My journey to completing the Dirty Kanza 200-mile gravel grinder continues!

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the race has been moved from May 30th to September 12th, which means that I have more time to train. I like that! 

Since I've never done anything like this before, I’m trying to absorb as much information as possible, ask questions, and learn from people who have experience doing this race. People like Noah Schabacker, who is a 3-time finisher.

But Noah is not an elite or professional cyclist.He is not the fastest. He is not training to win. He is an everyday cyclist, like me. That's why I was really interested in getting his perspective.

On this conversation Noah gives great advice on several topics such as training, equipment and gear, nutrition, logistics, lodging, and more. I can't wait to put some, if not most of his advice to practice!

Note: Noah and I met at this home several weeks ago, before we got hit with the coronavirus pandemic. On that conversation, we were still assuming that the race was going to take place in May (original date). 

The last few weeks and days have been pretty crazy with all things coronavirus.

There is so much uncertainty these days. You get bombarded with negative news pretty much every hour, your plans and routines are changed, races are cancelled or postponed

You feel stressed out, overwhelmend and anxious. I know I am

Personally,my training for the Dirty Kanza, this 200-mile gravel bike ride that ‘s supposed to take in May, has been less than perfect during the last 2 weeks

That’s why I wanted to reach out to my coach Addie Bracy to get advice on how to cope with times like these, how to stay focused, how to put things in perspective, how to keep training.

On this conversation, Addie shares really good advice on how to make the best out of uncertain and tough times, like the ones we are living right now.

My 2 favorite parts of this conversation are probably when she says that it’s important to acknowledge how you feel right now. It’s ok to be frustrated, it’s ok to be intimidated, but then you need to take action from there. And the other par is when she say that these are times to CHALLENGE YOURSELF

This week’s podcast is part of a new series of conversations that are going to be focused on the Dirty Kanza.

The Dirty Kanza is probably the world’s most known gravel cycling race right now. It’s 200-miles long on gravel roads. It takes place every May in the town of Emporia in Kansas.

It’s so popular these days that you now have to enter your name in a lottery. Well, I put my name in and I got picked, which is exciting and intimidating because I’ve never done anything like this before.

These podcasts are going to be focused on how to get ready for this event, especially from the perspective of a rookie everyday cyclist (like me), from training to bike setup to logistics and more.

On this first podcast, I sat down with my friend Brian Hannon. Brian is a super experienced cyclist, bike shop owner and amazing mechanic.

Brian has tons of experience on ultra-distance cycling events. He’s also done the Dirty Kanza before (he actually finished 5thon his age group several years ago). I wanted to ask him the things that I need to think about or do to have a great race strategy.

This conversation is focused on Race Strategy to successfully complete the Dirty Kanza 200-mile gravel grinder.

If you are into all-things gravel cycling or are thinking about doing the Dirty Kanza in the future, I invite you to subscribe to the podcast because I am going to be doing more in the next weeks.

This week I sat down with my amazing wife, Amy to talk about the January Challenge.

If you are not familiar with the January Challenge, well it was about picking one of two options, the first one was called Win The Day, which was basically to get up early and mediate or visualized having a great day for 10 minutes.

The other option was called No Booze. Pretty straight forward. No drinking for the month of January

Amy picked No Booze, I decided to do both.

It’s been almost a week since the challenge ended, so I wanted for both Amy and I to share our personal experiences with you.

The things we learned, the things we liked and disliked, the easy parts, the hard parts, and more.

We also talk about a little about the upcoming February challenge

Jay Ferrane, is the founder and lead designer at Angry Bovine, a creative studio in Boulder, Colorado that helps companies and businesses be better businesses, through thinking, designing and doing.

Growing up in a military household, Jay lived a big part of his formative years in Hawaii where he discovered his love for skateboarding and surfing. When moving to Japan, he used the experience of living abroad as an opportunity to explore and learn more about the local culture...and skateboarding too.

Skateboarding has always been a key part of his life.  Like Jay says, skateboarding became his "medicine" (it helped him channel all this energy he had when growing up, especially growing up with ADD).

Skateboarding and Punk Rock music became a portals to learn more about design, photography and a self expression. He still use these learnings these days

As a designer, he would tell you that his job is to be more like a carpenter and to present a case, than being an artist. He finds inspiration in different places, but mostly the outdoors. Jay's pillars of his work include to be objective and act as a catalyst.

Jay's work include all kinds of projects that are mostly in the tech, education and outdoor industries.  If you ride or run and use the Strava app, well..he's the one who created their logo. How cool is that!

This week, I talk about the January Challenge

If you are not aware of what I’m talking about, well, we are doing a challenge for the whole month of January.

People have 2 options: one is called "Win The Day", which basically means that you get up early, you then meditate or visualize having a kick ass day for 10 minutes. The other option is called No-Booze January. Pretty straight forward, no drinking during the month

On this episode I talk about why I decided to start the challenge, how it’s going, why I think that the concept of Winning The Day is critical to not only having a more productive day but also help you achieve your short and long term goals.

I also share some ideas I have for a Februrary challenge. I think you are gonna like them

I first met Joshua when he came to the podcast more than a year ago.

On that conversation we talked about his background as a marketer and entrepreneur, his races and how he found in running a way to cope with drug and alcohol addiction, and a way to re-direct his energy and anger. 

One year later, you can tell that Joshua’s perspective in training and racing has changed, more than that I would say, it has evolved.

He’s definitely more methodical in his approach. He’s changed his nutrition, has incorporated other elements like conditioning and strength training, and more.

His perspective on sobriety has also morphed in the past year.

Some of his life priorities have also changed as well. Maybe that because of the fact that he is turning 30-years old soon? He talks in more detail about that during our chat.

But his love and passion for running and giving his best have not changed, actually they have increased. Joshua keeps getting better and better as an ultra mountain runner. 2020 is gonna be a a big year for him

We also talked about him living as a mountain man , his current projects with his company scheme running and more

One of my main goals in 2019 was to finish the year running a 50-mile trail race. 

After finishing a half trail marathon and a 50k ultra in the last couple of months, I felt that I was ready to go after the 50-mile distance again (the only other time that I did a 50 miler was in Leadville in 2012)

But after looking for races in Colorado and other states in the Rocky Mountain area I just couldn’t find one that I thought was worth doing or driving to. 

“What do I do now? What do I do with this fitness and desire to keep pushing and digging deep? I need one more big challenge to finish 2019 feeling accomplished!”

And then, one day I thought: What if I do my own run? Here in Boulder 

Enter The CHASKI Challenge.

On December 7th I will be challenging myself to run 12 hours on a 5-mile loop at the Boulder Reservoir.  My goal is to run 100K (62+ miles)

On this episode I talk in more detail about the motivation behind this, my training so far, logistics and more

Save the date. Let’s all challenge ourselves to do something hard on 12.7!

Just wanted to give you un update on how my training and racing's been going lately, especially during these last few months. Hint: I feel excited and look forward to have a kickass 2020!

This week’s guest is my friend Liubov Lomonosov (aka Luba)

Luba is this amazing and inspiring runner and coach who in just few years has achieved incredible goals, including qualifying for the Boston Marathon

She recently got a personal best at the marathon distance in Chicago last weekend. She ran it in 3hrs 4mins (10 minutes faster than her previous best time)

Luba doesn’t have a running background, actually she used to hate running not that long ago

But One day she decided to give this running thing another chance. She decided to follow a training plan with a very simple goal: completing a 40 minute run

After seeing success. She then decided to work towards bigger goals, like running a 5k, a 10k, a half marathon and of course, a full marathon

Luba has ran only a handful of marathons, but she is very goal driven and super disciplined.

And that discipline didn’t happen overnight. It took several years of trying different approaches and surrounding herself with the right people

One of my favorite things on this conversation is when she talks about the origins of her kickass hairstyle. Talk about what motivates you to make drastic changes in your life.

We also talk about what she does to work on her mental strength and who’s coaching her these days (a familiar name, you’ll see)

And trust me, she is just getting started