So I can't turn my head to look over my left shoulder to see a car. So I have a convex mirror mounted on my handlebars. I have a radar unit mounted in the back that actually detects oncoming vehicles that behind me. And it displays a color signal on my bicycle computer that alerts me to that approaching vehicle. And then I can see them in the mirror. It's kind of like driving a panel truck and you can't see through your rearview mirror. You have to use the side mirrors. That radar unit is also a very bright flashing red light. And I also put a flag on the back of the contrasting weird color that is inescapably visible. And so I feel very safe on a recumbent, despite the fact I'm riding a little bit lower. There's no one that comes by me that doesn't see me there. And that gives me a lot of comfort. I could still get a flat tire unexpectedly. But I don't think I'm going to have the physical injuries that you would have coming off the handlebars. I had that one, by the way, another injury where I touched the wheels with someone at 30 miles an hour and went over the handlebars and cause concussion and took me a year to recover from that and still came back and started racing. [00:49:08][97.0]

[00:49:10] That was on a diamond frame. [00:49:11][1.0]

[00:49:11] Yeah, that was on time travel. Like, we're fully extended out at speed. And the guy braked in front of me and, you know, I shot in there and I just touched wheels and went right over. [00:49:22][10.7]

[00:49:23] Yeah. I would just add that, you know, because I run this company and I can't let this go by as if he was on a recumbent. [00:49:29][6.1]

[00:49:30] The thing that hits, if you're in an accident, the thing that hits first is your feet. Here you are. [00:49:34][4.6]

[00:49:35] You're the way you know we go. I go down. I've phrased as, you know, thousands and thousands of miles. And I've gone down and I usually get scrapes up my side. You know, people have broken bones, but they tend to be foot and legs rather than your head bone. Your head doesn't hit first because of the geometry of a recumbent bike. So that's what in the end, to me, that's what makes it really safe. [00:49:58][23.4]

[00:49:58] Is that your head is pint behind here? You know, your your body behind your center of gravity. So and you're not up there and, you know, on a diamond frame where you're sort of all your body weight is just ready to eat. If the bike stops, you go forward. And when you're going forward, you're Superman. Your head is going first. [00:50:14][15.9]

[00:50:16] Well, I've now accumulated close to thirteen thousand miles on my recumbent bike. And the only time I went down was when I hit a pothole that was unexpected and just knocked me off balance. And, you know, I got back on the bike and finished a hundred mile ride. So it's now I'm pretty happy with that. [00:50:36][19.7]

[00:50:36] So, yeah, that's a good thing. Yeah. And Maria, I know you know you and Jim and you're married to a doctor. [00:50:41][5.1]

[00:50:42] And one of your passions for owning the recumbent company of careers bike is is safety is providing an alternative for safe, safe things. Will. Awesome. [00:50:52][10.1]

[00:50:52] Jeffrey, we're you know, we try to keep our podcast under an hour. We're getting close to that. And our last question that we love to ask people is, is there anything you'd like to share that we haven't asked you embrace the day? [00:51:05][13.0]

[00:51:07] I mean, I think that, you know, whether you're on a bicycle or you get a chance to be in the pool or you just go for a walk at the end of the day, look back on the treasures that that day has given you and know that you have won so many things that day that did not exist when you first opened your eyes in the morning. I think it's just really vital that as much as we as competitive athletes pursue the dream of having the top step on the podium and having the brightest medal around our neck, it's really important to also keep that perspective. We are so fortunate to be alive and to be healthy and to be able to have the strength to navigate the setbacks and the bridges that you fall off. And it's you keep that perspective. [00:51:59][52.0]

[00:52:01] Beautiful sky. I am going to embrace the day and the time that we've gotten to spend with you. It's been just very, very inspiring and thank you. [00:52:11][10.5]

[00:52:12] I've been so enjoyed your so enjoyed the podcast series. And it was actually delightful that we could work this out, that I could contribute as well. [00:52:20][7.7] [00:52:21] I can't wait for our listeners to hear it. Yeah, I can't either. I so appreciate you taking the time to be with us and share your very unique and beautifully articulated perspective. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. All right. So take care. Take care. Bye bye. Bye. [00:52:37][16.4]

[00:52:38] Takeaways, takeaways. Takeaways. We've heard from you that your favorite section of our podcast is The Takeaways. Thank you so much for that feedback. But before we get to the takeaways today, we wanted to ask you if you would please give us a five star review. That way, more people will be able to find our podcast. Also, if you could subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher or Spotify, you'll never miss a podcast episode. If you subscribe, and please share our podcast with your friends. And now the takeaways. [00:53:12][33.8]

[00:53:13] Well, Maria. Oh, gosh, I. You know, it's our first cyclist, right, a pure cyclist that we've had other than you. And what what I'm spiring story. I mean, I was just choked up a couple of times and and a great just an inspiration. So many takeaways, you know, just just lots to take away there. [00:53:36][22.7]

[00:53:36] Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, Jeffrey's my friend and I've heard never heard him tell the story particularly this way. But he's you know, I've since I've known him for quite a while. I've understood you know, I know is his background. [00:53:47][11.1]

[00:53:48] But, you know, it's just. [00:53:50][1.7]

[00:53:51] He's just a beautiful person. [00:53:52][0.9]

[00:53:52] I think, you know, it's it's nice to have, you know, whenever we have an older guest on. I'm always glad because the perspective is completely different. I love the freshness of the younger athletes, but it's it's really interesting to hear, you know, somebody who's been around the block a time or two. [00:54:09][16.3]

[00:54:09] Yes. Yes. And I'm going to start with my first take away. And it wasn't even discussed. But that's one of the things that I like I kind of alluded to in the podcast that we we like to see see things in these champions that they may not even that they're just doing automatically that we can have a lesson from. And my first takeaway is just the incredible passion that Jeffrey has for life, you know, just for for cycling, for growing his cucumbers to his profession and that that it was contagious for me. Like I this is. And when you mention that this is an older athlete and I and that says it even more that, you know, it's easy to be passionate about your sport when you're a 21 year old Olympian. [00:55:02][52.8]

[00:55:03] I mean, you know, that's a good point and that's a good point. And, you know, he has a youthful passion. Does it? [00:55:08][4.8]

[00:55:08] Oh, my gosh. He's kept this passion for decades and it's still right. Still as palpable and and strong as ever. So I just I my first takeaway is that. Passion. And he wears it on his sleeve. You know, he's he's so passionate about what's happened in his life and where he's going or what he's doing, that he's emotional. And I love that. So I. I just think that passion is a trait of people who are successful. And you got to have passion towards it, gets you up in the morning. It gets you through hard workouts. It it just it's it's huge. And he's got it big time. So that was my first anyway. [00:55:53][45.5]

[00:55:54] Yeah. That's really beautiful. It's true. His passion is just barely below his skin level. You know, you just it comes out. That's that's that's really an excellent point, Kelly. And I think that it is true that to have success, you know, you've got to feel that. [00:56:12][17.6]

[00:56:13] OK, well, Geoffrey is a fellow endurance cyclist, so he's used a lot of the same tools and tricks that I have. [00:56:19][5.9]

[00:56:19] But one of the things that he said that I always just go out ha ha ha was basically that when, you know, when it's hard to see the big goal because of discomfort or suffering or or something been moved, for instance, you know, during the pandemic and or whatever, that you need to focus on small goals. [00:56:42][22.3]

[00:56:42] And I truly, truly live this every day and believe this, that especially when times are tough, you just look and take the next right step and you do the next right thing. And you get on the bike today, use lace up your shoes today. You go to the workout room today or, you know, you put down the glass of wine today. You do one right thing, the next right thing. [00:57:08][25.6] [00:57:08] And and, you know, it's there's there's no question that you have to have big goals and that big goals are inspiring. But big goals can seem very far away. [00:57:16][7.7]

[00:57:17] And, you know, if you can just work that process and try to do the right thing today, then you're going to succeed. [00:57:22][4.9]

[00:57:23] So I was glad that he mentioned that that that is you know, that is a trait of champions that that we keep seeing. [00:57:28][5.5]

[00:57:28] And I don't think you can ever remind yourself enough about the biggest you know, the longest journey starts with one step. You can eat a whole elephant, one bite at a time. Just small goals. I love it. [00:57:40][11.6]

[00:57:41] Yeah, it's it sounds so, you know, overused, but people forget that it's really what I do. It's it's what I do right now. After we get off this podcast, who are doing this podcast is what you know, it's it's the next thing that you're doing this building your your your tomorrow and your success next week. [00:57:58][17.4]

[00:57:58] Next month. Next year. [00:57:59][0.9]

[00:58:00] So, yes, Maria. Those are great. First takeaways. [00:58:03][3.5]

[00:58:04] My second one and I, I wanted to address the very not anything new, but certainly a little different twist on the willingness to expose yourself to suffering. [00:58:16][12.3]

[00:58:18] So this is an interesting one, which I think is a trait that champions share. [00:58:24][6.7]

[00:58:25] And I wanted to touch on this one because I think it's okay and that you can still be a champion without the willingness to suffer, but maybe not in endurance athletics. [00:58:39][14.3]

[00:58:40] So that's where I bring in your husband who was talking, told Jeffrey in the pits. [00:58:51][10.2]

[00:58:51] Just gut it out. [00:58:52][1.2] [00:58:53] And, you know, your husband has done a lot, but I want to bring in my husband. Sure he knows. He knows how to suffer. He knows how to suffer. [00:59:01][7.6]

[00:59:02] But my husband is not willing to suffer. He just it's a it's an interesting thing. He's a great athlete. [00:59:12][9.4]

[00:59:13] But longer endurance events are just they're just not for everyone. And yet, if you if you're going to do endurance, yes, you need to suffer. [00:59:23][10.2]

[00:59:24] But I don't think that all athletes need to suffer. [00:59:27][3.2]

[00:59:28] What do you think of that? I completely agree. I think, you know, I and I think that those of us well, I shouldn't speak for everyone. I speak for myself. I think that I am good at endurance events because I have this willingness to be uncomfortable for long periods of time. I'm not sure I would be able to be successful outside of that. [00:59:53][25.4]

[00:59:53] I mean, so that's a gift, just like, you know, a slow twitch fast, which, you know, Jim, who who can do endurance events and does well at them is so much better at a sprint than I am. You know, we talk about it all the time. [01:00:07][13.6]

[01:00:07] He just like you just said, you can feel the discomfort to later, you know, and I just I try to recruit those big muscles and, you know, and I just giggle because they're, you know, they're just not there. So I agree with you that you can absolutely be a champ. Without that suffer. But you have to be willing to. [01:00:27][19.4]

[01:00:30] To be disciplined, which is probably different. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I just thought I just wanted to touch on that as a yes. So what was your second take away? Oh. [01:00:39][9.2]

[01:00:39] The second one, you know, Jeffrey is so positive and optimistic and, you know, and it's carried that through, you know, his. Trials. He's got a broken neck. [01:00:51][11.9]

[01:00:52] Through now, he mentioned that he's been fired. [01:00:54][2.2] [01:00:56] I'm sure you said way more challenges than I even have heard about or know about. But his optimism. You know, I will ride again. I will you know, I will do this. I will. [01:01:07][11.6]

[01:01:09] I'm just going to keep on going his. And it's just his optimism in life. He's he. I've never heard him. Be pessimistic. He has told me stories about being depressed and being sad. But I think those were just the things that he did before he got busy, you know, changing things for himself. So I think that optimism is something. It's kind of like competitiveness. I think a lot of people would say, well, you're either optimistic or you're not when you're born. But I truly believe that you can become more optimistic if you work on it. You know, if you work on gratitude and seeing, you know, the positive and things and in it, you know, we know the studies are there. You live longer. [01:01:54][45.3]

[01:01:54] You're you're sharper. You know, you're. You can learn better. You're just better at everything if you can be optimistic. [01:01:59][4.9]

[01:02:00] And again, Jeffrey has that quality, you know, bucketfuls. [01:02:03][3.3]

[01:02:04] Yes. I think that was that's a huge part of his success. He's just, you know, just sees the glass is half half full and bright. And that's a trait that, yeah, this is important. And I think it's a trait we we can acquire. You know, just flip it around. When you start to think of something in a negative light, just reframe it. So I guy love that. [01:02:25][20.8]

[01:02:26] I love that. Well, Maria, what a what an inspiration. What a great show. [01:02:30][3.9]

[01:02:30] And we'd we'd love to hear from our listeners about what they thought of that show because it was just unusual. [01:02:38][7.4]

[01:02:38] It's a little bit of a Dhia different for us. Yeah. So yeah. Be interesting to get some feedback on whether listeners like that kind of thing. [01:02:45][6.6]

[01:02:45] Yeah. Easier to e-mail us at hello at Champions MO jokes. [01:02:50][4.5] [01:02:51] OK, Kelly, I love you. Have a great day. You too, Maria. Thanks so much. [01:02:54][3.4]

[01:02:55] Bye bye. Bye bye. [01:02:55][0.0]

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