The Cyclist

Two gut girlies sit down to talk. In this episode, Jess is joined by Tessa Stockdale, co-founder of Nomu Matcha, the award-winning New Zealand ceremonial matcha brand she built with her mum Karen, for a conversation that started, fittingly, over a shared obsession with gut health. Tessa takes us back six years to when her gut issues first started showing up in her mid-twenties. She was in advertis...

There’s a third person in the room in this episode with Kat and Jess…  Jess is pregnant! In this episode, Jess and Kat talk about baby number two and share the full journey of how they got here.  This is the conversation Jess says she has dreamt of recording, and it's everything. Honest, emotional, funny, and deeply real. Jess takes us back to the beginning. After a two-year journey to fall pregna...

She's had a rebrand. And it's been a long time coming. In this episode, Jess sits down with Sara, New Zealand registered dietitian, women's health expert, and founder of Your Monthly Club, to unpack one of the biggest developments in women's health in recent years.  PCOS has officially been renamed PMOS, Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome, and Sara is here to explain exactly...

Not every woman's path looks the same. And that's exactly the point. In this episode, Jess sits down with Danni Duncan, content creator, community builder, and founder of The Others Club, for a conversation that's a little different from our usual. Danni has spent years building one of the most engaged childfree communities in Aotearoa and beyond, and this episode is for every woman who has ever f...

What if the key to your mental health, fertility, and longevity was sitting quietly in one hormone most women have never been taught to protect? In this episode, Jess sits down with Francesca Lyon, degree-qualified Naturopath and Medical Herbalist from Auckland, now based in Amsterdam, and Director of Nutrition at Future Woman, a UK-based at-home hormone testing company. Francesca has spent over 1...

We're closing out our period pain miniseries the way it started. With a real story. In the final episode of the Period Pain Mini Series, Jess sits down with Ella, founder of Els Lovers, a New Zealand-made brand creating wearable heat packs designed specifically for endometriosis and period pain relief.  Ella takes us right back to the beginning to a musical theatre rehearsal camp, three days b...

Your pain is real. And your brain is trying to protect you. In episode four of our period pain miniseries, Jess sits down with Andy Leggat,  registered Health Psychologist and Fertility Counsellor with over 15 years of clinical experience, for one of the most validating conversations we've had on this podcast.  Andy is a returning Cyclist guest, and if you haven't heard her first episode o...

Your pelvic floor has more to do with your period pain than you might think. In episode three of our period pain miniseries, Jess is joined by Caitlin Fris, pelvic health physio, founder of Unity Studios, The Cyclist's resident pelvic health expert, and the woman behind @thevaginaphysio on Instagram.  Caitlin has been on the podcast before and if you haven't heard her first episode, Pelvic...

What if the answers to your period pain have been hiding in your gut, your diet, and your environment all along? In episode two of our period pain miniseries, Jess sits down with Loula George, one of New Zealand's most respected naturopaths, with over 30 years of experience specialising in women's health. Loula is the kind of practitioner whose name gets whispered in reverent tones across...

This is where the period pain conversation gets real. In the first episode of our Period Pain Mini-Series, Kat sits down with Dr Praveen De Silva, a New Zealand-born gynaecologist, endometriosis surgeon, and Clinical Lead for Endometriosis and Laparoscopic Surgery at Te Whatu Ora Waitemata. He was also the name our community called out overwhelmingly when we asked who they wanted to hear from on t...

Hello, and welcome to The Cyclist Period Pain miniseries. We are so glad that you're here. Before we get into the episodes, we wanted to sit down and talk to you about why we made the series, because honestly, it comes from a really personal place.  In fact, I don't think The Cyclist would exist without period pain. It was a huge pivotal part in our journey that led us to realise we need m...

Almost two years on, and this conversation goes even deeper. Ellie Fitzgerald was the very first guest on The Cyclist, and she's back. In this raw and honest catch-up, Jess and Ellie revisit everything that has unfolded since Ellie shared her ruptured ectopic pregnancy story, nearly two years ago now. What started as a check-in becomes one of the most vulnerable conversations we've had on...

We're back! And it feels so good to say that. In this episode, Jess and Kat reunite for an honest and overdue catch-up after a longer break than either of them planned. Life has been full. A new baby, a return to work, new products, and some deeply personal health journeys that kept unfolding in the background. Kat opens up about returning to work after six months of maternity leave with baby Loui...

A raw and honest end-of-year conversation reflecting on everything 2025 asked of us. In this final episode for the year, Jess and Kat sit down for an unfiltered chat about the highs, the heartbreaks, and the behind-the-scenes reality of the year that was. We speak openly about Jess’ battle with anxiety, the moments we felt completely overwhelmed, and the times we genuinely questioned whether we co...

This week we sit down with fitness trainer and psychology graduate Britt McNabb, known online as @mindbody.britt , for a powerful conversation on healing your relationship with movement and the body you call home. Britt shares her own 40kg weight loss journey and how it shaped the unique mind body approach she uses with women today. Her work blends nervous system education, fitness, and deep self...

This week we sit down with Elbee to talk about the health changes that arrived after birth and the journey to finally being taken seriously. Elbee is a beauty, lifestyle and parenting creator who was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis postpartum, later undergoing endometriosis surgery in 2023 and facing unexpected complications with the Mirena. We speak about the early signs that something was not...

We sit down with the incredible Jess Thompson, who was diagnosed with bowel cancer at just 26 years old. What started as a gut feeling that something wasn’t right led to a diagnosis that gave her only one to two years to live. Jess walks us through her journey, the symptoms she pushed for answers on, navigating a healthcare system that didn’t always take her seriously, going through chemo and majo...

A real, honest conversation about anxiety, panic attacks, and the overwhelming moments so many of us quietly carry. This week we’re joined by Dr Victoria Thompson , clinical psychologist, to dive deep into anxiety in all its forms. Jess opens up about her own recent experience with anxiety and panic attacks, sharing what those moments have actually looked and felt like behind the scenes. Together,...

This week we are joined by Laura Henshaw , co-founder of Kic. In this conversation, Laura opens up about her experience with painful periods , navigating pregnancy & her decision to have children, and how her relationship with cycle syncing has evolved over time. We also dive into the cultural moment of GLP1s , SkinnyTok , comparison culture and the pressure to change or control our bodies in...

This week on The Cyclist , we sit down with Daisy Dagg for one of the most open and powerful conversations we’ve had yet. Daisy shares her story starting from her cervical cancer diagnosis in her early years, through the confusing and painful journey that eventually led to her vulvodynia diagnosis . She opens up about what it’s really like to live with chronic pelvic pain, from how it affects inti...

What does it take to perform at the top of your game when your body doesn’t always play ball? This week, we’re joined by Jess Kerr , New Zealand cricketer, to talk about living and performing with type 1 diabetes , navigating endometriosis surgeries , and being diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy . Jess shares how she manages blood sugar, recovery, and energy on and off the field, what it’s really like to...

From PCOS to the pill - we’re diving into the topics that TikTok loves to oversimplify. In this week’s episode, we’re joined by Sara Widdowson , dietitian and founder of Your Monthly , to unpack the real science (and the real-life experience) behind PCOS , hormone balance, and contraception. We tackle the big questions: ✨ What actually is PCOS - and can you cure it? ✨ Why do so many TikTok “horm...

Today Jess sits down in Sydney with longtime friend and running legend Lydia O’Donnell, co-founder of Femmi and Nike Run Club Head Coach for the Pacific. Lydia shares how shifting from “how I look” to “what my body can do” changed everything, including her performance. She opens up about RED-S, losing and regaining her period, and how cycle-aware training and proper fueling helped her rebuild stre...

We’ve officially launched Cadence, our sister brand, our passion project, and the culmination of three years of building, learning, and healing. In this episode, Jess and Kat share the full journey from that first DM to launch day - the highs, the heartbreaks, and the why behind it all. We chat about what drove us to create Cadence, the gaps we saw in the women’s health space, and the products tha...

This week on the podcast we’re joined by Prue Craven, who was born with a rare condition called MRKH, meaning she never developed a uterus. Prue opens up about the moment she realised something was different, the long journey through IVF and surrogacy heartbreak, and the life-changing 14-hour transplant surgery that gave her the chance to carry her own child. She shares what it was like to wake up...