2020 was a very strange year, but I definitely picked up a few things…
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.
I'm gonna link up down below a link where you can check this out…
I'm gonna link up down below a link where you can check this out because this is like, it's just, it's crazy. And so what they do is Columbia is a country with a difficult trouble past, much similar to her own, except maybe even a little more extreme. And through the conflict, which is quite recent, a lot of children have lost limbs. They've lost limbs other ways as well with accidents and there's not the same safety protocols around Columbia as there is Western countries. but they've lost their limbs through whatever way fell play or otherwise. And there's a real stigma around the replacement limbs that they get from government agencies. Like they're heavy, they're steel, they're unusable, they're pointless, really. So Adam and the amazing team at Humanos, they 3D print these replacement limbs. And it's absolutely phenomenal. If anyone hasn't seen a 3D printer work and we're using them in cycling at the moment, those crazy expensive aero bars like the $4,000 aero bars that you send in a moldy or arm and they tree-d print the bars. It's the exact same technology these guys are using. The 3D print new limbs for children and then they're hooked up either by electrical impulse or by just all skill cables if you have to use your elbow. So it's literally given kids back their arms and their limbs and I thought it was super cool until the moment when I watched a video of a new kid using his new arm. And then it went from super cool to, oh my God, I need to talk about this. Like the kid using the arm and the smile on his face was just incredible. The guys over there, they're fundraising, they have very modest humble fundraising targets. And I've put a link down below. So if you can spare any cash, if you're not going out there, and if you're thinking of donating to a chargeable cause, these guys are doing amazing work and it's just getting better and better. So I'm gonna put the link down below. It's Humanos3d.org forward slash donate. So it's Humanos is spelled H-U-M-A-N-O-S-T-D dot org forward slash donate. I'll put the link down below, but it's a super, super cause. And yeah, I know I don't normally do that sort of thing, but I really just felt that it was worth doing. So yeah, definitely go check it out and check out their Instagram page because it'll bring a smile to your face. And God knows we need a smile to the face now more than ever. So lessons from 2020 folks, when I sat back and I reflected, there's definitely those things that I was saying that I'm so, so glad these are part of my life now and I have these learnings. One of the most important routines, I was never big on routines and especially true college. I was almost proud of the fact that I was a little bit unorganized. I sort of seen, I never liked nine to five jobs and I was never pulled in that direction and any nine to five job I had, building sites or any brief office job I had. I always found the structure really difficult, but I couldn't separate that structure which was imposed on me by an external toward party and structure was imposed on myself. I didn't see a distinction and it wasn't until this year when I started to impose strict structures on myself that I realized that what Choco Wilick says, his catchphrase, the discipline equals freedom, that it was when I created these routines. And the one I'm specifically talking about was a morning routine. The evening one's great as well, but the morning one is just so powerful for me. And I'll speak at Lent throughout the year again on morning routine. It's going to be part of products we're bringing out because it's just so amazing. But the morning routine starts for me by using an alarm clock and not a phone. It's just a bad way because when you get the phone notifications come through and you're responsive. Everything in here, I always talk about the credit card, wax on, wax off, everything in these morning routines. There's a reason behind it. There's a reason behind using the phone. I suppose there's complex chemical pathways that were not triggering by not using the phone. So we don't want to get in that reactive face, stimulating cortisol to go excessively high. Cortisol in the morning is naturally high and it will be high. And that's fine, but we don't want to bring extra, extra cortisol and stress straight away and start to down and react to footing. Other stuff in the morning routine, and I'm not going to go over the whole morning routine because it's not a morning routine podcast, but just stuff briefly that I'll do.
Hydrate, we'll turn it that morning cocktail where I'll be using…
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.
Every day these are just biohacks that are part of my life and the…
So every day these are just biohacks that are part of my life and the results that you can get for yourself, the results we're getting for clients by peppering in some of these things like I mentioned morning routines but some could be supplements like molecular hydrogen, some could be like blue light blockers that I wear as part of my evening routine. It's simple as jumping on the rebound or to clear that lymphatic system in the morning which primes the body for extra fat loss, use my near and far infrared light from dew of using the coal therapy and I've had breed with oil on speaking about coal, water, immersion and how brilliant that is. And maybe just some of the learnings from the blue zones and I've spoken about the blue zones at length before and there the area is around the world where they have the highest concentration of centurion. So people live in beyond a hundred. So we've looked at learnings from these people who have lived longer than anyone else on on the planet like Okinawa and Japan's Sicily and Italy. And what can we learn from these? We can learn the importance of community, but we can also learn little hacks and tricks where science meets that ancestral wisdom, like controlling blood sugar. And they've been doing things for a century like apple cider vinegar, salons cinnamon to control blood sugar, because now we know that the number of times that your blood sugar elevates throughout a day when we map that over a long enough timeline, that actually is a very accurate predictor of your mortality, and it's one of the most accurate predictors we have. So 2020 has just completely opened my eyes to biohacking and how we need to combine cycling training with biohacking if we wanna optimize health happiness and longevity, and it's something I'm gonna speak way more about as the weeks go past on the podcast because it's something that I'll take with me forever, and I'll thank 2020 for that. Row men, thank you for listening. Today's ramblings today. I'm gonna put the link for that humanos treaty down below. Just watch some of the videos and watch the kids faces when they get their arms. And if that doesn't cheer you up today, you're a cold-hearted motherfucker. Row men, I'm gonna chat to you on Monday. Enjoy your weekend. Before you go anywhere, our first ever Row Man Summit had aired back in December. I brought together 30 experts and they shared with me their secrets on it, how to bio-hack your physiology, how to melt away body fat and smash your cycling goals, whatever that was. Since airing that back in December, I've just been in on days of my Instagram, DM's, Twitter direct messages, with requests to get access to this material. I had it locked up in the vault, but I've decided to open access to this material for you, the podcast listeners at the Roadman podcast. So to get access to this, It's a one-time payment of 47 euro and you're gonna have all the interviews, all those secrets forever. You're gonna have the videos and the MP-Trees. In there, I've got interviews with world-tore mechanics, nutritionists, sports psychologists, bike-fit experts and some of the legends at a sport like Tyler Hamilton and Pete Sten. Over 30 hours of content in this members area that I've created for you guys. So if you want to get access to that, the way to do it is to head on over to this URL. www.roadmansomit.com forward slash 2021. I'll give you that again. It's www.roadmansomit.com forward slash 2021. That's numerical. The link to that is in the bio. Get it, check it out, learn it, take it in, because this is short to set you on the right path for 2021.