Becoming Human

Eric Tomczak is a custom bike frame builder working out of his shop in Durango, Colorado. Eric is a craftsman who shapes and reinforces metal tubes in a unique geometry to provide the best experience for the bicyclist and their environment. In this episode we discuss how the shape of a bike frame affects your riding experience, working with your passion, being an entrepreneur, and more. It is amazing to me that some people dedicate most of their energy to creating a functional work of art. The intricate details and challenges you face when building a bike frame are astounding. Eric has been experimenting with some full-suspension designs lately. You can check out his bike builds or request a custom build on mythcycles.com or Instagram @mythcycles. 

Alicia Jenkins ran a DIY 200-mile ultra marathon around and between sleeping volcanoes. When covid-19 had caused many disruptions in people's lives. For Alicia, it meant the ultra running goal of her year, the bigfoot 200, was no longer being out on by destination trail - despite all of Candice's efforts to make it happen in 2020. Some people decided to run the course as an unofficial ultra-marathon where there are no records being officially kept nor is there any support from the many volunteers and staff required to put on a trail race; especially if that magnitude. For someone as competitive as Alicia, it was rad to hear her experience with a change of pace and focus. I emphasize the predicament that had her experiencing something very different from her normal dynamics when running. To learn more about Alicia check her out on Instagram @leasha

Featured Song, Leave the Summer by Kristoff Krane

Setting your aim might be an effective way to pull yourself out of the depths of your suffering and into the heights of something rewarding.

Cindy Hales is an entrepreneur, the lead teacher at Sleeper Jiu-Jitsu, part of the Women’s Dirty Dozen(the first 12 female black belts outside of Brazil.), and host of The Cindy Hales Show.

She has recently won the Masters 4 division of IBJJF Pans American Jiu-Jitsu tournament.

In this episode, we talk about Cindy’s Jiu-Jitsu training during Covid-19, her preparation for Pans, how to turn hardship into an opportunity for growth, focusing on the things we can control in our lives, systems thinking and working with our individual challenges. Cindy and I also talked about what it is like to raise her dog, Matty. I love getting to talk with somebody who has spent so many years learning a discipline.

Get in touch with Cindy: Cindyhales.com, Sleeperjj.com, @sleeper96 on Instagram.

Featured Music:

Compressorhead - Ace of Spades

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RBSkq-_St8

Episode 132 features Mike Mcknight an ultra-runner who has won the Destination Trail’s Triple Crown(3 200 mile trail races in 2 months), ran 100 miles without calories in 18 hours and 40 minutes, ran 300 miles through the Bear River and Wasatch mountain ranges to support his friend and parathlete Austin Patten, and he has recently achieved the fastest known attempt on the Colorado Trail beating the previous record by almost 1 whole day!

Mike and I recorded this podcast right after he ran 100 miles on zero calories. He set out to run the distance with those constraints to test his body to better understand his relationship to his body and it’s potential. I value Mike’s level of curiosity and his willingness to put himself in unknown circumstances. I feel like descending into the uncertain abyss, literally and figuratively, is a character trait valuable in many aspects of life. In this conversation, it’s apparent that Mike excels when things look impossible. It sounds like Mike is inspired by a daunting challenge. I find myself inspired by very niche things and articulating that to a greater degree, allows me to be more effective in facing challenges - even ones that don’t play to my strengths. This was a beautiful conversation on adapting to your experience, playing to your character strengths, being a fat-adapted athlete, challenging the status quo, and treating fellow community members with compassion. To learn more about Mike’s Coaching, you can find him on Facebook and Instagram(@thelowcarbrunner)

This is episode 131 of the Becoming Human Podcast featuring Mike Curiak: a legendary mountain biker, long-distance, multi-sport athlete, and a craftsman specializing in custom bike rims.

Mike has led the lifestyle of a dedicated mountain bike racer for 17 years. In 2009, Mike was nominated for the Mountain Bike Hall Of Fame. After many years of racing, Mike had transitioned to a slower pace of life. Mike moved from a busy town in Colorado to a quite remote area in Idaho. In this episode, we talk a lot about Mike’s transition from a busy lifestyle competing and pushing the envelope to a slower pace where Mike can witness his imminent world work in intimate ways. Mike also loves to use packrafts to explore waterways. Packrafts are inflatable lightweight rafts that can be packed in a backpack for long distances.

Mike has thorough expertise in building custom bike rims which can be seen on LaceMine29.com

Check out his videos of him completing, unsupported, the Iditarod Trail Invitational, a 1000 mile mountain biking endurance race. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Checkout Packrafting: An Introduction and

Welcome to episode 130 of the Becoming Human Podcast. How do you facilitate a learning environment where people can discover their potential? What drives people to commit to the simple but daunting task of walking hundredths and thousands of miles? I love the trick of through hiking or long-distance adventures. The magnitude of what you’re committing to is hard to ignore. In a time where the chaos of adventure and self-reliance is not an inherent quality of living, daunting adventures seem occasionally enriching.

This episode features Matt Christian. Matt is a massage therapist and challenge course instructor. Matt loves to through-hike, rock climb, and kayak. Matt has hiked the Pacific Crest Trail and most of the Continental Divide Trail. . You can check out Matt on Instagram as @_adventurecalls_

Christopher Poulos is a lawyer, writer, mountain climber, and the executive director of the Washington Statewide Reentry Council which aims to improve public safety and outcomes for individuals reentering the community in Washington state.

Chris has an epic story of overcoming drug abuse and self-destructive behavior. Chris had served 3 years in federal prison for distributing cocaine. Chris had pursued his law degree graduating from the University of Maine School of Law. Chris has continued to push himself beyond recovery climbing mountains, helping other people overcome self-destructive behavior and re-enter into society.

Chris is an incredible person who’s story will relate to all of you in some way and it’s a reminder of how much potential we have as individuals despite our predicament. I love listening to diverse stories of overcoming personal strife because it is in those examples that I find solace.

Check out Christopher on Facebook and instagram

Episode 127 of the Becoming Human Podcast features Sol Wertkin, a rock climber and nurse. Sol Balances his recreation and job with raising his two little girls. Sol tells of his epic First Ascent of King Kong on Mt. Stuart in the Cascades where he, Jens Holsten, and Blake Herrington battled an angry mountain, with wet weather and an unplanned bivy. Sol and I talk about his experience recreating as a rock climber and snowboarder/skier where he has spent years refining his abilities in the pursuit of adventure.

In Sol’s youth, he had met a powerful leader, teacher, and father named Charlie Parker. Charlie was Sol’s Judo teacher and Sol had seen the unique challenges and hardships that came from being a black man in the community that he grew up in. In this article, Charlie is praised for his incredible efforts as a coach in many sports in his community. Through charlie’s place, Charlie and others in his organization have worked to facilitate community transformation by providing opportunities for personal development and community engagement through recreation.

I enjoy the presence of a person who is in love with some form of recreation; it’s a fiery spark whose rays radiate with a captivating intensity. Encapsulated in recreation is the opportunity to form some of the deepest bonds with other people and experientially learn meta-lessons. There’s a ton of interpersonal and introspective knowledge that I and several of my guests have learned through recreating. Recreation is to do something for the pleasure of it, beyond meeting your basic needs.

After decades of adventure, Sol’s is several years into fatherhood and it was a blast to listen to his life experiences. If you want to check out more about Sol, head over to his blog /solclimbs.blogspot.com , Instagram @solwertkin

Sol is a director of the Leavenworth Mountain Association which maintains cleanliness, climbing access and improves trails you can find them on Instagram as @leavenworthmountainassociation