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Stories about how hard things build stronger humans who have more fun. Guests from pro cycling, sports, politics, business, tech, journalism, the military and more. Resilience, grit, mental health, high performance, mindfulness. Host Andrew Vontz is an entrepreneur & co-founder of TheBetterLab.io, the company that helps you build mindful, science-backed practices to sleep better. Previously, he was a Strava executive; a communications leader at the human performance company, TRX; and a journ ...
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Christopher Blevins - the World Champion & Olympian on Mindfulness + the Transformative Power of Community & Bikes
51:37
Christopher Blevins is a mindfulness practitioner who builds community and a more inclusive and healthy world through bikes. He’s one of the best professional mountain bikers America has ever produced and one of the best in the world. He has won the Cape Epic and taken gold in the mountain bike world championships in the short track and cross-count…
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Rewind: Olympic Gold Medalist Kristen Faulkner - The Power of Positive Risk Taking, Why She Walked Away from Her Dream Job & the Path to Pro Cycling Success
58:34
Kristen Faulkner is an American pro cyclist who won the gold medal in the women’s cycling road race at the Paris Olympics in truly stunning fashion, surpassing two of the most dominant racers in the sport with a bold attack that left them looking at each other while she drilled it to victory. It’s one of my favorite bike races I’ve ever watched. If…
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Cory Richards pt. 2 - the Legendary Alpinist & Nat Geo Photographer on his new book 'The Color of Everything' - Rising, Falling & Beginning Again
49:31
A student struggling with his practice once asked the zen master Shunryu Suzuki to boil down Buddhism into a single phrase. Suzuki thought for a moment, then he responded: everything changes. This is part two of my conversation with Cory Richards about his memoir, The Color of Everything. Cory is bipolar and at different moments in his life he has …
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Rewind: 2nd at the Unbound 100 Gravel Race 2014 with @vontz x @blakeotoday - from the Archives
1:28:30
Doing hard things with friends is fun and even when you lose, you win. In 2014 I took second at Unbound 100 and superstar creator and now BJJ black belt @blakeoftoday took third. This episode originally dropped in 2019. I skipped the weddings of several close friends and trained 20+ hours many weeks for months to prepare for this event. When we did…
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Joe Petrowski landed a great job as an aerospace engineer right out of college. Then he got the bike racing bug. People told him to stick with his demonstrably awesome, impressive and very high paying gig. Instead, he quit to go live in at times dismal conditions to be a pro cyclist, first in the UK then in France. And if you’re not familiar with d…
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Cory Richards - Presence is the Real Summit - Beyond Everest & Life as a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year & Photographer
42:45
Charisma, fame, good looks, superhuman physical and artistic achievement. Some people seem to have done everything and to be everything you dream of becoming. And as Cory Richards shares in this interview, everything can be nothing and anything can be the opportunity for presence, mindfulness and connection to who and what matters most. Cory climbe…
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Heather Jackson: Gravel & Ultra Trail Running Pro - Positive Risks, Growth & the Power of Starting Something New
1:00:56
Heather Jackson has won six full Ironman triathlons, 16 Ironman 70.3 races, the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon and she also won the Wildflower triathlon four times. She played D1 hockey at Princeton where she was a two-time captain and was on the US National team for cycling track racing. In 2023, she left triathlon to be a pro gravel racer AND a p…
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Michael Marckx is the founder and CEO of the Belgian Waffle Ride, one of the biggest and most influential multi-surface, gravelish series in the world. He’s a prime mover behind what has become today’s booming gravel scene and wow, this guy has lived what would be 20 lives the average human. We talk everything that went into the birth of the BWR in…
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Joe Goettl grew up working on a farm, almost made it as a pro snowboarder and went deep into competitive running--until he hit an endless string of injuries that doctors said would end his athletic career. Here we are in 2023 and Joe is a rising YouTuber & pro cyclist knocking on the door of gravel greatness. During the week, Joe trains, coaches at…
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One day you wake up and a thing called the Life Time Grand Prix exists and two years later it’s all anyone who follows pro cycling in America can talk about. How did we get here? And what’s next? Today, we find out. Kimo Seymour is the Senior Vice President of Media and Events at Life Time and the creator of the Life Time Grand Prix. He’s also an e…
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Alexis Skarda is a professional cyclist who rides for the Santa Cruz HtSqd and is the US Marathon National Cross-Country Mountain Bike Champion, a Lifetime Grand Prix racer, an emerging electronic music artist and she’s a formidable force on the 1s and 2s as a DJ as well as a podium threat at any gravel race she enters. I love to produce electronic…
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Drew Dillman & Dylan Johnson - Gravel Racing 90210 -- The Lifetime Grand Prix, BWR and Beyond
1:24:57
Dylan Johnson and Drew Dillman join @vontz to talk about pro gravel racing 90210 and the fun they had battling for 17th place at the final race of the Lifetime Grand Prix series, Big Sugar down in Bentonville, Arkansas, home of Walmart and the global epicenter of competitive cycling. We get into the past, present and future of pro gravel, why commu…
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Joe De Sena is the founder and CEO of Spartan and creator of the Spartan Race and the infamous Death Race. After he created a hugely successful Wall Street trading firm, Joe left finance behind in 2001 to build a new life and a new business from a farm in rural Vermont. His goal was to change 100 million lives through experiences like those he had …
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@tristantakephoto on Racing 800 Miles Across Morocco’s Atlas Mountains & Selling Everything to Start the Life He Wanted
59:00
Tristan Cardew, aka @tristantakephoto, sold everything and moved from Sydney, Australia to Girona, Spain to build a life that revolved around cycling and visual storytelling. Five years later, he’s racing gravel and road at a high level and has built the creative career he dreamed about making happen. His YouTube channel, TristanTakeVideo, has more…
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Six years ago, I launched Choose the Hard Way to inspire more people to embrace the idea that doing hard things builds stronger humans who have more fun. My guests are among the very best in the world at what they do and I’ve been lucky that they’ve graciously shared their stories here. To celebrate 100 episodes, I’m doing something different and s…
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Pete Stetina: the OG Gravel Pro on Racing while Parenting, Where Gravel is Headed & Exiting the World Tour to Enter a Van
1:11:57
Pete Stetina grew up in a famous cycling family and became a highly accomplished pro road racer who raced the Giro D’Italia four times, the Tour de France twice and the Vuelta Espana twice. When he started dabbling in gravel racing, in 2019, he was still doing 80 race days a year in the World Tour while winning iconic events like the original recip…
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Vince Murdock: Team Alpha Male MMA fighter on Brain Surgery, The Ultimate Fighter & Building an Inclusive Cycling Community
53:57
Vince Murdock is a professional mixed martial arts fighter who came up from difficult circumstances and worked his entire life to get into the UFC. When he finally got the call, a pre-fight brain scan showed he had Moyamoya disease and a life-threatening arterial blockage. Following brain surgery that involved removing a quarter of his skull, Vince…
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Drew Dillman is a pro cyclist who, until now, has focused on cyclocross and criterium racing. In recent months, Drew has aimed for the fences like Babe Ruth and hyped his plans to catapult into the LifeTime Grand Prix series and become a gravel icon. He co-hosts the Matchbox and Bonk Bros podcasts and is co-founder of Ignition Coach Co, a coaching …
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Iz King: From Wall Street to Pro Athlete & Creating a Life and Career on an Unmarked Course
1:12:52
Iz King left Wall Street to pedal for gold on gravel roads and trails across America as a pro cyclist in the LifeTime Grand Prix. She played D1 soccer for Columbia University where she was the team captain, traded equities for UBS then got into racing triathlons while completing her MBA at UCLA. So what leads someone to step off the fintech yellow …
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Michelle “MACE” Curran: ex USAF Thunderbird Lead Soloist, F16 Fighter Pilot, Endurance Athlete & Entrepreneur
1:08:21
Michelle Curran, call sign MACE, spent three years flying in the United States Air Force Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team and was the lead soloist for two of those years flying on the outer left wing of the delta formation. Michelle was the fifth woman ever to be a member of the Thunderbirds and while deployed as a fighter pilot in Afghanista…
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Derek Teel: Dialed Health Founder & former Pro Downhill & Enduro MTB Racer on Building Strength & Finding Balance in Sport, Life & Business
1:14:12
With years of cycling and endurance experience under his belt, Derek Teel now dedicates his life to providing strength training programs and coaching through his app and platform dialedhealth.com, helping cyclists around the world become healthier and perform better. In this episode, we'll dive into Derek's journey from building bike ramps and work…
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Pro Cyclist Kerry Werner on the Rise of Gravel, the Contraction of Cross, the Lifetime Grand Prix & Creator Life
1:06:56
Kerry Werner was living the hardcore multi-discipline pro cyclist life long before it was cool and has been bringing viewers inside the races on YouTube for nearly a decade. During that time, he has gone from an ace mountain bike pro to one of the brightest American stars in cyclocross to taking the now inevitable leap into the Belgian Waffle Ride …
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Unbound XL winner Kristen Legan & Gravel legend Nick Legan on racing, adventure, bikepacking and teamwork in sport, life and marriage as lived at Unbound Gravel, Ride the Divide, TransIowa and more. The inside line on the months of prep, recon and planning that went into Unbound XL, why Kristen and Nick like to go deep, why they choose the hard way…
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Pt. 2 - Paris-Roubaix Winner Alison Jackson on the Tour de France Femmes, the Psychology of Winning, Bison Farming & More
1:09:45
Paris-Roubaix Femmes winner, Olympian and current Canadian national road race champion Alison Jackson is back for her second appearance on Choose the Hard Way to talk about Tour de France Femmes and more. Alison is a major favorite for a stage win and her EF Education Tibco-SVB team is expected to animate the race. Alison is well known for her work…
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Mitch Docker on Life in the Peloton, Life After the World Tour, Building a Content Empire & More
57:02
Mitch Docker is the creator of the Life in the Peloton podcast and a former World Tour pro cyclist. Mitch raced the biggies including the Giro and Vuelta and rode for legendary squads including EF, Green Edge and Skil Shimano. He was best known as a leadout man, classics rider and road captain. He’s equally well known for his highly entertaining st…
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Olympian Brent Bookwalter on Riding for a Tour de France-winning Team, Making Peacock’s Tour de France Broadcast Team & his Future in Performance Psychology
1:03:22
Brent Bookwalter is a Tour de France commentator for the NBC Peacock team. He spent 16 years as a pro cyclist and raced in the World Tour including on the BMC squad that helped Cadel Evans win the 2011 Tour de France. He shares about his experiences before, during and after his career as a pro cyclist, the path that led him to pursue a graduate deg…
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Veloworthy Founder Brian Co on Covering Unbound Gravel, Belgian Waffle Ride & Pro Gravel Racing from the Inside the Way It has Never Been Covered Before
39:39
Veloworthy founder Brian Co on building a sports media empire solo while working full time and raising a family. Brian has single-handedly built a dedicated following by profiling top cycling pros and providing an inside look at the world of gravel cycling that traditional media outlets have failed to capture. Now, Veloworthy is one of the most inf…
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Keegan Swenson continues to dominate the gravel racing world, winning this year's Unbound Gravel in tough conditions after a runner-up finish in 2022. Swenson's prowess on the dirt is also backed by his affiliation with Santa Cruz Bicycles htSQD, an elite group of multi-surface racers. It's no wonder that Keegan is known as the top gravel racer on …
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Ian Boswell: 2021 Unbound Gravel Champion, Retired World Tour Pro Cyclist on Competition, Balance, Starting Over and the Past, Present & Future of Gravel
1:04:48
After being forced to retire from professional cycling due to a series of concussions, Ian Boswell reinvented himself as a dominant force in the new world of gravel racing - and he's not looking back. The 2021 Unbound Gravel 200 champion was formerly a member of Team Sky, the world's top pro cycling team at the time, where he competed in all three …
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Ben Davis: Navy SEAL Veteran, MTB Racer, Mountaineer + Veteran Outdoor Advocacy Group Exec. Director
1:11:03
After a decade as a United States Navy SEAL, Ben Davis is now conquering peaks, competing in races and coaching. He is also the executive director of the Veterans Outdoor Advocacy Group (VOAG) - a non-profit that promotes access to outdoor adjunct therapies for all veterans. In his last few years of service, he completed numerous mountaineering end…
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From growing up on a bison farm to winning the 2023 Paris-Roubaix Femmes, Alison Jackson is now known for more than just her world class wins. The pro cyclist with UCI Women's WorldTeam EF Education–Tibco–SVB has also gone viral on TikTok. Alison has come a long way thanks to her unique blend of humor and athletic intuition. When she was younger, s…
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Entrepreneur, scientist, and author Chris Case knows how to design a challenge. His company, Alter Exploration, curates intense, application-only custom cycling and trail running trips. Alter's experiences are built to test physical limits, foster emotional growth, and encourage mental evolution. As a former cycling journalist and lifelong enduranc…
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Pioneering sports data journalist and coach Zach Nehr has always been ahead of the curve. He is one of the first journalists to do deep quantitative analyses of power data from the world's top pro cyclists, and now he’s transferred that knowledge to the growing scene of virtual racing. An elite level competitor in road, track and cycling esports, Z…
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Ben Delaney: Journalist + YouTuber on Racing Gravel, Reviewing Gear & Independent Cycling Media
1:04:38
As a respected journalist, Ben Delaney has written and edited for top outlets like VeloNews, BikeRadar, and Cycling Weekly. He’s also the director of content at FasCat Coaching. Last year, he decided it was time to take a crack at creating his own cycling content. Enter Ben's YouTube channel, The Ride. With a million views in just a year, it's clea…
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Syd and Macky -- MTB Pro Cyclists x YouTubers - a no BS look at Van Life, Pro Athlete Life, Creator Life and riding the trail to 17 million views
1:08:44
Professional racing duo Syd Schulz and Macky Franklin are on a quest to race the best and most challenging mountain bike races in America, filming their adventures along the way to give viewers an unvarnished look at the reality of living on the road as professional cyclists. After traveling in a tiny orange car, then a series of (old, janky) white…
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Dylan Johnson’s skill on the bike, coupled with his popular YouTube videos about exercise physiology and racing tactics have put him at the forefront of cycling culture. He’s a renowned professional cyclist racing in the Lifetime Grand Prix gravel and mountain bike national series and the co-founder of Ignition Coaching Co. In this episode, he talk…
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Cycling has influenced Craig Dalton in business and life. He is the dynamic co-founder and CEO of DODOcase and DODOcase VR, and current VP of Portfolio a Founder in Residence at Collaborative Fund. He’s also the host of The Gravel Ride, a podcast that recently hit the one-million download mark. His passion for the bike industry led him to Dean Tita…
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Long before Cameron Mason made it to the podium, he was filming and creating content about racing. Cameron is a Scottish professional cyclist and filmmaker who has amassed over 2.5 million views on YouTube documenting his experiences in cyclocross, road racing and mountain bike racing. His distinctive style on the bike and behind the lens caught th…
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When Kristen Faulkner gave cycling a try in 2017, she was already excelling in a venture capital career and had eyes on making partner. Three years later, she turned pro while working at Threshold Ventures and quickly started crushing European stages. Now she’s a pro cyclist for the UCI Women's Continental Team, Team Jayco–AlUla. The Harvard grad j…
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As far as doing hard things goes, Clay Cooper has got it down. He’s a dad with a full time job who spends his free time deadlifting in nature. He started @discoverydeadlift in 2020 when powerlifting proved to be more than just an outlet for him to change his mental and physical health. Since then, he's hiked and deadlifted in over 180 unique locati…
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American pro cycling is changing. As riders adjust to year round competitions in multiple disciplines, Tobin Ortenblad has done more than just keep up. He started crushing in cyclocross years ago and now races mountain bike and gravel, too. Tobin, who has raced for Santa Cruz Bicycles since 2016, is now a member of Santa Cruz’s in-house endurance t…
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Chris Muniz, aka DJ Nightstalker, has been enchanting crowds with his signature sound since the late '90s, where he started alongside heavies like Photek and DJ Rap. From warehouse raves to massive festivals like EDC Vegas and Nocturnal Wonderland, his impact on the drum and bass scene is undeniable. For decades, he’s been an influential electronic…
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As a black belt and entrepreneur, Ben Kovacs wanted to make Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu more accessible. He founded Guardian Gym, a nonprofit dedicated to providing jiu-jitsu scholarships and training to young people around the world. Ben joins our host Andrew Vontz to discuss the intersection of good intentions and reality, and what it takes to build a la…
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Benji Naesen is a Belgian YouTuber who makes videos about gaming, cycling and his personal fitness journey. He’s also the co-host of the Lanterne Rouge cycling podcast, one of the most popular pro cycling podcasts in the world. Benji went from streaming and creating content about the video game Pro Cycling Manager to working as an analyst for Jumbo…
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Journalist Ashley Fantz on Co-Creating the #1 Podcast in the World & Having Open-Heart Surgery
58:17
On the day that “Suspect II: Vanished in the Snow” rose to top of the iTunes and Amazon podcast charts, co-creator Ashley Fantz was rolled into an operating room at Stanford for open-heart surgery. Ashley reported, hosted and co-wrote the show that explores the facts behind the case of a child who was abducted and murdered in 1984. Before her work …
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Justin Nassiri: Serial Entrepreneur, Navy Veteran, Founder & CEO of Executive Presence on Scaling + Growing in Business & Life
1:03:52
As one of the most important professional channels, LinkedIn is increasingly critical - and tricky - to navigate. Justin Nassiri founded Executive Presence, a company that helps executives find the right way to show up for an authentic audience through consistent and relevant messaging. In this episode, Justin talks with Andrew Vontz about why he c…
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Natalie Coughlin is one of the most successful swimmers in the history of the sport: a three-time Olympian, twelve-time Olympic medalist, and three-time Olympic gold medalist. She’s also a mom, an entrepreneur and the co-founder of Gaderian Wines. In this episode, Natalie and Andrew Vontz discuss winemaking, competition, making music, rucking, lift…
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Pro Cyclist Alexey Vermeulen & Photographer Avery Stumm on YouTube, the Creative Process, Collaboration & Storytelling
1:12:15
Alexey Vermeulen decided to leave the highest level of professional cycling in Europe to compete in gravel, road and mountain bike races back in the United States. In 2022 he won one of the biggest gravel races in America, the Belgian Waffle Ride San Diego as well as the Iceman Cometh mountain bike race and took part in the Lifetime Grand Prix seri…
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Fitt Insider + Fitt Capital Co-Founder Anthony Vennare - Entrepreneur, Investor - From $0 to Leading the Future of Health, Wellness, Connected Fitness, Human Performance & Community
1:05:18
For serial entrepreneur and Fitt CEO, Anthony Vennare, community is the super power driving winning businesses in health, wellness & fitness. Anthony and his brother and business partner Joe have started and successfully exited multiple businesses in these spaces. Together they’re the founders of Fitt Insider and Fitt Capital and have built a platf…
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How does resilience transfer across disciplines? Andrew Vontz and co-host Blake Kasemeier sat down with Hector Beltran to talk about fine-tuning the balance of creativity and progress in any practice. Hector, co-founder of Academy Jiu-Jitsu in Downey, California, is a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a mixed martial artist and a Bronze medalist i…
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