with Colin O Brady
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Colin O'Brady returns to discuss his upcoming attempt to break the Race Across America world record with his childhood best friend Lucas Clark. They're targeting a sub-6-day completion (currently 6 days 11 hours) by averaging over 20 mph continuously across 3,000 miles, backed by meticulous training, wind tunnel testing, and comprehensive blood work monitoring.
"Consistency is just a cheat code for everything. People sometimes want the silver bullet to success but more often than not it's like yeah wake up chop wood carry water keep going another day another day another day."
"I would hate for him to read it and go dad you did a bunch of cool stuff right up until I was born and then stayed inside the house and watched Netflix. That's the only version I know of you is like this guy who just gave up on all of his dreams."
"When you're coaching professional athletes it's actually the opposite—it's my job to tell them yo you got to back off. You actually need this ride to be easy."
“I really started training and talking about it two years ago but really started training for it about a year ago for me um and it has been a quite a joy to get back on a bike I I must say I it's been a long time since I've looked at you know power and watts and the heart rate and you know all the ways that you can measure you know aerobic fitness and whatnot”
“we're mostly thinking we're going to do about you know 90 minutes on 90 minutes off kind of 90 minutes or two hour uh cycles and there's a van it's supported so when the other person's not riding you know they hop in a van and try to catch a 30 minutes of sleep and you know eat a little bit of food before they get back out there on the road”
“literally two hours into the Expedition I uh was taking my very first break you know I still have 7even was a 715 mile route I'd gone four miles so I still 711 miles to go um and I took my first break took a PE break and uh then started off on my sled as you do um it was about 200 pound sled which sounds heavy but it's you know half the weight of my other Expedition so SE Fe relatively light and I push off and all of a sudden boom ground breaks out from under me turns out I'm standing on a snow bridge and I start just freef falling uh into a crass unroped”
Today's guest is Colin o' Brady I've had Colin on the show before and it was one of my favorite episodes he's an adventurer of considerable note so many world records in his back pocket in so many disciplines including rowing across Drake Passage this time he's turning his attention to cycling he's taking on the Race Across America but he's not just taking it on he's attempting to beat the world record the mission is to complete the Race Across America in less than 6 days and 11 hours this is how we prepared it's Colin O Brady Colin welcome back to the road M podcast great to be here again my friend it's been a minute few things have happened I think in both our lives probably since the last time we chatted yeah not I got to say 800 episodes ago so yeah it's been a while you look at you man I'm I'm impressed that that's consistency that that that's great consistency that's the cycling mentality right there just keep getting after it day after day yeah that was exactly it like our friends they're talking about launching podcast and they quit like 10 episodes later like I'm just not sure it's getting traction I'm was like consistency is just a cheat code for everything sure is sure is it's people sometimes want the Silver Bullet to to success but more often than not it's like yeah wake up chop wood carry water keep going another day another day another day and even more so in the culture where in where I I always feel like there's a pendulum and the pendulum for a long time you know high performance happens in the shadows it happened in the dark no one was too sure what was going on with high performers I feel like the pendulum has swung way too far to the wrong side now where everybody's like just take this Ketone shot and you're going to be world class it's like no there's no just take this key you still got to do it to chop wood Curry water maybe it helps Point Z1 the last 0.1% or something like that yeah for sure yep I think since we chatted last you had a failed can I call it a failed expedition in Antarctica yeah that that's a that that's that's that's a reasonable assessment yeah um yeah I was in in Arctica um about five six months ago now um was attempting another solo Expedition down there um like the state of goal was to try to do a you know in 2018 I was the first to cross enter to because solo and unsupported the land mass and it's like th000 M Journey that had never been accomplished before and that was successful um this time you know that one I was dragging a 375 PB sled because it's just you know to go that far of a distance you know I got to take as much SP as you can I was still losing a ton of weight and then I wanted to go back and kind of it looks similar from the outside if you're not inside the polar Niche but it's actually almost the direct opposite which I was trying to do a speed record which was from the coast just to the South Pole so instead of making a full Traverse you know stopping at the South Pole as as the Finish Line um but as fast as possible on this kind of specific route that has been sort of that's the route that people do for the speed record for the fastest known time it's called the Hercules Inlet route um and uh yeah it's a fair to say it didn't quite quite go as planned um literally two hours into the Expedition I uh was taking my very first break you know I still have 7even was a 715 mile route I'd gone four miles so I still 711 miles to go um and I took my first break took a PE break and uh then started off on my sled as you do um it was about 200 pound sled which sounds heavy but it's you know half the weight of my other Expedition so SE Fe relatively light and I push off and all of a sudden boom ground breaks out from under me turns out I'm standing on a snow bridge and I start just freef falling uh into a crass unroped of course because I'm alone um and I would you know safe to say I don't say this you know it's small way but it was I was a very you know near death you know I was very fortunate to survive that fall um I kind of wedged my body inside of the crass I was dangling over you know 400 fet of air quite literally and just happened to just arrest my fall sort of by Instinct you know kind of imagine yourself being if you fell down a chimney and just put your legs and arms out and try to catch you my back is up against one side my feet and skis are skittering across the other side and I'm just wedged in there with nothing and then my my sled 200 pounds I look up and I see it sort of teetering on the edge uh above me so if that that falls in you know 200 more pounds that's dragging me to the bottom as well well so anyways a longer story than that but it's fair to say that the Expedition um was was not successful and its stated goal but I will I will call it a success which as I always say with any of my Expeditions you know coming home alive all my fingers all my toes with the smile on my face is is is the number one uh mode of success so I did manage to get myself out of the crass just barely um and survive and UNR carass ball um and certainly it's only been you know it's been six months I'm still kind of processing you know through touching death that closely um but I'm grateful grateful to be here that's for sure I remember last time we talked and you know this is a compliment to the story you told me because you know when it tells in podcasts you're chatting with a lot of guests and there a lot of conversations that don't have that indelible memory that you know is ingrained into your psyche after it but a story I've retold to friends afterwards it was the one where you were roll Drake Passage and you're the crawl space and it's a horrible storm and you wake up you know I'm going to do it at diservice so I advise people to go back and listen to that episode but essentially you wake up after one of the worst storms you've ever experienced to this beautiful cam Bay and the message I took from it is sometimes we have to experience bad stuff to truly appreciate good stuff and on a not so dramatic level I take that lesson you know every single day whether it's if I just decided after recording podcast for the day to flake out and watch Netflix with my fiance yeah it's may be enjoyable but what if we go for a hike first in the bad weather and then come home and you know have a hot bowl a soup by a fire watching Netflix it's a totally different experience having a little bit of hardship increases those memorable experiences has the carass fall changed your opinion on that or as he say is it still something you're processing oh absolutely yeah you know that that lesson was definitely pronounced from the Drake Passage of you know arriving to the shores of ant not on a private jet or a yacht but on a on a rowboat and having grinded through some of the worst storms and most uncomforable moments of my life just you know having that you know being able to see Antarctica but having earned it in that way of course you know is like you said it allows that kind of almost higher higher of the deeper gratitude um but there's nothing quite like you know touching death uh in this way to make you feel so grateful for life and I'm not not recommending that you go throw yourself down a crass so you feel this way but it's a definitely uh a net product you know and if I look for the the bright side in that you know I recently became a father uh my son this week actually turned one years old um but when this happened he was six months old um and you know to have you know obviously so excited to be a new father and have this this beautiful little baby boy and then all of the sudden realizing life is so fragile um and that you know I could have gone you know he could have gone through life without a father and let alone you know even can selfish me I wouldn't have had the experience of being able to raise him you know that puts that into perspective and so um you know not just with fatherhood but with all the s simple joys in life you know be able to just kind of be like oh wow like what what a gift every single day is even those days that you kind of got to grind through it and you're in front of your computer maybe not doing you know your exact favorite thing or whatever just be like hey it's a gift just to be here um and so that's definitely been one of the most um sort of indelible outcomes of this you know tragedy really what was really been deep gratitude um for all the the little things the small Joys and that doesn't mean I'm not going to go you know chase other big projects and push my body in big ways you know and I'm sure we'll talk about it but I got this big you know cycling world record you know coming up here in a couple of weeks um but it definitely you know also makes me really appreciate you know just just these these these small moments um and just a deep gratitude for being alive why do you think we do it like you said every day is a gift and you maybe only realize that when you're faced in you know very close proximity to debt like you have been but we take this calculation almost every day you know some of us listen to the podcast we'll throw ourselves down to sense 70 80 90 100 kilometers an hour down Alpine descents with two small rubber contact points to the ground you're making that risk to reward calculation all the time but there is something about that we know it's dangerous but we do it anyway what attracts us to that you know it's interesting you know people have asked me even with with fatherhood you know this question of like well are you going to stop doing all the things that you've done now that you're a father and you know the similar the question you're asking maybe not through the lens of fatherhood but it's interesting entry point to answer the question which is I'm always interested when people ask that question because then if you take that to exper this extreme it's like well then what should I do should I just sit in my house in the most protective bubble order food from Uber eat so I don't even have to drive a car and risk you know getting in a traffic accident or you know it's like you know put put myself in an insulated most insulated bubble whatever like that's not living right like that's not actually living now of course on the far other side of the spectrum is it you know don't want to play Russia roulette every single day with my life and eventually that's not going to go well right like you're you're not going to end up alive but you know the way I think about it is you know I've written a couple of books um you know I wrote one I'm the impossible first after my you know solo and Arctica Crossing and I have this picture of my son um one day 20 years from now maybe he picks up the book and reads this book and I'd hate for him to read it and go dad you did a bunch of cool right up until I was born and then inside the house and watch Netflix that's the only version I know of you is like this you know guy who just kind of gave up on all of his dreams right and of course I don't think that that's actually healthy I think actually going out and living your passion so if your passion is riding bikes like you said with those rubber contact points flying down a mountain and you know figuring out getting your cornering better or worse or that's going out of nature or that's anything it doesn't have to be you know active with your own body but really pursuing life in a passionate way and I think that they're you know I think that we are patterned to not be closely connected to death what I mean by that is like it's a survival mechanism well we're going to live forever and we know in the back of our mind everyone's going to die but it's easy to just be like oh another day got to punch the clock got to do the thing or whatever and it's so often that people get to the end of life right I'm really fascinated um by speaking to Elders about that people that are in the final chapters of their life you know their 80s or whatnot and so often people of course have these deathbed regrets gosh I I did I shouldn't have worried about this so much I shouldn't have been as cautious I shouldn't have taken you know I should have taken more you know bold risks in my life or whatever and so I look back on that and go like hey like before you get to 80 you can have some of those realizations and so to me the gift of having touched death so closely so recently but also just in my own life of having kind of a curiosity around that has been I think it's great to bring that in and not be evasive to the feeling of death because actually what I think it brings is a more gratitude and fulfillment in your daily life and allows you to make choices like you say to like wow like today is a gift what can I do today what can I do tomorrow Etc yeah I wonder does your subconscious slightly alter because we use the two extreme examples of wrapping yourself and coton wall versus Russian Roulette but obviously that's a Continuum that slides like we've seen for a long time the best sprinters in the world are cycl wise best sprinters in the world are normally younger guys is with no families now there's a load of different reasons for that we could unpack it cuz you know early in your career you're hungry monetarily haven't made that much cash so you're more risk on but definitely the presence of a child in someone's life seems to change their risk perception even when they say it doesn't sure yeah I mean I'll tell you what I was watching them uh I'm not so up on all the names of all the cyclist so you have to you'll have to help me here but I was watching the um the the cab documentary I think it was and they show that other guy what's the guy who got in that insane crash sprinting like he hit the barrier and yobs norian Guy May Fabio yakobson to crash hor my God bro that crash like they pled it in like slowmo and then of course they you know interview him I me he sounds like he's come back to form and and really perform well on the backside of that but like look like so it's it's funny like everyone has different rist tolerance uh I'll take this in a slight different direction like you know talk to you know some Pro cyclers or something like that and they're like I can't believe you are on the Summit Ridge of Everest you walked over dead bodies like that's insane and like for me I'm like I feel actually pretty controlled in that environment you know in the Alpine environment because I've you know worked on that my whole life and I yes of course there's inherent risk and I'm nervous at times but then I'm like in a pelaton some guy's like trying to throw like you know 1500 watts through his bike and cut through this Gap I'm like yo you guys are crazy man I would never do that so like to me that seems even crazier than climbing the mountain so I guess everyone has their own sort of calibration on that of of where they feel in control but certainly um that that's an interesting data point with the younger guys being the you know ricevere I mean for me I think we probably talked about it last time but you know as was 22 years old I got severely burned in this fire in Thailand and I was jumping a flaming jump rope and I ultimately wrapped around my body and lit my entire body on fire to my neck almost you know nearly I don't know if I nearly died but there I had no skin on the lower half my body and the doctor said I would probably never walk again normally and when I reflect on that I'm like yeah that my 22-year-old self thought that jumping a flaming jump rope in the middle of rural Thailand like what could possibly go wrong right like we don't have that fully formed prefunctional cortex yet you know we don't quite have that that perspective and you know that's like that's just part of the Arc of life so you're segueing from your world into moreo my world is it June 15th or June 16th you're kicking off Race Across America with the ambition goal to try and break the world record for it I think the current record correct me if I'm R stands at 6 days and 11 hours hey Ro man excuse the short Interruption I love riding the bike but on account of being so busy with the podcast at the moment I'm now what's called a time crunch Rider I never thought I'd see today but I have a tool I'm using W bike to keep myself sharp and on point with specific sessions to maximize that available training time I have a w bike Adam right here in the recording Studio beside me and when I have an eror in between interviews I jump on it's removing all the friction points from me there's no more 10minute setup unfolding legs banging my knees off stuff getting my hands dirty usual connection issues it just works every single time the atom's perfect for virtual racing as well because it has crisp gear changes it has 1% accuracy and it has Max gradient capability of up to 25% if you're looking for an indoor trainer I honestly couldn't recommend this any higher I've been using a w bike since 2013 honestly it's the last indoor trainer that you're ever going to need if you head on over to W bike.com now and use code roadman 10 that's r o a d m n t n and that's going to get you 10% off your W bike that's right yeah so um I'm doing the me and my childhood best friend a guy named Lucas Clark we met in the first grade we literally met when we were 5 years old been hanging out for 35 years ever since then it's uh quite gift to have a lifelong friend like that we've had all sorts of Adventures um throughout our life you know I going back a decade plus I was a you know professional triathlete so in those those years I did uh ride my bike a fair amount but also mixed in there with swimming and running um but it been nearly a decade since I'd been on a bike other than to like tool out in my neighborhood um but Lucas uh you know he's not professional cyclist but you know he's he's he's a dad father of three you know 41 years old and he's got a good job you know Entre or whatnot but he's a passionate cyclist um you know he's gotten to like kind like cat one level cycling had some success himself you know won the single speed Unbound gravel and won a few Masters World Championships on the track and you know just but loves cycling I mean it's he lives and breeds it for the last 20 years and we've always wanted to do a project guys he's like your your world record projects are great you know he's like you've got 10 World Records called he's like but the only way we could ever do one together so you bring it into my domain um how about we get you back on a bike um and so we we kind of dreamed this up uh I really started training and talking about it two years ago but really started training for it about a year ago for me um and it has been a quite a joy to get back on a bike I I must say I it's been a long time since I've looked at you know power and watts and the heart rate and you know all the ways that you can measure you know aerobic fitness and whatnot um but I love that part of cycling how measurable it is and of course just the freedom of being out on the roads you know I travel a ton just with my life in general so if I had to tote a bike around with me but it's you know in the last year you know I've ridden you know in mayorca in Texas in Jackson Hall in Arizona the desert the mountains you know it's lots of just beautiful places and you know to have those experiences but yeah the the the record itself is H the pairs record for the Race Across America which means one of us is riding at any given time so um we're mostly thinking we're going to do about you know 90 minutes on 90 minutes off kind of 90 minutes or two hour uh cycles and there's a van it's supported so when the other person's not riding you know they hop in a van and try to catch a 30 minutes of sleep and you know eat a little bit of food before they get back out there on the road um and you're correct the the the current record is uh six days 11 hours um which is also in miles per hour I don't know what the kilometers per hour forgive me but the miles per hour is 19.85% of course I you know if we get six days 10 hours uh I'd be stoked because we break the record but um our even more ambitious kind of stretch goal is to actually go under six days which would be you know roughly 21 miles per hour but you know to to break the record essentially we need to average 20 miles per hour non-stop continuous it's out a stage race there's no breaks like when the gun goes off at noon on June 15 you know it it's continuous non-stop um for the next uh hopefully just under six days here's a crazy question why not just go rer why do you to break the record no it's good it's a great question um you know for me what I found is I love staks you know I think that Stakes really do um you know excite me um you know I I've used this metaphor before but it's like if you're climbing Mount Everest if I said to you hey Anthony you know you can climb Mount Everest but there's zero risk you're 100% going to make the summit um you can't fall you can't die you can't twist an ankle and you're going to go see this beautiful view from the top of the world like could' be amazing but it wouldn't quite have the same like emotional Arc to it because like when you're up there in the Death Zone on Everest the stakes of the environment are actually what make it such a heightened and uh forgive the pun but Peak experience with the world record you know attempt um you know when I really thought about it you know I I am I'm grateful I'm humble you know that I've been able to set 10 World Records previously in different different mediums um you know from Polar travel to rowing to um you know mountaineering Etc um my main why for doing this is to have an epic adventure with my childhood best friend and then what we quickly realized is to support this project it's not just the two of us there's 15 people supporting this project there's multiple vehicles and bands a lot of different Logistics I was like wait this is not just me and my CH best friend let's bring together 15 epic people that we want to have this incredible um you know lifelong experience with and so you know we talked to all sorts of different friends and got lots of great people on board who are you know have done amazing things that athletes themselves amical physical therapists chiropractors just eclectic group of of friends and supporters to do this project and so for me the first first and foremost is to have an amazing adventure but by setting that world record goal it has given its Stakes it has not just been like hey let's tool our bikes Across America because we both are pretty confident that we could complete the route um and so because of that that's given our training more sharpness and more Focus it's no different than someone saying you know anyone on this call hey Mike I've never ridden 100 miles before I want to do this Grand Fondo you know in two months I'm going to train for it like it gives it gives their training purpose and the other thing that's been amazing has been you know not only these six days coming up starting on June 15 but it's Lucas and I we don't live in the same city um but we have basically been training for this we've had the same coach we've met up numerous times throughout this year um you know we went to the wind tunnel uh which we should talk more about over over in England your side of the pond um we uh you know had training camp in Arizona we have this team training camp in Texas it's given us all these different touch points to go ride our bikes and have a blast together with our friends and and our team and such that and so to me the world record because it g it gives it sort of a frame on it um makes it exciting gives it Stakes but it also gives us context to deepen our relationship and ultimately have a lifelong experience no matter no matter whenn lose or draw although I do think we have a good shot at setting the record so you've essentially had to become a professional athlete to achieve this so let us inside your world what's training looking like at the moment what's uh obviously you're probably approaching if not already in a taper period but what's a typical training non- taper period look like in terms of duration yeah yeah no that's great question so we've been been coached by this guy named Gary hand who if anyone's looking for like in my opinion I've been coached by a lot of coaches in my life and a lot of high performance Olympic coaches whatever Gary Han is it is a gem he's like a diamond in the rough he's this epic guy Scottish guy um you know did a little bit of Euro Pro Tour racing back in the day um but just honestly one of my maybe my favorite coaches I've ever had he's just on it um super humble guy you know coaches we've been in person with him several times but of course a lot of our coaching is remote you know on training Peaks and whatnot um but it's been amazing you know he really looked at this year and said like hey let's do a reverse periodization on this let's look at where we need to get these different Peak moments these big build moments you know high volume and then he's also been really great at um you know you know I have been a professional athlete in different mediums you know throughout my life and I think the best high performance coaches particularly when you're talking about professional sports is you know when you're coaching kids it's like all about getting them to show up and like try their hardest right and I think when you're coaching professional athletes it's the opposite it's actually like hey these guys are so hyper motivated that it's actually my job to tell them like yo you got to back off you know we actually need you know this ride to be easy you know so more often than Nots he's like you know I told you to ride this ride zone two at 240 Watts or whatever is he's like why'd you ride it at 250 like I don't don't go like actually back off you're riding this too hard that interval was too strong um but he's been gosh I mean seriously he U literally if anyone's looking for a guy Gary Han expresso coaching this is this is not a paid advertis I'm just telling you this guy freaking Legend um and I'm so grateful that he has been um in our Corner um but yeah you know we we did a in October we actually did the first 1 th000 miles of the Race Across America course um we got we had a smaller support team but we essentially simulated the race for the first Thousand Miles and so our first build last summer and into October was to build us up to actually make this 1,000 mile um attempt um and so this big big build into that you know we're doing some long rides you know there was some days where like you know remember right before that a couple days a couple weeks before that you know it was a two two backtack 12h hour ride days you know zone two not like you know hard but like 12 hours go to sleep wake up ride your bike again you know 12 hours each while it says 250 miles or something like that I can't remember exactly um and then the same thing you know actually I went to Antarctica in the middle of this and Gary was amazing because I was like Hey we're doing this cycling record but I'm also doing this Antarctica thing so he actually you know obviously he's a cycling coach but helped me figure out how to even build into Antarctica and then after coming another crass recover from that and build back up and then we actually had a uh a team training camp uh just last week in Austin Texas so we flew all 15 members of our team our support team into Austin Texas just outside there in the Hill Country of Texas intentionally super hot you know 95 Fahrenheit I don't know it's like 40 you know Celsius something like that really humid like 90% humidity windy and hilly basically the worst conditions across the board to then simulate um a race and we actually simulated 24 hours of the race so we actually went out there at race Pace with all of our our support vehicles for two reasons one for the volume and the training of it but two to actually see you know how are these transitions working how are the Vans working out how is everyone working on the teammates and know how are the the radios work what what's breaking what's wrong with our system um and Gary was hugely influential and building us towards that and before we even brought the whole team out there the week before me Gary and Lucas show up in Texas about five days before everyone and rode heavy volume you know eight hour days back to back to back so that when the race simulation started we were actually going into that intentionally fatigued um I'm happy to say that we ended up uh for that 24 hours we averaged um you know 21 and a half miles per hour just about um so about you know mile and a half faster than the world record Pace even coming off heavy volume but now we're in the final two weeks and so just literally right before this call um you know doing some sharpening stuff you know Le less high volume but just kind of keeping the body ticking over this the session that I just did I was on my trainer just now um was more of like a hit high intensity interval train so it was uh basically uh 30 rounds of 15 seconds at 500 watts 45 seconds you know easy spin um you know 10 times around that with then 10 minutes kind of easy and then back through that three times um short session you know it's an hour and 20 minute session but just with kind of those you know quick you know sharp you know kind of hits um in there you know as we kind of get our body into this taper phase but we don't want to go into a dormant phase right now you kind of want to be rest but you kind of want to still stay neuromuscularly switched on um so anyways like that's kind of maybe a little too in the weeds but uh it's been great small differences really matter though when they compound we talked about you know whether this is like a thousand episodes into a podcast when you make one small change but you do it every single week over a thousand episodes that really ends up being a totally different product and it's the exact same on the bike and often these are invisible changes like you spoke about heading over to the UK to a wind tunnel which it might seem like somebody listen to the podcast going you're racing Across America what are you going to the wind tunnel or you're not doing a 4K Pursuit on the track but if you can find S eight 10 watt saving at a compounds over 3,000 miles that's not a minute that's not 10 minutes that's hours Ro man I know how serious you take your goal setting whether they're Fitness or life related goals if you're looking for a powerful alloy to support you on this journey look now further than hu hu has become my secret weapon for when I don't have time to prepare a balanced meal ensures I get the nutrition I need without sacrificing in time or 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oh yeah yeah no it was so it was amazing yeah we um so lall has been a sponsor bars incredible and obviously they have you know the UK footprint and they they've worked a lot with the with the Wind Tunnel down there at Silverstone with the where the Formula One facility is um and so it's part was like you know we always knew we like we want to find all you said these one and two% gains because they compound so much over time um and uh you know we've had great support you know uh bikes you know prins and carbon for wheels and then you know in terms of Kit you know theall and they're like hey you know we've got this dial come over the wind tunnel let's let's spend some time in the wind tunnel and find these 1% gains and they were amazing so we we flew over to the UK um in March and it was actually fun we they greeted Us in the surri Hills we did a uh Easter day uh Easter Sunday group ride with the whole theall team down there a bunch of the different you know local cyclists from the laal group rides came out and it was really really super fun to just ride through the sir Hills we rode you would know the Box Box Hill or was what they did Olympics are up there the Olympic circuit yes we rode the Olympic circuit through there with them um so you know it was a it was a gray UK day as you would expect uh so it was part for the course um but no we really enjoyed our time over there then we went to this the um wind tunnel at Silverstone um which was amazing I had never been in a wind tunnel before you know I've seen photos and whatnot um but it was incredible you know to go in there with our you know full TT you know we've got we've got basically two bikes you know we've got the the rad bike the ns1 um and then the ventom uh TT bike as well um you know full disc wheel you know Tri spoke in the front we also have different dish you know wheels from Prince and carbon so you know testing all the different things and our position and it was incredible you know these guys have all these computer you know printouts basically in there and they're you know turning the slope angle turning the the wind up and the littlest things I mean you know this but it's amazing to see they're like okay like let's move your bars out you know a centimeter and you know drop it down a half a centimeter or something like that and so we moved that and they're like oh that'll save you 8.5 hours over the course of Ros you know you're like Jesus um but then with you know certainly with gear and kit it was it was amazing what lall was able to do you know they basically you know took all of our sizing made us a couple of different custom suits you know their their uh speed suit um which is kind of more of a short sleeve and then the full skin suit which has got the long sleeve could perfectly measure Meed for Lucas and I's you know body and then they also had us put on um their you know I was really impressed by this which does it so seems so obvious but just shoe covers you know lall makes these you know right super um aerodynamic shoe covers you know put those on and then lall also makes these you know aerodynamic gloves and every single time like we do it with no gloves and they'd be like okay now put the gloves on they're like that's going to save you three I can't remember the exact numbers that'll save you three hours you know take the shoe covers off versus putting the shoe covers on oh you know that's going to save you you know 5.2 hours you know you know the difference between like a normal cycling kit which seems like you know a tight fitting good cycling kit versus their you know skin suit or their speedit crazy difference I mean like so much faster and so you know obviously on one hand you want to train and we've been you know trying to push our FTP up and get our numbers and our watts and all this sort of stuff but you start to realize you're like I could be the fittest guy on the planet but if I'm just wearing this baggy t-shirt versus you know the LA skin suit or whatever that is like it doesn't matter how fit I am like the aerodynamics really matter particularly when you're compounding over you know 3,000 miles and so it was fascinating you know it's of course we intuitively know that we know that's as cyclist as you know headwind or whatever we can feel such a significant difference but it was you know I'm kind of a data you know driven kind of person and so to actually see they're like try this and now the exact same Ser try this you walk over the computer and they can just show you this is what it looks like over 3,000 miles was like wow um and so you know I would have been happy with a one or two% gain but I think we probably found you know 20 25 watts you know maybe some you know five and 10 per gains by all the different you know switches we were able to make in the Wind Tunnel which you know obviously is massive um and so that was really cool I'm excited it was so grateful lall was able to set that up and what we would do there was was going to be huge part of uh hopefully our success and have you gone to that same level of detail in other aspects obviously training care equipment seems to be in like no stone on torn but I often see an area that a lot of people don't bother with it's actually getting into their own blood work have you delved into that and been tracing blood markers through the course of your training yeah we've has actually it's been amazing so I've started working with this company called function health I don't know if they're in the Europe yet I think they're come in Europe but Mark Mark hman yeah Markman exactly yeah actually I follow him he's brilliant some of the stuff yeah yeah so Mark Mark's Mark's amazing he's the founders of this this company called function Health um I'm super impressed by it essentially um you know I'm using their normal thing but you can go basically in the US for 500 bucks go um get all of your biomarkers tested so you get 26 B of blood blood drawn twice per year um and it gives you this massive amount of data you know over here in the US we have some issues with our health care you've better in other countries but we're one of the worst I I'll be on record saying that we''ve got kind a messed up system but it's crazy expensive it's hard to get blood work it's hard to get this data whenever it's function Health has basically this this solution that allows you to get all of your blood and blow markers um done in a really coste effective and easy way and what's most amazing about it actually they've got this online dashboard and so all these biomarkers come back but instead of getting like these PDFs of all this like doctorly information that you you and I as a late person couldn't understand there's this super easy to read userfriendly um essentially app or on website and you can see all your bio bio blood markers and then what's cool is that in function Health you do it twice a year um it's you can start to see trend lines right like it's oh my you know LDL cholesterol it went up or my testosterone has decreased after this training block or you know I'm low on iron I need more vitamin D or whatever but you can also see that over longitudinal space and so I actually started working with function about two years ago but really you know intensely over the last year or so getting ready for this world record and you know normally you go twice per year but because I'm training so much I've been doing it like every two months basically and it has been incredible to see all of the changes that I've been able to make basically that's getting really interesting doesn't it when you pair all these different worlds together because they kind of all operate in a Soo at the moment unless you're high performance but if you start looking at okay we're going to do a threshold block the normal data we have from threshold blocks is like we have heart rate data we have power data Maybe if you're pretty high end you have lacate data but now I wonder if you start to observe what effect does that threshold block also have on my cortisol levels what effect does it have on my testosterone levels that starts getting really interesting super and what's been really cool with with function and and my partnership now with them has been I've been able to do it be like before and after like for example that Thousand Mile ride that I talked about like we we tested me at the end of a training block got all my test and then went and did the test again because it's so easy to get the test done um the day after finishing 1,000 miles like what what happened in my body in a thousand miles and we're like oh wow like cortisol way up testosterone down this happened whatever and we go well how's my body recovering from that and so not just like you know we know when we're we we've put oursel through something we kind of feel it anecdotally oh I'm heavy on the pedals today or this but to actually see that data in the blood and go oh how can we take a proactive approach to this has been gamechanging I mean I literally can't sing the Praises um you know function Health enough um that you know they're doing amazing things over here in the US I think they're going to hopefully have a global footprint um very soon um but yeah it's it's been it's been remarkable um to to to work and just to get that to to me you know I was professional triathlete 10 years ago and I'd look man if I had had this access to that level of sort of blood work and things like that it it would be it would have been extraordinary it's been huge it's you know it's those one and two and three% gains um you know really really thrilled about it you know right now they're uh I I'll give them a little shout out here they they literally have 150,000 people on a wait list that's how how in demand they are um they've been like slowly rolling out people's access to it but I have a code it's dysfunction healthin if you want to skip the line um if you're in the US market um and want to check that out I just literally it's just it's been gamechanging for me um and it's it's just been amazing you know I I wouldn't be shouting it out if I didn't feel that way but it's crazy how much I've learned about my body and just like what's going on in the hood and the thing is I think of myself as a healthy guy like I'm training I'm this I'm whatever and to realize like oh there's some nutritional deficiencies oh actually I'm low on this or high on this like weird I wouldn't have thought that like I never would have known but it goes in such an in-depth way um it's it's been really really remarkable did you get data on falling into the carass you know it's funny I actually did I actually got I we did the same thing because we were like we're going to test him before Antarctica and we're going to test him after Antarctica of course we're thinking it's me out there alone in Antarctica for you know 30 days and with Mark Heyman actually him and I created this whole food plan the exact like supplements that I was going to take based on my blood work to put in my food and balance my body and of course the ex you know which was actually really cool and I think that would have been interesting to learn about um but then I fell in the crass and I was like okay like well the second I got back from Antarctica the first thing I did is again went because you can go to any clinic and it literally it's so easy it takes 20 minutes you you take all your butt basically anywhere in the US um and so we did get the data on what did it look like on my body coming out of deep deep trama um and it was it was fascinating and the things you would expect or might not expect but my hormone levels were way out of balance um and it wasn't from pushing my myself because I thought I'd be pushing myself and be energetically from food but it's actually from the I mean I felt it on the day I mean I was literally crying and shaking for 24 hours from just the fear of what I've been through have some pretty harrowing videos of just me just like completely you know adrenaline as you know the fear of death but then to actually go get the blood work and be like yeah that had a real effect on your body and I you know I talked about Gary Han like being able to take that data talk with Mark and function health and then bring that back to my cycling coach because we're ing up through this and be like hey man here's a snapshot of where I'm at it's one thing to say to your coach like hey man I almost died it was it was it was bad I was pretty freaked out but to actually have the data and be like and here's what's actually happening inside of my body he was able to look at that Gary was and go like okay we got to build you back up slow here we can't go right back into training um and so yeah that was that was uh interesting the one other the thing that that's been new for me that I've really um I have felt a difference with um I don't know how much you've gone but like in understanding mitochondria better and just the cellular vitality and cellular Health um I've been one of the things that came from my blood work is a really need to kind of you know optimize that you know I'm 39 years old you know I'm getting you know deeper and closer into middle age failure brother a failure you know this and it's like how can I recover better um and so you know with with Mark's you know guidance you know he got me you know taking this uh mitoq uh this a supplement around mitochondrial health and I have felt you know for me sometimes with certain supplements I can't I I know it's important but I can't tell but that's one that has really I have felt a big difference I really have felt stronger more vital you know as I I take this you know this easy supplement I take every day called mitoq but it's all about that mitochondrial health and really optimizing the cellular vitality and I I I definitely um felt the difference as I've you know this this I gu want to say Advanced age but an age where recovery isn't what it was when I was 25 years old and it's it's been amazing to feel the difference and that's one thing that we implemented on the backside of coming out of Antarctica in that recovery phase and building up for this Race Across America that I do feel like has made a big difference do you know what was showing up in your blood markers that prompted them to advise you to take mitoq um I it's funny it's like there's so many it's so much data um but it really was it was seeing how my some of my CS were breaking down right like how I was actually you know not not having that efficiency of energy I think I forget in some of the I'd have to go go back into the the deeper data of it um um but it was interesting I remember seeing you know in talking with Mark and in looking at my function panel being like well let's try this and then seeing like oh yeah like that that's actually adjusting um and really kind of you know of course anecdotally I can feel that um as well um but yeah it's uh it's really fascinating to take that real look under the hood and I think to me cycling you know I was a swimmer you know I grew up as a swimmer um and of course swimming is very clock-based so you're looking at the clock and it's down to the tth and hundreds of a second but it's really hard to measure in the same way that you can with a power meter the same way you can with a heart rate meter right you can't really have devices um measuring you know even in this phase like there's still not a way to measure swimming so you know PE swimmers always talk about oh the feel for the water and the way I felt coming off the block and my kick and my you know Tempo and things like that those those are obviously super important and I do think I know my body really well intuitively because of swimming but one thing that to me that I love so much about cycling contrast is like the data doesn't lie like it's very objective you know it's like I felt great today well did you like or was it that you were just going downhill with a tailwind and it just felt like you're riding your bike and you're going along just barely turning the pedals over or vice versa um and so to have that this year has been so fun with all the things we've talked about to do basically have all that data on the bike like a normal cyclist would measure but then to take that to the next level you know with Lal in the wind tunnel and then to take that a next level like what's actually happening in my blood after this big push or after this recovery period or whatever and to see what function's doing with M like what all these different shifts are happening so it's fun to me um you know to get to the start line of this project on June 15th and really feel like we've over you know there's been no stone unturned you know we've really looked inside outside gear fitness health um nutrition Etc and you know hopefully that pays dividends and also some of the intangibles like I said the teamwork element can't be understated to to you know to get together and you know you know do some breath work as a team and some team building exercise and get to know each other on a human level and to optimize for that as well you know I just feel like we've really um it's just been fun for me honestly to to be like let's let's take this and let's take this on in a serious way and took a 360 approach yes it is riding the bike fast and how fast Lucas s can push down on the pedals but what are all the factors that go into that and it's not just you know throwing together some big sessions on the bike and hoping we can spin a big gear Ross Kansas and the flats you know it's really you know a lot of different things added up and been a blast and if nothing else there's a beautiful feeling it's only probably Happ me once or twice in my cycling career there's a beautiful feeling of standing on the start line and thinking I've done everything I could to prepare as best I could for this event now no matter what happens it's in the lap of the Gods but I've done everything I could and controlled all those variables up to this point that's a beautiful feeling R man I've got something exciting to share with you it's been making a huge difference in my performance of lace especially when it comes to my sleep allow me to introduce you to pillar we're probably all familiar with the importance of electrolytes and carbohydrates in our race preparation pillar is taking a slightly different route it's focusing on something called micronutrition ensuring you're ready to perform even before you ever hit the start line it's all about promoting a good night sleep facilitating effective recovery and replenishing those crucial micronutrients so you can perform your best over the past month I've been running the little experiment I've been incorporating pillars triple magnesium supplement into my routine I take it 30 minutes before bed every night and I've seen a remarkable Improvement in My Sleep Quality and my HRV I'm tracking this every single night use my whoop and the results are there in black and white I wake up feeling refreshed having had a deep rest start of sleep and I'm ready to take on work take on training or whatever life trolls at me the next day but I want you to do something don't take my word for this let the data from your Fitness tracker tell you the story if you're ready to elevate your performance and elevate your Sleep Quality like me why not give pillar a try head on over to pillar performance.
Shop and use the code roadman on your local website to get 15% off your first order if you're listening in the US you can head on over to the feed.com pillar and use the code roadman for the same 15% off your first order totally and I and I say will say confidently that I have had some success in in exhibitions where I haven't had that but more often than not in my life I've showed up to the start line being like man I could have train arter for this or I could have thought this through whatever um so it is really fun you know I do believe you know the numbers prove out that I think Lucas and I you know do have the physical capacity to do this I feel great about the team I feel great about everything and I really do you know feel like we've put as much hay in the barn as we possibly can to be at the start line and you know just as well from cycling and other sports like you gota a few things have to break your way you know we get a thunderstorm with a headwind going 50 m per hour the wrong way you know we're not going to get there um and so um it it does feel good to say we've done everything we can and now we need to just go live out this experience and um you know for me I am just so thrilled to be able to feel that way and grateful to be healthy in my body and to be able to have a childhood best friend that I've known for 35 years to go have a great adventure with our entire team and see the country I don't know how much we'll be seeing because I'm most just had my head down in the a position trying to push hard but we will travel the course of the country and uh hopefully we end up on the other side you know as setting a new world record for this sub six project it's uh it's been really fun I if Lucas is up for it maybe we'll loop back in with him on the far end and we'll get a different perspective on the story and he can tell us about how much of a you know drain you were for the entire six days well the fun yeah yeah you guys are have great conversation I hope on the back side but one a closing thought which is really funny is we've had an amazing runup like I said this year and all the you know us building the project together and all the fun camaraderie what you quickly realize is him and I or one of us is always riding and we we ride past each other in the transition basically one person rides past the other then and starts riding but of all the people I'm actually going to see Lucas like for a grand total of like 60 seconds across the whole six St uh because like it's like good job man and we pass each other we're never in the same van we're never sto at the same time so it's a funny thing like we're doing this together but the one person I might not see at all is the Lucas if anything else so uh yeah I look forward to give he'll have a good perspective to share with you on the backside hopefully in success so best of Lu with it keep the rubber side down and keep those fingers tucked in all your wind tunnel instructions that you're trying to memorize keep the chin down keep the hands in keep the shoulder Shrugged it's going to be fun best luck thank you so much if you like this video you should definitely check out this video cuz I know you're going to love it and don't forget to subscribe to the channel
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