Amber speaks with eight-time National Champion, two-time Pan American Champion, and World Championship medalist, Brad Huff. Brad reflects on his long career in cycling, how an eating disorder almost ended his career before it began, and why his “farm kid work ethic” was both an asset and a liability. He shares how he stayed clean in a sport rife with performance-enhancing drugs, including stories about his encounters with doping in the sport. Brad reveals the pivotal change that enabled his most successful years on the bike and the tactics he used to win the US Pro Criterium National Championship ten years after his first US Pro Criterium title. He explains why joy, connection, and collaboration are essential to performance, and shares about his new project, The Men’s Room.

This is an abridged version of the interview. To hear full-length and extended versions of every episode, subscribe to a membership on Ko-Fi. Memberships start at $3 per month and support the sustainability of the show. Check out all of the perks of membership at: https://ko-fi.com/beagoodwheel

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Mentioned in this episode:

- Brad Huff on Instagram - @huffyusa

- The Men’s Room - https://themensroom.io

Amber speaks with Ayesha McGowan, the first African-American woman professional road cyclist. Ayesha shares why she recently decided to step away from racing (for now) and opens up about the shift in autonomy she experienced on the World Tour. She describes how she handles the different pressures and challenges of professional racing, and how she’s using her experience to create positive experiences for up-and-coming athletes. Ayesha talks about Thee Abundance Project, and how she’s building a supportive pipeline for women of color to get into and advance in the sport of cycling. McGowan shares what has worked for her to cultivate connection and camaraderie among athletes in the programs that comprise Thee Abundance Project. Ayesha offers advice on how to find the right coach, reflecting on her own experiences and the importance of the coach-athlete relationship. She highlights the role of community and support in her career, including the role her friends have played in helping her make the most of her neurospicy strengths.

This is an abridged version of the interview. To hear full-length and extended versions of every episode, subscribe to a membership on Ko-Fi. Memberships start at $3 per month and support the sustainability of the show. Check out all of the perks of membership at: https://ko-fi.com/beagoodwheel

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Mentioned in this episode:

• Ayesha McGowan on Instagram - @ayesuppose
• A Quick Brown Fox - https://aquickbrownfox.com
• Thee Abundance Project - https://www.aquickbrownfox.com/thee-abundance-project-1
• Do Better Together - https://www.aquickbrownfox.com/do-better-together
• The Black Foxes - https://www.theblackfoxes.com/

Amber speaks with Devin Cowens, connector, adventure cyclist, and founder of Radical Adventure Riders Atlanta Chapter (RAR ATL). Devin shares how she thinks about creating opportunities for people to experience bikepacking, specifically how she addresses different barriers to entry to make those experiences accessible. She describes how her background in psychology has influenced how she connects others and fosters community. She shares her story of founding RAR ATL and explains how she thinks about the challenges of building and scaling a community-focused organization, without compromising or commodifying the mission and people it serves. Devin shares her perspectives on safety in the wilderness as a Black woman, highlighting historical, cultural, and systemic factors that shape how we engage with the outdoors. She discusses key questions she habitually asks herself, and how anyone can use these to fuel personal growth and collective action.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Devin on Instagram - @dev_rox

Radical Adventure Riders - https://radicaladventureriders.com/

Thee Abundance Project - https://aquickbrownfox.com

This is an abridged version of the interview. To hear full-length and extended versions of every episode, subscribe to a membership on Ko-Fi. Memberships start at $3 per month and support the sustainability of the show. Check out all of the perks of membership at: https://ko-fi.com/beagoodwheel

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Amber speaks with professional cyclist Alexey Vermeulen, who left road racing on the World Tour to pursue a career as a professional off-road cyclist. Alexey shares why over-indexing on fun can be counterproductive, how to turn compartmentalization into a superpower, and his not-so-secret analog tool for cultivating balance, adaptability, and clear priorities. He shares what makes teamwork in road racing so special and why he believes the nature of gravel racing doesn’t enable racers to get the most out of themselves as athletes. Alexey divulges his successful approach to marketing, and why he’s aiming to change outdated models of sponsorship. He explains why some of the best financial decisions require turning down money, how to maintain agency and accountability in sponsorship negotiations, and how to avoid the biggest sponsorship mistake most athletes make.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Alexey Vermeulen on social - @alexeyvermeulen everywhere

Project Phase II - https://enve.com/pages/project-phase-ii

From the Ground Up - https://www.fromthegroundup.bike

Sir Willie the Wiener Dog - https://www.instagram.com/sirwilliethewiener/?hl=en

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Content Warning: This episode contains references to suicide and depression, with specific discussions of depression and suicidal thoughts from 12:46 to 50:15. If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out for help. Text or call 988 in the U.S. or check https://findahelpline.com to find help where you are.

Amber speaks with Kathryn Bertine, author, athlete, activist, founder, and documentary filmmaker. Kathryn raced bikes professionally for five years and is a three-time Caribbean Champion and six-time national champion for St. Kitts and Nevis. She was featured on the cover of Bicycling Magazine and profiled in Outside Magazine for her impact within the cycling world. She crowd-funded and made the award-winning documentary HALF THE ROAD: The passion, pitfalls and power of women’s professional cycling, founded a non-profit that provides housing for women athletes struggling with the gender pay gap, has authored four non-fiction books, and is working on her fifth. In this conversation, they discuss why Kathryn celebrates her “brainiversary,” her experience with situational depression, and why the death of Robin Williams motivated her to seek help. Kathryn shares about her journey of advocating for women’s inclusion in the Tour de France and the importance of gathering like-minded individuals and amplifying the voices of others to effect change. She describes how she balances celebrating progress with continuing to push for more, how she responds to resistance, and why she is still advocating for equity in professional cycling.

This is an abridged version of the interview. To hear full-length and extended versions of every episode, subscribe to a membership on Ko-Fi. Memberships start at $3 per month and support the sustainability of the show. Check out all of the perks at: https://ko-fi.com/beagoodwheel

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Mentioned in this episode:

• 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: https://988lifeline.org/
• Homestretch Foundation: https://homestretchfoundation.org
• Kathryn’s Books and Film: https://www.kathrynbertine.com/books-and-film

Amber speaks with Haley Hunter Smith, a National Champion and Olympic mountain biker turned pro gravel racer. In this conversation, they discuss how mountain biking saved Haley’s life, providing purpose, presence, and solace as she navigated recovery from a life-threatening eating disorder as a teenager. Haley shares her struggles with existential anxiety and the role sport has played in helping her manage those challenges. As a graduate student studying psychology, she brings an evidence-based approach to her mental game and shares the significance of mindfulness, flow, and agency, highlighting the power of an internal focus and task-oriented mindset in managing pressure. This broad-ranging conversation covers the impact of judgement and emotion on decision-making in sport, the experience of pain and fear, the process of self-acceptance and identity transformation, the importance of a support system, the intersection of mindset and community, the fluency of purpose, and the need for cultural change in sports.

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Mentioned in this episode:

• Haley’s website: https://www.haleyhuntersmith.com/
• Haley on Instagram: @haleyhuntersmith
• Haley’s sponsors:
  • Trek https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/
  • MAAP https://maap.cc/
  • The Feed https://thefeed.com/
  • COROS https://us.coros.com/

Amber speaks with Lea Davison, a two-time Olympian in mountain biking. In this conversation, they discuss how Lea got into mountain biking and the idea and importance of competitive collaboration: how she and her American teammates worked together as a team to secure Olympic spots, in the individual sport of mountain biking. Davison shares the essential role that fun has played in her success, how she responded to the heartbreak of not being selected for the Tokyo Olympics, and how she has created space for girls and women in cycling through Little Bellas, the non-profit organization she founded with her sister. Lea also opens up about her journey to publicly coming out, why she felt like she had to choose between her Olympic dreams and being gay, and what made the difference for her to finally “live out loud.” She talks about the ongoing challenges faced by women and the LGBTQ+ community in sports and how she’s picking up the mic to literally and metaphorically use her voice to make things better for other athletes.

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Mentioned in this episode:

• Lea’s website: https://www.leadavison.com/
• Lea on Instagram: @leaeatsalot
• Lea’s Ted Talk on Competitive Collaboration: How to Win When You Don’t
• Lea’s Moth Style Talk at Middlebury: Purpose and Place: Voices of Middlebury
• Little Bellas
• Athlete Ally
• Emily Capodilupo Head of Data Analytics at Whoop at TEDxBoston
• Lea’s Sponsors:
  • Allied Cycle Works
  • L.L Bean
  • Bona Fortuna

Support the show:

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