Grow the Good

Jim Murphy is one of the most inspiring people I know.  We first met by coincidence when our paths crossed in the bicycle industry.  Since then, I've looked to Jim as a mentor, a ride buddy, and most importantly, as a great friend.  When he was diagnosed with cancer almost exactly 5 years ago, I was speechless that cancer had attacked my amazing friend.  He started a blog about his experience...

How do you engage in the perception of what you believe is possible?  Magda Boulet continually raises the bar.  Born and raised in Communist Poland, she moved to German and later to the United States as a teenager.  With a love for swimming, she wanted to be more social and found running high school. Eventually, she had the dream of one day going for the Olympics for the United States.  After one...

Aaron Keith Hawkins is the podcast host of Unbreakable Success and is passionate about personal development. He is also one of the most genuine people I've ever met!  After a serious health scare in 2009, he found clarity for what he wanted to do in life.  Not everyone gets a second chance to address their regrets and change their life, but Aaron did!  He became an inspiring high-performance...

I'm obsessed with the idea that our mind is as powerful or even more powerful than our body.  With all my experiences in ultra-endurance mountain biking, I've seen over and over that mental toughness really plays a roll in how hard you can push yourself and what you believe you are capable of. I was thrilled to find the book: Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human...

We spent the first 20 minutes doing a Q&A with the questions you submitted. The questions we answered: Since you do a lot of longer endurance type races and train with TrainerRoad, what is your main focus?   Is power building a benefit or hindrance to the endurance/stamina you need for a longer ride?   I would love a FTP of 400 watts, but...would I be better off training at 2-4 hours/ride @ 15...

Sarah McLean has been teaching meditation for over 20 years. I first met Sarah in Sedona this past winter when I visited her at the McLean Meditation Institute.  There was an instant connection and I had even more respect for her after she guided my husband and I through a meditation.  I discovered that she is the author of 2 books, The Power of Attention, and xx.  Sarah has had an amazing and int...

Jane Esselstyn is a Registered Nurse, author of 4 cookbooks in conjunction with Engine2Diet and Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, and a charismatic voice in the plant-based community.  She also is a researcher and hosts conferences for women on getting preventing and reversing heart disease and auto-immune diseases.  I was excited to talk to Jane because I interviewed her brother Rip back in July...

In todays's show, I had the opportunity to speak with a concussion expert with all of the latest cutting edge research. As someone who has had a few concussions myself, learning about CTE ( Chronic traumatic encephalopathy ) a few years ago was frightening.  I wondered how concussions and the after-effects would impact my life.  My last concussion was in 2016 just days before defending my Wor...

As athletes, we all know if we exercise, we'll feel better and get stronger.  When you start adding in focus and structure, I like to say that you are no longer just exercising: you are training.  As a Professional Athlete myself, I've been through pretty much every scenario of trying different things in my training, I've been chronically overtrained, I've played with doing min...

Today, I had the opportunity to talk to Josh LaJaunie.  I first heard him on the Rich Roll Podcast about a year ago and was blown away by his story.  I literally had to stop by bike while listening because his story was so overwhelming and his authenticity and passion were contagious.  His story is a powerful one of transformation.  It's about how taking one brush stroke after another can cre...

Last year, I went to the Bicycle Leadership conference and discovered that Bicycling Magazine appointed a new Editor-in-Chief, a female Editor-in-Chief, Leah Flickinger.  I was excited to see that one of cycling's biggest publications had a female at the top of their leadership.  I did more research into who was working at the magazine and noticed something exciting - over half the team was c...

Aaron Stuber and Jackson Long are the plant-based duo behind Thought for Food Podcast and TV.  Their mission is to educate and inspire people to live healthy, compassionate, and adventurous lives through plant-based nutrition.  I personally enjoy their show and use it as one of my guides for staying up to date on the latest evidence-based nutritional science. They are both high level athletes and...

Dr. Kris Keim is a well-known sports psychologist and work's with some of cycling's top athletes. She has her doctorate in clinical psychology and her master’s in sports psychology AND she was actually my very first podcast guest.  The link is in the show notes if you want to go back and listen to it !  She is incredibly passionate about helping others.  She said, "During my competi...

You'd never guess that Lauren Gregg wasn't a cyclist growing up.  She identified as an artistic musician type.  It wasn't until she decided to grab her dad's dusty bike out of the garage and start mountain biking on a whim that she turned into an athlete.  The simple yet life-changing decision to start mountain biking has enabled Lauren to carve her own path. Starting as an XC...

Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn is a pioneer in medicine.  He currently directs the cardiovascular prevention and reversal program at The Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute and has saved thousands of lives. As a surgeon, he was operating on patients with breast cancer.  Disillusioned by treating the disease and never addressing the cause, he decided to do his own research. From his bio : "In 1995 he...

Today’s guest is no stranger to the cycling world.  He has finished 5 th   two times at the tour de France, won stages in races like the Giro D’Italia and the Vuelta Espana. His name is Tejay Van Garderen and he currently rides for BMC Racing.  This guy is in on top of the world stage of professional road cyclists. The thing I really enjoyed about Tejay is that he was really down to earth and easy...

Yesterday, I had moments of self-doubt and feelings of wanting to give up.  Here is a breakfast table conversation with my husband Matt.  We talked about what I was feeling, how to navigate self-doubt, and how to accept these feelings.  -------------- The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co. 

Just because you don't eat meat or dairy doesn't mean that you're healthy. Chef AJ can relate.   She said, "For 26 years, I was the quintessential fat vegan.  It wasn't until I had a health scare.... that I realized I had to do something."  She is a self-proclaimed recovering food addict and a classically trained chef, author, and speaker. As an unhealthy vegan for mo...

Rebecca Rusch is one of the most prolific adventure athletes out there.  From first ascents as a rock climber (El Capitan in Yosemite) to kayaking in the Grand Canyon to taking her bike up Mount Kiliminjaro, nothing stops the Queen of Pain.  Rebecca was one of the top Adventure Racers before becoming a pro mountain biker and is the 7x World Champion in several sports.   Rebecca's depth goes f...

Julieanna Hever is a well-known plant-based dietician, author of 2 books, and has her own TV Show!  She is also a columnist for VegNews Magazines and has been featured on  The Dr. Oz Show ,  The Steve Harvey Show ,  Reluctantly Healthy ,  The Marie Osmond Show ,  The Jane Velez-Mitchell Show , and  E! News , co-stars on  The Chef and The Dietitian , on numerous radio shows, and lectures extensivel...

Caroline Gleich is a magnet for adventure.  She is one of the ski mountaineering world's most prolific skiers.  She has been on the cover of many skiing magazines, premiered in Warren Miller films, and skied some of the most challenging lines around the world. Most notable and recent was that she was the 4th person ever and first woman to ski all 90 lines in the Chuting Gallery in the Wasatch...

Do you ever have thoughts and feelings that you don't want? What does mental toughness mean?  Do you ever worry about what people think about you or wish that you were more confident? These are all questions that 3x X-Terra World Champion Lesley Patterson and Simon Marshall, PhD have addressed in their book, " Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down ."   It was great to talk with both of...

Brasil Ride is a 7 day mountain bike stage race in Bahia, Brazil.  This was my 3rd Brasil Ride and I raced it the Mixed Category with Gordon Wadsworth. My husband, Matt Ewonus took the helm and hosted this episode.  This podcast episode is how it all went down!  Boiling sun, technical terrain, heat stroke, 4-6 hour days in the saddle, losing and regaining the leaders jersey, how to be successful a...

Would you spray paint your bike?  Emily Kachorek does.  Maybe you've seen a blur of color, stoke, and little orange creamsicles fly by you on the road or in a Cyclocross Race.  This month, I've been focusing on entrepreneurs, and I was intrigued by Emily because she thinks outside the box.  Not only is she creative and learned how to run a successful business, but she has her Master&apos...

Rage, Rapture, Lust, Gluttony, Sloth, Greed...what does this have to do with running a business, philanthropy, and backcountry skiing?  It all ties under Lodi's premier winery; Michael David Winery.  David Phillips is a co-owner of the winery with his brother Michael and their family has been farming the fertile soil in Lodi, California for 5 generations- since 1865 to be exact.  However, the...