Ben and Bikes – Details, episodes & analysis

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Last week end I had the honour to see the Leadville 100 MTB race from the athletes point of view, talking to as many as would allow me to shove an annoying microphone into their face.

I recorded more than 100 interviews and of course fitting them all into a podcast that lasts a little less than one hour is not possible. But I’ve a created representative selection to give you an insight into what makes people do this, their backgrounds and motivations. I am in awe of you all.

This episode is separated into conversations I had the night before, the morning of, on the course and the finish. 

If you are inspired by what you hear, why not you next year?

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I will be up in Leadville, Colorado this weekend interviewing the athletes crazy enough to attempt the Leadville 100 mountain bike race. While I'm doing this, please enjoy an episode from earlier this year where I interview the race's founders, Ken Chlouber and Merilee Maupin.

In my next episode I'll be playing some of those interviews.

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There are two sides to every story. In the last Episode of Ben and Bikes I spoke with Ian Dille about what happened at the 2001 Road National Championships in Florida and the subsequent article he wrote for this month’s edition of Bicycling Magazine titled “The Deal”.

Long story short: With a few laps to go on a grueling circuit, the race was between Ian Dille and Mike Friedman. Ian who had been in the lead for a while, Mike who had just caught up to him. Ian’s recollection is that Mike said to him “I won’t Sprint” “You Can Win”. 

As they closed in on the finish line, the opposite happened. Mike did sprint, and he did win.

Today my conversation is with Mike, to get his side of the story. Both of the race itself and some thoughts now that he has read the article that Ian wrote. 

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All of us can probably remember a time in our lives where we wish we could go back and change a decision we made. The results of that decision probably stick with us today, and probably will for the rest of our lives. For today’s guest, that time was 2001, and his decision was based on 6 words.

It was the 2001 U23 National Criterium Championship and Ian Dille was sitting on the starting line with 100 or more other hungry young racers. It was a tough field stacked with pros, previous champions, every person thinking “why not me”. The race starts, Ian feels great, but what happed in the last laps of that race will stay with him forever. 

This is his story. 

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It was surfing legend and fitness guru Laird Hamilton who once said “Make sure your worst enemy doesn't live between your own two ears” There is meaning in this quote for both the sport he loves and for all aspects of his life. So often sports metaphors make this transitive leap. Others include:

• Driving for show, putting for dough
• Set your goals high, and don't stop till you get there
• It’s not the will to win that matters—everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters
• If you fail to prepare, you're prepared to fail

And my personal favourite:

If a tie is like kissing your sister, losing is like kissing your grandmother, with her teeth out.    

This is one of the reasons why I have so much belief in the power of sport to teach us how to live our lives and deal with everyday challenges. For kids, sport is an irreplaceable teacher of perseverance, teamwork, training and humility, to name but a few.

Today’s guest is someone who takes these parallels between sport and life very seriously.

6x California State Criterium Champion 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, and 2018.

2x Silver Medalist at Master National Criterium Championships in 2012, and 2014,

So Cal cup overall winner in 2012

To name but a few. By its very definition he is a champion of his sport. But it is his approach that is most inspirational. He once said “you gotta practice your winning pose, because it’s gonna happen” Translation. If you don’t think you are going to win, what’s the point.

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Today’s guests, joining me from St. George, Utah, are Chris Haag and Sophie George. They will be riding their bikes from Alaska to Argentina, a distance of 20,000 miles; it will take them 2 years to complete.

You can learn more about their adventure and keep tabs on their progress by visiting www.theplacesipee.com and there will be a link to this page on the www.benandbikes.com web site.

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There is a saying that sometimes you can’t see the wood for the trees.

Translation: In this crazy world, where we spin around the cities and communities where we live at brake neck speeds, we forget to stop and look around and take into account what we take advantage of.

So what better way to do this than on a bike.

Today’s guest, joining us from, Denmark, is Oliver Andersen – the Urban Bicycle Explorer. 

His goal is to inspire people all around the globe to bike and use it as a tool for exploration and pleasure in their life. What a great idea.

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