2020 was a very strange year, but I definitely picked up a few things that I'm gonna carry on into 2021, positive habits. Today I wanna tell you what they are. Let's cue that intro! The big question is this. How do we use cycling as a tool to improve our health, our happiness and our long chances? That is the question on this podcast, we'll give you the answers. My name is Anthony Walsh, and welcome to the Roadman Podcast. Robeman, welcome back to another Roadman Cycling Podcast. My chair every day, it's getting the groove a little bit better. You know, like Homer Simpson's like groove on the couch? My podcasting chair is kind of like that. When you're podcasting five days a week, you come to appreciate these small little comforts. Roadman, it's great to be back. I had a little bit of time on my hands today and I was reflecting on 2020 and I was obviously away in Columbia traveling for the New Year, got to celebrate it down in Cartagena which was absolutely amazing that's a New Year, I won't forget for a long, long time. But since getting home and I had quarantined before I got my negative COVID tests so I've been laying low, haven't been doing a whole pile and catching up on some reading, catching up on some chilling, catching up on some work and giving some space to just breed and think and reflect. And one of the things I've been reflecting back on is 2020. And you know, it was a strange year. There's no way to really sugarcoat that it was a strange year. I think everyone felt the same sort of unease and on comfort. Uncomfort, that's not a word, discomfort that I did. Like we had lockdowns, we had restrictions around our training, we had goal events and races which were cancelled. For a lot of people it was really hard to stay motivated because they felt like they had nothing to train for. But then we adapted and we overcame and we came up with our own goals like everything challenges are placed in place. But I've definitely missed meeting up on the social creature and the social butterfly as we say in Ireland. I've missed meeting up with buddies, training partners and the crack that goes with that because honestly for me cycling, yeah it's training but it's social and it's two sides to the same coin. And I've definitely missed the hustle and bustle and routine of racing in the bunch and the adrenaline the goals with bunch sprints and big races and the list goes on of the things that I missed this year. But true all that I suppose adversity. There's definitely some things I learned this year and some things that I will continue to apply into my life in 2021 because they've just enriched my life so much that I can't imagine going back to a time. So as shit as 2020 was, these learnings were so profound for me that I'm happy 2021 happened. And that's what I want to talk to you about today. Before I jump in and tell you about that today, I want to give you a reminder about Patreon. The podcast is funded off patreon and you most likely have subscriptions on netflix, amazon, etc. And they come out monthly. Jeff Bezos, it doesn't bring a smile to Jeff Bezos face when you subscribe and pay him a monthly fee of 12 euro. I can tell you when you decide to buy me a beer once a month to say thanks for the podcast, it definitely puts a big big smile on my face. We're in strange times and small little gestures like that. They support independent creators, but they're also just enrich my life with happiness. But today, and I've never done this before, I actually wanna make another announcement on the podcast. And as you know, anyone who's a regular listener, we don't do podcast sponsors, and this isn't a podcast sponsor. And before my DMs get absolutely flooded with people looking for shout outs for events and chargeable causes, like I've chosen this one, I suppose, chargeable partner. And that would be the chargeable partner for this quarter at the very least. So, you know, don't send in requests for shout outs because I hate not being able to oblige and make people happy. It's that Irish need to please, but I, yeah, look, it just filled the whole podcast. So it's not something I'm gonna do, but this is a company I was just so deeply struck by. When I was over in Colombia, I had a chance to visit their offices and Viva, Viva Air, it's founded by an Irish, in Irish Aviation guru and one of the brains behind Ryan there, Deck Ryan and he's involved also in a foundation over there which is doing amazing work and that foundation one of the projects which they're funding it's called Humanos 3D and I was looking off when I was over there to go and hang out with Adam who is the brains behind Humanos 3D.
Hydrate, we'll turn it that morning cocktail where I'll be using water, Himalayan sea salt and some lemon. I'll make sure I move on the rebounder for, you know, four or five minutes straight away. I'll make sure I'll get light and I'll diary. my morning routine, I have it nailed down, it gives me that momentum, cold as well as in there, it gives me that momentum for the rest of the day to tackle anything, creates positive momentum, it's brilliant. Couldn't do without it. The second thing, it's the idea of targets. Since I started cycling the bike competitively, I've always been very target driven and I've had, I'm going to peak for this race at Easter, I'm going to peak for the Ross, I'm going to peak for this, you know, National Hill Climb event, whatever it is. And when you have a target like that, an example I always use is if you ask an archer what to shoot, his first question is going to be, okay, what am I shooting for? As soon as you give him that target, you give him something to measure against, you give him something to strive towards, you give him something to tighten that discipline around, then it's a focal point. And that's the exact same way with when we pick a target, bike race, bike event. But again, this is me getting caught and having a very neural interpretation. I suppose 2020 allowed me to step back and broaden my interpretation of things because it doesn't have to be an event. It doesn't have to be a race. It doesn't have to be the New York tree one too. It's hard. It can be a date in the calendar that we pick. And we say, that's the day. Everything's going to get stricter till then. Everything is going to get a little bit tighter. Everything is going to get a little bit better. And we're going to periodize our training, nutrition, lifestyle, all for this event. The event actually doesn't matter because it's a process that The process around the events that becomes super super important because without that event the process doesn't happen So when we have that event there Everything gets better but this year we were forced To cope in a world where there was no events anymore. So what did we do? We adapted and I know a bunch of clients They set targets like Everesting challenges. They picked a date on the calendar They picked a local climb and they tried to cover the altitude of Everest. I went with other stuff I rode from Dublin to Cork and I had great fun doing it, but that was my target. You know again going to Columbia It's another target. It doesn't have to be Peer-to-peer competition. It can be competition with yourself and just because you're not Engaging in peer-to-peer competition doesn't mean that that competitive spirit is diminished any less. Like I had Pete Stettner on the podcast. I think he's only two-pete guests, two-pete. You like that poem? Pete? Two-pete. That's what you get. But we Pete Stettner on it. And Pete Stett in a fierce competitor, Trek, Sega, Fred, or World Tour, wanted to step across the gravel and revolutionize it. And then COVID strikes, Pete's going off doing like Strava records. He's going off trying to do time efforts against himself. And it's just adapting and overcoming. And I I think for 2021, even if race in his back, it's something I'm going to think more and more about. And it's something I'm going to talk to you guys in the podcast. It's nearly a bit of a brain dump of the type of events I'm thinking of doing for myself. Some may be mass organized, but some may be challenges where I decide maybe to pack a bag on my bike and ride from here to your own. And that could be an event for me. That's the second thing that I wouldn't take away because before I couldn't separate competitive peer to peer and leisure. Now you can ride on your own without this organizational structure and still have it competitive and I love that. The tour thing that's a massive change and it's something you're gonna see more and more from the company, it's something we're weaving into clients already. For so long, I taught that cycling, training, cardio, traditional strength work. Doing these alone could keep you at a level of fitness as you got into your late 20s, 30s, late 30s, into your 40s, late 50s, basically from your 20s on, I thought that maintaining or increasing your training load could maintain your health. This year has been a massive oil opener, and I've seen the power of using science and combining that with an ancestral wisdom, and I call it biohacks, but combining these and peppering them into your life, the massive, massive profound difference this has on your fitness, your happiness, your hormonal health and your longevity.