Stories about how hard things build stronger humans who have more fun. Guests from pro cycling, sports, politics, business, tech, journalism, the military and more. Resilience, grit, mental health, high performance, mindfulness. Host Andrew Vontz is an entrepreneur & co-founder of TheBetterLab.io, the company that helps you build mindful, science-backed practices to sleep better. Previously, he was a Strava executive; a communications leader at the human performance company, TRX; and a journ ...
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To provide free information about cycling and training from the best riders and coaches in the world. If you love this and want more go to howtobecomeaprocyclist.com
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Tom Perriello: Congressman, Special Envoy - United States of Sweat
56:14
56:14
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56:14Welcome back to United States of Sweat presented by Choose the Hard Way where politicians and policymakers join us to share stories about fitness, health and the sports they love playing. In 2008 Tom Perriello won the election to represent Virginia’s 5th Congressional district by fewer than 1,000 votes. He later ran for governor of Virginia and he …
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Mattia Gaffuri is an Italian cyclist and one of the best amateur cyclists in the world who races on the road and gravel.
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Allen Lim is an American coach and nutritionist who’s worked with many of the best cyclists in the world over the last 20 years. Allen co founded Skratch Labs, a nutrition company for endurance athletes. A brilliant mind in endurance sport and a generous human being dedicated to helping athletes chase their dreams.…
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United States of Sweat with Ambassador Jeff Flake - Desert Island Survival, Long-Distance Swimming & More
41:43
41:43
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41:43During a divided time in America, our love of sports and fitness cross party lines and can keep us healthy as individuals and bring us together as a nation. The United States of Sweat is a new series from Choose the Hard Way that features the world’s leading political leaders and policy makers sharing stories about what they do to stay healthy, fit…
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From Start up to End up - From The Better Lab to One Real Voice & Beyond - Andrew Vontz x Shannon Jones
2:00:05
2:00:05
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2:00:05Subscribe to the Choose the Hard Way substack at www.alwaysthehardway.substack.com for a look behind the scenes of this episode and human-generated insights about bikes, zen and life. Walking away from an executive role at a high-growth unicorn to go all-in & start up your own company sounds cool. What happens when a highly promising start up with …
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The greatest mountain sports athlete of all time. Training science, crazy stories & so much more. Save this one for an epic long day in the mountains to listen to.
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Dr. Bent Rønnestad is a leading sports science professor at Inland Norway University, specializing in pro cycling training. His research on strength training, interval protocols, heat training and periodization optimizes performance for elite cyclists. If you read the scientific studies around training, you almost certainly know the name.…
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Jack Burke - Beyond The Peloton With Spencer Martin & Andrew Vontz
1:29:45
1:29:45
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1:29:45Spencer Martin - Beyond The Peloton & The Move Podcasts Andrew Vontz - Choose The Hardway Podcast https://beyondthepeloton.substack.com https://open.spotify.com/show/38KNvwfP4y7ALpBBu1izsI?si=f111cf62aaba4b28 https://open.spotify.com/show/0T02okolXVCuNGmd2nvZLb?si=9d978cdf675a4e9e
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Henri Uhlig is a 23 year old German rider for Alpecin Deceuninck.
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Tim Declercq in a Belgian professional cyclist on Lidl Trek and regarded as one of the best domestiques in pro cycling from the last 10 years.
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Giacomo Notari (Coach) - UAE Team Emirates
2:29:02
2:29:02
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2:29:02Giacomo Notari is an Italian coach for UAE Team Emirates.
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Grace Brown is an Australian former pro cyclist and one of the best female cyclists of the modern era. Olympic Champion, World Champion and many more.
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Pro Cyclist Chase Wark pt. 1 - Mega Mid South FKT
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28:15
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28:15Pro gravel cyclist Chase Wark joins me today to talk about setting the fastest known time on the 300-mile Mega Mid South gravel loop after wildfires devastated the Stillwater, Oklahoma area and cancelled the Mid South gravel race. Find Chase @chasethebiker on Instagram. I wrote a story with my thoughts and reflections on the interview you’ll hear t…
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If you ride a bike & struggle with weight loss, you need to hear this. This is what worked for me.
1:01:22
1:01:22
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1:01:22This podcast is a preview of the next book which comes out in December 2025 (or whenever I decide it’s good enough) as well as a bunch of quick tips for weight loss. These are a few tips which work well for me and if you ride your bike 10 hours a week or more and are struggling with your weight, you’ll love this.…
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Ollie Eisenbach is a German bike fitter and Insoles maker. He’s one of the best bike fitters in the world and has helped many of the best cyclists in the world for over a decade. His company SoleStars makes the best custom cycling insoles I know of and are used by many of the best cyclists in the world. If you want to learn about bike fitting or cy…
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This episode is with Gabriel Gallo (Knowledge is Watt on Instagram) where we answered as many of your questions as possible. If you like training science, this is the most dense episode I've put out yet.
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Harry Sweeny - Pro Cycling & High Performance Living
1:01:48
1:01:48
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1:01:48The #1 thing you can do to support this podcast is to subscribe to the Choose the Hard Way substack. Just go to substack and search for ‘Choose the Hard Way’ or go to https://alwaysthehardway.substack.com/ and hit subscribe today. That’s where Andrew Vontz writes about bikes, zen and life + shares his reflections on conversations with guests on the…
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David Bailey is a physiologist and coach. He's been a performance director at Israel Premier Tech, British Cycling, BMC Racing & Bahrain McLaren.
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Attila Valter is a 26 year old Hungarian rider for Visma Lease a Bike and was 4th at the 2024 Olympics road race. He’s raced in the world tour for 6 years on CCC, FDJ and now Visma Lease a Bike.
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Carlos Verona is a 32 year old Spanish rider for Lidl Trek. He’s raced in the world tour for 14 years on Quickstep, Mitchelton Scott, Movistar & Lidl Trek and won a stage of the Dauphine.
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Kevin Vermaerke is a 24 year old American rider on Picnic PostNL and was one of the best young riders to come out of the US in the last 10 years. He’s raced the Tour de France twice, won the U23 Liège Bastongne Liège and been 4th at San Sebastian.
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Luke Lamperti is a 21 year old American pro cyclist for Soudal Quick-Step
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Luis Joe Lührs is a 21 year old German rider who was one of the best Junior cyclists in the world. He then went straight from the Junior’s to the world tour, skipping the U23 category to instead race for RedBull Bora Hansgrohe for the last 3 years.
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SuperFuel. Getting all your fuel in your bottles and other cool new tips
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47:30
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47:30This episode is just me, Jack. Here's a new fuel source I came across which has been awesome for my training because I can get all my fuel just in my bottles. There's also a bunch of other tips around winter riding and nutrition, I'm sure you'll get something good out of this one. Enjoy!
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Steve Neal #2 How We Used Xert Training Software
1:51:14
1:51:14
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1:51:14Steve Neal has been a Canadian Cycling coach for over 30 years and is my personal coach. You can find him anywhere @stevenealperformance
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Steven de Jongh is a Dutch former pro cyclist and current sports director at Lidl Trek.
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Louis Meintjes is a South African rider for Intermarche Wanty. He's finished top 10 GC in the Tour de France 3 times and is one of the best and most consistent GC riders in the world
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Frank van den Broek is a 23 year old Dutch pro cyclist for DSM-firmenich PostNL. In his first year in the world tour he raced the Tour de France, where on stage 1 him and his teammate Romain Bardet went 1-2, meaning Frank was 2nd on his first stage in the Tour de France in his first year in the world tour.…
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Xert is a Canadian training software and the best training tool I have found in my career since I started keeping training records. This is a game changer.
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Jack Burke - More Of Your Questions Answered - Emulation Interview
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1:29:14
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1:29:14This is a podcast I did with Emulation. Emulation is 2 French journalists, William & Robin who cover the stories behind famous athletes. Follow their Instagram account @emulation_ for more stories on athletes you've probably seen on TV.
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Stefan de Bod is a 28 year old South African rider on EF Education Easy Post who has raced in the world tour for 6 years.
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Toms Skujiņš is a Latvian world tour rider for Lidl Trek and one of the best cyclists in the world. In 2024 he was 2nd at Strade Bianche, 5th in the Olympic road race & 4th at the world championships.
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Jack Burke - All Your Questions From The Last Weeks Answered 😉
2:13:49
2:13:49
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2:13:49
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Thomas Gloag is a 23 year old British Rider on Visma Lease a Bike.
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Harry Sweeny is an Australian pro cyclist for EF Education - Easy Post.
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Jasha Sütterlin is a German professional cyclist for Jayco Alula.
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Asbjørn Hellemose is a 25 year old Danish pro cyclist for Jayco Alula
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Mona Mitterwallner is an Austrian professional mountain biker, Olympian and 5 time world champion. She’s also 22 years old.
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Lorenzo Finn is an Italian rider on the Red Bull Bora Junior team and the 2024 Junior Mens Road Race World Champion.
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Dajo Sanders - Coach - INEOS Grenadiers
1:46:43
1:46:43
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1:46:43Dajo Sanders is a coach and sports scientists on Ineos Grenadiers where he coaches some of the best riders in the world and collaborates with many of the best minds in human physiology regarding cycling performance.
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Motor Pacing & Training at Over 3,000 meters.
28:10
28:10
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28:10
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Christopher Blevins - the World Champion & Olympian on Mindfulness + the Transformative Power of Community & Bikes
51:37
51:37
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51:37Christopher Blevins is a mindfulness practitioner who builds community and a more inclusive and healthy world through bikes. He’s one of the best professional mountain bikers America has ever produced and one of the best in the world. He has won the Cape Epic and taken gold in the mountain bike world championships in the short track and cross-count…
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Ötztaler Rad Marathon/Chapter 130 & 131 From The 2nd Edition Of How To Become A Pro Cyclist (coming fall 2024)
39:08
39:08
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39:08This episode is 2 chapters (chapter 130 & 131) from the 2nd updated and extended edition of the book "How To Become A Pro Cyclist" which comes out in fall of 2024. The Ötztaler Rad Marathon is the basis of these chapters so if you love that race, here’s the details and story behind me winning it and breaking the course record.…
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Peter leo is an Austrian endurance training scientist and data analyst. He currently works for the Australian track cycling endurance program and was apart of the mens team pursuit team who won gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics where they also broke the world record.
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Rewind: Olympic Gold Medalist Kristen Faulkner - The Power of Positive Risk Taking, Why She Walked Away from Her Dream Job & the Path to Pro Cycling Success
58:34
58:34
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58:34Kristen Faulkner is an American pro cyclist who won the gold medal in the women’s cycling road race at the Paris Olympics in truly stunning fashion, surpassing two of the most dominant racers in the sport with a bold attack that left them looking at each other while she drilled it to victory. It’s one of my favorite bike races I’ve ever watched. If…
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Mattia Gaffuri is an Italian Cyclist & Coach. He was a finalist in the Zwift Academy in 2023 and a brilliant mind to speak about training and sports science.
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Niamh Fisher-Black is a 23 year old rider from New Zealand on team SD Worx - Protime and one of the best female GC riders in the world. This podcast was recorded just before she left for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
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Carina Schrempf is an Austrian rider for the Fenix-Deceuninck womens world tour team. She was a middle distance runner who switched to cycling after an injury, only started racing at the age of 28 and by the end of her first year racing on the road, she had made it to the world tour.
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Maud Oudeman Is a 20 year old rider on the Visma Lease A Bike womens world tour team who signed her first pro contract with Canyon Sram after winning the Zwift Academy in 2021.
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Ahmed Madan is a rider on the Bahrain - Victorious mens World Tour Team and the first person from Bahrain to make it to the world tour after graduating from the Bahrain Cycling Academy team.
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