Work Ethic, Worth, and Seeing the Whole Athlete with Brad Huff

[00:00:00] Hi, it's Amber. I'm so glad you're here. Thanks for listening. After this episode, Maxine and I will be taking a short break for the month of September. If you're new to the show, please visit our website and check out all of our older episodes. We'll be back with a new episode on October 8th.

[00:00:14] Every athlete has that within them, that incredible desire, that incredible want to prove to themselves, to prove to others, but they've never been actually heard. They've never actually been seen because they've only been used in the sport.

[00:00:31] And so I want to slow down, listen to that athlete, and say, your desires matter. You're not just a pawn in this game. I want to connect with this athlete, and who knows what their potential can be.

[00:00:49] And if someone had slowed down enough to really understand why Brad Huff was the only one dumb enough to not quit, maybe it would have changed that trajectory.

[00:00:58] And it would have been even greater because I would have been seen. I would have been heard. And I want to be able to help other athletes in that.

[00:01:07] It doesn't matter if it's some guy that hasn't ridden a bike in 30 years, and he wants to try to do a century.

[00:01:13] I want to slow down and help them. Because I did everything wrong, and I almost made the Olympic team.

[00:01:22] And that's what I want to help other athletes realize, is you can do everything wrong and still be successful.

[00:01:29] Or you can actually speak up to the right person that's not going to judge you, that's going to say, hey, those are all valid points. Let's do it better together.

[00:01:42] But that's what I won't be able to do to this sport.

[00:01:45] That's multi-time national champion, world championship medalist, and two-time Pan American champion cyclist Brad Huff,

[00:01:53] sharing how he is proof that success, even at the highest level, does not require perfection.

[00:02:00] Brad made a name for himself as one of the most respected American pros over the course of an impressively long and successful career.

[00:02:06] A career also filled with setbacks, struggle, and yes, mistakes, which, as you'll soon hear, led to some profound lessons about success, humility, and what it takes to be a true champion.

[00:02:19] You're listening to the Be a Good Wheel podcast, the show where we explore what it means to be a good wheel

[00:02:24] by digging into scientific research and personal stories about human potential and performance.

[00:02:29] I'm your host, Amber Pierce.

[00:02:36] Brad Huff's professional racing career spans over a decade of racing at the highest levels,

[00:02:41] during which he became an eight-time U.S. national champion on both the road and the track.

[00:02:46] From thrilling criterium battles to strategic track races,

[00:02:50] Huff's story is a masterclass in determination and, more importantly, in heart.

[00:02:54] Brad won his first U.S. track national championship title in 2004.

[00:02:58] Just a year later, he clinched the U.S. elite criterium national title on the road and another national title on the track in the pursuit event.

[00:03:06] This dominant breakout led the foundation for a career that would see him become one of the most respected names in American cycling.

[00:03:13] His success continued in 2006 when he earned the prestigious U.S. Pro Criterium National Championship,

[00:03:18] an achievement he'd repeat a decade later in 2016.

[00:03:22] But Huff wasn't just a road warrior.

[00:03:25] In 2007, he earned a bronze medal at the UCI Track World Championships in Spain,

[00:03:30] and earned not one but two gold medals at the track Pan American Championships in Venezuela,

[00:03:35] capitalizing on his versatility and tactical brilliance,

[00:03:38] and earning him a place on the long list for the 2008 Olympic Games.

[00:03:42] He missed qualifying for the team by only one spot.

[00:03:45] Throughout his career, Brad raced for some of the most recognizable teams in the sport,

[00:03:49] including slipstream sports, jelly belly pro cycling, and rally pro cycling.

[00:03:53] His tenure from 2006 to 2018 spanned a dramatic period in the evolution of the sport

[00:03:58] and included UCI road victories across the globe and countless criterion wins in the United States.

[00:04:03] When other athletes would have long since burned out,

[00:04:06] Brad channeled his energy and skill more effectively

[00:04:09] and proved that experience and patience can be as essential to success as talent and hard work.

[00:04:14] Behind the victories, however, were countless struggles,

[00:04:17] including an eating disorder that nearly ended his career before it started.

[00:04:21] Today, we get to hear from The Huff himself,

[00:04:24] and how he dealt with setbacks,

[00:04:26] how he found meaning through those highs and lows,

[00:04:28] and what he's taking forward in life after racing.

[00:04:30] I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

[00:04:33] Brad, welcome to the show.

[00:04:35] I'm stoked to be here.

[00:04:36] Long-time supporter, first-time visitor.

[00:04:39] It is great to have you.

[00:04:40] I am excited.

[00:04:43] It is so great to have you here, and the feeling is mutual.

[00:04:47] I want to start off with a quote that I found that you did an interview with Bicycling Magazine a few years ago,

[00:04:54] and the quote that you offered in the interview was this.

[00:04:57] This really jumped out to me.

[00:04:59] You said,

[00:05:00] I wouldn't be the human I am without the bike.

[00:05:03] Why is that?

[00:05:04] Because a bike's been a part of my life.

[00:05:06] There's a picture that comes to mind immediately when I was a kid,

[00:05:09] and I'm holding this.

[00:05:11] I think it's a Murray, which is a facet of the Huffy USA style.

[00:05:15] Huffy bikes at Walmart.

[00:05:17] I'm holding it, and I'm just so excited.

[00:05:19] I've got this angle to me, and I'm in the driveway.

[00:05:22] And ever since then, and even before then, like a three-wheeler that we all had as kids,

[00:05:28] the little pedal ones, and you take the seat off and you slide around.

[00:05:32] Any version of a bicycle, the big wheels, thank you.

[00:05:34] The big wheels.

[00:05:35] The big wheels has been part of my life.

[00:05:37] And what it has enabled through adventure, freedom, seeing what's possible.

[00:05:45] The first time I really got on a real mountain bike, and I rode, and then I got on a real road bike,

[00:05:50] and it just opened up this world that I had been seeking so much in life, so much more.

[00:05:57] I always use the word escape for what a bicycle enables me as we reach for that freedom.

[00:06:03] And so a bicycle has literally become a conduit to me being me, getting out in the world, meeting people, seeing the world.

[00:06:14] So it's, you know, as I tell people, now it's in my blood.

[00:06:17] Like they ask if I'll stop riding as much or, you know, with as much vigor as I used to.

[00:06:23] And no, it's part of me.

[00:06:25] I love the bike.

[00:06:25] Hmm.

[00:06:26] I love that you can say that having gone through such a long career that had lots of ups and downs and challenges.

[00:06:34] And I burned out really hard on swimming, so I always find it wonderful to hear when people have a really long career in a sport

[00:06:42] and they come out the other end of it truly loving it as much as what you're describing.

[00:06:46] I mean, for you and swimming, you know, it takes every bit of your being to get in that pool, early mornings, in the master swims.

[00:06:54] You know, when you were probably junior high, then high school, and you didn't felt like you didn't have a life, but yet it was your life.

[00:07:01] And then you get into college and you're like, how do I even balance school and swimming?

[00:07:06] And I am not treading water at all, but I'm supposed to go faster than water.

[00:07:10] You know, that's that's a difficulty that we as athletes, some of us get to choose sports that get us outside of a box.

[00:07:18] And some of us choose a sport that keeps us kind of in in that box, you know, swimming team sports.

[00:07:24] You know, you're in a gym, you're in a pool, you know, you're really limited on what you really get to see when with cycling or running,

[00:07:31] you get to see the world and you're you're participating in your sport.

[00:07:35] So it's such a unique thing.

[00:07:37] And it's it's amazing that more people don't gravitate towards it, probably because of socioeconomic status and having, I'll say, mentors that are into cycling because it's not the common sport in the United States.

[00:07:49] You know, it's team sports.

[00:07:50] You know, you and I and a lot of individuals that are on here came through team sports because that's what we had access to.

[00:07:57] We're a small town kid or a big town and you're pushed into team sports.

[00:08:00] It doesn't matter what it is, soccer, basketball, volleyball, swimming, you know, football.

[00:08:06] I mean, you are in America football, then every basketball and everything else.

[00:08:10] But I mean, who didn't want to be Michael Jordan?

[00:08:12] Who didn't want to be Bo Jackson?

[00:08:13] I mean, I am a short, small, not powerful white kid.

[00:08:19] I'm not going to be Bo Jackson.

[00:08:21] You know, I'm not going to be Bo Jackson.

[00:08:24] But I was really stoked that I became Brad Huff, you know, the unique person that is him.

[00:08:29] There's my tangent on sport.

[00:08:32] Yeah, it's funny because what you're describing are those like core sports offerings of like the physical education programs that most of us, you know, those are sort of like our first and early introductions to higher level sports, I guess.

[00:08:46] And yeah, like it's not often that you hear of like a school having a cycling team or cycling being part of a PE program or something like that.

[00:08:53] So that said, you had a very long career as as careers go in cycling.

[00:09:00] And I've heard you say this quote.

[00:09:02] I saw it in almost every interview that I read when I was doing my research for this interview.

[00:09:08] And I just I have to bring it up.

[00:09:09] You've said many times I was the only one dumb enough not to quit.

[00:09:14] What do you mean by that?

[00:09:17] You know, I always tell people that I'm a farm kid.

[00:09:20] I have farm kid work ethic.

[00:09:21] So we grew my family farm.

[00:09:23] We grew up on it.

[00:09:24] It turned into a hobby farm for us.

[00:09:26] But I still was instilled with that farm kid work ethic, which you do not quit until it's done.

[00:09:32] Like you have to finish, you know, whatever it might be.

[00:09:35] And that's what I took unknowingly into sport because the job wasn't done until it was done.

[00:09:43] Even if we did succeed, we didn't win.

[00:09:46] You still just keep pressing forward.

[00:09:48] And I was fortunate enough to be around incredible athletes growing up as a cyclist.

[00:09:56] My teammates on my amateur team were D1 athletes.

[00:09:59] They had done things in other sports and they were incredible individuals and they were so talented.

[00:10:06] But yet they had real lives.

[00:10:07] They had a wife.

[00:10:08] They had children.

[00:10:09] You know, they were pursuing a career.

[00:10:11] I was young and driven.

[00:10:13] And so I did not have to quit.

[00:10:15] I didn't have to kind of shift my direction in the sport.

[00:10:19] And so when all those difficulties kept happening, injury, setback, eating disorder, failure in a race, whatever it might be, I literally didn't let myself quit.

[00:10:32] And I tell people I was just consistent and I was methodical.

[00:10:36] And you being in the exercise science space, knowing this, there's a 10-year, 10,000-hour rule.

[00:10:43] And I embodied that 10,000, 10-year rule to become proficient.

[00:10:48] I got into the sport early in high school, jumped on a mountain bike to get more endurance for track and field, and then just started and didn't stop and kept failing and learning, kept failing and learning.

[00:11:00] And that was in 1996.

[00:11:01] And I turned professional in 2006.

[00:11:04] And so it was just like nail on the head where I was just methodical, relentless.

[00:11:11] And it was that farm kid work ethic that just wouldn't stop.

[00:11:14] Yeah.

[00:11:15] And it wouldn't stop in the face of some pretty serious challenges, some of which you just listed.

[00:11:20] Let's jump into one of those.

[00:11:21] So you, pretty early in your career, you were racing a tour of Japan.

[00:11:25] Tour of Hokkaido.

[00:11:26] You got, sorry, the tour of Hokkaido in Japan.

[00:11:29] I had just made the national team.

[00:11:32] Hokkaido.

[00:11:33] 1999.

[00:11:34] And yes, okay.

[00:11:35] Tell us the story.

[00:11:36] Well, you know, I jumped on a road bike fall of 98.

[00:11:39] And by the summer of 99, I was a cat too.

[00:11:42] And I had made the national team.

[00:11:44] And I made the national team, got to go to the tour of Hokkaido.

[00:11:48] And I got dropped on the first road stage.

[00:11:51] I did the prologue, didn't know what to do in the prologue.

[00:11:54] Blew up in the first 30 seconds and then tried to finish the prologue.

[00:11:57] And then got dropped in the first road stage because I hadn't really done an immense amount of road racing and stage racing.

[00:12:07] I had moved up the sport so fast, I was green.

[00:12:10] As green as it comes, I was literally, my other quote that I love to say is,

[00:12:15] I was a NASCAR engine and a high school driver.

[00:12:18] I was just all gas, no drive.

[00:12:21] Didn't even understand which direction I was going.

[00:12:24] I didn't know how to draft.

[00:12:26] I didn't know how to think of the climb that was coming up the road.

[00:12:30] And so I got dropped day one and it was really difficult.

[00:12:34] And I cried and I didn't understand.

[00:12:37] I like didn't let the broom wagon get, they were forcing me to get in the broom wagon and I refused.

[00:12:42] Kept refusing, kept refusing.

[00:12:44] And then finally they pulled in front of me and stopped.

[00:12:47] And they're like, you're getting in the broom wagon in Japanese.

[00:12:50] And I'm like, fine, fine.

[00:12:52] I'm getting in the broom wagon.

[00:12:56] And I was just a young, dumb kid out there that didn't know.

[00:13:00] I didn't know how to quit.

[00:13:01] I didn't know how to quit.

[00:13:02] I wasn't allowing myself to quit.

[00:13:04] Man, it was tough.

[00:13:06] And I equated getting dropped on a climb to needing to be skinnier because my genetics are pretty husky,

[00:13:13] pretty thick, pretty muscular.

[00:13:15] And so I just said, I'm going to be skinny and I'm going to go uphill fast.

[00:13:18] Well, that worked for a short amount of time.

[00:13:21] And then I was overtrained.

[00:13:23] I was injured.

[00:13:25] I had full on, I kind of shifted towards a full on, I don't call it anorexia.

[00:13:31] I call it sports anorexia, which it was so focused on performance that that was my main goal.

[00:13:39] It wasn't, yes, it was how much I weighed so that I go faster, but it wasn't vanity in a mirror.

[00:13:44] It was purely on how fast I could pedal that bike up a hill.

[00:13:47] And I live in Missouri.

[00:13:49] Missouri, I'm not going up hills fast.

[00:13:52] There's the biggest climb is 250 feet maybe in my area.

[00:13:58] And so it really set me back.

[00:14:00] And I did everything wrong for a solid year and a half.

[00:14:05] I had amazing ups and downs.

[00:14:07] I'd pedal well and I'd get injured.

[00:14:09] I pedal well and I'd get injured.

[00:14:10] And, you know, it wasn't until I hit rock bottom, tore my Achilles, was so overtrained.

[00:14:17] I literally, one of my tests was I'd get out of the car and I'd kind of jog to the front door of a supermarket.

[00:14:23] And if I was lightheaded when I got to the door, I might take it easy the rest of the day.

[00:14:29] But if I wasn't lightheaded, I'd be like, okay, I'll get some bananas, get peanut butter and I'll go train harder.

[00:14:36] And I just didn't realize how calorically deprived I was.

[00:14:40] And it impacted me significantly.

[00:14:43] Wow.

[00:14:43] So you were depriving yourself for a year and a half or you were feeling the effects of that for a year and a half?

[00:14:48] It was from the moment I got dropped at Tor of Okaido all the way through the 2000 season.

[00:14:55] And near the end of the 2000 season is whenever I hit rock bottom, tore my Achilles.

[00:15:02] I had driven out to Espoir Nationals, which are on the East Coast, and got tendinitis and all these things.

[00:15:08] And it's just like, it just hit me like a ton of bricks.

[00:15:11] And then was my first real experience with depression and not being able to use that escape to manage all the emotional stress that I wasn't handling via exercise, via movement.

[00:15:23] Because I was too young to even realize what I was doing or what I was riding away from or riding to cope with.

[00:15:31] Throughout that 2000 season, it was very difficult because I was in school, but yet I was just so focused that I wasn't really present.

[00:15:42] I was just solely telling myself I was going to be back on the national team.

[00:15:47] I was going to be a professional cyclist, not realizing I had just started doing it less than a year or two years prior.

[00:15:55] That whole ignorance is bliss as a young athlete and the full aspirations of you put yourself into it.

[00:16:02] Anything is possible.

[00:16:03] And gosh, I prayed on it.

[00:16:06] I focused on it.

[00:16:07] All those things.

[00:16:07] I'm from the Bible Belt.

[00:16:08] So, you know, religion was pushed upon me and praying about it and everything.

[00:16:12] Gosh, I did everything and I didn't do the right things.

[00:16:17] And at the end of that 2000 season was the breaking point.

[00:16:21] I re-upped at Missouri State University, which was SMS back then in the nutrition program geared towards just learning, learning more about nutrition, learning.

[00:16:30] And I was sitting in a class and let's say there's 10 nutritional deficiencies.

[00:16:34] And I literally had like seven or eight of the 10 sitting in class.

[00:16:38] And I was like, oh, this is bad.

[00:16:40] And so I slowly started learning what I was not fueling myself with, not helping myself with, but not even understanding the mental side of it.

[00:16:53] And so through the depression, I ate a lot.

[00:16:55] And I came back as the guy who ate Brad Huff in the quicker story in it all, like in the nutrition classes.

[00:17:02] I literally was like.

[00:17:03] So tell me what you mean by that.

[00:17:04] So you gained a lot of weight?

[00:17:06] Oh man, I was a big guy when I came back.

[00:17:10] Because when I left, I was completely anorexic, sports anorexic athlete.

[00:17:15] I weighed 137 and a half pounds.

[00:17:17] I literally like had shunted puberty.

[00:17:20] I was a late bloomer.

[00:17:21] And then when I came back, I was close to 200 pounds.

[00:17:25] I had like went through puberty, man puberty at 21, 22 years old.

[00:17:30] And I was a totally different human.

[00:17:33] Wow.

[00:17:34] And one of my friends from Columbia, Josh Johnson, he literally said, you are like the guy who ate Brad Huff.

[00:17:42] And I was.

[00:17:45] And I didn't even take it as like a negative, you know, a punch at me or a jab.

[00:17:50] I was just like, yeah.

[00:17:51] Oh, yeah.

[00:17:51] You know, I kind of went through a lot.

[00:17:53] And I even remember someone saying, asking me when I was working at the bike shop, they're like, so you don't ride anymore?

[00:17:59] You don't, you're not going to ever race again?

[00:18:01] Because I had hairy legs.

[00:18:02] I was big.

[00:18:04] And I was just like, no, I'll come back.

[00:18:07] It's just like, you know, got to take care of myself and get over this injury and all these things.

[00:18:11] And when I fully came back in 2003, I was unstoppable.

[00:18:18] And it took a lot of learning along the way, but I was unstoppable.

[00:18:22] I had another teammate on my amateur team at that period who was also a big individual.

[00:18:28] He, I think, was close to 300 pounds whenever he started riding a bike.

[00:18:33] And the funny story, and I love this story.

[00:18:36] When we were, I think it was 2003, we were both in college, both at MSU.

[00:18:42] We went to a collegiate race in Kentucky, I believe.

[00:18:46] And I made the breakaway.

[00:18:48] And I kept telling the guys, hey, you know, you need me on the flats.

[00:18:50] You need me on the flats.

[00:18:51] And so anyways, we made it to the finish line and the breakaway.

[00:18:56] Hold on.

[00:18:56] I'm going to back up.

[00:18:58] We start the race.

[00:19:00] There's two teammates, me and my other big, big teammate friend.

[00:19:03] His name's Doug Grigg.

[00:19:05] And I have another team friend who's at Mizzou.

[00:19:09] And I kind of talked to him about the race and it's kind of a, you know, farmlands course

[00:19:14] where it goes through farmlands and barbed wire fences that you're kind of riding through

[00:19:18] and stuff.

[00:19:19] And I attack and everyone chases me back.

[00:19:21] And then I attack again and they let me go.

[00:19:25] And my friend at Mizzou said, someone came up to him and said, who is that guy?

[00:19:29] What is he doing?

[00:19:30] And he said, oh, that's Brad Huff.

[00:19:34] He goes, who is he?

[00:19:35] He said, his name's Micah Moran, who went to Mizzou.

[00:19:38] He now works at track.

[00:19:39] He goes, oh, you're about to find out.

[00:19:41] And he looked, he looked at Micah and Micah just like, and boom, the race was on.

[00:19:50] Your move, your move, dude.

[00:19:52] I'm not going to trace my best buddy down.

[00:19:54] So I get in the breakaway of four.

[00:19:56] Long story short, make it to the finish line.

[00:19:58] It's a climb at the finish line.

[00:19:59] I get fours place, of course, because I'm big Brad.

[00:20:04] And shortly after I go through the finish line, my teammate Doug had broken away from

[00:20:09] the field and he crosses the finish line.

[00:20:11] And someone was there.

[00:20:13] Someone saw Doug cross the finish line.

[00:20:15] And Doug's wife, Amber, happened to be right there.

[00:20:18] And this guy's like, he knew who, he kind of knew who I was.

[00:20:22] He goes, how did Brad Huff cut the course?

[00:20:24] He didn't cut the course.

[00:20:25] There's no way he got fifth place.

[00:20:26] There's no way he cut the course.

[00:20:28] And Doug's wife, Amber, goes, no, no, no.

[00:20:32] That's Brad's teammate, Doug.

[00:20:34] That's not Brad.

[00:20:35] It's Brad's teammate, Doug.

[00:20:37] And the guy looks at her and he looks at his friend and he goes, they got two fat guys?

[00:20:43] No.

[00:20:49] Oh my gosh.

[00:20:51] Oh yeah.

[00:20:52] Ever since then, especially the endurance sports culture.

[00:20:55] Ever since then, we embraced it.

[00:20:57] We embraced the fact that we were the big guys.

[00:20:59] We were out there.

[00:21:00] We were literally the bad news bears.

[00:21:02] When we showed up, people knew it was game time.

[00:21:07] And that's where I go back to saying how fortunate I was to be around these incredible individuals

[00:21:13] that were themselves authentically, no matter if they were superheroes or they were just trying

[00:21:19] to do their best they could.

[00:21:21] And I really am thankful for that.

[00:21:24] And I owe my early years, my fundamental years of coming back as the guy who ate Brad Huff to that team,

[00:21:32] that Mercy team out of Fort Smith, Arkansas, that really helped elevate me.

[00:21:36] And they just, they got behind me.

[00:21:40] They believed in me.

[00:21:40] And we all were winning as one, not as an individual.

[00:21:45] And it was incredible.

[00:21:46] I mean, we were the bad news bears.

[00:21:49] And that's what catapulted.

[00:21:52] Oh, it catapulted my whole career.

[00:21:53] They're still my friends today.

[00:21:55] They're amazing humans.

[00:21:56] So it sounds like when you hit rock bottom, the spark of insight for you came from being

[00:22:03] in the classroom and actually learning about nutrition and what caloric needs you actually

[00:22:10] had versus what you were ingesting.

[00:22:14] Was that the big moment of insight for you?

[00:22:17] And then, and I think you even said this.

[00:22:21] Yeah, that was sort of like the factual intellectual component, but that didn't necessarily address

[00:22:27] the depression and the emotional components of, I mean, the whole experience of an eating

[00:22:34] disorder.

[00:22:34] You know, it's not just about what calories you're ingesting or what you are eating.

[00:22:39] There's a whole mental health and emotional health component to it.

[00:22:42] And it sounds like being among these other athletes that you're describing was, I want to say maybe

[00:22:52] even like therapeutic in terms of healing the emotional side of it for you.

[00:22:57] Yeah.

[00:22:57] And that was the early years before sports psychology.

[00:23:01] Is that an accurate way of describing it?

[00:23:03] Yes, very much so.

[00:23:04] It was a therapy without understanding the therapy I needed, the support I needed.

[00:23:11] Because in those early years, sports psychology was still emerging.

[00:23:17] The importance of yes, mindset, drive, setting your intentions.

[00:23:22] Those things were very early in an athlete's career or that, or, you know, that athlete mindset.

[00:23:28] And even like, I didn't even understand that the, the eating disorder was a complete control

[00:23:33] situation.

[00:23:34] Me trying to control the outcome, control the narrative.

[00:23:37] And so those friends, those teammates really helped me kind of cope through that and learn

[00:23:43] through that and grow through that, but yet still didn't fix that underlying mental health

[00:23:51] aspect of it.

[00:23:52] I was just able to use the movement and the athletics and the sport cycling as its whole

[00:23:58] to help me feel whole, you know, kind of leveraging it so that when I even still had those

[00:24:04] difficulties throughout those early seasons, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

[00:24:08] Because to me, the athlete that puts in the time, that should be what is the consistent

[00:24:14] going back to proving, proving and validating is that consistent effort, that consistent

[00:24:21] performance was validating everything.

[00:24:23] And so when I wasn't able to have that, I had those setbacks.

[00:24:28] And I didn't realize even then that that was, that was how I was coping.

[00:24:33] Without that validation, there wasn't a coping mechanism that to like continue that negative

[00:24:38] feedback of it.

[00:24:40] And it's taken really these later years to realize all this.

[00:24:44] Oh yeah.

[00:24:46] I was actually going to ask, no, this is great.

[00:24:50] I was going to ask this because I've raced with, worked with a lot of athletes who have

[00:24:54] had eating disorders and you know, the recovery of a, of an eating disorder isn't like a light

[00:25:01] switch where it's not like you get over a cold, right?

[00:25:03] Like, okay, I'm, I don't have an eating disorder.

[00:25:05] I'm done.

[00:25:05] It's more of an ongoing awareness and management.

[00:25:09] It was this something that came up for you later in your career or was it something that

[00:25:13] you kind of needed to stay aware of or be on top of?

[00:25:16] And as you're talking about that validation, it's making me, it seems connected, right?

[00:25:21] In those early years for you also, because you were in the same era, riding calorically

[00:25:26] restricted was an important part of it.

[00:25:30] And so moving up the ranks to the professional side and racing in Europe, you know, I needed

[00:25:36] to be leaner.

[00:25:36] I needed to be faster.

[00:25:37] And so the only way you do that is train harder and not eat as much.

[00:25:42] And so it was a really tug of war based on what I had learned was needed, but yet what

[00:25:50] was implemented in reality was totally different as an athlete.

[00:25:53] And so in those, in those early years, we, as a like sports science world still didn't

[00:26:00] grasp the caloric needs of the athlete besides what's stated in data and, oh, they burned

[00:26:07] these many kilojoules, you know, they should, they should intake this, but they didn't understand

[00:26:13] like, oh yeah, drink a sports drink.

[00:26:14] That's all that was virtually stated.

[00:26:16] Drink a sports drink, you know, have some pancakes, you know, um, have banana, like get your protein,

[00:26:22] you know, have some chicken, have some eggs.

[00:26:24] There was none of this holistic look at it and the whole athlete aspect of it.

[00:26:30] Um, the nutritional intake that literally now athletes are treated like performance vehicles.

[00:26:39] Back then we were like a rented mule that we would just flog and, and not really, you know,

[00:26:47] show any respect or love to unless they made it to the top of the mountain.

[00:26:52] And so that was kind of like the weird story of, uh, yes, I didn't really realize the control

[00:26:58] aspect or what I was masking in it in those early years.

[00:27:01] And it took a long time.

[00:27:03] Yeah.

[00:27:03] I remember, I remember hearing stories of like the European pros who would, you know,

[00:27:08] oh, they go do an eight hour ride drinking nothing but water and maybe stop for an espresso

[00:27:13] shot in the middle of the ride.

[00:27:15] And, and that that was like aspirational and the huge numbers of calories burned during these

[00:27:23] massive training rides weren't looked at as something to be replenished or fuel, but they

[00:27:30] were looked at as like the bigger, the caloric deficit, the bigger, the badge of honor.

[00:27:36] And there definitely, there was a huge shift during my career in that regard, thankfully,

[00:27:41] but when the culture is so steeped in that, especially when you're young and you don't

[00:27:46] have the confidence or even like the self-understanding or awareness to know what does or doesn't work

[00:27:51] for you.

[00:27:52] And even if you do know what works for you feeling just the confidence to advocate for

[00:27:57] yourself or to go against the current of the, of the whole culture of the sport.

[00:28:01] I mean, it is so hard.

[00:28:03] It's so hard.

[00:28:04] You were so lucky to find that team and those teammates at that time.

[00:28:08] Yeah.

[00:28:08] I mean, I was very lucky to be around some incredible humans, like the entire slipstream,

[00:28:14] clean team run by Jake, Jonathan Votters supported via Dr. Alan Lim.

[00:28:20] Like, and they were all still learning and they were trying to let go of those, the old guard,

[00:28:25] the old style, the old mentality and bring in more understanding of the whole athlete,

[00:28:29] more appreciation of the whole athlete.

[00:28:32] And so it really helped me to not have to go down that route, you know, because a lot

[00:28:37] of those people we heard about stories, they were on a lot of drugs.

[00:28:41] Yes, exactly.

[00:28:42] I was just going to go there.

[00:28:44] Yes.

[00:28:45] Like they could do that because they were taking a lot of illegal substances.

[00:28:50] Not this guy, you know?

[00:28:52] For those listening, if you can't see the video, Brad is flexing his bicep and showing

[00:28:57] us his tattoo there.

[00:28:58] So why don't you describe the tattoo for folks who can't see the video right now?

[00:29:02] So Phil Guymon got a clean tattoo.

[00:29:04] If anybody's watched the movie Fight Club, they know the bar of the soap for Fight Club.

[00:29:08] Well, Phil, Phil, and I believe Adam Meyerson too, shifted it to say clean and bubbles all

[00:29:14] over it.

[00:29:15] And they got that tattoo signifying that they were a clean athlete.

[00:29:19] And tons of guys and girls have gotten this tattoo.

[00:29:23] And I was like, they're like, Brad, you need to get it.

[00:29:25] And I said, man, I don't want to get the same tattoo that every single person has gotten.

[00:29:30] So I got a blood bag IV tattoo, which is super strong because early in my career, we were

[00:29:38] forced to do legal IVs, a rehydration IV and a sodium bicarbonate IV.

[00:29:45] And I remember it like it was yesterday that I just was like, this doesn't feel right.

[00:29:52] Like we should be able to perform without needing to utilize some intravenous substance, even if

[00:29:59] it is a saline solution with maybe some vitamins in it and or a sodium bicarbonate, which is

[00:30:05] a buffering agent or lactate, lactic acid.

[00:30:08] But that's why I got the blood bag tattoo because I was like, you know what?

[00:30:13] I'm going to push back against what I was forced to do.

[00:30:16] And I'm just going to put an IV bag on my arm and signify that I'm clean, meaning I have

[00:30:20] not done anything illegal.

[00:30:21] I haven't put anything in my body illegal.

[00:30:23] And this clean IV blood bag is the significance of that.

[00:30:30] Yeah.

[00:30:31] And at the time that you were getting going in the sport, I think, and we can get into

[00:30:36] kind of how this has shifted with time.

[00:30:38] But I mean, doping was a very, very serious problem.

[00:30:42] I mean, it's always a problem in sport.

[00:30:45] But how did that kind of come up in your experience in your career?

[00:30:49] I was really willing to put myself out there.

[00:30:53] And so in 2003, when I came back to the sport, I went to Spain to study Spanish on my own for

[00:30:59] two months.

[00:31:00] And I took my bike, hoping that I could race.

[00:31:03] And I got to train with some locals and with the national team that was there.

[00:31:09] And I witnessed them literally on a training ride with a couple of locals.

[00:31:14] They're like, oh, yeah, this is all in Spanish.

[00:31:16] So I'm trying to figure out what they're saying.

[00:31:18] Like, oh, yeah, we're going to the bike shop to pick up something.

[00:31:20] And I was like, what are we going to the bike shop to pick up?

[00:31:24] We got tubes.

[00:31:25] You know, we got our bottles.

[00:31:26] And they're like, oh, we got to, you know, get our support, get our supplements.

[00:31:29] I'm like, you get supplements at the bike shop?

[00:31:32] And then it finally came out.

[00:31:33] They're like, oh, you know, we're going to just get some testosterone.

[00:31:36] But we don't do very much.

[00:31:37] It's just a very little.

[00:31:38] And I was like, you guys do testosterone?

[00:31:43] I'm out here with some freaking biscottis and an espresso shot.

[00:31:49] Yeah, but we do the little.

[00:31:50] We just do a little.

[00:31:51] And I was like, oh, what is going on?

[00:31:56] And the funny thing is, is when I showed up in Spain, I had a 2512 nine speed cassette.

[00:32:02] And I went to the bike shop and I bought a 2311 so I could chase back on after I got dropped.

[00:32:10] That was my thought pattern is I needed an 11 cog so I could chase back on to these dope mothers.

[00:32:16] And that was a comical one.

[00:32:19] And then I was training with this national team and they were walking around their house with these vials.

[00:32:26] And I was like, what the is going on here?

[00:32:29] And this is during the Lance era.

[00:32:31] Full gas.

[00:32:32] He's winning on the Tour de France, winning on the television.

[00:32:34] They're like, yeah, just like Lance, we're going to go full gas.

[00:32:37] This is our last race here.

[00:32:38] We're going full gas.

[00:32:39] And I had done this like lead out motor paced session with them.

[00:32:44] And these guys were like twigs and they were dropping me like a rock on a lead out sprint.

[00:32:50] And I didn't realize I was a sprinter at that time.

[00:32:52] But I was just like, I was like, oh, no wonder these guys are so freaking fast.

[00:32:57] Well, here's the fast forward.

[00:33:01] Whenever I made it to the professional ranks and I may and I went to the world championships on the track and I went to the Pan Am championships on the track.

[00:33:10] Like at one of the Pan Am championships I was at, I had won two gold medals and one of these riders who I trained with back in 2003 was there with this national team.

[00:33:21] And he was like, Brad, you're a professional.

[00:33:25] We need your vitamins.

[00:33:27] And I was like, huh?

[00:33:29] And I was like, no, no, you're pro now.

[00:33:31] We want your vitamins.

[00:33:32] You're winning races.

[00:33:34] You know, they remember the fat guy, the white fat guy that because I wore a white kid and they're like, oh, remember that white guy we dropped all the time?

[00:33:41] Yeah.

[00:33:43] Brad, we want your your vitamins.

[00:33:45] And I go, oh, vitaminas.

[00:33:49] No, no, no.

[00:33:50] Yo soy solo Paniacqua, Paniacqua.

[00:33:53] And they're like, no, no, no Paniacqua.

[00:33:56] I said, I'm like, CCC, Claro, Claro, Solo, Paniacqua, Paniacqua.

[00:34:02] And they're like, nope, nope, don't believe it.

[00:34:04] You just won two gold medals.

[00:34:06] You know, we're not that dumb.

[00:34:07] And they couldn't believe it.

[00:34:09] They couldn't believe that I had transformed myself into this, you know, gold medal athlete.

[00:34:15] And it was eye opening to see that mentality that the easy route was the only route.

[00:34:23] That's the only way an athlete succeeds is if you use some pharmaceutical advantage.

[00:34:27] And they didn't know who they were talking to.

[00:34:29] The guy that was.

[00:34:30] That's the only possibility.

[00:34:30] Right.

[00:34:31] That is the only possibility.

[00:34:33] Except.

[00:34:34] Well, I didn't have the clean tattoo then, but I had the same.

[00:34:39] I'm the only one dumb enough to not quit.

[00:34:41] I'm the only one that's willing to stay.

[00:34:44] Were you ever tempted?

[00:34:47] Early.

[00:34:48] Early I was tempted because I knew that was based on conversations and what was going on.

[00:34:53] But once again, going back to my upbringing, the morally sound people that were in my life,

[00:35:00] my youth group leader, Sean McCurry and Samson Latchison were amazing humans.

[00:35:06] Sean was actually like an all-American in college D2 or NAIA,

[00:35:12] held records for free throw shooting, played tennis.

[00:35:16] He was a dual sport athlete in college.

[00:35:18] Incredible human.

[00:35:19] And just helped me instill this work ethic or more so a moral compass that has kept me on the straight and narrow my entire life.

[00:35:26] To choose the right way so that when, you know, at the end of the day, when I lay my head on my pillow, I'm able to be proud of myself.

[00:35:34] Even though I was never really proud of myself, I was still trying to find that worth in it.

[00:35:38] I was really fortunate.

[00:35:39] And so I will say, yes, I was tempted, but I knew that wasn't the choice for me.

[00:35:45] And I believe that that kept me on the right path and it put the right people in front of me.

[00:35:50] Why I was picked to be on Jonathan Fowder's team.

[00:35:53] Why Alan Lim chose to work with me.

[00:35:55] Why Mike Friedman was my best friend.

[00:35:58] Why Danny Pate was one of my key teammates.

[00:36:00] Why Mike Creed was one of my key teammates.

[00:36:02] Why I was able to resonate with Amber Pierce.

[00:36:05] Why I was around all these amazing athletes because I was choosing what was right.

[00:36:12] And then that brought the people that were doing the same thing around me and we supported each other through that.

[00:36:18] And so that's where I really feel like the actions that I made early in my career really enabled me to have such a long and I won't say dominant, but prolific and rewarding career.

[00:36:29] Yeah.

[00:36:30] It makes such a difference, the people that you surround yourself with.

[00:36:35] And a lot of that is luck.

[00:36:37] But I think, like you said, it's a two-way street.

[00:36:40] It's a two-way street.

[00:36:41] And I remember thinking, I never felt very tempted to take drugs.

[00:36:48] Not much at all, I would say.

[00:36:49] But the one thing that did come up in my mind, which is very much just a product of the culture,

[00:36:55] was there were moments where I felt a little bit disappointed that thinking that if I were better,

[00:37:03] then more people might try to get me on drugs.

[00:37:07] Like that that was somehow, not that I wanted to take the drugs, but that somehow having the offer on the table or, you know,

[00:37:15] even having it come up in the conversation would be a signal of like my advancement or my level, which is such a weird and twisted way to think.

[00:37:25] And yet that was very much a part of the culture at the time, which is so odd to reflect on now.

[00:37:31] And like you, I never took performance enhancing drugs.

[00:37:35] And, you know, it was very much like a moral compass thing.

[00:37:39] And I don't know.

[00:37:41] I mean, there's no way of knowing what another path would have been.

[00:37:44] But even if I had gone that way and been more successful, like I really feel that stepping away from the career that I had

[00:37:54] and feeling good about the body of work, you know, feeling good about all of that and feeling like my integrity is intact is,

[00:38:03] yeah, you can't really put a price tag on that.

[00:38:05] You know, I don't walk away from it feeling like all my great results solved all my problems.

[00:38:12] But I do feel at least that sense.

[00:38:14] Like you said, you can feel good about yourself when you put your head on the pillow.

[00:38:18] Yeah.

[00:38:19] Yeah.

[00:38:19] Our houses in Maui aren't next door to each other, you know.

[00:38:27] Right.

[00:38:28] Well, you have already brought up so many people and pointed to so many people who've had wonderful impacts on your career so far.

[00:38:37] And in a video interview that you did for Velo magazine a little while back,

[00:38:43] you have this wonderful quote, which I really capture so much of you.

[00:38:47] And like even other guests that we've had on the show have specifically pointed out ways in which you in particular have gone out of your way

[00:38:55] to help them in their careers, you know, as athletes, as people.

[00:38:59] And this was your quote in the video.

[00:39:01] You said,

[00:39:01] I want to be able to enable other athletes to perform, enable them to go beyond their goals and desires.

[00:39:07] I'm hoping I'm able to be that leader in the realm of cycling or in athletics.

[00:39:11] I'm curious what motivates that drive to help others for you?

[00:39:16] Because it's what I went through as a self-driven athlete out to prove, prove to those early doubters, prove to myself what I was truly capable of.

[00:39:30] If, if similar to what you said, if those individuals knew what was inside of you, maybe they would have offered you drugs because you have like, like literally like every athlete has that within them, that incredible desire, that incredible want to prove to themselves, to prove to others.

[00:39:58] And so I want to be able to be able to help others because they've been able to prove to others.

[00:40:21] That means putting on a show.

[00:40:23] I want to slow down and connect with this athlete, male, female, doesn't matter what their capabilities are because that's true.

[00:40:34] That's true to them.

[00:40:35] And who knows what their potential can be.

[00:40:38] And if someone had slowed down enough to actually listen to what, why to look underneath the hood, to really understand why Brad Huff was the guy that was dumb enough.

[00:40:48] The only one dumb enough to not quit.

[00:40:50] Maybe it would have changed that trajectory and it would have been even greater because I would have been seen.

[00:40:57] I would have been heard.

[00:40:59] And I want to be able to help other athletes in that.

[00:41:01] It doesn't matter if it's some guy that hasn't ridden a bike in 30 years and he wants to try to do a century.

[00:41:08] I want to slow down and help them because I did everything wrong.

[00:41:12] And I almost made the Olympic team.

[00:41:15] And that's what I want to help other athletes realize is you can do everything wrong and still be successful.

[00:41:22] Or you can actually speak up to the right person that's not going to judge you, that's not going to sell you you're doing it wrong, that's going to say, hey, those are all valid points.

[00:41:34] Let's do it better together.

[00:41:36] That's what I want to be able to do to the sport.

[00:41:39] For what it's worth, I think you have done that.

[00:41:43] And just the number of times that I've connected with other athletes who aren't you in just random situations, you know, completely unrelated, where your name comes up as having played a pivotal role in somebody's life is I just I couldn't even count.

[00:42:00] Like there's so many times and so I know that you are in the hearts and minds of so many athletes and you have done that for so many people.

[00:42:08] Yeah.

[00:42:09] Thank you for being a good wheel and you've done it for me.

[00:42:11] So thank you for that.

[00:42:13] Ditto.

[00:42:13] Thank you.

[00:42:15] One of the things that's interesting to me is on the show.

[00:42:18] So far, we've interviewed a lot of women.

[00:42:21] We've interviewed a lot of superstars, a lot of superstars.

[00:42:26] They are superstars.

[00:42:27] Yes.

[00:42:28] And who are also, for one way or another, marginalized by virtue of the fact that they're not part of the, you know, majority demographic.

[00:42:38] Right.

[00:42:38] And whenever we have these conversations about cycling and sport culture, it's really easy to paint.

[00:42:45] You know, we love to joke about the mammals, you know, the middle aged men in Lycra and the white guys in the sport.

[00:42:51] And it's so easy to vilify that demographic.

[00:42:56] And yet, I think one of the things that gets lost is how that cult, that same culture that marginalizes women, marginalizes people of color, also harms the men and the, you know, the dominant demographic.

[00:43:12] And what you're describing right now, to me, very much gets to the heart of that.

[00:43:19] Because when you have a sport culture that is like, you know, entrenched in this dominant male demographic, which cycling very much still is.

[00:43:29] Exactly.

[00:43:29] It comes with these.

[00:43:32] Even though the women have won all the Olympic medals.

[00:43:36] Let's just, let's be honest.

[00:43:38] Exactly.

[00:43:39] Exactly.

[00:43:41] Multiple years.

[00:43:42] Founded.

[00:43:43] Right.

[00:43:44] Yes.

[00:43:44] It's, oh, we'll get our due one of these days.

[00:43:47] But it comes with these aspirational kind of characteristics, right?

[00:43:52] Like as men, and I'm speaking as a woman here, so obviously like jump in and correct me if I'm wrong.

[00:43:57] But you are expected to kind of adopt the, we'll call it a bro persona, right, in the culture, right?

[00:44:06] You are expected to be tough.

[00:44:09] You're expected to be a winner.

[00:44:11] You're not expected to be a whiner.

[00:44:13] You know, you're not expected to be emotional.

[00:44:17] That idea of genuine connection and seeing the person, what you're describing right now, is not part of what goes into that expectation for men in the sport as a result of this, you know, male-dominant culture.

[00:44:33] Which, again, like I'm saying, it does cause harm to males.

[00:44:36] And so I'm bringing this up because what you just described of not being seen, you know, as a whole person, I think that that has a lot to do with the culture.

[00:44:47] And I don't want to lose sight of the fact that that genuinely has a detrimental impact on the men in the sport as well.

[00:44:56] Yeah, because they are only, you are only valued for what you do, not who you are, not how you're showing up.

[00:45:03] Yeah.

[00:45:04] And as an athlete, especially a cyclist, I'll just, we'll just use cycling.

[00:45:10] You're only as good as your last result.

[00:45:12] You're only as good as your last result.

[00:45:14] Oh, you were, you were second.

[00:45:16] You're not remembered.

[00:45:17] Third is the first, you know, second's the first loser.

[00:45:19] Third's the nobody remembers.

[00:45:21] And in the sport where we're always told we're replaceable, you know, we're a dispensable.

[00:45:26] We're just like, we're dispensable.

[00:45:28] Someone else will come in and take the contract that is for less money when we're already barely getting paid enough to do it.

[00:45:36] Women, women did not get paid.

[00:45:39] Men got paid a little bit.

[00:45:41] So we'll just state that right now.

[00:45:43] That's a huge issue within the sport already and has been that way for years.

[00:45:47] Yes.

[00:45:47] And so the fact that we're all putting our lives on the line for performance, for someone's marketing budget, for someone's marketing, you know, direction doesn't actually value the individual that puts their life into said result.

[00:46:04] And so that's the difficult thing.

[00:46:06] And all these aspirational mammals that are out there are looking at these superheroes in the sport that aren't actually good people back then.

[00:46:16] There's a lot more quality individuals, incredible humans that are in the sport right now.

[00:46:20] And we're so lucky to have these, these riders that are at the Olympics currently right now that have won the Giro Ronda, you know, like, did I say that right?

[00:46:30] Giro Rosa.

[00:46:31] Giro Rosa.

[00:46:31] Sorry.

[00:46:32] Like one, the Giro Rosa, you know, and we're so lucky to have these athletes.

[00:46:38] Those are the ones that they should be looking up to now.

[00:46:41] But because of marketing, because of not seeing, they don't realize those that's the new era.

[00:46:47] Those are individuals that have done it all the right way.

[00:46:49] These middle-aged males are still looking at past superheroes thinking that's, that's the way to go.

[00:46:55] Like they want the Hulk Hogan up there on top of the, I'll say pulpit at this time.

[00:47:01] You know, to look up to those brothers.

[00:47:04] Those are the ones who are getting it done, brother.

[00:47:06] It's like, no, actually the ones that are showing up that are insecure, but they're, but they're giving it their best.

[00:47:13] You know, they're coming back for more.

[00:47:15] Those are the ones that we need to actually like to elevate in the sport.

[00:47:19] You know, the dad that works 60 hours a week and tries to ride his bike a little bit or the mom that's a single mom that's trying to get her life back together.

[00:47:28] And she's out at SBT gravel, dude, giving her all or unbound or, you know, whatever it might be.

[00:47:35] The ranger up in Vermont, which I love, like these are the individuals that we should, we should elevate because they're the ones in reality.

[00:47:44] You and I lived in Peter Pan lifestyle that for a long time, but we didn't even realize we were in the Peter Pan lifestyle because we were exalted, you know, for it.

[00:47:54] But that wasn't actually like that.

[00:47:57] Yes, that was our reality.

[00:47:58] And that's what we were putting on the line.

[00:48:00] But that's not what the gold medal, the silver, the bronze, those are not what we should all be looking at.

[00:48:07] It's the consistency.

[00:48:08] It's the willingness.

[00:48:10] It's showing up even when it's difficult, even when you're not the one winning.

[00:48:15] That's the ones we should actually look up to and listen to their stories because we could take a lot of inspiration that not the ones that are genetically gifted that go to the top of the world.

[00:48:24] And a sport like that, that's not the ones that we should actually like be exalting.

[00:48:28] And I say that because I chin the pole from the very start to the very end.

[00:48:35] And it's possible.

[00:48:36] Like you don't have to be that genetic freak to have a genuinely successful career, a long and sustainable successful career.

[00:48:45] Let me say one thing.

[00:48:46] The D1 athlete, everyone wants to be a collegiate athlete.

[00:48:50] Not very many people even get to be high school athletes these days because it's so competitive.

[00:48:55] And to actually be a D1 athlete, Amber, is something that I as an athlete look up to immensely.

[00:49:02] And I was around a lot in the sport of cycling.

[00:49:05] There is a dramatically high number of female D1 athletes in the sport and not a very big number of D1 males in the sport.

[00:49:15] Because these women had to have other ways and they realized like, well, I'm not going to be able to continue the sport of, you know, swimming or volleyball or soccer.

[00:49:23] So I'll just go ride it.

[00:49:25] And they have these incredible athletic abilities.

[00:49:28] Boom, they take off in the sport of cycling.

[00:49:30] Well, men, because there's so much more support and there's so much more bro mentality, they just stick with that one sport.

[00:49:36] And next thing you know, like they're a cat one or they're a pro.

[00:49:39] And they think, you know, it's like, no, actually, you should be looking over here at the women who are incredibly capable.

[00:49:45] And so when someone says, oh, I was a D1 athlete, I'm like, holy, you were a D1 athlete?

[00:49:50] That is awesome because I still aspire to be a D1 athlete.

[00:49:55] And when at my school and my college, one of the best athletes that went there to Jason Hart, who went and ended up came, went from my high school, Fairgrove, set baseball records and then went on to the major leagues or WNBA rookie of the year.

[00:50:11] Jackie Stiles, who also went to the final four for SMS back in the day, she was at my school.

[00:50:18] Like those are two incredible athletes that are known.

[00:50:20] And I was the unknown athlete and I almost made it to the top of the sport.

[00:50:25] And so when someone says they're a D1 athlete, I'm like, yeah, you put in the time and you matured and you and you were noticed.

[00:50:33] I wish that had happened for me in my sport.

[00:50:36] I had to chin the pole, you know, behind closed doors forever.

[00:50:39] In fact, my brother like still hates me to this day for riding the rollers at 6 a.m. before class because it made so much noise.

[00:50:48] So there's my little rant on individuals that make it to the D1 level.

[00:50:51] But then what happens when D1's over?

[00:50:54] Poof, it's gone.

[00:50:55] Hey, good job.

[00:50:56] You gave it your all.

[00:50:57] Going back to like helping the sport, helping the community of athletes out there.

[00:51:02] We'll be right back with more from Brad Huff after this quick break.

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[00:51:33] And now back to our conversation with multi-time national champion, world championship medalist, and two-time Pan American champion Brad Huff.

[00:51:43] I think your point about exalting some athletes over others ties back with this too because it's all of this comes back to the culture and sport, right?

[00:51:52] Like who are we looking up to?

[00:51:53] And we kind of go back to this idea of the sport culture that is really just about the results.

[00:52:01] Like you as an athlete, you're not really a person.

[00:52:04] We only really care about what you have to offer us in terms of getting the team results.

[00:52:09] And to be fair, like as an athlete and competitor, it is your job to compete and it is your job to try to win.

[00:52:17] And winning is awesome.

[00:52:18] And there's nothing wrong with, in fact, I don't even want to say there's nothing wrong with it.

[00:52:22] Like striving to win, striving for medals, all of those things, that's what makes sport beautiful and wonderful.

[00:52:29] Where it kind of goes off the rails is when, as you said, we lose sight of the human components of it.

[00:52:37] And when the culture is so focused on the results that that's all we really look at.

[00:52:45] And I think two sides of that coin are one that we end up, as you say, like exalting athletes who get amazing results but maybe are not great people.

[00:52:56] And we have this like human halo effect bias with that, right?

[00:53:00] Like, oh, if this person is an amazing athlete, they must also be smart and kind.

[00:53:06] And we start to attribute all of these other things to them that we have zero evidence for.

[00:53:12] All we know is that they're an amazing athlete.

[00:53:14] And we look to them as a role model, like a 360 degree role model, when they may only be, you know, I'll say good in some limited respects.

[00:53:25] And there are also those athletes who achieve the top level, who are winners, who are incredible athletes and get incredible results and are good people.

[00:53:34] But we don't, especially in the media, we don't differentiate between those.

[00:53:38] And then within the culture of the sport, we don't differentiate among those.

[00:53:41] And I do think that that is so harmful because it enables people who do harm through their presence in sport, through their interactions in the sport, to be successful, to be rewarded for.

[00:53:55] Continually.

[00:53:56] Continually rewarded for their results with almost no consequence for the harm that they do.

[00:54:01] And then the people who are good people, you know, and they're not doing harm and they're getting results.

[00:54:06] Like, there's no additional recognition for that in kind of this like bro-y dude culture that I'm thinking about.

[00:54:13] And I'm thinking how that harms everyone.

[00:54:15] Like, that's not just limited to people who are marginalized or underrepresented in the sport.

[00:54:21] That harms the men just as much as the women.

[00:54:24] And I think that's something that you and I have both seen.

[00:54:26] Like, I know we've had conversations about this.

[00:54:29] Totally.

[00:54:30] You know, when we, we've been lucky enough because of the individual choose to keep close to us, we've benefited from those good individuals.

[00:54:39] And we've been used and marginalized by those other individuals.

[00:54:42] And so for someone that has been on beat on, on the podcast, Catherine Bertine, you know, think of how many, how many athletes the home stretch has enabled to prepare and make it to the Olympics and get two gold medals right now.

[00:54:59] Gold medals.

[00:55:01] On the female side, on the women's side.

[00:55:04] Yep.

[00:55:04] Yep.

[00:55:05] Yep.

[00:55:05] But yet she is looked at as, oh, well, she wasn't really one of a superstar athletes.

[00:55:11] Well, she got to go to worlds.

[00:55:13] She got to, you know, she helped start the women's Tour de France, restart the women's Tour de France and raced in it.

[00:55:19] But yet they, there's no, they don't look at her as a validator because she doesn't have U.S. national championships.

[00:55:26] She doesn't have world's medals.

[00:55:27] She doesn't have, you know, these podium placings.

[00:55:30] But it's like, no, she actually did made a difference in the sport.

[00:55:34] Even though she is a national champion and Caribbean champion.

[00:55:36] Correct.

[00:55:36] Correct.

[00:55:37] And she made a difference in the sport.

[00:55:38] Yep.

[00:55:38] Exactly.

[00:55:39] But not in their eyes that she's not, you know, or those that are different, different sexual orientation in life, you know, their, their validation isn't seen as like as bright.

[00:55:50] You know, another one, Leah Davison, incredible human, incredible athlete, incredible performer.

[00:55:56] Yes.

[00:55:56] And a D1 athlete and has a heart of gold and has created with her sister, little Bellas, which is helping generations upon generations of new cyclists.

[00:56:08] But yet those groups aren't really exalted.

[00:56:11] They aren't really, you know, brought in.

[00:56:14] But I think thanks to the work of those that are at the top of the sport, Michael Phelps, Simone Biles, who are showing the importance of seeing the whole human, even at the peak of the sport is important.

[00:56:28] Which is helping those that are doing more in those lower levels.

[00:56:33] And speaking of another one, like Mike Friedman, who was a 2008 Olympian, who raced the Paris-Roubaix, who is an incredible human, incredible friend of mine, incredible artist, who has a program called Pedaling Minds, who is helping create the next generation of riders who love the sport for what the sport or the bike can give to them.

[00:56:54] So back to your very first question, the bike has changed and others around in our culture are helping the bike to change others' lives.

[00:57:02] And so how can we help exalt them?

[00:57:05] How can we help lift them up?

[00:57:07] And it's sharing their message.

[00:57:08] It's giving them some support, letting them know that they're seen.

[00:57:13] Most of the time it's through Instagram, a little message because we're not around everyone like we used to be.

[00:57:18] And we've taken that, you know, for granted.

[00:57:20] And now we're like, oh, well, I guess I have to message them on social media to contact them.

[00:57:24] I don't get to see them at the bike race.

[00:57:26] But we see and feel the ripples that they're doing.

[00:57:31] But on the greater scale in the world, they're unknown.

[00:57:35] So I think little situations like this for people that are really trying to share a voice, share the good that's out there, that maybe didn't make it to a point where their voice is always heard, their voice is always put on the front row.

[00:57:49] So it's podcasts like this that are able to share those individuals, which you're bringing those exact people on there so their voice can create those ripples that go out farther, that make greater impacts.

[00:58:02] Thank you for saying that.

[00:58:03] That's exactly what I'm hoping to do here.

[00:58:06] And you're right.

[00:58:07] There is a shift.

[00:58:09] And it's so wonderful to see.

[00:58:12] And I want to do, you know, anything I can.

[00:58:16] And I know you're the same to contribute to that momentum and speed that up as much as we can.

[00:58:22] How do we get funding?

[00:58:23] I know.

[00:58:24] Where's the money?

[00:58:25] Anybody listening who likes this idea, like reach out.

[00:58:28] Well, you know, we'll talk.

[00:58:30] Another kind of element of fallout from this is that when you're focused on the results only and you're valuing and weighting the results so much more than the human components, what ends up happening to athletes within the sport, and I'll suggest that this probably happens more to men than to women, is the implied message that the human part doesn't matter.

[00:58:58] So your human part doesn't matter, which is to say that I don't care what's going on in your life.

[00:59:06] I don't care that you've just lost somebody dear to you.

[00:59:09] I don't care that, you know, whatever, you know, horrible thing or difficult thing that you're going through in your life as a human is happening.

[00:59:17] All I care about is how you show up and perform in the race.

[00:59:21] And to be fair, as a professional, there is a valid element of that.

[00:59:27] But when the culture pushes that narrative through everything, as an athlete, the message received is my worth is my results.

[00:59:38] My feelings don't matter.

[00:59:40] My emotions don't matter.

[00:59:42] That then makes it so difficult to connect with other people in the sport, connect with teammates, forge friendships and real, real relationships and connection.

[00:59:53] And that when you can't do those things and you're feeling some sense of unfulfillment or discomfort with that, it shouldn't matter.

[01:00:03] Because those results should be enough for you as a bro, as a dude, as a man.

[01:00:09] Like that should be enough for you.

[01:00:12] Like you shouldn't need to have conversations about your feelings.

[01:00:15] You shouldn't need to have really close and emotionally intimate relationships.

[01:00:20] Like you should be fine with the results.

[01:00:23] Is that resonating?

[01:00:24] Oh, yeah.

[01:00:25] Yeah.

[01:00:26] I mean, that's the to the victor go the spoils in life.

[01:00:31] And something I heard on a ritual podcast and I wrote about USA Cycling Coaching Certificate was how competition is truly from the word compoteer, which is to strive with, not against.

[01:00:46] Yeah.

[01:00:47] Not ahead of, not to push aside, but to work with, to find a common, I don't want to say goal because everybody wants to win, but to strive with and to put aside that to the victor go the spoils mentality where that narrative that's been pushed upon us that no, no, no.

[01:01:06] It's about you.

[01:01:07] It's about your wins.

[01:01:08] You have to take, you have to, you have to be selfish.

[01:01:11] You have to do all these things so that you're the one that rises above.

[01:01:15] Well, the other adage is may, what's it?

[01:01:18] May all tides rise like tides rises all ships.

[01:01:21] How's it go?

[01:01:22] Rising tides lift all boats.

[01:01:24] Yeah.

[01:01:25] Rising tides lifts all boats.

[01:01:27] Yeah.

[01:01:27] Which is compoteer to work together, to rise all boats, to help everyone rise above.

[01:01:33] Yes, there will be a victor, but the process will be so much more profitable for everyone.

[01:01:39] Which is why I think in our sport, people seek community much more than they seek competition because they want to be engaged.

[01:01:49] They want to feel like they're a part of something greater than themselves because society only exalts that one self, that one victor.

[01:02:01] For individuals, that's fleeting.

[01:02:02] You know, I would rather be a part of a greater movement, which is why I always, I didn't want to be the leader.

[01:02:09] I wanted to be the worker.

[01:02:10] I wanted to help others in it.

[01:02:11] And so in this new view, this new era of actually seeing a whole athlete, even though an athlete is a professional, they're paid to perform, they're paid to win.

[01:02:22] They're paid to put on a show because of social media, because of the openness about mental health.

[01:02:29] And I feel like the pandemic is really what created this shift of seeing the whole human.

[01:02:33] Because even CEOs now had to show their true side because they're on Zoom calls.

[01:02:40] Their kid is walking through.

[01:02:42] They're trying to scamper through.

[01:02:44] Their dog's coming in and jumping.

[01:02:46] You know, something happens.

[01:02:48] You know, they stand up and they've got underwear on.

[01:02:51] It's like, no, you're seeing the true element.

[01:02:53] But like, we can no longer posture and say, I am perfect.

[01:02:57] Look at me.

[01:02:59] I should hold this medal above all.

[01:03:02] It's like, no, no, we're all in this together.

[01:03:05] We're all trying to figure it out.

[01:03:06] And I really hope that through this new era of openness and willingness and true leaders showing up,

[01:03:16] leaders that, yes, are there to reach that goal of success, but not at all costs.

[01:03:23] Not at the sacrifice of an individual along the way.

[01:03:27] I hope that new leaders are able to rise above in that and show this new group of kids that are getting to sports or aspirational athletes that are in their 30s, 40s, 50s a better way.

[01:03:41] Not that it's personal records, Strava QOM, Strava KOMs.

[01:03:47] That's not why we go out the door.

[01:03:50] It's a better connection.

[01:03:52] Right.

[01:03:52] The idea of striving with really strikes a chord with me.

[01:03:57] And as you were saying that, I was thinking about some of the most fulfilling moments I had as a competitor were really born out of the relationships that I forged with my competitors out of competition.

[01:04:10] So how often were we going and training with people who were on different teams, who as soon as we got to the race, we would be racing, quote unquote, against them.

[01:04:21] But until we got to the race, they were our training buddies and we're pushing each other and we're making each other better.

[01:04:25] And then in the race, even when we're supposedly competing against each other, what we're effectively doing is continuing exactly what we were doing in training, which is to push each other to be better and to help each other, you know, get that much closer to our potential, get that much closer to whatever our goal is or our path is in the sport.

[01:04:46] And I always really liked that because not only did they feel genuinely happy for me if I got a good result, because in some sense, like when you're training together, even as competitors, you feel invested in each other's success.

[01:05:02] And that doesn't mean that in the race, I'm going to like go any easier on them, right?

[01:05:08] Like absolutely not.

[01:05:10] No, but by not going easy on them, that actually forces them to step up a level two and vice versa.

[01:05:16] And so it actually is all this really wonderful thing.

[01:05:19] And I remember so many times seeing, you know, competitors find success, not because I gifted them anything in a race, but if I didn't win or I didn't have the best race, like I always learn something.

[01:05:32] And if one of those kind of competitor friends had success, I felt so invested in that to the point that sometimes I felt as happy for them getting a good result as I felt for myself.

[01:05:44] And certainly, you know, that happened within my own team too, right?

[01:05:48] Like, as you said, helping a teammate get a result often felt to me even better than getting on the podium myself.

[01:05:55] And I think that that's, you know, you miss out on all of that joy when you're completely focused on self and results and ego at the cost of everything else.

[01:06:09] Right.

[01:06:10] Why did we get on the bike in the first place?

[01:06:13] Why did we go out the door in the first place?

[01:06:15] Why did we create, why did we step into sport in the first place?

[01:06:20] Because it brought us immense joy.

[01:06:23] Because we were there out with our friends.

[01:06:26] We were having fun playing and learning.

[01:06:28] We were developing and adapting with each other.

[01:06:32] But then competition got pushed upon us.

[01:06:36] Oh, well, I could do this and I could actually go where?

[01:06:38] And so we lose that grasp of joy that we once held.

[01:06:45] Because our joy is only measured by the height that we reach.

[01:06:52] And that's where in sport, what Leah Davison was able to do for the 2021 Olympic team.

[01:07:00] And what she was pushing to do.

[01:07:02] And the five of them that were all pushing to make the team for only two spots or three.

[01:07:07] I think there were four of them.

[01:07:09] And they were trying to make sure that the U.S. had a high enough ranking that we got three spots for the Olympics.

[01:07:15] Correct.

[01:07:15] So they knew that if they were successful in securing three spots, for sure, one of them wouldn't make it.

[01:07:21] And yet they went all in together to make sure that the U.S. had three spots, not just two.

[01:07:27] So that three of them could go not just two, knowing one of them wouldn't make it.

[01:07:33] And that ended up being Leah.

[01:07:34] Right.

[01:07:35] And yes, we're all heartbroken because Leah didn't make it.

[01:07:38] But looking at what they did collectively for each of their athletic capabilities, they rose so far above what they had for that other quad.

[01:07:51] All of them elevated their game to a level that even they were like, this is incredible.

[01:07:57] What we are doing, what she is doing, this is incredible.

[01:08:00] And that exalts true comparteer, working together, striving together.

[01:08:06] And even whenever you and I were in races and we had friends that we had trained with who kicked our – we were able to get in front of them somehow and perform.

[01:08:17] They were stoked.

[01:08:19] They were stoked for us or we were stoked for them.

[01:08:21] And that is truly what sport is.

[01:08:24] And I feel like it's lost.

[01:08:27] It's lost in that professional side.

[01:08:30] And I heard recently on a YouTube share from a certain nutritional supplements CEO who was a professional athlete and had a traumatic injury.

[01:08:42] And I think at the end of it, he said, we don't care about your feelings.

[01:08:45] We care about how you perform.

[01:08:46] And to take that and hold on to it still, probably because out of frustrations in his sporting career and put that into his CEO profile, into his status now in life, still isn't doing it in a productive manner to retain joy.

[01:09:07] Retain joy in it, to appreciate the process, to help everyone rise above.

[01:09:11] Yes, there are parameters that we have to make to make budget and have salaries and all those things.

[01:09:17] But we can also appreciate the process together a little bit more.

[01:09:21] Share a little bit more of the pie.

[01:09:23] 100%.

[01:09:23] Help everyone be fed instead of only to the victor go the spoils.

[01:09:28] 100%.

[01:09:28] And I think the crux of this is you can be professional.

[01:09:34] You can achieve at the highest level of the sport and keep that joy.

[01:09:42] These are not mutually exclusive things.

[01:09:44] And I think that kind of old school mentality that is just hanging on for dear life.

[01:09:49] Right.

[01:09:49] Is that idea that if you want to be this good, you can't care about the joy.

[01:09:55] Like, you can't care about your feelings.

[01:09:57] You can't care about these things.

[01:09:58] And we had Alexi Vermeulen on the podcast recently, and he made some really great points that...

[01:10:03] Incredible human.

[01:10:04] As a professional, I mean, speaking of good human, exactly.

[01:10:07] As a professional, there are moments.

[01:10:09] There are moments where you have to say, I don't care about my feelings.

[01:10:13] I have to get this done.

[01:10:14] There are moments where you have to compartmentalize to perform.

[01:10:20] But in the big picture, when you mix that up with the big picture joy...

[01:10:27] And he absolutely was saying the same thing.

[01:10:29] It's a balance, right?

[01:10:30] Like, there are moments where you have to compartmentalize, and that's an important skill.

[01:10:34] And, you know, big picture, there needs to be joy.

[01:10:37] And I think that that's...

[01:10:39] We mix that up.

[01:10:40] Like, those moments are not what the whole thing needs to be.

[01:10:44] Those moments are necessary, transient, fleeting moments.

[01:10:48] They are not what the whole experience needs to be in order to enable athletes to reach their potential, to reach the highest level.

[01:10:57] And thankfully, we're seeing that.

[01:10:59] As you were talking, I just had the picture in my mind of our first all-black gymnastics Olympic podium with second and third place, including Simone Biles, bowing to the first place winner.

[01:11:12] Second and third place being on the U.S. team.

[01:11:16] First place, I believe she's Argentinian.

[01:11:18] And the demonstration of respect and connection on a human level in that moment, to me, you know, I don't look at that and think, oh, that just means that second and third place didn't care enough to try hard enough to win.

[01:11:37] That they're showing this respect and soft, you know, like, genuine happiness and joy in the success of first place.

[01:11:47] Because it doesn't take anything away from their performance or their dominance or their value as athletes.

[01:11:53] And I think that older mentality is, you know, if you're nice to and you like and support your competition, it makes you less of a competitor.

[01:12:03] Man, it couldn't be further from the truth.

[01:12:05] Correct.

[01:12:06] And it goes back to there are more athletes performing at a higher level today than there used to be.

[01:12:14] Because I think more individuals are respecting other competitors.

[01:12:19] They're understanding that game truly recognized game.

[01:12:23] You know, it's not just the victor.

[01:12:25] It's the process that we're all working towards to get there.

[01:12:29] And that's why at the Olympics, the greatest of all time bowed in her position in second place to the gold medal winner.

[01:12:40] I mean, yes.

[01:12:42] Yes.

[01:12:42] That's more touching than anything.

[01:12:44] And someone that is right.

[01:12:47] Think of it that way.

[01:12:48] Not that.

[01:12:49] It was so moving.

[01:12:50] Yeah.

[01:12:50] Not to gate the fact that they were, that was the first ever all black podium.

[01:12:55] That is the greatest of all time is looking to someone who beat her.

[01:13:01] Yep.

[01:13:01] And she's bowing to them like, you are the great.

[01:13:04] Thank you.

[01:13:05] Like, that's true humility.

[01:13:07] That's true leadership.

[01:13:09] And I think the era of athletes that will come out of, I'll say post pandemic, the era of leaders that will come out post pandemic.

[01:13:18] Will be some of the greatest that we'll let we've ever seen because everyone took that mentality into the pandemic.

[01:13:27] And did you see how many people burned out from life?

[01:13:32] Yes.

[01:13:33] Yes.

[01:13:33] And it's only those that actually, and I burned out.

[01:13:37] I crapped.

[01:13:37] I burned out.

[01:13:38] I crumbled, you know, and I'm doing my best to rise out of those ashes, you know, that I realized I was in.

[01:13:47] I burned myself down.

[01:13:48] And more individuals, those that are willing, those that are opening their mind to the true reason why we're out there to find joy, to find connection.

[01:13:57] They will help us all rise above.

[01:13:59] Mm-hmm.

[01:14:00] Yeah.

[01:14:00] Yeah.

[01:14:01] Let's dig into this a little bit because I know this has been something you and I have chatted on and off about is this transition out of full-time competition.

[01:14:09] Because you had this, I would say, stunningly long and successful career.

[01:14:15] I mean, I want to just point out for a moment, you won two U.S. Pro Crit National Championship titles, which alone is incredible.

[01:14:24] But you won them 10 years apart, which most athletes don't even have a career that lasts 10 years in the sport of cycling at the professional level, let alone to bookend a decade of professional racing with national championship titles.

[01:14:41] Like, that is just, to me, that speaks to your longevity, that drive that don't quit.

[01:14:48] I mean, it wasn't just don't quit.

[01:14:49] It was like, I'm not going to quit and I'm going to continue to put myself in a position to be at the top of the sport.

[01:14:56] Sure. So, maybe before we jump into retirement, let's chat just briefly about that win in 2016 because there's so much about this that I think is instructive and helpful for any athletes out there listening.

[01:15:11] To set the stage for you, this was U.S. National Championships in a year where one, I would say like UHC was the dominant Criterion Racing team in the U.S.

[01:15:23] They just dominated the crit scene and every crit that you went to at the professional level, we would joke that we would see the blue train, which was the UHC team leading out their sprinter to the finish.

[01:15:35] And the lead out being a long line of teammates who are using the draft to make sure that their sprinter gets to the line as fast and fresh as possible to win the race.

[01:15:46] At the end of this race, it kind of ended up being you against the blue train, didn't it?

[01:15:51] Yeah. The phrase after the race was, where did you come from?

[01:15:56] And that was John Murphy. That was John Murphy who raced at the highest level.

[01:16:04] Incredible sprinter.

[01:16:04] In Europe, incredible sprinter, has been on the podium, has won, has done incredible things in the sport.

[01:16:10] I somehow came around him at the finish and he said, where did you come from?

[01:16:15] Because they were so dominant. They were so dialed.

[01:16:18] They knew how to implement to perfection.

[01:16:22] But yet, they forgot.

[01:16:24] And they did. Yeah.

[01:16:25] They did. They did.

[01:16:27] There was no one close to them except someone that has a skill set that can see right through it.

[01:16:35] And that was me that day.

[01:16:36] And some athletes are able to find flow in sport.

[01:16:40] Some find it in training.

[01:16:42] Some find it in key competition.

[01:16:43] I was really lucky that in criteriums, I could find flow.

[01:16:46] And I knew their tricks.

[01:16:49] I knew their tricks.

[01:16:50] I knew their positioning.

[01:16:51] And I completely respected them in that.

[01:16:54] And at the end, let's say into the last lap, they had, I think, five people on the last lap on the front.

[01:17:03] And they peeled really fast.

[01:17:05] And I was...

[01:17:05] That's amazing.

[01:17:06] I think I was somewhere sixth wheel, seventh wheel.

[01:17:09] And going into the last two turns, there was, at this point, four of them left, maybe three.

[01:17:15] And I had moved up to being on their wheel into the last, into the second to last turn.

[01:17:20] And I realized that the third wheel, so the...

[01:17:24] Actually, there were four of them.

[01:17:26] The fourth wheel had kind of eased up and allowed a gap for them to ride away, the top three to ride away.

[01:17:32] And I quickly went around them in a second.

[01:17:34] And so now I'm up on third wheel.

[01:17:36] The lead out man in that final stretch peels off.

[01:17:39] So the two top sprinters are going to the last corner, one, two, to lead out each other.

[01:17:45] And I see how they're setting up for the corner.

[01:17:49] And they're protecting, but they're going wide to carry speed.

[01:17:52] And there was a curb.

[01:17:54] There was a gutter that had about that much concrete off the asphalt.

[01:17:59] And they were...

[01:18:00] So like six inches or so?

[01:18:02] I'm just for the folks listening.

[01:18:03] Yeah.

[01:18:04] Just about six inches or so from the asphalt to the concrete gutter.

[01:18:09] And they were on the asphalt.

[01:18:11] And they were taking the line from there.

[01:18:13] And for some reason, I saw Jedi Knight.

[01:18:16] I shifted over onto the concrete, which put me at a different entry angle to that last corner.

[01:18:25] So as they were going, they were scrubbing speed.

[01:18:28] And I was maintaining speed.

[01:18:29] And so I went under both of them, which enabled me to start pedaling and carrying more speed into that last turn.

[01:18:37] Which therefore, I came around one of the strongest sprinters that the US had at that time, John Murphy.

[01:18:43] And roasted him in the finish.

[01:18:46] And something that's cool.

[01:18:47] And something that's cool that I saw in the playback is I could see it all happen and I see it before my eyes.

[01:18:54] But I heard Katie Compton on the commentary switch from commentator to fan and scream, go Brad, go.

[01:19:04] So, and it was amazing.

[01:19:07] It was so cool.

[01:19:10] It was so cool.

[01:19:11] And then going back to some of the greatest in the world, like bowing to the others, that entire UHC team, except for one, came up and gave me a hug after that finish.

[01:19:24] And I will never forget that.

[01:19:26] It meant the world to me.

[01:19:27] It was mutual respect.

[01:19:29] Oh my gosh.

[01:19:29] I'm tearing up.

[01:19:30] Yeah.

[01:19:31] I remember that win.

[01:19:32] And I just remember, like, I think the whole peloton in like every category was so happy that you had won.

[01:19:41] Because you are such a beloved person in the sport.

[01:19:43] And you were the underdog that day.

[01:19:46] Like, you know, it was a foregone conclusion that UHC was going to win because of their dominance.

[01:19:52] And it really speaks to, well, number one, the impact that you've had in the sport.

[01:19:58] No wonder people were happy that you won.

[01:19:59] And number two, you're race craft and you're savvy, right?

[01:20:04] Like, you had won the U.S. Procretarium Championship in 2006.

[01:20:08] And you were 10 years later winning it again in 2016.

[01:20:12] Because you can see the matrix, right?

[01:20:14] Like, and you've learned the tactics and the skills that you need to see the matrix.

[01:20:19] And I don't know if you saw this, but in my research, I found cycling legend who has since passed, rest in peace, Steve Tilford, had a wonderful blog for many years.

[01:20:32] And in one of his entries in 2016, he was talking about you.

[01:20:35] And he said, he, referring to you, Brad, could win the race just on his cornering ability.

[01:20:41] In my opinion, Brad is the fastest guy at the end of the race that is currently racing domestically here.

[01:20:46] He's just unbelievable.

[01:20:47] I wouldn't start a sprint on Brad's wheel because when he jumped, I lost enough space that I was riding in the wind.

[01:20:54] He is just too fast to follow.

[01:20:57] And I want to share that because I just thought, like, what an incredible compliment from one of the legends in our sport.

[01:21:03] And I think that one of the hardest things to come to grips with when you walk away from the sport, and this certainly crossed my mind when I retired, was like, well, geez, the moment that I'm stopping racing is the moment that I know the most about it.

[01:21:20] Yeah.

[01:21:21] You, in 2016, like, the years of experience you had that went into allowing you to see the matrix and make that split-second decision to use that six-inch space.

[01:21:34] You know, a lot of people wouldn't even have seen that.

[01:21:36] They wouldn't even have known to anticipate that two riders were going to drop off to gap their sprinter and go around them.

[01:21:43] And, I mean, to be fair, like, this wasn't just tactics because I know that—

[01:21:48] Experience.

[01:21:49] Experience, right.

[01:21:50] But then also, like, when there's a lead-out train like that in a crit, the etiquette is not to, like, elbow your way into the train.

[01:21:59] Like, you're not going to try to get into the draft of the train, not only because of etiquette, but because, you know, that etiquette is also founded on safety, right?

[01:22:07] Like, as professionals, you all need to live to race another day.

[01:22:11] And so, as professionals, you're not going to put each other at risk like that.

[01:22:16] So, you are having to stay with the train without being in their draft.

[01:22:21] Yep.

[01:22:22] All the way up into the point where those two riders pull off so that you could anticipate and be there and put yourself in that position to win.

[01:22:28] And all of that is just incredible race craft that comes with that experience.

[01:22:34] So, getting back to the retirement piece, I guess, like, I find that race to be such a great example of the wisdom and skill that athletes acquire over the course of a career.

[01:22:46] And, you know, you may have been older, but you were also wiser, and that made you a better athlete.

[01:22:52] Did you feel that?

[01:22:53] Did you feel that you were wiser at that point as an athlete?

[01:22:55] And did you feel that kind of sense of loss when you retired from competition?

[01:23:00] The thing that made the most impact in me is I did not have anything to prove.

[01:23:05] In that year, in that very first year, I was still riding on anger as an athlete to prove all the naysayers wrong, to validate myself.

[01:23:17] And in those final years, I didn't have anything else to prove.

[01:23:21] Not that I had succeeded fully in the sport, but I was content where I was at in the sport.

[01:23:28] And I knew that I had a lot of value in the sport and what I could give the sport.

[01:23:34] And so that's when I really started to lean more on my competitors, lean more on my teammates to push me, to help me be better so that I could show up to be better for them.

[01:23:46] Because I was surrounded by some of the greats, Seth Coos, Michael Woods, Danny Pate, just to name a few.

[01:23:56] If I robbed Britain, if I didn't show up, I wasn't even going to be able to close to hold their wheel to do my job.

[01:24:02] And so I wasn't out there for my aspirations anymore.

[01:24:06] I was out there to rise above what I had done in the past so that I could help others rise.

[01:24:12] And so in that, I was able to leverage all the skill, all the experience, and better myself along the way.

[01:24:20] And so now that I got to that end point in my career, anything was possible.

[01:24:25] Because I had already learned what the cost of losing, like to risk losing in order to win, I understood that.

[01:24:33] But now I was okay.

[01:24:36] I knew that I was willing to lose.

[01:24:39] And so in these situations, I didn't fear losing anymore.

[01:24:44] Because I knew that that could happen, no problem.

[01:24:46] What's the best thing that could happen?

[01:24:47] First, second, third?

[01:24:49] So I was willing to roll the dice that much more.

[01:24:52] Not out of risk, not out of putting myself in danger, but being even more calculated and helping others to be in that spot.

[01:24:59] And then those last two years, being a key lead out man for Ty Magner and Eric Young, helping Ty win his very first US Pro Championships the very next year.

[01:25:10] Trying to lead out Eric and Ty that last year.

[01:25:12] But being able to be there enabled me to get so much more out of myself in those national championship races, in key races around the world.

[01:25:22] That's where I really felt like I was starting to come into my true ability as a rider and as a leader without saying, you need to follow me.

[01:25:32] You need to do as I say.

[01:25:34] More so like asking them what their objective was, what the team objective was, and committing to that bully and seeing what was possible.

[01:25:41] Is where I really started to see how I was proving myself in the sport.

[01:25:47] What I find really interesting about that is you described that period of your career as a period in which you felt content.

[01:25:55] And yet at the same time, you weren't complacent.

[01:25:58] You were content with where you were, but you had this motivation of helping lift others that continued to push you to improve as an athlete.

[01:26:08] Which I find really interesting because I think a lot of people might believe that contentment would equal complacency in sport.

[01:26:15] That you have to be dissatisfied with where you are in order to have the drive to improve as an athlete.

[01:26:22] And yet you found a different motivation there at the end.

[01:26:25] Yeah, I was able to put aside my selfish desires and look at the greater picture of why I was truly out there.

[01:26:32] Why I had been picked to be a part of this team.

[01:26:35] And why I was fortunate enough to be around these individuals.

[01:26:38] Not that it always worked out to perfection.

[01:26:40] You know, we lost more than one.

[01:26:43] And I learned a lot about myself along that way.

[01:26:45] Didn't help the transition, but it helped me go into it.

[01:26:50] Yeah, let's go there.

[01:26:51] It helped me go into it with that contentment in it.

[01:26:56] Being proud and be able to look back and be proud.

[01:26:59] Unlike so many years in the sport where I was never proud because it was never good enough.

[01:27:05] Because I never won enough.

[01:27:07] I never went fast enough.

[01:27:09] I never put out enough wattage.

[01:27:11] My weight wasn't light enough.

[01:27:13] And that is devaluing the process that the human is putting himself, he or she, through to get to said performance.

[01:27:23] Not peak.

[01:27:24] It might be their peak.

[01:27:25] Which doesn't mean a gold medal.

[01:27:27] That might be 17th place.

[01:27:28] That was their peak.

[01:27:30] That was pulling for their teammate, 50k before the finish line and blowing up and trying to make time cut.

[01:27:36] That was their peak.

[01:27:37] But no one really appreciates and loves that.

[01:27:39] They only see the victor or win.

[01:27:43] So that's where I was able to go out there to not put my foot down to prove, but yet to see what's possible.

[01:27:50] That's where in my last four years, three years, I had some of the most awesome wins and performances I've ever had in my life.

[01:28:00] And in incredible pictures that I find even on the internet and be like, holy cow, I did that?

[01:28:06] That was rad.

[01:28:07] That.

[01:28:08] Or to say I was a part of that athlete's propulsion into the sport.

[01:28:15] Or seeing Seth Kuzco.

[01:28:17] Not that I had anything to do with Seth Kuzco and Stratosphere.

[01:28:21] Or Mike Woods getting a world's medal in the road race or being a three-time Olympian.

[01:28:26] I didn't have.

[01:28:26] But they were born with the hand of God on them and be like, you will be great.

[01:28:32] You will be incredible.

[01:28:33] And I was just lucky to be around them.

[01:28:37] And so that's where I started to really, truly appreciate people that I was around.

[01:28:43] And then that goes for the female athletes, the male athletes.

[01:28:46] And to be able to be like, holy cow.

[01:28:49] I see them.

[01:28:50] They see me as much as they could because they were still rising up and be like, hey, thanks, Brad.

[01:28:55] See you later.

[01:28:56] You know?

[01:28:57] So at the end of it all, we still realize it's sport.

[01:29:01] And sport is fleeting.

[01:29:05] And what did we truly gain through these years of sacrifice?

[01:29:10] Those were connections.

[01:29:12] Those were friendships.

[01:29:13] Those were things that no one can take away from us.

[01:29:16] And aren't looked back as a validation of our rise in the sport.

[01:29:21] Those are the true impacts that we make.

[01:29:23] And I'll say one, whenever one of the greatest male sprinters of all time.

[01:29:29] I'm not talking about Ina Chutenberg, who was incredible.

[01:29:33] And I was lucky enough to even race in the same time as her.

[01:29:36] When Mark Cavendish.

[01:29:37] Yeah.

[01:29:38] You know, to see it happen.

[01:29:40] To see her go.

[01:29:41] To see the end.

[01:29:43] I was like, holy cow.

[01:29:44] She's incredible.

[01:29:46] You know?

[01:29:46] And to be able to be around.

[01:29:47] I was like, wow.

[01:29:48] That's awesome.

[01:29:49] She's a legend.

[01:29:50] But for the other same team, actually.

[01:29:53] Mark Cavendish.

[01:29:53] Who was on the same team as Ina Chutenberg.

[01:29:56] When he won his 35th stage at the Tour de France.

[01:29:59] And how everyone shared their picture with Mark Cavendish.

[01:30:03] Because look, I'm on the coattails of the champ.

[01:30:06] Or I was around the champ.

[01:30:07] I was like, well, that's pretty cool.

[01:30:09] Like, yeah.

[01:30:10] There's a lot of people that he's been around.

[01:30:11] Because he's been around them so long.

[01:30:13] And yeah.

[01:30:14] There was a couple races where I was even close to him.

[01:30:17] But I didn't want to share the picture of me in the HTC High Road train.

[01:30:22] No.

[01:30:22] I wanted to share the picture of me at the Tour of Lawrence.

[01:30:26] Putting a medal around a little kid's neck that did the kids race.

[01:30:30] Because that made a more impact to me in my life.

[01:30:33] Not me saying, oh, look.

[01:30:35] Look at me.

[01:30:35] I'm also standing next to the champ.

[01:30:37] Like, no.

[01:30:38] I'm actually putting a medal on a kid.

[01:30:40] This most important thing that this kid's life is right now.

[01:30:42] And I was really lucky to be on teams.

[01:30:45] Jelly Belly.

[01:30:46] Optum.

[01:30:47] Rally.

[01:30:47] That we got to do that.

[01:30:48] We got to do that at races like Redlands.

[01:30:50] We got to do that at races like Gateway Cup.

[01:30:53] You know.

[01:30:54] Things that were really pivotal in my career.

[01:30:56] And also, riding with the greatest of all time was really pivotal in my career.

[01:31:00] But the peak isn't always what validates an athlete's impact.

[01:31:06] Yeah.

[01:31:06] Let's get to retirement.

[01:31:09] Bleh.

[01:31:10] Bleh.

[01:31:10] What is buh?

[01:31:13] Say more.

[01:31:15] You know.

[01:31:16] I spoke about it before I retired.

[01:31:18] I was realizing, hey, I know this is going to be hard.

[01:31:20] You know.

[01:31:21] I've really committed my whole life to this.

[01:31:23] I retired at 40 years old.

[01:31:25] And I knew it was going to be difficult.

[01:31:27] And I thought I had prepared myself.

[01:31:29] But I didn't know the cliff that was transitioning away from the Peter Pan lifestyle of professional athletics and going into the real world.

[01:31:38] You know, I, before my race contract was even over, I had my email, new email at the startup that I was working for, Amphuman, now Momentus.

[01:31:52] And I went from 10,000, 12,000 miles a year to maybe two, you know.

[01:32:03] And I didn't realize the shift that was going on within me.

[01:32:09] And I didn't realize how much that escape on a bicycle helped me to feel whole, helped me to handle my emotions.

[01:32:19] That 20 plus years of movement on a bicycle hit.

[01:32:25] And that's where I was like, oh, wow.

[01:32:27] Oh, wow.

[01:32:28] This is going to be a lot more difficult than I thought it was.

[01:32:32] You know, I struggled in the relationship.

[01:32:35] I struggled with work transition because all I knew was work ethic.

[01:32:41] All I knew was blunt force trauma pushing forward.

[01:32:44] And that's what gets the job done.

[01:32:46] And then the pandemic got put on top of that.

[01:32:49] It was like, I'm giving everything that is me.

[01:32:52] And I don't understand because, once again, I'm just shooting into the new abyss of work.

[01:32:58] And I don't even know where this is landing.

[01:33:01] I just keep, how long do we keep firing before something lands?

[01:33:04] Because in athletics, we talk everything through.

[01:33:09] And in the competition, we work everything out.

[01:33:13] And we know what the end result is.

[01:33:15] Win, loss, 17th, you know, DNF.

[01:33:19] We know.

[01:33:19] But in business, you're still just shooting for the stars.

[01:33:24] You know, hoping to land, hoping to get that million dollar contract.

[01:33:27] And even to this day, I'm like, well, why am I actually in this?

[01:33:32] What is all those years of push?

[01:33:36] You know, where is that going to get me?

[01:33:38] I don't know.

[01:33:39] So the transition has been hard.

[01:33:40] Still figuring it out.

[01:33:42] Still figuring it out.

[01:33:43] A lot of realizations.

[01:33:44] Understanding how impactful, more important that mental health is.

[01:33:48] Because now movement is a gift.

[01:33:52] It is a blessing.

[01:33:55] Instead of the only purpose that I get out of bed for.

[01:33:59] You know, it's retaining health.

[01:34:00] Retaining a better lifestyle.

[01:34:02] And then realizing how, okay, all that, all those years of movement have a purpose.

[01:34:07] I can help others find joy that I did not so much find in it.

[01:34:13] I can help them find the joy in the processes that they're working towards to find their better health, to find better lifestyle.

[01:34:20] And I'm hoping that I can get myself in a position to do that with men and women.

[01:34:25] Yeah.

[01:34:26] Outside of sport.

[01:34:27] Yeah.

[01:34:27] And if I can be financially stable in it, that'd be even better.

[01:34:30] Right.

[01:34:31] That definitely helps.

[01:34:34] This really connects well to your project with the men's room, I think.

[01:34:37] Can you tell us a little bit about what you're doing with that?

[01:34:40] Yeah.

[01:34:40] And actually, I said I'm here for you.

[01:34:41] I'm actually here for myself and all of those that are struggling out there in their own life and own process.

[01:34:49] And so that's what the men's room.

[01:34:51] So I've got two co-creators, Peter Virchio, Josh Macy, who are out in Boulder, that we've created the space to help men be whole again.

[01:35:01] And we want to create a space where all help all humans be whole again.

[01:35:06] And we call it the men's room right now to kind of stay in our lane.

[01:35:09] We'd love to create a women's room or just the room or whatever it might be.

[01:35:16] And something I learned along this process of transitioning out of sport and everything through some mental health stuff, and I came up with this phrase that all emotions are welcome.

[01:35:26] Because how often are emotions pushed aside?

[01:35:28] We'll deal with that later.

[01:35:30] I'll push through this and then I'll figure it out or that'll be settled through this reaction, honestly.

[01:35:36] So in the men's room, all emotions are welcome.

[01:35:39] All individuals are welcome.

[01:35:40] To bring their insecurities, bring their hurts, to bring those imperfections that they feel is unwanted, to help them realize that they have value, have worth.

[01:35:49] They are whole.

[01:35:50] We can help rebuild their self-confidence, help rebuild their self-worth so that they can be better partners, better fathers, better sons, better daughters, better grandfathers.

[01:36:00] Whatever you want to state that your current position in his life, because none of us are perfect, but yet we are doing our best to show up.

[01:36:09] And no one's got it figured out.

[01:36:10] We don't have it figured out.

[01:36:12] Josh, Peter, and I were like, we realized we need this.

[01:36:17] So why not create this and put it out there in the world to just say, hey, we're coming here incomplete, but doing our best to find paths, find structure, find confidence.

[01:36:28] Or realize it's always been inside us.

[01:36:30] It's just been hidden behind angst, behind anxiety, behind a trauma, behind heartbreak.

[01:36:36] Behind anger.

[01:36:37] Behind anger.

[01:36:38] Correct.

[01:36:39] I mean, how much anger is in everyone?

[01:36:40] You know, how many athletes at the Olympics, you ask them how, where was that key important moment of anger or that you were going to prove such and such wrong?

[01:36:48] There's probably a lot of them that have that.

[01:36:50] And how many of them, how many of us are in a reaction mode in life instead of to show up with intention, with openness, with willingness to say we're wrong, to say, I don't know.

[01:37:04] I'm not perfect.

[01:37:04] I don't know at all.

[01:37:05] So that we can learn, so that we can develop.

[01:37:07] And so in the men's room, we're wanting to create that.

[01:37:10] We're going to create spaces for individuals to share that in a safe space, either in retreats or small groups.

[01:37:17] And we're still evolving that process.

[01:37:19] We had our first retreat in Colorado at the Crooked Mile Ranch, and it was incredible.

[01:37:24] And it's not just for type A's.

[01:37:26] It's just, that's not just for CEOs or ex-athletes or current athletes.

[01:37:30] It's for anybody because everyone has a value, a value in this world to themselves and to those around them.

[01:37:38] Yeah, we use athletics.

[01:37:40] We use sport because it helps bond us all.

[01:37:42] It helps give us something to show we can do something hard.

[01:37:45] But at this retreat, we didn't even do anything hard.

[01:37:48] We did a cold plunge.

[01:37:50] We jumped off a cliff.

[01:37:51] That was kind of hard.

[01:37:55] And we also sat with each other's emotions.

[01:37:59] We saw each other.

[01:37:59] We were quiet.

[01:38:00] We meditated.

[01:38:01] Things that are difficult in life that aren't really felt as the norm, kind of slowing down and really getting in touch, getting out of our head and getting in touch with our body, getting in touch with those emotions that we've held, where we feel those fears, where we hold that anger, that frustration, or that joy that's kind of been hidden away.

[01:38:21] We want to bring it out.

[01:38:23] So that's kind of a bit of the midsroom.

[01:38:25] You're moving on from the using competition as a tool to lifting each other up.

[01:38:29] This is a whole new tool of lifting each other up.

[01:38:32] And one of the things that strikes me about what you're saying is getting to that point of honesty, being willing to be honest about the feelings that you maybe haven't acknowledged yourself.

[01:38:44] And connecting that back to what you were saying much earlier in our conversation about how when you were racing, you wanted to see and connect with other athletes because you understood what it meant to feel seen.

[01:39:00] And I'm imagining now, even for myself, but I'm imagining now how many athletes are out there who are not honest with themselves, even.

[01:39:09] They are those athletes that we see in interviews who talk about being fueled by anger and proving someone wrong and having that work, right, to an extent.

[01:39:21] But that when that works, it doesn't prompt them to go back and get more honest about what was underneath that anger.

[01:39:30] Was it really just about proving yourself to somebody?

[01:39:32] Is there something else there?

[01:39:33] And when we're in sport and we're in a culture, and I'll say, again, going back to what I said earlier, I think this is especially the case for men.

[01:39:41] And you are not encouraged.

[01:39:43] In fact, you are actively discouraged from exploring those emotions, being emotionally honest or emotionally aware.

[01:39:50] And not always, of course.

[01:39:52] But when you're not being honest with yourself in that moment, if someone like a Brad Huff comes to you and offers connection and wants to see you,

[01:40:01] as much as a Brad Huff might be seeing me, if I myself am not honest about who I am, if I myself am in a moment of life where I'm performing,

[01:40:13] I'm performing a version of me that's not really me, even when somebody is there willing to look and see me as a human being,

[01:40:20] I'm not going to feel seen because they're not seeing me.

[01:40:23] And I think what you're doing is so awesome because it gives people that opportunity to be honest and be really themselves in a moment when they're being seen.

[01:40:33] So they, their true self, feel seen.

[01:40:37] I can't imagine.

[01:40:37] That must be so powerful.

[01:40:39] It's so impactful that it feels wrong.

[01:40:42] It feels like, am I really going to trust my gut and go down this woo-woo side of life?

[01:40:54] And I remember how much I've avoided that woo-woo side of life, that empathic side of life, because I needed to be all in.

[01:41:02] I needed to be so focused.

[01:41:03] I needed to be so selfish.

[01:41:04] And I think, I'll say, post-pandemic, a lot of us are waking up.

[01:41:09] A lot of us are becoming more aware of our insecurities, our shortcomings, and working on them so that we can be better.

[01:41:16] And each individual, you don't have to go to the men's room.

[01:41:20] You don't have to go to a retreat.

[01:41:21] You don't have to always go to the ride.

[01:41:24] It can be your interaction at the gas station.

[01:41:26] It can be your interaction at a grocery store.

[01:41:29] It can be the interaction with your partner or your parent or yourself in the mirror to make a true impact, to be aware of the situation that the universe is putting in front of you.

[01:41:39] And so I'll go back to an example real quick where you said,

[01:41:44] Yeah, please.

[01:41:44] Able to show up as Brad Huff.

[01:41:46] I'm in this struggle.

[01:41:48] I've been taking contract work as I figure out where I'm going to try to find a job.

[01:41:53] And I was lucky enough to go back to the Tulsa Tough, a.k.a. Tulsa Huff, this year and work as part of the rest stop support crew.

[01:42:04] So loading up the giant U-Haul trucks and driving them out and making sure everything's prepared and just moving things, picking up things, moving things around.

[01:42:14] And while I was there, I let Daniel Holloway talk me into doing the Cat 1 race.

[01:42:19] So, yes, I did.

[01:42:20] I did.

[01:42:21] I did.

[01:42:22] I did some training to make sure I didn't completely make a fool of myself and cause a crash or anything.

[01:42:28] So I do the race.

[01:42:29] I make it farther than I thought I would.

[01:42:31] Cat 1 race, not the Pro 1 race.

[01:42:33] And I finish up the race.

[01:42:34] I get dropped at four laps to go.

[01:42:36] Blah, blah, blah.

[01:42:37] I'm hanging out at the Sound Pony Bar.

[01:42:39] Woo!

[01:42:40] And if you go in there, there's one of my jerseys and my 2004 frame that I won the Crit National Championships on hanging on the wall.

[01:42:47] Ooh, scavenger hunt.

[01:42:48] Yep.

[01:42:49] I'm hanging out.

[01:42:50] I'm like, hey, I want to hang out.

[01:42:52] And like, yeah, everybody's partying.

[01:42:53] I got to go back and do my job for the rest stops and like unload trucks and do things.

[01:42:59] So I'm on my way back over to the Tulsa Tough warehouse.

[01:43:03] And the women's race had already finished.

[01:43:07] The men's race, the Pro 1 men's race had just started and went 15 minutes.

[01:43:11] So I'm rolling back.

[01:43:12] And out of the corner of my eye, I see someone sitting on a curb in a kit that I recognize, which is the Cliff Bar family team.

[01:43:20] Cliff Bar racing family team.

[01:43:22] And I recognize the kit because one of my good friends, Pat Casey's on the team.

[01:43:25] And the brothers, the twin brothers, some mulberry brothers.

[01:43:28] And I'm like, ooh, I recognize that kit.

[01:43:29] And I see the way the guy's sitting on the curb.

[01:43:31] Remember, if any race is going on and you see a person that's in said race or should be in said race sitting on a curb in this manner, you and I know what's going on.

[01:43:41] They got dropped.

[01:43:42] They're having a difficult time.

[01:43:44] And I roll by and I go, ooh, I know that feeling.

[01:43:47] I've been there.

[01:43:48] And I make a U-turn.

[01:43:49] And I stop.

[01:43:50] And I go, hey, man, you okay?

[01:43:53] And he's sitting on the curb.

[01:43:54] He's deadpan staring at the side panel of the vehicle, just staring at the side panel.

[01:44:00] And he kind of looks at me.

[01:44:02] Yeah, man.

[01:44:02] Yeah, I'm okay.

[01:44:04] I'm like, oh, well, hey, man, you sure you're okay?

[01:44:07] Like, I'm good friends with Pat on the team and the mulberry brothers.

[01:44:11] And, you know, hey, man, you know, my name is Brad.

[01:44:14] What's going on?

[01:44:15] Like, I know the race is going on.

[01:44:16] You okay?

[01:44:16] And he's like, oh, man, I got dropped.

[01:44:18] And so he tells me this story.

[01:44:20] He's coming back from Epstein Barr.

[01:44:22] He's having some difficulties.

[01:44:24] He did so well this early season, blah, blah, blah.

[01:44:26] And I'm like, hey, man, that's okay.

[01:44:28] Like, it's okay.

[01:44:29] You're going to suffer.

[01:44:31] And I was like, man, I've raced a lot.

[01:44:34] I understand.

[01:44:34] Like, this is hard.

[01:44:35] You don't have to tell it to me.

[01:44:37] But I just want you to know, like, it's okay.

[01:44:40] You're getting over Epstein Barr.

[01:44:42] And I'd sit there and listen and talk.

[01:44:44] And he goes, what did you just say your name?

[01:44:47] What did you say your name was?

[01:44:49] I don't know.

[01:44:49] My name's Brad.

[01:44:50] I'm good friends with Pat.

[01:44:51] He goes, no, no.

[01:44:51] What's your name?

[01:44:52] And I go, my name's Brad Huff.

[01:44:54] And he goes, are you kidding me?

[01:44:55] Your name's Brad Huff.

[01:44:56] He said, there's two people I looked up to my entire career.

[01:45:00] The Brown, Nate Brown, and you.

[01:45:02] And the fact that you stopped and gave your time and listened to me struggling speaks volumes

[01:45:09] of what Pat said about you.

[01:45:11] And I just went, well, thanks for saying that.

[01:45:14] But I'm here to help you.

[01:45:17] And I realized I took that job to help the rest stop crew, not to help the rest stop crew,

[01:45:23] but to be open and aware for that chance to talk to Mason in the lowest point of his career,

[01:45:31] where he wanted to quit the sport.

[01:45:33] He was struggling to even understand why he was in the sport.

[01:45:35] That's why I was there.

[01:45:37] Not to unload and load a trailer, but to help Mason recognize what he's went through to be

[01:45:44] here today, sitting on that curb dropped out of the race and help him be seen.

[01:45:48] That's the impact that I realized I was making at the race.

[01:45:52] Not because I did the cat one race and who cares that the legends return now they're going

[01:45:56] to get dropped anyways.

[01:45:58] But I was able to make an impact on an aspiring pro's life, help him realize that all those

[01:46:03] struggles have value and he has value right there.

[01:46:06] And there's so much more ahead of him.

[01:46:07] And that's where I was like, holy, I'm stepping into the microbes.

[01:46:11] Oh, that made me cry.

[01:46:15] Beautiful.

[01:46:15] Beautiful.

[01:46:16] Because we don't know the impact we can make.

[01:46:18] We don't know when other person's life has been.

[01:46:21] And the fact that he looked up to me when he was working in bike shops and Nat Brown was

[01:46:26] crazy.

[01:46:27] I mean, you know, he could have said Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish and, you know, who

[01:46:33] had Ena Tuttenberg.

[01:46:34] You know, he doesn't have any turkey, but, you know, yeah, that's why we're here is to

[01:46:39] make an impact, to help build community.

[01:46:41] Yeah.

[01:46:41] Not to gloat, not to stand on a podium, get our picture taken and put it on.

[01:46:46] Not to say you can't do both.

[01:46:48] Yeah, true.

[01:46:49] But when you're on the podium, it doesn't hurt.

[01:46:52] And being on the podium doesn't prevent you from making these kinds of impacts as well.

[01:46:58] Hopefully we see that trend continue to gain momentum.

[01:47:02] Oh, yeah.

[01:47:03] We, I mean, your podcast is enabling that.

[01:47:06] I appreciate that.

[01:47:08] One small hand on the flywheel over here.

[01:47:13] Right.

[01:47:13] But just think of, think of how it resonates.

[01:47:16] Think of, think of the ripple ripples it creates.

[01:47:18] Yeah.

[01:47:19] Well, I know this conversation is going to have a lot of ripples for the people listening.

[01:47:25] So thank you so much for taking the time today, Brad.

[01:47:28] And thank you for getting so real and vulnerable.

[01:47:31] This is, um, this is awesome.

[01:47:33] This has been awesome.

[01:47:34] Well, thank you for giving me a chance and for prodding me to step into some vulnerability

[01:47:41] insecurities and letting go of shame of where I'm at in this process.

[01:47:47] So I want to thank you for giving me the safe space.

[01:47:50] Truly my honor.

[01:47:52] Over my career, I spoke with countless experts and top athletes about what it takes to create

[01:47:57] the best teams.

[01:47:59] Teams with magical chemistry that elevates every individual, but even more so the cohesive

[01:48:04] effort of the team as a whole.

[01:48:06] These kinds of teams are virtually unstoppable.

[01:48:10] One element that came up again and again in these discussions of what makes a great team was the idea of

[01:48:16] individual team members who are the glue.

[01:48:20] They foster connection and wholeness within the team.

[01:48:23] They bring the laughs.

[01:48:24] They know just what to say, how to step up, or when to step aside to get the most out

[01:48:29] of everyone around them.

[01:48:31] They're not always the most famous or outspoken, but anyone who knows them knows they're the

[01:48:36] heart and soul of the team.

[01:48:38] Brad Huff embodies this role.

[01:48:40] He brings folks together and elevates everyone around him.

[01:48:44] It's no wonder that his best years of his pro career were those in which he set aside his

[01:48:49] need to prove himself and instead focused on becoming the best he could be for the sake

[01:48:55] of his teammates.

[01:48:57] And I love how he points out that this isn't something specific to sport or even being on

[01:49:02] a team of any kind.

[01:49:03] We can all have an impact, even in the smallest moments of our day.

[01:49:09] Thank you for joining us for today's episode.

[01:49:11] This is an abridged version of the full interview.

[01:49:14] To get full length and extended versions of each episode, sign up for a membership on Ko-Fi.

[01:49:20] Memberships start as low as $3 a month.

[01:49:23] Check out all the perks at ko-fi.com slash beagoodwheel.

[01:49:27] That's ko-fi.com slash beagoodwheel to sign up.

[01:49:34] The Be A Good Wheel podcast is produced by our wizard behind the curtain, Maxine Filivong.

[01:49:39] If you loved today's episode, don't forget to rate us five stars.

[01:49:43] Until next time, thanks for listening and thanks for being a good wheel.